A story about running and running and running CH:1

The Story of a Lucky Son

I stared at the flickering red flame of the candle. Only the small light of the candle illuminated the pitch-black room.

The lifelines, including electricity, had stopped long ago. It’s not that I forgot to pay the electricity bill, it’s because there is no one left to run the power plant. So no matter how many times I press the switch, the lights don’t come on, and the streetlights don’t come on even though it’s night.

I walked up to the window, which was tightly covered by blackout curtains, and pulled back the edge of the curtain just a little to see what was going on outside. The city was shrouded in darkness, and I couldn’t see any lights in the street or the headlights of the cars. The sky is covered with clouds, so there is no moonlight. It was pitch black.

The wind had picked up, and the sound of the rain pounding on the windowpanes became even louder. It’s been raining heavily since noon, and I’m lucky to have found this room before the rain hits.

I was currently in a room on the top floor of a certain apartment building. It’s a big apartment, but when I arrived, there was no one there. Everyone was either dead or had become infected. The doors of some of the rooms were open and the rooms had been wrecked. It didn’t look like it had been looted, but as if something had run rampant in the room.

I checked the unlocked room just to be sure, but fortunately this room showed no signs of having been wrecked. Perhaps a careless resident had gone out nearby without locking the door and had not returned. Either way, I was grateful to have a locked door and an undisturbed room so i set up a temporary base.

It was also good that it was high up, since the infected don’t pay much attention to heights. As long as I didn’t leak light or make a fuss, the infected wouldn’t be able to find me. The stairs leading to the sixth floor were blocked, so as long as I lived under my breath, I would be safe here.

«Well,….

I sat on the floor of the living room facing the window and laid out the contents of my backpack on the candlelit table. I selected a can of corned beef and a bottle of water and put the rest back in my backpack.

Itadakimasu.»

I muttered, clasped my hands together, and opened the can. A few months ago, I would have been living without needing canned food, but now, canned food is a precious commodity, and I don’t have the luxury of having an abundance of it. Some people even raided stores just to get a single can.

I took my time savoring the greasy corned beef, trying to increase my sense of satiety as much as possible. Even though I still have plenty of food, I can’t consume it without a plan. You never know when food will be available again. Being lucky, there was still some water left in the tank on the roof of the apartment building.

After lunch, I chewed some xylitol gum to prevent tooth decay and as a dessert, and with a candle in my hand, I decided to take a look around the room. There were no signs of vandalism, so there might still be something useful left. I didn’t use the flashlight, not only because I didn’t want to waste the batteries, but also because the light was too strong and might be noticed from outside.

The first thing I did was to head for the kitchen as a matter of course. Most of the contents of the refrigerator were rotten due to the power outage, but I found a few bottles of unopened mineral water.

In the storage space under the kitchen, I found some canned food and 500 grams of white rice. There were some seasonings, and as long as I were careful about noise and smell, I could have a civilized meal for the first time in a long time.

This seemed to have accomplished most of my goals, but I decided to check the other rooms just in case. As a result, I found some tools, batteries, lighters, medicines, and other useful things. Now that I can’t see a doctor, medicines are especially valuable. I sorted them out and put them in my backpack.

There was a child’s room in the house, as if a family had lived there. A study desk, a chair, a bookshelf, a chest of drawers, a standard child’s room. In the closet, there were school clothes still in plastic bags from the cleaning. There were test answer sheets scattered on the desk, probably from the boy who occupied this room.

Looking at the children’s room, I suddenly remembered something from the past. It was only a few months ago, but back then, unlike now, I was able to live a peaceful life. I didn’t expect the world to turn out like this, and like the inhabitants of this room, I went to school, struggled with my studies (maybe it was just me), and spent my days playing with my friends.

Yes, until just a few months ago…..

I went back to the living room, dusted myself off, and lay down on the couch, and pulled out of my pocket an item I had found in the house.

It was a portable music player, not one of the latest ultra-compact ones, but a very old palm-sized one. It was not the latest ultra-compact one, but a very old palm-sized one that used a cassette tape instead of a built-in memory. As far as I remember, this type of player came out more than 40 years ago, but the people in this house must have been very wealthy.

I selected one of the cassette tapes from the pile I had found in the house, put on my earphones, and pressed the play button. With the candles blown out and the room in total darkness, bright and light music began to flow from the earphones.

I laugh unintentionally as I thought to myself that this is a very old song. The song was an anti-war song written during the Vietnam War, and I believe it is still used in movies and video games today. The lyrics are about the feelings of a civilian who is drafted into the army and heads off to war, and the phrase «I’m not my lucky day» sticks in my head.

The phrase «I’m not having any luck» comes to mind.

Am I lucky to have survived in such a world? Or am I the unluckiest man in the world? I don’t know, but I’m sure many people think the latter. There are many people who have taken their own lives out of despair over this world, including the dead body of that man in the daytime. And now, it’s just a normal thing.

There are those who say that it is better to die with a happy heart than to be eaten alive and die in great pain, or to become one of the infected and attack those close to you. I agreed with them, but I was too cowardly to die. And while everyone around me was dying, I was the only one who survived, and here I am.

I wonder how I ended up like this. ……

As I muttered that, I suddenly felt sleepy. I’ve been on the move since yesterday, and I haven’t slept much in a while. I’m not a trained soldier, but I’m still 17 years old.

I was worried about the infected, but I told myself that I was fine. I was on the sixth floor, and the lights were off, so there was no way that they could find me from outside. The rain should muffle some of the noise, and I’ve blocked the stairs. I’ve already confirmed that there is a way out of here even if I’m attacked.

So it’s safe here. As soon as I told myself that again, I felt an incomparable rush of sleep. I was so exhausted from the past few days that I couldn’t bear it and let go of my consciousness.

«This is the morning news of March 7th. In response to the riots that have been occurring in various parts of Africa since the other day, the AU (African Union) has issued an emergency statement calling for support from other countries. ……»

A few months ago, the world was still at peace. I had taken the news of the violent riots in Africa and the many deaths as if it were an event from another world. As I sat at the dining table in the morning, biting into a loaf of bread, I thought to myself, «Oh, that must be terrible». And it was not only me, but my parents as well, or maybe even most of the people in this country. Anyway, at that time, I didn’t pay any attention to such news.

«The mysterious riots that have been raging across Africa since the other day have finally spread to Europe and South America. The riots, which have already killed tens of thousands of people, have been reported at …….»

When the news came out a few days later, most people must have thought it was still out of their hands. In fact, I was one of them. They were more worried about the huge drop in stock prices due to the riots than about the tens of thousands of dead people whose faces they didn’t even know. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could sense something fishy, but I told myself that it would all be over soon anyway.

«The riots that have been raging in Africa, South America and Europe have been caused by a new virus, according to an American research institute…….»

«The virus causes people who are infected with it to lose their reason, become violent and attack others…….»

«The President of the United States has ordered the sealing of the Mexican border in order to stop the spread of the virus in South America…….»

«The government also held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss ways to stop the virus from reaching Japan…….»

Even after a few more days, when the situation suddenly started to move, I was still able to remain calm. People with good instincts had already started to evacuate to depopulated areas, but most working people, including my parents, went to work as usual. Everyone was trying to look away from the looming crisis in front of them and to maintain their normal routine by finishing the work at hand.

The number of flights to and from the airports had dropped drastically, and the economy was taking a huge hit, but I didn’t take the situation seriously even then. I even had the luxury of regretting it with my friends when the government tried to close many schools, but due to the fact that it coincided with the entrance exams and final exams, the teachers protested and the schools were not closed.

In the end, many people tried to carry on with their daily lives as usual, but of course that didn’t last long.

And that day….

«……!»

That’s when I woke up. The player had long since finished playing all the songs and was silent, and the sunlight was shining through the blackout curtains. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already morning. Rubbing my eyes, I got up and walked up to the window to look outside. The sky was blue and cloudless, as if yesterday’s rain had been a lie.

My underwear was damp with sweat from remembering all the unpleasant things I had done. The thought of continuing to dream like that terrified me a little. Even though I thought I had accepted it, the events of that day still left a scar in my heart. The scars will probably never heal in the foreseeable future.

Forcing the past events out of my mind, I clapped my cheeks and steeled myself. I have a lot of things to do for another day.