Chapter 60 - Chapter 58: A Story of Being Exhausted
In the end, we were only able to be at the sports shop for a short time. A few days after finding the sports shop, I, who was keeping watch at the rooftop parking lot, confirmed through binoculars that a group of infected was wandering and coming from the west. While the infected were still far away, we packed our luggage and left the sports shop quickly.
It was a number that I knew just by looking that it was impossible to defeat all of them, and even if we defeated them, it's meaningless if infected come again later. The supplies at the sports shop are scarce, and compared to our on-hand portion, there is not that much leeway in number either. Above all, because it's a seaside the view is good, and it didn't seem like we could go out to procure supplies while slipping through the gaps of the infected.
Just how long do we have to send this kind of life? Although I didn't put it into words, I was sensing that everyone was thinking so.
After leaving the sports shop, we returned to living in the car again as before. During the day we run the car slowly toward the east while being careful not to run out of fuel or make sound, and at night we stop the car in some place with a good view while taking turns keeping watch and sleep. Thanks to having procured tents and sleeping bags at the sports shop, we were released from sleeping in inconvenient postures in the narrow and chilly car, but we cannot rest and take a break from the bottom of our hearts.
Fatigue is increasing day by day. Naomi-san almost crashed into a wall by accidentally stepping on the accelerator too much while driving, and Yui burnt the meat she was grilling to a black char. I woke Mana-chan up when she was dozing off during the night watch. I myself, when I notice, am staring blankly without thinking of anything.
Just how long will this aimless escape continue? Maybe there are no longer any living humans besides us. There are many times I think so. Although I found traces of survivors in the places I went, living humans are nowhere. Humanity was scheduled to go extinct, but it's as if only we survived by some mistake. I might even end up having such a misunderstanding.
"...Mana-chan, do you think there are still other people living?"
Suddenly such words spilled out when we stopped the car for a break at a roadside station in the suburbs of a large city. Yui and Naomi-san had entered the building for the toilet, and I and Mana-chan were guarding the outside at the parking lot.
"By 'others,' do you mean besides the four of us?"
Mana-chan, who gripped a revolver in her small hand and leaned her back against the car door, answers. When I nod in silence, she looked up at the sky.
"I don't know. But I believe that Papa, Mama, and Big Brother are living. That's why there are living people, I want there to be."
At those words, the scene of the junior high school where I found her came to my mind. In the schoolyard where corpses were rolling here and there, the gymnasium that had turned into a sea of blood. There, the father of Mana-chan who had turned into an infected and came attacking. The fact that her family was wiped out, I still haven't been able to say.
In the first place, why I am hiding the death of her family from her, I have even become unable to understand recently. I was in a mood of wanting to blurt out everything already, but I'm silent because I know that would only make the atmosphere darker. However, every time I feel stress, I was driven by an impulse to shout everything I know at the top of my lungs.
That I murdered the three old men and women who had no guilt in Osawa Village. That in the town where the tank was, I said I would help the man even though I had no intention to and eventually abandoned him. And that I shot the legs of that wife and left her behind along with the child to use as a decoy.
If I were to talk about all of these, what would they think? Whether they would be indignant that it's unforgivable, or whether they would tolerate it as something that couldn't be helped. In the former case, at worst this four-person group is disbanded. And in the latter case, it's obvious that the relationship of trust will collapse. If they think I might kill a comrade to survive, even if we continue acting together, we won't be able to be in the relationship as before.
Either way, the limit is near. Whether the infected are wiped out first, or whether I break physically and mentally first. It's an outrageous game of chicken.
After finishing the short break at the roadside station, this time I ended up driving the car. Naomi-san has been driving the whole time since morning and is tired, and there was also the fact that I want to polish my driving skills. I have already driven the car several times and remember the basic operations, but even so, experience is important. Since there is no guarantee that everyone can be together forever, I want to learn the means for surviving as much as possible.
"Next, turn there."
In the passenger seat, Naomi-san is spreading a map and instructing the route. Something like a car navigation system had long since become unusable. Even if started, it cannot receive radio waves.
Apparently the people managing the artificial satellites disappeared or the facilities were destroyed, so control became impossible. Or maybe a war broke out and the artificial satellites were shot down one after another.
When the television was still broadcasting, news was flowing that war was on the verge of breaking out in foreign countries due to the spread of infection. Countries in a state of tension accused each other that the virus is a biological weapon made by the opponent country, or a large number of refugees came from a neighboring country and public order deteriorated, and they sought responsibility for that. Or it seems things like having arbitrarily bombed or shelled towns of a neighboring country beyond the border to prevent the spread of infection and having killed the residents across the board were also happening.
After television became unwatchable I don't know the situation of foreign countries even a little bit, but if a war had broken out, it wouldn't be strange if there were a country that thought to destroy artificial satellites and make GPS unusable. In any case, we were running the car aiming for the east by an old-fashioned method.
"Just how many has it been since a while ago? The bridges being dropped."
"Who knows. Wasn't the damage particularly terrible in this area?"
We who were running on the north side of the town facing the Pacific Ocean were being forced to detour because bridges hanging over rivers were being blown up across the board everywhere we went. I want to run through places away from human habitation as much as possible, but there's nothing that can be done if bridges are destroyed. Having no choice, we decided to run the car aiming for the south. In the south direction there is a city facing the sea, and as far as seen on the map, it seems it used to boast a considerable population.
Though, it's doubtful whether living humans still remain now. A large city where lifelines have stopped is just a concrete jungle. There are no fields and no water sources, and it's inconvenient for living above all else. The fact that supplies are abundant thanks to the people who consume them having disappeared is an advantage, but other than that there are only disadvantages. In places where there were many humans, many infected also exist.
"Well, we needed to replenish gasoline around here too..."
While seeing the digital meter indicating the remaining amount of fuel becoming close to 'E', I mutter so as if making an excuse. Spare gasoline is inside the gasoline cans thrown into the trunk, but even so there's no loss in replenishing when it can be replenished. In case of emergency it's also possible to refuel with a hose from the tanks of cars abandoned at the roadside, but even so it's a pittance of an amount. Besides, whether they were abandoned because they used up the fuel, or whether there were groups who did the same thing before us, recently the fuel that can be taken from abandoned vehicles is also becoming less.
The pumps at gas stations are electric so they cannot be used, but I hear many shops possess manual pumps in preparation for disasters. It takes time with manual labor, but from a gas station, fuel can surely be procured. The amount of gasoline stored in an underground tank is an order of magnitude more compared to the amount in a car.
Finally finding a bridge that remains undamaged, we cross. On the other side of the bridge, whether a large fire broke out, the residential area was turned into a mountain of charred rubble across the board. Beyond the houses that burnt down, a group of forest-like buildings can be seen.
"If we go straight like this, there's one gas station. It seems there's a drugstore and a supermarket nearby, so let's procure supplies there."
"Isn't it burnt?"
"I think it's okay. It's in a place away from here."
It seems there was one more gas station nearby, but that one seems to have unfortunately burnt. Even if it remained unburnt, this car doesn't have the power to proceed by treading over rubble. Stepping on broken glass or nails in the scattered rubble and getting a puncture would be the end of it.
Proceeding while detouring around the burnt-down residential area, the figures of undamaged buildings gradually started to be seen. To the gas station that is the destination, we just have to go along the national highway that pierces the town from north to south.
On the shoulder of the national highway, passenger cars were abandoned as expected, and beyond them, musical instrument shops and rental video shops were lined up. Among them there was also a convenience store, but that one had already been looted; the shelves inside the shop seen through the broken window glass were empty.
At this rate, the supermarket might also be a lost cause. However, gasoline will be obtainable. Unless a tank truck is brought out, the gasoline stored in the underground tank cannot be taken away as a whole. Since there is still a little leeway in food, it's fine as long as gasoline can be procured.
When I run the car just like that, the sign of a gas station came into view ahead. A gas station with a yellow seashell sign; on the opposite side across the road, the sign of a supermarket famous for a white dove on a red and green background can also be seen. Beyond that, at a position where the national highway can be overlooked, a tall apartment was built.
"It's that one."
There was no reply. Apparently fatigue has accumulated; Naomi-san in the passenger seat is dozing off while making small sleeping breaths.
The time has already passed 4 o'clock, so it might be better to find tonight's bed quickly and take a proper rest. That apartment is right next to the supermarket and gas station, and because it has height, it would be ideal for keeping watch. That place might be good.
"Hmm?"
While thinking such a thing, when I step on the accelerator, I felt a sense of incongruity somewhere in the surrounding scene. In the shops and houses lined up on the left and right of the road, cars that apparently caused accidents were crashed and heavily damaged. And on the road, many corpses are rolling. Just now, I passed by the side of several cars.
Something is strange. I felt so.
It's not rare for corpses of infected or humans to be left on the road. But, the number here seems a bit large. Among them there were also things like corpses fallen as if overlapping; it seemed like they were shot dead collectively on the spot.
The fact that there are many cars that apparently caused accidents was also concerning. On a wide road that is a straight line, are there that many cars that fail in steering and crash into the roadside? This national highway has a good view, and there are no curves. We are running the car from north to south, but all the cars that crashed into houses or shops seemed to have run from the same direction as us and caused accidents.
Something is strange. Ahead, a single wagon was left stopped on the road. At that one moment I passed by the side while going out to the right lane, I saw that the windshield of the abandoned wagon was cracked like a spider web and stained bright red with blood splattered from the inside. I met the eyes of the corpse of the driver whose upper half of the head was gone.
By the time I cursed my own carelessness, it was already too late. At a balcony halfway up the apartment built beyond the supermarket, a small orange flash flickers. The next moment, the windshield in front of me shattered into pure white along with a sound.