Ch.166Chapter 20. Patriot (18)

The Central Earth is isolated from other Earths. They said that’s where they gathered all the infected people.

Connecting these two facts leads to the conclusion that there’s no reason to go to large commercial establishments like shopping centers and department stores. People who were driven from their homes with nowhere to go would have looted those places first. After all, what would they have to fear while turning into zombies?

But these people must have turned into zombies very quickly. This means that while supplies were gathered, most of them are likely still stored untouched.

“I get that part,” Camilla said with a skeptical expression.

“But why are we going to a toy wholesale warehouse? Weren’t we supposed to be ‘visiting houses’?”

Cassandra, who was driving, and Leticia, who was acting as the human navigation system in the passenger seat, both turned to look at me curiously.

“Well, toys are generally small, noisy, fast, and attention-grabbing. Since they’re designed for children to play with, they’re easy to operate. Even beginners can use them easily.”

“What, are you planning to release teddy bears onto the road?”

When I just chuckled, Camilla looked quite confused. Leticia furrowed her brow and said, “No, not here—turn right at the next intersection.” The problem was…

“Oh?”

She looked quite troubled right after that.

“What? Did you give wrong directions?”

“No. Look at this.”

Leticia held out her phone. “In line with the government’s energy conservation policy, internet database operation hours will be limited to 9 AM to 6 PM starting next week…”

In summary, it meant that the power situation had deteriorated so badly that the company providing map services could no longer operate normally.

“This makes using the Western State Minsk satellite pointless. What’s the use of having internet access if all the sites are down? What is the government even doing?”

Complaints immediately erupted. The calmest among us was Cassandra.

“The problem probably isn’t with the power plants themselves. It’s more likely that the personnel who operate the generators are gradually turning into zombies, and there are issues with the fuel supply for the generators. Like blood clots traveling through vessels, blocking different parts of the body, causing organs to overload and malfunction.”

It was quite a bold statement that surprised all of us. “That’s a diagnosis worthy of a doctor,” Camilla said correctly. The navigation map service provider was reducing operations because of unstable electricity supply.

“We’ll need to find a printer somewhere.”

Well, at least they weren’t shutting down immediately.

Finally, the Humvee arrived at the toy company’s warehouse. Though called a warehouse, it was just a modest size, about the same as a neighborhood car center. The steel gate had a thick padlock, but it was easily cut through with our cutter.

Fortunately, the warehouse was empty. There was nothing but dusty desks, ledgers, PCs, and unopened toys. Among them were familiar Barbie dolls—the character that had been attached to the pink bag I first used.

“Yes. This.”

What I was looking for was right behind it.

“…Aren’t these RC cars?”

“That’s right. Remote-controlled ones. There are helicopters here too. And drones.”

I was glad everyone understood my intention.

After collecting the toys, we raided a small digital electronics store. The large appliances remained untouched, but items like radios and small TVs had been completely cleaned out. But we didn’t need those anyway.

Small cam cameras. We took all of them, regardless of size.

After returning to the health center, I attached the large ones to the RC cars and the small ones to the drones and helicopters. After some trial and error, I placed them close to the center of gravity, making them reasonably functional.

“Modern toys seem to perform better than military equipment.”

At first, everyone thought it was childish, but after just two hours, everyone was holding a remote control, operating RC cars and helicopters. Camilla attached small LED lights to a helicopter, and Leticia added small mirrors around the RC car’s camera. She said this would minimize blind spots.

After two days of practice, we deployed them for the first time.

It worked much better than expected. Just sending RC cars around made surveillance much easier. Before infiltrating a house, we flew a helicopter over the roof to scan the surroundings for zombies.

“Throwing it.”

Checking inside houses was easy too. We broke a second-floor window by throwing a small stone and inserted the toy helicopter. For the first floor, we opened the front door and sent in an RC car.

– Beep-beep, vroom-vroom, click-click

“Grrrr!”

Zombies were once human. They couldn’t resist the sound of a children’s bicycle horn. The RC car mercilessly weaved between their legs. Above their heads, a helicopter with flashing LED lights performed vertical maneuvers.

“Kyahaaak!”

Eventually, one of them couldn’t stand it and bumped into things trying to catch the toy. Of course, with their sluggish movements, they could never catch it.

The zombie came out to the front door. Camilla raised her silenced pistol, but I quietly stopped her.

“Why?”

“Because everyone’s inner child is precious.”

Before Camilla could point her gun at me, I quickly drove the RC car near the gate. The zombie followed, foaming at the mouth. I led it out into the alley, then made a sharp turn at the intersection and parked next to a large trash can.

“Kak, kak, kak.”

Camilla watched with bewildered eyes as the zombie ran down the alley, her arm outstretched. Meanwhile, I called the RC car back. I wanted to pat it affectionately.

“Let’s close the gate and gather supplies.”

The first house had many preserved foods. Not cheap canned goods from Kibele Company, but 100% handmade home preserves. The shelves were full of glass jars packed with pickles.

“Cucumbers. Peppers. This is sauerkraut? Carrots too…”

The unpowered refrigerator was full of salt-preserved meat. Large glass jars half-filled with salt, half with meat. I wasn’t sure if it was edible, but we decided to take it anyway. If we couldn’t eat it, we could always feed it to the zombies.

Now came the important part.

After confirming the house was clean, we boarded up all windows and doors. We made it thorough so nothing could get in from outside or out from inside. We placed the camera-equipped helicopter drone on a pillar as a makeshift CCTV to monitor the surroundings.

“This is now a safe house.”

Moving items to the truck each time we searched a house was inefficient. It was not only too cumbersome but also wasted fuel, which we needed to conserve.

It was much more reasonable to create safe houses like this and store all the items collected from the surrounding area in these houses. Creating such intermediate stops made storing items easier, and in case of danger, they could serve as temporary shelters.

We repeated the process with the next house. And the next. And the next…

We would send the RC car and RC helicopter to scout around first, and if the house was too messy or had too many zombies, we’d give up. One house had five zombies just standing in the living room, which was too daunting to tackle.

“This was the house with six zombies, right?”

After observation, we carefully marked the map. Which houses were dangerous and which were safe. We needed to raid houses with fewer zombies for safety and to collect more unused items. Plus, there was another reason.

“Here, eat this.”

We sprayed food in poor condition and threw it into houses crawling with zombies. At the crashing sound, zombies gathered, and attracted by the strong smell, they all buried their heads and chewed noisily.

Meanwhile, we’d smash the doorknob with a hammer, break the door, and run away. Of course, we didn’t forget to leave food by the door. The hungry creatures were more desperate for the salted meat at their feet than for fleeing humans.

Our living conditions improved day by day.

Camilla was happy that after eating only canned food every day, having “real cooking” improved her digestion and cleared her skin.

Leticia collected flour and baking powder bit by bit, openly expressing her desire to bake bread if she could find a decent oven.

Cassandra showed unexpected talent with RC controls. She had a knack for teasing zombies, making them chase without catching them until they couldn’t stand it and rushed out. Perhaps it was due to her medical background requiring precise hand movements… I could only speculate.

“It’s definitely convenient. Don’t even need to fire a gun. Hate to admit it, but it’s kind of fun too.”

Camilla smiled, stretching like a cat. I thought I understood what kind of fun she meant. There was quite a thrill in controlling the remote without getting caught by zombies.

It was like a horror game in that being caught meant certain death, and like slapstick comedy in the way we made zombies trip over their own legs as we maneuvered around them.

On rainy days, we had no choice but to rest. Rainy days meant more work. We had to place containers outside to collect as much water as possible and perform internal maintenance and repairs.

“I’ll try cooking lunch today.”

The growing variety of ingredients made cooking enjoyable.

I made simple pancakes with flour, then stir-fried salt-cured meat (after soaking it to remove excess salt) with cooking oil, and prepared a filling with finely chopped pickles and ketchup. Finally, I topped it with cheese we’d luckily found and placed it on the still-hot pan to melt slightly.

“Let’s eat.”

“Oh, that looks delicious!”

Camilla, who was even clapping her hands in delight, took a bite. She chewed for a while and then fell silent.

“Why is she reacting like that?”

Leticia asked, pulling out a beer can from who knows where. She took a bite, blinked a couple of times, and then began eating ravenously.

“It’s delicious.”

Cassandra’s plate was empty. I wondered if I’d forgotten to serve her, but seeing some breadcrumbs left, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“You’ve already finished?”

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

Camilla stood up abruptly and brought the sauerkraut. She piled it on her roll, almost to the point where I worried it might be too salty, and stuffed it into her mouth.

“What? Is the seasoning off?”

“…It tastes like home.”

Camilla’s eyes welled up with tears.

“It tastes like what my grandmother used to make.”

It seems her grandmother had a taste for saltier food. Hmm, I thought as I continued eating. It was a bit salty, but not too rich, so it was fine.

“If we can find apple preserves and cinnamon powder, I’ll make you an apple pie.”

Leticia declared without a hint of a smile. It seemed to be her way of giving high praise. As I was organizing the dishes and about to wash them, I suddenly found Cassandra standing beside me.

“Oh, what is it?”

“We’re running low on pheromone spray. I think we need to make more. Spare me some time after dinner.”

I was about to agree when something felt off. Had Cassandra ever spoken in such a commanding tone before? I couldn’t recall.

“Ah, um. And I also have something to, um, say about that laptop report.”

Judging by her slightly nervous, furtive glance, she seemed like the usual Cassandra after all.

“See you later.”