Dying Blood

Chapter 58 - Cremation is Safer

Third person POV

  My time with Kevin and the infected soldiers is going well. I went on daily patrols and get to know about some of those soldiers who were with me. Most of them have something in common with me, while others had different interests than mine. While at the same time, me, Francis, and Matt are still keeping a close eye on Dr. Ray, who seemed to be changing his heart and attitude towards Kaleb.

  Another Monday came, and after my modified morning routine, I went down the fields with Kevin, Ron, and a girl named Jane, who was Kevin's friend. She was pretty, but I wasn't interested in dating and having a relationship yet. Back in Japan, I was a lonely nerd who loves action games and stuff. Most of my classmates from elementary and middle school would make fun of me and my full name, which had a middle name and an extra name in the first part. I'm not even a Japanese citizen, and I had no plans of becoming one.

As we walked down the fields, we saw a mass burial of dead bodies in a mass grave by the survivors.

Most of the survivors are carrying and tossing body bags full of dead bodies while others are covering the pit with dirt.

A few infected soldiers are also there watching the burial while holding their guns.

We then stopped walking and watched it as sounds of shovel and tossing resonates across.

Those are recent dead zombies, I thought.

I then looked at Kevin, who was a bit serious though.

Curious, I asked him, "What's wrong, Kevin-kun?"

Crossing his arms, Kevin responded, "Burying them can be problematic and hazardous."

  "What do you mean by that?" Ron asked back.

  "I mean, those are infected," Kevin reasoned in response, "so their toxic body fluids would seep into the soil, and that may infect it, too. And plus, that requires a lot of land space though."

Me and the others are surprised to hear that, and we exchanged looks at each other.

Jane then commented, "How did you know that, Kevin?"

  "Well, I would like to say that he loves to research about various things," Ron explained.

  "He's so young," Jane replied back. "He's not even in high school yet."

I then responded, "Yeah, he is, but that's what he is."

Jane then get what me and Ron had said.

But then, Kevin went forward to the burying survivors and expressed that fact towards them. They and the infected soldiers are stunned to hear that, with one of them commenting, "Are we doing it wrong?"

  "Not really," Kevin responded as he unfolds his arms, "I'm just stating the facts and the possible outcomes and effects it has on the soil."

They then get what he had said.

  "So I suggested cremation or simply burning them in a pit," Kevin continued on. "That'll kill both the virus and other harmful organisms and you can gather their ashes in an urn or two and either keep them in a shelf or bury them."

Again we were stunned at his smartness.

They then think and ponder about this for a while, before eventually deciding to take his suggestion literally.

Two of the infected soldiers went to get some gallons of kerosene to provide fuel for the fire, while one of the survivors already had a box of matches.

  Not long after, once the survivors dug the dirt on the cramming body bags out of the pit, those infected soldiers poured some kerosene on the body bags, before that survivor would light a match and toss it into the pit, spreading the fire across the entirety of the pit as we all watched that huge, rectangular bonfire. At this point, I said to Kevin, "Wow, you are really smart."

Kevin then looked at me and replied positively, "Yeah, I only gave out a suggestion, and they took it literally and immediately."

  Later, at 9:12 a.m. while Kevin is in his fitness training, I was still at the fields helping out gathering ashes of the deceased in urns of various sizes by scooping them with a shovel. There are only few who volunteered to do this since the amount of ashes are not that many and thick. The infected soldiers and some of the survivors are absent, indicating that they went to do their duties of survival.