January 16
The campfire from the night before had slowly burned down to ash without anyone tending it. A little warmth still lingered in the embers, but curled up beneath the blankets, little Doris still felt unbearably cold.
Her immune system had gone completely berserk, waging war on everything in sight—enemy and ally alike—leaving her body in terrible condition.
The unrelenting fever was burning through her strength, draining both energy and fluids, while the long exposure to the cold only increased the risk of hypothermia.
She was trapped between fire and ice.
Pain had swallowed her whole. Her body, battered to this extent, had lost all vitality. She looked like the last candle in the wind, a frail flame ready to gutter out at any moment.
Now the suffering had driven her into delirium. Her vision blurred with hallucinations. Her brain overloaded, her body failing, she finally broke.
"Wah… Sister, I feel awful!"
Overwhelmed by the torment wracking her body, Doris burst into sobs.
"Don't cry, don't cry. Brent and I will go find medicine right now!"
"Second Miss, we won't give up on you…"
Brent and Miranda ached at the sight before them.
Neither of them was in good shape either. The food they had found the day before had barely amounted to anything. Their stomachs, starved for days, were not about to be fooled by such a pitiful amount, especially when most of it had been fed to frail little Doris.
The two women who could still move had to do something.
Go out now?
The sky outside had only just begun to glow gold at the edges. Darkness still clung stubbornly to the earth, and danger was always worse in the dark.
If they wanted medicine, they had to find a place that actually sold it. Ordinary houses might have some, but searching them one by one would be difficult, and who knew what kind of infected might be lurking inside.
As for the place they had taken shelter in, it was in the middle of nowhere—a simple scenic area. They had no idea where to find medicine around here.
To get proper drugs, they would need to head several kilometers away, toward a clinic or hospital.
But Doris was hanging by a thread.
Miranda, completely at a loss, turned her gaze toward Brent—the most experienced among them.
Feeling the weight of that desperate trust, Brent knew it was time for her to do what she could.
The situation was a complete disaster. If she went out alone, or if Miranda went alone, the search would be terribly inefficient and the risk enormous. If both of them went together, then who would stay behind to care for Doris?
It was a complete mess.
Miranda's trusting eyes and Doris's pitiful, fragile expression bore down on Brent so heavily she felt as though they might crush her.
Under that pressure, her mind raced.
What were they supposed to do?
If they took sick Doris with them, the danger would skyrocket. She couldn't even walk on her own anymore. Someone had to support her—or else…
Then, like a lightbulb suddenly switching on over her head, a reckless idea struck.
A stretcher. Wheels. A handcart. A bicycle. A wagon.
Humanity had invented countless tools to make moving easier.
Was the apocalypse supposed to mean throwing all of that away?
Individually, humans were weaker than predators and wild beasts. But their clever minds and dexterous hands had made up for every flaw. With their own inventions, they had dared to grasp powers once reserved for gods. In the span of ten thousand years, humanity had spread across the planet and claimed the top of Earth's hierarchy.
"Miss, we can take the Second Miss with us by using some kind of cart. It's still too dangerous to leave her here alone."
Miranda had been agonizing over exactly that problem.
How could she possibly weigh the two sides of that scale?
Fortunately, Brent had put her finger directly on the crucial point.
The modern human brain reclaimed the high ground. Miranda understood instantly.
"As long as it has wheels, we can bring Doris with us. Miss, wrap all the blankets around her and give her all the water."
"Yes. Then let's hurry. Command is yours from here on out. I trust you, Hood. We'll make it back to Florence alive."
"Miss, thank you for your trust. Ever since your father and mother saved me, my life has belonged to the Christian family. Command me as you please. I would never refuse."
That trust was the greatest reward Brent could have received.
Now she was full of determination. All she wanted was to get her two young mistresses out of danger.
They found a travel route map in the hotel and discovered a road lined with fewer buildings. The center of town surely had hospitals, but it was far too dangerous—one wrong move and they would end up torn apart. If they followed this route, though, it would take them toward the outskirts of Fukushima. There, maybe, just maybe, they might get lucky.
They wrapped Doris in thick blankets until she resembled a rice dumpling, then placed her on one of the hotel's serving carts.
They released the brake, gathered themselves, and—
Go, go, go! Time to move!
Not long after—
Crash, rattle, clatter…
"Miss, hurry! Watch out for the car ahead!"
"It's fine! Trust my driving!"
While raiding a gas station, the trio found a human-powered tricycle. That made things much easier.
A gas station was the sort of compact place that had a bit of everything despite its size—cigarettes, alcohol, food, car tools, lodging supplies... the works.
But still no fever medicine for Doris.
So they had no choice but to keep going.
They rode along the road. The scattered infected they encountered were no match for them. Every time they passed an abandoned vehicle, Brent would hop down to search it. Maybe there would be some fever reducers inside.
Toilet paper.
Toilet paper again.
Just how much toilet paper did Japanese people keep in their cars?!
The vehicles yielded almost nothing useful. They even found heart medication at one point, but not a trace of anything to bring down a fever.
"Miss, there's nothing here. We'll have to find a clinic," Brent said, her spirits sinking. "There's a village another two kilometers ahead."
That village was their last hope.
They could only pray Doris held out long enough to reach it.
Miranda pedaled faster.
The human-powered tricycle seemed almost to gain a burst of nitrous acceleration, hurtling down the road. More than once it nearly flipped over on the uneven pavement.
Dodging several clusters of infected along the way, they finally entered the small village.
The main road connected to the highway was littered with traps clearly meant to hinder infected. Maybe there were still living people here.
Some houses in the village had been boarded shut with planks. The ground was stained with blood, but there were no corpses in sight.
All of it pointed to the same conclusion: people still lived here.
Miranda and Brent were overjoyed. Perhaps they could trade for some medicine.
But Doris was already at the end of her strength. The journey had worsened the burden on her body.
"Sister… is Doris going to return to the Lord's embrace? I... I feel like Father is calling me…"
So weak she could barely speak, Doris managed only a few words before collapsing completely.
"Hold on!"
The last thing Doris saw before she lost consciousness was a group of ordinary, living people walking toward her sisters.
"This trade is acceptable to our village chief. One hand for the payment, one hand for the goods."
A broad, simple-looking villager stood before the two girls.
"Yes. That's exactly what I want…"
Though the villagers refused to let outsiders into the village proper, they were willing to trade.
One unloaded handgun bought them a blister pack of medicine—six tablets—along with some flashlights.
As for food and water, the three women did not dare trust strangers enough to accept them.
If the food was tampered with, death would have been the least terrible possibility. For three women alone in a broken world, the consequences could be far worse.
The villagers let out a collective sigh of relief as they watched the three women depart into the distance.
For a village with fewer than twenty people left, armed outsiders were simply too dangerous.
In the end, both sides had gotten what they wanted.
The trade had concluded peacefully.
After feeding Doris the medicine and settling her into a more comfortable position, they kept moving.
Their planned route would take them directly toward Nikomatsu, where Kyoko was.
If all went well, after finding another temporary shelter for the night, they would arrive there the next morning.
But as the three of them sped onward, none of them noticed the eyes in the sky watching their every move.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
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