After half an hour of driving through the dark city, the group finally encounters an actual obstacle that's blocking their path forward.
"Uh-oh, looks like a traffic jam up ahead..."
Zeshibana muttered to herself as she spotted a slowly approaching horde of zombies on the road up ahead. She could see the mass of moving undead filled up all the space on the roads without any gap for the Freedom van to pass through safely. If she decided to bulldoze through them with the van, some of the zombies might get stuck on the wheels, so she doesn't want to risk it unnecessarily.
The van's tires screeched to a halt as Zeshibana decided to step on the brake, causing the passengers bodies to jerk against their seatbelts. Zeshibana's eyes narrowed as she sized up the shuffling mass of zombies while the survivors in the back exchanged nervous glances as they saw the horde of zombies blocking their path up ahead. The upbeat music that was still playing in the background now seemed to mock the gravity of their situation as it played on.
"Now then, what to do, I wonder~?"
Zeshibana seems to be unfazed by the sudden crisis as she tapped the wheel with her index finger like she was thinking about something while chewing on the bubble gum in her mouth. Before someone on the back of the van could lose their temper and yell at her to move the van already, she suddenly slammed her foot on the gas pedal, and the Freedom van's engine roared to life as they drove straight to the horde of zombies, much to the shock and panic of the passengers.
"Are you crazy…?!"
"What the fuck are you doing…?!"
Ignoring the frantic shout of her passengers with a cheerful grin, Zeshibana quickly reached beneath her seat with her right hand and pulled out something outrageous: a white grenade launcher, the revolver-type that can shoot six times continuously.
"Eh…?"
Matsushima let out a surprised gasp as well as the passengers who stared at the weapon in Zeshibana's hand with a mix of shock and awe. They were lost for words by the unexpectedly heavy weapon she suddenly pulled up as she lowered the side window and leaned her right arm out of the window with the grenade launcher, aiming straight at the horde.
"Hold on tight, folks, this is going to be a bumpy ride~!"
She warned her passengers with an unhinged expression and excitement in her voice as she fired the grenade launcher, sending a volley of explosive rounds into the zombie horde. With a continuous boom, the explosions rocked the van and the survivors as they held their ears shut and closed their eyes while the explosion sent a shockwave through the streets that made the windows of the nearby buildings rattle.
"Hell yeah~!"
Zeshibana chuckled as she saw that the zombies had no chance as they were obliterated by the explosions in a shower of blood and gore, the air filling with the acrid smell of burning meat as a straight path opened up in the middle of the horde while the other zombies fell around like bowling pins from the shockwaves of the explosions.
"Whoa!"
"Damn…"
Alice exclaimed, her eyes wide with wonder, as she watched the aftermath of the explosive rounds on the horde while her dad was in disbelief as he saw the weapon of war in action for the first time.
"That was... amazing…"
Daiki's voice cracked as he watched the gory scene unfold through the front window of the van in awe. A good chunk of the zombies that once blocked their path were now nothing but a mess of scattered limbs and smoking chunks of flesh on the roads.
Zeshibana's grin as she pulled back the grenade launcher and closed the window, the engine purring quietly as the van picked up speed as they went through what remained of the zombie horde as some zombies that were still standing got run over by the van before they left the grotesque scene behind.
"Well, that was a great way to solve traffic."
Zeshibana said as she put the grenade launcher back down beneath her seat. The other survivors, while shocked, couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and amazement for their driver, who has such a weapon with her.
The van sped down the road as the horde grew smaller behind them, but the unpleasant smell of burnt zombies still lingered inside the van, which caused Zeshibana to once again save the day as she pulled out the canister of air freshener and sprayed it around her before she threw it at one of her passengers.
Ah…!"
Mikoto cried out in surprise as she saw the air freshener fly towards her before she managed to catch it with some difficulty, her heart still racing from the earlier event. She then gives Zeshibana a begrudging look before she starts to spray the foul air with the air freshener.
"W-what kind of company equips their deliverymen with grenade launchers...?! Wait, that's illegal! How did you get it here…?!"
Matsushima, the policewoman, couldn't help but speak up next before she suddenly realized that it's illegal to own such a thing in Japan, and her po-po instinct becomes active even though it shouldn't matter at this point.
"Eh~ I don't know~? You have to speak with the big boss if you want to know~"
Zeshibana shrugged casually, like she doesn't care what the policewoman will do even if she knows about their company possession of illegal weapons. What can she do anyway with the apocalypse going on in the world right now?
"But that shouldn't be your concern, right? It's very useful to have such weapons in this kind of situation after all. I even got a nice toy here to play with, you know~?"
Zeshibana said as she reached down again before she pulled up an MP5 to show her passengers, which made some of them chuckle nervously and caused Matsushima to become speechless.
"Ooh~!"
The little girl, Alice, clapped her hands with her eyes wide in wonder like she was watching a magic show, while the old lady, Tabito, just shook her head in amazement with the absurdity of it all.
÷×÷×÷
Mikoto's heart was racing with anticipation as the Freedom van finally approached the extraction point that the deliverywoman had told them about after an hour of traveling through Tonokosu City. Mikoto stopped writing in her notebook as she could see the bright light from the distant camp near the river that pierced through the darkness of the city like a beacon of hope in this nightmarish hellscape.
"Yo~! I got some new survivors coming in~!"
Zeshibana speaks to the handheld radio in her hand as she nods her head to another deliveryman who is driving the Freedom van beside their van. He noticed her signal and nodded back at her before he sped his van up to make a space for Zeshibana to steer the van in position behind his van, forming a single column along with the other six vans that joined up with them along the way to the extraction point as they formed a convoy of Freedom vans.
"Copy that, keep 'em coming."
"So-kay~!"
After a couple of seconds, a male voice on the handheld radio finally replied back with a neuter tone before Zeshibana put down the radio after she responded to him. The van's engine silently roared as the convoy approached the camp's perimeter, the survivors in the back collectively holding their breath with anticipation before they released the sigh of relief when they saw it was currently not being besieged with zombies or something equally bad, but the mountains of numerous corpses that had been piled up could be seen around the camp as a reminder that it's not truly safe either.
"..."
The survivors tried to ignore the corpses as they focused their eyes on the sight of the extraction point camp that was still filled with the living instead.
As their vans pulled up to the entrance of the camp, they could see two Freedom vans being used as a makeshift barrier that barricaded the entrance of the camp. They could also see a group of heavily armed men clad in black suits, sunglasses, and tactical gear around the entrance and the perimeter of the camp, keeping a lookout for any zombies and humans alike.
When the convoy almost arrived at the entrance, one of the guards immediately waved them through as the two vans that were blocking the entrance moved out of the way to let them in.
When their van passed through the entrance into the camp, the chaotic scene inside immediately greeted them; it was a flurry of activity as people rushed to and from various tents, some with supplies of medicine or food and some with a black body bag that suggested a grim fate for someone. The sound of distant gunfire and explosions also could be heard from time to time, reminding them that the threat of undead was still there.
The Freedom Carrier's extraction point was a stark contrast to the desolate cityscape they've just escaped from. It was a bustling place with people of all ages and backgrounds along with the black-suited guards who carried around military-grade weapons and the white bodysuit deliverymen who were helping out with many things around the camp.
The camp itself was set up along the river with two helicopter landing pads, surrounded by a wall of metal chain-link fence and barbed wire, with spotlights piercing the night sky and illuminating around the camp.
After seeing that everything seems to be doing alright in the extraction point camp, a sense of relief washed over the survivors as Alice's dad tightened his grip on her hand, a faint happy smile forming on his lips as he was glad that they would be safe now with this much security around the place.
The policewoman, Matsushima, checked out the guards and the camp with apprehension on her face as she wondered why on earth the Freedom Carrier needed this kind of serious firepower and security force for just a delivery service business. Are they planning to take over the Tokonosu City or something with this kind of firepower? she thought to herself with a strange expression.
"Alright, here we are~!"
Zeshibana said cheerfully as the van rolled to a halt in the center of the camp before the music stopped as she turned off the music player and killed the car engine. The shutter door in the back slid up smoothly for the survivors to get out, and they were greeted with the noises from outside.
Then a burly man with a stern face in a black suit and sunglasses stepped into the back of the van, a lollipop stick dangling from his lips. He looked them over, his eyes lingering on Alice and her father for a moment longer than the others, before he turned to Zeshibana.
"Good haul."
He said gruffly as he nodded at Zeshibana, who was blowing bubble gum and making a peace sign with her hand, then his grey eyes behind his sunglasses narrowed as he took in the new arrivals.
"Any injuries?"
The survivors shake their heads at the man's question as they gradually come out of the van. The little girl, Alice, looked around the camp with curiosity, her eyes gleaming with the adventurous spirit, while the others also looked around the camp with curiosity.
Seeing them done taking in the surroundings, the man turned around and snapped his fingers at them, indicating for them to follow him like they are a bunch of clueless puppies.
"C'mon, let's go! We don't have all day."
The burly man's gruff voice snapped them out of their daze, and they began to follow him through the camp, along with the other new survivors who had been brought in by the convoy.
Their destination unknown...