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[HOTD] Chapter 73 – Licker
🕑 Added 2025-05-13 08:09:25 +0000 UTCThe sun rose pretty late in the morning, around 7 o'clock. Saeko and Saya had already gone downstairs, probably preparing breakfast.
Meanwhile, Miss Shizuka slept beside me, her soft breath caressing my neck. Her naked body was pressed against mine under a thick blanket, sharing warmth and comfort despite cold weather outside.
Her beautiful face was adorned by messy bed hair, which made her seem younger than she truly was.
I slowly got out of bed and put on my clothes and jacket. After I dressed up, I went downstairs and heard the sound of cooking. Nice aroma drifted through the air as I approached the kitchen.
There, Saeko cooked soup while Saya set the table.
"Good morning, brother."
"Good morning."
I greeted them back with a nod and a smile. "Good morning. It smells so good. Are we having fresh ingredients today?"
"Unfortunately, no." Saeko turned off the stove and turned to me, "I just take a few canned goods from the house, but we're out of luck for the fresh ingredients. We don't even find a farm here."
"Ah, that's a shame."
I sighed. This city was probably not big enough for farming, which meant the city was probably supplied with food from another city.
"By the way, I heard a car outside this morning." Saya added, putting her finger on her chin in thought, "It drove away before I could check, so I didn't really know the type or who drove that."
"A car?" I asked, raising my eyebrows curiously.
"I also heard it," Saeko added, she put the pan on the table and took off her gloves, "It sounded a bit similar to our car but the engine is more... How do I say it, loud?"
Similar but louder than a humvee?
'Maybe it's a military vehicle. It would make sense if they want to check and confirm the destruction of yesterday's bombardment.'
This was a big chance for us to get a connection to the main army. If we missed this chance, maybe we had to travel to Chicago by ourselves, which would be a drag and dangerous without any plan.
I wanted to go there now, but it was too early. If the vehicle left already, we wouldn't be able to find them easily, especially because the engine sound could echo everywhere in this area.
And who knows if the zombies still linger around? I didn't want to put us in danger due to my impatience.
"I will wake Miss Shizuka up. She should have recovered by now, so I guess she can drive now."
***
After we had our breakfast, we packed everything into the humvee and went on the road again. This time, we were aiming for the direction the helicopter went. Saeko sat beside me on the back, while Miss Shizuka drove with Saya on shotgun.
The road was clear, so driving didn't prove too difficult.
"It seems like there was light snowfall last night, so it's easy to see the track of the vehicle that drove by earlier!" Miss Shizuka chirped excitedly as she drove the humvee.
"... In summer?" I asked in bewilderment.
Miss Shizuka shrugged, "I don't know! It's snowing though?" She glanced sideways towards white flakes that fell gently around us, "It's pretty~"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, teacher. Just focus on the road, please." Saya retorted in a voice full of annoyance, "It will be bad if we crash or something."
"Hehe, alrighty~" Miss Shizuka responded happily, smiling widely before turning back to focus on the road ahead.
The snow melted when the sun rose higher, making our travel smooth. Yet again, the zombies' corpses still scattered on the side of the road, most likely because of the military attack. Some zombies were moving around, but I didn't want to waste our time on them.
'Yesterday, there was no zombie, but it's now here. Thankfully we woke up and left early. Maybe they are attracted by the car's engine.' I thought in my head.
If it were true, we should avoid using the humvee in populated areas in case of unwanted attention. I didn't want to be surrounded by them.
At the same time, I couldn't help but feel frustrated at how slow we went. It would take hours to reach wherever those military were, especially because we didn't know the road and our trail had disappeared.
When we reached a fork road, Miss Shizuka asked us where to go. Without a map, it was difficult to decide which way to go.
But luckily, we didn't need to guess.
"Should I just follow that?"
Miss Shizuka pointed at some zombie corpses. Judging from their conditions, they were freshly killed. I felt wrong saying it like that, but their bodies hadn't decayed like the others, only had holes on their heads.
I immediately understood what she was getting at, so I said, "They must've been killed by that vehicle that drove through the area earlier. We should be able to track them down by looking for similar traces along this road."
"Phew, I thought I was lost. Hehe."
"Miss Shizuka, can you please pay attention?" Saya complained with an exasperated expression, shaking her head in disapproval. "I swear you are such a scatterbrain sometimes!"
"I know I know! Sorry~" Miss Shizuka responded, "It won't happen again!"
She smiled cheerfully and winked at the younger girl sitting beside her.
While Saya seemed to complaint a lot, she kept our airheaded teacher in check. It was nice. Saeko was the best to accompany me and check our surroundings, so I had nothing to worry about.
"Alright, let's go." I ordered with a smile on my face as I leaned back into my seat. I could see that the road ahead would be clear without obstacles in front of us. That meant no more trouble ahead of us at least until the next intersection where we might encounter some problems.
Our humvee once again sped up, following the tire marks and zombie corpses on the street. We encountered a few zombies but Miss Shizuka didn't care at all and ran over them.
However, I suddenly heard a strange sound in the distance.
"...oof!"
"Hmm?" Saeko's ears perked up, her eyes narrowed in caution as she looked around. "What is that sound?"
I frowned, trying to figure out what the hell it was. I strained my ears and looked out of the humvee, looking around to find where the sound came from.
At that moment, I saw shadows. Two bipedal creatures running between trees, jumping around with superhuman speed. Their blurry shape looked similar to dogs with a short tail.
Their long tongue dangling out from their mouth, with red eyes glinted ominously under sunlight. They growled loudly and barked like rabid beasts.
"Zombies!?" Miss Shizuka gasped in surprise and stopped the car, staring in horror as the zombie dog suddenly appeared from the forest beside us.
'Fuck, a Licker!' I shouted out loud, my mind racing to think of something quick.
They were the real cockroaches. One appeared, many would follow.
"Press the gas, now! We need to escape this area fast!" I immediately gave the order and opened the top hatch, "Now!"
The impatience in my voice startled her and she slammed the gas immediately, the car accelerated in no time.
Licker was one of the most dangerous and deadliest zombies in the series. A B.O.W, a Bio Organic Weapon. Leon encountered this creature in Resident Evil 2.
In that game, a single Licker was enough to kill Leon. And in the movie, it almost cornered Alice, the superhuman protagonist.
Its claws and fangs were sharp enough to shred metal doors, and its tongue could be shot from a long distance to strangle and grab prey. Moreover, they moved extremely fast, much more agile than the zombies we encountered before.
Their agility was unmatched by anything we ever faced until now.
"Brother, they are getting closer!" Saeko said worriedly, pointing behind me.
