Chapter 18. Trust (9)
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The zombies happily ate the food we distributed. I don’t know if it hit my mouth. As always, he looked angry and ate all the way to the bottom.
From the third day onwards, the zombies began to behave strangely. Everyone had difficulty moving their bodies and suffered from coughing and chills. Even though the day is this hot.
“Look at the back of the alley. Everyone is sitting in a shady place and resting. “They don’t really fight with each other.”
I looked through the binoculars that Camilla gave me. I saw zombies sitting down and struggling. If you look closely, you can see that her entire body is dripping with sweat.
“I think the symptoms are similar to those we had when we were infected. No, is it worse? We weren’t that bad. That’s interesting.”
‘Viruses are competing with each other for control of the body.’
Cassandra explained it that way. But as I listened, there was something I didn’t understand.
‘Cassandra. This won’t be their first time eating food contaminated with a virus. In some cases, they would have eaten the same zombie corpses, right?
‘I must have had a ‘down period’ like that every time. Zombies that roam around 24 hours a day are probably really hungry and will die if they don’t eat something right away. Most people will take time to digest what they ate and deal with the newly introduced virus.’
Cassandra said that one of the theories that explained ‘why zombies are so obsessed with food?’ Was that ‘it takes too many calories to maintain one’s body.’ If you get an upset stomach every time you eat and have to take care of yourself, it’s the same as having no way of gaining weight.
“If you think about it positively, the virus in your body is that strong, John. “If it had been a normal virus, it would have been defeated quickly.”
It was a bit strange for a compliment, but it’s good that the experiment is going well.
Another two days passed. Now there are more zombies wandering around than lying down. Perhaps because he couldn’t eat anything when he was sick, his eyes were round, his teeth were exposed, and his body was overflowing with energy.
Is adaptation over? If those guys are really infected with my virus, can we expect changes?
“You’ll know when you bump into it.”
I tried to go out holding an M1911 pistol and a handful of candy. If only Leticia hadn’t looked at me so strangely.
“Where are you going?”
“Oh, I’m going to train some zombies.”
Leticia could not bear to continue her words. Well, for her, every day is a series of shocks. Even before she was an adult, she entered a military academy, she said. It’s like she spent more than half of her life in the military.
It must have been quite shocking to see a woman lying naked on her sunbed, saying that she had to prepare food for zombies and sterilize in the sun.
So, for me, it would be well within the scope of common sense.
“Do you want to go together?”
“No. “I came to stop you because it’s too dangerous?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.”
I pointed to the rooftop.
“Camilla decided to provide support fire from above. He’s a very good sniper. And the guys out there, although I’m not really close, we know each other a bit, so they’re not going to come and bite me.”
Leticia just stared back and forth between me and her ceiling with her mouth wide open.
“… I don’t think this has happened more than once with that woman named Camilla. “It looks very familiar.”
“Yes. We work together pretty well. After working together for a long time… “
“I want to go too.”
Leticia intervened, cutting me off. She must have thought she was in a bit of a hurry, so she hurriedly added her words.
“They said it was training. I know how to train too. “Before I worked in the intelligence department, I was also a platoon leader.”
“You’re training zombies, not people?”
“It’s actually better. You don’t have to be proficient with firearms. “How annoying is that?”
Before she could say anything, Leticia said she needed to change her clothes first and went upstairs.
It was an olive-colored shirt with cargo pants that didn’t reveal anything. If you look at it in a good way, it has a military look, but if you look at it raw, it is just regular military uniform. On her shoulder was a Beretta semi-automatic shotgun.
“Let’s go.”
Leticia walked out triumphantly first. It seems like she’s doing it on purpose, as if she’s telling Camilla to look at her. Um, whatever. Because she might have unexpected qualities.
– Johan, can you hear me?
Camilla’s voice was heard through the earphones.
“Yes. “It’s neat.”
– Zombies are coming towards you. And why is that woman shaking her ass in front of her?
“Leticia also has experience training soldiers in the military. She was wondering if she could get some advice. “Actually, our training didn’t go well, right?”
– Well, that’s right. But Johan, I honestly think you can do it on your own.
Why is Camilla like this today? She wasn’t the type to give words of encouragement.
“Thank you for watching. Zombies are coming. Leticia, don’t take out her shotgun yet. “There is no benefit in provoking it.”
I put the pistol in its holster and took the candy out of my pocket.
“Okay. You know this, right? You’ve tried it before. Stand in place. Then I’ll give you this.”
The zombie approached only drooling. One of her knees is slightly bent inward, making her walk look very uncomfortable, but she doesn’t care.
I suddenly threw away her candy. Sigh. There was the sound of a candy being smashed on the forehead.
“You said there’s nothing good to be gained from stimulating it?”
Leticia argued as if it was absurd, but she was even more embarrassed by what happened next. The zombie didn’t even look in our direction. She just picked up her candy from the floor. Then she tore her wrapper along the perforated lines, took out her contents and poured them into her mouth.
“It’s like this. “Some things become really easy, but some things just can’t be done no matter how many times you repeat them.”
The training to eat food went really well. Now, they can open canned food without one touch. I realized that it was better to drive it into a sharp iron bar than to hit it against a brick wall or bite it until it broke my teeth.
The same goes for candy. At first, Camilla tried to tear it off with force, like tearing a stocking. But when she demonstrated slowly in front of the guys, they followed along, albeit clumsily.
What doesn’t work is everything else. It seems as meaningless as teaching an adult cat to ‘Sit, hands up!’ Commands such as ‘Escort this car’ or ‘Eat that zombie!’ Do not work at all.
Other guys approached. Leticia held her shotgun in both hands. She held it loosely, but if anything went wrong she was ready to load and shoot.
“Shall we give it to you too?”
Did you understand what was being said or was it a reflex reaction? They spread their arms out in front and squeak as if they are asking for candy.
I threw the candy. Forehead. Nose. Shoulder. Although they hit various parts, they picked it up without showing any signs of pain. Leticia shook her head as if she didn’t want to talk anymore.
“Huh?”
Leticia tilted her head.
“Why?”
“Wait a minute.”
Leticia observed the zombies for a while.
“John, can you throw me some more candy? “Would you like to check?”
If you give him 2 candies a day, he will develop bad habits. There’s nothing I can do about it. There weren’t enough of them, so I threw them away in moderation. Fortunately, everyone is still eating in a hurry, so they don’t seem to care about the lack of food.
“Okay.”
Leticia came towards me.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“So that’s it.”
Suddenly, a look of mischief appeared on Leticia’s face.
“Once I get out of here, I’ll tell you. “I don’t want to talk about this in the middle of zombies eating candy.”
“Really?”
Well, it’s not a very difficult task. She stepped back and sideways to avoid provoking the zombies. If she runs away at a full sprint, their instinct to chase might come back to life.
* * * * *
I returned to the lab. Leticia took a gulp of water. She was pretending not to be like that, but she seemed to be very nervous on the inside.
“Are you more timid than you look, city girl?”
Camilla came down from her rooftop and made fun of Leticia.
“I’m not scared of zombies. “She was a woman blinded by jealousy, and she was worried about what she would do if someone shot her as blindly as she did.”
“Jealousy must be at the right level. “You’re not worried.”
But when she saw Cassandra coming in after her, both women became solemn.
“What was the condition of the zombies? “Is there anything different?”
It looks like the eyes are sparkling with great anticipation, but unfortunately, the observation time was not long.
“It was just like usual. “It wasn’t particularly friendly or hostile.”
“Cassandra thinks so too. I think she needs to spend more time to get meaningful data. Or, she could get things like clothes or items they were wearing and analyze them for viruses… “I don’t know if there will be time.”
If necessary, do it. I focused on Leticia.
“So, what did you find?”
“There are people who pay attention?”
This is my first time hearing this.
“Zombies are paying attention? Really?”
“Yes. I heard that almost all people follow those who act first, right? Being a military trainee is similar. If there is one fast guy, most people will look at him and follow him. So, if he does something wrong, everything gets messed up. Anyway, I don’t think zombies are any different.”