Chapter 3 - Not Anymore

"Let's see."

After changing clothes, wearing her father's former leather outfit, I checked the equipment the man had on the table.

A rifle, a machete, an axe, throwing knives, and a dagger. I can carry all of those as weapons.

There are also other supporting equipment such as a binocular, hand radio, flashlight, first aid kit, and more. Then, most importantly, a map. I picked up the roll map on the table and opened it.

"It's really Wanakurayama mountain..." I muttered to no one particular.

And as expected, the river in front of this house is just one branch of a large river called Obora River. Not far from the river stood quite a number of shrines and monuments for tourists to visit.

As I heard the creaking of the door behind me, I immediately greeted her with a question.

"What are our meals going to be?"

She walked into the kitchen without answering my question. She decided to show the answer directly, it seems. I stood up and followed her to the back. When I got there, she finally opened her mouth.

"Everything is here. You can choose which one."

I nodded lightly and immediately heeded her words. I checked the assortment of food on the shelves, which were mostly canned food & drinks, dried meat, spices, and so on. Other than canned food and dried meat, the rest were not very useful for a long journey. When I saw a large box on the floor, I matter-of-factly opened it.

"Some sort of freezer, huh?"

Inside were various preserved foods. That would also come in handy. Not that I'll be carrying the box around though.

As for drinking, the girl had already said that it could be drawn at any time from the well outside the house, so I didn't have to worry about running low on supply.

In the end, we left before noon. I kept most of the support equipment in my backpack and all the food and drink inside. I tucked most of the weapons between my clothes so that they could be pulled out at any time. We also brought a tent enough for 3 to 4 people to dive in, so our supplies were not exactly light.

I had intended to carry everything myself, but reconsidered it after thinking about the possibility of me running into those things suddenly. I had to react quickly in case that happened. And with this many supplies, even if I didn't have much trouble, it would still interfere with my movements.

The girl knew what I was worried about as she advised, "Give me all the supplies except the weaponry."

'Okay, I was fine with her helping, but everything? That could be about 3/4 of our supplies, you know?'

"Don't underestimate me," She snorted. "I'm strong."

'No, just saying 'I'm strong' won't help.'

Nonetheless, I let her try. And as for the result...

"You're really strong..." I muttered, a hint of admiration embedded in my tone.

The size of the bag was not small, that much was obvious. It was almost the same size as her height. Even when she walked, she didn't look like she was struggling. I was honestly impressed.

"Well, then. Let's start, shall we?" The girl pulled the door handle back. At the same time, she fell. Yes, she fell. Her body was dragged backwards as she pulled the doorknob.

"Ah?"

I immediately ran to support her. When I picked her up, she was clearly moody.

"My balance is just a little off! That's all! Keep that in mind, okay?!"

'Why angry?'

I sighed, replying. "Yes, yes. I'll remember that..."

"Don't just wave me off like that!"

She quickly disentangled herself from my carry and walked out of the door.

Indeed, balance is important. But it's not easy to maintain that balance. If an emergency situation arises, one tend to panic and ignore that balance, which only makes the situation worse. However, now that my burden was gone, I could confidently protect myself and the girl more efficiently.

"Heyyy...! Hurry it up!" The girl shouted at me from near the opening fence.

'She's really energetic, isn't she?'

"I know, just a moment..." I replied a little loudly.

As I closed the door and locked it, I thought,

'Now that the White Room is gone, what is my purpose now? What would I do from now on? How should I proceed with my life from here on out? I still wonder for the answers.'

However, there is one thing I'm certain of.

I turned around, walking toward the girl.

'That is, I will survive. Out from this ordeal, out from those things. I won't let myself die over by this calamity. Even, to be the last one, and for that too, I'll do whatever it takes. To not lose, before the end of the world.'

What destination would await me at the end of the road? ...I couldn't possibly know.

///|||\\\

"Oh, yeah. Come to think of it," I started a conversation. "I haven't asked your name yet. Mind if I do?"

I hung my rifle strap on my left hand and an axe on my right waist. That way, I could grab both ranged and melee weapons immediately should the situation demand.

"...Adriel Aula." She answered after a moment, as she balanced her body. "You?"

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka."

We move along the river to reach the Oboragawa main river, and from there, follow the Arakawa river northward until we reach our destination. If there are no interruptions on the way, we will arrive at the foot this evening at once. We proceeded our journey in quiet.

"Sooo," Adriel broke it soon enough, though. "Who are you to my father?"

"Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Tell me more specifically, then." She spoke in a worn-out tone. "With us just being silent, surely it'll get boring. You'd agree, wouldn't you?"

'Just sort of...'

I thought briefly of what to say, before finally saying, "I actually just met your father today."

Obviously, the girl made a confused face. I pretended not to see it and continued with my words.

"I just happened to meet your father, at the end of this branch of the river. Coincidentally, he, alone, was being attacked by a bear at that time. I helped him kill the bear and here I am now."

I thought the girl would make a scene that I lied to her or whatever, but contrary to my expectations, she handled it quite calmly.

"Are you saying that my father's real acquaintance is absent? Or worse, dead? Then after that, my father met you and decided to leave me in your care. Is that how the story goes?"

I stayed silent for a while, not answering.

"What?" She seemed offended, and continued. "Could it be that you think I'll make a scene because I'm a kid? Don't joke around with me. I'm better than them."

She clearly looked glum when she said that.

"Well, while I can't deny your accusation, I'm more curious about your reaction of not being so surprised by someone's death. Is there a reason?"

Her expression only grew more gloomy when I asked that. I was about to tell her not to push herself, but she beat me to it.

"My mom..." Her tone was faint.

"Your mom?"

"...she's a strange woman."

"Strange in what way?"

"She was... so attached to the wild. She was the one who taught me the basics of being a hunter... and also the laws of the jungle..."

From the way she said it, I might not be wrong to think that her mother had already departed from this world. If that woman was who she said she was, she should know the ultimate law of the jungle. The strong eat the weak, they say. This girl had probably been indoctrinated by her own parents to get used to the life of a hunter where they could die anytime, anywhere, and without any warning at all.

'Almost like me...'

"...Wait."

I abruptly motioned for Adriel to stop. She did not bother to ask what the reason was and stopped walking following my command.

'What was that sound...?'

I looked at the trees to my left as I thought so. The coastal area of the river was fairly clear of trees, but a few meters beside us the trees were quite dense. I heard something from those trees.

'An animal? Doesn't sound like one, though...'

I heard a sound that resembled a human groan from inside there. I looked behind me, at Adriel who had a worried look on her face.

"Watch it..." I told her simply.

"Huh?"

Obviously, she was confused by what I meant. But I ignored her and set up the rifle in hand. Although I did that, I had no immediate intention of using it even if something from behind the trees was indeed what I thought it was. If they were sensitive to hearing whatever it was, my rifle would only exacerbate the situation. I prepared it just in case the thing lurking behind the trees was not what I expected, and was something worse than that.

"Granghh...!"

'Here they comes...'

I aimed my rifle at the trees. Something came out from among the trees, a boy, probably around Adriel's age. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes didn't that reflect life indicating that he clearly shouldn't be able to walk like this. I checked his other limbs and found bite marks on his wrists. From the condition of the wound, it seemed safe to think that he hadn't been like this for long.

When it saw us, it let out a terrifying "Graughh!" at us. Before it could do anything, though, I lowered my rifle, grabbed one of the throwing knives on my belt and threw it right at the boy's forehead. Right after it hit him, he fell limply to the ground on the spot.

"...What... is that?" Adriel saw in horror the Infected lying in front of us.

With an annoyed sigh, I replied. "The Infected. They're the reason your father told you to stay away from the settlement as much as possible."

"Infec... ted...?" She seemed to be dizzy.

"I knew we'd run into one sooner or later, but I didn't expect it to be this soon."

I scratched my forehead weakly.

"Well..." I quickly changed gears. "Let's put that aside for now. We need to get moving. Who knows it's not just this kid who's here."

She followed my orders in silence. It seemed that I just needed to leave her alone for her to put her thoughts back in place.

We continued to travel with the silence overtaking us. After a few hours, I finally opened my mouth.

"You should know, we'll possibly face them more often in the future. Be a little careless, and you'll become one of them."

"...I know. But still..." Adriel bit her lip.

"They're not human," I told her. "Not anymore."