Ch.121Chapter 16. Dispersion (7)

‘How long have we been together now?’

Unable to calculate, Camilla furrowed her brow. Being with Johan made her sense of time feel strange.

Not that he was casting some spell on her. It was just that every day was a continuous stream of new experiences, making each day feel as long as two or three.

Like when they would raise their voices and fight over trivial things, or when they would emotionally train while stealing glances at each other’s bodies when still angry, or those nights when they would explore each other’s bodies almost like plundering.

It wasn’t always pleasant and happy. But it was always new. That’s why she would subtly look forward to it. What would they do together tomorrow? What could they do the day after?

But the scene before her eyes now transcended any category she could imagine.

“…Don’t tell me Johan just summoned zombies?”

If she had been alone, she would have thought she was seeing things.

“…Amazing.”

Seeing Cassandra repeatedly expressing admiration, this must be reality after all. Cassandra’s face was flushed, her eyes slightly closed, and her body trembling finely. Even her legs were shaking.

“He really is… an amazing person… eek!”

Fortunately, a stray bullet hit the parapet of the laboratory rooftop. With a thud, pieces of concrete fell off.

“Cassandra! Focus and guard the entrance properly! The situation isn’t over yet!”

“Huh? Oh? Oh? Ah, got it!”

Johan was the first priority. He was jumping around avoiding zombies and climbing up the railing of the third house. One zombie that had managed to follow him tried to grab his ankle.

Camilla pulled the trigger without hesitation. The zombie fell backward with its head blown off.

Johan gave a thumbs up and crossed the yard. Then he climbed onto the container office used as a storage shed for farm tools.

As he grabbed the edge with his hands and strained his arms, he seemed to struggle a bit, perhaps due to an injured ankle. Thinking she should make him do more arm training, Camilla looked toward the zombies.

There was a new zombie wrapped in iron chains. Sparks flew as the chains struck the concrete floor with each step.

“That chain sound…”

Cassandra shuddered.

The zombie in the National Gendarmerie uniform was huge. Even when it had been human, it probably wasn’t the type to get beaten up.

The mercenaries, their morale broken, retreated hesitantly.

But it was too late. One of the two shotgunners was being torn apart by zombies while trying to reload. The other one seemed to have a jammed gun and kept hitting the chamber before falling down.

Zombies pounced on him.

Zombie teeth couldn’t pierce through bulletproof vests. Perhaps that’s why the zombies sought out the “soft” parts. They gnawed at every inch of the fallen man’s body.

“Bastards.”

Those who appeared to be “comrades” showed no intention of helping them. Instead, they turned and fled for their lives.

From the other side, a truck was approaching with a roaring sound. The camping trailer had been disconnected and left behind. One person was in the driver’s seat, another at the machine gun mounted on the truck bed.

The machine gun spewed fire. Though wasteful of ammunition, it somewhat held back the zombies’ advance. But the next moment, the gunner collapsed, blood spurting from his neck.

Johan had shot him.

– Camilla, don’t let those guys escape!

The Gendarmerie zombie made a wide turn and drove into the armed men’s flank. Despite taking bullets, it growled as it swung its arms and kicked with its legs.

Though clumsy and violent, traces of the National Gendarmerie’s special combat techniques were evident. Perhaps the body remembered from years of training.

Now it was her turn.

“Hoo.”

A sniper shouldn’t expose themselves. She had to calculate where to shoot for maximum effect. Hitting the target was simply expected, something that had to be done. She didn’t consider the difficulty.

Having made her decision, Camilla quickly pulled the trigger. One shot. The front tire on the driver’s side of the truck burst. Another shot. The front tire on the passenger side burst.

The blown tires jumped sideways. The truck, pitching forward, gradually lost balance. The axle was twisting more and more. It was heading directly toward the rear of the armed men.

Since the speed had decreased significantly, no one was ground up. But considering the fate of those who remained, perhaps that would have been better.

She couldn’t help but look, but it was hard to watch directly. So Camilla focused on Johan and his surroundings. In contrast, Cassandra looked straight down.

“…Three of them got back up.”

* * * * *

Even into the afternoon, the commotion hardly subsided.

Zombies roamed the streets with empty eyes. The hungry ones would pounce and bite at anything that smelled remotely like blood. The newly turned mercenaries were no different.

For better or worse, there was plenty to eat. It was strewn all over the streets. The satiated ones even showed some tolerance, merely growling briefly when bumping into other zombies.

Of course, the Gendarmerie zombie was an exception.

“Happy to see me? Has your ugliness improved a bit?”

“Grrrr!”

“What can you do. You should heal quickly.”

Rather than understanding the words, it was probably just responding to some stimulus. Even so, it was quite impressive that it had made it this far.

The problem was me.

The situation ended much faster than expected, and the zombies’ momentum was too fierce for me to return to the laboratory. I sat slumped on top of the container.

Of course, Camilla and Cassandra were watching from the building rooftop with plenty of ammunition, so there wasn’t much to worry about. But the zombies’ reactions were concerning.

Sniff, sniff. The zombies looked suspiciously between the torn blanket scraps and me. Then they kept sniffing and gradually approaching me.

Of course, these creatures wouldn’t climb the container ladder.

“I don’t like ugly fans.”

“Gyaaak.”

“Not that I was specifically talking about you.”

Anyway, I was suddenly surrounded by a zombie fan club.

The most incomprehensible one was the Gendarmerie zombie. The creature that had been so ferocious when tied to the utility pole was now sitting slumped against a wall, apparently full.

“Hey! Take your kids with you!”

Instead of answering, it just rattled its chains. It didn’t seem to care about the flies that had settled on its body. Like a drunkard who couldn’t be bothered with anything.

– Johan.

The radio crackled. It was Cassandra’s voice.

“Yes?”

– Get ready. Camilla’s coming down.

“Camilla’s coming down?”

– Yes. When I told her the zombies seem to be responding to your scent, she said she’d bring a blanket from your room. She seemed a bit embarrassed about it though.

…This is rather awkward.

An electric bicycle jingled in front of the laboratory. It was Camilla, dragging a blanket tied with rope. Conveniently, the wind was blowing from her direction toward me.

The zombies sniffed and bared their teeth. The Gendarmerie one did the same. All of them moved in unison, following Camilla.

I climbed down from the container. After waiting for all the zombies to disappear, I ran to the trailer.

* * * * *

Third floor of the laboratory.

All three of us were completely exhausted. We silently drank beverages and ate combat rations. We needed to eat something, but it wasn’t the situation for cooking.

“These guys were real bastards.”

Inside the trailer were various supplies, a satellite phone, and a laptop. Cassandra quickly hacked the laptop.

It only had simple encryption, and there was a note next to the laptop with usernames and passwords for each site neatly organized.

“…So they were mercenaries from Minsk.”

They hadn’t just been mercenaries. They had committed all sorts of atrocities in Elza territory and recorded videos of it for additional income.

Camilla, who had returned after shaking off the zombies, wanted to smash the laptop, but Cassandra and I desperately stopped her.

Instead, we didn’t stop her from taking a sniper rifle outside. Three gunshots were heard. She must have re-killed the mercenaries who had risen as zombies.

“Did you shoot them in the head?”

“No. The knees. So other zombies could eat them. The Gendarmerie one ate the most.”

The mercenaries had been violent and aggressive. But they weren’t just satisfying animal urges. That was merely additional income.

They had another purpose.

Collecting information about the Kro virus. To do that, they were retrieving data from a laboratory in an unprotected zone abandoned by the Elza government.

And in the last transmitted data was reconnaissance information about this area, along with one line of message:

“The fanatic in this area controls zombies.”

“We’re in danger now.”

I feel particularly deflated.

This was the most home-like house we had found, in a quiet countryside with a generator. Not to mention the plants on the roof that hadn’t fully grown yet.

The laboratory. Other research data… But Cassandra didn’t seem particularly affected.

“Well, research doesn’t have to be done here specifically. We’ve got a good trailer and vehicles, so we can just take what we can. There are many laboratories in the world.”

“What about the data?”

“We’ll just take the hard drives.”

Cassandra spoke as if it were nothing. Well, removing those is something anyone with know-how can do, so it’s not a problem.

“…Hey, Johan.”

Camilla looked at me while fidgeting with an empty beverage can.

“Yes.”

“…Doesn’t it bother you at all?”

“What?”

“The Minsk mercenaries. The guys from Minsk.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Are you… really okay? What you just did, I mean…”

What is she talking about? Is she referring to me whistling to bring the zombies? I can’t quite grasp…

“You.”

Camilla put down the beverage can. She stood up. Camilla was aghast. Enough to be visible in the dim dining room.

“You… you really… weren’t a Minsk agent… were you?”

Oh, is that what this is about?

“I told you I wasn’t.”

“Then where on earth did you come from?”

“Far away.”

“No, I mean…”

Camilla bit her lip slightly, seemingly unable to explain.

“What I mean is, how did you get here?”

“I don’t know either. I can’t remember. When I opened my eyes, I was in ‘Mini Bell’ village. This is the world from a game I used to play, and I just installed the program and woke up. That’s why I told you guys ‘this is not my world.'”

“This is no time for jokes!”

Camilla staggered. But Cassandra nodded as if greatly impressed.

“Ah, so that’s why. Cassandra understands.”

That’s even more frightening.

“What, what do you understand?”

Cassandra smiled brightly.