Chapter 20. Patriot (36)
* * * * *
I’m not sure if zombies have good memories, or if zombies tend to have good memories. What’s important is that he didn’t forget me.
“It’s old.”
When I took off the chocolate bar wrapper and threw it away, the military police zombie was drooling in delight. In addition to that guy, he also threw it to the guys who followed him from the lab. They chewed the chocolate bar as if it were gum.
“You still look ugly.”
“Kruk.”
“Okay. “It is not easy to cure chronic diseases.”
“Tsk.”
“Why do you open your eyes like that?”
The military police zombie guy, who was looking at me with quite pitiful eyes, quietly moved towards the shadows. I wondered if that guy was half human. But the guy sat down in the shade of the tree and quickly fell asleep.
It was predation. Like other guys around me.
* * * * *
Zombies distinguish one another by smell. Just because we differentiated it doesn’t mean we didn’t catch it. If it showed a loophole or dripped blood, it seemed to be perceived as just ‘fresh food’ no matter how it smelled.
However, rather than eating those infected with the ‘Korean’ Cro virus, the frequency of eating those that were not infected was much higher.
The ‘not so’ zombies were helplessly eaten. It was a natural result since the three of them latched onto one of the animals that had been reinfected with the ‘our-style’ Cro virus and ate one.
If there were no injuries, they didn’t bother to attack. That seemed to be the reason why I didn’t bother to follow Catherine and Elian’s scouting party. It was rewarding to spray pheromones into the air and get infected people to gather.
We won.
B. Camilla. Cassandra. Leticia. And zombies.
『Rather gather as many zombies as possible and escape from the crisis by manipulating those already infected with our version of the Cro virus. Meanwhile, the humans either fight and let them get eaten, or they let them run away. No matter which way you end up, you get the spoils.』
I’m worried about whether we should include the zombies in ‘us’, but it’s an operation that couldn’t have been set up if we didn’t know that the military police and those around them were alive.
Thanks to this, we packed enough ammunition, food, drinking water, and equipment. The supplies at the supply depot were enough for one infantry company to carry out field missions for a month. Unopened rifles, dry food, blankets and sleeping bags, as well as personal equipment and medicine.
Chemicals, laboratory tools, various laboratory equipment, expensive machine parts, and clean new clothes that remained throughout the university were bonuses. Every time I opened each student cabinet, it felt like I was opening a random box. Sometimes there was a picture attached to something, and every time I said, ‘Thank you. I didn’t forget to whisper, ‘I will use this well.’
“Ouch yay yay.”
Of course, the harassment continued during ‘settlement’ time.
“I was in pain too!”
“Okay. I guess you did. “If you only slept with one person a day, you would have been able to comfortably spend 20 days, but how bad would it be if you had to eat in a short-term manner?”
Camilla pulled my ear whenever she got the chance. Leticia saw what was happening and instead of trying to stop him, she clicked her tongue and said, “Ugh.” Cassandra settled down far away. At least Cassandra was the one who listened to something similar.
Usually, pheromone sprays only spread viruses and enhance the amplitude of emotions, but are not enough to completely shake a person’s reason. Of course, in the process, accidents occurred where hidden desires were expressed, but I didn’t think it was strange because it could happen between healthy adult men and women.
So I couldn’t understand this incident any more. No matter how much concentrated pheromone was sprayed, I couldn’t understand why not only women but also men would attack me while experiencing confusion about their s*xual identity. That was the main question Cassandra asked me.
“It’s not certain, but it’s not impossible to explain.”
“What is it?”
“You said that the Elian scouts went to a gas station in the south and caught a cold?”
Now that I think about it, it certainly seemed like that.
“Yes.”
“In that case, the previously dormant Cro virus would have already been replaced there by the ‘our-style’ Cro virus. However, after being exposed to concentrated and excessive pheromones, I think I developed a kind of hypersensitivity. “Should I say it’s something like an allergy?”
Camilla, who was listening, suddenly waved her hand.
“So, an allergic reaction manifests itself as an explosive s*xual desire?”
“Not everything. A woman named Catherine said that at first she was so hungry that she just ate this and that. She was not a member of Elian’s scouts, so she was not infected with our virus. While she was accompanying them, she contracted an infection and suffered from illness, and it seems like she was exposed and turned into a s*x drive. Hmm. “I’m not sure about this either.”
“No, wait a minute. “Even though we walk around with a bunch of living pheromones, it’s not that bad, is it?”
She thought it was a bit absurd that Leticia, who was trying to invade her darkly at night, said such a thing, but if you think about it, she was a bit perverted to begin with, so I don’t think it was an appropriate example.
“That’s because Yohan didn’t pour two cans of concentrated pheromones into his body. And like I said, pheromones don’t necessarily attract people. “It amplifies the thoughts and feelings that the person originally had.”
“Ah.”
Camilla snapped her fingers as if she knew something.
“What is it?”
“John. Those fanatics, they were the ones who really hoped and expected a savior. Yes? So, when he smelled John’s pheromones, he was influenced a little too much and fit into his image of the savior, isn’t it?”
“Ugh. “The Goddess of Hunger’s savior is not a s*x-crazed monkey!”
Although Leticia was horrified, Camilla did not back down.
“I know enough about doctrine! And those guys are fanatics. Not a typical church member. “Then maybe you believed something else?”
“I believe that the savior saves the world from disaster, but I have never heard that he goes to sleep whenever he gets the chance!”
“Wouldn’t that be possible if you were fascinated?”
Camilla and Leticia seemed to have quite a fun conversation, but I couldn’t get immersed in it. Whether you are a man or a woman, your desire for a savior will be the same. But there is no law that says that fascination can only be expressed s*xually.
I left the two women talking loudly and went up to the roof of the engineering college. The starlight was so brilliant, but the city at night with the lights off was dark and dark. It is evening when ugly and twisted zombies are fast asleep under dark blankets.
Where should I go?
There was too much luggage at the gym, so it seemed like I would have to suffer for a few days. Since the gym, Silvertown public health center, and city hall were exposed, I was worried about where to go.
What else do those guys do?
I looked down at the zombies surrounding us. Although they are hidden by the shade of the trees, there seem to be at least well over a hundred of them. If you use RV vehicles and RV helicopters, they can move too. If you are among those guys, your safety can be guaranteed, even if only in a vague way. However, this is assuming that we can feed them enough and that there are no injuries to our bodies.
“John.”
Cassandra’s voice was heard. She was watching me as she came up the stairs. Of course, she kept quite a distance from me, but she no longer made unnecessary misunderstandings.
“Did you wrap it up like that because you were afraid you might get addicted? “That’s why I’m keeping my distance now.”
She nodded her head to my question.
“Some changes have occurred in Cassandra’s body. This is what happened to those fanatics. “It’s like black sediment that was present when Cassandra’s blood was analyzed, and although her number is rapidly decreasing, it hasn’t all been discharged yet.”
“What on earth is that doing?”
“John responds to your pheromones to stimulate desire. Appetite. s*xual desire. Things like the desire to dominate are better kept calm. In some cases, it may encourage the desire to kill. Because people’s needs are as complex as their thoughts. And Cassandra remembers what she did to you, Johan, when she was hungry.”
What is the difference between loving and eating? The former has a following, but the latter does not? That alone seems insufficient. The important thing is that she keeps her distance from me, and that distance doesn’t feel that far now.
“You’re keeping your distance so you don’t lose yourself, right?”
“That’s right. John, doing strange things to you is not doing it according to ‘my’ will. “I don’t want to do that.”
Cassandra’s face is difficult to read. She always has the same expressionless expression. Instead she spoke of ‘I’. It was a sincere story.
“Thank you.”
So she thanked her.
“What?”
“All these things. Your efforts. Your considerations. Even though she didn’t say anything, she was always grateful. Now I can express it. I want to get closer, but it’s….”
“Not yet.”
Cassandra stepped behind her. The darkness loomed over her, making her expression even more difficult to read. She even turned her head slightly so I could feel myself squinting at her crescent moon.
“… Greatness. I caught a cold. Come down appropriately.”
“Huh?”
But Cassandra was no longer there.
I smiled quietly.
I leaned on the railing and looked down. The people I like are in this building, and the beasts I must lead are out there. Humans and things that were once human. Animals who love, are jealous, hate, and suffer from hunger are bound by the absurd homogeneity of being infected with the same virus.
“There must be something special.”
Whatever the outside world says, it’s none of my concern. Just keep moving as you normally do. Eat, love, sleep, fight. You just have to take it easy. In order to be safer, we spread our own version of the Cro virus and sleep in a place where no one will know. Sometimes I get pretty clothes and eat delicious canned food.
For those insignificant and small days.