[Ichifuyu]
Is it only really what it is? As someone that had weak faith, to begin with, I didn't believe in either punishment day or heaven or any kind of religious... stuff.
Hence, I found it easier not to fall into despair, though I felt a bit hopeless already with the situation as it is.
It was crappy, to say the least. I can only do what I could, I repeatedly reminded myself. Despite how bad it is, it's not that I had any more conflicted feelings.
I'll do what I can so that even if I die, at least I've tried.
Besides, I have help and allies. With one goal in mind, our survival chances were actually decent. Not to mention that most of us are friends here.
"Time to wake up," I said with a bit of hardness to my voice.
Sadi was deep into dreamland, and I had to shake him to even get a reaction out.
He grunted, then answered,
"...I'll just eat later."
As usual, I thought.
"Alright, don't sleep too long, we have to investigate someplace."
Yeah, yeah. Sadi mumbled.
I left him to sleep some more, and stacked up the materials we slept on, Ash's included.
It didn't take too much time as it was only some blankets and mats stacked together.
After checking Sadi as he turned in his sleep, again, I went on my way.
There was a matter that needed to be seen to.
My steps were drowned out by other footsteps, inaudible chatter, and just by virtue of tens of people in one place. I exchanged some waves and heys with friends, all, without exception, looking mentally drained.
"Hey, Crimson," he looked to me as he stayed seated.
"What was that matter you mentioned?" Yesterday.
Yesterday, we received word from one of our friends that were in another place. Apparently, they were asking for assistance in some form.
"Yeah, seems like they're short on people that want to handle other people." He scoffed. "Lots of mouths to feed, though."
His tone was the same, unchanging blunt as it had ever been.
Crimson is one of the few that leads this shelter using his brain. If it weren't for him, we may very well have collapsed. An injury on his leg prevented him to help further with food scavenging.
I'll be a deadbeat and zombie food. He said so.
"What kind of help do they want?" We already got too much on our plate.
Crimson shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure."
Well, that sure was rare. In normal cases, he gave some speculation, others, he didn't. Right now he was probably telling me the answer was obvious.
I thought for a second. Ultimately, not coming to a concrete answer.
"Alright," I said with a nervous chuckle. "What time do they want to meet up?"
Crimson checked on the wall clock.
7:09. "Maybe 30 minutes? No, let's make it an hour." he said with the faintest hint of spite.
Crimson was one of the very first people to object to splitting, with a very good reason. Naturally, a lot of us objected, too, since we'd be splitting manpower for things like guarding and scouting.
Amēn forced the issue, setting off with quite a few people.
His morality was ultimately the deciding factor; he only wanted to search and save his family. Those who agreed came with him.
We understood, of course, maybe we'd have understood more if it weren't the first day humanity collapsed. And if we had no regard for our own lives.
There was a hanging tension between the splitters and us, a connection remained though.
Zzzt. The radio on Crimson's hand buzzed. "We'll be meeting at the graveyard,"
An almost steely voice rang through.
Crimson made no delays as he replied, "Understood, we'll begin preparations. That, and finding people who want to go,"
There was just a tiny bit of venom in his voice. The muffled voice on the other end mumbled something.
"We'll be waiting, then," the walkie-talkie cut out.
Alright. Crimson sighs as he stands up.
"Do you want to go?"
"A friend's a friend."
•• –•–• ––-
•••• •• –––
"Not going." Ash simply said.
With Crimson in tow, we headed toward other friends. Most rejected, reasoning that they just didn't want to go out. I guess the negativity remained.
I sent Sadi, who was already up, a perplexed gaze. He had already moved his bed aside.
As he noticed, Sadi merely cocked his head. "Why up so early, CiCi?" he said.
CiCi—Crimson brushed the nickname aside. "Things came up, Amēn needs some help. What a surprise."
I see. Sadi replied dismissively. "What, exactly, is it he needs?"
"Beats me," Crimson replied. "Are you going or not?"
In the face of pressure, the other only said, "—why not?"
Crimson turned to me.
"That makes four, including me. Ichifuyu, go fetch Dall, we're going."
—
After getting a lot of heads up, some farewells, take cares, we went off.
Dall—Dalleux in tow.
We didn't bring anything, no food, water or anything. Not even weapons.
The shelter had nothing it could spare.
The greenery continued as we walked, what was once a figure of peace and freshness, turned into one depressing counterpart.
Who could see it as peaceful, with it being painted red? I kept the thought to myself. The walk was silent, a bit awkward, too.
Dall was a bit tense but still looked forward to seeing Amēn again.
Crimson walked with unwavering confidence, a reassuring thing to see.
Sadi, being the only difference, looked unreadable and focused at the same time.
He and Amēn had, or were they still good friends? I couldn't be sure, not with the unreadable expression.
We soon arrived at the graveyard, stumbling upon some infected on the way. Avoiding it like the plague it was. This time, for a different reason.
"Glad you came. Almost thought you'd have shown me up." Amēn greeted, much as he would have before.
"Couldn't exactly leave you to die."
