Chapter 152 - A Story of Retribution
The weather was worsening steadily. Although they had somehow managed to escape the apartment building, The Brotherhood showed no signs of slowing their pursuit.
Dragged along by Sato, the boy walked as best he could while shielding his shot leg. Having been shot and then spraining his ankle when he fell, his movements were even more sluggish. Even when he tried to run, he could move at a fast walk at best, and he felt it would be difficult to outrun The Brotherhood closing in from behind.
While Sato bought time, the boy would move forward, and once he had reached a certain distance, Sato would run to catch up... In this manner, they managed to advance while keeping The Brotherhood at bay, but the distance was gradually closing. Perhaps sensing that Sato and the boy had already escaped the apartment, the members who had been surrounding the building were now joining the pursuit.
Furthermore, they didn't even know where to flee. The Brotherhood wasn't their only enemy. Even though both sides were using suppressed firearms, they had made too much noise. It wouldn't be strange for the infected to notice and attack at any moment. In a situation where they didn't know where an infected might jump out from, they couldn't afford to run around aimlessly.
"Running... seems impossible."
Glancing at the boy's leg, Sato muttered. The bleeding had stopped, but the shot leg was still throbbing with heat, and with the sprained ankle, he was doing everything he could just to walk.
If they had a car, being unable to run wouldn't have been an issue, but moving to the parking lot under a hail of bullets and attempting an escape in a vehicle with no bulletproof equipment would have been suicidal. They had no choice but to leave the car behind.
That said, the boy had no intention of saying "Leave me behind" like in a movie or drama. He could easily imagine that if he were left behind, what awaited him was death.
He knew it was selfish, but the boy thought it would be a problem if Sato abandoned him. No matter how many guns he had, the enemy had them too, and in terms of sheer numbers, the other side was superior. No matter how much of a special forces operative Sato was, if the opponent had guns and outnumbered them, the advantage of high proficiency had its limits.
The Brotherhood also quickly realized their perimeter had been breached and pursued the boy and his companion. The distance was gradually shrinking, and it wasn't hard to imagine they would soon be caught.
"This is bad..."
Sato said so, but as far as the boy was concerned, he had known that for a long time. However, even if his leg were in perfect condition, outrunning them in this situation would be difficult. It would be a different story if there were a means to stall The Brotherhood, but nothing so convenient could be found nearby.
"They're here!"
At Sato's voice, the boy reflexively dropped to the ground. Above his head, a silent bullet fired by someone from behind passed through. Looking back, he saw a figure holding a gun in the shadow of a utility pole. There was no doubt that figure was a member of The Brotherhood.
Sato and the boy fired toward the utility pole. The Brotherhood member immediately hid in the pole's shadow, but unfortunately, a utility pole wasn't large enough to fully conceal a grown man.
Bullets chipped the pole and pierced the enemy's body where it couldn't be hidden. After pumping more bullets into the enemy rolling on the ground with a scream to silence them, the two began moving again. However, the boy's stamina, having been exposed to intense wind and rain while injured, was nearing its limit. It was only natural, as he had entered combat in a situation where he hadn't been able to get much rest.
"At this rate, they'll catch us."
He heard Sato mutter. He tried to think of some brilliant plan, but in a mind filled with intense pain and fatigue, not a single good idea surfaced.
Even if they fled into a building, how long would it take to find an unlocked room? This was a town that had somewhat overcome the panic of the early virus outbreak, and since most people had evacuated safely, there were fewer infected than elsewhere. That was precisely why they had established a safe house, but the problem was that people had locked their homes when they evacuated.
Presumably thinking they could return, they had locked their front doors so no one would enter. In the end, the homeowners were attacked by the infected elsewhere and never returned, but the houses with locked doors remained as they were.
It was difficult to enter a house without destroying the lock or the door. It wasn't that lock-picking was impossible, but it took time, and even if they hid in a house by breaking the door, a house with fresh signs of destruction would be immediately suspected by The Brotherhood and raided.
By the same token, escaping by car was also difficult. The car they had been using was left at the apartment they had fled from, and the location where the spare car was kept was in the direction of The Brotherhood. While being pursued, he didn't feel like intentionally heading back to retrieve a car.
Even searching residential garages or parking lots, there were few cars parked, perhaps because the owners had taken them when fleeing. Even if there were one, starting the engine without a key would take a very long time, and there was no guarantee of success. Besides, there was the possibility that the gasoline or battery had deteriorated and it wouldn't run.
In other words, the only option now was to just keep running and fleeing. Even that wouldn't last forever.
Just as the word "Checkmate" began to surface in his mind, Sato suddenly stopped. Thinking it was an enemy, he looked ahead, but nothing moving was visible.
"Sato-san, what's wrong? Did something..."
"Sorry."
Immediately after Sato said that, cutting off the boy's words, Sato's gloved fist filled the boy's vision. Feeling a powerful impact on his forehead, the boy realized he had been punched by Sato.
Before he could even wonder why, strength left his body and he collapsed to the ground. In a vision tilted 90 degrees, he could see Sato stripping the gun and ammunition from the boy's equipment.
"Sorry, if this keeps up, even I'll get caught."
"I'm taking this back," Sato said, pulling the suppressed handgun that was originally his own equipment from the fallen boy's holster. Then he picked up the suppressed submachine gun taken from The Brotherhood, along with spare magazines.
Having taken the weapons from the boy, Sato ran off quickly, as if wary of his surroundings. His pace was far faster than when he was with the injured boy, and in an instant, his figure vanished beyond the intersection.
Lying face down, the boy was unable to make a single movement. Within a vision rapidly being enveloped in darkness, the boy finally understood that he had been left behind by Sato.
He didn't even need to think about why Sato had punched him and abandoned him. He had been judged a hindrance by Sato. Therefore, Sato had left the boy behind as a sacrifice to The Brotherhood in order to survive himself, just as the boy had done until now.
Is it my turn now? The boy mocked himself, and then, this time for sure, he lost consciousness.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.