Chapter 59 - Chapter 57: A Story of Sailing
The orange sun sinks beyond the horizon. The south wind that has been blowing since a while ago increased its momentum further, and I felt as if the scent of the tide became even stronger.
We had decided to stay in this sports shop for a while. There are few entrances and exits, and there are no destroyed places. On top of that, we were able to secure freeze-dried foods and vitamins found in the outdoor goods section, and there was also the fact that we gained some leeway in food.
However, I don't know how long we can be here. If infected come, we might leave here during tonight, or we might continue a life of being holed up as long as food lasts. However, since food probably won't be obtainable in this vicinity anymore, there is no change in the fact that we will leave here while there is leeway.
"The wind is noisy..."
Somehow, I tried muttering so. The parking lot on the roof of the sports shop was ideal as a place to keep watch. Since the slope going up from the ground to the roof remains closed by a shutter, there is no fear of infected wandering in even if they come.
I sit in a folding chair placed in front of the guardrail surrounding the parking lot, and pick up a water bottle placed on a table with a parasol inserted in the middle. All of them are things procured at this sports shop. The bed and table were from the camping gear corner, and the water was obtained by breaking a vending machine. It's tiring to keep standing the whole time, and if there's a table, I can avoid making my body heavy by wearing all the necessary things.
I had been looking around the surroundings with binoculars aimlessly since a while ago, but the figure of an infected never enters the narrow field of vision. What can be heard are only the sound of the wind and the cries of sea birds. Neither screams nor groans can be heard.
I turn my gaze from the western sea where the sun is sinking, and peer toward the east which is already dyed in ultramarine and where the sparkle of stars dots the sky. A relatively large port town can be confirmed even with the naked eye from here to the east, but there is not a single light of the town. Apparently, no people remain in that town either.
Several hundred meters south offshore from that port town, several things like reefs are peeking their faces from the sea surface. If one peers at those objects washed by waves with binoculars, one will notice that they are the bridges of ships protruding from the sea surface. Among them, things that seem to be the bridges of tankers or cargo ships are also protruding from the sea surface, and they were just like small islands.
Apparently, the offshore of the port town had become a graveyard for ships sunk by the JSDF. When the virus infection began in Japan, all kinds of means were taken for the sake of preventing the spread of infection. Sinking of vessels suspected of having infected on board is also included among those.
And ships that departed without permission were also sunk depending on the case. Chosen as evacuation destinations were uninhabited islands or island areas with few residents, but only those who could clear quarantine were able to go there. Since infected are not good at swimming, islands surrounded on four sides by the sea become natural fortresses. However, if infected were to enter there, it would immediately turn into a hell from which escape is difficult. If infection were to begin within a narrow island, there are almost no means to prevent it.
That's why the government did not permit departure for ships other than those for which permission was granted, and for others, they either turned them back to port or sank them in the sea. Ships also become unable to have infected enter once they anchor offshore, just like islands, but unless it's a luxury liner, it's not something general people can live on forever. That's why many ships shook off the restraint and departed aiming for uninhabited islands, but that result is that.
Whether the offshore is not that deep, several sunken ships are protruding their bridges from the sea surface. Now they still maintain their shapes, but they will probably rot while being exposed to the sea breeze. It seemed better not to know just how many people were on those ships.
When I turn my gaze toward the port, a yacht harbor for mooring yachts and cruisers can be seen. However, what is there were only the remains of ships that were broken in two with the bow and stern protruding from the sea surface, or blown apart on land. Whether the JSDF performed naval gunfire or machine gun strafing, almost all the relatively large ships in the yacht harbor seem to have been destroyed. Small motorboats with outboard motors or cutters that are dry-docked have some that escaped damage, but they probably were just excluded from the targets of attack because they cannot carry many people and cannot sail far. It's safe to assume that almost all the ships with the ability to take many people and go to some island were destroyed.
With this, the option of procuring a yacht or something and escaping to some uninhabited island was also gone. More than anything, it's also doubtful whether there are islands where people have not landed near here. There is also a possibility that ships that slipped through the inspection of the JSDF or Japan Coast Guard were filled with evacuees and landed on some uninhabited island.
Above all, there is not a single person who knows how to move a ship. As expected, Naomi-san also apparently hasn't moved a ship, and in the unlikely event that we procured a yacht or something, drifting and starving to death on the sea would be the end of it.
The sun completely sank beyond the sea, and night arrived. The south wind blowing in increased its strength further, and I feel a bit of a chill. Already the season is autumn; from now on it's only toward becoming colder and colder.
When I put on the jumper that had been placed on the table, the cold softened a bit. One of the reasons for stopping by the sports shop was to procure long-sleeved clothes and cold-weather gear. Clothes would be obtainable anywhere, but considering the functionality, it's better to procure them at a specialty shop.
"It's time to switch."
At that voice, when I looked back, Naomi-san had come out to the rooftop parking lot using the stairs inside the shop. From now on until morning, we will take turns keeping watch outside. It's my honest feeling that I'd like to rest slowly for a night once in a while, but I can't say that. If I don't work, I'll be a nuisance to other people, and if we are careless, we'll end up paying that price with our own lives.
"Then, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Understood. By the way, how is the condition of the shoes?"
When I hand over the rifle, Naomi-san says while looking down at my feet. The tattered sneakers that had covered my feet until this morning had been replaced by new trekking shoes.
Until now, I had been wearing sneakers purchased before the pandemic. They were sneakers of a type that was light and allowed for a certain amount of exercise, and there was also resistance to throwing away the sneakers my mother had bought for me. However, because I continued to wear them for a long time, they completely became tattered. The toes are frayed and holes are open, and the soles are starting to peel. Since I continued to move by running or walking to escape from the infected and overworked them, it's natural, but I was driven by the need to procure new shoes.
They are a bit heavier than the previous sneakers, but because the soles are thick, the possibility of being pierced even if I step on a nail or glass fragment becomes lower. Besides, because the anti-slip is also deeply carved, action in the field is also possible. Because they use a special material called Gore-Tex, unlike normal sneakers, the inside of the shoes won't get wet even if I thrust my foot into a puddle.
"Now, it still feels a bit strange. But I think I'll get used to it soon."
I don't know where I'll end up running. Escaping from the infected into a mountain or forest, and having my shoe slip and falling and being caught up to and eaten is the only thing I want to avoid. In that sense, this kind of shoe might be better than the sneakers until now.
"About how many more days can we be here?"
"Who knows. We need to discuss it with everyone, but it would be a week or so at the longest, right?"
There was also a method of establishing a base in one place, holed up there and waiting for the infected to starve to death. However, unless we make a field and produce food, we have to continue wandering in search of food to live. No matter how good a place there was to barricade ourselves in, we can only be there while food lasts. It cannot become a permanent base.
"...I wonder if there isn't some good place?"
"Who knows. Whether such a place exists is also unknown. Even if there were, there would be predecessors, and in that case..."
Whether to snatch it away even by killing, or to give up. It would be those two choices.
When I return inside the shop after switching, a lantern was lit in the camping gear corner. Although a lantern that uses dry cell batteries can have its brightness adjusted, as expected that light is intense. Although cloth or cardboard is pasted on the windows so that the light doesn't leak outside, it was a brightness that made me worried nonetheless.
And in the tent display corner, all the mannequins that were inside were thrown outside, and instead Yui and Mana-chan were sleeping inside. I know that they have to sleep now because they will take turns keeping watch after Naomi-san. However, it was a bit lonely not to have an opponent to talk to. That said, I didn't feel like returning to the rooftop which had become cold, and I sat down in a chair placed in front of the tent under a tarp.
I sink my body into the folding chair, and place the handgun along with the holster on the side table. Whether the two had prepared it, seasoned rice heaped in a cooker was lined up on the table. Next to it is a package of powdered soup; it seems I'm supposed to cook this one myself.
I ignite the gas stove carried from the car, and fill a deep cooker with water and pour the soup base into it. While the soup was warming, I decided to eat the rice which had cooled a bit.
How long will this kind of life continue? Suddenly such a question came to my mind. I have been sending days of fighting and escaping from the infected for half a year already. However, no matter how much time passes, the end cannot be seen.
If we wait like this, eventually the infected might also starve and die. However, whether that is one week later, one month later, one year later, or even 10 years later, I wouldn't know without actually greeting that day. Until the day all the infected die out, will we have to continue fighting?
If it were a movie, at such a time, it would be a scene where a hero encourages everyone not to throw away hope. However, in this place now, there is no hero who will save and lead us.
And I was not a person who could become a hero at all. I'm at my limit just keeping myself alive, let alone other people, and for that sake I used any means. Even if it involved murder, I executed it without hesitation.
Would a hero kill a young mother and a baby who have no guilt? The answer is no. If I hadn't sacrificed those two, I might have died as a collateral, and I couldn't expose our location with the baby's crying. I am convinced that the choice of shooting the mother's legs and making time for escape was something that couldn't be helped, and that it was the best means for living.
But, maybe there were other choices? Recently when I have free time, I have come to think such things suddenly. That "maybe" was endless once I started thinking.
When I left the baby and mother behind. When I shot dead the three old men and women in Osawa Village. And the point I think of is the choice of "Would it have been better if I hadn't helped Yui?".
If I hadn't helped Yui at that time, I wouldn't have known her. As a bystander I would have seen her off, and if I had continued to be holed up in that apartment room alone, maybe I could have gotten by without it becoming like this. At least, as long as I was in that room, there would have been no need to lay a hand on the taboo of murder. I would have sent relatively "peaceful" days alone in the apartment, and I would have been able to remain a pure and innocent person compared to now.
But if I hadn't helped Yui she would have died, and Mana-chan who was trapped in the gymnasium at the junior high school would also have died just like that. Recalling that fact, I realize that I have become a base person. A man who thinks only of his own self and sacrifices even others for his purpose. If it were a movie or manga, I'm the person on the side being defeated by the hero.
However, since a hero does not appear and help, I might have no choice but to continue this way of living. Unless I prioritize myself above everything, I cannot survive in this world. And for the sake of living, the choice of sacrificing others must also be performed depending on the case. Even if not desired, there is no choice but to do so. At the point I killed people, I have already started walking a road from which there is no return.
"...Someone, help me."
I lie down on the folding bed, and mutter while looking up at the ceiling panels. The mannequins discarded in the aisle seemed to be laughing at me from within the darkness.