Chapter 179 - A Story of Holding One's Head
Two days since The Brotherhood was destroyed.
The boy and Sato were troubled by a new problem.
"This isn't enough at all."
"Weapons, ammunition, fuel, food... I'm surprised they were able to survive the winter with this."
What the two were looking at was a list recording the stockpile status of supplies owned by the people on the reclaimed land. Many items were listed, but for every category, the numbers were either 0 or close to single digits.
"It's because the Brotherhood guys were squeezing them for everything they were worth. Most of the supplies here were taken when the men who were here defected. They left only the bare minimum amount so the people here wouldn't starve to death, but also to prevent them from having enough energy to rebel."
"With only this much left, the consumption will increase and hit zero in no time because we came here."
"Yeah. In fact, the people here are starting to harbor antipathy toward us."
Two days since they escaped the base overflowing with infected and took refuge on the reclaimed land where Sato and the others used to live. The Brotherhood was destroyed, and the people on the reclaimed land who had been oppressed by them were freed.
On the other hand, the gazes directed at the members the boy and the other had helped were full of hostility. The ones who had rebelled against The Brotherhood were also not welcomed by the residents here.
It was natural, since despite there being few supplies left, a large number of people had swarmed in. Moreover, most of them were the very people who had been hurting them until now.
In fact, the opinion that the members who had escaped here should be killed was rising among the residents. And troublesome as it was, the former members who had rebelled were also siding with that opinion. He had helped the members, but even in the depths of his heart, a sliver of anxiety swirled.
However, the one who made the decision to help them was the boy. Since he had helped them, he couldn't kill them now for the reason that "it's scary."
The boy and Sato discussed and decided to detain the members for the time being. Fortunately, there are shopping malls and condominiums under construction on the reclaimed land. The warehouses of each store used by tenants were ideal for locking up the members because they had no windows and could be locked from the outside. By locking up the members in separate warehouses one by one so they couldn't conspire to escape or rebel, the boy and the other were able to get the residents to agree—albeit reluctantly—to not kill the members for now.
Chiba and the others were dissatisfied, but by having the boy and the other accept the condition that they would be shot without question if they escaped, it seemed an immediate execution could be avoided for the time being.
That said, they couldn't keep the members locked in the warehouses forever. The food left on the reclaimed land was only enough for the residents to scrape by, and it was an amount that would last at most another 10 days. There was no food to spare for the members who were prisoners, and they would only be given water from now on. At this rate, not only the members but even the residents might die of hunger. For that, it was necessary to procure food as soon as possible. Also, weapons were needed.
The boy and the other had almost no ammunition on hand. When escaping from The Brotherhood's base, they had used up most of their ammunition to annihilate the infected chasing them. It was the same for Chiba and the others, and as for the residents of the reclaimed land who had been under The Brotherhood's control until now, they were in a state of having almost no weapons to begin with.
"We have no choice but to go back, right?"
Sato said so and looked down at the map spread on the food court table. The shopping mall where the two were now was the place where the residents living on the reclaimed land led a communal life. Although it was under redevelopment, several condominiums and ordinary houses were also built on the reclaimed land. Despite that, the reason they didn't live in such houses and led such a communal life was likely because being alone was lonely.
The food court was a little away from the residents' living area, and there was no one around now. The boy also looked at the map and felt complicated feelings about having to return to The Brotherhood's base, which he had just desperately escaped from the other day.
That said, if they wanted to obtain supplies like food or weapons and ammunition quickly, going to The Brotherhood's base was the only way. The supplies in this entire region had been completely looted by The Brotherhood, and they had all been carried into the base and stockpiled. If the base hadn't been burned down by the fire that occurred when it was attacked by the swarm of infected, a large amount of supplies and weapons and ammunition should still be sleeping in the base.
The boy also thought he would eventually have to return to the base, but he hadn't thought he would return this soon. The lack of supplies was that serious.
Also, there was no ammunition. The ammunition on hand for the boy, Sato, and Chiba's group was less than 500 rounds in total. If they ended up engaging with a swarm of infected or The Brotherhood remnants, they would use it all up in no time. Even for going out to procure food, weapons for self-defense were necessary.
"In the end, we have no choice but to go back. I didn't think we'd be returning this soon, though."
"But we can't use cars, you know? There don't seem to be any electric cars here, and we can't go in ordinary cars..."
The armored vehicle they rode when escaping The Brotherhood's base moved with a diesel engine that scattered noise. At that time, they prioritized armament and sturdiness over quietness, and because they were firing guns flashily, a diesel car was also a choice. But this time they would be infiltrating the site of the base where infected had swarmed. If they tried to approach in a noisy car, they would be noticed and surrounded by infected in no time.
On the other hand, no highly quiet electric cars remained on this reclaimed land. Those cars were said to have been taken away almost entirely when the young men who were here joined The Brotherhood. Also, the remaining cars were already as good as ornaments, perhaps because there was no one who could maintain them. Even if they moved, they didn't know when they would break down.
In the first place, not even the fuel to move a car remained. Fuel had been confiscated by The Brotherhood except for the bare minimum amount necessary for life, and even the fuel they found in town by risking danger was mostly offered to The Brotherhood. Solar panels were attached to the shopping mall's roof, so air conditioning could be used during the day. But because it wasn't intended for 24-hour operation, no storage batteries were installed, and electricity could only be used during the day.
Although the season was heading toward spring, the nights were still quite cold, so the residents were in a state of making bonfires inside the shopping mall to keep warm. On top of bonfire stands brought from the camping goods corner, the residents were somehow surviving by burning dead branches from roadside trees or firewood made by smashing wooden desks, chairs, and chests brought from the furniture corner.
"We'll use bicycles for the way there. For the way back, we'll look for electric cars remaining at the base, load them with supplies and weapons and ammunition, and return."
"I wonder if they'll remain successfully? The surviving members might have used them to escape, or they might have been burned in the fire."
"We'll just have to pray they remain. The amount that can be loaded on a bicycle is limited, so if they aren't there, we have no choice but to die. Besides, The Brotherhood was gathering a large number of electric cars equipped with high-capacity batteries from all over town for nighttime power supply. One or two should remain."
There was a shop that handled bicycles in the shopping mall, and if not, they could just bring them from somewhere. As for the way back, they had no choice but to procure cars locally, which felt a bit haphazard.
"So, who's going? As expected, we can't have the people here go."
The biggest problem was who would infiltrate the base site where infected were swarming. The residents here would likely be impossible, the boy thought.
The people who were on this reclaimed land were those who weren't allowed to join The Brotherhood. There were only old people, middle-aged people, and children. The young men who could fight had almost entirely defected to The Brotherhood, and the young women were also offered to The Brotherhood. And most of them who joined The Brotherhood shared the same fate as the destroyed Brotherhood.
"Me, Sato-san, and several of Chiba-san's group. Will that be enough?"
"What, do you intend to go too? Your injury hasn't healed, so you should just take it easy."
"There aren't that many people who can fight besides me, right?"
The wound on his arm where the Leader stabbed him hadn't healed yet, and he hadn't completely recovered from the effects of the torture and the Colosseum he'd been put through before that. However, if there were no people who could fight, the boy's feeling was that he had no choice but to go.
Chiba and the others also agreed with the supply procurement itself, so it was natural for them to accompany, but there were no other suitable people. Since there was a possibility that The Brotherhood remnants might still be lurking at the base, he couldn't take Aki and the others. In the first place, people were also needed to keep watch over the detained members and to prepare for attacks from outside enemies while remaining on the reclaimed land.
In that case, there were only about as many people as could be counted on one hand who could head to the site.
"Sato-san, I brought the guns!"
To the two who were holding their heads over the current situation where everything was lacking, one young man came running while holding guns.
"Ah, Han-san. Thank you."
"No, no, I can only do about this much."
"If it weren't for your leg injury, I would have wanted you to come too, Han-san. After all, you have military experience."
"Even though I was conscripted, I never went into actual combat. At most, I'd just end up being a burden."
When he was told that the young man called Han was a foreigner from a neighboring country, the boy was greatly surprised. His Japanese was very fluent, and until he was told, the boy had assumed Han was Japanese without a doubt.
Han had lived in Japan since he was young with his father, who was a trading company employee stationed in Japan, and he could speak Japanese at a level where there were no problems at all with communication. On top of that, because his country had a conscription system, Han, who returned home temporarily when he reached the target age, also had experience receiving training in the military.
Han, who finished his conscription period, studied abroad at a Japanese university and started job hunting for a Japanese company. Right then, he was caught in the pandemic, and it became impossible for him to return to his hometown where his family was. After that, he coincidentally reached this reclaimed land along with other refugees.
A person with military experience would have been attractive even for The Brotherhood, but he didn't participate in The Brotherhood. Part of it was that Han himself didn't want to, and above all, when The Brotherhood came here, Han, who resisted, had been shot in the leg and injured.
For The Brotherhood, a person who couldn't move had no value. Above all, because he was a foreigner, there was no one who tried to draw Han into The Brotherhood.
The gunshot wound had closed, and he had recovered to a level where walking was no problem at all. It was a miracle on the level of "how on earth did he recover this far" from a state where there were no doctors or tools, but because there was a possibility he might become a burden, they couldn't take Han outside.
"Oh, that gun is..."
The carbine Han had brought was exactly the same model as the one Sato always kept by his side. A silencer was attached to the muzzle, and various devices were attached to the mounting rails extending above, below, left, and right of the handguard. It was a gun for special forces that ordinary JSDF members weren't equipped with.
"Yeah, it's my dead comrade's gun. I had Han-san hide it until now."
The dead comrades must be the JSDF members Sato had been acting with during the pandemic. Sato's unit was dispatched to rescue a scientist who was thought to be the key to developing a cure, but the mission failed, and Sato was left behind after missing the escape helicopter to let his comrades escape. He had mentioned before that there were comrades who died at that time. This gun was also likely recovered from what those dead comrades had.
"What, if you had guns, you should have resisted The Brotherhood from the beginning."
"If we had done that, we would have all been killed from the start. To prevent anyone else from dying, we had no choice but to follow without resisting at that time. Just in case, I left this as a last resort."
Sato said so and pushed that carbine onto the boy. In addition, a silenced automatic handgun, the same as the one Sato had, was handed over.
"You keep this. You'll be fighting on the front lines more from now on. This will be more convenient in various ways."
Certainly, a silenced gun was a convenient tool when fighting infected. The sound doesn't vanish completely, but even so, the risk of having to continue fighting infected with only close combat or being surrounded by flashy gunshots would decrease, which was appreciated.
"It's good that we don't have to make gunshots, but how we transport supplies from The Brotherhood's base to here is more important. Even if there are supplies, it's meaningless if we can't bring them back."
"Even if electric cars remain, the amount of cargo that can be loaded is limited. An electric Hiace would be best, but there's no such thing."
Loading a small amount of cargo into an electric vehicle and making several round trips was not realistic. It would be best if they could transport it all at once with a truck or something, but trucks move with diesel engines, so they scatter noise. He'd had enough of escaping while being surrounded by infected. Besides, there was no guarantee they could approach the base many times without being noticed by infected.
Chiba and the others knew the passcodes for the armories and warehouses, so that wasn't a problem. But even if they secured those supplies, it was meaningless if they had no means to transport them.
As the two were holding their heads again, Han said as if he had just remembered.
"By the way, Sato-san. One of the prisoners was calling for you earlier."
"For me? Why?"
"He said he wanted to talk about some useful information."
Muttering that it better be truly useful information, Sato headed for the shopping mall warehouse that served as a solitary cell. While watching that back, the boy dropped his gaze to the map again.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.