Episode 33: Exploring the Police Station

The car moved through the ruined city and came to a quiet stop in the Parking Lot in front of the Police Station.

The Police Station had lost its former air of intimidation. Half of the window glass facing the road was shattered, and the entrance was left open.

"Arrived."

Yui, in the passenger seat, spoke with a slight tension in her voice.

The silent Police Station exuded an unnatural atmosphere, like the abandoned ruin of a horror game.

"No sign of humans, clearly."

There were no humans. But it wasn't said that there were no Zombies.

Would a joke like "Yui, do you like horror games?" ease the tension? Or would it provoke anger?

— After delivering a sharp retort with her right hand, she'd insist absolutely on not stepping outside.

After securing the safe zone, Hayato might be told to search alone.

Having come this far, Hayato considered the possibility inconvenient. He suppressed the idea.

——Gun, still available?

If zombies were wandering, ordinary people could not conduct house searches. That left a chance.

In any case, no answer would come without entering the building.

"Then I’m getting down. We’re searching."

It was safer to keep them beside Hayato than leave them in the vehicle.

Yui agreed with Hayato’s decision, but added a warning.

"Guard carefully."

"Of course. But prepare a gun too. Natsuki is coming."

"I’d like a gun as well."

"That’s why we’re searching. You’ve confirmed the necessity."

Hayato stepped down first. Yui and Natsuki followed.

They locked the car doors and hurried inside the station.

The station interior was in severe disarray.

Desks and chairs lay overturned in no particular order, and objects from the desks were scattered across the floor.

"Computers weren't taken, huh."

"Electricity's unusable."

Three years ago, even monitors lying on the floor had value.

Hayato spoke from old habits. Yui, who had lived through the three years of zombie infestation, corrected the misunderstanding.

The station walls bore dents and stains resembling those from blunt-force combat.

Beneath the wall, a single zombie lay motionless, its head shattered.

"That one was down for about a year. Still before full desiccation."

"...So zombies turn to bone after they're killed?"

On Earth three years ago, that had not yet been confirmed.

Natsuki asked timidly. Hayato stated a confirmed fact from the other world.

A zombie that has been knocked down and rendered immobile will eventually become bone.

But zombies move through magic essence, so they don't turn to bone, right?

No—after four to five years, they do. The first generation of zombies should be turning to white bone by now.

A virus that cannot move zombies may be reaching its maximum expansion.

I once heard from another transmigrant that such a virus might eventually lose effectiveness, allowing bacteria to break down the body until only bones remain.

Still, in the other world, that was considered irrelevant.

"Would publishing that earn a Nobel Prize?"

"Perhaps. But knowing it wouldn't help much."

Hayato abandoned hopes of the Nobel Prize and resumed exploration.

Stationery, torn files, and scattered documents littered the floor.

The fax paper he picked up bore the message: "Large-scale pandemic confirmed within the prefecture. Report to the prefectural police headquarters immediately."

The transmission date was two years prior. The specified time was marked "as soon as possible."

The frantic state of that time was easy to imagine.

"Those officers here likely moved to the prefectural police headquarters."

"Did they take their firearms with them?"

"Probably."

Hayato frowned as he scanned the interior of the station.

At the far end of the corridor, a vending machine lay toppled and shattered.

Metal was twisted. Evidence remained of someone desperately trying to retrieve a drink.

— Someone came here after the officers left.

More than half the window glass was broken. Light and wind streamed directly in.

From the corridor beyond, a faint sound of metal scraping reached his ears.

The sound was as if someone were dragging metal fittings while walking slowly toward them.

"Hayato."

"Ah, I know. There’s already someone ahead."

Hayato drew a spear from his spatial storage and stepped in front of the two women.

The sound grew louder. Eventually, two zombies appeared around the corner of the corridor.

Both were male zombies. One was middle-aged. The other was a young man.

The two recognized Hayato. They let out eerie groans and approached.

Hayato glanced briefly around.

The corridor width was sufficient for swinging a spear.

"Step back a little."

Yui and Natsuki stepped back a few paces.

The middle-aged zombie, seeing the retreat, lunged forward with the instinctive expression of an animal eager to infect with virus.

It was natural for a civilian attacked by zombies to scream in fear.

— But I’m used to it.

Hayato raised his spear and drove it through the middle-aged zombie’s neck with a sharp thrust.

The spear was immediately swung, and the body caught on it was thrown out through the window.

One enemy was removed from the battlefield in an instant.

"Too much time has passed since it began."

The second zombie showed no signs of intelligence, advancing blindly.

Hayato pulled back the spear, then swung it horizontally.

The spear struck the second zombie’s torso and drove through, then swung free.

The second zombie was flung backward as if hit by a vehicle. It crashed into the wall with a heavy thud, then collapsed into the hallway.

"Simply knocking it down leaves room for movement. A finishing blow is essential."

Hayato lifted the spear high and brought it down onto the head of the fallen zombie.

The zombie’s head shattered under the impact.

After confirming the enemy's defeat, Hayato swung the spear, shaking off the dirt from the tip.

"Eliminated."

Hayato spoke. Yui and Natsuki approached cautiously.

Hayato observed the two of them and sheathed his spear.

"Was it always like this?"

Dragons, even just their heads, bite down hard—worse still.

...There was a dragon.

A thirty-meter one— we managed to bring it down, all together, after struggling hard.

An African elephant measures seven meters from head to torso. A Tyrannosaurus is twelve meters long.

On Earth, terrestrial animals over thirty meters in length are few—only a handful, such as Argentinosaurus, Supersaurus, and Tyrannosaurus.

Such dragons became part of the material used in Hayato's armor.

Whether Earth or the other world is safer remains to be seen.

Hayato avoided mentioning the matter.