Chapter 147 - To Want to Love More Than to Be Loved
"In the end, which side was in the wrong?"
In a room of a multi-tenant building that had turned into a ruin, the boy, who was readying an assault rifle out the window, muttered so. Sato, who was readying a rifle next to him, replied "What are you talking about?" without even matching his gaze.
The place where the two were now was a room on the third floor of a multi-tenant building facing a main street. Office desks and cabinets were lined up in the room, and a white board with a graph of what seemed to be sales volume was hanging on the wall. Dust remained piled up on the documents scattered on the floor, indicating that this room had been left for a long time.
Three days had already passed since he reunited with Yuko and Aki and exchanged gunfire with them, who had sided with the Brotherhood for various reasons. The boy and Sato, who escaped from the Brotherhood reinforcements and the infected who came after hearing the gunshots, decided to start harassment attacks against the Brotherhood from that day. Originally, it was planned to be done after making preparations much later, but it was moved forward in a hurry because Yuko and the others sided with the Brotherhood.
"It's about the other day. It seems Sensei and the others didn't know the Brotherhood were bad people, but I had told them before that they shouldn't trust anyone. Despite that, Sensei and the others easily trusted them just because they were helped once... they didn't trust me."
"..."
Sato was silent. The boy interpreted it as prompting him to continue and kept talking. Of course, in a low voice because there might be infected.
"Certainly I might have been a bit forceful. But even though it's this kind of situation, I think it became like this because Sensei tried to believe everyone. If Sensei had been more cautious, if they hadn't followed those guys so readily, I might have been able to avoid shooting Sensei."
"I see. So you think that teacher who easily believed a villain is also to blame?"
The boy nodded. There was also the aspect that he was panicking because people he knew were with the dangerous Brotherhood guys. He also understands that he was careless to fall for the strategy of the young man who showed a gesture of drawing a gun and fired first. Even so, he had a thought in his heart that if Yuko and the others had acted with a little more caution, they might have been able to avoid this.
"I told them many times that they shouldn't easily believe people other than themselves and their companions. Yet Sensei and the others believed that Brotherhood man they had just met and followed him even though he might be dangerous. There's a limit to being carefree."
"I think that's different."
Sato interjected.
"You said those teachers were defenseless and carefree, but I don't think so. I also just met them for the first time the other day, so I can't say anything great, but I felt that Yuko-sensei is a person who tries to believe in people no matter the situation."
"That's why I'm saying that attitude is no good..."
"Certainly it's this kind of situation now. There are any number of people with malice all over the place. I understand your opinion that you shouldn't easily believe people, and it's also correct. But you know, I think it's precisely because it's this kind of situation that believing in people might also be important. Those teachers didn't follow the Brotherhood man without thinking; they probably decided to believe him and act together after thinking and worrying. ...Well, looking at the result, it backfired, though."
"But Sensei and the others didn't believe me."
"It's not that they didn't trust you; they were probably trying to trust both the Brotherhood guys and you. The timing was just bad. In that pressing situation at that time, the Brotherhood guy who hadn't pointed a muzzle at them yet had a higher degree of trust than you who suddenly shot. If the one who shot first was the opposite, they might have pointed their guns at the Brotherhood guys. I felt as if they were trying to trust you until the end, and aren't they still believing you somewhere in their hearts?"
He peeks out the window. In the gray town covered overhead by gray clouds, one car runs soundlessly.
"At least if it were me, I'd rather be friends with a person who tries to keep believing in people no matter how many dozens of times they are betrayed, rather than a guy who says no one can be trusted and swings a gun around."
"Even at a time like this?"
"It's precisely because it's a time like this. We must not stop being human. Even if there was a person who looked like a fool for believing in people, it's better than a guy who tries to trust no one. If there were people who laughed at a person who was betrayed for believing in people, I think they are the ones who are wrong. Believing in people is a big deal, you know? It's easy to decide everything is an enemy without believing in people. The people who laugh at those who were betrayed for believing in people are chicken bastards who are afraid of being betrayed and can't do anything. I think a person who tries to believe in people at any time is a person of true value."
The car runs soundlessly toward the building where the boy and the others are lurking. Sato closed his mouth and jerked his chin.
The boy readied the assault rifle set up with a bipod on the table by the window, and next to him, Sato also peeked through the scope attached to a bolt-action sniper rifle.
"Because we can't let such a valuable person pass into the hands of the Brotherhood as they are... you remember the procedure, right?"
The boy nodded silently and peeked through the scope himself. He fits the car running without a sound into the center of the crosshairs. From the manufacturer's logo, the boy knew that car was an electric vehicle.
According to Sato, it's a car the Brotherhood often uses when patrolling the town. Because Yuko and the others were drawn into the Brotherhood, Sato and the boy decided to move up the schedule and make the next move. Even before the boy came to this town, the Brotherhood had been patrolling to try to capture Sato, who was hostile to them, or to confirm if survivors they didn't know had entered the town. The patrol routes and times were irregular, but even so, Sato seemed to have been able to grasp the general routes, days of the week, and time slots while confirming the state of the patrols many times.
This multi-tenant building where the boy and Sato are positioned also exists on the patrol route Sato found. It was up to luck when and where the Brotherhood would patrol among multiple patrol routes, but it seems they had luck today. Yesterday they waited all day in the same building but the Brotherhood didn't appear, and today was the second attempt.
"Just to be sure, that car is really the one the Brotherhood guys are riding, right?"
"Don't worry. That Leaf is definitely the one they use. The license plate looks familiar."
"Then I'm relieved."
The Brotherhood basically patrols the town in groups of three using electric vehicles or hybrid cars that don't make noise. The reason they don't use ordinary gasoline cars is probably because they don't want to call infected with engine noise. No matter how much the Brotherhood is armed with JSDF or police firearms, they don't have enough leeway to fight head-on with a large number of infected.
The Brotherhood also has technicians and seems to have set up surveillance cameras and such here and there in the town, but there are limits to the number and range. It was a patrol to fill those limits. If it's an electric vehicle, they won't consume gasoline if they have solar power generation equipment and such, and it doesn't make noise.
The electric vehicle the Brotherhood was riding showed movements of being wary of an attack, such as zigzagging at times or running at the edge of the road as much as possible, but from the perspective of the boy and Sato positioned at a high place, such a thing was not an obstacle at all. The boy, who readied an assault rifle loaded with 20 rounds of 7.62mm bullets and fit the hood of the electric vehicle into the reticle of the scope, started firing first, preceding Sato.
It was not easy to hit a car running at nearly 60 km/h, but even so, if he shoots several rounds, one will hit, and compared to a human, a car is a larger target. Every time he pulled the trigger, a large empty shell casing was spat out along with a strong recoil, falling to the floor and making a clear metallic sound.
The electric vehicle, which seemed to have noticed the firing, tried to accelerate and escape, but before they could turn at an intersection and escape from the sight of the boy and the others, one of the fired bullets hit the hood. Whether the motor or battery was damaged, the speed of the car dropped visibly. Before it came to a complete stop, the doors opened and three men with guns jumped out from inside, but in the next moment, one had the upper half of his head blown off and collapsed to the ground.
The one who shot was Sato. The electric vehicle that stopped was 500 meters away from the boy's building, but Sato shot through the head of the escaping man accurately with one shot. Before the boy could even be impressed, Sato pulled the bolt handle of the sniper rifle, performing the ejection of the empty shell casing and the loading of the next round.
The other two seemed to have sensed that the boy and the others were firing from the multi-tenant building and fired back with JSDF assault rifles or hunting shotguns. However, gunfire that hasn't even been aimed properly won't hit, and even if they aimed accurately, it's a distance at the limit of the range. There's no way it would hit.
The boy followed Sato's lead and this time aimed accurately and fired at the men 500 meters away. The first round missed, but the boy, who grasped roughly how much the trajectory would change from the impact mark, adjusted the aim and pulled the trigger once more.
One of the men trying to escape with his back turned suddenly fell and started pressing his leg. Looking through the scope, the leg the man pressed was stained bright red with blood, and he could see that his face was distorted with pain. It seems the bullet the boy shot hit his leg.
He actually aimed for the head, but is it okay if it hits? The boy, who thought so, aimed at the other one, but before that, Sato pulled the trigger again, and the head of the man who was safe burst inside the scope.
"What should we do, shall we kill him?"
While capturing the Brotherhood man who is seriously injured but still conscious in the crosshairs, the boy asks Sato.
"No, leave him. If he manages to escape, he'll probably tell his companions that we've started a full-scale counterattack. ...Well, looking at this state, it seems impossible for him to return to his companions."
Whether they heard the flashily sounded gunshots, the figures of infected were reflected in the scope. The man who was shot in the leg and cannot move resists the infected approaching by firing the assault rifle in bursts. There are only a few infected that showed themselves, but it was clearly visible that the man had fallen into a panic.
"Alright, we're also withdrawing. Let's leave quickly before infected gather near this building."
Following Sato, who slung the rifle over his shoulder and instead drew a handgun with a suppressor, the boy also left the room of the multi-tenant building. He intended to keep the amount of firing suppressed compared to the Brotherhood guys, but even so, gunshots sounded in a silent town echo unexpectedly far. He wanted to return to the safe house before the infected could pinpoint their location.
The fact that the patrol team does not return will soon become known to the Brotherhood. They will surely judge that the boy and Sato attacked and strengthen their vigilance. Or they will strengthen the search for the boy and the others, but the two intended to attack that search party as well.
A situation where you don't know where you'll be attacked from is very stressful. Make the Brotherhood waver with the fear of attack and daily stress, and create an opening. That was the future strategy the boy and Sato built.
When leaving the room, the boy looked back once. From outside the window, the sound of assault rifle bursts can be heard on the wind. The Brotherhood man whose leg was shot seems to be still alive, but how long will that last?
This strategy was built by the two to save Yuko and the others. What are they doing where now? Are they safe or not? Have they really become the boy's enemies, or is there still room for persuasion? There were mountains of anxiety and concerns, and there wasn't that much leeway in time. Now that he knows Yuko and the others are with the Brotherhood, he feels like he wants to launch a raid on the Brotherhood and rescue them right now. But even if there were enough manpower here, if only two people go to launch an attack from the front, they will only be counterattacked. The boy also understood that they should take a certain strategy even if it takes some time. Anyway, for now, they just had to execute the strategy they built. The boy can only pray for their safety.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.