Chapter 211 - Death Stranding-ish Story
"It's cold..."
The breath he exhaled was white, but it immediately vanished into the darkness of the night due to the strong wind blowing. The boy, who went out on the night patrol which was his job, frowned at the rain falling with the force of an overturned bucket, the driving wind, and the cold that pierced his skin.
The sound of the wind blowing sounded just like the groan of a monster. The rain poncho was only a small comfort, and the rain hitting his face flowed from his cheeks down his neck and into his body.
"Let's finish this quickly."
The man paired with him for tonight's patrol said in a slightly loud voice. It was a wind so strong that normal conversation could barely be heard.
The rain that started falling before noon gradually increased in intensity, and by the time it became evening, it had become strong enough that the sound of rain could be clearly heard even inside buildings. At the same time, a wind strong enough to make tree branches bend greatly also began to blow, and the boy, who had a night patrol scheduled, was praying for the weather to recover, but apparently that prayer did not reach the heavens.
Even though it was bad weather, the patrol job couldn't be cancelled due to rain. Although the number of infected witnessed around the Reclaimed Land for a while has been almost zero, that didn't mean the previous state of alert would be relaxed. The boy and another man slung their guns over their shoulders and crossed the bridge connecting the Reclaimed Land and the land.
"Whoops...!"
The handmade bridge was shaking considerably due to the strong wind. The wire for raising the bridge in an emergency vibrated in the wind, and the shaking was so strong that they couldn't walk straight unless they grabbed the handrail.
"It's just like a typhoon..."
The man next to him muttered. Looking at the ground, fallen leaves and blown trash were accumulating, and plastic bags were dancing in the air. When he turned on the L-shaped light fastened to his chest, countless falling raindrops emerged in the darkness. Large raindrops hit the roof of the abandoned car serving as a barricade, and a regular metallic sound echoed.
Whether the weather is becoming strange because the emission of greenhouse gases has become almost zero since all human industrial activities stopped, or whether a nuclear war broke out somewhere in the confusion. Compared to usual years, the temperature is low, and there are many days when the weather is stormy.
But whether it rains, snows, or rains spears, someone must perform the lookout job. The boys silently followed the determined route and performed the rounds.
The rounds are determined so that they cannot be skipped, and they must go around pressing stamps placed at checkpoints onto the paper they brought. If they cannot bring it back and confirm that the stamps placed at all checkpoints are pressed, it is not recognized that the rounds were performed correctly. The rounds are important, but when nothing happens, tension gradually thins and people who try to cut corners appear. It was a stamp to prevent that.
The boys reached the first checkpoint, the warehouse. It was originally a material warehouse, but the building materials and supplies stored there were all carried out to solidify the defenses of the Reclaimed Land, and now it's just a large, empty building. The boys tumbled into the warehouse to escape from the pouring rain.
"Damn it, my clothes are soaking wet."
The man accompanying him cursed and began to take off his clothes. Perhaps he hadn't worn his rain gear properly, as the clothes underneath were soaking wet from absorbing rainwater. While watching the man wring out his clothes to dry them, the boy headed toward an office desk placed in a corner of the warehouse.
A tea leaf tin was placed on the office desk, and when he opened the lid, there was a stamp inside. When he pressed that stamp onto the form in the waterproof bag, it became proof that the two of them had properly performed the rounds. The rounds are important, but as nothing happens, tension gradually thins and people who try to cut corners appear. It was a stamp for that.
They resumed the rounds after resting for a while. It will be dawn in a few hours, but the rain is still falling. Whether the weather worsened further, even thunder like an explosion could be heard. But the fact that thunder is sounding means it will be clear after the rain stops. The boy thought it would be good if the rain settled down soon.
After that, they also performed the rounds on the land side according to the determined route and confirmed that nothing was wrong. No damage is seen in the fences or barricades preventing intrusion from the outside, and there are no traces of the wire traps set to stop intruders being activated. Neither humans nor infected have invaded this Reclaimed Land.
"Does this round even have a meaning... anyway, there are no living humans or infected left near here."
The man doing the rounds together grumbled. That might certainly be true, but that doesn't become a reason why it's okay to skip the rounds. If anything were to happen, the lives of everyone in the Reclaimed Land would be at risk.
After finishing the rounds on the land, the two of them retraced the path they came and returned to the Reclaimed Land. The rain is still falling, and the thunder is approaching further. Occasionally purple lightning runs in the sky, and the thundering sound reaches the boy's ears a little later. The sky lights up, and the apartments under construction standing like gravestones are illuminated in the dark night.
But the rounds are not over yet. This time they must patrol along the coast of the Reclaimed Land.
To prevent the spread of infection, most medium-sized and larger vessels were either sunk by the JSDF or destroyed in a grounded state, but small boats with outboard motors and the like have not been completely destroyed. There was also a fear that someone would try to invade the Reclaimed Land from the sea by using them or by swimming.
Since there is a height from the sea surface to the quay, it's not easy to climb up, but it was still necessary to take intrusion measures. Along the coast, they stretched fences with barbed wire to prevent intrusion into the interior of the Reclaimed Land even in the unlikely event of landing, and like the land side, they perform regular patrols.
And it was decided in the patrol route to patrol along the coast after the land. To be honest, he felt like returning to the shopping mall, his nest, and sleeping as soon as possible, but he couldn't skip it. When they entered the quay from the gate of the fence that is usually only opened when fishing for food procurement, the boys began to walk along the sea.
Occasionally they peek under the quay to confirm if there is anyone trying to invade from the sea. But would there be anyone trying to do such a thing when the waves are rough in such bad weather? While thinking such a thing, the boy pointed his light at the sea.
Waves hit the quay and fall on the boy's face as fine spray. What is pounding against the concrete revetment are only trash such as driftwood, styrofoam, and plastic bottles. A while ago, a large number of human corpses were drifting, but now there is no trace of them.
The boy continued to walk along the coast with the man, occasionally peeking under the quay while continuing the patrol. The thunder doesn't seem to be moving away, but rather approaching. Purple lightning flashes in the night sky, and a thundering sound as if a bomb exploded shakes the air.
I want headphones with a noise-canceling function, the boy thought. He has heard that the military-grade ones Sato possessed are convenient items that block only gunshots and explosions and allow human voices and sounds to be heard, but they are broken and under repair. With those, even the ear-splitting thunder would be nothing.
Even so, how long will we be here? The boy repeated the question in his head that he didn't know how many times he had repeated.
Is there a safe place outside this Reclaimed Land? How many people are surviving besides here? How long can we live here? How much longer can we maintain a civilized life here?
Do we have a future—.
While thinking such a thing, the boy's gaze, which he had cast toward the sea, froze while pointing at one point. Lightning ran across the night sky, and the stormy sea was illuminated by purple flashes. He felt a sense of incongruity there.
Even if he strained his eyes, all he could see was darkness. However, occasionally the light of lightning running with the thunder illuminated the sea, and the boy tried to find the identity of the sense of incongruity every time.
Off the coast of the Reclaimed Land, several ships are sunk. They are cargo ships and ferries that were sunk to prevent the spread of infection after they departed by shaking off the restraint of the Japan Coast Guard or JSDF when the infection explosion occurred in Japan, or because infected appeared on the ship immediately after departure. They expose their miserable hulls slightly to the sea surface at low tide, but at high tide, the remains were submerged under the sea surface.
Since the current time is when the tide is high, the remains of those sunken ships should not be visible. Yet in the night sea illuminated by lightning, a single large shadow can be seen.
"What's that. Was there a ship sunk in such a place?"
The man doing the patrol together also seemed to have noticed the shadow on the sea. The boy pointed his light at the sea, but the light could not reach as far as the offshore where that shadow was. He tried wearing the night vision device distributed to the night patrol personnel, but he couldn't see anything because it was outside the visible range and due to the pounding rain.
Straining his eyes in the dark night, he relies on the flashes of lightning to identify the object with binoculars. It's a misplaced thing, but at first he thought it was a huge box or something. But seeing the mast protruding above, he realized the identity of that huge box was a passenger ship.
"A ship...? Did what was sunk float up?"
"There's no way."
Compared to the size of the remains, that passenger ship seemed to be about the size of a high-rise building turned on its side. But the boy saw that passenger ship offshore and had something that bothered him. No light was lit anywhere on the ship.
"A shipwreck...?"
While continuing to look at the passenger ship with binoculars, he noticed one thing. The passenger ship reflected in the round field of vision of the binoculars was gradually getting larger.
"Hey, isn't that getting closer to here?"
When the man said so, the boy was already gripping the microphone of the radio.
"Emergency, emergency. A ship can be seen offshore, but it seems to be drifting here. At this rate, it might come to the Reclaimed Land!"
Sato, who was stationed at the security headquarters set up in the shopping mall, immediately came on the communication. It was good that Sato was awake at this timing, the boy thought. He doesn't even know what to do about such a situation by themselves.
"A ship? A warship?"
"No, it's a very large passenger ship! It's like a building is floating on the sea on its side."
"Can you see any figures of people? Is it moving like someone is operating it?"
"No light can be seen on the ship at all. Because of that, I couldn't notice it, I'm sorry."
"I'm asking if someone is operating it, I'm not asking for an apology."
"Uh..."
The boy peeks through the binoculars again. Before he knew it, the thunderclouds had gone and the rain had stopped. Instead, the eastern sky began to turn white, announcing the end of the night.
Under the sky that began to change color from black to blue, the figure of the ship approaching here finally became clearly visible. A white paint, and guest rooms protruding over the deck across many layers. It's a huge luxury liner that would likely charge a fee in the hundreds of thousands of yen just for staying one night.
But no figures of people can be seen on that deck, and the navigation lights are not lit. From the chimney protruding high toward the sky, no streak of smoke could be seen. Does that mean that passenger ship is moving without relying on power?
"No smoke is coming out of the chimney. No figures of people. Maybe it was washed away by the wind."
"Understood. Anyway, I will summon all the security personnel. You guys wait there."
"The ship is getting closer and closer to here. What should we do?"
"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do. Probably from the ocean current, the ship will wash up on this Reclaimed Land. We can only pray that there are no troublesome passengers inside."
As Sato said, there was nothing the current boys could do. It would be the same even if Sato came to this place. With the boys' hand-held weapons, they cannot stop the feet of a huge passenger ship drifting on the ocean current. Unless they use a torpedo or a missile, they cannot sink a ship of that size.
Previously, Sato had tried to self-make mines in preparation for an external enemy invasion from the sea. However, the number of explosives was insufficient, and furthermore, he couldn't make a large number of detonators that would surely operate after being submerged in seawater for a long time, so the talk eventually fell through.
But even if those mines were there, they wouldn't be able to stop the feet of that ship. The ship, left to be washed away by the ocean current and strong wind, is slowly but surely approaching this Reclaimed Land.
The boy peeks through the binoculars once more. Now the distance was so close that each of the passenger ship's windows could be clearly seen with binoculars. The huge white hull is just like a hotel floating on the sea. But no figures of people can be seen beyond the windows of the guest rooms.
Is there no one on that ship? The boy thought so. Anyway, he would know in a few hours.
I'm waiting for your opinions and impressions.