Hero Pandemic chapter 49: Sewer
Yumi’s POV
“……Tsu! ……Haa――――Haa……huu……”
Calming my mind. I speak to myself in my heart that I should not be confused. Forcibly removing the appearance of Kazuya floating in my mind, I put Kaede in my view again.
There was no such thing as a force in the hand that gripped the crowbar.
“……There’s no fear of being attacked from behind”
Looking at me who regained her composure, Kaede stepped into a creepy dark bottom. She said some words to the trembling me and then disappears into the darkness at once.
Even though I regained my composure, I was confused in my mind because I was not upset.
From behind, a zombie is approaching. It is a young woman who looks dirty.
Her cardigan was discolored and her red shoes had their heels broken. Her skirt is rattling and did not play its role.
(Kazuya-san……what should I do……)
I stare at the dark hole below me silently. I was going to follow Kaede a few minutes ago, but that thought is lost. There was fear, but I could not understand whether Kaede was more reliable than that.
The zombie girl attacks as if to poke a chance of such me.
(…… After all, there is no choice but to go）
I slammed my crowbar into the zombie girl who is approaching from behind and release all my emotions.
The blow was sluggish but pierced through that girl’s remaining eye and destroy the skull completely.
I didn’t even take a glimpse of the zombie girl sinking into a blood pool, while following Kaede into that darkness. The light that shines slightly does not let me see the bottom and it is uncertain whether Kaede waits for me or not.
Even so, I thought I should believe in Kaede who told me not to hide, and I went down to see it one step at a time. The cover of the manhole was closed just in case. Of course it’s not perfect because I don’t have the strength, but at least zombies won’t follow us.
“……Tsu!”
In the dark, I landed on the ground while struggling and the view becomes blank with the sound of clicking something. Someone was shining light to me.
When I cover my face with my palm to block light, a slight outline emerges. It seems to be Kaede that is applying the light of the flashlight.
“Kaede……san?”
“Come with me”
After Kaede said so expressionless, I walked out and I rushed towards her. Although it was a somewhat serious response, it was a fact that she was waiting for me and a smile emerged in my mind.
(……Yes it’s okay. Kaede-san can be trusted. And……）
At that time, Kaede said. There seems to be no fear of being attacked from behind.
On the other hand, after telling me that she was involved in the pandemic, she said that I might be attacked from behind.I want to answer that trust with trust.
“Uu……”
I stop walking the moment I suffer from a sudden odor that unexpectedly sticks to my nose.
I did not smell more than I expected, whether there are a few people using the sewage properly or not. However, I’m attacked by a different irritating smell and tears roll out.
The air was stagnant. I feel tired from the weighty air, as if I could taste it with my tongue.
It was a terrible stench.
“Kaede-san, this……”
“Close your mouth, because it’s particularly bad here, let’s get out soon”
Kaede also frowns her brows. This is uncomfortable, at least not a space that humans could live in.
The two of us go on ahead silently. Blood and fragments were not rolling on my feet, but it seems that everything will flow as long as it can cross the fence into the waterway.
(The sewer is so wide……because it was said that it was an escape road, it may be special….）
Footsteps echoes slightly, which are sucked into somewhere and disappear.
Walking and walking, on the right is a gray and round wall. A rusted white fence on the left hand. And muddy water in the middle. It seems that the temperature is quite low from the ground, and if I look closely I can breathe whit.
How long have we walked? Two or three kilometers…I feel as if I walked even more. The distance with the university may be about one kilometer at best, but my senses were paralyzed because I was walking all the way without a change.
“Here”
Eventually Kaede opened her mouth when she suddenly stopped without any premonition.
As said, I look forward from over Kaede´s head, but the scenery that has not changed is continuing into darkness.
“Where are you looking at?”
Apparently, what Kaede wanted to point to was the wall, not the front but to the right……the wall.
There is a square space made so as to gouging the rounded wall and a part of the door which has been electronically locked is flickering small.
Kaede slid something like a card through where the red light flashes. *Pipipi* The picturesque electronic sounds resonate and the door in front of us works with heavy basses that resonate.
“Ooh, it’s open”
“……It was open”
Kaede goes to the back of the door while making a remark towards me. Naturally I followed her.
“Don’t let go of your weapon, there is no escape from here”
“Eh?”
Before asking what it meant, the door closed with a sound behind me. I started to panic, because there are no switches or keys.
“Kaede, what is this――――waa!?”
To the sudden gust of wind, my black hair float in the air and assaults my face.
“Na, Na, Na”
It blew so hard that the wind which was unfit to breathe, slammed not only the front but also the side and the top. The wind storms that cannot be opened continue for a few minutes and the momentum eventually falls to a calm wind.
“What the heck was that……?”
“It just removed the dust and garbage, we´re going to be more careful, but this time it’s special”
Kaede slowly opened the door and pushed the switch on the wall when confirming that a few seconds passed after the air shower stopped.
“Kyaa!”
A voice comes out without thinking of a sudden dazzling light. Apparently Kaede seemed to have just turned on the electricity, but it seems that the whole wall felt extra light because it was white. I was surprised that we were walking with only a flashlight that Kaede had in the dark until just now.
The pure white space lasted about a dozen meters, and all the walls were lockers.
Kaede walked crisply in this unusual space as if it was nothing and found the locker and the object from the locker which was not even numbered or marked, before opening the door.
It is unknown how to distinguish it, but the locker seems to have been Kaede´s one without a doubt, she takes out a small white coat for her and wears it on herself. The thing that was originally worn was thrown away on the spot because it was stained and uncomfortable.
“E, Emmm……”
“Do you also want to wear one, Yumi? Even just putting on may be good somewhat”
“Emm……yes”
Because it was unnatural to refuse, I put my hand on the door of the locker which was two away from Kaede´s locker.
“――――Hii”
But there was not a brand new white coat, but a corpse that I don’t even know the gender because the head is split.
The corpse is lurched and the posture is broken, and from the head……sprinkled fell from the neck and spotted a murky liquid. Fortunately, the body was opened and it was not touched directly, but liquids splashed on the shoes.
“……No way”
Kaede opened the locker next to it halfway, but she quickly closed it as it contained the same thing.
“Let’s go”
Apparently it seems that I did not have the whole thing now, so I will go forward again.
“E,A, wait”
I was worried about the other lockers, but I did not mind opening it because likely the same result is waiting anyway, that’s why I chased after Kaede.