Ch.84Chapter 11. Doing Our Best in Our Respective Positions (7)

I opened the sack wider and grabbed another handful of jewels. Camilla looked at me with concerned eyes and grabbed my wrist. Well, I was literally throwing expensive jewels onto the street—it would be a lie to say it wasn’t a waste.

“If you throw with a bent wrist, you’ll hurt your joints. Hold them firmly and push with your palm like this—it’s easier to throw farther. Watch me.”

I tried copying her. I couldn’t tell if they went farther, but it was definitely more comfortable. Feeling a bit awkward, I turned up the volume on the news video.

“Ah, we’re receiving a call at the studio! The caller claims to be calling from the vehicle in question. Hello? Hello?”

“Yes. We’re heading to sectors 17, 18, and 19,” Cassandra answered indifferently from the front seat.

“Are you the one scattering the jewels? Could you prove to our viewers that—”

“Throw them.”

Following Cassandra’s signal, I threw another handful. The brilliant jewels floated in the air. The military police on motorcycles were good at pursuit but utterly inept at holding back the civilians flooding onto the road.

The MPs tried to threaten with their guns, but outside Hampton, even civilians were armed with assault rifles because of the zombies. One accidental discharge and both sides would be ruined.

“Stand back or we’ll forcibly disperse you!”

“Bullshit! One of these stones could feed us for ten years!”

Even the MPs themselves were subtly bending down to look for jewels, earning mockery and derision. Only the officers were raging and throwing fits.

But Cassandra remained extremely calm, reciting the script I had prepared for her.

“We understand you’re being pursued by the military police as serious criminals. Are the hostages safe?”

“Both the hostages and jewels are fine. But if the MPs don’t lift the blockade, we’ll blow up the car. Goodbye jewels, goodbye hostages. Just so you know, there are jewels in the car that split from us too. Not many, but some.”

Of course, we couldn’t know if Cassandra’s subordinates would scatter jewels. But we needed to create a certain impression.

That way, hopeful civilians would rush out, preventing the MPs from shooting freely or forming a tight blockade.

With luck, they might escape too. Though that would increase our burden.

The anchor asked another question.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m not interested in the jewels. I just have something to say.”

Cassandra looked at me through the rearview mirror. I met her eyes and nodded firmly.

“…Citizens of Hampton. The MPs are blocking the road, making it difficult to give you these jewels. Could you please come a little closer?”

By then, we had entered District 18. The anchor seemed to be asking more questions, but Cassandra hung up and threw the phone out the window.

“Aren’t you going to miss that?”

Cassandra shook her head at my question.

“It’s a phone issued by the Disease Control Bureau. It has a tracking device in case of emergencies. I have a personal phone, so it’s better to discard this one.”

“No, not that. Didn’t you have something you really wanted to say? About how dangerous the world is?”

Cassandra slowly nodded, then shook her head again.

“I have a lot to say. So much I want to say. But not now. Nothing has been verified. It’s better to keep quiet about uncertainties.”

“…I thought you were just a strange person, but I like that about you,” Camilla muttered in a small voice. Cassandra seemed a bit pleased but replied coldly.

“By the way, those jewels all belong to Cassandra. How are you going to pay me back? Do you even know how much you’ve thrown away?”

“It’s cheaper than the price of our lives, isn’t it?” Camilla retorted sharply. I gently pressed her leg. Cassandra’s face, glimpsed in the rearview mirror, crumpled. Camilla’s unpleasant attitude wasn’t helping. This wasn’t going well.

“I’ll pay you back, Cassandra. Jewels aren’t hard to find.”

“You can’t find jewels like those.”

“Alright, then I’ll pay you in Roemer currency.”

“No. Cassandra wants your body.”

“What?!”

Camilla flared up again. But Cassandra remained cool.

“Pay with your body. I won’t accept anything else. Or Camilla, that’s your name, right? Will you pay with your body?”

“Who do you think you’re treating like objects?!”

“Cassandra sees two patients. No, three.”

Three?

“Cassandra, you?”

“Cassandra is like everyone else. She has the bacteria in her body.”

I recalled Cassandra’s arms, covered in thick needle marks and scars. Thinking about it now, it was strange. Those kinds of scars should heal quickly with Cybele Company ointment…

“Cassandra, don’t tell me you’re undergoing some terrible experiment…?”

“I’m not being subjected to it—I’m doing it. Nobody touches Cassandra’s body without permission. And Cassandra’s body is the material she knows best. I’m trying to find a vaccine, resistance factors. I’ve succeeded somewhat, but not completely.”

“…Why, why would you go that far…?” Camilla stammered.

“Because it’s that desperate.”

The injection scars on her arms were from drawing her own blood. But I couldn’t ask more. Loud motorcycle engines roared behind us.

“That crazy person is coming again.”

“Stop! I said stop!”

The MP who had identified herself as Virginia had caught up to us. She held a menacing pistol—a 20cm Colt Python modified model. One wrong hit from that and even a drug addict would be incapacitated.

But that woman. Her stance was irritatingly stable.

A chill ran down my spine.

Sometimes when roaming the field, I’d get this feeling. Despite claims that they were quickly blocked, thoughtless people still didn’t hesitate to use hacks.

In single-player, it doesn’t matter what you do, but in multiplayer, it’s excessive. And after experiencing enough suspicious deaths from hackers, you develop a kind of “intuition.”

Like the one creeping up on me now.

That woman is dangerous.

“Camilla. Do you have any spare handkerchiefs?”

“Cassandra has some.”

Cassandra from the front seat handed over a handkerchief. Camilla also took out her own.

“What’s the handkerchief for?”

“Let’s use them. To cover our faces. I think we need to get close.”

We both covered our faces tightly. I held a pistol in my left hand, jewels in my right, and unlocked the door safety.

Then I flung the door open.

“Johan! What are you doing!”

Almost simultaneously, Virginia raised her gun.

Bang!

The timing was almost perfect—me throwing the jewels, the gun firing, and Camilla grabbing my neck and pulling me back. I had tried to distract her with the jewels and finish with the gun, but Virginia didn’t fall for it.

“Did she shoot? Did she shoot?”

“The MPs fired! The MPs opened fire!”

The outrage of citizens could be heard from outside. Camilla checked my hand first and exploded in anger.

“Have you lost your mind? Isn’t looking like a zombie enough? Now you want to lose your hand too?”

Suddenly Cassandra slightly turned the steering wheel. It was a momentary swerve, but Camilla’s body was thrown sideways. I pulled her toward me just before she hit her head on the door.

Bang! Crash!

My body froze instantly. The sound came from beneath the car. Fortunately, the vehicle seemed undamaged.

“That woman is aiming for the tires. She hit the armor plating, but missed.”

Cassandra informed us in a detached voice. Camilla, cracking her neck, threw open her bulletproof window.

“Camilla!”

“Let go! I’m going to shoot that bitch dead!”

Before I could stop her, she climbed over me. One, two, she took a breath and aimed the rifle out the window.

Bang!

Sparks flew from the suppressor. Startled, Camilla pulled the gun back inside. The barrel was bent.

“Crazy bitch. Crazy bitch…”

It was astonishing.

Even at that distance, to shoot and hit a suppressor sticking out of a window while riding a motorcycle?

But Camilla was even more enraged. She removed the magazine and emptied the remaining ammunition from the gun. This time, I grabbed Camilla’s wrist.

“Let me throw it.”

Camilla released it without argument. I slowly extended the gun through the partially open window.

She doesn’t shoot.

“Tch.”

Unlike an automatic rifle, a revolver is difficult to reload. It would be even harder while riding a motorcycle. I was trying to make her waste bullets, but she seemed to realize her gun had damaged mine and just kept following us silently.

“Cassandra. Slow down a little.”

The distance between us and the motorcycle quickly shortened. I slowly extended the gun and then suddenly let it go. An unloaded rifle weighs about 3.5kg. With our speed, the impact would be significant.

Thwack!

The rifle hit the windscreen and bounced off, striking her helmet directly. The rider’s head jerked backward. The impact must have been substantial. I involuntarily cheered. Now the stunned rider would fall backward…

“Huh.”

No, she didn’t.

Virginia remained with her neck bent back. In that exact position, she actually increased her speed. Then she bent her upper body forward again.

Her visor was broken. The scars on her face were clearly visible. But she didn’t stop. Through the broken gap, I could see purple eyes filled with hostility.

“This isn’t working.”

I pulled out a larger decorative box from the sack. It was solid, made of iron and gold. One, two. I flung the door open, threw the box, and then drew my pistol and fired.

The windscreen shattered. Virginia swerved the motorcycle. I kept firing to prevent her from counterattacking. Finally, Virginia moved from following the left rear of our car to directly behind us.

“Cassandra, now!”

Cassandra slammed on the brakes. Startled, Camilla quickly grabbed the front seat to brace for impact. Since the vehicle wasn’t moving very fast, the braking distance was short.

Got her. Now the motorcycle would crash into the back of the car. Then we could finally shake off this relentless pursuit…

Screech!

But…

Suddenly the front wheel of the motorcycle lifted up.

A wheelie at a time like this? The motorcycle’s front wheel landed on the back of the cargo truck. Virginia stepped on the motorcycle and leaped onto the pickup truck’s trunk.

Thud! She managed to land on the trunk.