Zeroy returned from the airport with Shizuka Marikawa's friend—Rika Minami.
In the original, she wasn't part of the main group, as she never truly joined them. But as Shizuka's long-time friend, she was without doubt an ally.
So Zeroy could trust her.
Her addition also greatly increased the group's survival odds.
For Rika wasn't ordinary—she was a top sniper and inspector in the Prefectural Police's Special Assault Team (S.A.T), skilled with firearms and trained in piloting vehicles.
After bringing her back, Zeroy briefly instructed everyone to arm themselves for self-defense and to gather and sort supplies to be taken. Then she left the base alone.
She still had things to do—and she had yet to find a suitable safe haven for the group.
…
"..."
Now, Zeroy sat beneath the eaves of a tall building, thinking through her next plan of action.
Below her stretched a terrifying apocalyptic tide.
For kilometers around, zombies were rioting.
They poured out of buildings, converging into a black tide flooding the streets, surging toward the tower where Zeroy perched.
They toppled abandoned cars, crushed rubble beneath rotting feet, clawing hands raised high, their howls echoing across the city.
The sheer numbers soon formed a mountain of corpses.
The undead fell over each other, climbing their kin's bodies into a staircase of flesh and bone.
Farther still, more swarmed ceaselessly, drawn by the noise Zeroy had created—moths to flame, rushing the steel tower.
"..."
Zeroy ignored them, typing steadily on her keyboard.
She had three tasks:
Continue culling zombies: the more she slew, the more Points she gained, and the more the survivors of Tokonosu City could live—advancing Goal 1: Ensure the survival of humanity.
Find the virus sample: this outbreak was almost certainly man-made, the work of a global organization—Umbrella in all but name.
Otherwise, how could the virus have erupted worldwide at once?
If man-made, there should be labs storing the original strain.
Find them, take the sample, and annihilate the organization.
Along the way, she could also search for a secret base suitable for the group.
Find an uninhabited island: nothing more to explain. Locate one—or a hidden base—and relocate the girls with supplies there.
These were her priorities, in that order.
First, cull zombies, then search for the virus sample.
Seeing the horde had gathered enough, Zeroy jotted down a few addresses in her notebook and closed it.
She rose, the black-red Striker Blade appearing in her hand, startling nearby crows and vultures.
The rooftops of nearby buildings teemed with them—they followed her now. Scavenger birds had learned that wherever Zeroy went, corpses and carnage would follow.
Looking down at the seething horde, she leapt promptly.
She sprinted down the tower's wall, body an arrow loosed. Each step cracked the wall beneath, her speed climbing until she became a crimson tornado.
In a blink, she slammed into the mountain of corpses like a missile.
This time, Zeroy abandoned her usual precision.
She became a machine of indiscriminate slaughter, existing only to kill faster, more completely.
Her blade blurred into afterimages, flashing arcs weaving into a net of death, a barrier nothing could cross.
Any zombie that touched it exploded into pieces—blood, flesh, and limbs raining like a storm.
In less than ten minutes, it was over.
Silence returned. Then hundreds of crows and vultures descended, covering the sea of corpses.
These days, it wasn't her sword speed that slowed her, but the time zombies took to gather.
Once a zone was purged, she left immediately.
Since leaving the survivor base, she had cleared three areas already. While waiting for hordes to gather, she hacked networks on her notebook.
And just now, she had uncovered what she sought.
There was indeed a culprit.
A global monopoly spanning politics, military, economics, and medicine. Umbrella by another name.
Its tendrils spread to every nation—even the poorest corners of Africa.
And in Tokonosu City stood one of its branches.
She had yet to find definitive proof, but odds were overwhelming. The virus samples—and perhaps even a cure—would be there.
Crossing half the city in moments, she arrived at the branch.
Inside, she found it fallen, corpses and zombies strewn like anywhere else.
But her radar told her there were survivors nearby.
Her eyes lowered to the floor beneath her feet.
—A secret underground base.
A normal pharmaceutical company should not have such a thing.
Minutes later, a heavy alloy gate was sliced to scraps.
And the moment she stepped through, she was greeted—violently.
A line of soldiers had been waiting. As soon as Zeroy appeared, they emptied their magazines.
In seconds, hundreds of rounds flew.
Without armor, bullets could wound Zeroy.
If they could hit her.
...
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