Chapter 158 - A Persuasion Story
The boy was taken to a different building from the warehouse where he had been detained until then. In a room of that building, which seemed to have been a factory in the past, a room with iron bars like a solitary cell was provided, and the boy was thrown into it.
The Leader's followers who had escorted the boy went somewhere, leaving only the boy and one male guard. While looking at the back of the guard, who was probably close to his own age, the boy remembered the sights he saw while being transferred to this building.
As the headquarters of The Brotherhood, which had dozens of personnel, both people and supplies seemed to be abundantly prepared here. The Brotherhood isolated a corner of the former port area from the outside with wire mesh and barricades, and established a safe zone there. Most of the buildings inside that safe zone were warehouses or factories, but solar panels for power generation were installed on the roofs of many of those buildings.
Some companies install power generation facilities for renewable energy on factory premises as part of environmental activities and use them as power for factory operation, but only a few. Most of the solar panels on the roofs of the buildings in the base were likely retrofitted by The Brotherhood. The boy had witnessed several light trucks running in the base with materials and workers on the loading beds.
Also, The Brotherhood seemed to have prepared enough generators and the like to maintain a life where electricity could be used. The boy remembered when he passed in front of a parking lot where dozens of plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles were lined up. Unlike internal combustion engine vehicles, those electric vehicles can run silently, so the risk of being found by the infected while running through the city is reduced.
Those electric vehicles seemed to be used not only as a means of transportation for The Brotherhood but also for power supply within the base. Plug-in hybrid vehicles can generate electricity by running the engine, and if a drive battery is installed, the stored electricity can be supplied to the outside.
The Brotherhood used that electricity to operate machine tools. Perhaps it was break time, as the boy had witnessed men wearing work clothes coming out of a factory with the shutters open. He didn't know what they were making in the factory, but it would be tools for killing people anyway.
The Brotherhood members who attacked the boy and Sato were armed with self-made suppressed submachine guns. They might be making those suppressors and, perhaps, weapons and ammunition as well. Bullets cannot be made without gunpowder, but conversely, if gunpowder can be procured, it's easy to make them afterward.
The Brotherhood's base has more than enough machine tools. Originally, this whole area was an industrial zone; machine tools are everywhere. If engineers gathered from outside are added there, it would be easy to create weapons.
"Hey you, is it true you were with Sato-san?"
While the boy was organizing the information about The Brotherhood he had seen so far, the guard on the other side of the iron bars spoke to him haltingly. He wondered why a mere member knew Sato's name, but the boy answered.
"It's true, so what."
"Is Sato-san still doing well?"
"Why do I have to answer that question? You guys are enemies of me and Sato-san."
"...True, sorry. Don't mind it."
Why did this guard know Sato's name? Moreover, Sato should be an enemy of The Brotherhood, yet when the guard called his name, he didn't feel hatred or anger from his tone.
There, the boy remembered that Sato also used to have comrades. However, among those comrades, he also heard from Sato that many of the young men were angry that only they were given dangerous and grueling work, and defected to The Brotherhood with weapons and food.
Could this guard be one of Sato's former comrades? When the boy, thinking so, asked the guard, the answer was yes.
"How is life in The Brotherhood? You were taken in by their smooth talk and abandoned the weak people. You must be leading a comfortable life."
When the boy said that sarcastically, the guard replied in a tired tone.
"No, it's not like that. Honestly, I wish I hadn't come here..."
"Wish you hadn't come? Why?"
"It's different from what I thought. I wanted my strength to be recognized by more people, so I joined The Brotherhood. I thought I could be more active and be praised by various people. But..."
Apparently, he had joined The Brotherhood out of a sense of rebellion against adults without thinking about the consequences. Among the young men who were with Sato, a sense of rebellion against adults was swirling because they were forced into dangerous work just because they were young and had physical strength.
The words "survival of the fittest," "there is no value in living for the weak," and "you have power" whispered by The Brotherhood there must have been very effective. As a result, the young men who were Sato's comrades revolted against the adults who used them and defected to The Brotherhood's side.
"What we're made to do here is just work that hurts people. If there are survivors in the city and they seem like people who won't be useful, we point guns at them and make them listen to what we say. Those who resist are killed, and supplies are stolen."
"What are you saying now? You joined The Brotherhood knowing that from the start, didn't you?"
"Certainly, I thought I would be doing those kinds of things, and rather, I was wishing for it. Since laws and police are gone, power has become justice. I thought people with power could do anything. But when I actually do it, only regret remained."
It would be regret brought about by a hasty judgment while being hot-headed and a mistake due to youth.
"I could shoot those who attack us. But to attack people who are living quietly and peacefully. And to even kill children..."
"Did you kill them?"
"No, I couldn't go that far. But among the people who joined The Brotherhood with me, many were gleefully killing even women and children. Those guys were promoted in order, and some have become executives now. I, who couldn't do that, am here as a guard for prisoners."
This guard would be in the sane category even within The Brotherhood. The boy perceived that the guard regretted his actions.
If he entices him well, could he escape from here? The boy, thinking so, spoke further to the guard.
"Do you regret it? Joining The Brotherhood."
"Yeah, but I don't know what to do. To live here, I have to become able to kill innocent people. I hate that."
He felt like he understood why the guard told such a story to the boy. If he told such a story to even a comrade of The Brotherhood, he would be certified as a "weak person with no value in living" and end up being killed or continuously put into dangerous places as a pawn. It's something he can only tell the boy, who was brought from outside and is scheduled to be killed eventually, with no strings attached.
The boy brought his face close to the iron bars separating him from the guard and whispered.
"Why don't you let me out of here?"
"Huh!?"
"You hate being here, don't you? Let's escape together."
When he said that, the guard suddenly started to get flustered. Can I do it? But for a moment, the words "As if I could do that!" came back from him, which was quite natural.
"If I do such a thing, I'll be killed!"
"That's why we escape together. There's nothing good about being here."
"It's impossible, there's no way to escape from here! Besides, I refuse to go back to the place where those arrogant old men and women are. I hate working for people who just complain without even thanking me while I'm facing life-threatening situations."
"Then you're saying you'll lead a life of continuing to kill women and children without mercy here, are you?"
When the boy pressed him so, the guard shook his head, saying "I hate that too."
The boy didn't know which life was better. He just thought he wouldn't want to choose a life of belonging to The Brotherhood and killing innocent people, which is then justified.
However, this guard also has various circumstances. He had heard before from Sato that Sato's former comrades escaped as a group and defected to The Brotherhood. He heard that the young men who escaped couldn't stand being forced into only dangerous work just because they were young. If adults acted arrogant just because they were older without doing anything, and forced dangerous work like fighting the infected onto young people as if it were their job, the boy thought he would also escape from such a place.
"I don't know what to do either... But we can't turn back anymore."
"Why?"
"We killed the comrades who came to The Brotherhood with us."
It seems they were elated, thinking they had escaped from the selfish adults and were welcomed by The Brotherhood, and that they were now free.
"But after a while, some started to think something was wrong after all. We heard that there are no children or elderly in The Brotherhood because they would be a hindrance, and at first, we were convinced. But after all, some started to say something was wrong."
Many adapted to The Brotherhood's ideology, but some still couldn't accept it. Those who realized the abnormality of the Leader and the members, or that coming here was a mistake, apparently went around persuading their comrades to leave The Brotherhood together.
"But we thought those guys were the ones who were wrong. No, we tried to convince ourselves so. Eventually, someone started saying that those guys were troublemakers who disturbed the unity. They were existences that didn't fit The Brotherhood's values, in other words, people with no value in living..."
Thus, the young men lynched and killed their comrades with whom they had shared joys and sorrows.
"I felt that what the killed guys were saying might be correct. But I thought if I said that, the fact that we threw away everything and fled to The Brotherhood would be in vain. Everyone came thinking The Brotherhood was a better place than where they were originally, and if it was true that The Brotherhood was a terrible group, I felt like all our actions until now would be in vain."
"And you killed each other among comrades."
Probably, the one who instigated the young men to kill their comrades was someone from The Brotherhood. He had heard of a similar method in The Brotherhood's way of acquiring members that he heard from Sato.
In any case, by killing their comrades, the young men became unable to turn back. The only path left for them was to belong to The Brotherhood and continue to believe that its ideology was correct. The guilt of killing their comrades would continue to bind them to The Brotherhood. The killed person was wrong, and we who chose to join The Brotherhood were not wrong. To maintain peace of mind, they have no choice but to keep thinking so.
"But now, most of the comrades who came together agree with The Brotherhood's ideology. That we, who have power, are justice, and weak people have no value in living, so we can do whatever we want. But I just can't completely blow it off that far."
"That's why I'm saying let's escape together."
"I don't know what's right. Whether it's better to escape from here or to stay in The Brotherhood."
No matter what more I say, the situation won't change. The boy realized so.
The reason the guard told his inner thoughts to the boy was not because he wanted advice. He just wanted to tell his worries to someone, and he's not seeking an answer to them.
He probably doesn't think he wants to desert The Brotherhood right now from the bottom of his heart. He's dissatisfied with The Brotherhood's ideology, but he doesn't want to throw away his current life where he can get meals if he does his job properly. He hates killing women and children, but he has no resistance to killing people he has decided are enemies.
This guard is not hostile, but he doesn't seem like he'll become an ally either. The boy, thinking so, gave up on persuading him. There is no way but to survive and escape from here by himself without help.
"By the way, what am I going to be made to do from now on? The Leader-sama said I'm going to do a circus."
"I was also assigned to guard here recently, so I haven't seen that many prisoners. But, mostly they don't meet a good fate."
"Which means?"
"It's better not to know."
That was the end of the conversation with the guard.
He knew it, but it seems he's going to face a miserable fate from now on. The boy began to search the surroundings to see if he could somehow survive and escape from here.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.