Chapter 112 - Episode 0-1-2: A Story Where That Door Only Responds to My Voice Saying "Come In"
As I headed east, the sight of people and cars on the road increased, and eventually, it was completely filled with people. Both the roadway and the sidewalk were overflowing with people, and it seemed impossible to move forward even a single step. Cars were also continuously sounding their horns as if reflecting the drivers' irritation, but there was no sign of the line of cars moving.
From the west, gunshots could occasionally be heard. I thought the infected had finally swarmed this town as well, but from the nature of the gunshots, it didn't seem like they were fighting fiercely. Most likely, the people who had come to the town were infected, and the JSDF or police were going around shooting them as they manifested symptoms.
"Hey, move forward already! How long are you going to dawdle?!"
"What was that, you bastard?!"
A man who had poked his face out from the window of a van shouted that, and the driver of a light truck in front, which was loaded to capacity with luggage in its bed, turned bright red and got out of the car. Then, he dragged the driver of the van out and kicked him violently on the road. The man's family who was in the van screamed at the sight, but there was no one who tried to pay them any mind.
Looking around, it seemed that disputes were breaking out everywhere. Someone stole luggage, shoulders bumped, and there were even those picking fights for the reason that their eyes had met. And it wasn't rare for them to develop into a fistfight immediately after an argument.
Everyone's fuse had become short due to fear and stress. From the fear of not wanting to die and the fear of not knowing who around them was infected, they had lost their composure.
At this rate, a riot might break out, and the possibility of being caught in it was high. Above all, even if I stayed here, I couldn't move forward, and I didn't know what was happening to the east. Having judged so, I left the road and looked for a tall building somewhere. Since I saw an apartment building nearby, I decided to aim for it.
If I couldn't cross the bridge now, forcing my way east like this would only waste my physical strength. Besides, I was exhausted. I hadn't slept at all for the four days since this infection explosion occurred. I had barely eaten either. I was able to quench my thirst with water from park faucets and the like, but the bug in my stomach had been rumbling non-stop for a while.
I slipped through the road packed with people and headed to a seven-story apartment building. People were merely rushing to the roads directly connected to the bridge in order to cross it as soon as possible, and almost no people could be seen in the residential areas and such. Had they fled, or was everyone shut inside their homes?
Because I hadn't slept for so long, my body was unsteady. My vision was swaying, and a sense of fatigue filled my body to the point where I felt like I would collapse if I let my guard down. My footsteps were heavy, as if my body had turned to lead.
There were several convenience stores, but all of them had their shutters closed. They were likely afraid of looting, or they had stopped functioning as shops because products had stopped coming in due to the death of logistics. In any case, even if the shops were open, it was meaningless since I didn't have a wallet. No, money would likely soon cease to have meaning anyway.
Perhaps because everyone was thronging the bridge, not many people could be seen despite the apartment building being along the river. In the parking lot, there were several sights of families packing luggage into cars to flee. The entrance door of the apartment building was an auto-lock type, but by mingling with the residents hurriedly going back and forth between the parking lot and their rooms, I was able to infiltrate the apartment building without difficulty.
I head to the top floor to grasp the situation. To my surprise, the elevator was still working. I heard on the radio that the JSDF was deploying to infrastructure facilities essential for social activities, such as power plants and water and sewage systems, for defense. Surely they were still maintaining the lifelines. However, in this situation, it wouldn't be strange for the electricity to stop at any time, so I decided to quietly use the stairs.
Every time I took a step, I felt like I would collapse just like that. I somehow managed to grab the handrail to support my body and reached the seventh floor, the top floor. There were residents moving around hurriedly here and there.
In contrast, not a single human shadow could be seen in the hallway of the seventh floor. I had intended to observe the state of the bridge from a high place, but my body reaching its limit came first. Right now, I was incredibly tired. I wanted to eat something and lie down to sleep as soon as possible.
That said, I couldn't lie down in a place like this. It wouldn't be strange for infected to come here at any time. Though I knew it was a bad thing, I began to look for a room that was open somewhere.
I turned the doorknobs of several rooms. The first two rooms were locked, but when I twisted the doorknob of the third room, the door opened easily. Along with the sound of metal scraping, I could see the state of an entrance where shoes were scattered in a disorderly fashion.
Apparently, because they had hurried to flee, they had forgotten to lock the door. I could tell at a glance that the inside of the room was in a state of disarray even from the outside. Just in case, I called out, "Is anyone here?" but no reply came from inside the room.
"Excuse me..."
Saying so, I entered the room and closed the door behind me. After a moment's hesitation, I locked the door. I felt resistance to acting as if a stranger's house were my own, but right now, there was no other means to secure a safe place than doing this.
Clothes, towels, underwear, and the like were scattered on the floor. Surely they had dropped them while hurriedly fleeing. I felt bad about prying into someone else's house, but I couldn't win against hunger. I headed to the kitchen, found a refrigerator, and opened its door without hesitation.
Thanks to the electricity being on, the food items inside hadn't rotted. It wasn't certain whether the original residents thought they could secure food at their evacuation destination, but plenty of food was left inside the refrigerator. Unable to endure the hunger, I gorged myself on the ham, cheese, and bread I found in the refrigerator without even washing my hands.
I thought to myself that I couldn't complain even if I were reported and arrested for entering someone else's house without permission and then rummaging through the refrigerator for a meal, but my hands didn't stop. Perhaps because it was my first meal in four days, everything felt like the most delicious thing in my life despite not being luxury items. There is a saying that hunger is the best spice, and that might truly be the case.
Finding it bothersome to pour into a glass every time, I put my mouth directly to a paper carton containing juice and washed down the bread that had been robbing the moisture from my mouth into my stomach. I grabbed an apple and bit into it just like that. Having finally filled my stomach, I realized my own actions were akin to a looter's and fell into self-loathing, but I made the excuse that it was an emergency and couldn't be helped. If the homeowner returned, I would just have to apologize, give my name and address, and pay the cost later.
Just as I stood up to clean up the scattered trash, my own face was reflected in the glass door of the cupboard. The me in the mirror had a terrible expression, the likes of which I had never seen before.
My face was soiled with mud, dried blood, and soot, and dark circles had formed under my eyes. My eyes were bloodshot from being exposed to tear gas, and my hair was disheveled. It was only after a while that I realized that face, which looked like a vagrant's, was mine.
"...Why did it come to this?"
Suddenly, the feeling of fullness vanished somewhere, and a miserable feeling took over my body again. I felt pathetic for having lost everything, desperately fleeing from the infected, and thus filling my hunger by doing something akin to looting. Even if it was an emergency, I had resistance to doing something like a thief. But in the end, I couldn't win against my desires.
No, I shouldn't be making a big fuss over something like looting at this point. After all, I had committed a great mistake, one that made such a thing seem trivial.
"Father, Mother, everyone..."
Because of me, many people at the middle school died. That fact had continued to torment me ever since I fled the middle school alone. I had nearly died several times during these four days, or I was able to forget about it while running around. But as soon as I settled down like this, everyone's way of dying floated into my head and wouldn't leave.
The screams of the people who had evacuated to the middle school being attacked and killed wouldn't leave my ears. The severely damaged corpses of the people who were cruelly eaten alive were burned into the back of my eyelids. And the sensation when I beat to death my father and mother, who had turned into infected, still remained in my hands.
At the magnitude of what I had done, my body wouldn't stop trembling. I sat down on the floor, hugged my knees, pressed my face against them, and muttered.
"It couldn't be helped, it's not my fault..."
I understand best that it's useless no matter how many times I say that. Information was scarce; anyone else would have taken the same action and caused the same situation. That might certainly be true, but it was none other than me who opened the cauldron of hell.
Even though drowsiness was attacking me, I wasn't in the mood to want to sleep. If I slept, I would surely be attacked by nightmares. And they would undoubtedly be the worst dreams, the likes of which I had never experienced before.
The sound of helicopter rotors vibrating the air could be heard, and I finally raised my face. I somehow stood up, and when I approached the window, a single helicopter was just passing over the apartment building.
The large camouflage-painted helicopter, equipped with rotors at the front and back of the fuselage, was the same model as the one that had been transporting evacuees at the sports park. The helicopter crossed the river and gradually descended toward the town on the opposite bank. Not a single plume of smoke rose from the town on the opposite bank, and there were no destroyed buildings. No corpses were lying by the roadside either. It was as if it were peace itself.
On this side across the river, it had fallen into a state one step away from a riot. The bridge was blockaded by the JSDF, and fences were stretched along the riverbank. Watchtowers made of combined iron pipes were erected here and there, and they were even thoughtfully equipped with searchlights.
Perhaps some of the fences stretched along the river were brought from construction sites, as there were several orange fences. Construction such as embankment or road maintenance seemed to have been underway, as dump trucks, power shovels, and bulldozers were left abandoned on the riverbank.
A gate made by welding steel frames and steel plates blocked the entrance to the bridge so that general civilians could not pass, and in front of it, sandbags and concrete blocks were piled up to prevent intrusion by vehicles. Perhaps for anti-personnel use, barbed wire was installed across the road. Several small armored vehicles like boxy jeeps were stopped as if to block the road, and a JSDF member leaning out from a hatch brandished a machine gun mounted on the roof. A fire engine and an ambulance were also each stopped, and several human shadows in camouflage uniforms could be seen busily going back and forth under a tent that might be a command post. JSDF members were lined up in front of the bridge, driving back the rushing citizens.
"A curfew is currently in effect! It is extremely dangerous outside! Return to your homes immediately!"
The voice over the megaphone urging people to return home could be heard, but no one followed those instructions. Like Disneyland before opening, people were rushing to the bridge. Pushed by the people rushing one after another, several people at the front fell onto the barbed wire placed on the road. Screams rose, but no one tried to help them.
"Why won't you let us through?! Why can that helicopter go to that side, but we can't?!"
"Are you saying it's okay if we die?!"
Voices of protest and abuse rose one after another, but the JSDF members beyond the barbed wire merely stood silently with shields or rifles in hand. A prefab hut like a checkpoint was also built at the entrance to the bridge, but they likely had no intention of letting anyone through. While that was happening, several more helicopters, this time medium-sized ones somewhat smaller than the previous one, flew in from the west and descended toward the town on the opposite bank.
Surely there are no infected in the town on the opposite bank. But if they were to accept a large number of people there, a risk of infected appearing would be born. That was why no one was allowed into the town on the opposite bank. Those who could evacuate there might only be a handful of people who had undergone proper quarantine—people like high government officials and politicians. Even if they were to let people through, it would be after an acceptance system such as quarantine and defense was in place.
In any case, it seemed impossible to cross the bridge right now. Having judged so, I laid my body down on the sofa in the living room. My body, which hadn't slept for four days, had already reached its limit. I was afraid of seeing nightmares, but I soon fell asleep.