Are We Dead Now?

Three

Suguro climbed up to the roof of the temple with effort, wondering how his Dad used to do it so fast.

He looked out over the trees, examining the other half of the Inn.

The half his father died in.

There were only a handful of them left now. Most of them had given up on praying to Buddha by now, but some still feebly clung to the hope that Buddha would save them.

Suguro didn't know how they could believe that. Especially after all this. They'd all seen their loved ones killed and eaten alive by these monsters.

Some of the followers believed it was Buddha punishing them for something they must have done wrong.

But why would Buddha punish an entire city? Suguro had gone out on supply runs multiple times. Kyoto was filled with corpses walking around, waiting for food to arrive.

They didn't seem particularly hungry. But when there was a live person in front of them, they ate it. Suguro didn't understand.

He didn't understand how this was possible.

As for the most recent supply runs, those were strange. The city was eerily quiet. Like the zombies left.

But where did they go? What is their motive? Are they walking around just to walk around? Are they smarter than they show? Are they being controlled by something?

Suguro wanted answers. And the only way to get those was to go farther into the city. But they needed to regroup and get their shit together first.

Suguro had already been watching to see who was fit for the mission. Since his father was dead, and so were the other two who would've taken his place, he'd taken it upon himself to be the leader, even if he was leading people older than him.

Mamushi–the oldest daughter of the Hojo clan–was fast and agile, like a snake, the very tattoo her family had adorned their faces with. She was good with disabling the zombies with just her hands without getting bit.

Juzo, the third oldest son of the Shimas', good with his staff and decent with knives. He was also married to Mamushi, so he would've gone anyways. It was a package deal with those two.

Konekomeru was too weak to really fight, but he was good at strategy and usually watched Juzo and Mamushi's kid while they were gone.

Kinzo and Renzo were both too  immature. Kinzo would run in without thinking and get himself killed. He was a real pigheaded idiot. Renzo was a pervert who was lazy, so he wouldn't help at all because he lacked courage and motivation.

Jun, the oldest daughter in the Shima clan, had two kids, but all the children just seemed to like Konekomeru, so he was basically their strategist along with their babysitter.

Jun was sweet and a wonderful woman, but man could she be vicious. She showed a fierceness that even her giant of a husband couldn't match. She was good with slingshots, guns, and anything that enabled her to bash the zombies with.

Her husband, Rukuske, was a gentle man who wasn't much for fighting, so he mainly helped with making meals large enough for everyone. He was also an exceptional doctor, considering his skills in delivering Mamushi and Juzo's daughter months ago.

Suguro didn't know if the zombies had just moved to the other side of the city or if they were really gone for good. He sighed, climbing down. So little information might just be their downfall, but not taking risks to find more information could take them down faster.

"Mom, how are we on food? And what about supplies for Sachi?" He asked, meeting her in the hallway. "We have enough food to last everybody another month if we eat the right portions. I think we're running low on diapers to change Sachi into and her clothes are almost all dirty. It takes a long time to wash and dry things, you know, but she only has about five outfits to begin with, so." Torako answered.

Suguro nodded. They also needed more medical tape and alcohol, along with painkillers and antibiotics. There was some kind of bacteria in the air and the kids were getting sick. Luckily, the antibiotics worked and helped to get rid of whatever it was, but the progress was very slow, so they were running low on those, especially having four kids, a baby included.

Suguro went to find his selected crew.

§~•~§~•~§

"So you want us to come with you to the city for a supply run, but farther into the city to see where those things went? Sounds dangerous." Jun fretted. She may be a great fighter, but first and foremost, she was a mother.

"We need answers. We can't stay here forever." Juzo pointed out. "Our supplies will eventually run out. It's best not to wait until that happens." Mamushi agreed.

"Yes, you're right. And we need a better place to raise the children as well. What do you have in mind? Is there a different city we should move to?" Jun wondered.

"I can't really tell if any other cities are affected like this, but if they are, we need to get out of Japan and to a safer place. But I don't know if the zombies went East or West, so I don't have much information to go off of." Suguro ran his hand through his hair frustratedly.

He used to style it every day, but now it just laid in a messy heap of brunette and blonde on his head, usually tangled. The blonde was growing out, but at least it didn't look bad. Maybe he'd cut it sometime.

"So we need to scout things out and see what's going on? How far should we go?" Juzo deduced. "The first group of zombies we see, we'll come back. But if there's just a straggler or two, we'll keep going." Suguro decided. That seemed to be their best option.

"If we don't get very far this first time, should we go and scout every few days to see the progress?" Mamushi suggested. Suguro thought about it for a moment. "That's actually a good idea. We'll go with that."

They decided to leave in two days.

§~•~§~•~§

The nice thing about cities in Japan was that people didn't really drive all that much. They just walked to get to places. As a result, there were almost no cars on the road to block their way. It seemed that the pandemic hit faster than people could realize they needed to leave the city and get far away from other people.

As the group moved, they picked up things they needed. Medicine and first aid stuff from the pharmacy that wasn't completely looted, some baby clothes for Sachi, along with baby food that miraculously was still okay to eat. Some diapers and rash medicine just in case. On their way back, they'd get anything they missed, but for now, they kept scouting.

They only got about a quarter across the city before finding a few groups of zombies, all shuffling in the same direction–West.

Interesting.....

The group retreated for the moment, but they would go back out in a few days to check progress.

For now, they needed to focus on surviving.