Chapter 43 - Chapter 41: A Tale of the Power Plant
"Well, this is a problem."
Those words escaped my mouth instinctively. The power plant spreading out before me—it was a scene far removed from what I had expected.
Amidst the old private houses scattered around, there was one large facility. A roof supported by several thick pillars, and machinery such as pumps and meters installed beneath it. It was quite old, but what was in front of my eyes was unmistakably a gas station.
And under that roof, three large trucks were parked. Generators were loaded into their beds, and they were likely drawing electricity from the trucks' batteries as well. The low-frequency vibration of multiple engines was shaking the air.
Multiple cables extending from the generators in the beds and the trucks' batteries were connected to a nearby utility pole, and from there, it seemed they were flowing electricity into the power lines running throughout the village via some kind of device. I didn't know if such a thing was possible, but the fact that the lights were on meant they had somehow achieved it. Perhaps among the people who had evacuated, there was an expert in electrical work.
I had assumed a power plant was something where countless small generators were gathered and operated in some warehouse or the like. If it were a building, infiltration would have been easy if I bypassed or took down the guards, but I never thought it would be something that could be moved on trucks. This whole area has relatively many buildings, but even so, there are no buildings around the gas station. And several men with guns were patrolling around the trucks equipped with generators.
Seven... no, eight of them. All were armed with firearms, regardless of whether they were handguns or hunting rifles. In contrast, although I had obtained a handgun, I hadn't fired it even once, and moreover, I was all alone. If I fought, I would surely lose.
Tactics like distracting them or attacking when there's an opening as I had done until now didn't seem likely to work. Although several were wandering around, four people always remained around the trucks to keep watch on the surroundings. If I tried to approach to destroy the generators, they would immediately notice me and open fire. The powerful lighting hanging from the gas station roof had dispelled the surrounding darkness.
What should I do? Inside a narrow irrigation canal, I clutched my head.
Right now, I was hiding inside an irrigation canal on the north side of the gas station. Fields spread out around the gas station, with private houses dotted among them. The rice paddies were filled with water and water was flowing in the irrigation canal, but to approach without being noticed, I had no choice but to proceed inside the canal. Because of that, I was soaking wet, but thanks to it, I had been able to approach to a distance of about 50 meters from the power plant. However, if I proceed any further, I'll surely be found.
Is a frontal breakthrough the only way after all? Since eight guards are stationed at the gas station and show no sign of moving from the spot, the only way to stop the electricity is to charge in from here.
But, how to stop it? That was the problem. Cutting all the cables connected to the power lines would be best, but before I could get to that distance, holes would be opened in my body. Since the truck engines are running, fuel must be packed inside the tanks, but unlike in movies, a handgun probably won't be able to shoot through a fuel tank.
"Hey, we're almost out of gas. Bring a drum!"
Suddenly hearing such words, I cautiously poked only my head out of the irrigation canal and surveyed the state of the gas station. I saw a man standing on one of the trucks giving some instructions to his comrades. Since he was speaking loudly so as not to be drowned out by the countless engine sounds, I could hear the conversation even at a distance of about 50 meters.
A young man went to the back of the gas station, and after a while, he came back pushing a drum on a cart. The man used a steel plate as a ramp to push the drum up into the truck bed, opened the lid, and began some work. Apparently, he was refueling the generator.
Perhaps a large amount of fuel is still stockpiled at that gas station. I had that intuition. When I moved to a position where I could see the back of the shop while staying hidden in the irrigation canal, that prediction was indeed correct. In a place that had been a blind spot from where I was until now, there was a shed with only pillars and a roof. Underneath it, countless drums were lined up, and another man was again putting a drum on a cart.
The reason they don't bother pumping it up from the gas station's underground tank is likely in preparation for a case where the power supply is cut off. The pump that draws gas from the underground tank runs on electricity, and it takes a considerable amount of time to pump it up with a manual pump. In that regard, if fuel is stored in drums or the like in advance, it can be refueled immediately in an emergency, and it can also be carried to necessary locations.
Or perhaps the underground fuel tank is already full, and those drums are where fuel collected from the town or elsewhere is stored. Either way, there's no doubt that fuel is inside those drums.
If I blow up that gathered fuel, it will be more than just a big fuss. They'll have to divert manpower from the forces chasing us to extinguish the fire, and the power supply to this whole area will also stop. Since they have generators loaded on movable trucks, there's a possibility that other power plants have been set up, but even so, I might be able to throw the village into further chaos.
Besides, if I burn that fuel, a large pillar of fire will rise. The sky will turn red, and it should be visible even to the infected who are far from this village.
If I can cause a flashy explosion, the infected will notice the existence of this village which has been hidden until now. And convinced that there are humans, who are food, they will surely come swarming. The guards will end up having to deal with the infected in addition to us, and the forces for dealing with us will become even fewer.
The village entrances and exits will be strictly guarded as I saw. If the infected swarm, the guards placed at the village entrances and exits should devote all their efforts to dealing with them. Taking advantage of that gap, we might be able to escape.
It was a plan based on entirely optimistic predictions, but it's better than doing nothing. Besides, a crazy village like this that offers survivors as fodder to keep the infected alive should just be attacked by the infected and disappear. The people who have been killing humans to protect the infected will now be killed by those infected. What an ironic story.
Fortunately, the guards didn't seem to have noticed me yet. It's likely because the sound of the water flowing in the irrigation canal, in addition to the low-frequency vibration emitted by the engines, is drowning out the sounds I make.
Even so, if I get close to the gas station, I'll surely be discovered. The powerful lighting of the gas station illuminates a wide range, and the irrigation canal I'm in now is at a position where that light barely reaches. Thanks to that, I haven't been found yet, but conversely, it wouldn't be strange to be discovered the moment I leave this canal.
I once again checked my hand-held weapons. A handgun, a crossbow, an axe, and a knife. Plus, one signal flare I got when I obtained the crossbow.
I wished I had at least a hunting rifle. I heard from Naomi-san that a hunting rifle has enough power to easily penetrate a car door, and the steel plate of a drum must be like a piece of paper. Sniping a drum from here, then firing a signal flare at the leaked fuel to ignite it. Though as someone who hasn't fired a gun even once, a feat like sniping is impossible for me.
I don't know if Naomi-san and the others are still alive; gunshots are ringing out as if they just remembered to. I don't know if Naomi-san and the others are moving away from the enemy or if they're simply running out of ammunition. Even so, as long as gunshots are ringing, it means Naomi-san and the others are also alive.
"Please wait a little longer..."
I'd really like to charge in right now, but I can't do such a reckless thing. Grasp the guards' movements, find a gap, and strike there. Otherwise, I can't pull off something like bypassing eight men with firearms and blowing up the fuel along with the generators.
In the irrigation canal where cold water flowed, I poked only my face out and waited intently for an opportunity. Of the men at the gas station, four never move from around the trucks loaded with generators. The remaining four are placed around the gas station, keeping their eyes peeled in all directions. Even if I take down one, I'll be noticed immediately.
If so, the problem is how much time there is from taking down the first person until being discovered. As expected, those guys aren't so stupid that they won't notice their comrade's death until I finish tampering with the fuel-filled drums and escape. I'll be found during the work, and it will surely become a fight. How much I can advance the work by then is the key.
The plan I made is this. First, shoot one dead with the silent crossbow and infiltrate the gas station. After that, open a hole in a fuel tank or take off a lid to spill the contents on the ground, then leave the spot. After escaping, look back and fire the signal flare horizontally to ignite the gasoline pooled on the ground—.
If that much fuel catches fire, quite a flashy firework will go up. The place where the drums are gathered and the place where the trucks loaded with generators are parked are a bit apart, but it's a distance where it will spread in an instant if a fire occurs. If the vaporized fuel ignites, an explosion will occur, and burning fuel will fly everywhere. If that happens, the trucks will literally become fire cars.
Even if the fire doesn't spread to the trucks, that's fine in itself. The guards will have to divert manpower to suppress the fire, but I don't think it will be easily extinguished once that much fuel catches fire. As long as I can throw the village into chaos and give Naomi-san and the others a chance to escape, that's enough. If the village people are scurrying around in front of the burning fuel, we won't have to fight extra battles.
For several minutes after that, I waited intently for an opportunity. On the west side of the back of the gas station where the drums are gathered, only one guard is placed. However, the distance to the guard placed on the north side is too close; if I were to shoot him dead, I might be found immediately. I continued to wait for the west-side guard to move to a distance where he couldn't be seen by the other guards.
And after several more minutes passed, the west-side guard finally started walking toward the south. He stopped after walking a few meters, but that was an excellent position where the gas station building became a shadow and he couldn't be seen from the guards placed to the north and south. I, who had moved to the west side of the gas station by crawling through the irrigation canals crisscrossing everywhere, leaned out and readied my crossbow.
I pressed my upper body firmly against the ground so my body wouldn't move, and aligned the dot of the dot sight with the guard's head. In reality, the bolt flies in a parabolic trajectory, so the bolt will likely hit around the chest. A human body is surprisingly sturdy, and at this distance, even if it hits the head, there's a possibility the bolt won't penetrate thanks to the rounded skull.
In that regard, the chest and belly are not covered by bone and are packed with important organs. If it were an infected, they wouldn't care even if one or two bolts were stuck in them, but it's a different story for a living human. If a bolt sticks in a lung, it will cause a pneumothorax and make breathing difficult, and they won't be able to move from the intense pain. As long as I can hit them with one shot, it will be difficult for a human to continue fighting.
Even after stopping, the west-side guard was looking around everywhere with a face as if he were afraid of something. He's likely wary of us who escaped. He doesn't realize that I, who killed four of his comrades and am lurking right nearby, have aimed at him.
I pulled the trigger.