Chapter 190 - A Story of Please Value Electricity!
That day, the residents of the shopping mall were wearing smiles for the first time in a long while. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling shone brightly, and a scene from a movie was displayed on the screen of a television placed in the furniture store. The attempt to restore power to the shopping mall had succeeded.
The person responsible for the success was a man who was a former Brotherhood member and held an electrician's license. He tinkered with the power distribution equipment in the building to allow for external power supply. Then, he made it possible to supply power to the building from the batteries of the electric vehicles lined up in the parking lot outside.
That said, because the power is insufficient to spread electricity to every corner of the shopping mall, electricity was restored only to the building where the residents usually sleep and wake up. Even so, the residents rejoiced because electricity could be used for the first time in a long while. With this, they don't have to have bonfires inside the building while worrying about fire to keep warm at night. Also, there is a shower room in the employee break room of the shopping mall, and they can wash their bodies using warm water. Until the power was restored, boiling water in a large pot and wiping their bodies with towels was the best they could do.
"I'm sorry for treating you so terribly until now."
The person who bowed his head to the former members while saying so was an old man who was a resident of the landfill. When the Brotherhood was destroyed and the boy and the others brought the former members they had saved, he was one of those who took the harshest attitude first. The old man who had been hurling harsh words along with other residents, saying to throw out the members and not give them food, was bowing his head.
"I was anxious that you might be trying to go on a rampage again. But seeing you work day and night like this to make our lives convenient... I want you to forgive the many verbal abuses until now."
"No, it's a fact that we also did bad things and caused trouble for you guys..."
One of the members says. Although they likely never directly committed violence against the residents of the landfill, it is also a fact that many residents have been made to suffer by the Brotherhood's deeds. Among them, there are even those who were killed. Considering that, the feelings of the residents to rebel against the former members and try to retaliate are fully understandable.
But now is a time when they must cooperate to overcome problems. It might be impossible to let bygones be bygones, but at least for now, they cannot survive unless they forget that and join forces with each other.
Against the wave of residents heading to take a shower immediately, one of the members comes to the boy. He seemed to be in a hurry somewhere.
"Please come to the security room quickly. Chiba says he got in touch with people from the outside via radio."
"Were there other survivors near here?"
"Who knows, I'll go call Sato-san."
I wondered if there were survivors who had been near here? Or did they come from elsewhere?
But since he had heard that the Brotherhood had been attacking survivors in this vicinity all over, the boy thought it was the latter. Of course, the possibility of a member who lost their base and fled is not zero, though.
When the boy returned to the security room, which also served as a radio room, Sato had already arrived. While thinking he was fast, he stands behind them as they face the radio. Chiba, wearing a headset, is talking to the microphone about something.
"Then, about how many people are there now?"
'20 people in total. 8 adults, 12 children.'
"There are many children."
'Children who got separated from their parents, children whose parents died, they're all people like that.'
It seemed to be a group of survivors who had come as far as this vicinity. They reportedly fled here by car all the way from the west.
As for weapons, there are several hunting rifles, and a few spears made from bats and iron pipes. The composition of the male-to-female ratio of the adults is one-to-one, but they reportedly have no blood relationship with any of the accompanying children.
'We are people from a university's faculty of education. We were just about to become teachers after graduating last year, and then this happened.'
The eight people are apparently friends from university, and they protected children while fleeing from the infected, and before they knew it, the number of people had swelled to 20.
"Where are you guys now?"
'...Regarding that, I'm sorry but I can't answer now. We don't have confirmation that you guys are trustworthy people.'
"That's also true, I'm sorry."
In fact, since the Brotherhood had been attacking the people they communicated with via radio, it was natural for such an answer to return. However, although the survivors did not tell their current location, they shared information about their current situation.
They are apparently continuing to move by dividing into several automobiles. But because they are mostly children, they plan to stay in their current location for a while. The fuel for the cars is becoming scarce, and weapons and food were insufficient.
'This past week, we've only had one meal a day. We're hungry.'
"That's tough."
'Is there food over there? It might be an audacious request, but if you have leeway, we'd like you to share some.'
Since the Brotherhood was destroyed and the supplies they had gathered passed to this side as they were, there are abundant food stockpiles in the current landfill. But supplies are not inexhaustible, and it's not an amount that can be casually scattered to others.
Above all, there is no certainty that the person on the other side of the radio is not an enemy. Maybe they too are looking for someone to plunder supplies from via radio, just like the former Brotherhood. Sato, who thought the same thing, avoided an immediate answer.
"Regarding that, it cannot be decided by our sole discretion. We will deliberate."
'We are already close to our limit. Everyone is tired. If only we could have somehow reached Tohoku...'
"Tohoku? Why aim for Tohoku?"
'Don't you know? There's a story that the surviving JSDF are gathered in Tohoku and there's a safe zone.'
The boy was conversely impressed by the survivors for coming this far relying only on such a story without certainty. In the first place, there wouldn't even be people to spread rumors, so where did such a story come from?
"A rumor is just a rumor, isn't it?"
'No, it's a certain story. We got connected via radio once before, although it was only for a short time...'
"Communication? With whom?"
'A person in the Tohoku region. They said the reason the JSDF is not responding to rescue requests now is because they don't have the spare capacity to head for rescue, and there's a safe zone in Tohoku. So they said if you reach that far, you'll be helped.'
"It's a suspicious story. Was that person really someone being protected in Tohoku?"
'I don't know. But rather than spending every day hiding in a city with nothing but infected and counting the supplies that decrease every day, I thought it would be better to head toward the side where there's even a little hope.'
He couldn't criticize them as irresponsible for taking such a reckless action while leading children. They too would have wanted to stay in the same place without taking such a risky action if possible. But in a situation where supplies are running out, they couldn't say that. Criticizing or mocking them for taking the action they thought was best in that situation is nothing more than being a Monday morning quarterback.
"Anyway, do your best over there for now. We will decide whether the provision of supplies is possible after talking with our comrades."
'I understand. It might be audacious, but there are children here. It would be helpful if you could help us. ...The battery is almost gone, I want to get in touch again in 8 hours after charging is finished.'
"Understood, in 8 hours then."
With that conversation, the radio cut off.
"Are you really going to give them supplies?"
"If what they're saying is true. For me, I want to help them."
As far as he heard on the radio, those who sought help would all be young people. Those leading the children are all men and women in their 20s. If they can be welcomed into this community where there are many old people, the manpower will increase and it will be helpful. Sato said so.
Of course, it's not that there are no problems. An increase in the number of people means that the amount of supplies consumed will increase by that much. Whether the other residents will permit that, that was the key.
In the first place, there's also the possibility that the opponent on the radio is ruffians. Just like the Brotherhood was doing before, they might be trying to find out our supply situation and location via radio and attack.
"Anyway, gather everyone. And just in case, tell the people on the opposite shore to prepare for an attack."
In any case, things have started to move. After that, it's what kind of end it will meet.