People react differently to zombie outbreaks. Some panic, some go into zombie killing mode, while others take the opportunity to go on vacation. And where this is human demand, there is supply. I happen to work at one of these zombie travel agencies. No, we are not zombies, we just happen to offer tours to zombie-infested areas.

"Sale now," Tomi calls through a homemade loudspeaker. "Visit the new ruins of Nagasaki! Experience the zombie apocalypse overseas and see both local and foreign zombies! Comes with a stay at the zombie-free Gunkanjima!" A bat is in his other hand and his back is to three others. Everyone is gripping a bat. We had, well, I had a premonition today and we are not taking any chances.

What premonition?

Oh, just that our entire shop would be wiped out.

The memory — or is it the future? — flashes through my eyes again and I can feel my fingernails digging into my palm.

"Did you see one?" Seiko whispers. She scribbles something on a card and passes it to me. "Sign this, Tomi's leaving for another tour tomorrow."

She slides a brightly coloured card over to me. The front says "Have a safe trip!" in a glittery font. Inside are the names of the various employees here. We used to write longer messages, but as more and more successful trips were made, the messages became shorter and shorter. I scribble my name and then add "good luck, Tomi" before it. Someone should make it personalised.

"Ano, excuse me."

Seiko and I turn towards the sound of the voice. A lady with an extremely pale face is walking through the door. My hand itches to grab the closest bat, but I can't tell if she's a zombie or a human disguising herself as one. Last week, a tour guide was convicted of accidentally killing one of his tour group members, who had disguised herself as a zombie for protection. The judge said that he should have known better. The main office gave us grief about double-checking before swinging our bats after that verdict came down.

"Welcome, how may I help you?" Seiko gives the lady a bow.

"I called just now about my jacket."

Called? We didn't get any phone calls. And barely anyone calls nowadays, the phone lines are much too unreliable. Even the internet is down half the time, as the repairmen get turned into zombies. I turn to Seiko, but she's busy searching through the lost and found box. It's a curious box, full of both small, forgotten items and incredibly personal items from past customers who didn't make it.

The lady — zombie? — shuffles to Taku's counter and reaches under it. She pulls out a black cardigan. Odd, I could have sworn there was nothing there during morning cleaning.

"Here it is," she says slowly, giving us a grin. On the bright side, her teeth are white and unstained with blood. "Thank you very much." Turning her back on us, she shuffles out.

"Taku is too much," Seiko grumbles. "He knows that we have to put everything in the box. It's a good thing the customer found it." She grabs a report form and starts filling it out. "I'm going to put him down as the one who handled this. The head office can send him all the mail and it'll serve him right."

"Seiko, did you answer the phone today?"

Seiko shakes her head. "I assumed that Taku or someone else took her call. The phone wasn't working when I came in."

I pull out my phone. Please let the app work, please let the app work.

"Do you think she could have been a —"

Before I can finish my sentence, another lady walks in through the store. Her face is rather pale, but she's dressed professionally in some sort of uniform. She looks like a tour guide, but not from our company.

"I heard that the customer found her jacket and I thought I'd help the lost and found staff fill out the report." She pauses for a moment. "Isn't it supposed to be here?" she asks, pointing to an empty spot next to the door.

There's never been a counter there. We don't even have a lost and found department. The hairs on my skin stand up as I recognise her for what she is. One of the smart ones. For some reason, a few zombies retain some of their former intelligence even after they've turned and can trick humans. I glance out our windows but Tomi and the others are gone.

This is bad. No one is supposed to leave without informing us.

The previous lady must have been a distraction. I have to get this zombie out of the shop, or at the very least, distract her. Seiko opens her mouth to reply but I speak first.

"The counter is out back," I say, gesturing vaguely towards the back. The zombie looks vaguely surprised but nods and heads out. Perhaps her former company did have a counter there and her instincts are taking over. Or maybe she wants us to let our guard down.

"Yuu, that was rude," Seiko starts. "I know it's different in your country, but we don't interrupt others here. What are you doing?" I hand Seiko her bat, grab mine and start heading towards the door.

"Let's go, they're here!"

***

I lost Seiko. Shit.

We were together until we crossed zones. I know it's ridiculous to cross from an A zone into a D zone, but that was the fastest way to the local koban. And anyway, it was only downgraded into a D zone three days ago, I didn't think it would be that zombie infested. I hope she's okay. I mean, I didn't hear any screaming, so hopefully we're just separated.

I really hate this apocalypse. But at least Japan is dealing with the outbreak better than other countries. According to the news, other countries went into a panic and everything broke down. In contrast, the Japanese did what they did best and went into what I call "gaman mode". Reasoning that at least this wasn't a tsunami and realising that zombies roamed in specific territories — for a while at least — they created zones so that people could live their lives in relative normalcy until it's over. Even my company adapted to the apocalypse. Result: my country's embassy recommended that I stay here.

Looking around, I realise that I have no idea where I am. The zombies smashed through everything. I try to open a map app but as my luck would have it, the internet is down.

And there's a zombie coming towards me.

Obviously I run in the opposite direction. The windows may be smashed and dried blood is everywhere, but at least the roads are clear. Even in death, the zombies seem to have a need to keep things in order and all the bones are swept to one side.

As I turn the corner, I realise where I am and I manage to cross back into an A zone after two minutes.

"Did you cross through that zone?" an old lady asks. "You young people, always looking for shortcuts. You should take the safer routes, even if takes more time." She hands me a bottle of pocari.

"Thank you. Do you know where the koban is? My shop in A zone got attacked."

The old lady's face pales. "Really? How terrible. The koban is over there," she says, pointing down the road. "But most of the officers are out now, the children are coming back from school."

"I'll wait. Thank you."

I make my way to the koban, but as the old lady said, most of the officers are out. There's only one guy at the counter and he looks new. I hope he knows what to do.

"I'm here to report an attack."

"In which zone?"

"Zone A."

That gets his attention. He quickly reaches under the table and pulls out a laptop. "Tell me everything you know."

He types as I talk.

"Is this connected to the internet?" I ask when I'm done.

"In a manner of speaking. You wouldn't understand, but this is what is called an intranet."

"So it's like a small-scale version of the internet," I interrupt. I hate it when people assume I don't know anything about technology just because I'm a girl. "My zemi was in telecommunications."

"How rare. Anyway this is primarily a shared database. You may recognise it as the app that the police use to distribute information. It looks like you're the first report on that attack."

I groan and my phone vibrates. That means the internet is back. It's a LINE from Seiko.

Yuu, are you okay?

"It's my colleague, she's safe." I quickly type a reply.

Yes, I'm so sorry about leaving you behind. Where are you?With everyone! We're fine, you made a mistake. I think you saw an evacuation, not an attack this morning.

That's odd. I clearly felt an attack and I haven't been wrong yet.

"What's wrong?"

"My colleague says it wasn't an attack."

The policeman frowns and continues typing. "Wait," he says. "There are reports of newly turned zombies saying similar things as a trap. A new form of the ore-ore scam, where they pretend to be human for your brains. Or to turn you."

"Isn't it the same?"

"There was research showing that not all victims turn into zombies. Some just die. This is just my theory, but I think that zombies sometimes bite off more than they can chew. The victims that aren't eaten have the infected blood running through them, which turns them into zombies. The only thing is, as the virus spreads, it turns victims into zombies faster and faster. At the start of the outbreak, it took as long as a week."

"You're not a new cop, are you?"

The policeman grins at me. "Well, they sent one of us to every station to work the database. Anyway, tell your friend a lie."

"A lie?"

"Even if they retain some intelligence and memories, new zombies don't remember everything. They get caught in lies very easily. But if your friend was just turned, it may be harder."

I think for a while before sending a reply.

Ah yes, now I remember. The tour guide used to work with us, right? She left three years ago or something?

Hopefully, Seiko doesn't remember that we only joined the company this April.

Yes, Uchida-san!

I sigh. "She's a zombie. I think the one who attacked us was called Uchida-san."

"Tour guide named Uchida," the policeman taps a few more keys. After a while, he turns the screen towards me. "Is this her?"

The picture on the screen is of the zombie I saw just now. It's her employment picture, so she's in a recruit suit and looks much younger, but it's definitely her. In big red letters at the top, it says:

Reported to be a victim.

The date was five days ago.

"So what do I do now?"

"Well, you definitely will not be meeting your friend. But ideally, we'll like to capture this group before they can cause damage. So we'll be requesting that you cooperate with us for a while. I'm sorry I left this so late but my name is Keisuke; you can call me Kei."

"My friends call me Yuu."

"How Japanese."

I give him a smile. "My actual name's too hard to pronounce."

Kei chuckles. "Understood. Just pass me your gaijin card and you can wait over there. Do you have your company number? We have to notify them about this."

Once I give him the info, he points to the seats behind him. They changed the waiting areas of all the kobans, so that the people wouldn't be so exposed to the zombies.

"Can you wait over there until my colleagues arrive?"

As I walk behind him, I see him typing a message to someone, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Somehow, I don't think that the colleagues he talked about will be the ojisans that are out now. I lean my bat against the chair and take a seat behind the policeman. Leaning forward, I clasp my hands together and let myself cry.

I'm sorry, everyone.

***

"You want her? But she's a foreigner. Her country would never allow it." Kei's boss is turning red. I wonder if he's one of those people, the ones think that me being female is worse than me being foreign.

I thought they were the first to be eaten since they always underestimated the female zombies.

"She's got the necessary training and she needs a job. Plus, she can sense them coming."

"My visa is for work," I add. "And I've talked to the embassy, they don't mind. They even mentioned something about being the start of cooperative action."

That gets the point across. The approach that other countries have been using has been the scorched earth tactic, but that isn't conducive to preserving civilisation. Or at least, that's the argument. You have to be China to be able to absorb all those loses. And as far as anyone knows, the soft-power war is still going on and Japan would love to see even one more country follow its methods.

"I'll need to ask my superiors," he says slowly. "And you're sure your country won't mind?"

"Onegaishimasu."

We bow until he leaves.

"Thank you," I tell Kei. "I wasn't looking forward to the ship ride home."

Kei shrugs. "It's rare to find someone with your skills," he says. "By the way, we've finished processing your friends' bodies. Do you want to say goodbye?"

"Goodbye?" My throat tightens and I can feel the tears threatening to pour out. "I don't think it'll be a good idea."

"You should." The way he says it, it sounds like an order. "You'll have to get used to this if you want to work for us."

I manage to nod. "Understood."

Don't cry, I tell myself. You can't lose this job even before you get it. I need to stay on and find that zombie that killed Seiko, Tomi, and the rest. Not to mention, I need to know how she managed to trick us.

We take the elevator down. I had assumed that everyone switched to stairs by now, but there are simply too many stories in this building. Soon, we arrive at the basement, about a hundred meters below ground.

"Let's hope there were no mistakes," Kei says softly. "I'd hate to have to disable this lift."

The door opens silently, showing a clean, white room. Rows upon rows of bodies are laid out neatly, each head cleanly separated from its neck.

"This way," Kei says, pointing to the right. There's a small metal door. On the other side is a much smaller room, with only six bodies inside.

My friends.

This time, I don't even bother trying to stop my tears.

"I'm so sorry," I apologise. "My premonitions were no use."

They don't say anything.

I bow, once to each person. As I finish, I see something. Me cutting off the head of that fake tour-guide zombie. The only thing is, she's not alone. There must be at least twenty of them.

Twenty.

They're banding together. This must be new.

"Are you alright?" Kei's voice cuts through the fog and pulls me back into that little white room.

"I have a request for my first assignment," I whisper.

***

I walk through the depaato doors and pull my mask up. It's a good thing it's pollen season now; this depaato is located in one of the safest zones in Japan. Which also means more security than usual.

"Sumimasen," one of the many guards approach me. "Can you remove your mask for a while?"

"Why? My allergies are very bad now." I cough a little for good measure.

The guard nods in understanding, his finger tapping on the gun hanging from his belt. "We understand, but with the new virus strain going around, we've been asked to check all guests with masks."

Reluctantly, I pull down the mask. My face started drooping this morning, but all other motor functions are still fine. It's always the face that's first to go. I can see the guard's eyes widen and I involuntarily do a 'zombie hiss'.

"Stop," I say before he shoots and pull out my ID card. It's been updated to reflect my condition and should buy me some time. Should. "This is my ID, I'm allowed to be out and about."

The guard holds my ID card gingerly, as though just touching it can infect him. I can't blame him. This new strain is far more contagious than the original virus. "This says you're working with the police."

I nod. "That's how I got infected. But I'm still good for a few days."

"So why are you here?"

"I want a first aid kit. Something with gauze. It's for a friend."

There's a quick pause. "Fine," he finally says. "But if you lose control I will shoot you on the spot."

"Please do," I say.

The rest of the shopping trip passes without incident. Well, except for the fact that there aren't any first aid kits and that all the staff keep a wide berth from me. The news said that there was a shortage of medical supplies, but I would have expected the top depaato in Ginza to have one or two. We wander around for ten minutes, the guard growing increasingly nervous until one of the staff comes up to me and throws me a packet of gauze. I clutch at it like a consolation prize and leave as soon as possible.

They even open a cash register for me. I'm sure everyone else thought I was a VIP.

I head for HQ as soon as possible. The sun is setting and it's a bad idea to be out at night. It's harder to hide and if the police see you, well the jumpy ones just assume the worst. Not to mention that one of my legs suddenly gave way and I started shuffling instead of walking. I think I've managed to walk it off, but at this time of day, I need to appear as normal as possible.

Reaching HQ, I scan my card and give them my thumbprint. They used to do a retinal scan as well, but that stopped once I and a few others got infected. No use giving out an alarm every time I came back. I head to the ninth floor, straight to Kei's desk.

"This is for you," I say, throwing the gauze at him. "As thanks for burying Seiko and the rest. No thanks for getting me into this."

"Yuu?" He reaches for the light.

"Don't," I warn. "My face started drooping today and I'd rather people not see me like this."

"Already?" I can hear the anguish in his voice. "But you were doing so well with the meds!"

I shrug, even though he won't be able to see it. "Well, I give myself a day, maybe two before I go insane. The uppers say that if I can make it through tonight, they'll give me one last assignment."

"Can't they just let you rest in peace?"

"Well, it was your idea to take people in retirement and send them to work undercover," I remind him. He's come a long way from when he was stationed at the koban.

"That was before you got infected," he grumbles. "I didn't pull you into this mess just to have you die like that. You should tell them that your country will make a fuss."

"Ah well, at least I'm being useful. And I get to go out. Anyway, keep the gauze with you. The latest research, proven by yours truly as a subject, shows that if you wash and bind the wound immediately after infection, you can delay the turning. I think using gauze might be even more effective."

"I'd rather go immediately."

He still puts the gauze in the pocket. Everyone claims that they will kill themselves if they ever get infected, but most still try to stay human as long as possible. How else would the doctors get all those willing experimental subjects?

"Anyway, I'm going to bed. I don't want to have to go outside with all the zombies walking about." I smile at my own joke. There will be no more outside for me. I'll go up to the top floor, sleep on my cot, and if I make one wrong move, the guns trained on me will finish me before I can say another word.

Perks of the job.