CHAPTER 37: HORDE!

"What’s happening?" Miko asked who was walking towards him and peeked.

Her eyes widened. "Zombies...what are we goin—"

Miko was about to scream but Riku quickly shut her off by covering her mouth.

"Remember the rule I told you?" Riku simply asked, reminding her of one of the rules he mentioned.

Miko nodded, acknowledging him.

"Good. Then listen carefully. I’ll hold them off. You get supplies to the car. As many as you can carry—every trip, don’t stop until I tell you."

Her breath caught, panic flickering in her eyes. "H-How many do you want me to grab?"

"As many," Riku repeated firmly, cutting her hesitation. "Don’t count. Just move."

She hesitated for half a heartbeat, then clenched her fists and nodded again. She picked up the plastic bag that she dropped and hurriedly stowed as many cans in it.

Meanwhile, Riku stepped out of the door and faced the zombies sprinting toward him now.

He cocked his M4 Carbine. A sixty-round magazine sat snug in the well, with ten more pouches strapped across his chest. He had enough to buy Miko minutes—minutes she couldn’t waste.

"Go!" he barked without looking back.

Miko dashed past him, slipping out the other side of the door toward the vehicle.

Riku planted his boots firmly, raised the rifle, and set it to burst. The first three-round burst cracked through the air, dropping the lead zombie mid-sprint. The body crumpled, but more piled in behind.

One down... keep the line steady.

He paced his shots, every controlled squeeze spitting out short, lethal bursts. Brass casings ejected and clattered against the pavement, some bouncing off his boots. Heads snapped back, skulls splitting under the 5.56 rounds, but the horde didn’t falter.

They kept coming.

"Move faster, Miko..." he muttered under his breath, finger resetting on the trigger.

A quick glance left showed her struggling with the first load—plastic bag digging into her arms as she hurried across the lot. He turned back forward just in time to stitch another trio of zombies down.

A growl echoed closer. One of the dead broke off from the group and lunged at him from the side. Riku pivoted, jammed the rifle butt forward, and smashed its face in with a sickening crunch before firing point-blank into its chest. The burst tore it apart, throwing it back onto the asphalt.

"Miko!" he shouted without turning. "Don’t stop moving—back and forth, keep going!"

"I-I’m going!" she yelled back, her voice shaking as she shoved the first load into the car and sprinted back to the store.

Riku swapped to a fresh magazine in practiced motion—drop, slap, rack—before leveling the rifle again. He could feel the sweat running down the back of his neck, mixing with the grit and smoke in the air.

More were closing in, drawn by the noise. Ten, maybe fifteen. It didn’t matter. He kept the barrel steady and unleashed another burst, carving a line through them.

"Come on, come on..." he muttered, eyes flicking for a gap in the horde. He just needed to hold.

Behind him, he heard Miko’s hurried footsteps as she reentered the store. The sound was enough. She was alive. She was moving. That was all that mattered.

The noise spread like wildfire.

From every alley, every broken doorway, more of them poured out. Tens became dozens, dozens began to swell into something worse. The street groaned under the echo of their snarls, their bodies surging forward in waves.

Riku’s jaw tightened. "So it’s like that, huh?"

He braced his rifle, flicked the selector from burst to full-auto.

The M4 thundered in his hands, muzzle spitting controlled fire as he swept across the charging horde. Each squeeze poured a stream of bullets into the front line. Heads exploded, torsos ripped apart, legs blown out from under them. A wall of bodies began piling in front of him, but the dead climbed over their fallen without hesitation.

Keep the distance. Don’t let them close the gap.

Casings flew in arcs, clattering against the ground, forming their own golden trail at his feet. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the foul stench of rotting flesh, burning into his nose as the line of corpses thickened.

"Riku!" Miko’s voice rang out from behind him, straining with effort as she staggered toward the car with another bag in her arms.

"Keep moving!" he barked, voice sharp as the crack of his rifle. He didn’t even look back. "Trip, fall, or freeze and you’re dead—so don’t!"

She didn’t argue. She shoved the bag into the back seat of the SUV and bolted back toward the store, her shoes skidding on broken glass as she vanished through the doors again.

Riku ejected the spent drum with a practiced slap, let it drop into the dirt, and slammed in another. Bolt forward—ready. He leaned back into the rifle and unleashed hell again.

The first sixty had cut them down by the dozen. The second mag painted the street in blood. His fire stitched across heads and shoulders, severing necks, turning the front ranks into nothing but obstacles for those behind.

But they still kept coming.

Riku’s breaths came harsh and steady, sweat dripping into his eyes. He adjusted his stance, boots digging into the asphalt as though he could root himself into the earth. The recoil pounded against his shoulder in a constant rhythm, but he didn’t falter.

A pile of corpses rose before him, chest-high now, a grotesque barricade made of the fallen. Their bodies tangled together, limbs twitching, some still snapping their jaws even as their skulls lay caved in.

He kept firing into them anyway, head after head bursting into silence.

The crowd pressed harder, crawling over the dead. A hundred, maybe more now. Riku narrowed his eyes, teeth gritted as he switched targets faster, cutting down those that slipped around the edges.

Behind him, Miko stumbled out again, dragging two bags this time. Her face was red with strain, but she didn’t stop. She ran, dumped them into the SUV, and darted back toward the store.

Riku couldn’t afford to cover her. He had to trust she’d keep moving, just as he ordered.

Another mag ran dry. He swapped it with a snap of his wrist, chambered a round, and brought the weapon back up.

The pile was higher now. A mountain of corpses between him and the rest of the city. He’d turned the street into a barricade of blood and bone. The only thing holding the horde back was his will and his firepower.

He squared his shoulders, raised the muzzle, and roared over the storm of snarls.

"Come on, you bastards!"

"Riko! I think I got everything!"

Riku threw a cursory glance at Miko who was exhausted from the back and forth trip. He saw the SUV already loaded with bottled waters, instant noodles, canned goods, et cetera. It was enough.

"Okay, I want you to start the vehicle. Can you do that?" Riku asked, returning his gaze to the horde of zombies.

"I can," Miko answered and quickly went to the driver seat without waiting for Riku’s response. Just as she remembered, pushed the brake pedal and pressed the ignition button and the engine came to life.

After that, she went over to the passenger seat and shouted. "It’s done!"

When Riku heard that, he dashed towards the driver’s seat of the SUV and closed it just in time for the zombies to slam against the SUV.

Riku shoved the gear into reverse, tires screeching as the SUV jerked back from the writhing pile. He spun the wheel, slammed it into drive, and the engine roared.