Chapter 58 - Chapter 56: A Story of Resting
In the end, I didn't tell everyone that I abandoned the man, shot the woman's legs, and left her behind along with the baby. I told them that all three were killed by the infected and died, but Naomi-san and the others did not pursue that matter deeply. In the chaos of escaping from the town, they didn't have the leeway to worry about such things, and there might also have been a feeling there that they didn't really care about a trio they had just met for the first time.
After that, I returned to the apartment alone and joined up with Naomi-san and the others. Due to the gunshots, screams, and the horn that continued to ring, the infected were drawn to the north side of the town, and the area around the apartment had become empty. After shooting the woman, I returned to the apartment without firing a single shot, got into the car Naomi-san and the others had prepared, and left the town.
It was very regrettable to abandon the town where supplies might still remain, but our own lives were the most important. Thanks to that family having flashily drawn the infected from outside the town, that town could no longer be said to be safe. While infected are wandering outside, it cannot be said to be a very good thing to wander the town in search of supplies.
As if escaping from the infected, we proceed further and further east. Eventually, the height of summer passed, and the cool season arrived.
September. Normally, this would be the time when the second semester begins. However, I don't know when schools will resume——————or in the first place, whether the children who should attend school are alive. At the very least, school will resume around the time I pass twenty and become an adult.
Since the seasons have also started to change, it was also necessary to newly procure clothing. Until now it was midsummer, so we could get by with just short-sleeved clothes. However, from now on the temperature will keep dropping, and it will become cold in the middle of the night. There are no doctors even if one catches a cold; now even a trivial illness could become fatal.
The fact that supplies obtainable at supermarkets and convenience stores are decreasing was also troubling our heads. Apparently there are other survivors, and I have many times seen the state where canned goods and other foods have been taken away across the board at supermarkets I stepped into. The fact that there are other living humans besides ourselves was happy, but I couldn't be happy only about the fact that they are taking away the supplies. Above all, when I think that there might be people who bring trouble again, my heart grows heavy.
Due to the spread of the virus, social functions have completely stopped. Goods are not made at factories, and the truck drivers who deliver them to shops have all either become infected or died. Supplies are only what is currently there, and they are only on the way to becoming fewer.
Now, because a large number of people died, supplies are also remaining in large quantities. For a while, because there are more supplies remaining in warehouses and shops in various places than consumers, food and such might be obtainable if one goes around several supermarkets. However, as time passes, supplies steadily decrease. And they will not be replenished.
For that reason too, if we found a town that seemed to have a small population on the way heading east, we were looking for supplies there. I thought that if the population is small, the people who become infected are also few, and if the scale of the town is small, the number of survivors who visit there is also small. Though, there might be other people thinking the same kind of thing.
Thus, while replenishing scarce supplies, we continued our movement. We were attacked by infected from time to time, but we have repelled all of them. Although I became quite discouraged, ammunition still remains, and fortunately, the fuel remaining in gas stations and abandoned vehicles has not denatured. If the gasoline starts to denature, we will finally end up having to abandon the car and move on foot, but before that, I can only hope that all the infected starve to death.
One day while we were running on the coastal road by car, there was a single sports shop on the way. It's a shop of a major chain, and there is a wide parking lot in front of the shop. Beachgoers and surfers might be the main customers, but since it's a major shop, a general lineup of products will probably be gathered. If no one has looted it yet, food might be obtainable.
"Naomi-san, please stop. Let's stop by that sports shop."
"Sports shop? ...Ah, I see."
Yui and Mana-chan, who were sitting in the rear seat, were making sleeping breaths as if leaning against each other. Recently, because we are having the two of them also do the night watch, sleepiness probably still remained.
Along the road running along the coast, shops handling fishing gear and convenience stores are lined up dotting the land side. Private houses are few, and we haven't seen infected yet. However, whether survivors had visited this vicinity before, the convenience stores and private shops we saw on the way were mostly ruined. Naturally, food did not remain.
"...What, is it already evening?"
"Unfortunately, no. From now on we're going to check whether food remains in that sports shop."
"Is food sold in such a place? If they were leather shoes, they might be edible if boiled, but isn't what's sold at most just shoes and such?"
While rubbing sleepy eyes, Yui woke up. I feel like there was a poor man who ate leather shoes in a very old black-and-white movie, but unfortunately, current shoes made of synthetic fibers probably couldn't be eaten.
"They are sold. Sports shops usually have a mountain climbing corner, and preserved food is also sold there along with tents and mountain climbing boots."
Though they aren't things like canned goods, but only freeze-dried foods that are light and not bulky. Even so, it's better than nothing, and there were things I wanted to procure around here.
"Heh, you know a lot."
"When I went out mountain climbing with my family a long time ago, I saw mountain climbing gear at the shop. Well, what we ate after climbing the mountain was instant ramen, though."
The ramen we three in the family ate together at the summit at that time was more delicious than any ramen I had eaten until then. At the same time I recalled such a thing, I recalled that such fun days will never return again, and my mood became a bit dark. If I felt like it, I could probably climb a mountain, but Dad and Mom who would climb together are no longer here.
Several cars were parked in the sports shop's parking lot, but all of them seem to have been abandoned for a long time; white rust is floating on the surfaces due to the sea breeze. Although the door of the shop's entrance is left open, as far as seen from the parking lot, there are no traces of the inside of the shop having been ruined.
"Alright, then everyone take your weapons. Follow me without straying."
I also woke Mana-chan and got out of the car, and we each confirm our weapons. Beside Naomi-san who holds a shotgun, I also confirmed the state of the crossbow that has completely become familiar to my hand. Yui also took the revolver housed in her holster, and handed the other handgun to Mana-chan.
Recently, Mana-chan has also started to accompany us in the procurement of supplies. Naomi-san and Yui opposed it as dangerous, but it was due to Mana-chan's own strong desire. And Mana-chan wanted a weapon to protect her own self.
"I understand. That I'm baggage. But I don't want to be a nuisance to everyone, so I want to protect my own self by myself."
After escaping that town where the tank was abandoned, Mana-chan said so. Yui opposed having a girl who is still an elementary schooler hold a weapon, and Naomi-san opposed it because it's dangerous for a young girl to handle a weapon, but I agreed. Someone is not always by Mana-chan's side, and in the unlikely event that she is attacked by infected, it's better to have as many people who can fight as possible.
In the end, the other two also accepted that she would hold a weapon in the form of being pushed by Mana-chan. Though, since it's indeed dangerous to have a small girl hold a weapon 24/7, we have decided to have someone keep it for her normally.
I pull the slide of the handgun lightly to confirm that the first round is loaded, and return it to the holster. The handgun is only a spare; if the infected can be brought down with a crossbow that doesn't make sound, nothing would be better than that. Naomi-san was also hanging the shotgun from her shoulder with a sling, but the main weapons are the two large knives hanging from her waist.
"Then I'll go check the situation. You guys wait here."
I say so and walk toward the building so as not to make footsteps, leaving the others. In the unlikely event that a large number of infected were inside the shop, we have to leave here quickly. Naomi-san was looking at me from beside the driver's seat with the door left open so she could get the car out immediately.
I approach to about 10 meters from the building. Because the lights are not lit inside the shop, the situation can hardly be gathered, but there is no sign of anything being inside. The situation near the entrance can be understood to some extent by the sunlight shining in from the door left open, but indeed there was no sign of infected holding their breath inside the shop.
I, who gripped an empty coffee can brought from the car, threw it toward the building. The empty can bounced on the ground several times and rolled into the shop from the open door while scattering a silly metal sound and a few leftovers. I immediately ready the crossbow and prepare for infected that might show themselves upon hearing the sound.
Even after waiting 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, nothing jumped out from inside the shop. Just in case, this time I threw a pebble that was rolling at my feet into the shop again. However, nothing shows itself.
Apparently this shop is safe. If infected were inside, they should have jumped outside by now. When I look back and wave my hand, Naomi-san and the others come toward here with relieved faces.
"Yui and I will go around the shop and confirm safety. You two please secure supplies."
Being told so, I stepped into the shop while bringing Mana-chan along. I also thought it was a bit uneasy for her to be gripping a handgun in her small hand, but this is also a necessary thing. We cannot protect her forever, and if we were to disappear, Mana-chan would have to live alone. In preparation for such a time, she must learn the means to live.
The inside of the shop was almost not ruined. Only the area around the checkout counter right next to the entrance was messy, and there were almost no traces of someone having rummaged. Did the survivors not even look at a sports shop even though they looked for supermarkets and convenience stores to get food?
"It's clean..."
"Yeah. Probably, no one has stepped foot in here besides us until now, right?"
"But, the door was half open."
The daily calendar hanging on the wall behind the counter remained as it was on the day the infection occurred in Japan. On the floor, small change and several wrinkled bills are scattered. There were no traces of the register being broken, and the drawer where money was kept was left open.
While the infection spread and confusion occurred in various places, the shop staff of this shop probably ran away while taking the money from the register. The fact that the door was not closed is evidence that the staff left this shop in a hurry. And from when the staff ran away, it could be said that no one has stepped foot in this shop until today.
"Even if they took money, it was meaningless."
After the infection spread, money turned into mere scraps of paper in the blink of an eye. Shops remain closed, and if one loots, the price doesn't have to be paid. Besides, no matter how much money there was, one cannot escape from the fate of dying.
"Let's go. The mountain climbing corner is..."
The inside of the shop remained dark, and the locations of Yui and Naomi-san are only to the extent that they can somehow be known by the light of the flashlights they held. While I was illuminating the walls appropriately with a flashlight, Mana-chan points to one place, saying "It seems to be over there." The light of the flashlight in her hand was illuminating the 'Mountain Climbing / Outdoor' plate hanging from the ceiling.
The corner handling mountain climbing gear was also not ruined, just like the others. Tents, chairs, and large backpacks that a single child could fit into completely are lined up in a small space. The mannequins lined up inside the tents looked like infected for a moment, and I felt like my heart would jump out of my mouth.
Besides those, ice axes and trekking shoes are lined up, and beyond them, fixtures related to food were placed. Compared to supermarkets and such the number is small and the variety is poor, but they are all preserved foods. Next to them, outdoor cooking utensils are also lined up.
"Alright, for now let's put all of this into the backpacks. That's right, shall we use those?"
Since it's a good opportunity, I decided to also take the large backpacks for mountain climbing hanging on the wall. Because we are moving by car there are not many opportunities to walk, but even so, if we lose the car in the unlikely event, we have to act on foot. If we have large backpacks at that time, we can take that many more supplies out of the car.
I put food products one after another into the backpacks after cutting the tags with a knife. They are all only freeze-dried foods that are light without being bulky, but because they are precious food, I can't complain. I pack packages of porridge and miso soup into the backpacks, and at the same time I worried about whether I should also take the cooking utensils.
Next to the food, portable cooking utensils for outdoor use are lined up. We are currently using a gas stove that uses a cassette cylinder when cooking, but it's heavy and bulky. However, a gas stove that uses white gasoline in a can about the size of a mug is light and small, although the heat cannot be adjusted. Besides, there were also sets of compact cookers that can be stored by stacking many of them.
In preparation for the case where we end up acting separately after being attacked by infected, we had prepared backpacks for everyone. Food and water are inside, and in case of emergency, each of us is supposed to take that and escape. However, cooking utensils are not inside.
"We went around and looked at the inside of the shop, but as expected there's no one."
While I was thinking about whether I should also take the cooking utensils, Naomi-san and the others who had gone to confirm the safety inside the shop returned. Since she says no one, there were probably no survivors either. When I think about the things in the town where the tank was, I was in a mood of not wanting to meet other survivors.
"The windows are not broken, and there are no other places that seem possible to intrude. If we only block the entrance, the inside is safe, so why don't we stay here today? We've been living in the car the whole time lately."
Yui continued. Indeed, for a while lately, we have been repeating sleeping and waking in the car. Because we were proceeding through places without private houses while avoiding densely populated areas, we had no choice but to sleep in the car at night.
Besides, even if there were private houses by luck, we could hardly sleep because we always had to be vigilant of the infected. The doors of private houses seem to have been broken by those who broke in to loot, and everywhere they remain destroyed. Without the leeway to repair those, the fear that infected might intrude inside when they surge in does not bring comfortable sleep.
Because the windows of this sports shop are at a position much higher than an adult's height, the infected probably cannot climb up and intrude unless they make a pyramid with calisthenics. Besides, the entrance can be sufficiently blocked by piling up fixtures and shelves. Also, this area is a coastline with a small population, and the view is good. If infected come near, we'll know immediately.
There was no reason to oppose their proposal. I decided to obediently follow my desire to sleep on a flat floor while stretching my legs for the first time in a long time.