—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
When we first discovered the safe house in the fire station basement, we each pitched a tent in our own room. Even now, after returning from Hampton, they were still there, not a single spot of mold to be found.
One was big enough for two people, so we decided that I would use one, and Camila and Cassandra would use the other. But now, Camila had specifically sought out my room, spread out a cot outside the tent, and laid down.
“If you’re going to sleep, sleep inside the tent. There’s dampness coming from the cement wall.”
“I don’t care.”
Camila turned her body toward the wall.
Growl.
“…”
Cassandra had finished the canned food I had heated up for her, but Camila had shouted ‘I’m not eating!’ and really only drank water. To skip a meal in a Human Non-Protection zone, of all places, must have been truly agonizing.
Camila was currently protesting, ‘I am very angry right now.’
Anyway, it was 8:30 in the evening. My guard duty shift was at 10:00. I had about an hour and a half. I got up from the tent and headed toward the storage room where we had stacked the food.
On the way, I checked on Cassandra. She was sound asleep inside her tent.
She had readily accepted the fact that we had to stand guard in a Human Non-Protection zone, and when she was chosen for the last shift, she said she should go to bed early and crawled into her tent.
Well, it wasn’t like this was the army where you had to sleep only at set times, and there was nothing else to do today anyway, so it didn’t really matter.
From the storage, I took out two cans of beer, a can of bread with jam, and some biscuits for a snack. I had gotten them from a street stall on the way here from Hampton.
I had kept them in a cool place, so they were reasonably chilled. On top of that, I also took out the ‘Tears of Elza’ whiskey that I hadn’t finished last time. I could have about two glasses.
“Camila.”
I called her as I returned to the room. Of course, she wasn’t sleeping.
“How about a drink?”
Camila glared at me resentfully. I shook the Tears of Elza whiskey. Clink, clink, a clear sound rang out.
“…Wait.”
Camila, who had gone out and come back, brought a bottle of water. Well, even for her, it would be hard to drink straight whiskey on an empty stomach.
Click. The sound of the beer can opening was refreshing. I sipped my beer, and Camila mixed the whiskey and water 1:1 and ate it with the canned bread. It was her own version of a twice-up, so I figured it wasn’t bad.
After finishing the bread, Camila held out her half-filled glass.
“Pour me some.”
“If you come next to me.”
While rolling her eyes, Camila came into the tent. She turned her body away but pressed her butt right up against me. I filled the rest of her glass with ‘Tears of Elza’ whiskey.
Camila closed her eyes and held the alcohol in her mouth. Her moist lips glistened in the dim light of the LED lantern. I became curious about what the alcohol on her lips would taste like.
“Johan. I was really disappointed in you today. How could you heat up canned food and eat in that situation?”
Well, I did it to stop you two from fighting. And it was effective, too. But that probably wasn’t what Camila wanted to hear.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to stop you two from fighting. But I knew you wouldn’t listen if I just said ‘don’t fight,’ so I had no choice.”
But that was my true intention. Camila took a sip and glared at me again.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me. You were watching us fight. Did you think I wouldn’t know you were staring right at our chests? Do you know how awful that felt?”
“I’m sorry. I have no excuse for that.”
But it was a spectacle I just couldn’t miss. Camila sniffled and drained her glass.
“…You don’t know how I feel. Really. Hey, get your hand off my waist, you hear?”
I did not remove my hand. Instead, I gently pulled her closer.
“Don’t be anxious.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The infection.”
I could feel Camila flinch. I silently stroked her back. Camila seemed to want to get angrier, but she slowly pressed closer to me.
“…Aren’t you anxious?”
“Hmm, not really?”
“How can you not be? You’re infected just like me.”
What should I say to her?
My situation and hers were different. Not just Camila, but nowhere else in this world was there anyone like me.
For 1,000 hours, my character had died, gotten injured, and turned into a zombie over and over again.
But that wasn’t the real me. It was just a brief amusement. In the other world, no changes had occurred to my body.
A restart. A restart that was possible as many times as my will allowed.
Wasn’t that something religious people often say?
That this world is just a place to play for a while. That our true souls, our true essence, is beyond, and no one can invade it, so let’s not take everything in this world too seriously.
If the blasphemy of putting a game and life on the same level could be forgiven, that is.
“I just want to enjoy myself to the fullest while I’m alive. Without regrets. Without any lingering feelings.”
So I just answered honestly.
“You’re strong.”
As expected, it didn’t seem to resonate with Camila. She shook her head sadly.
“I feel like I’m going crazy… When I stabbed that zombie earlier, really… do you know what I was thinking?”
She was talking about when I had buried the back of my head in Cassandra’s chest.
“Tell me.”
“I’m going to become like that too…”
Camila’s body trembled. I pulled her closer. It was to the point where I could feel her body heat through her thin clothes. I continued to pat her on the back as if comforting a small child. This worked better on Camila.
“Johan. Before, I just thought about the infection vaguely. I just believed that if I was careful, I would be safe, and I thought I just had to avoid getting bitten or covered in blood. I thought getting infected was just a matter of being unlucky, but now that I’ve been told I’m infected.”
“Now that you’ve been told?”
“Horrible images keep popping up. Wandering the wilderness without any reason, leaving my rotting, falling-apart body as it is, and if I see something edible, whether it’s a corpse or whatever… I, I… I don’t want to become like that.”
“You won’t become like that.”
“It feels empty.”
Camila’s voice cracked.
“It just all feels so empty. What have I been doing all this time? How have I lived? The thought that I’ve lived this crazy life just to end up as a zombie makes me feel like my whole life is being negated.”
Camila had a strong sense of pride. Her personality was to charge head-on rather than sit down and give up. So this kind of request for help was, in itself, an act of great courage. It meant she wanted to confess her weaknesses and overcome them.
Such a person was floundering.
What should I say? What words could I say, and what words would reach her?
I didn’t know.
And as always, actions were easier than words.
I turned my body toward Camila. I knelt and slowly embraced her. Camila flinched a little, but she soon accepted me.
“I’ll always be by your side, Camila. Wherever, in whatever form.”
Camila kissed me. The whiskey on her lips was hot. After a long, long kiss, Camila whispered.
“…Can I ask you a favor?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t shoot me in the face.”
“Huh?”
“When I turn into a zombie, don’t shoot me in the face. That would make me hate you. Instead…”
Camila took my right hand and pulled it inside her t-shirt. It seemed to be going up quite high. When I felt the texture of her bra, I curled my fingers without thinking. Camila let out a small laugh and brought my hand to her heart.
I opened my palm. I could feel a strong, throbbing beat.
“Shoot me here. You’re a good shot.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. A lifetime felt in the palm of my hand. I wondered if this was what it felt like to touch a target with your hand. I shook my head. Instead, I spread my hand wider. Bone. Muscle. Warmth. Turmoil…
“You can promise me, right?”
“Yeah.”
“…That’s a relief.”
“What is?”
“That I can die beautifully.”
“Still, don’t say things like that, Camila. I’ll get angry. We came all this way and are struggling precisely so that won’t happen.”
Camila nodded her head.
“And Cassandra is trying to help us too. Anyway, she’s also doing her best…”
Ah. A mistake. I shouldn’t have brought up Cassandra. Her gaze immediately turned cold.
“Tch.”
Her body moved away. She hugged her knees as if on guard.
“You sure take good care of Cassandra, don’t you?”
I was an idiot.
“Uh, well…”
“What. Speak up, you horny pig. You lose your mind whenever you see a pair of boobs.”
“What.”
“When you were being hugged from behind earlier, you looked like you were completely melting? If you had a tail, I bet it would have been wagging so hard you’d have flown away.”
How do I fix this? What do I do in times like these? Blame someone else. Right. I have to blame someone else.
“I, I learned it from you, you know?”
“What? Why are you dragging me into this?”
Was this what they call scoring no runs with the bases loaded and no outs, or missing a wide-open shot?
“W-well, what I mean is, Camila, um… when we first met, I was in a bit of a state, right? I was on edge, trying to keep my distance.”
“…You were.”
“But, um, after spending time with you, you, I started to wonder if I really needed to be like that. Just… um, I don’t think I need to think of everyone in the world as my enemy. I have to be suspicious, but I don’t need to just wander around alone.”
Although her posture was still defiant, she seemed to be listening for now.
“And?”
“My point is, I’ve changed a lot since I started hanging out with you.”
Well, that was true. Only then did Camila seem to relax a little. Feeling like I was constantly getting myself into trouble, I crossed my arms and spoke a bit more seriously.
“So, Camila. If something is bothering you or hurting your feelings, just tell me. Don’t just get annoyed. It’s very bewildering and difficult. It’s been a little tough for the past few days.”
“You just have to have the last word, don’t you?”
Camila pouted. But she seemed to be in a good mood, as she kept smiling.
“…Did you really change a bit after meeting me?”
“Yeah.”
“Besides me, has there been anyone else like that? Besides your parents.”
“Um… a teacher when I was young?”
“What. So I wasn’t the first. But well, since it was when you were a kid, I’ll let it slide.”
Let what slide?
But there was no time to ask. Because Camila had lightly pressed her lips to mine. She always shut my mouth like this when she was at a disadvantage.
And I saw ‘something’.
We had left all the doors slightly ajar because moisture would build up if they were closed. This room was no exception. But by the doorway, I definitely… saw something like a pair of green eyes. I thought I heard a sharp intake of breath, a hiss, too.
But by the time Camila got up, the green light was no longer visible.
“Camila.”
Camila, who had been about to turn away, stopped and looked back at me.
“Let’s live happily. Without regrets. Without any lingering feelings.”
For some reason, Camila put her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh.
“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Tell me again in a place with a good atmosphere. I don’t want to be moved by words like that in a basement bunker.”
Instead of answering, I stuck my tongue out slightly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Throughout my guard duty, and the next morning when Cassandra woke me up, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I was a little worried if Cassandra could stand guard properly, but it was a needless concern.
“Doctors at the Disease Control Bureau also take turns on duty. There are many cases where we’re on emergency standby, but actually, most of the time we’re just swamped with overtime. I think I slept well for the first time in a while.”
Camila, who had stood guard in the middle of the night, was still sleeping, so we talked in low voices. It seemed her words about sleeping well for the first time in a while weren’t just empty talk, as Cassandra looked energetic.
I put canned stew and biscuits in a mess tin and heated it with solid fuel.
“It’s a bit much for the morning, but it’s not as tasty as the stew you made. I want to eat that again.”
Camila, who had woken up late, muttered as she shoveled stew into her mouth.
Cassandra looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Johan, you know how to do things like that?”
“He’s a good cook. He makes it delicious. I’m not good at cooking.”
“That’s unexpected. I thought all you were good at was abandoning people and hitting on women.”
Camila, in the middle of eating, snickered, trying to hold back her laughter. Struck by the unexpected blow, I looked at Cassandra. Cassandra looked indifferent.
“Uh, hey. Cassandra. I’m not going to abandon you.”
“You abandoned me once. I don’t think a second time would be difficult. In fact, last night, Cassandra had over a hundred opportunities to do all sorts of things to Johan’s body, but she didn’t.”
“Wh-What did you say?”
“I wanted to give you a clear warning before we go to our ‘destination’. If you abandon Cassandra again, Johan will be unable to have sexual intercourse. Because I’m going to put a chastity belt on you and throw away the key. A fitting way to train a ‘horny pig,’ don’t you think?”
Camila was now laughing so hard she was crying.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
