Chapter 20. Patriot (17)
Camilla’s eyes quickly became wet.
“What’s wrong? What is it? What’s going on? Are the results bad? Did it really come out bad? No, Cassandra? “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, no problem.”
Hmm. Right.
Cassandra’s strengths and weaknesses were that she was not easily swayed by the atmosphere around her. So whenever she was happy or surprised, it was when something really big had happened. So, even though Camilla is embarrassed, it is not her fault that she is embarrassed.
“Is this really no problem? “You tore the paper too seriously for something like that.”
“Yes, that’s right! “How surprised I was!”
Camila and I have repeated the phrase ‘how long have we been together, I hope you can persuade us so that we can feel at ease’ quite a few times. In the end, Cassandra also took a step back.
“Okay. “It would be better to show it in person.”
Cassandra prepared several chalets and added liquid drop by drop with her dropper. She moved her hands quite busily on the lab shelf and turned on the computer connected to the microscope.
“Here, the letter B on the right side of the monitor screen is a virus extracted from a zombie sample. “The A on the left is the Cro virus in John’s body.”
The virus extracted from ‘my body’ looked round and plump, and the virus on the right looked like a skinny tadpole.
Cassandra held a mixture of two viruses under the microscope. The chubby guy that came out of my body eagerly ate the skinny tadpole. It felt like watching slime melt and eat the adventurer’s bones.
“John’s virus is not only contagious but also much more toxic. It easily infects Cassandra with the zombie virus that bit it. Now let’s see what these things are doing in Cassandra’s body.”
Cassandra took out her cotton swab and scratched the inside of her mouth. She put it in the chalet, and also added two viruses, one drop at a time.
When I looked at the monitor, it felt like I was looking at a military operation map. Two viruses occupy a large room, and try to get inside somehow, but they are unable to break through.
“As I’ve said many times, Cassandra’s body has received very special treatment in the past. So her immunity is much stronger than others. You all know that even if you injected the weakened Cro virus directly into your body, nothing happened. Plus, it seems like you already have antibodies against this virus. So, you don’t have to worry too much.”
“So, your body is overcoming the virus, right? Am I right? “You’re not going to turn into a zombie, are you?”
After checking twice and thrice, Camilla cried tears of joy. Cassandra looked like she didn’t understand why her Camilla was crying, but she was in no position to say anything because Camilla was hugging her and spinning her around again.
“I thought I was losing you!”
But I couldn’t be as happy as Camilla.
“Hey, Cassandra. “This is it.”
I pointed to the monitor.
“What are these black things here? It clumps up like some kind of particle and floats around. “They weren’t there when the two viruses were mixed, but are they present in what I scraped out of your mouth, Cassandra?”
For just a moment, Cassandra’s expression changed coldly. Camilla was hugging her so tightly that she didn’t even notice.
Did I see it wrong?
Blinking her eyes and looking again, Cassandra’s face looked very calm.
“Oh, it’s just inflammation. When a virus enters the human body, the immune system does not sit still. Fight hard, then die. “You don’t have to worry too much.”
“Really, John. “Everything is fine!”
Camilla glanced at me this time. Feeling embarrassed, I just scratched the back of my head. Cassandra even gave an additional explanation as if it was really no big deal.
“Cassandra will have a slight fever for a while, but if she drinks enough water and gets enough rest, it will pass without any major problems. “I think it would be helpful if there were vitamins, and since this is Silver Town, it would be easy to find them.”
“Really? Then it’s not the time to be like this! Johan, let’s go! “If you search every house, you’ll find vitamin C somewhere!”
Camilla seemed so happy that she grabbed both me and Cassandra at the same time and dragged them along. But I couldn’t be as happy as she was.
I’ve definitely seen Cassandra’s cool expression before.
It was quite similar to the expression on her face when she first synthesized her spray and suffered poisoning.
Well, what’s the big deal? Anyway, if it’s okay, it’s okay.
* * * * *
It’s already been a week since I settled in at this public health center.
It wasn’t the full-fledged rainy season yet, but it still rained quite a bit, and thanks to that, we were able to secure enough water for drinking and daily use. Fortunately, it rained after cleaning the water tank on the rooftop.
“It’s electricity. Electricity.”
Leticia gulped down her bottle of beer under the bright lights. In her own words, it was ‘an inevitable choice to save even a little bit of precious water,’ but no matter how she looked at it, it seemed like she just wanted to drink it herself. Actually, it’s a 6% fruit-flavored beer, so considering her usual drinking volume, it’s no different from water.
“I think I need to get a new gun barrel. Hmm, I think I need more parts….”
Camilla overhauled her weapons. I disassembled it one by one, cleaned it, oiled it, and inspected each and every part. She wrapped insulating tape around her pistol grip and sharpened her hunting knife on a whetstone to remove rust.
Cassandra is sleeping in her own room. She had a mild fever, just as she had predicted. Since she didn’t have to do anything too hard, she told me to rest as much as I could.
“How long has it been since we played like this?”
“It’s the second day.”
Leticia lifted her bottle of beer and grinned. She painted, disinfected, assigned rooms for each person to stay in, and trucked in supplies…. Everyone was exhausted.
On the other hand, she also wanted to get enough rest in preparation for her future work.
Because we are short of bullets and food right now. There were three boxes of ammunition left and about three weeks’ worth of food left. In fact, there is plenty of medicine and fuel.
“If you think positively, there will still be a lot of resources left in the central district. Because it was isolated from the outside world. “It just doesn’t seem like things will stay where they are.”
Leticia hummed like a song.
“You don’t think it will stay in its place?”
“This place was like a completely lawless zone. There weren’t even any gangs, and I don’t think fanatics had any influence throughout the central district. In that case, everyone would probably have had to live separately, and then… “If we go to a residential area or apartment, it seems like everything we want is there.”
This meant that people would have already stocked up on ammunition and food at home. But what happened to them is unknown. Considering that all those trapped in the central district were ‘infected’, all of them would have soon turned into zombies or committed suicide.
“That’s cool. He confidently enters the apartment where hungry zombies are waiting… “I think it might be a bit dangerous.”
In some ways, Cassandra was lucky. Even if the three of us are bitten by a zombie, will our immune systems be able to overcome it like Cassandra’s? I can’t guarantee. No matter how strong the virus in my body is, isn’t there something that happens all the time? And the Cro virus is famous for mutating quickly.
However, at least if it is an apartment infiltration, it is not dangerous.
“We can go safely.”
“John, how?”
“You don’t have to go in through the front door, right? Just infiltrate through the balcony or break the window.”
“Wow.”
Leticia, whose face was red, clapped her hands softly.
“I like that. “A thief who robs a zombie house.”
Leticia, who was blowing on a bottle, spilled her drink. Her beer ran down her chin and neck and into her cleavage, moistening it. She clearly didn’t drink enough to get drunk.
From Noble mtl dot com
“If you’re drunk, drink in moderation.”
Camilla shot back her words and looked at her map again. Leticia stuck out her tongue and licked the mouth of her bottle coquettishly, turning it back and forth. She then curled her tongue and placed it on the edge of the mouth of the bottle, repeatedly pulling it out. For some reason, it feels like he’s spying on me in a strange way.
“It’s good, but the zombie density is too high here. If you make a fuss, all the surrounding zombies will come rushing in, right? “How are you going to do that?”
When Camilla raised her head, Leticia pretended that nothing had happened. She took it a step further and even traced her spot with her finger.
“We have to divide it into sections and shake it off. Just do the same thing you did so far. She makes a fuss around the area in advance to attract the guys’ attention, then infiltrates inside, takes this and that, and then hops in the car and scurries away. “Isn’t it simple?”
“Well said. What do you do if the road is blocked? “Do you remember how close we were last time?”
Actually, this is the biggest problem.
The places we have stayed so far have no road restrictions. If there was a blockage, all you had to do was take a detour. But not here. There are a lot of zombies, and if you take a wrong turn, you’ll get stuck.
“Actually, there is a way.”
Camilla and Leticia looked at me.
“It’s a bit annoying.”
It is safe, but it is actually a very cumbersome method.