CHAPTER 76: HEADING TO THE SUPERMARKET

Riku’s hands trembled as he tore the last belt of ammo dry. The M249 clicked hollow, smoke curling off its overheated barrel. The street was a butcher’s floor—piles of mangled corpses, severed limbs, and black blood steaming in the late-afternoon air. The horde had thinned, but more groans echoed in the distance.

He spat blood onto the asphalt and staggered back to the Rezvani. The SUV leaned crooked against the wreckage of the storefront, its hood crushed inward, its windshield fractured into a spider’s nest of cracks.

"Come on... you’re not done yet," Riku muttered, dragging the M249 with him. He shoved the heavy weapon into the back seat, ammo belts clattering after it. Then he hauled himself into the driver’s side, ribs screaming with every movement.

The cabin smelled of oil, smoke, and blood. He slammed a hand against the ignition switch. The engine coughed, choked, and died.

"No, no, no—" He hit it again.

The Rezvani groaned like a wounded beast, lights flickering weakly across the dash. Then, with a roar that rattled his bones, the V8 came alive. The whole frame trembled, but the heartbeat of the machine was steady.

Riku grinned through blood-stained teeth. "Knew you wouldn’t let me down."

He gripped the wheel and slammed the SUV into gear. Tires screeched, kicking up shards of glass as the Rezvani tore free from the storefront, its armored nose plowing into the street. Zombies stumbled into its path, and Riku floored the accelerator.

CRUNCH!

The Rezvani rammed through the horde like a steel hammer, bodies folding under its weight, snapping bones and spraying gore across the asphalt. The windshield wipers smeared black blood aside, clearing his view as more zombies staggered into the lane.

Riku didn’t slow down. He was a juggernaut now, every groan and clawing hand nothing more than meat for the grinder. His destination was clear in his mind, the supermarket.

The Rezvani thundered down the ruined street, its engine howling like a beast unleashed. Every turn tightened Riku’s grip on the wheel, his ribs aching with every jolt. The supermarket loomed in the distance, its wide docking bay doors visible even from the far end of the block.

But his chest tightened the moment he saw it.

The shutter was down—but torn open. Jagged steel curled outward, bent and twisted as though pried apart by force. Dark stains streaked the concrete leading inside.

"Shit..." Riku muttered, slamming the brake. The Rezvani screeched to a halt just outside the loading dock, its engine rumbling low, angry.

Riku grabbed an M4 Carbine from his inventory, slamming a fresh mag into place. The bolt snapped forward with a metallic bite. He drew in one breath, steadying himself, then shoved the door open.

Groans met him instantly.

Zombies lurched out of the docking bay, their jaws dripping, clothes soaked red. They stumbled over one another, the stench of rot thick enough to choke.

Riku raised the M4. BRRT-BRRT! Controlled bursts stitched across the first wave, skulls bursting as bodies toppled. He stepped forward, boots crunching glass and brass, never letting the rifle dip. Another group surged from the shadows. Riku pivoted, the Carbine barking, the recoil punching into his bruised ribs. Every shot was pain—but also release.

He forced his way through the ruined dock, deeper into the supermarket.

Inside, the air was worse. Blood smeared across the tiled floor, drag marks painting trails toward the aisles. Bodies lay scattered—some raiders, some survivors—but most were moving again, groaning as the infection twisted them into monsters.

"Murata..." Riku breathed, spotting a figure slumped against the wall near the stairwell to the basement.

The man’s head snapped up. His eyes were milk-white, his mouth gaping in a hungry snarl. Murata, once their loudest voice of defiance, now nothing but another corpse. He lunged, teeth gnashing.

Riku’s finger squeezed. BRRT! Murata’s skull exploded backward against the wall, smearing gray across the concrete.

But there were more. Others Riku had seen alive just yesterday—faces he recognized, twisted now into snarling mockeries. Former guards. Survivors. Men who had shared rations with him. Now all turned.

Riku’s chest tightened, but his rifle stayed steady. BRRT-BRRT-BRRT! He cut them down one after another, clearing a path to the basement.

Each step downward felt heavier. Blood trickled from his forehead, stinging his eye. His ribs screamed, but he pressed on. The air in the stairwell was thick with iron and rot. The basement door hung open, its frame splintered.

Riku swallowed hard, his grip on the Carbine tightening. He knew what he would find—yet dread still burned in his stomach.

He stepped inside.

The basement was a graveyard. Blood pooled across the concrete floor, supplies overturned and trampled. Bodies lay strewn about, twitching or still.

And there, in the flickering light, he saw them. The survivors, they all turned. But most of them were male.

Riku sighed. He had to kill them all. For sure they won’t like to be in that state.

"I will give you all peace."

Riku’s voice cracked, low but steady, as he raised the M4 to his shoulder.

The basement erupted in snarls. The first corpse, a man who had once stood guard at the supermarket’s main door, lurched forward, arms clawing. Riku fired. BRRT! The shot punched clean through its skull, the body crumpling to the floor.

Another stumbled from behind the overturned shelves, its intestines dragging across the concrete like a grotesque tail. Riku pivoted, sight steady despite his trembling arms, and put two rounds through its chest before finishing with one to the head.

Every muzzle flash lit the basement in violent strobe, painting the walls red and white.

Riku moved. Each shot was pain lancing through his ribs, each squeeze of the trigger forcing his battered body further. But he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

When the last corpse dropped, Riku exhaled.

He lowered the Carbine, scanning the carnage. Dozens lay dead for good now, the flicker of infection gone from their pale eyes.

But the dread in his stomach didn’t fade.

Because through all the bodies, all the slaughter. Hana, Suzune, Ichika, and Miko were nowhere to be found.

The girls weren’t here.

"They... took them," Riku muttered. "Who could they be? I have to find them."

[New Mission Available: Find your lost classmates and sister.]