Chapter 186 - A Story of Curse
Two days later, the second expedition for supply procurement was carried out. This time, unlike the first, it was easy because they could go by car. Electric vehicles produce almost no driving noise, and if you remove the speakers for the approach warning sound, they can run almost silently. They lack maneuverability compared to bicycles or walking, but even so, they can avoid consuming extra stamina for movement and can bring back many supplies.
Because Fushimi contributed to the supply procurement, some among the members were starting to show a relatively cooperative attitude. Did they judge that the probability of survival would be higher if they cooperated here now that the Brotherhood they relied on was destroyed, or did they originally hate the Brotherhood and start cooperating thinking this was a good opportunity? In any case, with a shortage of manpower now, they cannot spare manpower to continue detaining them.
However, most of the residents naturally rejected the members. Until Sato and the boy crushed the Brotherhood, they had been oppressed by the members, so it was natural. As always, the radical opinion that the members are dangerous so they should all be killed while we can was prevailing, and even if not, many opinions were that they should be kicked out of the landfill, which is their living area, unarmed. Among them, there were even those who broke into the apartment where the members were being detained and tried to commit violence against them out of their past grudges.
Their comrades were killed by the Brotherhood. It was unavoidable for the residents of the landfill to feel anger toward the members. However, now was a time when they should cooperate to survive. In a situation where the majority of the residents of the landfill are middle-aged or elderly and there are not many young men and women, the members become valuable manpower.
It was decided to take the members who offered to cooperate on the second expedition as well. Chiba and the others were still opposed, but they likely understood that manpower was necessary. On the condition that both hands were tied and they would be shot if they ran, they were allowed to accompany this time as well. Regarding Fushimi, although he was not given weapons, he was permitted to accompany Sato and the others without detention.
The goal this time was to bring back even more supplies than the first time. Therefore, they plan to secure the electric truck found in the previous expedition, load it with a large amount of supplies, and return to the landfill. However, the truck does not have the maneuverability of a light car and its body is large, so the route must be chosen carefully.
For charging the batteries of the electric vehicles used for movement, solar power generators installed on the roof of the shopping mall were used. Originally, the parking lot of the shopping mall had charging equipment for electric vehicles, and although it cannot be recommended, they can be charged if there is a 200V outlet. The power obtained from the solar panels was sufficient to charge several electric vehicles.
"It's certainly a sad thing that someone close died, but there's no need to think about what lies beyond that. For now, just accept the fact that she died."
Inside the car heading toward the warehouse district where the Brotherhood's base was located, Sato said abruptly. He seemed to be talking about Yuko. Ever since the boy heard about Yuko's end from the doctor, he couldn't get her out of his head.
"It's natural for bodies to not even be buried, to be devoured by dogs and crows and left as they are. On the contrary, there are many people who were not even attended to at their end, and no one even knows they died. Compared to that, it's better just because you know the state of her final moments. No matter what kind of end she met."
If you look outside, skeletons are rolling at the edge of the road as a matter of course. Is it because they were eaten by wild animals after death and continued to be exposed to rain and wind? Disjointed bones were scattered on the ground, and a skull lying on its side turned its hollow eye sockets toward the convoy. That too soon became invisible, but other skeletal remains welcomed the boy and the others.
There is likely no one who knows who the person who died there was. It might not even be possible to distinguish who it is that is dead. If DNA testing and such were utilized, identification of individuals might be possible, but the number of dead is too many for that. On the contrary, there might even be people whose bodies do not even remain because they were eaten or burned. And it is not known if the person to whom the fact that that person died should be told even remains in this world.
"The responsibility for her death lies with you. Although it was an accident, you took her life. So don't forget that. Don't forget that it was you who killed her. And carve into your head what kind of end she met while living, and continue to remember her for a lifetime. That is your way of taking responsibility."
To tell the truth, regarding Yuko's death, he wanted to forget it and didn't want to know. He wanted to forget that it was the bullet he fired that drove her to death. He didn't want to know that Yuko died. He didn't even want to know that after her death, her body was pulverized and turned into fertilizer, and he wanted to forget it. When he was thinking about that, it felt like his head was going to go crazy.
But forgetting is likely something that is not permitted. A dead person can only exist within the memories of living people. When everyone has forgotten about the dead person, that person disappears from this world. No one knows the fact that they existed, no one remembers them. That was a very terrifying thing.
Surely in today's world, there are many people who died like that, without anyone who knows them still living. For each and every corpse rolling on the roadside, how many people survive who remember who that person was? For those who do not know whose body it is, a corpse is nothing more than an object. It is either cremated or buried all at once, and that's it. No one remembers them.
That is too sad. At the very least, I, who killed the human named Yuko, must remember her. And if there is someone who knows her, I must tell them that she died.
For the time being, a reason to live was created. It was a very sad reason, though.
Although it was the ruins of the Brotherhood's base, they were able to infiltrate the interior without encountering infected this time as well. The fact that they had set up wires to create places where infected could not enter when they came last time was successful.
The expedition team split into three and acted. A team to secure weapons and ammunition, and a team heading to secure food and fuel. And a team to look for medicines. There are still many supplies that could not be brought back in the previous investigation, and they must investigate whether more supplies remain at this base after securing those. On the way back, they plan to use the electric truck found last time to bring back as many supplies as possible.
Before that, the truck also needs to be charged. Solar panels were installed on the roof of the warehouse where the electric truck was, and electrical work had been performed by the hands of the Brotherhood so that it could be charged from there. Since it had been sunny for the two days of yesterday and today, it should be sufficiently charged.
For the procurement of medicines, the boy was to head alone. Because the doctor is a valuable human resource that cannot be replaced, he did not accompany this expedition. Instead, the boy was handed a map of the medical wing he used and a list of medicines he wanted brought out. Because the storage locations and simple illustrations of the appearance are drawn politely, even the boy who is not familiar with medicine can tell which one he should bring.
The destination medical wing was not so far from the place where the car was parked, and it is in a place he passed by in the previous expedition. There are few infected in that area, so the boy headed there alone.
Although there were several infected on the path to the medical wing, processing them is not very difficult. Moreover, because they are not in a swarm, killing them was easy. Approaching from behind with an axe in one hand, he swung it down at the nape of the neck all at once. Along with the unpleasant sensation of the spine cracking, the infected fell to the ground and began to convulse.
Another blow to the fallen infected, this time swinging the axe down at the head. Looking down at the infected that finally stopped moving, the boy notices that this infected was a student. Because it was wearing a blazer-type school uniform, although it was tattered.
It might have something that can identify it, like a student handbook. Thinking so, he tried to search that corpse, but stopped. What would he do by identifying it? Should he find the bereaved family and say, "Your son became an infected, so I killed him"?
After the world became like this, the next most common thing after dead humans would be humans who became infected. And humans who have become infected are no longer human. They are monsters in human form. He has to think that way to get by. He cannot even kill them to protect himself unless he thinks they are not human, but monsters.
A line should have been drawn. Only worry when you kill a human. Since infected are not human, it's okay to kill them. Otherwise, he would go crazy.
The boy turns his back on the corpse and starts walking toward the medical wing again. The corpse of the infected will eventually be eaten by dogs and crows. Since it does not infect anything other than humans, animals also eat the corpses of infected without concern. That corpse will also surely soon be in a terrible state where no one can tell who it was.
The medical wing where the doctor was stationed also had no signs of being ransacked. The members were likely fully occupied with fighting the infected, and when they fled, they did not reach the thought of bringing out medicines. The medical wing was not locked, but no one was inside.
The boy brought out the medicines as told by the doctor. Since the general storage locations and the medicines to be brought out were instructed, it was fortunate that he did not have to search all over or worry about whether it was the correct one.
He packs bandages, gauze, tablets, and such into the Boston bag he brought. Into the cooler bag he brought separately, he packs ampoules and small bottles of injectable drugs. Since he could not understand the names or effects of the medicines at all, he prioritized bringing out the instructed ones anyway. Regarding the portion that did not fit in the bags this time, he decided to bring them out the next time he comes.
And there was one more reason why the boy came as far as the medical wing. The field near the medical wing—he has business there.
Next to the medical wing was a warehouse, and the two buildings are connected by a covered walkway. Originally, the medical wing was apparently an office or something for the warehouse. People who died in the medical wing are carried into the warehouse using the covered walkway without being seen by anyone.
And in the warehouse, one large wood chipper was installed. It was likely brought from a construction equipment rental company or somewhere. The input port of the wood chipper, which looks like a bulldozer, is large enough for one human to fit in completely. And the blades for pulverizing hard wood seen in its depths were stained brown. It was dried blood.
Brown lumps were caked on the discharge port for pulverized wood, and brown-stained pumice-like things were rolling on the floor. Now it is winter and the temperature is low, so it is not a concern, but surely if it becomes summer, this warehouse will instantly turn into a hell where a rotten odor drifts.
In the back of the warehouse, there was another space partitioned by a shutter. Inside, soil was piled high, and a strong odor drifts out the moment this was opened. It was the pile of fertilizer that the Brotherhood was making by recycling corpses.
On the poured concrete floor, soil was piled high, so much that it could not be fully loaded even if piled high on the bed of a dump truck. How many things that were once corpses are in that pile? The moment he thought so, the boy could not bear it and vomited on the spot.
Pulverizing corpses and reusing them as fertilizer. It was exactly the kind of thing that Leader would do. The regrettable thing is that the Leader had already been killed by the boy's own hand. If he were alive and in front of him, he would have surely thrust him headfirst into the wood chipper. It was a deed of that magnitude.
With this, he can no longer even mourn the remains. The remains are pulverized, and the shattered bone fragments are mixed with other people's remains, so it must be impossible to even distinguish them anymore. He would have to hold a funeral with an empty coffin.
"Damn it..."
And right behind the warehouse, there was a field created by ripping up the asphalt ground. Empty fertilizer bags, apparently brought from a home improvement store, are flapping in the wind.
It seemed to be right after the harvest, and nothing was planted in the field. Even so, since weeds are already growing thick, this fertilizer must have been very nutritious. Of course, even if some vegetables remained, the boy had no intention of bringing them back at all.
The boy crouched in the field and grabbed the soil. When he opened his hand, something white was seen mixed in the brown soil. Whether this is part of Yuko's bones or someone else's, that is no longer known.
What is known was only the fact that she had become an eternally distant existence. Although it was an accident, the boy shot Yuko. Because of that, she died, and her body was pulverized and scattered in the field as fertilizer.
In the corner of the field, a dandelion is blooming a yellow flower. The boy plucked that flower from the stem and placed it on his palm.
The people he can never meet again have increased again. Even though he has already killed many people, it's ridiculous to be shocked just because one more has increased now. He also tried to laugh it off, but he couldn't.
This fact would haunt the boy for a lifetime and surely torment him. Yuko will also join the line of people the boy and the others have killed until now and follow him to the grave.
Even so, now he had no choice but to move forward.