Volume 2 Chapter 19 (1/2)
She awoke from the cold. At both her sides, her brothers were sleeping while clinging to her. Feeling that body temperature, Mizuki looks at her surroundings; and with a puzzled expression, discovers that she is in an unfamiliar room. In the corner of this room lined with desks, three people sat crowded in a corner. Underneath them lay numerous cus.h.i.+ons.
(Ah, that’s right….)
Fragmented images surfaced in her mind. The dark streets, her grabbing the hands of her brothers, running a great distance to get away… She just ran after the backs of the people in front of her, not thinking about where she was going. They escaped to a place that seemed to be a huge parking lot. As if evicted, people came from the surroundings, seeking shelter inside the Supermarket.
A number of employees were on the first floor. Outside were many dallying shoppers, looking as if they wanted to seek refuge inside. Strange looks were coming from the people who flocked there. Angrily, a security guard approached them,
“Hold it! What are you guys doing?!”
In the middle of his words, he directed his attention to somewhere else. He seemed to have noticed the shaking appearances that were gathered outside of the automatic garage door. Once the door had opened, the figures which were pus.h.i.+ng and shoving up against the gla.s.s, plunge forward, knocking and shoving each other as they poured inside. In a hurried voice, the security guard spoke,
“Oi! Close the shutters! Close—!”
(TL: For those who are confused—The humans are in the supermarket, standing around. A security guard approaches them, telling them to get out. At that time, the figures (zombies) which were running into the gla.s.s, finally opened the automatic doors and rushed in. Panicked, the guard tells the employees to close the shutters in order to stop them from getting in.)
Hearing that voice at her back, Mizuki left the group of people, and ran upstairs. She had to find somewhere else that was safe. She heard screams resound from behind her at a distance. They climbed to the 3rd floor, which had a sign next to it reading ‘Employees Only’. In the back, there appeared to be a lone old man monitoring the state of the store through the security cameras. The old man, with a green face, welcomed them into the room, shutting the fire door behind them.
With the people following behind, seven people entered the room. Mizuki and her brothers, a young couple, a lean man who appeared to be in his 30’s, and a middle aged old lady. With the old man (employee) they met, there were eight people in total.
(I wonder if dad and the rest are alright….)
She took out her cell phone, redialing her parents; and just like yesterday, it rang and rang without answer. While quietly musing over this, she vaguely hears a far away sound. There was also the sound of someone’s voice.
In a way so that she wouldn’t wake her brothers, she gently separated from them. Walking down the corridor, she headed towards the noise. Something was banging on the fire door from outside, and the old man employee raises his voice from in front of the door.
“Please calm down! What happened? Calm down! If you would like to enter, then please say so!”
There was no reply to his words, only a dull banging sound could be heard from the other side.
“U, umm…..” (TL: “A, ano….”)
Noticing Mizuki, the old man turns around.
“Ahh….this, this has been going on since last night. Because there is no reply, I didn’t let them in but….”
“P, please don’t let them in! They are not normal, definitely.”
“Alright…..” (TL: “umu….”)
He lets out a breath with his arms folded.
“Have the children woken up? We have a stockpile of food, so if you don’t have anything to eat, please tell me. We have enough to feed 10 people for three days.”
“Thank you very much. I will take care so that the preserved food doesn’t run out.”
Mizuki bows her head.
“Right, this will all be settled shortly. Let’s be patient until the police get here.”
But, in three days, rescue never came.
The banging on the fire door subsided a bit but, there were still signs of something wriggling behind it. The old man employee tried to contact various places but, there were either interruptions or complications, and he wasn’t ever able to get a decent connection.
The portable T.V., which was set in the corner, reported news of a new type of rabies. Because the people infected become violent, the infection was thought to be the cause of the riots. An aerial shot from a helicopter projected a scene of violent mobs spread throughout the city. On the screen, the word ‘zombie’ was dancing.
During commercial breaks, the screen just became fuzzy. It wasn’t normal.
(TL: Fuzzy = Black and white sandstorm.)
In the office, a cooped-up feeling was in the air. Everyone was silent, staring at the T.V. The couple was snuggled in a corner, the middle aged woman was clasping her cell phone in her hand, the lean man took some distance and kept quiet.
Over those three days, the people shut in together never spoke to each other; and had spent the time separated from one another. Even the old man employee deliberately refused to take leaders.h.i.+p, only pa.s.sing out food when asked. When the news said that provisional government’s quick response self-defense force had taken action, the old man stood and spoke.
“I think we should go outside and call the rescue team.”
There was no reaction to his words. In silence, everyone searched each other’s faces.
“I’ve left an S.O.S. cloth hanging from the rooftop, so rest a.s.sured that the police will come if they pa.s.s by.”
To the old man who said that while leaving, no one seemed to be calling out to him.
“Ano..” (TL: Calling out to him)
He turned around to Mizuki’s voice.
“Will it be alright….? It’s dangerous….”
The old man replied with a troubled expression,
“…..my family, I haven’t been able to contact them….. I’m worried.”
To those words, Mizuki couldn’t say anything.
The old man never returned. With no hint of rescue coming, on the 5th day, the T.V. no longer received a signal. Without reason to watch the T.V., everyone stopped gathering in the office. Continuing to redial her parents, Mizuki’s cell phone ran out of battery, and she didn’t have a charger.
She cut the food they brought from their house in half, and determined that eating any more than that would be dangerous. She peeked into the locker in the corner, which held the stockpiled food. The cup noodles which were stored there had been reduced to 1/3 the original amount. She took two servings worth, and split it equally between her and her brothers.
When entering the hot water supply room to get some drinks, there was someone already there. It was the girl of the couple.
“Ah…… can I borrow some, for the cup noodles?”
“…………”
The girl never answered. She just drank hot water from the pot in silence.
“Ano….”
“You can get some without permission you know? It’s not mine.”
Saying that, the girl turned and left. Mizuki stood there in silence for a bit, but with a breath, she bent down and took out the cup noodles.
The feeling of time disappeared. The only sense of time was how much longer they could survive on the vanis.h.i.+ng food.
Her brother Masaru woke up at midnight, needing to go to the bathroom; and Mizuki accompanied him to the restroom. So that they don’t get turned around, she turned on the light, lighting up the corridor. Waiting on her brother at the entrance to the bathroom, she heard a faint voice. She tilted her head, trying to hear it more clearly.
The voice was coming from inside the locker room in the back. Stepping closer, a girls gasps could be heard. The sound of something hitting against something echoed.
Mizuki held in her voice and stepped back.