Chapter 20 - Chapter 18: A Farewell to Arms Story
Our life, which until now had been nothing but fighting and escaping, was able to gain a moment of peace by obtaining a fortress called a mansion. If we live on the top floor of the mansion, we won't be found by the infected, and they won't notice even if we make noise. It's like a lie, the life where we had to hold our breath and keep our ears strained even in the middle of the night until now.
In addition, it was helpful that there was a sufficient stockpile of food. In the life after adding Yui and Mana-chan, because the probability of being found increased as the number of people increased, it had become difficult to set up a base in one place and live. Because of that, we were forced to constantly keep moving, and inevitably the amount of supplies we could hold was also limited. If this were a hike or something, we could have held luggage to the limit, but unfortunately, the infected were closing in from behind us with the speed of Olympic athletes. To stay light when escaping, we couldn't hold too many supplies, and for that reason, we had to procure food at every destination.
However, thanks to Naomi-san storing a large amount of food, we no longer have to step into a convenience store where someone might be lurking while fearing the possibility of being found by the infected every single time. I wanted to live in this mansion forever, but reality doesn't go that well. While the temperature rises steadily as summer approaches, it still doesn't rain. The buckets placed on the rooftop are still empty, yet only the water is decreasing rapidly.
It seems Naomi-san used her wit to collect a large amount of water while it was raining, but we've reached the point where we have to refrain from using it until the last minute. A bath is a dream within a dream; we can only do things like wiping our bodies with a towel soaked in hot water. Now that the number of times we use the toilet is also limited, if it doesn't rain soon, we'll literally dry up.
Since water cannot be obtained, even if we are holed up in this fortress-like mansion, we will eventually dry up and die. To prevent that, we must either fetch water from the river flowing right near the mansion or escape to some town where water and supplies still remain in abundance. The former is a suicidal act of charging right in front of the infected to the river, fetching just a little water, and breaking through the swarm of infected again. The latter is a dangerous escape to an unknown area where we don't even know how things are or how many infected there are, abandoning a safe base.
Of course, there is also the option of waiting for it to rain. But we can't afford to just keep staring at the sky blankly and end up dying after using up our supplies, so we had agreed on a plan to escape from this mansion.
The talk of escaping from the mansion was decided, and an itinerary listing the things to be done for that was also made. But only my part of the table remained blank.
My injured arm still couldn't be moved even now, four days later. It's natural, but even the wound on my arm hasn't closed yet. Because of that, for these four days, the only things I could do were sleep, eat, listen to music, or read a book while somehow trying not to use my right hand. While Yui and Mana-chan were each helping Naomi-san toward the escape, I felt as if I alone was taking it easy.
"You've worked enough for us until now, so just rest for a while."
"That's right, an injured person should stay quiet."
Although I was told that by Yui and Mana-chan, I still felt sorry that I alone was not working. Certainly, I think I've worked too much myself until now, and I understand that I should take it more slowly, but I've been moving to live for these past few months. I feel somewhat restless.
But even if I, an injured person, forced myself to work, I would only be a hindrance. For that reason, I was quietly lying on a comfortable sofa in a room of the mansion today as well, reading a novel. It was a Russian novel set in Moscow after a final war, which I found among the mountain of books Naomi-san had gathered, perhaps for killing time. Although I was flipping through and reading it at first, I gradually became absorbed in that novel.
"It's dinner time—"
Naomi-san's voice came along with the door opening, and I noticed it was already evening by looking out the window. Time seems to pass quickly when reading a book. The nights spent hiding from the infected felt very long, but for humans, everything must be a matter of mindset.
Following Naomi-san, Yui and Mana-chan also enter the room. Eating together had become a rule before I knew it. It's partly because it's dangerous if each person is separate in case of an emergency, but Naomi-san must have also been lonely eating alone. No matter how delicious the food is, eating alone is tasteless. Though, there is no such thing as a delicious meal here.
Looking at Naomi-san who entered the room, I instinctively became speechless. Part of it is because she's wearing only a tank top, likely due to the heat, and her marvelous physique is exposed, but above all, her body was stained with fresh blood here and there. To me, who asked if she had been attacked by an infected, Naomi-san answered with a laugh.
"No, I was finishing these off."
What she held up were several birds like crows and pigeons with their legs tied and hanging upside down. All their necks were bent in strange directions and they didn't move an inch. If I strained my eyes and looked closely, the heads of the birds were literally connected by only a layer of skin, and the heads swayed left and right every time Naomi-san moved.
"...What is that?"
"What do you mean? They're birds?"
"No, I can tell that by looking, but what happened to them?"
"What do you mean? I hunted them, obviously."
Saying so, when Naomi-san shook her body, the crossbow she was hanging from her shoulder made a faint metallic sound. A crossbow, which looks like a combination of a rifle and a bow and arrow, does not violate the Sword and Firearms Control Law and is apparently sold normally at sports shops or on mail-order sites in Japan. The one Naomi-san possesses was also found when she explored this mansion. I don't know for what purpose the original owner possessed it, but the crossbow is the only projectile weapon for us right now.
In the bucket held by Mana-chan at the very end, several chunks of bright red meat were rolling. Apparently, they've already butchered some birds.
"Is it okay? Crows and pigeons, I feel like they might have the virus in their bodies from eating the corpses of the infected..."
"It's okay, it's okay, it's fine. I've already eaten quite a few wild birds, but I'm still normal like this. I think the virus probably breaks out when it enters the human body directly from an infected. So it's fine for us to eat a crow that ate an infected."
I had seen stray dogs and cats scavenging corpses many times until now, but I've never seen an animal become like an infected. Since they said on TV that the virus only infects humans, animals probably don't get infected, but the problem is not that. It's about whether it's okay for us to eat a crow that might have eaten a human corpse.
Well, in these times, you have to eat whatever is edible. The time when you could say what you liked or disliked was until a few months ago; now you have to live even by gnawing on grass roots. If there's no danger of infection, we have no choice but to eat whether it's a crow, a pigeon, or a sparrow.
Come to think of it, I've heard a story that when a ship sinks, there's a large catch of crabs the next year. Remembering that story, I became depressed.
While Naomi-san went back to the rooftop to butcher the caught prey, Yui and Mana-chan proceed with the preparations for dinner. I'd like to help too, but I'm of no use in a situation where I can't use my dominant hand. Besides, the effect of losing a large amount of blood still remains, and I occasionally get lightheaded. Having no choice, I decided to watch the two making the meal in the room.
The only fresh ingredients were the bird meat Naomi-san had finished off, and inevitably dinner centered on cans and preserved food as before. While Mana-chan was opening cans of takuan and mackerel onto plastic plates used for camping, Yui ignited a gas stove that uses a cassette cylinder and began grilling the bird meat skewered on sticks. A savory aroma of grilled meat spread through the room, and I almost cried in spite of myself.
I haven't eaten grilled meat since the infected appeared in Japan. The smell of meat grilling spreads surprisingly far, and at night, if you light a fire, you might be found by the infected just by that. For that reason, meals were just cans or occasionally cooking rice and eating it. For meat, I had only been eating salty Spam cans.
I remembered going camping with my family and having a barbecue when it was still peaceful. That was the kind of aroma that drifted around the tent then too. But no matter how much I try to be nostalgic for the past, those days won't return. And now that I've killed Dad and Mom with my own hands, we won't all go camping as a family again.
When I was brought back to reality by the sound of someone sobbing, Mana-chan was pressing her face with both hands and crying while stifling her voice. Yui, who was grilling the meat, also had bright red eyes, but that probably wasn't just because of the smoke. Apparently, the two felt the same kind of thing as I did.
"...Are you crying, Yui?"
"N-No! I'm not crying, this is just the smoke getting in my eyes!"
She insisted so, but I couldn't help but see Yui as if she were enduring crying. Come to think of it, I feel like I've never seen Yui cry until now. It might just be that I've forgotten, but it was also partly because Yui's personality made it hard to imagine a scene where she cried like a normal girl.
I'm done with being a leader and being responsible for someone's life. But I don't want to see the girls cry.
That's why I have to become stronger. I can't afford to lie in bed forever like a sick person. I have to get well quickly and become stronger, and then everyone will survive.
For that, I still need weapons. Or something that has the power to change this deadlocked situation. Either one is fine; I need power right now.
I want weapons. I felt that poignantly. For now, tools are fine; I wonder if a plasma cutter is falling somewhere?
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.
...I think if Isaac-san or Frank West were here, any zombie thing would become a comedy.