Chapter 67 - The Story of Decision
Thanks to everyone, I was able to pass the first selection of the "Narou-con." I would like to express my gratitude.
Just before the bridge girder collapsed and Naomi-san fell to the riverbed, I was somehow able to grab her arm. I grabbed the handrail of the sidewalk that had narrowly remained with my left hand, and gripped Naomi-san's left wrist with my right hand. Immediately after, the wreckage of the road that had collapsed before my eyes fell into the river while falling apart. Along with a roar, a particularly large water spray rose.
Naomi-san's body, which had become suspended in mid-air, sways left and right around my shoulder. Naomi-san, who had been looking at me with a stunned face, must have finally understood that she was just about to die. She floated a cramped smile on that face.
"Th-thank you. I'm saved..."
"Thanks later. I'm pulling you up now, so don't move."
But even though I said that, pulling Naomi-san up onto the bridge with only my right hand seemed very difficult. My right shoulder, which was receiving the weight of her luggage in addition to her weight, is so painful it seems it might be torn off at any moment. I put strength into my left hand gripping the wreckage of the handrail, but in a posture where I'm almost lying on the ground, strength doesn't enter. If I let go of the handrail now, I'll be dragged by Naomi-san's weight and fall straight into the river myself.
To make matters worse, the collapse of the bridge girder has not settled. The tip of the bridge pier is still tilting even now, and a disagreeable sound of metal creaking rings out. Seeing a large crack enter the asphalt before my eyes, I put even more strength into my arm to pull her up quickly. Due to the pouring rain, my hand almost slips.
"Naomi-san, please discard your luggage! It's too heavy to pull you up!"
Naomi-san immediately unfastened the buckle on the shoulder strap part with one hand, and the released backpack fell into the river. It's a waste to lose the luggage, but I can't be saying that now. If I can't pull her up, I'll die too.
Thanks to having discarded the luggage, she became a bit lighter, but even so, I was still at my limit just grabbing Naomi-san's arm so she wouldn't fall into the river. When I cast my gaze downward, beyond Naomi-san, who was floating an anxious expression I had never seen even once until now, the raging brown muddy stream is visible. Every time the wind blows and her body sways, my right shoulder, which was taking the load, almost came out.
"Can't you grab somewhere and come up? I can't do it alone."
Naomi-san tried to grab the rebar protruding from the cross-section of the bridge pier that had been exposed with her free right arm. However, her hand doesn't reach the place that seems like it would be a foothold at just a bit more.
On the other hand, the infected, perhaps thinking it was a chance to catch us who were right before their eyes, had been repeating jumps to try and leap over the rift in the bridge for a while now. The infected, who act according to instinct, have no fear, and repeat jumps even from a height where they would die if they fell. Many of them, while trying to catch the suspended Naomi-san but failing, were swallowed by the river one after another.
If we stay here like this, will all the infected eventually jump into the river and self-destruct? I thought so, but before that, the bridge girder will collapse and we too will fall into the river. Besides, although they are following instinct, it seems the infected also have a certain degree of judgment. In places where the width of the collapsed part is wide, they don't try to jump, and are trying to pounce from the place closest to us. If the distance between us opens, they might stop reckless jumping.
"That's right, if I have Yui help..."
If it's not alone, two people together might be able to pull Naomi-san up. Thinking so and trying to somehow turn my gaze behind, at that moment, a gunshot rang out.
The one shooting the gun was Yui. And at the tip of that muzzle was one infected. In the city on the eastern side of the river, there were indeed infected after all.
"Don't come!"
Yui, who had fired all of the shotgun that only had two rounds loaded, shouted and leveled her revolver. However, Yui has not shot guns much, and on top of that, she didn't have the gun skill to accurately aim at a running infected. The .38 caliber bullets spat out from the muzzle, which was shaking wildly, just flew by grazing the side of the infected.
At the point where one shot hit the infected's flank, the gunshot changed to a dry sound of the hammer striking an empty primer. The police revolver Yui has has a short barrel and low accuracy, and on top of that, can only be loaded with five bullets. Yui was trying to perform a reload by swinging out the cylinder in a hurry, but the running infected closes the distance with her even during that time.
"Run, Yui!"
I shouted so, but there is no escape for her. Behind is the river, before her is the infected. Whether she is panicked, the five .38 caliber bullets she tried to take out from her pocket slipped from her hand.
By the time she let go of the handgun and pulled out a knife, it was already late. The infected vigorously tackled Yui's body, and getting astride her as she fell on her back, tries to bite into her throat. Yui is extending her hands and trying to hold down its head, but it was clear she was losing in strength.
"Help me!"
Yui's scream was heard, but there was nothing I could do. Both hands are occupied, and on top of that, the place where I am now is also collapsing. Pulling Naomi-san up right now and saving Yui—I cannot do both.
The load on my left hand grabbing the handrail suddenly increased, and I noticed that the tilt of the collapsing bridge girder is increasing further. In the asphalt before me as I crawled on the road, large cracks entered as if a snake were crawling forward. The bridge pier protruding west from those cracks is tilting so much it seems it might fall into the river at any moment.
A passenger car, whose front half had somehow been on the bridge girder, slid down the road as the tilt became larger. Eventually, the passenger car released into the void fell into the river with its rear part down. A destruction sound that pierced the ears drowned out Yui's scream.
The tilt is still increasing, and now I was in a state as if I were hanging from the handrail with only my left hand. My left hand, which received my own and Naomi-san's weight, seemed as if it might be torn off at any moment. Even that handrail is making a disagreeable sound, 'meri-meri'.
Yui somehow seems to be holding down the infected, but it seemed she might be bitten at any moment. And from beyond that, several more infected are pressing in. If there were a gun, it's a number that could be defeated with ease, but there is no one in a situation where they can fight now. Yui is pushed down by the infected, and Naomi-san is suspended. I am at my limit just somehow not letting Naomi-san fall, and my hands are not free.
"Pull me up quickly!"
Naomi-san shouted so, and I unintentionally barked back, "I'm doing it if I can!" Along with a 'gakun', my body shook greatly, and I saw the iron bar composing the handrail bending from the root.
What should I do. Even if I think, an answer doesn't come out.
No, there is an answer. A very simple answer to escape the current predicament. But I was just trying not to think about that.
I thought desperately. For a way where no one becomes a sacrifice.
But there was no such thing. No matter how much I thought, no matter which choice I took, a dead person would occur. While saving someone, I must abandon someone else.
There were two choices.
One is to pull Naomi-san up like this and save Yui with two people. However, the physical strength to pull Naomi-san up does not remain in me, and before that, the bridge will collapse. Even if the bridge held, I didn't think Yui could hold down the infected forever.
And the other one is...
I hated that. I don't want to be a person who doesn't do their best and continues to sacrifice someone. I want to be a person who can save everyone, like a hero who appears in stories.
But I knew from the start that such a thing was impossible. After all, I am a child, and compared to the world, I am nothing but a tiny existence. Even now when the number of humans has greatly decreased due to the pandemic, that does not change.
What I can do now is to let even one more person escape from this place alive—.
Not saving everyone, but saving only the people who seem likely to be saved—.
I looked at Naomi-san, who was at the tip of my right hand. Her eyes, looking up at me as if clinging, seemed to be saying "help me."
Even though you were behaving like a perfect superhuman until now, why do you show weakness now. If you had remained transcendent, I would have been able to make a choice smoothly.
But Naomi-san was also a single human, and was an ordinary person who had a wish to live. She wasn't an invincible superwoman, nor a savior who would lead us. Just a human who was stronger than ordinary people and more of an adult than us. The reason she had been behaving with composure until now was to reassure everyone because she was the oldest.
I wished to be with her more. But I myself know that I cannot grant that wish.
The bridge girder tilted further, and I realized that the end was near. It won't hold anymore. Soon the part of the bridge girder where I am will fall to the riverbed, pulled by gravity. If that happens, Naomi-san and I will die, and Yui, who can no longer get anyone's help, will be eaten to death by the infected.
That's why I chose the other choice. The choice to abandon Naomi-san and only Yui and I be saved.
"I'm sorry..."
"Wait—!"
Muttering so, I released the strength of my right hand grabbing Naomi-san's arm.
Naomi-san's arm, wet with sweat and rain, easily slipped out from my hand. In a posture with her hand still reaching out toward me, Naomi-san's body falls according to gravity. What is waiting below is a muddy stream where fallen rocks and car wrecks are rolling.
Those eyes were asking me "why." Why did you let go of my hand. Why didn't you help me. Even though there were still many things I wanted to do, why must I die here.
"Mama..."
Even though it was in the middle of a strong wind blowing, only that voice of Naomi-san was clearly heard. Forgive me, just after I was about to say so, her body was swallowed by the brown river that was raging and swirling.
Immediately after I returned onto the bridge, the part of the road that had been tilting fell into the river along with a roar. Rebar was torn off, and concrete was scattered. The broken bridge girder, which fell like a single board, hit the river surface and shattered into pieces.
There was no time to be in grief, nor leeway to be immersed in sentimentality. On the bridge, the infected was still astride Yui and trying to bite into her. And from beyond that, several infected were running toward here while raising roars.
Various emotions were swirling in my heart, but I was extremely calm. I clearly understand what must be done now and what should be done for that. Save Yui, and escape by shaking off the infected with two people. That was what should be done now.
With powerful rifle rounds, they would pierce through the infected's body and hurt even Yui. I hung the rifle from my shoulder with the sling and instead pulled out an axe from the holder at my waist. Then, running up to Yui's place, I hammer the blade into the face of the infected astride her as if scooping up from below.
The lower jaw was severed in one blow, and the infected, whose tongue hung limply from a mouth that had become only the upper jaw, glares at me. But I calmly swung the axe down on its head again. Like a chocolate plate stuck in a birthday cake, the axe stood in the infected's head. Its body convulsed greatly once, but my interest had already moved to the other infected.
I leveled the rifle I was wearing with the sling and set my aim on the three infected running toward here. Every time I pull the trigger once, an infected falls beyond the reticle of the holosight. Even on the head, which has the smallest area when seen from the front and which I could hardly hit usually, I was able to hit in one shot now. Confirming that the infected whose head had burst like a pomegranate would no longer move, I took Yui's hand and made her stand up.
"Are you bitten?"
"Yes, somehow... Where's Naomi-san?"
"Let's go, soon infected will gather from the city over there too. Before that, let's cross the bridge."
Lending a shoulder to her who had sprained her ankle, we start running toward the opposite bank together. Whether they heard the gunshots or the roars of their companions, infected were starting to show their figures dottingly from the city on the opposite bank too. I quickly performed threat assessments of them, and for individuals judged to be immediately dangerous, I stop my feet and snipe them with the rifle.
"Hey, what happened to Naomi-san!?"
She must have looked back and confirmed that no one was chasing us. This time as if shouting, Yui asked. I didn't stop my feet and said as if muttering.
"She's dead."
"Eh?"
"She's dead... Naomi-san is no longer here."
I killed her.
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.