episode_0055

It’s a proverb that makes you feel like you need to do something immediately.

I think it applies to me, just this once.

Having momentarily become a supermarket looter, I reaped as much as I moved, and it was a huge success.

The ominous-looking traces turned out to be like breadcrumbs leading to a meat haven, and the results were incredibly sweet.

It’s not something I bought with my own money, but it’s mine nonetheless.

Thus, the moment I emptied all the freezers, I became generous and kind.

But the luck that came my way didn’t end there.

Immediately after exiting the meat freezer, I found more similar freezers nearby.

Seafood and several types of fruit.

When I discovered high-quality, undamaged ingredients, albeit frozen, and packed them all, I was finally able to fall into a sense of happiness.

And I was certain.

A strong conviction that I wouldn’t starve to death, at least not easily.

The fact that I had taken a step back from the food problem came as great comfort.

And it gave me a fleeting sense of ease.

Thanks to that, I even hummed a tune, unbefitting the situation, and became a little lax.

Such an attitude in the middle of a dangerous death trap would deserve reprimand.

‘It’s okay for now~’

The situation, far from scolding me for such complacent thoughts, encouraged them even further, as if it wasn’t over yet.

I discovered a refrigerator of a similar size to the freezers, and inside it, an incredible amount of food awaited my selection in pristine condition.

Literally, food beautifully vacuum-sealed or packed, waiting to be shipped.

It felt as if I was being compensated for all the hardships I’d endured so far.

I savored that fluffy feeling for a moment.

Then, I suddenly came to my senses and realized it had become evening sometime.

I was quite hungry, but I had no desire to eat anything at all.

‘Even so, here is a bit too much….’

Even for me, it was impossible to eat while smelling not just corpses, but burning, rotting corpses.

There must have been an incredible number of them, as the burning smell wouldn’t easily dissipate and lingered. It felt like it was getting stronger, not weaker.

In the end, I quickly checked the remaining areas and decided to leave this place.

Somehow, if I stayed much longer, I felt like my whole body would become steeped in that terrible odor.

Immediately after making up my mind, I exited the cold storage and walked along the staff corridor.

The corridor leading to the first-floor store began to become increasingly chaotic the further I walked.

My excited mood had long since settled.

Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any zombies while I was lax.

With a sigh, I regained some seriousness and heightened my vigilance.

After moving like that, I reached the end of the corridor.

“…”

I slightly opened the door leading to the store to assess the situation.

“Ugh! Oh!”

The moment I opened the door, I was hit squarely by a blast of pungent odor.

The unpleasantness made my nose hurt, my head throb, and my stomach churn as if I would vomit.

I instinctively covered my nose and mouth and quickly backed away from the door.

Although I was wearing a neck warmer, it didn’t function as a gas mask.

Honestly, with this level of stench, I doubted if I could even breathe with a gas mask on.

The repulsive smell of burning zombie corpses was that far beyond normal.

I approached the door once more and looked through the dirty windowpane.

‘This won’t do.’

It was a pity, but I resolutely gave up on the first floor.

The stench was much worse than I expected.

Beyond the smell, the first-floor store was not just a mess, it was completely ravaged. It looked like it had been destroyed when the zombies rushed out during the explosion earlier in the day.

Even at a glance, it seemed there was nothing intact.

More than anything, I didn’t have the confidence to endure in the middle of that stench-filled place.

This wasn’t something brute force could overcome.

Thinking so, I quickly retreated and took the stairs down to the basement.

Given the current situation, it seemed unlikely the food court would be unscathed.

Although I had a negative feeling, I didn’t stop walking.

As soon as I arrived at the food court entrance, I checked through the window.

“Ah…. It’s a mess.”

The scene beyond the window was, as expected, a complete disaster.

A deep sense of regret welled up, but I cautiously opened the door.

Fortunately, the stench wasn’t severe.

But I felt an unexpected chill.

It felt like being hit by a blast of cold air right in front of a refrigerator.

I gently pushed the door open and stepped into the store.

The temperature I felt instantly was almost like winter.

‘The ventilation system and air conditioning must have been running.’

I looked around in all directions, then suddenly heard a sound and realized.

And it wasn’t just machines that were moving.

Faint zombie groans were mixed in.

I guessed they were far from me and in the opposite direction.

I pondered for a moment what to do.

Should I just turn back and leave, or should I explore inside?

The conclusion came quickly.

‘Just pick out the intact items, grab them, and get out.’

It felt wasteful to have come all this way, so I became a little greedy.

And that small greed soon led to action.

I began to move slowly, checking the items directly in front of me.

It was a pity, but there weren’t many intact items left on the shelves.

Most were rolling on the floor or covered in blood.

Many packages were torn open or damaged.

Among the items in sight, and on the floor and walls, it was harder to find anything intact. It felt like walking on a street swept clean by zombies.

The interior, even more ruined than I expected, made me belatedly aware of a faint, repulsive smell.

‘Corpses….’

I was late to notice, but it was a smell similar to rotting zombies, yet different.

The stench of intact human corpses was occasionally mixed in.

And I could quickly confirm it wasn’t a hallucination.

Unlike other times, corpses were strewn everywhere.

I couldn’t confirm it from the back entrance, but once inside, I could see them.

Pure human corpses that hadn’t turned into zombies.

Each of them had a backpack on their back.

And around them lay what appeared to be bladed weapons.

These people weren’t attacked by zombies.

‘A dispute… no, a fight.’

Common kitchen knives, hammers, or crudely fashioned spears were visible. Among them, there were also cutters a bit larger than office utility knives.

Though not in large numbers, each of the corpses had entered this place with a weapon in hand before they died. They had carried backpacks on their backs and risked danger.

And here they lay dead.

The conclusion was quick.

These were probably hungry survivors.

Hiding in some safe place, they couldn’t endure the hunger and came all the way here. Clenching crude weapons, they pushed their weakened, exhausted bodies to get here.

But they were dead.

Their life-risking gamble had ended in failure.

Among those who rushed here, not a few would have fallen to zombies.

However, the human corpses I saw now had been killed by other humans.

As evidence, there were clear traces of a struggle, not signs of a zombie attack.

Wounds from stabbing and violence, not bites.

Occasionally, food ingredients were scattered around the corpses.

And without fail, those ingredients were ruined and stained with blood.

It seemed the killers, perhaps with a lingering shred of guilt, had abandoned the blood-soaked food.

It made me wonder what purpose it served to commit murder over just a little food, only to abandon it….

After observing a few noticeable corpses, I looked around.

There were quite a few empty spots on the shelves, indicating that a number of people had succeeded in obtaining food.

Conversely, the remaining food also amounted to a considerable quantity.

I moved among the blood, corpses, and ruined ingredients, scavenging for anything usable. Still, it wasn’t a small amount.

As I approached the entrance, the zombies’ wails became clearer.

The terrible stench I had smelled outside also grew stronger.

Though not in large numbers, I could see zombies milling about.

‘……’

It seemed the zombies in the basement had reacted to the explosion earlier in the day. I could tell because the escalator leading upwards was utterly shredded.

A large horde of zombies had rushed upstairs.

Just as the zombies on the upper floors had jumped down.

I wasn’t sure if I should consider this fortunate.

In any case, I had gathered enough supplies.

Thinking this was enough, I turned around and retraced my steps.

At the end, with a heavy heart, many things lingered in my mind.

As it was a famous store, many people must have flocked there. This was a plausible thought, considering the number of zombies that had rushed out.

‘Couldn’t all those people have shared?’

I knew well the pain of hunger.

If they had suppressed that pain a little more and maintained their reason, perhaps they wouldn’t have died so unjustly.

Or perhaps it was murder driven by the desire to have just a little more, more than others.

In any case, it was clear that people unaccustomed to hunger and suffering had fallen into madness. And people must have now realized it.

That a single pack of ramen, or a small can, could lead to a knife fight.

They must have now realized that they faced a situation where such things were possible.

Realization doesn’t change reality.

‘How many people will actually survive…?’

For people who lived in an era of civilization, this time of unbearable tyranny might be overwhelming.

I also know hunger.

There was a time when I was a powerless ordinary person, like the corpses lying here now.

I was in pain from hunger, it was difficult and agonizing.

Yet, I didn’t succumb to the madness sown by selfishness and hunger.

And I intend to continue that way.

I don’t want to harm people just for food.

‘I’d rather eat dirt than do that.’

I’m not an animal.

I had some useless thoughts, but I didn’t feel entirely sorry for them.

They encountered this situation and are breathing within it.

If they are eliminated, that’s just the end of it.

…Seeing human corpses seems to have made me a bit emotional.

As I am now, I’m strong enough not to get beaten and die just anywhere.

Thanks to that, I’m alive like this, and I intend to continue to be.

What I need to do remains unchanged.

I will simply continue to live with all my might.

‘Ah. Why am I like this….’

Perhaps it was late at night and I was hungry, but I had become sentimental.

‘…Am I getting the autumn blues??’

I walked out of the long corridor and exited into the loading dock.

Unlike the scorching sunlight of the day, the wind was quite cold.

Feeling the cold air, my head also felt clearer.

My stomach rumbled.

Hunger was the problem.

When a person is hungry and struggling, useless thoughts tend to surface.

‘First, let’s get out of here.’

I left my heavy feelings behind and began to move away from where I was.

But not long after, the intensifying hunger drained my strength.

In the end, I found a suitable place, ate the meal I had put off late at night, and only then could I move again.

The ramen I ate under the night breeze on a night with a beautiful moon was truly a guilt-inducing delicacy.