Chapter 143 - Stone Cold
Madness and reason. Common sense and insanity. Ordinary people and crazy people. Which way was the current world leaning, and which side was he on? While gazing out the window from the passenger seat of the SUV, the boy thought about such things. The sun was already setting in the sky visible outside the window, and the eastern sky was gradually increasing in blueness. Within a few hours, the world would be shrouded in darkness.
The boy had been bothered by what Sato told him. That if the world is becoming dyed in madness, then what was previously insanity becomes common sense, and ordinary people who possess former values become crazy people. However, if one has a firm idea of their own and can carry it through, they will no longer worry about their own way of being.
It's impossible for me. Looking at Sato's profile as he gripped the steering wheel in the driver's seat, the boy thought so. They were different starting from the kind of human they were. Sato was an adult and a member of the JSDF special forces. He must have experienced many difficult and painful things until now, and precisely because he succeeded in overcoming them, he had a firm idea of his own and no longer worried about his way of being.
But until a year before this anomaly began, the boy was just an ordinary high school boy, and he hadn't even been able to overcome the many harsh and painful experiences he had undergone since then. He was constantly tossed about by changing situations, acting as he was at the mercy of the position he was placed in and his own emotions at the time. He was just like a stone swallowed by a raging river, played with and swept away by the muddy stream. It wasn't that he chose and acted upon a firm conviction; he had simply made decisions so that he would be hurt as little as possible at each moment.
A stone. That was the boy's evaluation of himself. An existence that would be jostled by the flow, scraped and scraped until it eventually became a grain of sand. Regardless of his own will, he was just being swept away.
It's impossible for someone like that to have a firm way of thinking and carry out their own will. The boy understood himself well.
By the time the sun had set and the world was finally shrouded in darkness, the SUV carrying the boy and Sato finally arrived at the sports park, their destination. The prefectural sports park was a large-scale one equipped with a baseball stadium, a gymnasium, and a competitive pool, and it seemed it was also designated as an evacuation center in times of emergency. The track for athletics could also serve as a heliport, and the gymnasium would probably be a place for the people who evacuated to live.
That sports park had now turned into the site of a battlefield. Here and there, corpses that had rotted away and turned into bleached bones were scattered, and countless empty shell casings were rolling on the ground. There was a large pond next to the sports park, and a waterway was connected from there to surround the perimeter of the site, so the routes to enter the sports park were limited.
It seemed a barricade had been built at the few service gates leading into the sports park. The reason he said "seemed" was because only the wreckage of what appeared to be that barricade remained, and he could only speculate from the fragments of iron pipes and iron plates scattered on the ground.
Just like the school they had visited moments ago, countless bleached bone corpses were rolled in front of the service gate. They must have been intercepting a swarm of infected rushing from the outside, but it seemed they were pushed by numbers and allowed intrusion into the interior.
"Are there infected inside, I wonder?"
"There probably are. Put on your night vision device."
Even though the high school they visited earlier had been attacked quite a long time ago, infected had remained inside the school. They might have accidentally been indoors seeking a place where they could escape the cold because the temperature was low, but it's better to be cautious. He had a terrible experience earlier because of that.
The boy took the night vision device out of his backpack and applied it to his right eye via a band. Beside him, Sato was setting a four-lens type night vision device onto a helmet mount. It seemed that by providing two amplification tubes for each eye, four for both eyes, the field of vision was significantly wider than conventional night vision devices, but his appearance while wearing it looked like nothing but an alien or an insect.
When he turned on the switch of the night vision device, the view in his right eye was suddenly dyed green. The state of the park, which had been pitch black with the sun set and not a single light lit, was clearly visible. The boy, who adjusted the position of the night vision device by operating the band, got out of the SUV with a submachine gun in hand. Sato also got out of the car with a carbine in hand and immediately took a state of alert, pointing the muzzle at the surroundings.
"If weapons and ammo are stockpiled, it's probably in the gymnasium. They wouldn't leave them out in the open."
"What if they aren't there?"
"In that case, we'll search the park's management office. At worst, I want to bring back at least useful information."
Even though it was called a management office, since it was a large sports park, it wasn't a one-story prefab but a large three-story building made of reinforced concrete. If this sports park had been an evacuation center, it wouldn't be strange for a command post to be placed there. Weapons and ammo are also delicate things, so they wouldn't leave them outdoors and would surely store them somewhere in a large indoor area. And speaking of large buildings in this sports park, there was only the gymnasium.
"Can you keep up?"
"I'll follow you."
"Don't overdo it, you're technically an injured person."
True, the boy thought. He had engaged in a hand-to-hand battle with three Brotherhood guys, and at that time his whole body was cut. Fortunately, he hadn't sustained serious injuries, but he was bleeding and his whole body hurt. It would be difficult to run around violently and fight the infected flashily.
"I'll move slowly to match you for now. Even if you find infected, don't try to fight actively; I'll finish them off as much as possible."
"Roger."
"Don't stray."
He had a terrible experience at the high school because they were acting separately. Even if it's somewhat inefficient, it's better to move together. The boy pulled the short sword he had taken from the Brotherhood at the high school from its sheath and nodded toward Sato.
The axe he had been using until now was superior in destructive power thanks to the fact that the impact could be concentrated on one point, but unfortunately, the attack motion was only "striking." In that respect, the short sword could do both "cutting" and "thrusting," and while the axe's attack power drops extremely if the blade part misses the target, a short sword with a long blade causes heavy bleeding just by hitting.
He followed behind Sato, who had left the heavy rifle behind and started walking with only a lightweight submachine gun and a handgun. Thanks to wearing the night vision device, the dark night was just like daytime.
A dry sound of something breaking under his feet echoed with a snap-snap. He didn't know if what he was stepping on was a branch that had fallen on the ground or human bones that had rotted away after being exposed to wind and rain. He didn't even want to see. He couldn't imagine how many people and infected had died in this sports park.
Sato, who was proceeding ahead, thrust his left hand backward and gave a silent instruction to "Stop". The boy returned the short sword to the sheath on his back and instead readied his submachine gun. The submachine gun, which was usually light enough to be swung around even with one hand, felt heavy now.
Through the gaps in the trees ahead visible through the night vision device, several figures could be seen squirming. Since an ordinary person wouldn't be wandering around a place where many infected would be on a night like this, there was no mistake in seeing them as infected in nine cases out of ten.
"What should we do, shall I throw a stone?"
"No, there are too many. At this distance, it won't be found out even if I shoot."
After exchanging those words in low voices, Sato readied his carbine equipped with a suppressor and pulled the trigger several times. Even though a suppressor was attached, the gunshots sounded loud to the boy who was right next to Sato, but it seemed it wasn't so for the infected who were a little distance away. Several infected fell to the bullets that flew unexpectedly, but there was no sign that the remaining infected noticed the firing. If they were at a distance where they could reach out, they would be noticed immediately, but suppressed gunshots become extremely small when they are dozens of meters away.
Many of the infected wandering within the grounds of the sports park were wearing tattered suits or student uniforms, but some were equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets. Since it was through the night vision device, he couldn't tell the colors, but if seen under the sun, they would probably be camouflage colored. It seemed there were not a few JSDF personnel who had turned into infected themselves.
It was difficult to shoot and kill an infected person who was solidified in bulletproof equipment with one shot. Parts that could give immediate fatal wounds, such as the head and torso, were protected, and if he missed or the effect was thin, they would immediately howl and call their kind. Since it was nighttime, it wasn't necessarily the case that they would be discovered immediately, but still, the fewer the risks, the better.
Sato gripped a knife with a reverse grip and sneaked up from behind without even making a footstep toward an infected JSDF member who was wandering a little away from the group. He thought about ignoring it, but since it was right on their path and in the way, he decided to eliminate it.
When Sato stood behind the infected, he vigorously grabbed the infected's jaw with his free left hand and lifted it. Along with that, he thrust the blade of the knife gripped in his right hand deep into the nape of the neck in the gap between the helmet and the collar of the bulletproof vest. The infected's body convulsed once greatly while standing, and then the body that lost strength collapsed to the ground. The infected JSDF member convulsed for a while without raising a single roar, but eventually stopped moving.
After securing rifle ammunition from the pouch of the bulletproof vest worn by the fresh infected corpse, the two aimed for the gymnasium again. They eliminated infected who blocked their way with suppressed guns, and the two were able to come near the gymnasium without being noticed even once.
Several tennis courts were provided next to the gymnasium, but the surrounding fences and the nets on the courts were removed, and instead, a large "H" surrounded by a circle was drawn in the very middle of the court. The fact that the tennis courts were being used as an improvised heliport could be seen from the fact that one helicopter was left on the court. When the unit deployed in the sports park escaped, did the pilot die or become an infected, or was it unable to fly due to poor maintenance or something?
"Sato-san, can't you fly a helicopter?"
"Even for me, that's impossible; reality isn't as easy as a game. Besides, I don't think a helicopter that has been left for months would move properly, and even if it were to be moved, there are no maintenance crews."
Even if he could fly a helicopter, he didn't think it would have any particular meaning. If there was a safe zone created by the JSDF or police in the Tohoku region, he could go there in an instant if he used a helicopter. However, as long as there was no credibility in that rumor, there was no use for a helicopter. He didn't think there was fuel to fly it either.
Leaving the exploration of the helicopter parked on the tennis court for later, the two stood in front of the entrance of the gymnasium. Naturally, there was no sign of people inside. Although it wasn't locked, the door of the gymnasium was firmly closed. As if there were something inside that they didn't want to show.
Sato switched to a handgun and opened the door slightly. There was no movement inside. As he opened the door even wider, the two stepped into the gymnasium while readying their guns. What was there was——————.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.