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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Stab, and let go.
It didn’t really matter whether the stake, about the length of a mop handle, was pulled out or broken.
I plunged the sharpened end of the stake into a zombie’s body, wounded the things—just that was enough.
The zombies pounced on their wounded comrade. While they were busy devouring the one that got hit, I picked up a rock and thwack, threw it. And just like that, another target was added to the hunt.
The one hit by the rock stubbornly crawled toward me. Another zombie sank its teeth into the thing’s leg and ass. It wasn’t a scene I needed to keep watching, so I walked back toward the pickup truck.
Both women were sitting in the trunk of the pickup. Cassandra was sharpening the end of a wooden stake, and Camila was holding a rifle, keeping watch over the surroundings. As I approached, Camila handed me another stake.
“Johan. Didn’t we clear out this area?”
We were currently stopped for a moment on the plains surrounding the safe house, which was the fire station on the outskirts of Hampton. There was a considerable number of zombies. It was just as I had expected.
“I left a little security system in place.”
“What kind of system?”
“Remember the zombies on the second floor of the fire station? I didn’t clean them up; I just left them there. If you leave them, they’ll rot, and that’ll draw in all the surrounding zombies.”
Cassandra stopped sharpening the wood. Camila also looked a bit disgusted.
“Why would you do that?”
“I told you. A security system. First, since it’s crawling with zombies, any potential thieves won’t be able to come. Conversely, if the zombies were lying down dead, it would mean there were humans nearby, so we’d have to get away quickly.”
After hearing my answer, Cassandra went back to sharpening the stake with her hunting knife. Scrape. Scrape. She skillfully pushed it along the grain of the wood.
“You’re used to living in a place like this.”
“You do what you have to do to survive. You need to do the same, Cassandra.”
“I wonder if a doctor from a research lab can do that so easily.”
Camila shook her head from side to side. Cassandra stopped what she was doing again.
“I’ll be back.”
The atmosphere was uneasy. For now, I grabbed a stake and trudged toward the zombies.
Was I wrong?
I thought if I put the two of them together, they would get along, but that wasn’t the case at all. It felt like things were just getting worse. It wasn’t really a matter of who was right or wrong; their personalities were just too different.
So, Cassandra—well, setting aside her peculiar way of speaking, she was genuinely bad at talking.
To be precise, she spoke in a way where ‘you could understand what she was saying, but you had to listen until the very end to grasp the full context.’ When I was young, adults used to say that ‘smart kids are like that.’
That their mouths couldn’t keep up with the speed of their thoughts, so it sounded like they were skipping things in between, but if those kids were to speak calmly, they would likely speak quite logically.
But Camila was the complete opposite. She was subtly impatient, had clear likes and dislikes, was assertive with her opinions, and sometimes showed a temperamental side.
It wasn’t as if Cassandra was docile, either.
“Well, it’s not like being docile prevents fights.”
I approached another group. A zombie was standing in a field of reeds that came up to an awkward height, somewhere between my knees and ankles.
The stake was long enough, the zombie came toward me, and without much thought, I plunged it into the thing’s gut.
“Gyaaaaaak!”
In that instant.
Something felt strange. As soon as the thing screamed, the surrounding reeds shook all at once. I quickly turned and ran without looking back.
I could clearly see Camila aiming her rifle in my direction, and Cassandra pointing and saying something.
I ran all the way to our truck in one go. Panting for breath, I looked back.
“Wh-What was that, just now?”
Camila was still aiming the rifle. Instead, Cassandra opened her mouth.
“…The zombie stabbed by the spear screamed, and then zombies crawled out from the reeds all at once. They’re the kind that can’t walk properly. Right now, they’re tearing at and eating their comrade.”
Did that mean the ambushing zombies moved on a signal?
“Camila. Did you see it too?”
Camila lowered her rifle. After glaring at Cassandra once, she shook her head.
“I don’t know, it looked to me like they crawled out at the same time. Not that they came out ‘hearing’ the sound, but it looked like they came out ‘perceiving’ you.”
“No. They came out after hearing the sound. Cassandra saw it clearly.”
“I’m telling you, they crawled out regardless of the sound. I saw it through my scope.”
“Cassandra has good eyesight.”
“Oh, is that so? This scope happens to have a zoom function, you know?”
“How far is it from here to there anyway?”
A fight was going to break out at this rate. No, maybe it already had.
“Stop. Just stop it. What’s wrong with you two?”
No, seriously, what was wrong with them? Both Cassandra and Camila glared at me. Cassandra let out a hollow laugh, and Camila got angry.
“Are you getting angry with me right now?”
“No, I’m not getting angry, it’s just…”
“Hey. Give me the stake. Johan, let’s switch.”
Camila took the stake and walked off. I took the rifle and kept watch on the surroundings. The lonely road through the wilderness was the same, and the strange harmony of dead trees and green weeds was the same.
“Johan.”
“Yeah.”
“Cassandra is lonely and scared. Can I hug you?”
“If it’s from behind.”
Something soft and squishy definitely touched me, but I felt a shiver run down my spine. A smile spread across my face for no reason.
Camila looked over this way and shook her head as if in disbelief. Her long, red hair flew about.
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It was late in the evening when we finally arrived at the safe house. Fortunately, everything was as we had left it. Except for the zombies shambling about. We lured them to a suitable spot and entered the basement.
“It’s safe.”
“Safe here too.”
“Good work.”
Camila and I lowered our pistols at the same time. With good timing, Cassandra turned on an LED lamp. She held it at about waist height, but the light was blocked by her chest, so I couldn’t see her face.
“…I’m hungry.”
Camila plopped down onto a chair. But seeing me and Cassandra head into the pantry together, she shot back up.
“I’ll get it for you.”
“No. I’ll pick my own.”
The food supplies were also untouched. Cassandra’s eyes were fixed on the ‘Cybele’ brand canned goods.
“Oh, right. Cassandra. Thanks. I did exactly as you told me, and my hunger did lessen a bit. But how did you know you shouldn’t eat the Cybele canned food as it is?”
“Because it contains an ingredient that stimulates hunger.”
Camila dropped her water bottle, and I almost bit my tongue. Cassandra calmly picked up a can from the ‘Laki’ company. It was canned bread with strawberry jam.
“Wait a minute, what? What’s in it?”
“All of Cybele’s food products contain an appetite-increasing ingredient. It activates specific cells in the brain.”
As if in disbelief, Camila gulped down a whole 500ml bottle of water. I, too, was simply dumbfounded and asked.
“They put shit like that in it? Why?”
“Because when people are hungry, all they can think about is eating. Whether it’s freedom, or struggle, or whatever else. You have to eat to live. It’s not in the products exported abroad. It’s only included in the products for domestic consumption in Elza. The people of Elza are… tough.”
“…I’m not eating.”
Camila started to leave. I grabbed her arm.
“Let go.”
“Camila. Don’t act like a child.”
I had to say what needed to be said. Of course, Camila didn’t just stand there.
“A child? A child? Did you just call me a child? You’re telling me to just be calm after hearing something like this? It’s not just me; the people of Elza have been eating Cybele their whole lives! Because even if it tastes like crap, it’s the cheapest!
Kids from poor families would starve to death without Cybele! And you think it’s just the kids? Adults, poor laborers, they absolutely depended on Cybele! And now you’re telling me this crap is inside! Oh, because you lived abroad, because you grew up without eating this, it doesn’t matter to you, is that it?”
“Heh.”
It was a sneer. Cassandra laughed. Camila immediately glared at Cassandra.
“Did you just laugh?”
“It’s funny.”
“What is.”
“You usually don’t believe a word Cassandra says, but it’s cute how you just take this at face value and get angry.
It seems your judgment isn’t very consistent. Very interesting. A person who becomes lenient in some areas and strict in others.”
Thwack.
Camila didn’t hold back any longer. She threw a punch at Cassandra’s face. But, it was caught. Cassandra had caught it with her palm.
Camila’s strength was quite formidable, but Cassandra was no slouch either. It seemed neither woman was being pushed back.
But perhaps the difference in stamina was unavoidable. Cassandra’s strength gradually waned, and Camila seemed to be pushing her back.
I walked past the two of them as they were in their power struggle. I sat down on a box and tore open a bag of chocolates. It was a Cybele product. I had chosen it on purpose.
It was one with peanuts, and the more I chewed, the more of a strange taste it had. Not the kind of taste you’d expect from chocolate, but the kind of ambiguous sweetness you get from corn syrup, or from chewing on a well-roasted potato for a long time.
“Yeah. I am hungry. I should eat something else.”
Making a fire in the basement was taboo. Especially in a place like this, without a proper ventilation system.
But watching those two in their power struggle made me just want to cook some stew.
I lit a solid fuel tablet and opened a can of Cybele. It was beef stew with tomato purée. I threw the lid wide open and waited, and before long, it was bubbling away.
“Eeeeeek!”
“Nnghhhhhh…”
Camila and Cassandra had their hands clasped and were pushing against each other. But… the posture was a bit strange. Camila was clearly overwhelming her.
The problem was that Cassandra’s chest was too big.
The closer the two got, the more their chests touched. It was to the point where their breasts were slightly pressed against each other.
Every time that happened, it was Camila who tried to pull her body away. Well, I could understand it to some extent. If I were wrestling with a man and our parts down there touched, my first reaction would be revulsion.
“St-Stop rubbing against me!”
Camila shouted.
“You’re the one who should stop pulling your body away and stay still!”
Cassandra retorted without missing a beat.
“Oh, it’s ready.”
I covered the solid fuel with the lid to extinguish it. Knowing it wouldn’t taste good on its own, I broke up an unsalted cracker and threw it in. Amazingly, this seasoned it just right.
“Time to eat. Phew, it’s not as good as what I make, but it’s still pretty tasty.”
Growl.
The sound came from both women’s stomachs, without distinction. Well, the basement was filled with the smell.
“Eek!”
It was Camila who broke her balance first. She boldly extended her leg and kicked Cassandra’s ankle. It was a textbook fighting move. But.
“Kyaaak!”
Perhaps because she still hated her chest being touched, she pulled her body back. The technique landed too shallowly, and Cassandra, instead of falling, responded by tangling herself forward. The two got so close they could have almost kissed.
Their stomachs were touching, so there was no need to even mention the pressure on their chests. Forgetting my meal for a moment, I stared intently at the stimulating scene.
“Hey.”
“Johan?”
The two women, finally fed up with each other, pulled away. I set aside the empty can and asked them.
“So, what do you want for dinner?”
Thus, the night deepened.
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“Johan.”
Camila came to my room. She was holding her cot and a blanket.
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