Chapter 20. Patriot (20)
Scratching my chin. Playing with the back of my head. Tap and stamp your feet.
“Isn’t it a bit embarrassing?”
No matter how much you think about it, it’s shameful.
“Are you embarrassed?”
It was impossible to tell Cassandra’s expression because her safety glasses were heavily fogged up and she was also wearing a mask. However, the embarrassment was evident in her voice.
“No, that’s right. It’s a bit embarrassing. I don’t know if it was fanaticism that shut down this planet, but they even installed CCTV here and were watching what was happening inside like looking into an anthill. “I don’t like it.”
It’s unpleasant.
I can’t say exactly what it is, but I feel very dirty. However, it is a familiar experience. That annoying feeling I got when I formed a party and went on a raid, when all the other team members died and I was the only survivor, and the hostile team members spread out and chased me around to ‘hunt’.
It is not for such noble reasons as to say that humanoid zombies are pretty or to empathize with humans that it is truly unfortunate. It’s just that I find the actions of fanatics very disturbing.
Is it really right to let them do what they do?
“I don’t like it.”
It’s not like being a fanatic has anything to do with me. No matter what they do, I just do my job and that’s it. But I don’t like it. I don’t like the feeling that the whole game is being structured the way they want, and that I feel like I’m being dragged along.
“John, Cassandra, I’m not sure what you’re talking about earlier.”
Cassandra tilts her head.
“Let’s lay down the facts we know from the beginning. As far as we know, they drove the infected into the central district and built a wall outside it to block access. Yes?”
“That’s right.”
“But when I entered the central district, there were very clear signs that the headquarters of the National Military Police had rebelled, and the people who did that were fanatics. “They even used this as a CCTV surveillance base and voyeurized the surroundings.”
“That’s right.”
“Then, where have all the fanatic soldiers from the headquarters gone?”
Bodies of soldiers were scattered everywhere. However, zombies wearing military uniforms were very rare. Moreover, in this health center, although the generator trailer and mounted machine gun position remain, there are no spare rifles or bullets. All that was left was a shell casing that fell on the floor.
There is only one thing that can explain this. They are alive. Of course, I may have become a zombie now. Anyway, I walked out of this public health center on my own two feet, still human.
It might be quite close.
“I need to find out.”
“What?”
“If those soldier-zealots are out there, and for some reason they are out of here for a while. “It’s like we’re in a poison now.”
Cassandra seemed surprised.
“Ooh, then do we have to move again?”
“I think we should keep that in mind. But you don’t have to worry too much. We’ve created quite a few intermediate bases, right? Even if we get attacked here, we can just take refuge there for a while. “You don’t have to worry about surviving.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t want to start an all-out war with crazy, regularly trained soldiers. Especially if they are hiding somewhere.”
It may be an overreaction, but I think it’s worth experimenting with. Anyway, we have to be safe. It is much more advantageous to attract and eat them before someone comes to attack us first.
“It would be nice to have a quiet place with nice mountains, good water, and electricity.”
“… I know.”
Blood collection is complete. Beep beep, a sound came from the machine. Cassandra came towards me and pulled the syringe from his arm. Her breathing seemed so heavy that her mask was shaking.
“Cassandra, are you uncomfortable? “Are you feeling unwell?”
“Oh, no. “He’s perfectly fine.”
Seup – Ha. Seup – Ha. It seems like my breathing is too deep for something like that. It was something I didn’t understand. Cassandra walked away from me, put her ointment in her hand and shook it.
“Sorry. I think you’ll have to apply this yourself, Johan. If the wound is completely healed after application, it is okay to shower, but since a lot of blood was drawn today, please refrain from strenuous exercise.”
The ointment flew in a parabola. I was able to catch it without difficulty.
“Then will you please leave?”
“What? “Are you going to kick me out because I’ve done my business?”
She protested playfully, but Cassandra had already turned her back. She wondered if she was really doing well, put on her ointment and walked out the door of her hospital room.
“Hey, over there.”
Cassandra called me from behind her.
“Huh?”
“Then I should take this laptop.”
Cassandra pointed her finger at her desk. She felt that she was okay and went back into the hospital room. She pretended to grab the laptop before walking briskly towards Cassandra.
“What? Go away.”
Cassandra backed away and pressed against the wall.
“Do you really know what’s going on? No joke. That’s because I’m really worried. Why do you keep avoiding me… ?”
“It’s not like that!”
Suddenly Cassandra screamed loudly. It was the first loud sound she had heard since meeting her. You can almost hear a crunching sound from above.
“Whoa, okay. Okay. Don’t worry. “I’m going out.”
This was my first time seeing a reaction like this, so I packed up my laptop and headed out again. She happened to run into Camilla who was coming down the stairs. She was wearing a sports bra and hot pants, as if she had been working out, and she was holding a pistol in her hand.
“What? What’s going on? “Did you hear Cassandra’s voice?”
“Uh… excuse me. Put that gun down, and if you don’t mind, could you please check on Cassandra’s condition? I guess it’s really strange. He says he doesn’t, but he wrapped it up too tightly….”
“Why?! “Seo, really?!”
Camilla, who realized my hint, was startled and entered her hospital room. She was almost breaking down her door. In the meantime, she took her gun again and went inside. A crunching sound was heard inside. She tried to open the door, wondering what on earth she was doing inside.
“Wow!”
The road closed with a thud.
“I’m sorry, Johan! “Did you hit your nose?”
“Camilla! “I thought her face was broken!”
“I’m sorry! “Go back!”
I stepped behind her and Camilla stuck out only her head. Sweat glistened on her face as well.
“Sorry. I completely stripped Cassandra. Yes, it’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to worry. I just feel like I have a slight fever. Oh no! It’s not the kind of infection you think it is. “I think I’m a little overworked because I’ve been working too much.”
“Have you even learned her medical skills from Cassandra?”
“I want to open an internal medicine practice. Go up. I’m going to put the baby’s clothes on and go up. “You’re not going to secretly watch women even wear clothes, are you?”
“Okay, put the gun away!”
* * * * *
Knock knock.
I knocked on Leticia’s door.
“Huh? Who? Oh….”
“Not today. “I want you to take a lot of blood and rest.”
I pointed to the laptop.
“Tsk.”
Leticia looked quite disappointed, but she still opened her door. Even though she had only been at the public health center for a few days, she seemed to have a distinct personality.
“The room is decorated like a surveillance post. “Where did you get the gun rack?”
“I picked up something that was rolling around out there. “Do you want a beer?”
“Just cider.”
“It’s not fun.”
Leticia left in a hurry and returned with beer and cider. She was very cool because she was kept in the ‘refrigerator.’ We sat across from each other on her bed and had a drink. She also had nowhere else to sit.
“How much oil do we have left in our generator?”
Leticia pursed her lips in response to my question.
“Well, if the current trend continues, about two months? We are conserving a lot of electricity right now. Production was also reduced significantly. But why is that?”
“Isn’t it strange, those guys from the 284th National Military Police Headquarters? “They left behind the power generator and two months’ worth of fuel, but took all the rifles and ammunition with them.”
I shared with Leticia the story I had shared with Cassandra, the guess that the 284 Headquarters had disappeared to somewhere, and the prospect that they might come back here again.
She became increasingly serious. So much so that I stopped for a moment from stretching her foot between my crotch and wiggling her toes.
“Hmm. In fact, after the zombie apocalypse broke out, not a single unit was left intact. There is no place like the military where once an infection breaks out, there is an uproar. Even though it looked fine overall, the unit units were often in shambles.
It was to the extent that the General Headquarters gave up counting and issued instructions saying, ‘Each corps should reorganize its own units.’ So the 284 National Military Police’s uproar would have been buried. But, as I said before, it’s a bit strange. “If the commander and staff had reached that point, there would be no way they would have known.”
Leticia crushed her beer can.
“Shall we find out specifically what happened? You can also access reorganization records on the military intranet. “You have to take some detours here and there, but if you refer to it, you’ll know what’s going on.”
“No. There is no such thing. It’s not that urgent. “The reason I came to see you was for a slightly different reason.”
“Hmm, what is it?”
“Can you find programs used by National Military Police soldiers or contact codes on this laptop? “I thought if I could use this laptop to contact the rest of the group, I might be able to attract them.”
“Let’s see.”
Leticia tapped lightly on her keyboard. Her fingers danced, tapping, tapping, as if playing a rhythm game.
“Look at this?”
“What is it?”
Leticia pointed to the screen.
“This person didn’t log out.”
Before she could say anything, Leticia pressed her enter key. She wasn’t connected. ‘I need an Internet connection.’ Leticia, who was worried, connected her laptop to her cell phone. She regained connection, albeit slowly.
“List of written reports… hmm. Here it is. ‘A large number of infected people occurred at the 284th National Military Police Headquarters… There is no contact with the staff… Deployment of search battalion… Out of the total 253 members, 48 were found and returned to life. . “It’s fun.”
Of course it doesn’t make sense. This is an official report. If the survivors had truly all returned under the search battalion operation, there would be no trace of the military in this central district. Of course, the bodies of the commander and leaders would have been recovered as well.
“Wait a minute.”
A message appeared on the screen.
『Duplicate login detected. Do you want to log out?』
My eyes met Leticia’s.
“Leticia.”
“Huh?”
“After all, I should ask about things I don’t know, right?”
“Of course.”
There was a ‘Send Message’ function in the information system menu. Of course, there was also something addressed to myself. I was thinking about what to write, and I wrote it down like this.
『Ellen Burrow, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. Why did you kill me? – 284 National Military Police Commander, J Clayton.』