Note: The second group included Hisashi, Rei, Ishi, Takuzo, Naomi, Yamada, three additional boys, three high school girls, Kato, and the two firefighters.
***
Going back right after Rei's group separated from Nach's group:
"Kato-san!" Hisashi shouted, signaling Kato to open fire while he and the other boys held back the undead, pinning them with their makeshift metal spears.
"Keep your head down," Kato said as he aimed his assault rifle.
BANG!!!
He swiftly took down the three undead wielding what they could only assume were infectious blades, hitting accurately with headshots.
"Good job taking the lead, Hisashi-kun. It's no wonder you are Rei-chan's boyfriend."
"It's nothing impressive," Hisashi replied, though he didn't comment on being Rei's boyfriend. "As long as we've got our spears to hold them back, you can take them down with your gun."
It was the plan Hisashi came up with for them to safely push through toward the shelter after separating from Nach and Kohta, who were the main fighting force of their entire group.
So far, it had been effective, but at the same time exhausting—not only physically, since even a slow-walking undead was still stronger than the average human, but also mentally, since they were moving and fighting in a dimly lit environment illuminated only by moonlight and their flickering lanterns.
"Let's take a break..." Takuzo said, catching his breath as he wiped his sweat with his trademark towel hanging over his neck—until his girlfriend Naomi approached him to do the wiping while holding her lantern.
"Even if just a few minutes..." Yamada agreed before collapsing and sitting at the side of the road.
"How far exactly are we from the evacuation shelter, Officer Kato?" Ishi asked, growing worried that the other students wouldn't have enough stamina to keep fighting the undead, even though they had fought less compared to their earlier encounters.
"Just a few more blocks," Kato replied. "With our pace, we will get there in half an hour."
"Half an hour?"
"But didn't you say it was already close?"
"We don't know what we might encounter while strolling around that long."
"Maybe it was actually a bad idea to separate from Sensei's group."
"Should we just wait for them?"
"That's right, let's just hide somewhere and wait for them."
Hearing the terrified remarks of the other six high school boys and girls, even Rei—who was feeling confident with the unknown strength she could feel within her body—couldn't help but worry if she could keep everyone safe.
'Don't hesitate to abandon everyone and run back to me if something goes wrong.'
Nach's warning kept flashing in her mind like an ominous sign that something bad was going to happen.
Still, Rei tried to dismiss her anxious thoughts, not wanting to abandon everyone—especially Hisashi.
After all, she was still his girlfriend—or at least that's what Rei kept telling herself to try to forget her repeated intimacy with Nach.
"What should we do, Hisashi?" Rei said, letting him decide whether they would proceed on their own or wait for Nach's group.
"If the shelter is indeed in trouble like Kato-san assumed, then we need to get there as fast as we can to help," Hisashi said, urging everyone to follow him.
Like Hisashi, everyone else except Rei was worried for their families at the evacuation shelter. That was why they volunteered to be part of the raid team, so they could check on their families after losing contact due to the blackout caused by the EMP blast.
However, now that they were following Hisashi and realizing the recklessness of their decision, a similar thought flashed through all of them;
If the shelter was indeed in trouble, what could a group of a dozen high schoolers, a single police officer, and two firemen do to help and resolve the situation?
***
Their group continued to push through the night.
After walking for not even ten minutes, they encountered what they feared—a group of irregular undead.
"Fuc—!"
"Those are mutilated undead."
The two firemen panicked the instant the light from the lanterns illuminated four rod-less and ball-less naked undead.
"Mutated?" Ishi said, mishearing what the fireman said.
"No—mutilated..."
Before Kato could explain why they called the rod-less and ball-less naked undead "mutilated" due to their missing manhood, the four irregular undead rushed at their group, running like crazy.
"They're fast!" Hisashi shouted, warning everyone like Captain Obvious, but forgetting to mention that irregular undead could be overpowered as well.
BANG!!!
Kato opened fire, but his aim for headshots missed, and the shots that hit the body barely slowed down the undead.
"Gahhh—!"
One of the boys screamed in panic, losing strength in his legs and arms as he stumbled to the ground and dropped his metal spear.
ROAR—!
The first mutilated undead was about to reach their group, throwing itself at Takuzo before he could react to defend himself or for Naomi to help him.
Rei, however, was already ready to counter.
She threw her spear—BAM!—piercing the undead through the chest and impaling it onto one of the abandoned cars.
ROAR—!
Seeing the undead wasn't dead yet, along with the rest approaching, Rei picked up the fallen spear to replace her weapon.
BANG!!!
Kato continued his assault until he finally took down the second mutilated undead by blasting its head.
The remaining two, however, managed to reach their group.
The third undead jumped at one of the firemen, pinning him to the ground.
Still, the fireman knew the mutilated undead didn't go for the bite. He grabbed both of its arms, trying to stop it from grabbing him, until his companion chopped off its head by repeatedly swinging his axe.
The fourth and last undead jumped at one of the high school boys. But unlike the fireman, he didn't know that the mutilated undead didn't bite but instead aimed to take his manhood.
The mutilated undead tore the boy's pants and underwear, exposing his rod and balls before tearing them apart.
"ARGH—!"
While the unfortunate boy screamed in pain, the mutilated undead connected his rod and balls to its bloodstained crotch.
To everyone's shock, it connected like some kind of Lego parts.
What's more disturbing was that the supposed rod-less and ball-less undead immediately became aroused, enhancing the boy's rod into an impressive 12-inch erection.
The legendary 12-inch undead tossed aside the now rod-less and ball-less boy and rushed toward one of the high school girls for an obvious reason—to violate her.
"Gyahhh—!"
As the girl screamed in fear for her life and chastity, Rei swung her spear, intercepting the incoming undead and severing its head.
"Cut it off, Rei-chan!" Kato warned, hoping that it would be enough for Rei to figure out that the mutilated undead wouldn't die even if its head was cut off once it gained a new set of rod and balls—and that she needed to mutilate it to kill it.
Regardless, that was exactly Rei's plan.
Her return slash with her spear cut off the legendary 12-inch rod, including its massive balls, killing the undead as it stumbled to the ground.
While everyone was still in shock at the absurdity of what they witnessed, the first undead finally freed itself from the spear impaling it to the abandoned car and resumed its assault on Takuzo.
ROAR—!
"There's no way I'm letting you take Takuzo's!" Naomi shouted as she swung her machete and, surprisingly, beheaded the undead in a single strike.
Rei and Naomi's clear display of unusual physical strength should have caught the group's attention.
However, everyone's attention was directed at the victim in their group.
"Please... Ugh!... Help... Argh—!"
The boy wasn't bitten, so he shouldn't have turned undead.
And despite bleeding from his crotch, his injury shouldn't have killed him immediately.
Yet as he slowly crawled on the ground, he was clearly dying and turning undead—as if the curse of the mutilated undead had been passed onto him after his rod and balls were taken.
"Hisashi—"
BANG—!
The boy died crawling toward Hisashi and calling his name—either for help or blaming him—before Kato shot him in the head to end his suffering.
Hisashi collapsed to his knees, feeling guilty as he remembered Nach's words.
'...no one is to blame—but you're the one who convinced them.'