Chapter 75 - Chapter 73: A Story About No. Absolutely. (T/N: Reference to anti-drug slogan)
Basically, the boy's daily routine was divided into three patterns.
The first is to shut himself inside a house and wait for the day to pass. This is the action when supplies are abundant. If there is enough food and water, there is no need to go outside on purpose. There are infected outside, and there are cases where people who have turned into mobs are seeking prey. The boy is not the only one seeking food, and such people seem to think it's quicker to attack people walking outside than to go around shops one by one. When there is plenty of food, the boy would strictly lock up and close all the curtains in the house to avoid inviting unnecessary trouble, and just wait for the days to pass by reading books or listening to music.
The second is movement. If there are infected or dangerous people nearby, it's desirable to get out of there quickly. Although weapons and ammunition have gathered incomparably more than before, it's not like he has an amount he can spray around casually. Except for cases where he is directly attacked, the boy made it a point to flee immediately if he saw such dangerous people.
When moving, he tried to avoid densely populated areas and drive through the suburbs, but there are many roads that were blocked by the JSDF or police during the pandemic, or blocked by accidents. He couldn't always drive through places with few people as he hoped, but the hybrid car's electric drive was useful when driving through places where there seemed to be many infected. He can only drive as much as is charged in the battery, but the driving sound is significantly smaller compared to a normal gasoline engine car. The fear of being noticed by the infected decreases somewhat compared to a normal car.
Still, a wagon, which is much larger than a human, will stand out no matter how it's driven. No other cars are driving in the city. And gasoline won't necessarily be available stably forever. Therefore, the boy wanted to minimize the time spent on movement.
And the last pattern is exploration. When there is no leeway in food or water, he must go outside even at risk. The boy lived as a consumer until before the world completely changed, and has no knowledge or technology to produce anything. If he cannot settle in one place and devote himself to agriculture, the only way to get food is to bring it from where it is.
Full-scale winter has arrived, and the temperature outside is dropping. Perhaps because of that, recently he has witnessed many figures of infected wandering inside buildings every time he explores. To that extent, the figures of infected outside have decreased, making movement easier, but in terms of procurement of supplies, it's nothing but a nuisance. Most necessities like food and water are inside buildings.
If the boy had the habit of flipping a calendar, today would be the day he changes the page from November to December. Nearly nine months have already passed since the pandemic, and it's December. Originally it would be a busy time for entrance exam study, but in the boy's hand is not writing utensils and a reference book, but a submachine gun loaded with 30 rounds of 9mm ammo.
More than ten days had already passed since he engaged with the group of survivors who were only children and attacked him. After changing the flat tire and taking plenty of rest in a countryside town with no infected, the boy was again driving the car toward the east aimlessly. If possible, he wanted to stay holed up in that town forever, but if there's no prospect of obtaining supplies, only a future where he eventually starves to death is waiting.
The boy had continued to move through the suburbs, avoiding urban areas as much as possible, but in towns with small populations, there were naturally few shops, and the supplies left were also almost none. Many survivors seemed to think the same thing. Food had almost disappeared from shops and warehouses in places with few infected.
It was a question how many of those survivors who took the food were still alive. Still, the fact that food could not be found troubled the boy's head.
Areas with large populations have many shops like supermarkets and convenience stores. There are also distribution warehouses in the vicinity. But a large population means that people who turned into infected are also many.
Since the infected have no interest in canned food or dried food, unless survivors take them, the supplies remain exactly as they are. But if there are many infected, he might be noticed and killed before he can obtain those supplies.
However, if he doesn't act, what awaits is only a slow death. For the boy who is now living only by survival instinct, death was something that must be avoided at all costs.
Under a gray sky, the boy was driving the car toward the city center of a regional city that previously had a population of 150,000. Thanks to the electric drive, the engine sound doesn't echo, and only a small motor sound is heard. Rather, the sound of warm air blowing out from the air conditioner was louder.
The long M1A rifle is leaned against the space between the passenger seat, and an MP5 submachine gun fully loaded is placed on his lap. The boy was driving the car while constantly placing his left hand on the submachine gun and scanning the surroundings with his right hand on the steering wheel. He avoids places with tall buildings that can look down on the entire road, and if he can't do that, he rushes through all at once while preparing to respond at any time. From the experience of being sniped when driving on a straight road before, the boy never neglected to be vigilant when moving outside.
Because it's an area with a large population, there are many shops lined up on the left and right of the road. However, it's not uncommon for the inside to be empty, perhaps because survivors who came before took everything. He found several convenience stores and stopped the car to drop by, but the shelves for canned goods and dried noodles were all empty.
How many survivors are there, he doesn't know. But since he, who was just a high schooler before the pandemic, has survived until now, the boy guessed that there must be many other survivors. Though, whether he wanted to meet them was another matter.
After driving for a while, the boy finally found one supermarket. Except for the glass door at the entrance being broken, the appearance remains beautiful. Maybe some food remains inside.
He parked the car a little distance away and got out of the car with a submachine gun and a large duffel bag. He leaves the heavy M1A rifle in the car. Compared to rifle bullets, the submachine gun is underpowered, but it's no problem if firing at close range inside a closed space. Besides, in case he encounters an infected at close range, a firearm capable of rapid fire can respond to sudden situations.
He covered the guns and cardboard boxes loaded in the back seat with a dingy blue sheet. With this, even if the car is discovered by a survivor, they won't know there are guns inside from the outside. Even if a survivor tries to steal the car, all doors are locked and windows are closed. If they try to open the lock by breaking a window, an alarm will sound, and even with other means, it will just take time to open the door. For the boy who fears more than anything that a stolen gun will be pointed at him, a gun was something that must absolutely not pass into the hands of others.
The city was silent, and only the faint sound of the wind blowing is heard. The numerous corpses left on the roadside showed that many infected appeared in this city. Where those infected went is unknown, but surely several remain. Most of the corpses were decayed and skeletonized, but there were several that could only be thought to have been killed very recently.
Extending the stock of the MP5 and lowering his posture by bending his upper body, he aims for the target supermarket. No human figure is visible at the entrance or its surroundings. But he doesn't know what the inside is like. The boy, who hid behind a car left in the supermarket's large parking lot, threw a pebble toward the entrance where the door was broken.
The sound of the pebble bouncing on the asphalt echoed surprisingly loudly. The boy, who immediately hid in the shadow of the car, extended a command baton with a mirror attached and observed the state of the entrance without showing his face. But soon, with loud footsteps, one figure jumped out from the dark shop.
Directing bloodshot eyes around and dripping drool from the corners of its mouth, that was undoubtedly an infected. The infected was scanning its gaze to confirm the source of the sound, but it didn't notice the boy who was observing with only the mirror thrust out. The infected only raises a roar when it recognizes a human figure.
Only one jumped out from the shop. There is no sign of other infected coming out of the shop afterward. If there were other infected, they would have come out together. The boy breathed a sigh of relief that there was only one infected inside the shop.
If there were multiple infected inside the shop, the boy would have had to give up on procuring supplies at this supermarket. Unlike when he had comrades, he is alone now. Although he has a gun, in a narrow place he will probably have to engage in one-on-one hand-to-hand combat at times. If he is attacked by multiple infected in such a situation, there is no chance of winning.
And to avoid attracting the infected, he didn't want to use a gun as much as possible. If so, the weapons he can use are limited to blades or blunt instruments. Facing multiple opponents with close-range weapons is equivalent to a suicidal act.
He waited a while longer just in case, but no new infected showed itself from inside the shop. At the moment the infected who started wandering outside looked in a completely different direction, the boy crawled out from the shadow of the car he was hiding in. And then, without making a sound, he approached the infected from behind and swung down an axe toward its defenseless neck.
The blade of the axe, capable of cutting even metal chains, pierced deeply into the infected's medulla oblongata. The fallen infected convulsed greatly only once without making a sound, but after that, it stopped moving. After wiping the blood on the blade with the infected's tattered shirt and switching back to the submachine gun, the boy finally decided to step into the supermarket.
Naturally, the inside of the shop, which was cut off from the electricity supply, was pitch black. Because the curtains on the windows are mostly closed on top of the cloudy sky, a darkness where you can't see even a few meters ahead spreads. Perhaps there's a leak somewhere, as the sound of water is heard.
Turning on the flashlight built into the MP5's handguard, the boy slowly entered the shop. In the pitch-black shop, the strong ring of light projected from the flashlight illuminates things hidden in the darkness.
There is a register right after entering from the entrance, and naturally, it was ransacked. Coins and bills are scattered on the floor, and a broken register is thrown out into the aisle. The case where cigarettes should be stored seems to have been taken whole.
In the fresh food corner right next to the entrance, not a single product remains. It seems they completely rotted, or survivors took them before that. On the display stand illuminated by the flashlight's light, a few pieces of vegetables that had dried up and turned brown remained. The black objects about the size of a thumb moving on the shelf are probably cockroaches.
This might be a miss. The boy thought.
He doesn't know who visited this supermarket before him, but if they had the leeway to take out fresh food, they could have also taken out preserved food. Maybe the food items are all after being taken away by other survivors. While slightly disappointed, the boy headed to the preserved food and dried noodle corner just in case. Relying on the panels hanging from the ceiling, he proceeds in a state where he can fire the submachine gun at any time.
In the empty supermarket, footsteps echo louder than he thought. The boy, who passed through the aisle where plastic bags were scattered, sighed seeing the preserved food corner which he could tell was ransacked even from a distance.
Only a few cans are rolling on the floor, and no other products remain. The snack corner was also no good.
"As I thought."
Muttering so, he picked up a can of saury rolling on the floor and tossed it into his bag. Just as he picked up another can, the boy noticed footprints remaining on the floor where dust had accumulated.
When he traced the floor, his fingertips were immediately stained pitch black. Because no one has cleaned for over half a year, dust is accumulated thickly on the floor. The footprints came from the back of the shop and returned in the original direction. It wasn't a course that went out of the shop.
Maybe someone else still remains in this shop. The boy, who reached that possibility, immediately leveled the MP5 and proceeds cautiously toward the back of the shop. Considering that an infected jumped out from inside the shop when he threw a stone, he didn't think anyone else was there besides himself, but he should at least check.
The footprints continued to the door marked 'Staff Only' between the fish corner and the meat corner. Probably in the back of this, there should be a locker room or break room for employees. Maybe another infected or a survivor remains there.
When he pushed with the muzzle of the submachine gun, the door opened easily. Along with a metallic sound of the hinge rubbing... a narrow aisle with metal cages taller than the boy's height and empty cardboard boxes piled up spreads beyond the door. The calendar on the wall remains from March.
It had become quite difficult to see, but footprints still remain. The footprints continued to the front of the door with the 'Locker Room' plate hanging.
He turned off the light and held his breath, but not a single sound is heard. But there is also a possibility that the other side is holding their breath just like him. Although he has no intention of actively killing survivors, it would be troublesome to be attacked from behind when leaving the supermarket. Telling himself it's just to check just in case, the boy stood in front of the door.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. At the same time, he delivered a front kick to the door with all his might. The wooden door easily detached from the door frame along with the hinges and fell inward into the locker room with a loud sound. He doesn't want to make noise if possible, but the boy knew that in such cases, if he doesn't step in all at once, he will give the opponent leeway to respond. Besides, if he makes a loud noise, he can also make the opponent flinch.
Turning on the MP5's flashlight, the boy stepped into the locker room. Swinging the muzzle left and right in the darkness, he grasps the situation in the room. His finger remains on the trigger so he can fire at any time.
Lockers are lined up on the left and right of the door, and that continues in a straight line. Apparently, the locker room has a U-shape with lockers placed back-to-back in the middle of the room.
In the darkness, two figures were sitting on the floor as if leaning against the lockers lined up in the back of the room. He overlapped the sights of the holosight mounted on the MP5 with their heads, but the boy noticed that the two figures didn't move at all.
That was natural, as it was clear that the two people collapsed in the locker room were dead. Did they die a while ago? The bodies are dried up and mummified. If they had died in summer, they would be completely rotted by now and become food for maggots and cockroaches. They have wrinkled white skin, but the ones dead were a pair of a man and a woman who seemed to be in their early 20s.
At their feet, sheets of tablets and several syringes are rolling. Were they sick? He thought so for a moment, but seeing the white powder scattered on the floor and small plastic bags filled with dried plant pieces, the boy realized that the two were drug addicts.
The thing like a glass pipe placed near the cassette cylinder stove on the floor is probably an instrument for heating and inhaling drugs. And the contents of the tablets are not medicines but drugs called dangerous drugs. He has seen them because drugs and illegal drugs were introduced in detail with photos in the materials distributed in the delinquency prevention campaign at high school.
Looking, countless injection marks also remained on the shriveled arms of the two. Surely they are associates of a crime syndicate or something; otherwise, they couldn't possibly possess so many drugs and illegal drugs. A Tokarev automatic pistol, a favorite of crime syndicates, was tucked into the dead man's pants.
In the cardboard boxes piled up beside the corpses, canned food and dried food apparently gathered from inside the shop were packed. Surely these two had been holed up inside this locker room all along. The footprints he followed from the preserved food corner were probably from when these two came out of the locker room to procure food.
Empty cans and empty bags were scattered on the floor, but food still remained sufficiently. Did they die from getting sick by reusing syringes, or was it acute death due to drug poisoning?
Stupid bunch. That one word was what the boy thought.
If they hadn't been doing drugs, they could have lived longer. Or did they lay hands on drugs to distract themselves from fear? Either way, if they could go to the other world while being high and intoxicated or excited, maybe they were happy. After all, they could die without feeling fear.
Now that he knew there was no enemy in the shop, the boy's interest no longer turned to the two drug addicts who had become corpses. First, he takes the Tokarev that was tucked into the man's belt. Did he use up the bullets? He didn't have spare magazines or anything.
He decided to take the food that the two seemed to have brought into the locker room, cardboard boxes and all. Perhaps because the two consumed it while holed up, the amount was quite small, but even so, it would last for two weeks if economized.
The boy, who forced the cardboard boxes into the opened duffel bag, stopped his feet as he was about to leave the locker room. He looked back only once at the end, and his eyes stayed on several plastic bags filled with white powder fallen on the floor.
"...Well, it might be useful for something."
Muttering so, he picked up only one bag and pushed it into his bag. And this time he left the locker room without looking back.
When he went out of the supermarket while dragging his body which had become heavily weighted, snow had started falling from the gray sky. Pure white snow falls on the ground and melts. It's not yet enough to accumulate now, but he doesn't know when the weather will worsen. He wanted to secure today's bed before that, but naturally, he had no intention of staying in this city.
I hope it doesn't accumulate. Thinking so, the boy hurried to the wagon in the parking lot.
Will you shoot shabu? Or will you lick it? (T/N: Pun on 'shabu' (meth) and 'shaburu' (to suck/lick)) Metropolitan Police Department