Chapter 106 - The Story of Killing Them in the End
And so, the talk by the boy——actually torture itself——began. Aoi could only stand by the wall and watch the scene in silence. She felt that if she were to intervene, the boy's madness might be directed at her as well.
Aoi didn't know if the boy had actually gone mad. But only a madman could do such a thing. Or was the boy in a state on the verge of going mad?
"How many companions do you have? Including the man who died earlier."
"...39 people."
"Adults? Tell me the number of children and women, and also the types and number of weapons."
The young man showed a sign of hesitating for a moment whether it was okay to talk. However, seeing the boy put his hand on the knife's grip, he hurriedly opened his mouth.
"There are 27 adults, 15 of whom are men. Weapons are... three handguns, four shotguns, and two rifles."
"The number of rounds?"
"...I don't know, because I wasn't allowed to have a gun..."
The lips of the young man who said that were trembling with fear. The boy peered into his eyes and muttered, "Hmm, is that so."
"By the way, do you have any cavities?"
"Eh, just one..."
The young man seemed perplexed by the sudden talk. Aoi also couldn't understand why the boy suddenly started talking about cavities after talking about companions. However, the boy's eyes were perfectly serious, and he continued the talk while taking out pliers from a pouch on the chest rig he wore and fiddling with them in his hand.
"That's no good. Did you know? I heard that in the Edo period, the number one cause of death was cavities. So you have to treat cavities quickly... like this!"
In the next moment, with a speed the eye couldn't follow, the boy grabbed the young man's jaw and lifted his face. And when he forcefully pried open that mouth, he thrust the pliers in vigorously. The young man, who seemed to have understood what the boy was trying to do, tried to close his mouth, but the tip of the pliers was already pinching his molar.
"Don't struggle... don't struggle... it'll hurt if you struggle, you know?"
"H-H-Htop..."
"I don't have a medical license or anesthesia, but it can't be helped. It's this kind of era."
Saying so, the boy tried to pull out the molar pinched by the pliers with all his might. He twisted the pliers firmly pinching the molar, shook it up and down, and pulled with all his might. The young man widened his eyes and flailed his restrained hands and feet while letting out a muffled scream. A particularly large scream rose just after the young man's hands were clenched tight, and the boy pulled the pliers out of his mouth.
"Oops, my mistake, it seems it was a different tooth. Shall we do it again?"
After staring intently at the molar pulled out without anesthesia from the young man's mouth, the boy threw that tooth, covered in saliva and blood, onto the floor. The girl, who was forced to bite a gag while watching the scene, let out a muffled scream. From the mouth of the young man, whose face was a mess of snot and tears, blood was overflowing.
"Uwaa..."
Aoi, who had witnessed that scene up close, instinctively groaned. Aoi too had experienced pain from a cavity long ago. At that time, she had the cavity pulled out after being given anesthesia at the dentist, but she felt quite a bit of pain after the effect wore off. Since teeth are places where nerves are concentrated, pain is more easily felt. She didn't even want to think about the pain of having a tooth pulled out without anesthesia.
"You, you lied just now. If you didn't know, you could have answered immediately that you didn't know, yet you thought for just a bit about what to answer, didn't you? Besides, it's strange that you don't even know the remaining ammunition of the guns your companions had, isn't it?"
The young man's body trembled uncontrollably, and liquid dripped down to the ground along his pants. She knew he had urinated himself after smelling the drifting odor.
While looking down at the blood-covered and trembling young man, the boy this time pulled a knife from the sheath attached to his belt. And this time, he let the tip of that blade touch the finger of the young man's right hand tied to the chair's armrest.
"If you lie next, this time I'll amputate a finger. Let's start with the broken index finger. Humans have 20 fingers in total on both hands and feet, so one finger is fine, right?"
"I understand, I'll answer! I'll answer so please stop!"
The young man shouted with a desperate look. Aoi also didn't want to see the scene where a finger was amputated on top of having a tooth pulled out. Furthermore, if a finger were amputated, an unrecoverable aftereffect would remain for the young man. If the cut surface was clean, it was said to be possible to reattach it with current technology, but because of the pandemic, there were no hospitals or surgeons. If it was cut, he would lose the finger permanently.
"There's hardly any ammunition left, at most 10 to 15 rounds per gun."
"That's fine. If you had answered obediently from the start, you wouldn't have had to experience pain."
After that, the young man continued to answer the boy's questions obediently. As expected, the threat of amputating a finger must have worked; whenever the boy asked a question, the young man answered immediately without a pause.
To put the conclusion first, it was the companions of the young man and the others who had abducted Yuko and the other, just as the boy had thought. It seemed they had come to this village purely by chance. However, seeing the figures of the boy and the others who had come to the village for supply procurement, they decided to abduct all four.
"A few days ago, we saw a group shooting guns on the outskirts of the village. We failed to follow them, but we knew there were survivors nearby. So we thought next time we saw them, we'd attack and kidnap them... I wasn't the one who decided it, the leader said to do it."
"I'm not asking about that kind of thing now. And?"
For the group of the young man and the others, whose weapons were scarce, it was necessary to get weapons and ammunition here no matter what. With only 20 rounds per gun, they would likely shoot them all in an instant when attacked by infected.
They had snatched revolvers from police officers who had died or turned into infected while fleeing, and had obtained hunting rifles and such left in gun shops, but it was clear that weapons were insufficient for the number of people.
"So, you attacked us."
"I was against it, but the leader said it couldn't be helped..."
"Leader, leader, is that all you can say, you monkey! I don't want to hear that kind of excuse, just answer what you're asked obediently. So, after you kidnapped the two, what did you guys do with them?"
"The leader interrogated them and took them to our base. To make them hostages..."
"Did you also find out from them where we live?"
At the young man who nodded silently, the boy let out a deliberate sigh. With this, it became impossible to pretend he hadn't seen anything and go home leaving Yuko and Rei behind. And the time left for them was also short. If they dawdled, the young man's companions would come to the academy. There, they would either demand supplies with the two abducted as hostages, or suddenly attack. Either way, it wouldn't be anything good.
"Where is the base?"
"It's at the site of a campground on the outskirts of the village, we're living in camper vans..."
"A campground? Come to think of it, it was on the map."
On a quite old map found in a general store, a campground located a bit away from the village was marked. Since he didn't think there were people who would go to the trouble of coming to such a remote place to camp, it must have stopped operating long ago.
The group of the young man seemed to be moving in camper vans. They had happened to pass by a showroom for family camper vans during their evacuation, and there they had secured about seven camper vans and large passenger cars, and had moved through the suburbs of urban areas where there were few infected.
"What about the usual lookout?"
"About four people take turns keeping watch. But I don't know how it is today because we brought hostages."
"I understand, thanks for your cooperation."
The boy, who had obtained all the necessary information, gagged the young man, and this time he removed the headphones and gag of the girl and faced her.
"Well then, next is you. If you obediently and honestly answer my questions, you can avoid becoming like him, you know?"
Saying so, the boy pointed to the young man who was barely breathing. The young man, who had been exposed to merciless violence and fear, looked like he had aged all at once in a short time. From him, who was hanging his head, almost no spirit or vitality could be felt.
Aoi felt as if the boy was like a merciless interrogator appearing in a war movie. A person who thoroughly hurts the opponent physically and mentally to pull out necessary information. However, it looked as if the boy's will was not intervening there.
It didn't look like he was using violence because he hated the two who had abducted Yuko and the other and attacked them. It seemed like he was doing it just because it was necessary. From the boy when he was hurting the young man, neither hatred nor pleasure from using violence could be felt. To pull out information, he was performing torture mechanically. The mad-like words and actions were also acted that way because it made it easier for the two to spill their guts by increasing their fear. Aoi felt that way.
The girl, who had seen the young man being hurt plenty, answered the boy's questions more obediently than him. The content she spoke also had almost no difference from the young man's information. The boy's aim of obtaining more precise information by interrogating the two separately seemed to have been achieved.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"For now, you go back to the academy. The companions of these guys might attack."
"Eh? But then what about the teachers..."
"I'll manage somehow, I have hostages here too."
Saying so, the boy looked down at the young man and the girl who remained tied to the chairs. Just as the group of survivors had taken Yuko and Rei hostage, there were two hostages here too. If things went well, they could manage without more deaths by a hostage exchange.
Even though they had attacked suddenly, there was a certain aspect to them that couldn't be helped. Just as the boy had abandoned his comrades, they might have initiated this attack out of necessity. Thinking so, Aoi felt she wanted to avoid deaths as much as possible. Maybe they themselves could have been on the side that had to attack other survivors and obtain supplies.
Of course, it's possible that negotiations won't go well. On the contrary, the survivors who took Yuko and Rei hostage might have already departed to attack the academy. In that case, the boy's idea of splitting into two groups, with one rushing to the academy to solidify defenses and the other going to the survivors' base to exchange hostages and take back the two, seemed like a correct one.
"You go back to the academy immediately in the car these guys came in and tell everyone to solidify defenses. I'll go to the campground with these two."
"Are you okay alone?"
"At least it'll be better than you going."
It was as he said. Even though it might turn into a fight, it was too dangerous for Aoi, who had no combat experience, to go to the negotiation. At worst, one new hostage would be added. If it was the boy, he didn't seem likely to commit a blunder like being caught. He'd start a shootout before that, though.
"I understand, then..."
"Wait, take this."
Saying so, the boy opened the rear door of the wagon and handed one gun, which was connected with a chain, to Aoi. It was an automatic rifle that had been in a private house as a hunting rifle. Together with five detachable magazines, Aoi received them from the boy along with bullets.
"Eh, is it okay?"
"Compared to an over-under shotgun, it can fire consecutively and has more bullets, so it'll be a combat force. More importantly, go quickly, the group might already be heading to the academy."
Compared to the M1A automatic rifle equipped with a 20-round magazine that the boy carried, which was illegal in Japan, the ammunition capacity was only a quarter, but the fact that there was no need to pull the bolt handle to load a bullet every time she fired was an overwhelming merit. To be handed a gun meant she was at least trusted. Aoi interpreted it positively and loaded bullets into the Browning automatic rifle.
Immediately after Aoi, who received the automatic rifle, jumped into the car and headed to the academy in a great hurry, the boy also decided to depart for the campground site, which was the survivors' base. Before that, he blindfolded the two who remained restrained inside the musical instrument store and set up a certain "device."
"Open your mouth."
He removed the girl's gag and ordered so. To her, who was perplexed, he said, "Do it quickly, or shall I make you unable to move with the stun gun before doing it?", and the girl obediently opened her mouth.
"Open it wider."
Into the girl's mouth, which was opened so wide the jaw almost came off, the boy made her bite a certain object about the size of a fist taken from a pouch. And after covering that with a towel and wrapping it round and round with duct tape on top of that, the girl's mouth area was bulging out greatly like a duck's beak.
From the girl's perspective, the fact that she was biting an unknown object while blindfolded and unable to see anything was terrifying. The oval-shaped object she was biting seemed to be made of metal, and the area around her mouth was cold. The boy seemed to have done some fine work on the object, and a faint metallic sound was heard at her mouth.
"Mmm, mmm!"
"Bite it firmly, well then, let's depart."
The boy, who had the girl groaning from being made to bite a foreign object and the young man whose blindfold was removed, induced them to the car. The moment he made the two stand up and led them out of the shop, the young man, whose hands were tied behind his back, started running in the opposite direction of the car.
Whether he wanted to get away from the boy even a little out of pure fear, or he planned to escape to report the failure of the attack to his companions, was unknown. However, the boy calmly drew a handgun and pulled the trigger toward the back of the fleeing young man.
A dry gunshot echoed in the shopping district, and the young man, who had a flower of blood bloom on the back of his shirt, fell onto the road like a puppet whose strings were cut. While the girl who was gagged let out a muffled scream, the boy fired a second bullet toward the fallen young man without hesitation. The body of the fallen young man shook greatly, and something reddish-black suddenly splattered from his head.
"If you don't want to become like that, stay quiet."
There was no longer even a shred of will to resist the boy left in the girl. With her hands tied behind her back, the girl got into the wagon and despaired thinking about what would happen to her from now on.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.