Prologue

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The infected people in this novel are not necessarily the zombies you may be familiar with from other works of fiction, nor is this a story about an all-powerful main character that is capable of taking down hordes of the infected all on his own. The setting is modern-day Japan and, as such, only weapons available in Japan will appear. “A gun? What is that? Is it delicious?” Guns won’t appear just for the sake of convenience. 

As the title suggests, the hero of this story will be more likely to choose to escape rather than fighting. That’s not to say that the main character is completely useless or a coward.

I hope the above points will give you a better understanding of what to expect from this novel.

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A small spider climbed from the leaf onto the tip of his finger and slowly made it up the sleeve of his school uniform. When times were different, he would have screamed and panicked trying to get the small creature off his arm, but now everything had changed. There were more terrifying creatures than spiders lurking the streets, waiting in the shadows for any hint of life so they can spring forth and claim their next meal.

He looked out at the houses from his hiding place in the bushes. It looked like any normal neighbourhood you could find in many countries across the world. The only difference was the eery absence of any life on the streets. It was the middle of the day, yet there was nobody out shopping, no cars on the streets, and no children playing in the park. A silent city seemingly void of humanity.

He reached into his pocket and took out a small stone that fit comfortably in his hand. He had picked it up earlier in anticipation of this moment. His target was a two-story house across the street from his hiding place.

He threw the stone with all of his strength at the brick wall. The stone drew a beautiful arc in the sky before clattering against the wall with a loud thud. The boy got low in the bush and waited as the clattering of the stone reverberated through the streets of the empty city. The bushes had grown so long in the absence of any care that it was easy for a fully grown man to hide in them.

In today’s world, carelessly making noise was akin to suicide, but this was a necessary risk he had to take. He still had enough supplies to last a few days, but it had become clear to him that he was running low and a supply run was inevitable. There would be trouble in his future if he was unable to secure supplies from at least one of these houses. Some risks in this new world were necessary.

Five minutes passed as he lay silently in the bushes. If there were any infected around, that sound would’ve been enough to draw them out, but there was no sign of any movement. If there were survivors in the house he hit with a stone, they may have barricaded the doors in a panic or fled the house in fear of being found by the infected.

He finally left the bushes, silently praying that there was no one and nothing waiting for him inside. The spider had left his arm sometime before.

He approached the house from the front. This way of casually walking around in the open would be suicidal if one of the infected spotted him, but the sound test earlier ensured that he could walk out in the open without fear of being spotted as long as he remained quiet.

The front lawn was overgrown to the point where the weeds were up to his knees and the shudders on the front window were wide open. The shudders would be closed if any survivors occupied this building. It’s safe to assume that this house is uninhabited.

He pressed his body against the wall and peered through the corner of the window. The room that he could see into was empty except for a small table covered in magazines and empty cans.

After confirming this, he reached into his backpack and took out a roll of gummed tape. He first placed four strips of tape around the outer age of a single pane of glass. He then put two more strips across the main body of the glass in order to separate the pane into four sections and the final two strips of tape were placed diagonally to split the pane into eight sections.

He then removed a crowbar from his backpack and began lightly tapping the glass through the gummed tape. After a few small taps, he placed the L-shaped section of the crowbar against the glass and applied force against the window.

Cracks began to spiderweb out across the glass but stopped when it reached the tape. Even if the entire window had shattered, with the gummed tape placed in advance, none of it would have fallen to the ground or made any noise loud enough to attract attention.

He waited for a minute to see if anyone would investigate the faint noise he had made, but, naturally, nobody appeared. 

He slowly peeled off the tape with the shards of glass sticking to it. The tape was carefully laid on the ground before he wrapped it in a cloth and placed it in his bag. He made sure his arm was fully covered before reaching through the small hole in the glass and unlocking the window before opening it and climbing inside.

His actions were reminiscent of a thief breaking into a home, but what he was doing was necessary for him to survive. It may undoubtedly be the actions of a thief, but if anyone alive in this world were to witness his actions, they wouldn’t judge him for it. They would be willing to do the same or potentially worse if it meant they would survive for another day.

He was hit with the overwhelming scent of rot and decay the moment he entered the room. It wasn’t the smell of rotting flesh — of which the boy had become all too familiar — it was the smell of rotten food. There were several empty cans lying in the corner of the room which, the boy assumed, was the source of the rank smell.

He carefully observed his surroundings before reassuring himself that the room was empty. The rest of the house had yet to be searched, however, so he needed to remain quiet until he was sure he was alone.

After a quick search of the rubbish in the corner of the room, the boy confirmed that there was nothing of use excluding a lone flashlight he found and put in his backpack.

After sliding open one of the doors, the stench that was surrounding him changed into something that reminded him of a poorly maintained public restroom. It sent a shiver down his spine and he was forced to cover his mouth as he cautiously made his way toward the origin of the offensive smell.

It didn’t take long for him to find the source. Only a few metres down the hall was a staircase leading to the second floor and the source could be seen dangling from the banister halfway up the stairs.

“Ah….”

A body. A lifeless corpse was all that was left of this man that chose to end his life rather than face the horrors that awaited him outside these walls. And it was hanging from the second floor directly above the young boy. A cord was wrapped tightly around the corpse’s neck and tied to the railing on the second floor. The body’s eyes were bulging out of its skull and its mouth had been forced open by its swollen tongue.

A motionless husk hanging from a banister, smelling of excrement. The boy recalled hearing once before that if you chose to commit suicide by hanging yourself there’s only one way for all of your internal fluids to go. It seems that that story was true.

The boy felt no emotion over this horrific scene. The only thought that ran through his mind after witnessing this was, “Ah, not again.” A few months ago he wouldn’t have known what to do after seeing a dead body, but now, in this new world, this has become an everyday occurrence. In fact, this body could be considered in relatively good condition when compared to the mangled chunks of flesh formerly known as human beings that he’s witnessed countless times before.

The thought of why this man committed suicide never crossed his mind. It’s hard to know why this man chose to end his life in this way for there are countless valid reasons that one would commit such an act in this new world. Perhaps he ran out of food or had merely given up. No matter the reason, the result is the same. In a world where your life is almost guaranteed to end by starvation or being eaten alive, many would say he made a wise choice. 

The boy had seen a myriad of men and women kill themselves and even more join the legion of infected.

Based on the size of this house, it’s doubtful that this man lived alone. It’s possible he had a wife and maybe even children, but he hangs alone. It’s hard to imagine that his family would still be living here, so they either left him after he killed himself or they died out in the world somewhere which led to this situation when he chose to join them.

The boy said a silent prayer to the nameless corpse in place of a proper funeral. The number of deaths over the last few months would’ve lead to the funeral homes holding countless funerals in a normal world, yet the last time the boy attended one was over a month ago. Funerals in this new life are nothing more than a hole in the ground where the bodies are piled up and burned with gasoline.

…the boy quickly regained his focus. He understood how desperately he needed to find food to ensure his own survival. There was no time left to mourn the dead. The vile, rotting corpse was left to hang in his eternal slumber as the boy began searching the house.

The obvious destination for food was the kitchen, but it was completely empty. Even the seasonings were empty. The logical assumption was that the man had eaten everything available to him and left nothing behind. This could be the likely cause for his suicide.

After searching the entire first floor, all the boy had to show for his efforts were a few batteries and tools. This isn’t nearly enough to justify the risks he had taken so far.

This left him no choice but to explore the upstairs. It might not make sense to go to the second-floor considering food isn’t likely to be stored there, but he had no choice but to look. Even a small amount of food or supplies is invaluable.

“Uwaa….”

Just as the boy began to ascend the staircase, the cord holding the corpse suddenly snapped and sent the body tumbling down the stairs. In a sane world, this man would be sent to the hospital, but a corpse has no need for hospitals. The cord must’ve reached its limit and finally snapped at the most inopportune of times.

The boy carefully stepped over the body and made his way up the staircase, avoiding the strange cocktail of human excrement and bodily fluids that now covered most of the stairs. He cautiously searched each of the upstairs rooms until he was sure that he was alone.

As he entered the final room, the putrid stench he had grown accustomed to was suddenly replaced by the smell of incense. Inside the room was a small altar with portraits of the family’s ancestors and a single burning incense stick. 

With a faint thought of how he might be punished in the back of his mind, the boy checked the offering plate to see what was there, but, naturally, it was empty. He briefly considered taking the candles from the altar, but the thought made him uncomfortable. Instead, he lit a stick of incense and placed it on the altar before clapping his hands together and silently praying. 

He picked up a second offering plate and incense stick and made his way downstairs before placing them beside the corpse. He was careful to position the dish in a way in which it wouldn’t start a fire. 

“I hope you found your peace.”

He clapped his hands together once more. The thought that both heaven and hell must be overflowing with the dead briefly flashed through his mind but he did his best to ignore it.

He knew he shouldn’t be wasting time honouring the dead, but the memories of peaceful days, not more than a few months ago, were still fresh in his mind. The custom of treating the dead with respect held no worth in this world. 

In the end, he managed to gain very little after searching the house. He walked boldly out of the front door in stark contrast to how he entered. Just like earlier, there was no sign of any infected in the surrounding streets.

His priority now was finding a place to sleep. The place he had been calling home until recently was now completely overrun by the infected. The houses in this area weren’t an option either. No matter how much the world has changed, people still need to sleep. Any place where the infected can easily stumble upon an unconscious person is a terrible option for a temporary home.

Gray clouds were slowly filling up the sky above. Rain was coming. An umbrella isn’t an option. He can’t sacrifice the use of one of his hands and it would also slow him down. Walking around in the rain isn’t an option either. Doctors don’t exist in this new world and medicine has become a rarity since every drugstore has almost assuredly been looted at this point. Maintaining one’s health is more important than ever. Even a minor illness can become serious in a world void of modern medicine. The boy knew that if he became sick or injured, there would be no one to help him.

He put his backpack on and took off running through the deserted streets.

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