CHAPTER 52: PICKING UP THE TWO

They arrived at the apartment and Riku scanned the surroundings and heaved a sigh of relief knowing that it looked exactly as they left it.

He looked up at the eighth floor of the apartment building where he lived. The door to his unit was still intact—no signs of forced entry, no barricades broken. That meant they were still inside, waiting. Good. At least they hadn’t made any rash decisions. He hadn’t been able to update them since he left, so now was as good a time as any.

Riku unclipped the walkie-talkie from his vest, twisting the knob until it aligned with Suzune’s frequency. Static hissed through the speaker for a second before he pressed the transmit button.

"It’s me," he said. "Suzune, can you hear me? Over."

For a moment, only the faint crackle of interference answered. His grip on the radio tightened. Then, a familiar voice broke through, shaky but alive.

"Riku? Is that you? Over."

Relief washed through him. "Yeah. I’m outside the building. Listen carefully—Miko and I secured a safe location with supplies and space to hold out. I’m here to bring you guys there. Stay put until I come up. Over."

A pause, followed by Suzune’s voice again, steadier this time. "We’ve been waiting... I was worried. We’ll be ready. Over."

Riku glanced at Miko, who gave him a small nod. He slid the radio back onto his vest. "They’re okay. You stay here, I’ll pick them up."

"Are you sure? What if there are zombies wandering in between floors?"

"Don’t worry about it, I can handle them."

Miko pressed her lips together, clearly wanting to argue, but she gave a reluctant nod. "Fine. Just... don’t do anything reckless."

Riku gave a small smirk. "Reckless is the last thing I’ll be." He tightened the sling of his M4, checked the Glock at his hip, and adjusted the tomahawk at his side. One last breath, then he pushed the door to the stairwell open.

Second floor. Clear.

Third floor. A faint scuff of movement made him freeze. Riku crouched low, his sight aligned with the noise. A shadow shuffled near the far wall, slow and uneven. Zombie. Alone. He raised the M4, a single suppressed crack, and it collapsed without so much as a groan.

He stepped past the corpse carefully, eyes flicking to every corner. Nothing else stirred.

By the fifth floor, his shoulders ached from tension. Every door he passed had been broken into or left wide open, the apartments gutted by scavengers or worse. He thought of Suzune and the others waiting above, praying their barricades held.

Sixth floor. A louder groan. He swung the light and caught two biters staggering from a hallway. Their jaws worked, drool glistening in the beam.

"Not today," he muttered. Two short bursts, and they dropped.

His pace quickened now, boots whispering against the dusty concrete. The seventh floor clear.

Finally, he reached the eighth. His door was still there—wood splintered but intact, furniture braced behind it just like he left. Relief washed through him again.

He raised the walkie-talkie. "Suzune, I’m here. Open up—slowly."

Inside, locks rattled. Seconds later, it opened slowly and a head peeked from ajar.

It was Suzune and when she saw Riku alive and well, she fully opened the door and placed a hand over her chest.

"I’m glad!"

"Onichan!" Hana’s small voice cracked as she shoved past Suzune, flinging herself into Riku’s chest. Her thin arms wrapped around him, clinging desperately.

Riku stumbled back a step from the sudden weight but steadied himself, one hand instinctively bracing her head. "Hana... I’m here."

"You’re alive," she whispered, her voice trembling as tears soaked into his shirt. "I thought... I thought you weren’t coming back."

Riku’s jaw tightened. He pulled her close for a brief moment before gently prying her arms free. "I promised I’d come back. And I did. No crying now—we don’t have the time."

Ichika also came out from the bedroom. "Oh it’s you Riku, we thought you abandoned us."

"Sorry for not updating you from the walkie-talkie, but all is fine now. Now I need you guys to come with me."

"Where’s Miko?"

"She’s at the truck that I used from the supermarket," Riku answered plainly. "She’s waiting there while I came up to get you."

Suzune stepped closer, her eyes searching his. "So you really found somewhere?"

Riku nodded once. "A supermarket. Supplies for weeks, maybe months if we ration carefully. And more importantly—other survivors. Fifty-five of them, all holed up in the basement. They’ve got numbers, but no one who can actually fight. That’s where we come in."

Suzune’s brows furrowed slightly at the mention of "other survivors," but she held her silence, instead glancing back toward Ichika and Hana. "If what you’re saying is true, then this is our best chance. We can’t stay holed up here forever. We’ll come."

Riku gave a sharp nod. "Good. Okay let’s go."

The three of them began their hurried preparations, and since there’s not much to take from the apartment, they quickly exited the unit and followed Riku.

The stairwell was quiet at first, only the creak of their footsteps echoing in the stale air. Riku kept his rifle raised, every sense on edge. Suzune guided Hana close, while Ichika stayed just behind them, her eyes darting nervously at every shadow.

By the sixth floor, a distant groan carried up from below. Riku froze, holding a clenched fist in the air. Everyone stopped instantly. Down the stairwell, a lone zombie dragged itself into view, its head jerking unnaturally as it sniffed the air.

Riku didn’t hesitate. One suppressed shot, clean through the skull, and the body tumbled down the stairs with a dull thud. He motioned them forward again.

"Don’t look," he muttered as they stepped past the corpse.

Finally, they pushed through the exit doors into the lobby. Dust hung in the air, sunlight breaking faintly through the shattered windows. Outside, the street was eerily still. Miko’s figure was faintly visible in the van, and there was a glad expression on her face when she saw them.