Chapter 176 - A Story of 'Follow Me if You Don't Want to Die'
It was when the convoy reached near the North Gate that they encountered that group.
"Help meeee!"
The boy, who was firing the heavy machine gun and scattering the approaching infected, thought he heard a voice calling for help mixed with the gunshots. Looking around, he saw a container collection area a little distance away, and he could see infected swarming there.
On top of the containers, which were taller than an adult's height, were several human figures. They were shouting and waving their hands toward the boy's convoy. The infected were swarming around the containers they were on, reaching out their hands to drag them down to the ground.
The area around the containers was completely surrounded by infected. They had escaped to the top of the containers where the infected's hands couldn't reach, but now they were in a state where they couldn't move.
Even without looking at the black bandanas wrapped around their arms, he knew immediately that they were members of The Brotherhood.
"Please, help us!"
"Don't leave us behind!"
There were several guns rolling on top of the containers, and one person was using a shotgun as a club, striking the heads of the infected trying to climb up the container. They were infected in numbers that could be broken through if they had guns, but the fact that they couldn't meant the members had been cornered on top of the containers in a state of being out of ammunition.
At this rate, only death awaited them. Since they were on top of the highly visible containers, the infected would never give up on the members. They would continue to gather around the containers, thinking of devouring the members. And the members wouldn't be able to move from the top of the containers, which were the only safe zone, but since they had no weapons, they couldn't defeat the infected either, and they would have to wait for themselves to starve or weaken and die. Even if they descended to the ground and tried to force a breakthrough, they would be devoured by the swarming infected in no time and that would be the end.
"What do we do?"
Sato slowed the armored vehicle's speed and asked over the radio while advancing without stopping.
"Just leave those guys alone; they brought it on themselves."
"That's right, those guys are enemies. Even if we help them, they might betray us."
Sato's comrades answered so. Certainly, The Brotherhood was the enemy. They were people who had killed many people until now and laughed at cruel spectacles like capturing people and making them fight infected with their bare hands. They must have laughed while watching people who begged for their lives die until now.
The boy pointed the machine gun at the members. The expressions of the members, who had been waving their hands and asking for help, froze in an instant. Which would be better: being eaten alive by infected, or being made into something worse than mincemeat by a heavy machine gun?
Moreover, they were enemies. Even if he helped them, there was no guarantee they would behave. They might slit their throats and kill them.
However, he thought that not everyone must be like that. Moreover, just as the boy was able to realize his own mistake, they should also be able to admit their own errors. But if he let them die here, that opportunity would also never come.
"Let's help them."
At those words of the boy, Sato answered without looking particularly surprised.
"Is it okay? They might shoot the moment we get close, you know?"
"Those guys are out of ammunition; there's no worry of that. Besides, I'll make them leave all their weapons. If they show any suspicious movement, I'll shoot."
Sato glanced at the boy and then turned the steering wheel to head toward the containers. From the following vehicles, a protest came over the radio.
"Hey, where do you intend to go!"
"We're helping those guys."
"You should just leave those guys alone! There's no need for us to put ourselves in danger!"
"In that case, you should just escape ahead by yourselves."
Sato said so and cut the radio.
That said, without the armored vehicle armed with a machine gun and Sato, who knew the route to the destination, even advancing was uncertain. Voices cursing the boy could be heard from the radio's speaker, but the two following SUVs followed after the armored vehicle as if they had no choice.
On the other hand, the members on top of the containers must have misunderstood that the armored vehicle driven by their comrades had come to help them. They were waving their hands and raising voices of joy, but the moment they realized the one leveling the machine gun on the roof was the boy, their movements stopped.
The boy leveled the heavy machine gun. Thinking they would be shot at that moment, the members raised both hands all at once.
"Please, don't shoot!"
They even threw away the empty rifles and shotguns they were using as clubs and pleaded. But before the boy listened to those words, he fired the machine gun. The targets were not the members, but the infected.
Since there was a danger of ricochets, he couldn't target infected that were too close to the containers. First, he wiped out the infected at a distance from the containers with the heavy machine gun, and Sato advanced the armored vehicle. The power of the heavy machine gun, which was even used as armament for fighter planes, was tremendous; the fired bullets easily penetrated the bodies of the infected and tore off the limbs that took direct hits.
When the number of infected decreased, Sato drove the armored vehicle in, hitting the infected and pulling the vehicle body alongside the container the members were on.
"Follow me if you don't want to die. What will you do? Will you die here, or come with us?"
Saying so, the boy urged them to come down. Several dozen meters away, there were several cars that The Brotherhood had been using. Since he couldn't put them, who were enemies, in the SUVs Sato's comrades were riding, he decided to have them procure their own transportation.
Even though they didn't have weapons, he really couldn't cram people who were hostile into the vehicles of Sato's comrades. Sato's comrades would refuse to take the members, and if he tried to force them in, they might shoot them before that.
Moreover, in those cars, he intended to take Aki and the others who were waiting for the boy and the other at the convenience store. If he took the members, there would be no space for them.
"Hurry up! Or I'll leave you here."
Since the members were looking at each other and hesitating, the boy barked at them. He had been able to mop up the infected around the containers to some extent, but not all of them. Moreover, a swarm of infected that had heard the gunshots was swarming toward the convoy one after another. The armored vehicle wouldn't budge even if it took punches from infected or ran them over, unlike a passenger car, but it was also possible that it could be overturned by the infected with their superhuman strength. Above all, if they were completely surrounded, they wouldn't be able to move.
At the boy's words, the members hurriedly jumped down from the containers. Rather than waiting for death on top of the containers like this, even if the opponent was an enemy, they had no choice but to cling to the hand reached out as long as it was a human.
The members threw away their empty guns and ran desperately toward the parking lot while the boy shot down infected with the machine gun. Sato started the armored vehicle again and led the members while hitting infected.
"If there are no keys in the cars, it's the end."
Sato muttered. Likely the keys would be inside the cars so they could be moved at any time. But thinking that it would become troublesome if they weren't there, the boy fired bullets toward the swarm of infected.
But it seemed the worry was for nothing, as the members reached the parking lot and each climbed into a car. The numbers were varied, but everyone was able to get into a car. However, perhaps due to panic, there were also cars whose engines wouldn't start easily, and in the meantime, infected tried to swarm toward the cars the members had climbed into.
On the other hand, infected were also approaching the armored vehicle the boy was riding. He didn't have time to reload the empty heavy machine gun and had switched to a rifle to continue firing, but compared to heavy machine gun bullets, rifle bullets had low power. Even with rifle bullets that had sufficient killing power against humans, it was a bit heartening against infected who felt no pain.
The 30-round rifle magazine became empty, and the boy pulled a handgun and shouted.
"Where are the spare machine gun bullets!?"
Inside the car, there were chest rigs containing several hand grenades and magazines for rifles scattered on the seats and floor, but he couldn't see the ammunition boxes containing the belt links for the heavy machine gun. To the boy who shouted, Sato replied.
"Huh? There aren't any! That was the last of it!"
"Are you serious!?"
"There's a Minimi placed there, so use that; don't waste the bullets!"
The boy took the empty ammunition box and threw it toward an approaching infected. The metal ammunition box had a certain weight and made a silly metallic sound as it hit the infected's head. Toward the infected that had lost its balance after taking a direct hit to the head from the ammunition box, the boy fired his handgun. The handgun ran out of ammunition in no time.
But in the meantime, the members' cars, whose engines had finally started, began to move one after another. The boy took the loaded Minimi light machine gun that had been in the rear cargo area of the car and leaned out from the hatch again. Sato increased the armored vehicle's speed, and a string of SUVs and minivans followed after it.
Leaning out from the roof, the boy leveled the Minimi light machine gun and fired toward the swarm of infected standing in their path. He wasn't hitting much because he was firing a machine gun held only with both hands on top of a swaying, moving car, but the fact that he was firing was important. Sato's comrades and the members riding in the following vehicles were either busy driving despite having guns, or they didn't have weapons to begin with. Just the appeal that they were fighting would likely improve their morale.
There was a car that seemed to have failed to escape and was stopped, surrounded by infected. Every single window was broken, and infected were thrusting their upper bodies into the car. The windshield, with only a little remaining on the frame part, was dyed bright red with blood, indicating that the driver was already dead.
"Hey, we're escaping!"
Sato's comrade's panicked voice could be heard from the radio, and the boy looked back. He saw one minivan, which had been at the end of the convoy and was carrying the members who had escaped from the top of the containers, leaving the convoy and driving off in another direction.
Following that, there was another SUV that left the convoy and followed after the minivan. There were about four members riding in both cars. Apparently, they had decided they'd had enough of following the boy and the others.
"What are you doing, shoot! They're going to get away!"
Such a shouting voice could be heard from the radio, but the boy couldn't point his muzzle at the two cars driving away. Sato also didn't say a single word to shoot.
It's natural that they'd run, the boy thought. From the members' perspective, the boy and the other were enemies, and they had done many terrible things until now. Just as they had done, they didn't know what kind of treatment they might receive from the boy and the other. Thinking about that, they probably wouldn't think of following at all, and the boy thought he would do the same if he were in the opposite position.
The thought that they might come for revenge certainly existed. But the current members were empty-handed. Since they had cars, they could escape from infected, but they couldn't fight infected. Before they could come to attack the boy and the others, it was a question of whether they could even survive themselves. The Brotherhood was already destroyed, and the base was overflowing with infected. It was doubtful whether they, having lost their powerful weapons and organization, could act as arrogantly as before.
For the boy, he didn't want to shoot people who were just fleeing without even having weapons in the back, and above all, by the time he thought of shooting, the members' vehicles driving away had already turned a corner and were out of sight. Sato likely judged that it was a waste of time to bother turning around and chasing them, and above all, it was dangerous. Moreover, the direction the members headed was the interior of the base where infected were already swarming. Sato advanced the armored vehicle without saying anything.
Even so, the boy decided he would fight when they came for revenge with weapons in hand. If someone's life was taken because of his own negligence, he had to settle it with his own hands.
A clicking of a tongue could be heard from the radio's speaker, but the boy ignored it. Instead, he pointed the machine gun forward again and showered bullets upon the infected standing in their way.
By the time the machine gun barrel became hot and the falling raindrops began to evaporate in an instant, the convoy passed through the North Gate. One passenger car, which hadn't been there when they came, had crashed into a wall and was burning.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.