Volume 2 Chapter 29 (1/2)

By the time he returned to the super market, it was dawn.  It was still dark, but there were traces of the sun light rising up over the horizon.

After making sure there were no zombies around, Yusuke opens the shutters to the loading entrance.  Once he was inside, he operated the switch box, closing the shutters again.

With no lights in the place, the ground sloped towards the back, shrouded in darkness.  There were emergency lights here and there along the way, but they were only bright enough to illuminate their immediate surroundings.  Yusuke turns on his flashlight, and proceeds underground.

He planned to prepare the car, then call Mizuki and her brothers and immediately set off.  Approaching the loading zone with his flashlight, Yusuke unlocks the truck parked there with the remote on his key chain.  He climbs in the drivers seat, and turning on the headlights, the concrete floor in front of him is lit up.  Confirming there is enough fuel remaining in the truck, Yusuke leaves the lights on, and exits the vehicle.

At that moment he stopped.  He had started to notice it earlier, but a strange smell was drifting from further down.

(…..What is it?  This smell…..)

The smell was caught in his nose.  It smelled like waste.

(Was there a sewage problem……?)

Following the smell with the help of the headlights, he comes across a slightly opened door.  It was the door he had closed when he took the wandering zombie back upstairs.  It was a door leading inside.

“……………”

Yusuke pulls out his handgun while remaining silent.

It didn’t feel like there was anyone nearby.

Stepping inside the door, he checks the surroundings.  There was a pa.s.sageway in the front of the room, which extended to the right.  The fire door next to the staircase leading to the front floor was barricaded.

(Was it a zombie……?  There’s no way Mizuki would come here…..)

It could have been a zombie that was left inside the room leaving.  If that was the case, there was something he had to do before calling down the three from upstairs.

However, he wanted to know the source of the odor.  Since he entered the room, the smell had gotten stronger.  It appeared as if it was coming from a pa.s.sageway nearby.

Yusuke wondered what it might be, while drawing closer, looking for the source.  The pa.s.sage he was walking through shouldn’t be connected to the boiler room or the electrical room.  (TL: Idk of a better term for electrical room.)

Relying on the dim emergency lights on his left, he heads down the corridor.  He pa.s.sed by several rooms, but they were all shut and locked.

At the very end of the corridor, he finds a set of double doors left slightly open.  The smell was coming from inside.

(This place…. was left open?)

With questions raised in his mind, he opens the doors to find a room full of trash.

Sticking down from the ceiling were trash shutes which were connected to the first floor.  Beneath them were giant piles of trash.  The numerous cargo bins were overflowing.  The trash was deteriorating into compost with countless bugs and bacteria growing from it, the smell of the fermenting waste filled the room.

Remembering something he read on the 3rd floor of the supermarket, Yusuke takes in the sight using the flashlight in his hand.  The hardly visible concrete floor was stained by the aging trash.  A bottle of detergent was lying on a rack nearby.

(It was the smell of trash?  No, something inside the trash……)

There was definitely the smell of rotten garbage coming from the pile, but he could still smell the distinct scent of sewage.

While keeping the floor in front of him lit up, he continues towards the back of the room.

Within his light appeared a compost bin.  With an outline of one meter high and two meters wide, it was made of stainless steel.  Thinking nothing of it, he flashes his light next to it and comes to a stop.

Lying up against the side of the bin was a dirty blanket.  There were pieces of cardboard holding the blanket up like walls.  It was a homeless hut.  (TL: If you can think of a better term…)

Hurrying over to it, Yusuke removes the blanket.  Even though it was cold, he could feel residual heat coming from the manure.  The compost had begun to give off heat while fermenting.

Bursting with frustration, he s.h.i.+nes the light all around the room.

Scattered next to the hut were vegetable sc.r.a.ps.  It might have just been trash, but they were over eaten, only the skin and the sprouts remained.  If you looked closely, you could see other signs of scavenging through the heaps of garbage.  Debris had rolled to the floor and rotten juice was splattered here and there.

Turning his head, he could see a faucet with a rubber hose attached to it for a wash station.  Along the wall, a drainage ditch had been dug to catch the water, draining it into a container in one corner of the room.  The stench was coming from there.  Walking over to it, he removes the square lid and is a.s.saulted by a foul odor.  The inside of the container was packed with feces.

It was evidence of human life.

(…………………)

Yusuke turns off his flashlight and perks his ears.