Tokonosu International Airport was far from the police station we were at. Even using a humvee, it would need around 2 hours of travel, that was if the road was empty.
Unfortunately, empty was never the word for Tokonosu anymore since last week.
The worst problem came in the form of zombies clustered together around narrow roads. It was troublesome to use Humvee to push them away due to the vehicle size. Moreover, the number of zombies stuck together made the car's movement slower and consumed more fuel.
Also, shooting at zombies from the car would waste our ammo and bring even more to us.
So we had to take another route.
"Ugh, it's so slow." Saya grumbled impatiently.
She was sitting in the backseat behind mine, making herself as comfortable as possible.
However, just as she said, our journey was painfully slow. We were already traveling for two hours and it felt like forever to me. The fuel gauge indicated that there were still plenty of reserves left; however, having too little wouldn't do us any favors when dealing with unexpected situations later.
Besides, according to GPS device installed in the vehicle, the airport was situated somewhere near the coastline area. It was still tens of kilometers away.
"Daiki, should we stop at the gas station first?" Miss Shizuka asked, "We have some reserve fuel in the trunk, but it's better to refuel anyway. There is one nearby."
I nodded my head before speaking out loud, "Sure, let's refuel."
Having more fuel meant more safety for us.
Thus we stopped at a gas station along the street not too far from the city center.
"It's so empty." I commented absentmindedly whilst staring at deserted surroundings, "I was prepared to bring only a barrel to refuel if there are many abandoned cars, but... This is emptier than I imagined."
Although there were a lot of zombies roaming around, there were no signs of people loitering about. Most likely everyone evacuated days ago once news spread about what's going on outside their homes & workplaces.
"I see. It's like a ghost town here." Saeko agreed softly.
We were indeed a bit away from the city's center, more into the countryside but still close enough to the police station.
After arriving at the gas station, we quickly checked on everything important and did necessary preparations before starting to refill the humvee's tank to full.
Because the refueling system needed to pay first, and we got no money, I decided to take a rather extreme solution.
"It's open." I grinned as I looked at the register I opened with M1A1's buttstock.
We had no money but didn't mean we wouldn't be taking other valuable things. While the store looked like it had been ransacked, there were still goods like water, soda, beer, and junk food that could survive the apocalypse.
We quickly stocked them on the car and filled it with as much as possible.
Though, just when I thought we could safely get away with a full stomach and fuel tank, a noise rang from the store we were just in.
"What the?" Saya gasped when the second shaking occurred, "W-What is that?"
"It's from inside." Miss Shizuka commented, "Is there a survivor there?"
"I don't know." I admitted truthfully, "If it's a thief or a zombie, I'll take care of it."
"Are you sure?" Saeko asked worriedly, "Shouldn't you let me go instead?"
"Don't worry." I reassured her confidently, patting her shoulder gently, "Stay here and protect Saya and Miss Shizuka. I will deal with whoever is there in an instant."
With that, I entered the store once again. I unsheath my sword carefully while walking slowly through the aisle until reaching the door leading into the storage room where noises originated from earlier.
When I got closer, the voice became louder.
Taking a deep breath first to calm down nerves, I gripped the doorknob and twisted it clockwise.
Slowly opening the entrance, I peeked inside and immediately closed it again. I didn't even care about looking twice and stepped away from the door, leaving the store in an hurry.
The other three had already settled in the humvee. I quickly jumped in and turned to Miss Shizuka.
"What, you're not going to save that person?" Saya asked as if expecting something like heroism from me.
"Just get going. Miss Shizuka, start the engine and go at full speed." I demanded firmly, ignoring Saya's question and putting trust in the older woman sitting next to me driving the humvee.
Fortunately, my reaction seemed to cause concern among everyone else. Miss Shizuka nodded and started the car, speeding away from the gas station immediately after shifting gears into high gear mode.
"Is... Is that person alright?" Saeko questioned cautiously whilst watching me intently for signs of trouble.
"Yeah... Just let it be. I don't think we need to care anymore." I responded vaguely without bothering to elaborate further.
I was trying hard to suppress my horror after recalling what I saw a moment ago inside the storeroom. Explaining it to the other might be too much. But well, considering that it shouldn't appear easily outside the storeroom... I decided to keep it a secret.
'It's not zombies' work. Most likely humans'.'
So let's leave that thing there, yeah? Anyway, what is it with me and the convenience store? Meeting danger every time.
Seeing my reaction, Saeko didn't push it either and only stared silently out the window. She understood I had secrets, and accepted that I couldn't reveal all of them.
Sometimes I wonder, how does her brain work to come up with such acceptance?
We continued driving towards the airport for a while longer. Along the way, we came across a few stranded vehicles that were left abandoned along highways or roadsides.
I had to come down the humvee to move those cars from our way. With my strength, pushing the unlocked cars was easy.
"Are you a human?" Saya asked mockingly, "Even though the cars are unlocked, only you can do this, pushing a mini truck out of our way with bare hands."
"You want to try it?"
"No, I don't want to try."
Of course, not every time we could get lucky, getting only unlocked cars or small cars. Some were big vehicles or locked ones. Those were impossible to be removed.
So we had to find another detour.
It took almost two hours extra due to these obstacles along the roads we passed by until finally reaching our destination—Tokonosu International Airport.
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