Chapter 99 - Chapter 90: A Story Where Life Is Not Something to Throw Away
After that, the expeditions to the village led by the boy continued, even as the members were swapped out. The corpses and the raw traces of destruction were exposed to the students' eyes without being cleaned up at all. Thanks to that, for a while afterward, the amount of food eaten decreased and the consumed food supplies went down.
Naturally, there were students who refused to go to the village, but to them, the boy declared, "Then you'd be better off dying right now."
"Someday, we'll have to go out to procure supplies. Do you mean to say you'll push that onto the others and just stay cooped up in this academy as you have been, without getting hurt yourselves?"
And he even went so far as to say that those who won't fight should die.
"For the portion you don't fight, the others will be forced to fight and carry even more danger. If someone dies because of that, you'll be the ones who killed them. If you hate that, then either fight or die here right now. Those who don't fight can't survive."
Although he didn't point a gun at them, those words didn't seem like a joke at all. Yuko, who was a teacher, said nothing about the boy's policy, and in the end, the students ended up undergoing expeditions to the village and his combat training.
However, the antipathy toward the boy is certainly rising. Everyone held the dissatisfaction of who does he think he is, suddenly showing up, and why do we have to follow such a guy's instructions. Although there were no radical opinions like killing the boy and stealing his weapons and ammunition, the number of students who thought he should be kicked out was increasing again.
A week had passed since the expeditions to the village began. Already all the students had visited the village that had turned into a ruin and witnessed the reality of the outside world there.
The purpose of visiting the village was also changing to the procurement of supplies. Although various supplies still had a month's leeway, it's better to gather them while there is time. Because if heavy snow like before falls, the students will become unable to go out from the academy. If that happens, they'll have to survive until the snow melts with only the supplies in the academy. Furthermore, they wanted to obtain fuel for the emergency generator to be used when the solar panels become unusable due to snow.
The ones who headed to the village on this day were the boy who leads the team as usual, Aki, who had finally gotten used to corpses, and Aoi, a second-year student. If the number of people is too many, the possibility of being discovered if there are infected increases, and if the weight increases, the fuel consumption of the car also increases. It seems the boy judged that three people were optimal for moving quickly and quietly.
Aki and the others have not yet fired a gun. They had been allowed to hold guns without bullets several times and were taught how to aim, but the crucial live-fire practice was still to come. Even when going to the village, only the boy carries a gun; the other students are in a state where they are armed with blunt weapons like crowbars or bats they found.
Apparently, they were not yet trusted enough to be entrusted with their lives. Though, since they don't completely trust him either, it was mutual.
While Aki was resting, the reconnaissance of the village had apparently progressed considerably. When Aki first came to the village, the limit was going around a few houses on the outskirts, but this time they were to go as far as near the center of the village. In the center of the village, there are apparently a gas station, the only supermarket, and a police box.
"A police box? Isn't the weapon you can get in such a place negligible? Dad said so, but police officers don't carry spare ammunition around, right?"
"Police officers at police boxes are sometimes issued spare bullets, Senpai. If they haven't been taken out, I think ammunition can be obtained. Since the police in our prefecture should also be using the M3913 automatic in some parts, the bullets will be 9mm or .38 caliber, I expect."
The boy seemed to be of the same opinion as Aoi. As part of the measures against the infected, it seems spare ammunition was also issued to police officers engaged in maintaining public security. Even so, it was apparently at most double or triple the number of bullets loaded, but it would be better than nothing. The boy, who is trying to refrain from firing as much as possible to save ammunition, still wants weapons and ammunition.
"Besides, if we go to the police box, there might be some information. I intend to go there while checking out the gas station and supermarket."
Even if it's a small police box, it's still a facility of the police organization. It would have received instructions and contacts from the prefectural police headquarters via radio, and it might have obtained information about the situation in various places. The boy said that both the police and the JSDF are no longer functioning as organizations, but there must be those who tried to gather somewhere and build a safe zone.
As they approached the center, the state of the village's ruin became increasingly severe. Aki intended to have grasped what the village had become through the first expedition and the stories of other students afterward, but the reality was worse than that.
They saw three cars that had caused accidents by the roadside, and many houses had their doors broken down. They also saw several corpses rolling on the road. Perhaps because they were exposed to wind and rain and scavenged by wild animals, corpses that would be more correct to call parts (T/N: ruby text reads 'parts') are rolling here and there. The elderly, whose physical functions had declined, must have been unable to escape from the infected.
From the experience of seeing a corpse and vomiting vigorously during the previous expedition, Aki had built up image training so she could stay calm no matter what sight she witnessed. However, the gruesome sight in front of her far exceeded her expectations. By the side of Aki, who was vomiting the contents of her stomach vigorously at the base of a utility pole, was the figure of Aoi, who was calm despite frowning.
The boy, while keeping watch on the surroundings with a submachine gun in hand, asked Aoi.
"You're fine with this. Even when you saw a corpse last time, you didn't seem very shaken."
"I did some preparation with movies, just in case. Even so, I realized that fakes and the real thing are different. If I let my guard down, I feel like I'll vomit too."
Aki remembers that Aoi was watching only war movies. If you watch movies where humans are blown to pieces or groaning while dragging out their protruding internal organs, does that mean you gain a certain amount of resistance?
Just how many people were able to escape this village alive? Since there were houses where supplies had been taken out, there must have been leeway from the occurrence of infected until escape, but seeing as not a single soul can be seen, there are probably no living humans in this village. Did the villagers escape without even the leeway to think of anything, or did they leave this village aiming for somewhere?
Once Aki had settled down, the boy again took steps toward the center of the village. The boy said that houses with duct tape stuck to the doors have already had their safety secured. Even so, he seems to fear the possibility that someone entered this village from outside and is hiding in some house, and they were told to move while hiding in shadows as much as possible when moving on the road.
"Has the Captain been attacked before?"
Aoi asked. It seems she's calling the boy 'Captain.' While frowning at that way of calling him, the boy answered while pointing the muzzle of the submachine gun toward the end of the road.
"Many times."
"Did those people also have guns?"
"In a way. At most hunting rifles or police handguns, but if you're attacked with a gun, you won't last. If you have time to talk nonsense, please keep watch on the surroundings."
Before long, the three ended up stepping into houses whose interiors they hadn't checked yet. There is apparently a police box several hundred meters ahead, and Aoi suggested they should head there first, but she was rejected by the boy. Because if it turns out they are blocked by infected on their way when they have to escape, it would be the end.
There were seven private houses between them and the police box. They check them one by one. if there is anything that seems useful, they collect it, and if there are infected, they defeat them. Aoi, who had seen Yuko fail to defeat an infected during the first expedition, asked herself if she could fight. Even if she had a gun—no, she doesn't think she could fight even if she had a gun. Even though she's never even been in a scuffle.
However, now that Aoi is next to her, Aki can't show a pathetic appearance. Be a model for underclassmen—that is also the motto of Sayuri Girls' Academy. Above all, her pride wouldn't allow that there are things a younger person can do but she can't.
There was nothing in the first three houses. What was there was a small amount of preserved food and several plastic tanks of kerosene that seemed to be for stoves. Now that they are taking warmth by throwing firewood into a pail and burning it, the fuel for a kerosene stove that doesn't produce ash or smoke was a blessing even in small amounts.
In the fourth and fifth houses, there were corpses. The person in the fourth house had been broken into by infected and eaten alive like the others, but there were no noticeable external wounds on the two corpses in the fifth house. On the contrary, the entrance doors and windows were strictly locked, and there wasn't even a trace of infected intruding inside.
"Suicide, probably."
The boy, who broke the doorknob with an axe and pushed into the house, said so as soon as he saw the two corpses in the bedroom. The two corpses of a man and a woman, which had dried and mummified, seemed to belong to an old couple. At the feet of them, who were lying side by side in bed, was placed a large charcoal brazier filled with pure white ash and unburned charcoal.
Come to think of it, when entering the bedroom just now, the door was sealed with duct tape. Looking, duct tape was also stuck to the window to fill the gaps. What happens if you burn something in a room that isn't ventilated—Aki knew at least that much.
"Idiots, to commit suicide even if they didn't have much longer to live."
Aki wanted to say something to the boy who spat that out, but she couldn't put it into words well. No matter how much of a situation this is, Aki also doesn't think she'll go ahead and try to die. If there were someone who said they'd commit suicide, she could understand that feeling, but she probably wouldn't agree. She hasn't lived life long enough to think it's okay to die already.
Since food still remained in the fifth house, it was clear that the old couple hadn't committed suicide after being cornered. They likely became pessimistic about the future. Although they luckily avoided being found by infected, they witnessed the people they knew being eaten alive by infected and despaired of the world. And thinking it's better than being eaten by infected, the couple together chose the path of dying by their own hands.
"Hey, don't think about it."
With those words from the boy, Aki's consciousness was pulled back to reality from the swamp of thoughts that seemed to continue endlessly. Yes, one must not think. The two objects lined up in front of her are now just lumps of meat. If she thought about what they had been, her heart would go crazy. Just as the boy said, she should think of nothing and only think about herself and her companions surviving.
Aki followed the boy and searched the house to gather things that seemed useful. Especially winter clothes were important. Against the winter cold that is becoming increasingly severe, jerseys or cardigans just layered on are powerless. She pulls out thick clothes from the chest of drawers, throws them into the garbage bag she brought, and leaves them at the entrance. Since the clothes would be a considerable amount if they tried to carry them all back, it was decided to come pick them up with the car later.
In the sixth house, the entrance door had been left wide open. Peeking inside, there was one corpse at the raised floor of the entrance. And right next to it, a single shotgun was rolling.
"Hey, go get that."
The boy pointed to the shotgun fallen by the side of the shoe cupboard and told Aki.
"Go get it... you should just get it yourself. You don't want to let us have guns, right?"
"Scavenging corpses is also one of the techniques for survival. Go get it without complaining. Also, don't point the gun you picked up at me."
It was a tone that allowed no argument. Aoi said, "Shall I go get it?", but Aki decided to do it herself. She didn't want to be thought to have thrown the work to a junior because she was afraid of a corpse.
Since he had thrown a stone near the entrance before approaching the house, it's unlikely there are infected in the house. Even so, praying that the boy would back her up in case of an emergency, Aki stepped into the house where the corpse was rolling.
The remains were considerably eaten away, and Aki guessed he was an old man from the white hair on the slight scalp that remained. The corpse, which no longer even drifted a smell of rot, was in a state that could be called almost in pieces, with limbs bitten off or connected by a thin layer of skin. Whether it was eaten away by insects or wild animals that intruded through the open door, it was in a state where it would be more correct to say that dry skin and meat were slightly attached to mostly bone.
Aki straddled the corpse lying on its back at the entrance and reached out her hand to the shotgun fallen by the side of the shoe cupboard. Probably the owner is this corpse. The color of the vest, which had become only the bottom half because it was torn off when he was eaten, was an orange close to red, similar to those worn by the hunters featured on TV.
Several red empty shot shells were also rolling on the floor. He must have fled into this house while shooting the gun after being attacked by infected, but was killed immediately after. While offering a prayer in her heart, Aki picked up the shotgun without touching the corpse.
She had been allowed to hold the over-under shotgun several times by the boy and was taught how to aim, but holding it again, it was quite heavy. Just as Aki tried to go outside quickly, the boy's voice flew from outside, "Search for ammunition too."
"I don't see any ammunition."
"Search the corpse's pockets too; unless he shot them all, they're in there."
"Eeh..."
If possible, she didn't want to touch a corpse, especially a severely damaged one, but she probably has to do it. When Aki steeled herself, she crouched down by the side of the corpse and thrust her hand into the pocket of the vest that remained only there.
Even through the cloth of the pocket, the sensation of the corpse's dry skin is transmitted. Was the hard thing she touched for an instant a bone? She felt like she wanted to vomit all the contents of her stomach right now, but she somehow endured it. She fumbled through the left and right pockets, but nothing was inside.
"The pants too."
At those words from the boy, she was driven by a desire to shoot him dead right now, but she tells herself this is also a necessary thing. Unless they do this, there is no way for them to obtain supplies now.
The pants were stiff with dried blood, but she couldn't be saying tearful things. Dried blood clumps get caught on her work gloves and peel off. Trying to thrust her hand deep into the pocket, the sensation of a hard thing hitting her fingertip was transmitted. When she pulled it out, what was in the pocket was a lighter.
In the end, no ammunition was found from the corpse. What was there was cigarettes or pocket tissues, and there wasn't a single unused bullet.
"Good work."
Saying so, the boy took the shotgun Aki brought. When he released the lock and folded the barrel, the shells (T/N: ruby text reads 'shells') that had been loaded popped out vigorously by the ejector. The two shells discharged were used ones.
It's a pity there was not a single bullet, but there is still plenty of 12-gauge shot shells. It's worrying that it's been left for nine months, but shotguns are usually simple in structure and sturdy. It might be usable if maintained.
The boy slung the shotgun without bullets over his back with a sling and again took the submachine gun in hand. The destination police box is just a stone's throw away.
I'm waiting for your opinions and impressions.