Chapter 18. Trust (7)
* * * * *
“Ouch.”
I guess it was because I put a tissue in my nose, so it made a snotty sound.
“I’m going to kill you.”
Though she said that, Camilla’s touch became quite cautious. After looking at my face, she said it was done and closed the lid of the ointment.
“Camilla. “Don’t you think we’re a little childish?”
“We didn’t solve it through conversation originally, right? It crashes and breaks like this all the time. It’s disgusting. Instead, just talk about what you said earlier. “How are you going to reinfect the zombies?”
“To do what Cybele did. We’re going to culture a weak concentration of the virus and put it in the zombies’ food. And just throw it away and that’s it. “Zombies will eat them without any suspicion, and then it will accumulate inside their bodies, right?”
Of course, there are risks. As Cassandra said, cultivating viruses is quite a dangerous task. Especially something as deadly as the Cro virus.
“He said he had a plan. There’s a warehouse on the right side of the first floor. That big window. They say they want to use it as a culture room. I think we should empty it in the afternoon. Instead, he said only he should go into that warehouse.”
“Isn’t Cassandra taking too great a risk? “You’re exposed to the virus.”
I also asked the same question. Cassandra told me about her plan.
“Of course, I will wear an infection protection suit while working, and I will create an entrance with a tent next to the window to be used instead of an entrance. And… “
“And?”
“I heard you want to put a sunbed outside the entrance, i.E. In the yard? And he said you should never look at me when he’s around.”
It’s a request I don’t quite understand, but I’m thinking of doing it anyway since they ask. Camilla’s expression became serious.
“I’m worried about Cassandra. I have to say this now, but you don’t know how anxious I was when you weren’t around. So much so that even I was worried. Although I should have worried in a slightly different sense. By the way, John.”
“Yes.”
“… No. “I just won’t ask.”
“What is it, making people curious?”
“… “Did she really do it with that girl?”
This is something that cannot be ignored.
“Yes.”
“… “I would just do it too.”
“Huh?”
“No. Go away. Don’t make any noise. “It gives me goosebumps.”
Camilla picked me up and pushed me out the door.
* * * * *
I looked at the groceries in the warehouse with Cassandra. The purpose was to clean, organize inventory, and find food to throw to the zombies outside.
Although we have added one more member to our family, there is no need to worry for the next three months.
However, drinking water is the problem. Although water in water tanks and rainwater has been replenished by boiling, the amount of clean water in plastic bottles continues to decrease.
“So, Cassandra, how about drinking soda or beer instead of water?”
“It’s not a very good solution. Because they make you thirstier. In the end, you end up consuming too much water and nutrients, but either way, it puts a strain on your body. Moreover, if you are injured and need to take medication, the liver of a person who drinks alcohol has a very poor ability to detoxify the medication. .”
“Sorry. It’s my fault.”
Cassandra tilted her head at my words.
“What Cassandra said was that if you really want to, mix it up. “Then you save water and drinks and beer.”
Beer mixed with water, cola mixed with water. It’s scary to even imagine. It is true that it is a burdensome worry in this situation, but shouldn’t human dignity still be protected?
I picked out things that had passed their expiration date or were about to expire, or canned goods that had swelled due to improper storage. When I put it all together, it seemed like it wasn’t enough, so I also took out a can of boiled cultured meat that everyone hated. I was reluctant because it felt like chewing tofu soaked in water.
The canned food was moved to the warehouse on the first floor where it would be used for cultivation purposes. The door was locked and the gap was sealed with plastic. We assembled a frame using iron bars, covered it with plastic and a tent, and created another isolation room in the warehouse.
Suddenly, I remembered a senior who set up a tent and laid out a mat in his room to save on heating costs. How are you living by now? .
“John?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Didn’t you hear what Cassandra said?”
“Sorry, I was thinking about something else for a moment. What did you say?”
“I asked when you were going to change residence. “If I were to go, I would be curious to see if there was a place in mind.”
“First of all… Do you remember that place you went to a while ago? There was a lake near here. A place where Camilla used it as a training ground for Liberation Corps members. “If I don’t have a place to go, I’m thinking about going there too.”
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But it really is the last option. There were almost no buildings standing on the ground, and the basement was even damp due to the moisture from the lake. Considering that there is even mold, it is not a place to stay for a long time.
“First of all, a place the four of us can go to, where we can do research, and which is good for defense and good for hiding… I’m looking for a place like that. But it’s actually hidden there, right?”
Of course, such places are hidden, and if you look at the map, you can quickly remember where something is.
But it is a bit ambiguous to hastily say, ‘Let’s go here!’
I don’t know if the building was built in this timeline, and even if it was, I don’t know what the situation is.
If you pack a lot of luggage and carry it with you, but it is occupied by an army of zombies or fanatics, wouldn’t that be just as embarrassing?
“… Then, Johan, why don’t you stay here longer?”
“It’s not that I didn’t think about it, but we were attacked by the Western Bureau’s Minsk mercenary group. It won’t be for a while, but additional attacks may come. Moreover, according to Leticia, the Erza National Military Police already knows about that fact.”
Cassandra’s face turned white.
“Are the national military police coming in here?”
“Fortunately, the possibility of that happening is low. First of all, there is no benefit. Cybele is like Erza’s state-run company, so they know quite a bit of information and data. And moving the army requires consuming a lot of manpower and fuel, but local defense alone is too much, so there will be no time to deploy all the way here.”
“… Ah, I understand. I have to move, but I have some time to spare for the time being. That’s what I mean. That’s why experiments like this are possible.”
“Exactly. “But I didn’t know you would like it here.”
No, more than that, has Cassandra ever said that she likes something?
“Yes. Cassandra likes it here. She is easy to work with, has made a lot of progress in her research, and sleeps well. Her happy memories are also… “
Just say that and keep your mouth shut. “Okay,” She says, turning her head.
“Because you have good memories?”
He nods his head at what I say.
“It wasn’t all that good, but still. Fun… “There was.”
“It will continue to be that way.”
I was talking lightly and trying to move my luggage, but Cassandra was still standing blankly.
“I guess being dazed is contagious.”
“… “How can you be sure?”
“Are you talking about contagion?”
It was meant as a joke, but Cassandra looks serious. Because she threw up her hands and shook her head.
“No, no. That’s not it. It will be like that in the future… ”
“It’s been fun so far, so it will be the same later. “It’s natural to think that way, right?”
I don’t think it was a very funny thing to say. Cassandra laughed. Ha-hi, a strange, one-shot laugh.
“… Okay. I see… “
“What do you mean?”
I lowered the box and asked again. Cassandra came towards me with a strange smile.
“I feel weird when I’m with Yohan. I feel so excited and floating. The tragedies that happen outside seem like stories from another world. Just everything… It seems like entertainment to you. “Not being discouraged by a world like this.”
Yes, I…
“Cassandra, what you’re saying is that I’m not the ideal candidate for the apocalypse, right?”
“Yes… “
It was uncomfortable to keep standing and talking, so I sat on the food box. Cassandra also sat down on the box next to her. The room, which had been sealed with vinyl, was dark and had the characteristic humid smell of an airtight room, but the midsummer sunlight was streaming in warmly outside the window.
“Camilla was very worried about you.”
Camilla said it a little differently. She pretended not to notice and pulled away.
“Is that so?”
“I had a hard time. “It’s not like I can contact you as I want, and the current situation is bad, so I went into the city again.”
Now I see two women. She doesn’t want to say that she was worried, so she’s pretending that the other person was. She just pretended not to know.
“But it was something we all needed. Thanks to this, further research was conducted.”
“Yes, but the atmosphere has changed so much.”
Cassandra twisted her fingers around, feeling nervous.
“What happened?”
“No. Nothing happened. She took turns standing guard with Camilla and things were uneventful. So… “It was more difficult.”
“Are you saying you had a hard time?”
Cassandra was silent. A hot wind blew from outside and swirled around the room. It smelled like flowers and a faint rotten smell. It smells like zombies. Only when the smell disappeared did I continue speaking.
“What you see is a field. Abandoned building. Corpses and zombies. Those were all. But I thought that didn’t really matter. However, a certain scene came to mind, and it was so creepy.
When all living things in this land turned into zombies, and eventually they ate each other and ate each other, only the last one survived, wandering the abandoned land and dying lonely.
An abandoned world where buildings, houses, and food are all covered in dust, but not a single bird cries. “I couldn’t bear to think that that world was near.”
I hugged Cassandra without realizing it. I knew she didn’t like this kind of thing, but I felt like I had to do it.
“… ‘I’ created that world.”
She returned from Cassandra to Ophelia.
“You didn’t do it all alone. There’s no need to think like that. If you think about it, it’s not just one thing. If you look at it that way, Roemer also has original sin. You established a policy of controlling the people of Erza using food as a weapon. Don’t feel like you did it all yourself. “It’s not true.”
Maybe it’s my fault because I installed the mod strangely and can’t remember what I installed. But what does that mean? If I’d known I’d be dragged in here, I wouldn’t have done it.
“So, repeat after me.”
“What?”
Cassandra opens her eyes and looks at me.
“What do you need to know?”
Cassandra giggled and burst into laughter.
“What? That is.”
“I told you to do it quickly.”
“I’m embarrassed.”
“Try it. Just close your eyes and try it.”
I covered Cassandra’s eyes with my hand. The corners of her mouth twitched and went up.
“Al… “
The end is creeping in, but it is a good start. I patted her still and waited.
“Al, al… crab… “
“I’m doing well.”
“Okay… what… what.”
“Make it louder.”
“You did it… “
“I want to hear it one more time, please. Do it.”
Cassandra’s body came closer. She burst into laughter as if Cassandra couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“What do you know?”
“Okay. That’s it. What do you know? “You just have to live differently from now on.”
Cassandra held my face in her hands. She crushed her lips against mine. She couldn’t say anything else like that. Because it was pretty rough. My front teeth hurt a little, but whatever. She must have been ashamed of herself, so she pulled my face down to her chest. A warm smell. Soft and ample texture.
“… Oh, if possible, please don’t go too far from now on.”
“I will. But I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you ask me to leave the sunbed?”
“Phil, that’s because you need it. You can’t ever look there, right? Cassandra will be angry.”
This is a story that desperately asks you to look at it.