Ch.107Chapter 14. Even a Zombie Can Understand (2)

“Caesar! How is it? Aren’t those vicious women treating you too badly?”

Leticia still knows me as Caesar and believes I’m being held captive by vicious women.

In our conversations so far, I’ve vaguely explained that “they have leverage over me with a fatal weakness, and if I act impulsively, many people could get hurt. So I need to cooperate with them for now.”

It’s like taking the position of “I didn’t mean to, but I got involved in evil deeds and became an accomplice to villains.”

“It’s a bit better than before. They even give me time to talk freely like this. But you’re not calling when you’re busy, are you?”

“Caesar’s calls are always top priority, so don’t worry about that. And really, who’s worrying about whom here?”

That’s not wrong.

This is what I like about talking with Leticia. Maybe because we both have so much to hide, we only tell each other pleasant things.

I continued the call while taking a blanket from my backpack and spreading it around. I put it on speakerphone so the sound would carry further.

“How’s the clothing store job?”

Strangely, Leticia never mentions that she’s a soldier.

When browsing internet news, I often see photos and articles about “Leticia, the right hand of the Iron Empress Virginia,” and I even once asked, “Isn’t this you?” But she insists she works at a clothing store.

Then she sends photos saying, “This just came in, what do you think? Will it sell well?”

It’s a good excuse and an easy lie. Of course, everyone has circumstances they can’t talk about. Perhaps Leticia has noticed my vague explanations but lets them slide.

Since we’re both doing the same thing, it’s better to just let it be. That kind of relationship.

“I don’t know. I seriously think I need to look for another job. It seems more promising to wash and repair contaminated clothes than to sell new ones.”

“Are things that bad?”

“The zombie animals have gotten craftier. Plus, zombies that used to stay in unprotected areas are increasingly pouring into cities and roads.”

Leticia said more and more zombies are gathering in cities. Zombies are predators. When predators run out of food in their hunting grounds, they move territories.

And cities are places full of strange sounds and smells. The problem is that zombies sometimes block the roads.

“If someone dies on the road, zombies gather around. If you shoot to subdue them, more come because of the noise.”

“Roads across the country are becoming paralyzed this way. Wide highways are somewhat better, but smaller roads are increasingly being cut off.”

What happens next is predictable. When roads are cut off, supplies quickly run out. At first, just one or two things disappear, but eventually everything will be gone.

But cities have not only military police but also armed vigilantes. Humans who may not have food but have weapons to kill others, living together in cramped cities.

What will happen is obvious.

“What about you? Are you okay?”

Leticia was silent for a moment. When her voice came through the phone again, it was slightly hoarse.

“…Thank you for asking. Yes, I’m fine. The military police are doing their job well. They regularly go out to clear the roads, and the vigilantes are working enthusiastically too. Especially the commander.”

“Commander Virginia Helford? I’ve seen her on the news.”

Virginia’s popularity was growing daily. She kept introducing new reform and improvement plans, all measures that the military could take in emergency situations.

Like distributing water purification tablets that had been stockpiled for military emergencies to citizens, mobilizing medical units to enhance hygiene and health, or collaborating with military cooks and restaurant owners to establish a communal meal system.

Overall, it’s not a good sign. It means they’ve started controlling resources on a collective scale.

Organizing vigilantes was probably for the same reason. Regular citizens might not listen if asked to cooperate, but a “vigilante group” that’s a subordinate organization of the military and needs their cooperation is a different story.

Militarization of civilians. Turning the city into a barracks. Virginia seems to be building an army no matter how you look at it.

“Thanks to that, I was able to get the reagent you asked for. I know people in the military here and there. I think you could come to Hampton in about two to three weeks.”

* * * * *

Hampton City Hall, conference room.

There was a container inside the conference room. It was cheaper to place a soundproof container than to soundproof the entire room.

Thanks to this, Leticia and her subordinates could shout at each other, hurl insults, and cause a commotion without sound leaking out, before finally coming up with a plausible solution.

But now Leticia was alone in the conference room. She had left her office with the excuse of “needing to review documents in a quiet place,” and was talking with Caesar.

‘I can’t stop.’

She knew it was a deviation. But she was already addicted.

Not as Römer’s lackey, but as a righteous tights-wearing vigilante. Not as the special security team leader, but as a woman of salvation who wanted to somehow rescue an unfortunate man from the clutches of evil.

Leticia could be a better person than she herself had thought. With Caesar, she felt she could continue to be that way.

Then suddenly her eyes fell on the documents.

The number of tights impersonators wasn’t decreasing. Even men were engaging in such hideous acts.

While that could be considered an amusing event, breaking into homes with guns and making threats is a different story. In some cities, there were even reports of tights-wearing gang robberies.

Somewhere else, a tights-wearing robber was bitten by a zombie, resulting in a full-body tights zombie that became gossip material.

Should punishment be strengthened? Or should they lower the severity of punishment and ignore it, since the government and military’s responses seem to be escalating the situation?

The document was asking Leticia for her opinion on this.

“Thank you, Leti. Then next time…”

“Um, Caesar?”

Leticia urgently held him back.

“Yes, what is it?”

Having stopped him, Leticia fell into contemplation.

Part of her mind whispered, ‘Just tell him. If he’s really the person you want to marry, you should confirm if he can be supportive in these matters too.’

But the other side cautioned, ‘Isn’t this too heavy to discuss now? It’s more important to give the impression that you’re a fun and pleasant person. Don’t be mistaken. You haven’t even met in person for that long.’

But for Leticia, it was truly a soul-shaking matter. Virginia had imposed “harsh” punishments on spandex tights wearers.

She didn’t cut off their limbs and throw them to zombies, but she administered public punishments that were even worse. It was enough to socially destroy someone, even in these chaotic times.

But what if Leticia, whom Virginia trusted more than anyone, was the ‘real’ spandex tights wearer? What if she could never be caught…

Leticia didn’t want to disappoint Virginia. But she couldn’t easily let go of her liberated self either.

When she wore tight leather clothes and ran through Hampton’s night streets, when she guarded a wealthy person’s house during the day, robbed it at night, and then returned the next morning to investigate how it was robbed…

It was thrilling and fun. And she was becoming increasingly desensitized. Leticia was an investigator, so she knew how careless criminals get caught.

She knows. But she couldn’t stop. This path leads only to catastrophe. She would end up dying electrocuted, bound all over, repeatedly getting excited by pleasure-giving electric needles.

“Leti? Are you there?”

Ah. He’s asking. Since he’s asking, she must answer. ‘I intended to speak from the beginning. Otherwise, there would be no reason for such worries.’ Leticia finally asked.

“This might seem out of the blue, but when someone has high expectations of me, but I know I can’t meet those expectations. What should I do?”

Both sides of her mind were in chaos. ‘Hey! That’s too abstract! Even a middle school girl wouldn’t talk so vaguely about how there’s A, B, and C, but actually C is… and so on!’

As expected, Caesar didn’t answer for a while. He just breathed heavily.

“I-I’m sorry. I asked something too nonsensical…”

“You mean, how should you feel when you feel like you’re deceiving someone?”

Her heart seemed to stop for a moment. Leticia felt like crying. Her judgment was right after all. Caesar is someone she could trust for life.

“Yes. I feel guilty. Like I’m deceiving them.”

“You must really like that person. I can tell because you don’t want to hurt them.”

That’s right. Leticia likes Virginia. She’s a superior who recognized and acknowledged her hard work and properly valued her. But now she’s deceiving the person who recognized her.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well… I think everyone has circumstances they can’t talk about. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t say anything unless I could offer a proper alternative.”

“…May I ask why?”

“Sometimes people are more important than truth, aren’t they? Sometimes there are contradictions we bear because there are things we don’t want to lose. That’s how the heart works.”

‘Just like our relationship, Caesar.’ Leticia smiled.

“But shouldn’t relationships be honest?”

“They should be honest, but before that, shouldn’t there be consideration? Consideration about whether the other person can hear this, whether they can handle it.”

Consideration. That was something Leticia hadn’t thought about.

“Leti. Put yourself in their shoes. If someone says to you, ‘I’m telling you this because I’m your real friend…’ and then goes on about things you don’t want to hear, what would you think?”

“I’d tell them to stop showing off and mind their own business.”

“Couldn’t that person who’s precious to you think the same way?”

“…So, for now, I can’t do anything except complain to you like this.”

She meant it seriously, but laughter came from the other end of the phone.

“Are you laughing?”

“No. I’ve been having similar thoughts lately. We must really be in sync. Amazing synchronicity.”

Leticia didn’t know exactly what synchronicity meant, but somehow she felt better. And then she became curious. Who could a hostage possibly be concerned about?

“Thank you, Caesar. I feel a bit better. You’re right. I shouldn’t presume without knowing if the other person is ready to hear.”

“Thank you too, Leti. Thanks to you, I’ve resolved some of my concerns.”

Leticia tilted her head. What kind of situation was this man in? This won’t do. Leticia signed her name on a proposal as she shuffled through the documents.

“Caesar. When you come to Hampton this time, you need to prepare for a full day. There’s no choice.”

“What? Why?”

“The disinfection procedures have increased. It takes so much time to enter and leave that it’s almost impossible to come and go on the same day.”

It wasn’t like that until now, but it will be. Leticia herself had signed the proposal to strengthen disinfection procedures. In fact, this will cause inconvenience to too many people.

Strengthened disinfection procedures only mean one thing: leaving cars abandoned on the road and watching longer to see if mutations occur.

But this was the only method she could think of to make Caesar stay overnight at her place.

“So…”

She was about to say more when a strange sound mixed in from the other end of the phone.

The howling of zombies.

“Leti. I’m sorry. I have to hang up. I’ll contact you when it’s over.”

Click.

“…He hung up.”

She thought about calling back but decided against it. She didn’t know Caesar’s situation. Perhaps even sending a wrong text could put him in danger.

“This won’t do. I need to keep him somehow.”

Leticia stood up. Twenty minutes had already passed.

When she entered the office, personnel from various departments rose from their seats as if to ask where she had been.

“Everyone will participate in an emergency safety inspection of Hampton, prepare within 10 minutes.”

Leticia commanded authoritatively.