Chapter 172 - A Story of Gladiators
The rain, which had begun to fall in earnest, rapidly chilled the boy's body. For a boy wearing only a single shirt on his upper body, the winter rain was an enemy that stole even more of his body heat. His soaking wet limbs were cold as ice, and his fingertips were numb. But now, with the Leader right before his eyes, he had no leeway to worry about such things.
He leveled his rifle and pulled the trigger toward the direction where he had seen the Leader. In the nighttime city where the lights had gone out, his only reliance was the occasional flash of lightning in the sky and the muzzle flashes emitted by his opponent.
The Leader did not counterattack against the boy's gunfire. They weren't even that far apart, so why wasn't he shooting? The answer to that question became clear as soon as he saw the infected running toward him.
Because blood had rushed to his head, they had slipped entirely out of his consciousness, but there were infected around the two of them. Their numbers weren't that great, but if he let out loud gunshots, they would naturally notice. The Leader's reason for not counterattacking was likely to let only the boy fire, thereby narrowing the infected's target down to the boy alone.
The boy instantly hid behind cover, but the infected had already found him. The boy fired his rifle at the infected. Since the distance was significant and he had a rifle capable of stable firing, dealing with them wasn't difficult. As expected, it was hard to take down a running target with a single shot, but if he fired several, he would eventually hit.
The infected heading toward the boy was shot through the chest and performed a head-first slide across the ground. However, the boy's rifle ran out of ammunition at the same time. Since a loaded magazine was attached upside down with tape next to the empty one, he quickly swapped them.
Since he hadn't been wearing much equipment to begin with and didn't have pouches or holsters to hold magazines, all the weapons the boy had seized from The Brotherhood had gone somewhere when the car overturned. What he had on hand now was one rifle and one handgun taken from the overturned Land Cruiser and the corpses around it. Moreover, he had no spare bullets. Combined, he had fewer than 40 rounds remaining.
However, unlike himself, the boy predicted the Leader's weapon was only a handgun. The Leader had only been firing a handgun; if he had other weapons, he should have used them long ago. In this darkness, combined with the strong wind and thunderstorm, it would be difficult to hit anything even from a distance of 10 meters. In fact, the Leader had missed his first shot when he ambushed the boy and his group.
In that case, he had to conserve his bullets as much as possible. To do that, he needed to refrain from firing at the infected. Furthermore, if he were shot by the Leader while dealing with the infected, it would all be for naught.
Another infected was rushing toward the boy. The boy let go of his rifle and instead drew a short sword from the sheath slung on his back. Then, he swung the short sword down with force onto the head of the infected coming his way.
The blade of the short sword easily split the infected's skull and sank deep into the head. As he tried to pull the blade out of the dead infected's head, the sky brightened again, and a thunderclap like an explosion roared. Almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out again, and the boy hurriedly took cover.
The Leader was likely firing in sync with the thunder so as not to be noticed by the infected. While it was impossible to completely drown out a gunshot fired on the ground with thunder, it would still make it harder for the infected to notice. Moreover, with the lightning, he could accurately grasp the position of his target, the boy.
It was difficult to run around in the darkness and find the Leader. In that case, it would be a wise move to follow his lead. The boy returned the drawn short sword to its sheath and took up his rifle again. He would grasp the Leader's whereabouts in the brief moments the sky brightened with lightning and fire along with the thunder. Otherwise, he would have to deal with not just the Leader, but the infected as well. He didn't want to use his few remaining bullets on the infected if possible.
The boy hid behind a scrapped car and waited for the moment lightning brightened the sky. He felt the presence of something moving in the darkness, but he didn't know if its true identity was the Leader, an infected, or just an illusion created by the trees swaying in the strong wind.
Then, the sky flashed. This time, perhaps because lightning had struck nearby, a thunderclap roared as if a bomb had exploded.
The lightning illuminated the city brightly. At that moment, the boy leaned out from behind the scrapped car and looked around.
Just as he thought, the Leader was pointing a handgun at the boy from about 20 meters away. The boy also leveled his rifle and pulled the trigger. Gunshots that rivaled the roar of the thunder crossed paths.
He should have aimed properly, but the bullets fired toward the Leader all flew off in random directions. The causes were the strong wind, enough to bend the roadside trees, the pounding rain, and above all, the cold. The boy's arms, holding the rifle, were trembling from the cold.
The bullets fired by the Leader also failed to hit the boy. In the strong wind and heavy rain, it was difficult to aim a handgun at a person 10 meters away. However, the Leader's words about having received firearms training in America seemed to be true; the boy felt a bullet graze past him.
The boy's fighting spirit was burning, but in contrast, his body was chilled to the bone. The thunder stopped, and the boy hid behind the scrapped car again. Looking at the magazine's witness hole, there weren't even 15 rounds left in the rifle.
He had fired flashily, but perhaps because the thunder had drowned out the gunshots to some extent, the infected did not swarm toward the two of them. Even so, one infected spotted the boy and came running, flailing its arms. He struck the approaching infected with the butt of his rifle and kicked it hard as it fell. Another thunderclap roared, so he pointed the muzzle at the infected's head and fired.
But the Leader also fired his handgun at the boy. Moreover, he was firing while walking, boldly exposing himself. Was he underestimating the situation, thinking it was impossible to hit anything in the strong wind anyway, or did he realize the boy's remaining ammunition was low? The boy tried to return fire, but before he could, the thunder stopped, and the city was once again enveloped in darkness.
The Leader seemed to have only a handgun, but he likely had plenty of ammunition left. On the other hand, the boy had a rifle on the verge of running out and one handgun with only the rounds currently loaded.
What should he do...? As the boy was thinking, a loud sound of glass breaking suddenly echoed nearby. Looking toward the sound, he saw shards of broken glass bottles scattered on the road, glinting in the lightning.
Immediately hearing the sound, three infected came running energetically toward where the boy was. He tried to hide in the darkness and wait it out, but then a ball of red light was tossed right next to him.
The true identity of the red ball of light was an emergency flare, the kind carried in every car. The red light of the flare illuminated the boy brightly even in the darkness, and the infected, seeing his figure, swarmed toward him with roars.
"Don't screw with me...!"
The Leader had egged on the infected to make the boy waste his bullets. If it were only one coming at him, he could handle it with his short sword, but with multiple, it was a different story. Reluctantly, the boy set his rifle to three-round burst mode and fired at the infected. The infected were closing in, and there was no time to switch weapons. Thunder wasn't roaring either, but if he waited for the lightning, he would be eaten alive.
Gunshots roared, and the infected fell one after another, shot through the head or chest. He succeeded in repelling the infected, but in exchange, he had used up all the remaining ammunition in his rifle. Discarding the rifle, which had become nothing more than an iron rod, the boy drew his handgun, picked up the flare that continued to burn despite the wind and rain, and threw it as far as he could. Sparks hit his hand, but with his hands chilled to the bone, he no longer even felt the heat.
The cold rain and blowing wind were stealing the boy's physical strength. His thin, short-sleeved shirt had already soaked up plenty of rainwater, and the cold wind was lowering his body temperature even further. His right hand, gripping the handgun, trembled from the cold.
At this rate, even if he fired, it probably wouldn't hit properly, the boy thought. Between the strong wind and his body's trembling, he couldn't even aim properly. If he could fire bullets without restraint from point-blank range, he might hit once, but he had no spare ammunition for the handgun.
Thunder roared again. The Leader jumped out from behind the utility pole where he had been hiding and gradually approached the boy while firing his handgun. He likely intended to finish him off for sure from point-blank range. The flare the boy had thrown back was still burning, but the infected hadn't gathered yet.
The Leader would likely try to settle it before the light of the flare drew the infected. If the Leader got close, the boy had no chance of winning in a gunfight. The Leader still seemed energetic, but the boy had exhausted considerable physical strength, and he had no leeway with his remaining ammunition.
The boy drew the short sword from the sheath on his back and gripped it in his right hand. He swapped the handgun to his left hand and waited for the thunder. He had to settle it here in one go. If it became a prolonged battle, the Leader would have an overwhelming advantage.
And the sky brightened once more, with purple lightning streaking through the clouds. A moment later, thunder roared, and both the boy and the Leader stood up and leveled their handguns at each other.
There was no longer time to aim and fire. The boy jumped out from behind the scrapped car he had been hiding behind and fired his handgun while running toward the Leader, who emerged in the lightning flash.
The Leader looked at the boy who had charged at him with a slightly surprised face. He probably never expected the boy to jump out himself. The Leader also leaned his upper body out from behind the car he was hiding behind and tried to fire his handgun, but the boy's suppressive fire blocked it.
The Leader leaned out from behind the car again, but by then, the boy was right under his nose. Toward the Leader, who was about to level his handgun, the boy threw his empty handgun, its slide locked back, with all his might. The Leader reflexively shielded his face with the hand not gripping his gun and pulled the trigger just like that.
It was a shot that wasn't even properly aimed, but it was fired from point-blank range. The bullet grazed the boy's right temple, and the impact almost made him lose consciousness for a moment. Even so, the reason he didn't feel much pain was perhaps because his senses were going numb from the extreme cold. His right eye was blocked by the overflowing blood, but his left eye was fine.
The boy slashed at the Leader with the short sword in his hand. The Leader blocked the boy's slash with his handgun, but the impact sent the handgun flying from his hand.
Before the boy could deliver a second strike, the Leader drew his own short sword from its sheath and blocked the blade the boy swung down. He pushed the boy away to gain distance and leveled his short sword, held in a forward grip.
"It's a great shame that a strong person like you didn't come under me."
Saying so, the Leader raised his short sword high and charged at the boy. The boy let out a shout to psych himself up and ran toward the Leader himself. The lightning illuminated the silhouettes of the two men slashing at each other amidst the pouring heavy rain.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.