Chapter 104 - The Story of How I Swapped Them Out
Meanwhile, the two who had finished procuring fuel at the gas station noticed that Yuko and Rei, who had headed to the supermarket, were late in returning. The one-hour deadline had already passed, but the two showed no sign of appearing at the gas station.
"They're late... Did something happen?"
"They're late because something happened."
Were they attacked by infected lurking in the village, or perhaps they got involved in something troublesome? He had strictly ordered them to return by the time, and he didn't think Yuko, being a teacher, was a person loose with time. In that case, it was more natural to think something had happened.
He hadn't told Aoi, but the boy felt like he had heard something like the faint sound of a car engine earlier. Judging from the disastrous state of this village, he didn't think there were people living here at all. That being the case, there might be people who had come to the village from outside, just like themselves.
"Get in the car, we're going back."
"Eh, aren't we going to wait for the two!?"
"That was the deal. I explained properly that if they were late for the rendezvous time, I'd leave them behind."
Assuming the two had been attacked by infected and were already dead, staying in the same place forever would mean a suicidal act. Even without that, one didn't know where danger was rolling now. The time spent in one location should be as short as possible.
"Get in quickly, or I'll leave you behind too."
Aoi bit her lip, but in the end, she tried to follow his instructions. It was as he said. Since Yuko almost never failed to keep time until now, something must have happened. If they had been attacked by something, they themselves might suffer the same fate. They should return to the academy for now and then decide whether to send out a search party or whatever. Fortunately, Yuko and the other had weapons and a certain amount of food, so even if they weren't dead, they could survive for a while.
The moment Aoi started walking toward the car, a voice was heard behind her. It was a girl's voice.
"Wait, stop! Please help!"
Faster than turning around, the boy, who was about to get into the car, ran to Aoi and pulled her down to the ground with one hand. Then, with the other hand, he readied a submachine gun and shouted "Don't move!" at the girl running toward them. Aoi, who ended up kissing the ground suddenly, caught the figure of the girl looking here with frightened eyes in her field of vision.
The girl, wearing a blue jumper and running here with her semi-long hair swaying, stopped at the boy's warning. Following the instruction to "Raise both hands!", she said in a trembling voice, "Please stop..."
"My friend is injured, please help..."
"Raise your hands first, we'll talk after that."
At the boy's words that cut her off, the girl finally raised both hands with a look of fear. She looked frightened from what she could see. It was natural since she had come seeking help only to have a gun suddenly pointed at her.
"...What are you going to do with that girl? She seems to be in trouble, are you going to help?"
"Body check first, you should know that much."
The boy urged Aoi, and Aoi, who stood up, approached the girl who remained standing with both hands raised to perform a body check. If this were Iraq or Afghanistan, it would be the role of getting caught in a suicide bombing by a vest with bombs wrapped around the body. But since this wasn't such a conflict zone, she wouldn't suffer a sudden explosive death.
After first excusing herself with "Excuse me," Aoi immediately began the body check of the girl. Soon, the sensation of something hard tucked into the back side of her pants was transmitted to her hand. When she checked by flipping up the jumper, what was underneath was a revolver. From what she could see, it was undoubtedly an M36 widely used by the Japanese police.
That seemed to be the only weapon. She felt surprised that such a girl had a handgun, but Aoi herself had a gun now. Since dead police officers were said to be many, she might have borrowed it from there.
"Sorry, took some effort. So, who are you? Do you live in this village? Any other companions?"
"We're living in a camp near this village. We came to the village to procure food, but my friend broke a leg..."
While listening to the story, the boy stood behind Aoi and was fiddling with something on the revolver taken from the girl. She felt like she heard the faint metallic sound of bullets being ejected from the cylinder behind her.
"Injured? Is it bad?"
"They fell down the stairs, and the flesh is torn and the leg bone is sticking out... I have to treat it quickly..."
"I understand, guide us."
Aoi doubted her ears. What on earth was he thinking, this boy who immediately responded to someone's help? Was it a whim, or did he have some idea? Or was the cold-blooded part he had shown them until now simply an act, and was he actually a good person who could help people?
In any case, if there was an injured person, they should help. The girl in front of her didn't look like she was lying, nor did she seem like a dangerous person. To help when asked for help, that was common sense for Aoi.
"I understand, this way. ...Before that, if you could return the gun..."
"Ah, my bad."
It was also surprising that he returned the gun so obediently. He had been so reluctant to let them hold guns, yet could he allow a girl he had just met to have a weapon?
The girl also looked surprised and compared the boy with her own handgun that was offered, and then accepted it obediently.
"A-Ah, thank you... Since you suddenly pointed a gun at me, I thought for sure you were a scary person."
"No way. In today's world, living humans are precious. If I can help, I want to."
"...You're kind, aren't you? We were anxious too because all the people we met until now were scary..."
Had he hit his head or something? Or was he high from inhaling vaporized gasoline? Aoi was truly worried about the boy who had changed so much from before, but for now, she decided to follow him. With the girl as a guide, the two left the gas station and headed toward the shopping district.
The house where the girl's friend was was said to be at the edge of the shopping district. Aoi was in high spirits from meeting a girl of the same age outside the academy for the first time in a long while. If it weren't a village where infected might be, she would have started a conversation immediately. She was being warned by the boy and kept her mouth shut, but her true feeling was that she wanted to talk right now.
"It's here..."
Saying so, the girl pointed to an old private house. A car was parked under the eaves. Since no human figure could be seen around, that friend must be inside the house.
"I understand, you open the door. It would be troublesome if a stranger suddenly came and they were surprised."
Did the girl's face seem to distort for a moment? However, without saying anything, she opened the entrance door in front of the boy. Immediately, the girl quickly jumped aside, and a human figure could be seen across the wide-open entrance.
Waiting across the door was a man holding a gun. Was he the friend the girl was talking about? However, the man didn't look like he was injured at all. To add to that, he didn't seem friendly either. What was floating on that face was a smirk as if he had done it, an impression like a hunter who had caught prey in a trap.
A man holding a bolt-action rifle was pointing the muzzle at the boy from a few meters away. Next, a young man with a metal bat appeared from the shadow of the house and ran toward Aoi and the other.
We were deceived. That word came to mind. They had been deceived by the girl.
"Don't move! Put both hands on top of your head——"
However, thinking such a thing was only for a moment. The boy's hand moved swiftly, and he readied the submachine gun hanging in front of his body with a sling. The moment the man's finger went to the trigger, the boy had turned on the flashlight built into the handguard of the submachine gun.
The flashlight, which could illuminate 100 meters ahead, was effective even during the day. The powerful light burned the man's eyes, and instinctively the man covered his eyes with both hands that were holding the rifle. The muffled gunshot heard in the next moment became the man's last perception.
The boy pulled the trigger of the submachine gun in his hand without hesitation. The gunshot heard through the plastic bottle silencer was small for the first shot, and then slightly louder for the second shot. Two bullets pierced the chest of the man who was holding the rifle, and at the spot where he fell, he fired one more shot, this time aiming for the head. The scattered blood stained the gravel spread in the yard bright red here and there.
"Eh...?"
"Ha...?"
At the sudden death of their companion, the girl and the young man each let out a dumbfounded voice. It was a tone as if they hadn't even considered that they would be counterattacked. The boy didn't miss the opening when the young man, shocked by the corpse of his companion killed in front of him, stood rooted to the spot for a moment.
He picked up a stone about the size of a fist rolling at his feet and threw it at the young man. The thrown stone hit the young man's face directly, and the young man collapsed on the spot while spraying a nosebleed. While letting out a groan, the young man pressed his nose with one hand and tried to pick up the bat he had dropped with the other, but it was faster for the boy to take out a telescopic baton and run to him.
Swinging his right hand to extend the gripped baton, the boy attacked the young man. He aimed intensively at the head, and the young man desperately protected his head with both hands. Normally, even if it was self-defense, striking the face repeatedly with a baton should be forbidden, but the boy single-mindedly rained blows with the baton on the head of the crouching young man.
Both hands that were protecting the head swelled up bright red, and the young man groaning while bleeding from his head looked like he had lost his will to fight no matter how one looked at it. However, as if to be doubly sure, he finally gripped a stun gun in his left hand from where he had taken it out and pressed the electrodes against the flank of the crouching young man and turned on the switch. After that body convulsed greatly, the young man remained fallen on the ground and stopped moving.
"D-Don't move! If you move, I'll shoot her!"
Aoi and the girl were dumbfounded by the too-merciless attack, but the girl, who came to her senses, went around behind Aoi and pressed the muzzle against her head. But the boy leisurely searched the body of the fallen young man, and after confirming he had no other weapons, he finally turned around.
"Go ahead and shoot."
With a tone as if to say "So what?", the boy declared so. As if the girl's warning hadn't been heard, he started walking toward the man he had just shot dead. The girl instinctively backed away from the approaching boy, and Aoi, who was dragged, almost fell down.
"I told you not to come! I'll shoot, I'll really kill her!"
"That's why I'm telling you to do it. Do it, look, do it quickly!"
As if pushed by that pressure, the girl backed away further; the boy, while keeping the girl and Aoi, who was taken hostage, in his peripheral vision, picked up the rifle the dead man had dropped and checked if a bullet was loaded by pulling the bolt handle. And after hanging that rifle from his shoulder with a sling, he finally faced the girl and Aoi.
"I'm telling you not to come!"
The girl warned with a voice almost like a scream. Could it be that this girl has no experience killing people? Despite being in a situation where she was taken hostage and had a muzzle pressed against her head, Aoi thought so leisurely. If the girl had killed someone, she would have pulled the trigger long ago by now.
The boy, who approached without stopping even at the warning, looked almost like a bulldozer or a tank. The girl pushed Aoi away and pointed the gun at the boy. While trembling uncontrollably and holding the revolver, the girl screamed.
"Stop—!"
Finally, the girl pulled the trigger. A gunshot roared, and the boy who took the bullet fell——. Expecting such a scene, Aoi instinctively closed her eyes. However, no gunshot echoed, and instead, what was heard was only the dry sound of the firing pin hitting the casing.
"Eh?"
Comparing the revolver in her hand and the boy who had approached in front of her, the girl hurriedly pulled the trigger once more. Unlike an automatic, a revolver can fire the next round if the trigger is pulled even if it's a dud. However, even though the girl pulled the trigger again, no bullet was fired.
Making clicking dry sounds, the cylinder rotated. However, not a single bullet was fired. From the hand of the dumbfounded girl, the boy leisurely snatched the revolver.
"Why...?"
"Too bad, it's a trick."
Declaring so, the boy pressed the stun gun against the flank of the dumbfounded girl who was standing still. The girl's body, which took the powerful current, collapsed on the ground and convulsed, writhing around. The boy, who grabbed both her hands and put handcuffs on her behind her back, next sealed the girl's mouth with duct tape taken from his backpack. Finally, after also putting duct tape on both eyes to block her vision, he finally stood up.
"...Did you notice? That this girl was setting a trap?"
"No matter how you think about it, it was strange. Normally you wouldn't think anyone is in such a village, so if an injured person appeared, you'd treat them on the spot and manage somehow by yourselves. Yet she came straight to us and asked for help. Well, I just don't trust anyone, though."
The boy answered while also putting handcuffs on the young man who was likely unconscious. It was a brilliant hand as if he had expected to be attacked, but it was just a matter of being cautious of everything from the start. The boy didn't trust anyone other than himself, including Aoi and the others.
"Then, the reason this girl couldn't fire the gun was..."
At that question from Aoi, the boy silently took out the revolver snatched from the girl. And he threw one bullet ejected from the cylinder to Aoi.
Looking at it, there was a small dent in the primer at the bottom of the handgun's casing. This meant that the bullet had already been used. The dent in the primer was made by the handgun's firing pin hitting it. A primer cannot be reused once used. It becomes possible to fire again if a bullet head, gunpowder for firing, and a primer are loaded, but an unused primer shouldn't have a dent.
"A dummy cart...?"
"That's right, something I found at a military shop before. I always carry them, for times like this."
The boy had been operating something on the revolver that Aoi had performed a body check on and taken from the girl, while standing behind Aoi. At that time, he had swapped the live rounds with dummy bullets that couldn't be fired. That's why at that time the boy had purposely stood behind Aoi so that the swapping work wouldn't be seen by the girl.
"To not even check a weapon that once passed into the hands of a stranger, these guys look like amateurs who just got guns."
"So that's why you were so composed even when I was taken hostage..."
"They didn't seem to have other weapons, they're foolish."
While being amazed by that thorough preparation, Aoi felt a chill inside as she remembered that she might have died if things had gone wrong. From the corpse of the man shot dead by the boy, blood continued to flow even now.
Until now she had seen corpses several times in the village and killed infected with her own hands, but it was the first time she saw a living human die in front of her eyes.
She didn't intend to blame the boy. It was they who had made the first move, and it was they who had pointed the muzzle. The boy killing the man was strictly self-defense. Even so, Aoi felt the boy, who had killed the man without mercy, was somehow frightening. The boy had pulled the trigger without any hesitation.
"So, what are you going to do with these two?"
"Probably the ones who attacked the teachers are the companions of these two. There are tire marks in the yard. And look..."
The boy took out a car remote key from the young man's pocket and pressed the button. Then the lights of the car parked in the yard flashed, and the rear sliding door opened automatically. It wasn't an abandoned vehicle, but the car this trio had come in.
"If they intended to kill, they would have shot suddenly, so maybe they intended to abduct us and take us somewhere."
"Then the teachers too..."
"Let's ask these two about that."
There, finally, Aoi understood why the boy hadn't killed the young man and the girl.
"To deepen our friendship, let's have a talk. I think there was a musical instrument store on the way."
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.