Chapter 101 - The Story of a Simple Scarecrow
Since it was originally a village in the mountains, there were many owners of hunting rifles; searching the village revealed several firearms. Except for the handguns obtained from the police officer at the residential police box, they were all hunting shotguns or rifles, and at least several months had passed since they had last been maintained. Even the ammunition had been mostly exhausted due to the skirmishes between residents and the infected, but a small amount of bullets were found.
The boy, judging that he had secured the necessary amount of ammunition, finally decided to provide live-fire training to Aki and the others. Since he would only use the guns and bullets found in the village, there was no need to dip into the weapons and ammunition loaded in the car. Considering the effort spent on the search, he felt it was somewhat regrettable to give them to the girls for free, but in exchange, he was being provided with food, a place to sleep, and warm baths. The boy convinced himself it was a give-and-take. He couldn't afford to break the rules.
However, when conducting shooting training, the selection of the location becomes crucial. A single gunshot or two might not allow the infected to pinpoint a human's location, but it wasn't hard to imagine that if guns were fired repeatedly in the same spot, nearby infected would swarm the area. The boy had previously test-fired a submachine gun in the academy's courtyard, but since that had a homemade silencer attached, the echoing gunshot wasn't particularly loud. Even then, he had limited himself to two shots out of caution for the infected.
That being the case, shooting training naturally couldn't be held within the academy grounds. If gunshots continued to roar from the same location, the infected would know the position even if they were far away. After all, there were no other humans making noise now. It was safe to assume that the sound of a gunshot would carry further than expected.
After consideration, the first shooting training was decided to be held in a rice paddy several hundred meters away from the village. It had already been confirmed that there were no infected on the outskirts of the village, and if any infected remained in the village, they could be used as "targets" when drawn out by the gunshots. If the numbers were greater than expected, they would simply hide or flee quickly.
A few days later, the boy stopped the car on the outskirts of the village and immediately began preparations. He had the three students and their supervisor, Yuko, get out of the car and instructed them to set up the targets brought from the academy in appropriate locations. He had them set up handmade targets—cardboard cut into the size and shape of a human torso attached to PVC pipes—about 50 meters away from the firing point.
The entire area was rice paddies with a clear view, and the only moving things around were birds. However, to be safe, the boy decided to check inside the nearby forest as well. It was about 200 meters from the forest to the firing point, a distance sufficient to handle an infected even if one suddenly jumped out, but it was still better to do a sweep once.
"...So, why are you following me?"
Switching from an automatic rifle to a more maneuverable submachine gun, it was Aki who followed behind the boy as he headed toward the forest.
"It doesn't take several people to set up targets, right? I want to see with my own eyes whether it's safe here too."
"There's no such thing as a safe place in Japan anymore."
"Let me correct that: whether it's 'relatively' safe."
This left Yuko and the other two students setting up targets near the car, but since he had given Yuko a gun loaded with live rounds, it shouldn't be a problem. If there was a problem, it was that she had no experience firing a gun yet. And the loaded ammunition was only two rounds. However, since they planned to head back immediately if a gunshot rang out, that wasn't much of an issue.
Inside the forest where trees grew thick, visibility was poor, and the ground was quite unstable with thick layers of rotting fallen leaves. At the smell of the leaf mold drifting about, the boy suddenly remembered the rhinoceros beetles he used to keep long ago. He felt like he had kept the rhinoceros beetles he caught at his father's countryside home for quite a long time, partly because he kept them as a male-female pair.
"Hey, look at that..."
Aki suddenly stopped and pointed deep into the forest. On the ground covered with fallen leaves, something like tattered blankets was scattered. Upon closer inspection, they were the corpses of dogs that had been devoured.
"Are these the ones that attacked us before?"
"I don't know."
However, given the distance from the academy to the village, the possibility was low. Some of the dog corpses had collars, so there was no doubt that pet dogs had escaped and become feral. Feral dogs were in a sense more troublesome than the infected, so the boy was grateful they were dead here. He wanted to avoid combat as much as possible to conserve stamina and ammunition.
There were about ten dead dogs in total. All of them had been horribly devoured. Since the spilled blood had already dried brown and hardened, the dogs must have been killed several days ago.
"Cannibalism...?"
"I hope so."
Even so, something felt off. The boy looked at the dogs' wounds, but they didn't look like marks from being eaten by wild animals. On the other hand, since he wasn't a professional hunter himself, he would be at a loss if asked what had attacked them.
No footprints could be found either. This was because thick layers of fallen leaves had piled up on top of the leaf mold. He tried kicking away the fallen leaves with his shoe sole, but found nothing resembling a footprint. Even if any remained, one wouldn't be able to tell which was a footprint on top of the cushion-like fallen leaves. In the end, it remained unknown what had killed the pack of feral dogs.
"By the way, I've been wondering, why are the infected still alive? If they were moving corpses, that would be one thing, but they're living normally, right? What are they doing for food? If humans decrease, their food source will disappear, yet they're still active."
"Don't ask me. That kind of thing is a job for scientists and doctors, but most of those people are dead. Maybe they're still alive because they can efficiently extract energy from what they've eaten once, or maybe they're eating humans in places we don't know about. But anyway, they're not immortal."
While answering that way, the boy couldn't forget the question he had been trying not to think about until now. Just how long would the infected stay alive? Why were they still alive even though the humans who served as their prey were almost gone?
And just how long would they have to keep fighting the infected?
When Aki and the others returned to the car, the preparations for shooting were completely ready. Several targets were standing about 50 meters away from the car, and with the human-shaped objects standing in the desolate field, they looked just like scarecrows.
"As I said before, when fighting the infected with a shotgun, you shoot from 50 meters away. The pellets will fly further than that, but beyond 50 meters, the effect is small even if you hit. They don't feel pain, so while a human might lose their will to fight from being hit, it's meaningless against the infected."
Aki and the others had been taught by the boy before coming here that being too close was also bad. While the power increases the closer you are, there's a high possibility of being killed if you miss and can't reload in time.
For that reason, the boy had told Aki and the others to practice completing the reload of the break-action shotgun within 4 seconds. For an infected, 5 seconds is enough to run a distance of 50 meters. If reloading takes more than 5 seconds, you'll be killed, and even at exactly 5 seconds, the calculation is that the infected will be right in front of you by the time reloading is finished.
Aki and the others had been practicing reloading at the academy using shotguns and snap caps for dry fire. Even so, they still didn't seem able to reload within 4 seconds.
"I'll shoot first. After that, the teachers will."
"Instructor, I have a question! Aren't we going to wear earplugs?"
Aoi said energetically with a raised hand and a smile, but the boy's face showed a look of displeasure in contrast to hers. The boy seemed to dislike being called "Captain," but whether Aoi didn't know or was ignoring it, she continued to change how she addressed him—"Captain" or "Sergeant"—depending on the moment.
"You can wear them now, but it's better to take them off when actually fighting the infected. If you keep earplugs in, you won't hear their footsteps or voices, and that will be fatal."
"Understood, sir!"
Aoi performed a magnificent hand salute, so crisp you could almost hear a snap.
The gunshot from the handgun when the boy had chased away the feral dogs before had sounded like a firecracker magnified dozens of times. Since a shotgun was said to be more powerful than that, the gunshot would likely be even louder. At that time, the boy had fired the handgun with a calm face despite having no earplugs; perhaps getting used to it was what mattered.
After repeating the general explanation, live rounds were finally handed out. It was only 4 rounds per person, but it couldn't be helped since ammunition was precious. Load after firing, fire again, and that was the end of it.
Among the students, some accepted the buckshot with frightened faces. Was she afraid of the boy in front of her, or perhaps the weapon she held in her hand—a weapon with the weight of being able to kill people? Just load the bullet, disengage the safety, and pull the trigger, and a person dies. That is the weapon known as a gun.
After handing two additional rounds to Yuko, who had already been given two, the boy picked up an over-under shotgun himself. Then, with swift movements, he released the lock, broke the barrels, and pushed two shells into the exposed chambers. When he snapped the barrels back, a dry clicking sound of the lock engaging echoed.
"Well, let's try shooting that scarecrow for a start."
Saying so, the boy pointed to an old scarecrow standing at the edge of the field about 70 meters away. The clothes it wore were torn to shreds, and a hat barely sat on its featureless head. Aiming the muzzle at the tilted scarecrow, the boy pulled the trigger.
At that moment, a gunshot that shook the air roared. Even with earplugs, the loud gunshot vibrated Aki's eardrums. One of the students let out a small scream and instinctively covered her ears with both hands. Perhaps because the gunshot was so loud, Yuko had a look like a pigeon that had been shot with a pea-shooter (T/N: idiom meaning a look of blank amazement). In contrast, Aoi, for some reason, showed an excited smile.
The poor scarecrow that became the target of the shot took the buckshot in its torso and shook violently as if it had been punched with all someone's might. Perhaps because it was quite old, the wooden stick supporting the scarecrow must have broken from the impact of the hit. While letting the cotton stuffing spill out from its belly, the scarecrow's upper body bent deeply into a V-shape. While looking like it was doing a deep bridge if it were a human, the scarecrow barely remained standing.
"What are you standing around for? Shoot. The infected might come."
At those barely audible words, Aki and the others remembered their original purpose for coming here. Each took their designated position and readied their shotguns. They had been taught how to stance many times by the boy.
Spread the feet, tuck the armpits, lean the upper body slightly forward but keep the face perpendicular to the ground. Press the cheek and shoulder firmly against the buttstock. Disengaging the safety and placing her index finger, which had been on the trigger guard, onto the trigger, Aki aligned the front sight protruding from the top of the muzzle with the target 50 meters away.
Taking a breath, Aki pulled the trigger.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.