Chapter 90 - The Story of Falling
After going around a few houses, the first expedition came to an end. This was because Aki and the others could no longer endure the succession of gruesome corpses. All three had vomited until only stomach acid came out, and as a result, they were already stumbling. The boy, judging that there was no point in dragging them around any further, decided to return to the outskirts of the village where the car was parked.
Even if the population was 700 and one assumed two people per household, a simple calculation meant there were 350 private houses in this village. Since depopulation was progressing, one person per household wouldn't be rare, so the actual number of private houses would likely be even higher. Because this area was far from the center of the village, the number of houses was small, but if they went further, there would surely be more private houses.
The boy was thinking of using this village as a temporary shelter in case of emergency. "Temporary" because he judged it wasn't in a state where they could stay for a long period. No matter how much depopulation had progressed, the village was too wide compared to the academy grounds. If infected or rioters intruded into the village, it would be difficult to notice. Besides, electricity and gas weren't running. Since a river passed through, there was no worry about water, and many houses were old with baths that were heated by burning firewood in the traditional way.
Even so, there didn't seem to be enough food in this village to stay for a long period. The fields had been abandoned and ravaged for a long time, and perhaps because the residents had taken it with them when they fled in a hurry, almost no food was left. If a group of amateurs tried to plow fields that were ravaged and full of weeds without modern agricultural machinery and grow crops, the harvest would be meager.
The few supermarkets or shops that would be in the village wouldn't exist unless they went to the center. Naturally, there would be infected in places where there were many people, and indeed, the boy had processed one infected today. If he didn't know how many more infected were in this village, they couldn't continue living here.
He left marks on the private houses whose safety was confirmed. The infected don't have the intelligence to open doors, and as long as the entrance is blocked, the infected won't intrude into the house. Of course, there were several houses whose doors were broken when this village was attacked by infected, but in that case, he put duct tape at chest height on the entrance as a mark. Even if an infected were to wander by and try to enter the house, it wouldn't care about the stretched tape. If the tape put on the entrance was gone, it would be a mark that an infected was inside the house.
He also decided to take one car back. Currently, the only car at the academy was the van the boy had ridden in, and even if they were to leave the academy in an emergency, everyone wouldn't be able to fit. Besides, Yuko's claim that it would be better to have several cars for various things was something the boy agreed with.
However, perhaps because they had been left for over half a year, most of the cars didn't seem like they would move. In the first place, no new cars could be seen, and all were old models that looked like ten years had passed since purchase. The light truck at the first private house they visited also had rust floating on its surface, and its tires had deteriorated or it had a flat. Because it hadn't moved for a long time and the cold period had continued, the battery was also dead.
Besides, even if they went to the trouble of finding a car, there were cases where the vital key wasn't found. Naturally, no one knew how to start an engine without a key, so they had no choice but to choose a car that had a key.
Even so, because a car is necessary for countryside living, one car was placed at each house. From among them, they chose one minivan in good condition and returned to the van where the maintenance tools were loaded.
The minivan was a 7-seater, and if forced, 10 people could fit. Of course, because it had been left alone, the battery was completely dead. Other than that, there were no particular problems, and no oil leaks had occurred. The boy and Yuko, with the driver's license manual in hand, connected the battery of the van and the battery of the minivan with booster cables.
"Then Sensei, please turn the key."
Yuko, who climbed into the driver's seat of the minivan, turned the key. The starter motor turned, and after trying a few times, the engine finally started. He removed the booster cables and threw them into the van.
Since there was reportedly a gas station if they went to the center of the village, he thought he needed to secure gasoline, spare batteries, and electrolyte there.
The boy planned to return in the van alone, and have the other three ride in the minivan. After all, he couldn't feel at ease when other people were in the same car. Although the possibility was low, he couldn't feel safe thinking about what if his weapons were stolen. The minivan had enough fuel, and as long as the engine was running, there was no worry about the battery running out for now. Just as Yuko and the others agreed to the boy's proposal and stood up with their luggage, a single infected showed its form from across the road, walking unsteadily.
The female infected, dressed in a thin shirt, had apparently come this far lured by the sound of the car engine. The boy, who quickly lowered his body, instructed Aki and Rei, who were resting in the shadow of the house, not to move. The infected was still quiet because it hadn't visually spotted the boy and the others, but if they showed themselves, it would immediately raise a roar and try to lure its kind.
"Now Sensei, it's your turn."
"My turn..."
"I took down an infected earlier; this time it's Sensei's turn."
Saying so, the boy handed a hatchet to Yuko. The hatchet found while scavenging the farmhouses was made sturdily without any nicks in the blade. It would at least have more power than a crowbar.
"Can't we just escape like this? If we get into the car without showing ourselves..."
"It's impossible. Right now it's still quiet because it hasn't found us, but once the car starts moving, it will definitely notice our existence. If that happens, it will lure other infected that might be around, and it will run and chase us all the way to the academy, you know? Even so, if it's fine with you, we can get in the car and go home right now."
The infected are lured by sound, but they don't raise a roar just from that. They howl and lure their kind the moment they find a human form, or find something a human is moving. If they were to sneak into the car without being found, the infected would notice people were inside the car the moment it started driving.
"Come on, go take it down quickly, Sensei. Or do you, Sensei, think you want to push everything dangerous and unpleasant onto me and spend your time comfortably in a safe place?"
"There's no way I'm thinking that."
"Then go do it quickly. If Sensei doesn't do it, those two might be killed, you know?"
Saying so, the boy pointed to Aki and the other crouching in the shadow of the private house. They hadn't been found yet, but if the infected headed this way, it was doubtful if the two, who had exhausted their stamina, could escape.
Even so, the boy became fed up when Yuko wouldn't take the hatchet.
"Do it, Sensei. Even I, who am younger than you, have done killings I didn't want to do many times. It won't pass for you, an adult, to say this late that you don't like it or don't want to do it. Sensei, you want to protect the students, right? Then do it. If you don't do it, you'll be done in. If you don't fight, the students will be killed."
Yuko showed a frightened face at the boy who had suddenly changed, but the boy pushed the hatchet into Yuko's hand without hesitation. Yuko looked back and forth between the boy's face and the hatchet, and finally seemed to have made up her mind. To Yuko, who stood up with the hatchet, the boy said.
"I'll provide backup in case of emergency. When taking it down, from the back, without looking at the infected's eyes."
"I understand... I'll try."
Yuko picked up a pebble that had fallen at her feet and threw it toward the infected. The pebble flying in an arc went over the infected's head and fell behind it. The sound of the pebble hitting the asphalt resounded unexpectedly loudly, and the infected suddenly looked back. In that gap, Yuko jumped out from the shadow of the car and hid in the shadow of a nearby utility pole. She hadn't been found yet.
She threw another pebble, this time toward the rice field. The infected, who was looking around the road, ran vigorously toward the rice field where the sound came from, and turned its head left and right to look around the surroundings. Its back was completely wide open.
She looked down at the hatchet in her hand. Swing the hatchet down into the nape from behind and take it down. That's all. Yet her body wouldn't move, as if it had turned to stone.
No, I have to do it. Yuko told herself so.
The world has changed. Violence that couldn't be tolerated before must now be exercised without hesitation to protect her own life and the safety of the students. Even if she presses 110, the police won't come, and the law won't protect them. As the boy said, if you don't do it, you'll be done in.
And what is in front of her is an infected that has lost both reason and emotion. Discussion doesn't work with them, and they have no hesitation in killing humans. And even if they kill someone, they won't be tormented by a guilty conscience or regret. The infected see humans only as prey. Like other wild animals, they just eat to live. No emotion exists there.
In that case, they themselves have no choice but to place themselves in the natural law of the survival of the fittest. The era when one could talk about humanity or ethics has long since ended. To survive, all threats that attack must be eliminated. To protect her students, and to survive herself, she had to do so.
While being careful not to make footsteps, Yuko approached the infected from behind. Her heart was beating so violently from tension that she felt it would literally jump out of her mouth.
With determination, she took a step forward. The weeds she stepped on made a sound, and the infected, noticing that, started to look back. But by then, she had already swung the hatchet she held with all her might toward the infected's nape.
However, perhaps because the momentum was weak, the hatchet only gouged the infected's nape and made blood spray out. Even so, the infected, who took a sudden blow from behind, collapsed on the spot, and Yuko held the hatchet with both hands to deliver the finishing blow. However, she ended up meeting the infected's eyes.
The bloodshot eyes clearly looked like they only saw Yuko as an enemy. Even so, Yuko suddenly ended up thinking about what kind of person this was.
Not everyone was born as an infected. This person too must have lived normally before getting infected. Having a family, being happy or sad over daily events, an ordinary person who could be found anywhere. Their age wouldn't be much different from her own. An office worker, or maybe they were a teacher just like herself.
Why did this person become an infected? What did this person think when they got infected? Does no human emotion really remain? Maybe they just can't suppress the impulse, and they don't really want to attack humans—.
Even though she had to take down the infected in front of her, Yuko's hand had stopped. In that gap, the infected raised its upper body vigorously like a spring-loaded mechanism and reached its hand toward Yuko's leg. She knew the female infected was trying to eat her, but even so, Yuko's body wouldn't listen.
Suddenly, with a muffled gunshot like a 'don', a hole opened in the infected's forehead. Blood flowed from the hole large enough for a finger to enter, and the infected, with its eyes rolled back, fell on its back in the posture of reaching its hand toward Yuko.
When she looked back, the boy, holding a submachine gun with gunpowder smoke rising from the muzzle, was walking this way. The plastic bottle used as a substitute for a silencer attached to the muzzle of the submachine gun the boy held had its bottom significantly torn. Apparently, she had been saved. With her head filled with various thoughts in an instant, Yuko vaguely thought such a thing.
The boy lightly kicked the corpse of the infected he had just shot with the toe of his boot, confirming it was completely dead. And glancing at the dazed Yuko, he said, "That's why I told you not to look at the eyes."
The gaze he directed at the infected was a cold one as if looking at an object, and in the eyes looking at Yuko, the intent of disappointment was clearly mixed. If I continue to fight, will I become like him? Yuko could only watch the back of the boy who started walking toward the car.
I await your opinions and impressions.