Chapter 149 - Stranger in the Dark
Can we win this battle? Lying on the sofa and looking at the map, the boy thought about such things. The map the boy held was made based on the information heard from the man made prisoner, and the information from the list of the security system that Sato obtained by going back to the Brotherhood forward base alone was added, and the general placement of the enemy and such are described.
Looking at that, the boy was starting to think that the chance of winning is quite thin in the current situation.
The fact that the Brotherhood's headquarters is in a warehouse district by the sea had been known for a little while. This time he was able to pinpoint its specific location by interrogating the man, but the problem was the number of enemies and equipment.
The number of the Brotherhood is at most about 70 people. The problem was that despite the attacks by the boy and Sato until now, the number of the Brotherhood members has not decreased. Mostly, they are probably finding survivor groups elsewhere and replenishing members from there. Tokyo is a municipality that boasted the largest population in Japan, so the number of infected is large, but the number of people surviving is also large.
The Brotherhood seems to have been not only solidifying the defense of the base and searching for the boy and Sato but also not neglecting their own strength reinforcement. Aki and the others are not included in the number gathered yet, but if they completely turn into enemies, the enemy strength will increase further.
And the Brotherhood's armament. This side is also mostly one gun per person by looting from gun shops or gathering weapons abandoned by the police or JSDF. On top of that, like the group of three the boy encountered, they are searching the bases the JSDF had deployed and trying to secure more weapons and ammunition.
The enemy is dozens of times the number, everyone has firearms, and they are somewhat coordinated. On top of that, they clearly recognize this side as an enemy and are also launching attacks. Because Sato, a special forces member, was there, he felt like fighting the Brotherhood, but if it were a situation of himself alone, he would have run away quickly.
In the first place, why is it necessary to stay in this town and fight the Brotherhood? The boy asked himself. The answer is because Aki and Yuko are with the Brotherhood. He chose to continue the fight to pull them away from the Brotherhood and save them.
But is there a need for that? Originally he only lived together with them for about a month, and it's not like he has a debt like having his life saved. And now Aki and the others are hostile to the boy and have sided with the Brotherhood.
Even Yuko, whom the boy shot, he doesn't know if she's still alive now. In the man's story, she was carried to a sickroom, but he says he hasn't heard the story after that. Rumor has it she's alive, but the truth is unknown.
Shall I just run away from this town? Such a thought came to his head.
He's sorry for Sato's companions, but originally it was a story that had nothing to do with him. Whether they are oppressed by the Brotherhood and exposed to the danger of their lives, it's only the responsibility of themselves who didn't have the power to fight. Besides, because they treated the young people poorly, they invited the defection of the young people. It's self-responsibility.
Even for Yuko and Aki, they are originally a gathering of people who had no connection. If the world hadn't changed, he wouldn't have met them. And now Aki and the others are hostile to the boy. There is no moral obligation to help the group that is pointing enmity at him. There is no obligation to help the group that became enemies, and there is no need to show mercy. Leave them alone, or kill them. Whichever he chooses, no one will criticize.
It might be good to just try living as he desires without thinking about anything. The boy moved his gaze to the white powder in a small plastic bag placed on the table. It was something the Brotherhood man made prisoner possessed, and the content is drugs.
He doesn't know where it was obtained from, but drugs seem to be commonly used in the Brotherhood. Regarding drugs themselves, the boy is also using what he obtained for a certain reason as an anesthetic substitute when treating wounds. But in the Brotherhood, drugs are supplied to remove the fear of the members.
On the arm of the man made prisoner, there were several relatively new injection marks. The man had only been in the Brotherhood for about one or two months, and he had only used drugs a few times. Withdrawal symptoms are not seen yet, but it will be a matter of time before he becomes a drug addict.
While using drugs, you can forget about the desperate outside world. The man said so. The world has fallen into a desperate situation, and the fear of death is always swirling in his head. Unless he indulges in alcohol, women, or drugs, he might go mad with fear.
And those drugs seem to have the amount supplied decided by the degree of contribution to the Brotherhood. Those who want to escape from fear, those who became drug addicts, work desperately to get drugs. In this world dyed in fear, it's perfect as a way to dominate people.
Apparently, even within the Brotherhood, there are two types: those who dominate and those who are dominated. Those who dominate are the founding members of the Brotherhood, and those who are dominated are the members who joined the Brotherhood later. The Brotherhood seems to be killing or thoroughly—that is, until they die—using survivors other than themselves, but it seems there are those being used even within the Brotherhood.
But as companies and armies were in the former world, the fact that there is a clear hierarchy means it's a coordinated organization where the lower people move by the command of the upper people. And if it's a group with weapons that is coordinated, that is already the same as an army.
Dozens of times their own number, a coordinated army. Challenge such people to a fight where nothing can be gained. What meaning is there in that?
The boy held his head and buried his head in the cushion of the bed. From things that can't be helped even if thought about, things that can't be done anything about, he has no choice but to look away or run away.
Fortunately, now Sato is keeping watch outside. The prisoner brought along is tied up and thrown into another room and locked from the outside, so there is no need to be escaped.
The boy glanced at the clock for a moment and confirmed that there is still time until the change of watch before falling asleep.
"...Are you listening. Deadman, wake up."
Sato's voice mixed with noise forcibly woke the boy from a shallow sleep. Looking at the hands of the wall clock, not even 10 minutes had passed since he fell asleep.
"Can you hear me, Deadman."
Sato's voice again. Finally the boy realized that he had fallen asleep with the earphone of the radio stuck in his ear. It's a commercially available radio looted from the Brotherhood, the kind of cheap thing sold at home centers.
"This is Deadman, I just woke up. Ghost, did something happen?"
He replies while pressing the talk button attached to the cord of the radio's earphone. Deadman and Ghost, both are codes the two use on the radio communication. In case the communication was intercepted by the Brotherhood, the boy chose from the title of a manga he happened to be reading, and Sato chose appropriately from a certain masked rider.
"I confirmed suspicious figures, it's the enemy."
With those words, he woke up at once. Enemy, namely the Brotherhood.
"Distance?"
"About 400 meters. The number is unknown, but even looking down there are 10. They are approaching to surround this building, from all directions."
The apartment where the two were now was not the original base but a temporary safe house. It's troublesome to take the Brotherhood man who is a prisoner back to the headquarters, and above all, it's a problem when he escapes, so they brought him to one of the safe houses prepared in advance.
If it were one or two people, he would have judged they were just survivors or Brotherhood guys wandering around this area by chance. But since more than 10 people are aiming for the apartment where the three are at the same time and from all directions, this has no choice but to judge that the Brotherhood is surely trying to launch an attack.
"Were we followed?"
"I don't know. Even if we were followed, I confirmed many times."
"Then why..."
"Anyway, we're leaving this place. It's a withdrawal, take that man and move to the parking lot."
When returning with the prisoner, he looked back many times to confirm he wasn't being followed. He also checked thoroughly if the prisoner had a GPS transmitter or something. That's why it was a wonder that the existence of the safe house was detected by the enemy.
However, now is not the time to be thinking about how the Brotherhood found the location of the three. The priority is to leave this place quickly and move to another base. Now that they are inferior in number and furthermore carrying the dead weight of a prisoner, they want to avoid engagement as much as possible.
He picked up the submachine gun placed beside the sofa and slung the backpack containing food and such. When he was about to open the door and head to the next room, the radio's earphone rang again.
"Deadman, this is Ghost. The number of enemies is large. I'll try to eliminate them here, but it's impossible to defeat them all. If they approach, I leave the handling to you."
"Roger, Ghost."
The boy drew the handgun housed in the holster and attached a suppressor to the muzzle. Because he would gather infected with gunshots if he fired normally, he borrowed only the handgun as a set with a suppressor from Sato. The range of a handgun is limited, and the accuracy is far inferior to a submachine gun or an assault rifle, but it's superior in the point that he can fire without hesitation in an emergency.
It's raining outside, and the wind has also started to blow. Even though the temperature is low to begin with, the blowing rain and wind take away body temperature further. The wind hitting the only exposed face was like a blade, and it was cold enough that the skin seemed to be cut.
It was bad weather to the point he didn't want to go out, but he can't stay in this apartment forever. Sato would be starting to fire at the enemy approaching the apartment on the rooftop, but he'd better not expect much in this rain and wind. Whether he's firing using a carbine with a suppressor, the slight gunshots are drowned out by the wind and can't be heard at all.
"Hey you, wake up."
When he removed the lock of the next room and opened the door, the Brotherhood man with both hands tied was sleeping soundly in the room. Until he came to this apartment, he was sobbing, and then he was acting in a high-handed attitude to release him by emphasizing he was a member of the Brotherhood, and the boy was irritated with the man many times, but this time that sound sleep as if he didn't know the hardships of the boy and Sato got on his nerves. The boy kicked the man's leg lying on the sofa and snoring with the toe of his boot.
"It hurts, what are you doing!"
"Shut up and come together, it's a move."
He dares not say they are under attack by the Brotherhood. If he says it, the man will know his companions are nearby and try to counterattack. It would have been easy if he processed the man here and now to eliminate that risk, but Sato said "don't kill as much as possible" regarding the prisoner.
Sato only said "don't kill as much as possible," and didn't say "never kill." Even if he fabricated the fact that he was counterattacked and had no choice but to shoot, there should be no problem. But if he does that, he will end up following his own way of life that he denied before.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.