Chapter 9 - Episode 8: The Story of a Liar
Leaving the two in the cooking room, I headed to the third floor alone. Since I had already searched the classrooms on the first and second floors on the way to the cooking room, if Mana-chan's family is there, it's the 3rd or 4th floor.
Whether smoke is being blown by the wind, the inside of the school building is gradually becoming smoky. This might mean that somewhere in this school building is starting to burn. I have to withdraw from here as soon as possible, or I'll be turned into a steak in no time.
Traces of slaughter also remained vividly on the 3rd floor. It was lucky that the Infected who occurred in the school were not so hungry, as the corpses rolling in the hallway were all relatively clean. No matter how much I'm used to it, it's not good for mental health to keep seeing corpses whose necks are bitten off, internal organs are gone, or whose faces have almost no skin left.
Perhaps because many evacuees were living here as Mana-chan said, the classrooms on the 3rd floor were mostly converted into residential areas. Desks and chairs were removed from the classrooms, and instead, many beds and folded futons are lined up.
When I peek into the next classroom, it was a recreation room, and sofas, bookshelves, and a TV were placed. Since radio waves don't come in, the cord was just connected to a DVD deck, but even so, I was envious that they could play movies or whatever. Since I've been living a life of running away from Infected, I haven't seen videos or anything for almost three months.
...Wait, I was about to forget the original purpose. What I should do now is not to observe what kind of life was being led here.
I peek into the classrooms on the 3rd floor one by one. On the way, there were several locked rooms, but I opened them somehow by breaking the door glass or whatever. It was bad to make a loud noise, but I couldn't leave them alone. Fortunately, there were neither Infected nor survivors in the rooms that remained locked.
Traces of life remained strongly in every room. A half-drunk plastic bottle. A manga book with a bookmark. Toys scattered on the floor. All were evidence that people were living peacefully here.
Were the evacuees here able to spend this hell peacefully for almost three months? Even when I was scavenging supermarkets while holding my breath like a mouse, did the people here, protected by people with guns, even have the leeway to play?
When I think so, for some reason, anger welled up. Even when I was fighting desperately to live, the people here were living comfortably. Surely the reason Infected occurred in the evacuation center was some soft reason like trying to help a bitten person and letting them in. Without knowing the harsh reality outside, the people who were living in the peaceful evacuation center couldn't make the choice to abandon a bitten person.
Of course, I understand that it's just a guess, and that it's jealousy toward the people here who were able to live humanely. Because I was living a life where I couldn't let my guard down for even a moment, I'm envious that they were living peacefully. I understand that best myself. However, I couldn't help but think so.
In the first place, why am I doing this? To listen to the story of a girl I just met today, and accept her wish to search for her family. It's obvious they are not here even if they miraculously survived.
If I say that, was helping Yui the same? Why did I think to help her? The reason we visited this evacuation center was originally because Yui was noticed by Infected at the supermarket and we couldn't return to the apartment where I was hiding. It wouldn't be strange if I had abandoned her, or rather, the previous me would have definitely abandoned her without mercy.
Until now, I have abandoned people many times to live. Well, for the first few weeks, I acted to try to answer the feelings of people seeking help, and in fact, there are lives that might have been saved by that. But as time passed, the number of Infected increased, and rather than helping others, I became full with just living myself.
Despite that, I am helping Yui like this, protecting Mana-chan, and wandering alone in the dangerous school building after listening to her wish.
It was while I was moving from the 3rd floor to the 4th floor that I heard footsteps. In the hallway where nothing could be heard except the sound of something popping in the burning school building, those footsteps were heard very clearly.
There is no human who would be wandering around leisurely at such a time. I judge it's a Infected, and strength is put into the hand gripping the machete. I, who climbed the stairs one step at a time slowly so as not to make footsteps, peeked into the hallway gently.
No silhouette of a person is seen in the hallway. If so, is it in a classroom... and as I moved my gaze, one of the corpses rolling face up at the end of the hallway caught my eye. I can't see the face well, but it seems to be a boy's. The brother in the photo I borrowed from Mana-chan was also certainly around the same age as me.
Maybe. Thinking so, I had taken a step forward unconsciously. In the hallway that had become hushed, my footsteps echoed unexpectedly loudly.
The next moment, from the classroom two ahead from where I am now whose door was left open, a silhouette suddenly jumped out. With a fruit knife handle growing from its chest and dripping saliva mixed with blood from the corner of its mouth, that man was a Infected no matter how you look at it.
When it caught my figure with bloodshot eyes, the Infected screamed and charged at me. I almost fell into a slight panic due to the suddenness, but I immediately braced the machete I had in my hand.
The Infected, who have no intelligence, don't do such tedious things as fighting by going around. They just charge straight from the front. If several Infected charge while I have only weapons for close combat, I have no choice but to run away, but if it's one-on-one, there is still a chance of winning. I avoid the charging Infected and strike a blow to the head as we pass each other. It's dangerous, but I had defeated Infected by this means several times until now.
The important thing is the sense of distance. I have to measure the distance well. Even if I move my body while the distance is far, the Infected will also charge according to my movement. On the other hand, if it's too close, I might not be able to avoid it well and my body might be grabbed and gaburi.
I put my free left hand slightly forward and bring my right hand holding the machete to the side of my body. The Infected, who lost intelligence and reason due to the virus, runs straight toward me like a beast.
The distance cut under 10 meters, and I held the machete high and—
"Ah."
I recognized the face of the charging Infected. Unintentionally my movement stopped, and in the meantime, the Infected shortened the distance at once. When I came to my senses, the Infected was literally right before my eyes.
I avoid the hand stretched by the Infected to catch me by twisting my upper body greatly. But because of that, I lost my balance, and the Infected stretches its hand further to me who tottered.
"Damn it!"
I swung the machete in an unstable state, but the blade only broke the bone of the stretched Infected's arm and bit into it. Conversely, my arm was grabbed by the Infected with a strength like a vise, and I unintentionally let go of the machete due to the intense pain.
I immediately kicked up the abdomen of the Infected who tried to bite into my arm, and somehow shook off its hand when the restraint loosened. A fire extinguisher was installed just behind me, and I, who was about to fight with it as a weapon, slipped my foot on the blood that had pooled on the floor.
I fell onto the floor from my back, hit my head, and my vision was stained pure white for a moment. There was no way the Infected would miss that gap; it jumped on me again.
The Infected, who tries to eat me in a posture like mounting me, presses my body with its right hand and tries to bite into my neck. I somehow press the arm of the Infected straddling me with my left hand, and tighten its neck with my right hand. It was lucky that my left hand, where the machete remained stuck, couldn't be used, but even so, it doesn't change that I am at a disadvantage. I intuited that if I loosened the strength of either hand for even a moment, I would be eaten.
I couldn't move my body at all. The Infected, whose physical limiters are removed due to the influence of the virus, grabs my body with a tremendous strength and tries to bring its face closer like a compressor despite its neck being tightened. Between a high school boy and an adult Infected who is always exerting superhuman strength, the odds are quite bad.
Even so, I couldn't die here. If I die, the Infected might go down and attack Yui and Mana-chan. Since I, a boy, can't compete in physical ability, the probability of the two escaping from the Infected is low.
So, I can't die. Now, unlike when I was alone, I have companions acting together. If I think about the two, I can't afford to be eaten by a Infected here as I am.
The fruit knife handle growing from the Infected's chest enters my vision. Did he thrust the knife into his chest trying to commit suicide, but unfortunately couldn't stab his heart and turned into a Infected as he was? Anyway, to reverse this situation, I needed to use any means.
The Infected's red saliva drips onto my school uniform. It seems there is more virus in the Infected's mouth than in the blood, so if bitten, the virus enters from the wound and I'll be infected too. I twisted my body slightly so as not to be covered by more saliva.
I grab the Infected's neck with my left hand, and at the same time, I release my right hand and grab the fruit knife handle stuck in the Infected's chest. Along with a voice of spirit, when I pulled out the knife that was stuck deeply in the chest, this time I thrust it up all at once from under the jaw with a forward grip. The body of the Infected, which was bringing its face closer, shook once greatly as if an electric current had flowed, and then it lost its strength and leaned on me.
"Don't scare me... I'll even consider a lawsuit."
I pushed the heavy Infected's body aside and took a deep breath. This time the Infected, who has a fruit knife handle growing from under its jaw, is slightly convulsing whether its heart is still alive. Did the thrust knife reach the brain? Either way, there is no doubt the Infected will die.
It was a do-or-die gamble. If the Infected had brought its face closer all at once at the moment I loosened my strength to grab the knife, I would have died with blood flowing from my neck. Or the left hand that was grabbing the neck would have been grabbed, and I would have been bitten and infected, and joined their ranks.
I pull out the machete that was stuck in the Infected's left arm like a chocolate bar on a birthday cake. But perhaps because I've been overusing it until now, the machete's blade was greatly chipped. Originally it's not for hacking people, and has its lifespan finally come? Anyway, the machete I had been using habitually until now has become unusable.
However, the current me was distracted by the corpse of the Infected rolling in front of me, not the machete. That feeling of having seen it somewhere just now, that was certainly...
When I take out the photo of Mana-chan's family from my pocket (it had become folded here and there), the true identity of that déjà vu was immediately known. The male Infected who attacked me was one of the people in the photo.
Although it was a terrible countenance painted over with hatred, it's well known by comparing the photos that he is Mana-chan's father. The gentle-looking plump middle-aged man turned into a ferocious and irrational Infected, and was killed by me.
The clothes Mana-chan's father is wearing were torn at the shoulder, and a red bite mark was peeking from there. He eventually couldn't meet Mana-chan, was bitten by a Infected, and seems to have attempted suicide. But he couldn't die, and turned into a Infected.
This won't do, I shouldn't think about this anymore. If I think about the dead one by one, I might go crazy eventually. Even if he was an acquaintance, he is already not human and not even alive. It's a waste to just think, and it's better to spend that much thought on other things.
I understand that in my head, but even so, I couldn't avert my eyes from the corpse of Mana-chan's father. I drove the father Mana-chan was searching for so much to death. Even if he had turned into a Infected, that fact doesn't change. I killed Mana-chan's father.
——————Let's stop, thinking more than this. Now, searching for people who might be alive is the priority over dead people. I have no choice but to somehow find even one of Mana-chan's family and take them to her. Only by doing so, my heart seems to clear up.
Besides, it was unavoidable that I killed Mana-chan's father. If I hadn't killed him, I would have died. So, I'm not bad.
After 10 minutes or so, I, who returned to the cooking room with a metal bat I found on the way in one hand, was welcomed by the two with relieved faces.
"No one was there."
I say that first thing to take the lead of the conversation.
"At least in this school building, I didn't see Mana-chan's family. So probably, they fled outside."
When I say that and return the photo, Mana-chan showed a face of heart-felt relief.
"In such a case, was it decided beforehand where to gather?"
"No. But in an emergency, we were saying let's all flee toward the east. Maybe..."
"It's okay, I'm sure they're alive. So don't worry."
Even though I cut off the talk like that, Mana-chan doesn't show an unpleasant face. She must be truly happy and believing that I said her family is not in the school. The smile Mana-chan shows was bottomlessly bright and dazzling.
"Um, thank you very much. For purposely doing it for me..."
"...Yeah."
I waved one hand, turned my back to Mana-chan, and leaned against the cooking room wall. And then I slumped down on the floor as I was.
"What's wrong, you look like you're haggard, though."
Perhaps worried about me, Yui, who was holding backpacks in both hands, asks. She hands me one of the backpacks that had swollen pan-pan, perhaps they finished packing necessary supplies. Even though it's usually nothing, I felt the backpack heavy like a barbell.
"It's nothing, I'm just a bit tired."
"It doesn't look like just a bit. Did something happen?"
"Nothing happened. Nothing..."
There was no way nothing happened.
After killing Mana-chan's father who had turned into a Infected, what I saw when I peeked into the room he came out of was two corpses. Corpses of a middle-aged woman and a boy of the same age as me. It was exactly the corpses of Mana-chan's mother and brother I was searching for.
I confirmed with the photo so there's no mistake. Mana-chan's family were all dead, leaving her behind.
Mana-chan's mother and brother had bite marks on their arms and legs, but they seem to have died while remaining human. As evidence, there were no traces of the two fighting or raging, and they were dead with peaceful expressions as if sleeping.
There were large stab wounds in the chests of the two, and that became the fatal wound. Infected are not moving corpses; even if infected, they die if the heart is stabbed or if they bleed heavily. The two also must have been killed by someone before becoming Infected.
The possibility is high that that someone was Mana-chan's father whom I killed. The chest wounds of the two and the size of the fruit knife stuck in the father's chest matched perfectly. Probably Mana-chan's whole family was bitten, and the father performed the mercy killing for the mother and brother. And after that, he tried to follow them himself, but couldn't die well and turned into a Infected—something like that.
Either way, the family Mana-chan was searching for was dead a long time ago. Despite that, I lied to her. That the corpses of the family were not found.
Why did I do such a thing? At first, I was trying to tell the fact as it is. But the moment I returned to the cooking room and saw Mana-chan's face, I lied impulsively.
Was it because I thought I didn't want to cloud Mana-chan's smile? If she knows that her family all died leaving her behind, Mana-chan will surely be sad. Or rather, she might lose the will to live and everything. At worst, she might despair of this world and take her own life.
Rather than being told of the family's death, being told that the silhouettes of the family were not seen in the school gives her the hope to live, trying to find the family who would be somewhere. So I lied to Mana-chan.
It was an irreversible lie. From now on, Mana-chan will continue to live believing that her family is alive somewhere. But I know that she has already become alone in the world. And that fact, currently only I can know.
The reason I didn't tell Yui either was because I feared being criticized by her. Even if Yui said she didn't want to show gruesome sights, the death of the family would be different. What should be accepted should be accepted, and face reality and move forward. Otherwise, you can't live in this world.
But I robbed her of that opportunity. Mana-chan lives believing in the illusion of the family's survival. When she finds out it was a lie someday, and furthermore knows that I killed her father who had turned into a Infected, what kind of result will it bring?
At least I don't think it will be a good result. So I couldn't tell Mana-chan of the family's death. And fearing being criticized for robbing Mana-chan of the opportunity to know reality, I couldn't even tell Yui.
It's a lie I told thinking it was for the best, but it might be a very cruel thing in a sense. And it's such a contradiction that I, who thought Mana-chan should be told reality, robbed her of the opportunity to face reality.
From now on, I will surely live while carrying this for a lifetime. I didn't know if the time would come when I could confess this lie.