Chapter 144 - Things That Were Once Alive
The inside of the gymnasium was, naturally, shrouded in darkness. When Sato illuminated the inside with a flashlight equipped with an infrared filter, the scene visible through the eyepiece of the night vision device suddenly became as bright as midday. The gymnasium had apparently been used as an improvised field hospital, and countless folding beds were lined up on the wide floor.
He swung the light emitting invisible light left and right to confirm that nothing was moving inside the gymnasium. Sato muttered "Clear" in a low voice, and the two lowered their gun muzzles.
"I'm turning on the light. Take off the night vision device."
"Is it okay?"
"The windows here are high. Even if we use the flashlight in visible light mode, it probably won't be seen from the outside. Besides, with the night vision device on, we can't search properly because the field of vision is poor."
The windows of the gymnasium were provided far above their heads, and even if they turned on the flashlight in visible light mode on the first floor, there was no worry of light leaking outside. As Sato said, the boy took off the night vision device and turned on the flashlight built into the handguard of the submachine gun.
The moment he turned on the light, parts that had been hidden in the blind spots of the night vision device until now were illuminated by the light, and the state of the interior of the gymnasium was more clearly understood. On the floor of the gymnasium, empty IV packs and fragments of broken syringes were scattered, and there was an air of people having fled in a great hurry.
"There are no corpses."
What was placed on the beds were only blankets and towels stained with dried, blackened blood; no corpses were visible.
"Isn't that it?"
Saying so, Sato pointed toward the back of the gymnasium. Near the stage, a cluster of beds surrounded by a fence was lined up, and he could see that something was indeed on top of them. However, whether those were corpses or rolled-up blankets wouldn't be known until they got closer. And why was there a section surrounded by a fence, like a ring for a wire-mesh death match, inside the gymnasium?
The boy and Sato approached the cluster of beds surrounded by the fence. And they realized that the things on the beds were dried human corpses, and understood why only that area was isolated with a fence.
The corpses left only in the isolated section mostly wore camouflage uniforms. Among them were corpses in police uniforms and those wearing white coats. There were also corpses in ordinary casual clothes, suits, and student uniforms. There were at least 30 beds with those corpses lined up, even by a conservative estimate.
And all of the corpses on the beds had been subjected to measures such as having bands wrapped around their upper bodies and thighs so they couldn't move. If they were ordinary injured or sick people, there would be no need to purposely restrain them. And not even an IV stand or a first-aid kit was placed around the corpses, and there was not a trace of the corpses inside the wire mesh having received medical treatment.
"They're infected. Either they died while still human, or they were killed after becoming infected."
Sato said so and pushed the door provided in a section of the wire mesh with his gun muzzle. It wasn't locked, and with a slight sound of metal rubbing, the door made of a combination of wire and iron pipes opened.
Following Sato, who stepped into the isolated area of wire mesh, the boy also entered through the entrance. Most of the corpses had blood-stained bandages wrapped around their arms or legs, and every single one of them had a small hole, about the size a pinky finger could fit into, in their head. From the situation, it didn't seem like they were shot because they had turned into infected and were acting violently.
"They killed them while they were still human..."
Some of the corpses died with expressions of despair or anger still on their faces. If they were infected who had lost their reason, they wouldn't show such faces. From the number of shell casings scattered on the floor, it seemed they were finished with one shot per person.
A simple human body diagram and a paper armband-like thing with its tip painted black were wrapped around the wrists of all the corpses. It was apparently a so-called triage tag, and paper from the red, yellow, and green sections that had apparently been cut off was lying on the floor.
Triage is a selection criterion for deciding which patients to treat preferentially in a large-scale disaster. A triage tag is a card where the condition of the injured or sick person can be seen at a glance; the symptoms worsen in order starting from green, and a black tag indicates that there is no prospect of being saved even if life-saving measures are applied.
All the corpses lined up in the gymnasium had black triage tags attached, but on the black part of those tags, a white cross had been added on top with correction fluid or something.
"A white cross on top of black is a tag that means infection. Even if the person themselves is perfectly fine, once they are infected, there's nothing that can be done. Even if the body is healthy, if they become an infected who has lost their reason, that person is as good as dead."
The boy looked at the arm of a JSDF member who had died while restrained on the bed. The sleeve was rolled up, and a bandage was wrapped around the wrist area. When he unwound that bandage, a human teeth mark was carved into the withered arm. It was a light wound that would by no means be fatal. However, once an infected attacks and the virus enters the body, that person is as good as dead regardless of the size of the injury or wound.
"Then, all the people who died here are..."
"They're probably people who were bitten by the infected and brought here, but there was nothing that could be done. Even if their consciousness is clear immediately after being bitten, they will eventually lose their reason and become infected. It seems there were some who had natural immunity to the virus, but the possibility is only slight."
Even if bitten by an infected, it doesn't mean they immediately develop symptoms, lose their reason, and act violently. It seems the time until onset becomes shorter if bitten in a place close to the head, but there are individual differences in that too. A person who is bitten gradually becomes semi-conscious, and then wakes up as an infected immediately after completely losing consciousness.
A way to prevent that has still not been found. When the pandemic occurred, researchers all over the world were pouring all their efforts into the development of vaccines and treatments, but he heard they were never completed. As Sato's special forces were searching, it seems there are some who have natural immunity to the virus. However, the possibility seems to exist only at a probability of one in tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, or even lower than that.
Therefore, there is practically no means to save a person who has been bitten. Either kill them before they develop symptoms and lose their reason, or restrain them and watch their condition for a while. Even if the latter means is taken, they will eventually develop symptoms and try to attack as an infected, so if considering safety, the only method in the end is to kill them.
"A first-aid station was almost meaningless even if it existed. The injured people who could receive treatment were only those who were hit by a stray bullet or involved in an accident and hit by a car, things like that. For the people injured by attacks by the infected, which are the most numerous, there was nothing that could be done."
"Then, why did they go to the trouble of restraining them to beds and watching their condition? If they knew they were bitten, they could have just killed them at that point and wouldn't have had to do this troublesome thing."
"There were many people who thought that way, and although it was unofficial within the unit, an instruction had also been issued to "shoot any infected personnel." But in reality, such a thing couldn't be done easily."
If it's an opponent whose name you don't know, you can shoot them in the name of self-defense. In the first place, since you're killing them from a long distance using a gun, you can't see the opponent's expression, so your heart doesn't ache that much.
But what if the person you're killing is someone you know? How many personnel would have been able to immediately shoot a comrade they had shared meals and sleep with until yesterday and overcome harsh training with, just because they were bitten? How many people are there who can kill a comrade they know who is seeking help in front of their eyes with their own hands?
"Well, it's impossible for an ordinary person. Police officers and JSDF members are also human, and there are no people who have experience killing people. They have received training to kill people to protect the country, but there were probably almost no people who thought they would actually end up killing someone. Much less if that opponent is their own comrade."
"If so, why didn't they formally issue an order to shoot infected personnel?"
"Try doing such a thing; everyone will become paranoid, thinking "isn't that guy infected?" and start shooting each other. Besides, if a guy who was bitten thinks "I'm going to be killed because I'm infected" and brings out a gun and runs away or shoots his comrades, that would be even more unmanageable. Fortunately, since they're all people who have guns, they probably thought that as long as they were restrained, they could manage somehow even if they developed symptoms."
Even in an emergency, human emotion is something that cannot be easily discarded. That's why they were restraining bitten personnel and evacuees. While they are human, their conscience pricks them and they cannot kill. However, if they have developed symptoms, lost their reason, and become monsters acting violently to kill their comrades, they can be shot and killed with the indulgence of self-defense.
However, the personnel and evacuees who died here were shot and killed while they were still human. Sato said, "They probably killed them as a final mercy just before retreating from the evacuation center." It wasn't because it would be a problem if they were chased after becoming infected. They killed them out of goodwill, wanting to at least bury them as humans by the hands of their comrades while they were still human. From the perspective of the person who was killed, it probably wouldn't be felt as goodwill, though.
"There are no infected here. It seems the equipment of the dead personnel is placed on that desk, so collect it, and at the same time search the corpses and check if there's any information."
"What will you do, Sato-san? Didn't you say not to stray?"
"Scavenging corpses with two people is fine, but it takes time. I'll close the door when I go out, so you don't move from this gymnasium until I come back. I'll go search the other buildings."
If the safety inside the gymnasium was secured, there would probably be no worry of being attacked by infected like during the day as long as he didn't move from there. Even so, he thought it was dangerous to act alone in the middle of the night, but the boy remembered that Sato was a battle-hardened special forces member to begin with. Rather than taking around the boy whose movements were slow due to injury, it might be better because he can move lightly and has no dead weight if he acts alone.
Outside the section isolated by the fence, large desks were lined up, and several assault rifles and machine guns were placed there, mixed with blood-smeared bulletproof vests and chest rigs. They probably took them away because they would be in the way of treatment when personnel were attacked by infected and brought to the first-aid station, and because it would be dangerous if they acted violently with guns. Is the reason why the weapons are extremely few compared to the number of corpses because they collected most of them when they abandoned this evacuation center?
The door of the gymnasium closed, and the boy was left behind in the darkness along with many corpses. He felt somewhat complicated as if he had been told he was dead weight, but even so, he couldn't just be dazed like this. Glancing at the cluster of corpses shot while still tied to the beds, the boy headed toward the desk where several firearms were lined up. Now was not the time to be thinking about the dead, but the time when he had to obtain even slightly more powerful weapons.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.