Chapter 3 - Episode 2: The Story of Silence
This story is a reuse of a short story I previously published. It's cutting corners, isn't it? It can't be helped. Forgive me, everyone...
One day, two weeks after I barricaded myself on the rooftop of the apartment.
With a slight metallic scraping sound, I opened the door. Suddenly, the dazzling sunlight streamed into the dark room where the curtains were tightly closed and all lights were extinguished. Although I had closed my eyelids in advance, the morning sunlight was still intense, and black spots appeared in my vision for a while.
Waiting a bit for my field of vision to return to normal and confirming that my eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, I looked outside through the slightly opened gap of the door. What entered my view was only a part of the apartment's hallway wall and floor. I couldn't see anything else.
Waiting a bit more to make sure there were no sounds nearby, I opened the door fully. At the same time, I quickly stepped out of the room and looked left and right down the hallway. No one was there.
Knowing that I was the only one here, I unintentionally let out a sigh of relief. And since I had unconsciously touched the machete hanging from my waist, I slowly moved my hand away from the machete.
Since the world became like this, carrying a weapon has become quite normal. Otherwise, you can't survive, and even if you have a weapon, death awaits if you can't master it. Because this machete has sucked blood many times, the wooden grip part has been stained a rusty red color.
Even though it's a weekday morning—though that's already a dead word—the town was hushed. I couldn't hear the sound of cars running or the clamor of people commuting to work or school. Instead, what entered my ears was the cawing of crows.
Leaning out from the hallway wall, I took out binoculars and pressed them to my eyes. Then, the town's state of devastation immediately entered my view.
A truck that had plowed into a private house's cinder block fence and crashed into the building without losing momentum, now crumpled.
A passenger car that had collided and overturned.
The charred remains of what seemed to have been a house, burnt out by fire.
Two train cars that had collided head-on while running and were completely wrecked.
...And, countless crows perched as if to fill the power lines.
It's been about three months since such sights became the norm. All the civilizations and organizations that humanity had built up were now pushed to the brink of collapse.
While I was looking in the direction of the main street with the binoculars, I saw something wriggling in the corner of the binoculars' field of vision. I quickly adjusted the focus to see it.
In the field of vision, several silhouettes of people were moving. At first glance, they look like normal humans, but the area around their mouths is stained bright red, and they are dragging something like a string in their hands. Looking closely, that string appeared to be human small intestines.
Right next to that, people were crouching and swarming over something. They were just like middle-aged ladies swarming over bargain sale items, but what they were swarming over and devouring was a human corpse.
The corpse was a woman, and if you only looked at the part where several men were on top of her, it might have looked like she was being assaulted. However, from the gaps between the swarming silhouettes, it could be seen that her abdomen had been bitten open and her internal organs were being dragged out. Her left arm had vanished from the base of the shoulder, perhaps bitten off, and her right arm, which had lost its strength, was swaying as if inviting someone in accordance with the people's movements.
It was an extremely gruesome sight, but I felt nothing. Previously, I used to avert my eyes not just from slasher movies but even from scenes in TV documentaries where doctors were performing surgery, but I suppose humans can get used to anything. I've already seen countless gruesome corpses, and I've seen humans being eaten to death many times before my eyes.
As if he had noticed me observing the people swarming the corpse with the binoculars, a man who looked like a salaryman turned this way. Pieces of meat were stuck to his mouth, the upper arm of his dress shirt was greatly torn, and the skin visible from there was shredded and mangled. However, as if he felt nothing, the man returned his gaze, crouched down, and bit into the corpse where people were swarming without any gaps.
I lowered the binoculars, leaned against the wall, and slid down into a crouch. Humans eating humans—I've grown used to such sights in these two months. I've already abandoned thinking about why it turned out like this or why they do such things. Thinking is meaningless, and before thinking, I must take action to survive.
Those people—the Infected, attack and eat humans just as I was watching. I don't know the details, but I've heard they are dominated by appetite and aggressive impulses. They are perpetually starving, always angry, and want to attack and eat any human they see.
The cause is likely some kind of virus, as was reported before the TV and radio stopped. If you are infected with that virus, you cease to be human within a few hours and transform into a Infected possessed by appetite and aggressive impulses. The Infected regard humans as enemies (or prey) and attack them relentlessly, but they don't attack fellow Infected, perhaps because they think of them as comrades or simply have no interest. The reason and memory that make a human human are lost, and they turn into "ferocious beasts in human form."
The Infected have their physical limiters removed and attack humans in a state as if they are constantly exerting superhuman strength. Furthermore, their bodies have become robust and their sense of pain is perhaps paralyzed, as they sometimes remain alive even after suffering heavy injuries that would kill a normal human instantly. They don't die just because an arm or two is severed, and they seem to be resistant to blood loss as they stay alive even while bleeding heavily.
They were just like the zombies that appear in movies, but the Infected are not people who died once and were resurrected. They are living humans who were infected with the virus and became ferocious. However, many people call them "zombies" because they relentlessly try to eat humans even if their arms are torn off or their legs are mangled.
Though there are hardly any humans left who call them that.
The virus, which had Africa as its source of infection and became an epidemic worldwide, made humans ferocious and quickly increased their numbers. The saliva of the Infected contains a large amount of the virus, and humans who are bitten get the virus into their bodies through the wound, become infected, and join the ranks of the Infected a few hours later.
Against the Infected who increased their numbers exponentially, countries around the world collapsed helplessly. The police and military fought hard, but instead of achieving results, the damage was great. After all, the opponents are guys who run as fast as Olympic athletes and keep moving even if their limbs are shot. To top it off, the forces we lose turn entirely into the enemy's forces.
Japan, like other foreign countries, had a large number of Infected occur. It was said on the radio that 90% of Japanese people have now either died or turned into Infected, but it's been a long time since that radio stopped receiving signals. Distribution and the movement of people have stopped, and the infrastructure of electricity and communication also stopped because the people who run them died or were infected. People fled here and there trying to escape from the Infected, but the Infected who were mixed in were unleashed in various places and only increased the damage.
The government seems to no longer be functioning. I've heard a rumor that the remaining units of the police and JSDF have established a base somewhere and are striving to recover their strength, but it's just a rumor. I also heard a story that they were wiped out, and in this current situation, that one has more credibility.
Until a few months ago, I was an ordinary second-year high school student. After the Infected occurred and logistics and infrastructure stopped, I was living in an evacuation center near my house, but within less than a week of evacuating, we were attacked by a swarm of Infected. I got separated from my parents, and I've lived until today by desperately running away.
I met several survivors after fleeing the evacuation center, but without exception, they either died or became missing after being separated during attacks.
And today, I decided to leave the apartment room where I've been hiding like a mouse. It's not that I'm leaving here for good, but to procure necessary food and water.
The Infected attack humans. However, if you aren't found, you naturally won't be attacked. The physical limiters of the Infected are removed and they exert superhuman power, but their senses, except for the sense of pain, remain human. They can't see things in the dark, and unless there's an extremely strong smell, they won't find you by sense of smell. If you get in a car or make a loud noise, your position will obviously be exposed and you'll be attacked, but if you live quietly with bated breath, you won't be found by the Infected.
For that reason, after a few days of wandering, I was living as if shut away in a room on the top floor of an apartment. I closed all the curtains, hardly turned on any lights so as not to be found at night, and just lived by holding my breath. I chose that room simply because it happened to be unlocked and safety was secured since it was on the top floor. If it's the top floor of a six-story building, a little bit of noise won't be heard by the Infected on the ground, and since the elevator has stopped, I can restrict the movement of the Infected if I block the stairs.
The Infected will chase with all their might if they find a living human, but if you hide well, you can also lose them. Even if you are found, if you run at full speed to gain distance and then hide in a building or something and hold your breath, the Infected will lose sight of the human. At first, they wander near the place where they lost sight of the prey they missed, not letting even a slight noise or smell escape, but eventually, they lose interest and leave.< I've been attacked by Infected many times, but I've survived until now that way.
The reason I'm able to survive is probably simply luck and the speed of my feet. Since I was a child, I liked playing outside, and I was especially good at tag and always running around. Thanks to that, although I wasn't in a club in junior high or high school, I've even hit records that wouldn't lose to short-distance athletes of the track and field club in the physical fitness tests held at the beginning of the school year.
However, carrying large luggage when running away would be a hindrance. There is a convenience store near this apartment, and some food and water still remained. Perhaps because this district was devastated early on, I haven't seen any survivors since they fled from outside, and the remaining supplies were practically as good as mine.
However, it was a bit too much to carry into the apartment at once. If I tried to stockpile food and water and just shut myself in, and then got found during the transport of supplies and was caught because my movement was slow, that would be putting the cart before the horse. Therefore, I barricaded myself in the apartment with only the amount of supplies I could move nimbly with, and I went out again to bring more just before I used them up. Since it would be a problem if I didn't have physical strength in the event I was attacked, I didn't practice extreme conservation of meals and such, and for that reason, I went out every five days.
I stuffed the little remaining water and food, and other necessary supplies into a knapsack, and was checking my weapons. If I'm attacked, I'll run away first, but if I'm cornered, I must fight. That's what the weapons were for.
I used a sturdy machete, a Maglite that could also be a baton machined from aluminum, and a crowbar as weapons. None of them were things I originally had, but things I found in the private houses I fled into. If I had a gun, I could efficiently eliminate Infected from a distance, but it's no use wishing for what I don't have. If it were the gun society of America, I could expect it, but this is Japan. The ones who have guns are police officers, JSDF members, USFJ soldiers, and hunters. As an exception, anti-social groups like the yakuza also possess guns, but there's no development where I conveniently come across their corpses and pick up a gun.
Unlike the zombies in movies, the Infected don't have only the head as a weak point. They are just ferocious humans who are hard to die, so if you properly inflict major damage to organs necessary for life support such as the head, heart, or lungs, or if you tear the whole body apart, they will die. So it's a saving grace that they die even if you aim for the chest, though I'm not very happy about it.
However, if I encounter a Infected, I hide first. Then I run. Fighting is the last resort.
If there is only one Infected, it would be easy to defeat it with a blunt weapon. But if there are two, I'll watch the situation, and if there are three or more, I'll turn back or look for a detour without hesitation. I can also sneak up from behind and take one down with a single blow to the head, but that's only possible when there is only one Infected. If there are two or more, I'll be noticed the moment I defeat the first one and will be chased relentlessly. I have no intention whatsoever of dealing with ferocious beasts in human form that run at the speed of a short-distance athlete.
It would be easier if these were the slow-moving zombies from movies or games. Since their movement is sluggish, blunt weapons would be sufficient, and I could easily escape if it came down to it. But the Infected, once they find prey, will continue to chase with all their might until it disappears from their sight. Really, no joke, I wish they'd do something about it.
Moving by car is a suicidal act. In the first place, I don't have a license, so I'm confident I'd definitely cause an accident, and the engine sound would make the Infected notice. The roads are also blocked here and there by cars that caused accidents in the great chaos three months ago, and unless you are very familiar with the geography and terrain, you'll be broken into through the window while wandering around looking for a detour and being caught up.
Fuel still remains in gas stations and such, but that's why I don't move by car. Besides, if you run over a Infected blocking the road with an ordinary car, the tires will slip and the engine will be destroyed, and you'll soon be unable to move. I even hear stories that someone hit a wild boar while driving in the mountains, and the boar was fine but the car was completely wrecked. I'd have to make special modifications, but I have neither the skill, time, nor tools for that.
Having all my luggage, I went out to the hallway and started moving the desks and sofas placed as a barricade in front of the stairs. Since electricity doesn't come, the elevator is stopped, and if I also block the emergency stairs in the same way, the Infected won't come up to the sixth floor. In the event I am discovered, I planned to go out to the balcony of the room I was in just now and go down to the ground using the escape ladder.
The luggage I put in the backpack weighed less than 10 kilograms in total. Inside are necessary supplies like clothes and medicine, and water and food, but water and food have been consumed quite a bit while I was barricaded in the room until now, so there isn't much left. This was the maximum weight of luggage I could carry when running at full speed.
By the way, I haven't left anything in the room. That's because I don't know if I can return here again. If I could replenish supplies at a supermarket without being found by Infected, I'd come back and barricade myself again. If discovered, returning to the room again would be telling the Infected my location, so at that time, I intended to never return to the room and look for another base.
I am probably the only normal human in this town right now. I observed the outside situation frequently since I started barricading myself in this apartment, but I only saw Infected and feral dogs and cats moving. Even if everyone is shut in their houses like me, only a few people would have survived. Even if I were being chased by Infected, they wouldn't help me in order to protect themselves. I can only rely on myself.
There, I took out the binoculars again and looked in the direction where the corpse the Infected were swarming over earlier was. Perhaps they were satisfied and went elsewhere; no Infected could be seen on the main street, and only the gruesome, mangled corpse remained.
If the damage is that severe, she's definitely dead. If she's dead, she won't turn into a Infected and attack. I unintentionally felt relieved that the female survivor was dead.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.