Chapter 20 - So-Called Looking Ahead
“Mmh…”
Ryou woke up.
Looking at his phone in his hands, he saw that it was five o’clock.
Since winter was approaching, it was pretty dark.
To the point of mistaking it for being night.
After stretching his body, he relaxed his body while taking a deep breath.
Looking to the side, he saw Rei sleeping soundly.
He had gotten up a bit early.
At this moment, he noticed that the broadcasting room was lit up.
Someone might be keeping watch.
Becoming curious, he went to take a peek.
“Oh, Ryou. You’re up.”
Tooru was staring at his phone.
“Huh? That phone…”
He remembered that phone from somewhere.
“This? I borrowed it from Rei.”
“What are you doing?”
Peeking at the screen of the phone, it seemed that he was looking at a page explaining “How to make miso”.
“Miso?”
“Yeah. Because I don’t know when we can’t use the internet anymore. Since I don’t know how to make what I’m always using, it’s better to learn to now.”
About ten mechanical pencils and papers lay in front of Tooru, and the contents were carefully put together.
As expected, Tooru wasn’t an ordinary person, was what Ryou thought.
He could never have thought of finding out how to make various stuff in anticipation of a long-term war.
Moreover, if he was able to think of it in these circumstances, it probably meant he was quick-witted.
He gave off the feeling of having a screw loose at first, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
“However, if you’re doing this kind of job, did you sleep properly?”
“Well, it coincided with keeping watch, and when it was another person’s turn I took a nap, so I think I got enough of sleep.”
“..Were the Self-Defence Forces1 and police annihilated?”
“Hmm?”
“No, well, since I can’t really hear the gunshots I heard yesterday.”
“Well, it would be impossible to fight against a zombie army like that with that kind of equipment. Now, the time of the people, who thoughtlessly ran around trying to escape and became bitten by zombies, and people, who was staying at home to escape danger, is probably decreasing and it’s only a matter of time.”
“After we finish cleaning up the school, it might be better to search for weapons in the city.”
“Hmm. It’s better without that sort of gun.”
“No, well, special military forces might be there even, and there could be weapons stacked up and armored vehicles too. Well, at any rate, in order to secure food, we have to go.”
With the food they had now, it would be difficult to pass the winter.
The bundle of papers in front of Tooru seemed to be about agriculture, but since there wasn’t a plastic greenhouse here, they would probably not be able to farm this winter this year.
As for water, in case the water tank of the school and drinks from the vending machines were gone, they could draw water from the river behind the school, but it would be bad if an infected person entered the river.
They would all become infected and die.
In that case, they had to put up a barricade by the river.
Regularly obtaining food and water was their current objective.
Furthermore, another thing they needed was kerosene.
Even though this school was in the Heisei era2 it still used chimney stoves, so they needed kerosene.
As for sanitation, they could probably use it to burn infected people, so it was better to have it.
There was a heap of problems.
“I’ll help you.”
Ryou plumped down on a folding chair, and looked up “How to make a handmade bomb” on his phone.
They should need this kind of weapon in the future.
Only the sound of mechanical pencils writing was heard in the broadcasting room.
Seven o’clock in the morning.
Everyone gathered in the conference room, and discussed tactics.
“First off, let’s continue cleaning up. The cleaning up team will stay the same. The supply procurement team will be added to the cleaning-up team.”
By doing that, Shinji opened his mouth,
“Let’s collect samples.”
“Samples?”
“Yeah. There are still too much that we don’t know about the enemy. Shouldn’t we tie a few zombies up and secure some?”
It was an understandable opinion.
However, a problem arised here.
Since everyone had the same worries, Tooru, representing everyone’s thoughts, said,
“In other words, do you mean to do experiments on students of this school who has become zombies?”
“Precisely. In order to find out if chemicals work, where their weak point is, and how to effectively deal with them, we have to do it.”
Everyone there kept silent.
Even if they’re zombies, could they bear to experiment on friends and acquaintances?
Was it fine to experiment on people that had still been alive yesterday?
Shouldn’t they kill them to ease their suffering?
At this point, many people had developed pangs of conscience.
However, it was certainly something that had to be done sooner or later.
Obviously to find out the weak point of the zombies, but other behavior might also be revealed.
What should they do?
They had to make a decision.
Being troubled now only fanned the worries of the circumstances.
“...Let’s do so. But, let’s choose someone no one here knows as far as possible. Is that fine for everyone too?”
As Tooru asked, they made various complicated expressions but approved anyway.
It wasn’t conscience that they wanted in the current circumstances, but the ability to take action in order to survive.
Even if they, for example, would be tormented with guilt later on.