Ch.146Chapter 19. First Broadcast (4)

The old man’s posture was peculiar. He looked like a shy high school girl cutting an apple. Wait, is that a grenade?

“Get lost!”

…It is a grenade. And his finger is still on the safety pin.

But this is strange for a threat. Most people point guns, not try to blow themselves up. Plus, we’re at a gas station. He seems prepared to go up in flames himself, but he wants to take us with him. Ah, could this be a distraction?

“Hands up!”

“Get down on the ground!”

A man and woman rushed out from beside the gas station building. Their instructions were oddly contradictory, but I compromised by raising my hands high and slowly lying down.

“Good. Don’t shoot.”

I made my movements deliberately large and slow. The man looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, in good health. The woman seemed mid-twenties, with a frail body covered in bruises and wounds. The way her upper body shook with each breath suggested respiratory problems.

“Everyone in the car, get out! If you don’t, this bastard dies!”

“That’s not going to work, kid.”

You’re not the only ones who can create a distraction. Camilla and Leticia shouted from behind the truck. While the pair had exposed themselves, the two women were using the truck as cover.

“Put your guns down and back away!”

“Or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes!”

Despite how much they can’t stand each other, they work well together in situations like this. The feeling of having the upper hand improved my mood.

“Well, how did you know to come here?”

“It’s a tactic we’ve seen before.”

That was Camilla’s voice.

“One we’ve experienced firsthand.”

That was Leticia’s voice.

The air behind me suddenly turned frigid. Despite the summer heat, I felt a bone-chilling cold like the dead of winter. We should probably get out of here quickly. I waved my hands around, signaling to the kid to look at me.

“Hey. Let’s make this easy. You saw me put money in the pump. We’ll get our gas and leave, and you can just stay here. Put down that gun and grenade. We’re customers. Customers. There’s no reason to act like this.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

The old man shouted as if having a fit. His clothes flapped like a scarecrow in a strong wind. I hope he doesn’t accidentally pull the grenade pin if he gets blown over.

“Filthy slave hunters have no right to call themselves customers!”

The kid yelled. Slave hunters? Us? My head was spinning from this sudden accusation.

“…Us?”

Even Camilla sounded dumbfounded, her voice weak with disbelief. The kid shouted with confidence.

“I saw everything! Opening cans and putting them in the cargo hold! You’re transporting people you’ve kidnapped like cattle, giving them just enough food to survive! Hey, people in there! If you can hear me, bang on the walls!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Wait, those things? I’ve been annoyed countless times having to stop on the road because of them, and now they’re responding to this nonsense?

“These ungrateful bastards…”

“See! You are slave hunters!”

Why does he have such good hearing? The kid was getting more and more worked up.

“This is the end of your gang’s reign of terror! The Order will establish a new world order. Until the Goddess finally awakens and returns to earth!”

I really want to smack him one.

“Hey. Kid.”

“‘Hey’? Did you just call me ‘hey’?”

“So what do you want us to do about it?”

The kid didn’t answer with words. He pointed his gun at me. But his eyes kept darting elsewhere—toward the frail woman beside him, who was coughing repeatedly. Ah, I see.

“So what exactly do you want from us? Put down our guns and back away? Die here? Or release the people trapped inside? What are you trying to say?”

“Release the people you’ve captured!”

The kid shouted.

“Put down your weapons and get out of here with nothing but your lives!”

The old man yelled from atop the gas station.

“Just die!”

The coughing woman screamed.

“That won’t work.”

An unexpected voice spoke up. I turned to see Cassandra gripping a pistol with both hands. The barrel was aimed directly at the old man with the grenade, though she kept her body hidden behind the car.

“Everyone back off. Or I’ll shoot the old man.”

“Then we all die!”

The old man protested frantically, but Cassandra remained calm.

“No, that’s impossible. The time it takes for your brain to decide to throw the grenade, send signals through your nervous system to your musculoskeletal system, and for your muscles to execute that movement is significantly longer than it takes for a bullet to penetrate your skull and destroy your brain. The latter is overwhelmingly faster. Whatever you try, you’ll be too late. Even attempting suicide with the grenade would be pointless. Do you want to die for nothing?”

Everyone momentarily lost focus at this sudden lecture. The kid, who had been gaping, cleared his throat.

“What are you, a doctor?”

“Gyne—”

Cassandra was about to answer innocently, so I quickly intercepted.

“She’s a gynecologist!”

I could feel burning stares on the back of my head, but it’s better than letting her say “I’m a senior researcher at the CDC” and getting into trouble. Actually, why answer honestly at all?

“A doctor, you say?”

The woman staggered forward. The startled kid tried to stop her with his arm but accidentally groped her chest. The woman didn’t seem to care, but the kid’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. Innocent kid.

“…Yes, I’m a doctor.”

“*cough* *cough* There were plenty of doctors in gangs too. I guess you’re the type who sold your conscience for a living. *hack* *cough*!”

The kneeling woman coughed violently. Blood gushed between her fingers. I hope those aren’t signs of zombification. Bang bang bang!

“Hey, can’t you stay still?!”

I shouted, but the cargo truck’s rocking intensified. The smell of blood. If I could smell it, the creatures in the cargo hold must be going crazy. The kid’s eyes shifted from confusion to anger.

“You, you fucking bastards! Not content with reducing Kanna to this state, what more do you want to do? I don’t care anymore, I’ll kill you all!”

This guy’s persistent nitpicking is really annoying. I’m tired of being misunderstood, and now I’m being held up by this punk… held up?

“You’re stalling for time, aren’t you?”

Not just the kid, but even the woman stepped back in surprise.

I was right. The goddess painting on the gas station wall. The kid’s talk about the goddess and the Order.

These people are followers of the Goddess of Hunger, members of the Order. They must have seen us coming from a distance and called for help. The Order probably told them to keep us here as long as possible.

Is it a good idea to antagonize the Order?

I’ve fought fanatics before. But I don’t know if these people are the same group as those fanatics. Since I eliminated all witnesses back then, there shouldn’t be any connection.

But their level of armament and numbers were definitely not to be underestimated. Plus, our faces and vehicle have been identified.

“That’s right.”

The woman stepped forward.

“*cough* *cough* We’ve already reported you to the Order. The pursuit team will be here soon. Whether you kill us or take us, you won’t escape.”

“What kind of highway robbers are these bastards…”

Leticia burst out in anger. I waved my hands vigorously up and down.

“Okay. I see what the problem is. You think we’re a gang. But we’re actually not. And what’s inside isn’t people.”

“Bullshit…”

“Then open it and see.”

I shot back quietly at the kid.

“But, I’m really annoyed by this situation. You even threatened me and my companions. I can’t let that slide. If what’s inside are people, kill me and let the others go. But if what’s inside aren’t people, I’ll kill you. In exchange, I’ll spare everyone else.”

“Fuck off.”

“One more thing. That Humvee is loaded with C4 explosives. You said you called the Order people? Go ahead. We can blow this whole area clean off the map. It’ll be quite a sight. Because of one mistake in judgment, the Order people are about to become bloody pulp.”

The kid trembled. I announced as clearly and slowly as possible:

“Last chance. Let us go peacefully. We’ll just get our gas and leave. Or insist on checking, and either your head or mine will be blown off. What do you want? Pretend nothing happened, or insist on bloodshed?”

For the first time, something like hesitation appeared on the kid’s face. Good. Let’s just make this easy. I just want to get gas and go.

Bang bang bang!

Those tactless zombie bastards are determined to cause trouble. No candy for you anymore. They pounded on the walls like crazy, as if begging “Please save us.”

A certain resolve settled in the boy’s eyes. The eyes of a political novice thinking “I will definitely fix this world”—the kind that exhausts everyone around them.

Finally, he took a step forward. And then collapsed face-first.

The coughing woman had struck the back of the boy’s head hard with a gun stock. Somehow finding the strength to take the kid’s gun without misfiring was an added bonus.

“Kanna!”

“I’ll open it.”

The woman, now holding guns in both hands, walked over with a clear voice. She put the guns down at an awkward distance between the boy and me. Up close, she looked deathly ill. It wouldn’t be surprising if she turned into a zombie at any moment.

“Kanna, what are you doing?!”

The boy cried out desperately. The woman looked back with wistful eyes.

“…Thank you for taking care of me all this time, Jim. I won’t forget it.”

Go ahead and film a romance movie while you’re at it. I could see tears welling up in the boy’s eyes. Kanna stood before me and swallowed hard.

“I want to open it. If Jim’s judgment was wrong, shoot me. But spare Old Morrie and Jim. Is that acceptable?”

“You also have the option of not opening it at all.”

I said sincerely. But Kanna was resolute.

“I can’t let more people end up like me. I can’t just walk away when there might be people trapped inside.”

Deliberately walking into death’s arms. I nodded, signaling her to proceed. The boy was already aiming his gun at me, tears streaming down his face.

“Um. But.”

Kanna hesitated.

“…Can I hug Jim one last time before I go?”

“Sob…”

I heard a strange sound and turned to see Camilla covering her mouth. Leticia’s eyes had reddened. Cassandra was still aiming at the old man, but looking at the sick woman with pitying eyes.

Come on, if even you all act like this, I’m going to look like the real villain here.