In the shadows stretching across the cracked street, Gantzuke saw him—a tall man, dark-skinned, shaking as he pointed a handgun toward something unseen in the darkness.
Bang! Bang! Bang!The muzzle flashes lit up the silhouette of a hulking figure.It kept coming—slow, steady footsteps, heavy enough that Gantzuke could feel the weight through the air.It never stopped.
He squinted into the dark, pulse quickening.Sweat slicked his palms.He adjusted his grip on the rifle.
"Oh God…"
A streak of yellow streetlight caught the man's face—tears streaming down, jaw clenched.
And then the thing emerged.
Massive. Muscular. Bald.It looked like a pro wrestler—except larger, too large. Well over two meters tall. The dark-skinned man in front of it looked like a child.
And when the bullets did nothing... the man turned and ran.
The creature followed—calmly, like a predator who knew its prey couldn't escape.
What happened next made Gantzuke's skin crawl.
Three nearby zombies rushed forward—not to eat the man, but to hold him.
...They're holding him still? Not biting?Gantzuke couldn't believe what he was seeing.
It was as if the zombies… were obeying the thing that approached.
The streetlight gleamed off its purple flesh, slick and veiny—like raw muscle without skin.It didn't wear clothes.Its body was human-shaped… but wrong.Deeply, viscerally wrong.
When the giant reached the man, the three zombies stepped back.
It wrapped a thick hand around the man's throat and lifted him into the air.
The man kicked, gasped, struggled.One hand reached back and yanked a sawed-off shotgun from behind his belt.
BOOM!The blast hit the monster square in the right eye.Flesh and blood burst outward—at least a handful blown away.
Gantzuke stumbled back.Something inside the wound… wriggled. Like worms.
Then, impossibly—the face healed.
It regrew.
The man flailed, limbs jerking like a marionette. He gasped, mouth wide, suffocating.
The purple giant pulled him close—mouth to mouth.Not a kiss. Something entered the man. Crawled into him.
Then the giant let him drop.
Gantzuke stood frozen, breath caught in his chest.He'd never seen anything like it.
"What's going on?"Mari's whisper came from the hallway.Gantzuke lifted a hand behind him without turning.
Stay back.
The man on the street convulsed, vomiting blood until it pooled beneath him.He screamed.
But none of the zombies moved.
"Shit..."Gantzuke ducked back, his body trembling.
His face had gone pale, drenched in sweat.
Mari's voice caught in her throat.She'd never seen him scared before.And now she couldn't speak.
"Shh…"Gantzuke pressed a finger to his lips, still gasping.
Mari's eyes widened. She swallowed and nodded.
...Maybe it didn't see me…Gantzuke tried to steady his breath.He reached out, gently parting the curtain just enough to peek through.
The street was empty.
The man in the brown jacket and jeans lay motionless.No purple giant.No zombies.
No movement.
Gantzuke looked down at his M4.If a point-blank slug to the head didn't kill that thing…
He wasn't sure a regular bullet would even scratch it.
"Are you really planning to keep me tied up all night?"The blonde woman's voice snapped him out of it.
Mari—still in her school uniform, stained and disheveled—turned to look.
Gantzuke rose without hesitation.This time, he didn't care about stepping over the corpse lying facedown on the floor.
"Quiet," he whispered harshly."There's something outside."
Molly was about to fire back a snarky reply.But the look on his face—the sweat, the fear—made her bite her tongue.
…If this guy, who just gunned down zombies like it was nothing, looks like this… it's not just zombies out there.She thought grimly.
BANG—CRASH!
Something slammed against the metal shutter downstairs.
Mari let out a squeak and clung to Gantzuke's back like a terrified kitten.
He raised his rifle, red dot trained on the half-open glass door downstairs.
The silence in the room was deafening.Gantzuke could hear his own heartbeat.
He didn't care if he died.Not if it meant the two girls behind him got out alive.
"You son of a bitch! You killed my friend!"
A voice shouted from the right side of the street.Then came the roar of an engine—and a machine gun.
BRAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Bullets shredded through the metal shutter, sparking off furniture and walls.
Gantzuke and Mari dropped instantly.Molly screamed from where she was still cuffed.
GROOOOOHHHH...
Something let out a low, guttural growl.
Right outside the shutter.
Molly lost control of her bladder.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.Heavy footsteps, running after the car.
The gunfire and engine faded into the distance.Then—silence again.
Gantzuke, still crouched low, finally moved.Mari had her hands clamped over her ears, trembling.Molly was curled up, crying.
"It's gone," Gantzuke whispered.He touched Mari's shoulder, and she looked up.
Then he moved to the blonde, unlocking her cuffs.
"Sorry I had to do that," he murmured.
His eyes flicked down—yellow puddle on the tiles.
He kept his expression neutral.No judgment. She didn't need more shame.
"Stay low," he told her.
Then, gun raised, he slipped silently down the stairs.
The bottom floor was dark—bullets had shattered the light bulbs.He moved through the debris, flashlight cutting across cracked tile and broken glass.
He reached the metal shutter, now peppered with bullet holes.
Still intact.Still strong.
He exhaled slowly, then turned to head back upstairs.