“Right. Pull it tight. Anyway, we can always ask the doctor to check it later. Now, what did you say?”
“There is no excess in life.”
“If it hurts so badly, inject morphine. If the bleeding is heavy, use all the bandages. Survival comes first. Questions come after—Eek!”
As the final knot was tied, a sound like a pig being butchered echoed.
“Whoa.”
“Ow, it hurts. Feels like I’m young again, haha.”
I was startled for a moment when his face suddenly turned pale, fearing something serious had happened.
But upon seeing him take a few breaths and stretch, I could relax.
Of course, for me, even raising my arm was a problem.
“Is the blade properly in place?”
“…It’s burning like crazy.”
“That’s normal. The blood…where? Right, it’s not bleeding too badly. Leave it as it is. If you pull it out carelessly, you’ll bleed out.”
In the game, I learned weapons stuck ‘into’ would lead to massive bleeding if put into inventory.
By the time I realized that, my character was already rolling on the ground, covered in blood.
“Are you ready?”
“I guess so.”
“One, two, three!”
I firmly grabbed Mr. Curtis’s back with my right arm and stood up.
Even though excruciating pain surged into my brain with every small movement of my left arm, it was fine regardless.
We had to escape this place first, the pain…
“Is there any painkiller?”
“You mean Ibuprofen?”
“…Morphine sure does kill the pain.”
“That’s because it’s highly addictive.”
“Hmph.”
After taking out the emergency medical kit, I handed two tablets to Mr. Curtis.
I took two myself with water.
“Hoo…”
“Morphine would immediately eliminate the pain. This one will take a while.”
In some games, just applying Vaseline or tiger balm would let you jump despite fractures or whatever, but isn’t the problem of this game its excessive realism?
“Kuh…”
I stepped firmly on the survivor’s back and moved.
They’d bleed out anyway or be eaten later by monsters.
Not like I had any intention to give them a proper burial or burn them.
After crossing the pile of bodies and walking through the corridor, we unintentionally surveyed the area the cannibals had settled in.
“…Ugh.”
The view on a computer screen is one thing.
But actually being there…
From the smell of blood all around to the walls painted red, and human heads hanging around as if trophies by someone gone insane.
“Hear that these things happened in places like the Soviet Union or Europe, but actually seeing it… huh.”
“…Let’s move quickly.”
Based on the state of the cafeteria, it was hard to expect normal food supplies here.
The state of the medical ward showing cannibals dining also made me question if they properly used any medications.
Apparently, some of the eaten ones included mutants.
Finally, I headed deeper inside after seeing a bat nailed down on a metal table with a knife.
[ONAIR]
The broadcasting room, perhaps due to a lack of food, showed no signs of anyone entering.
If not for the blood-smeared handprints by the door, we might not have noticed.
“Look around.”
“Alright.”
After seating Mr. Curtis on a chair, I quickly surveyed the items around.
Items are found at the source, as they say—I found a dusty military-grade radio.
“Found it?”
“Here.”
“Every time we’re sent to find necessary items, we meet bizarre things, huh.”
“Haha…”
Because this is a game, right?
I also took a small speaker, disassembled it, stuffed it in my bag, and grabbed a radio.
Then I returned with the bag.
“Give that here.”
After Mr. Curtis took the bag, he naturally leant on me again.
Seemed like his body wasn’t in a great shape, but this felt like a short trip we could quickly return from.
The warmth of the blade and the limping older colleague beside me, everything felt suffocating.
“What do you make of our adventure?”
“…It’s tough.”
“Young ones are just whiners.”
As the pain medication started to kick in, Mr. Curtis began walking on his own, leaning on my shoulder.
The bandage wrapped around his leg was slowly leaking blood.
“What excuse are we going to tell Sarah and the young ones after we return? Huh?”
“Excuse?”
“In the U.S., it’s common to impose a ‘curfew’ as punishment.”
Ah.
Was he referring to the common scene from American TV where teenagers are grounded?
“Once you’ve tasted the outside world and are locked indoors again, how will that work? Huh? So, you explain it well.”
“Me?”
“Or do you want me to? A thankless son who wants my gun just because I’m old.”
Impossible.
Considering the state of his back even after fighting off the cannibals, it was unbelievable enough as it was.
“And—this goes without saying, but Sarah’s case—.”
“Mr. Curtis.”
Holding the dagger tightly in my arm, I gave a shy smile.
“I’ll handle that part, please.”
“…Even though I did warn you, just don’t make her cry, and it’s fine.”
With a light laugh, we finally reached the barricade.
Breathing heavily under the bright flashlight.
“…Father? Xuan Woo?”
“If you see our faces, open the gate already.”
“Dieterich! Dieterich! Sarah!”
There came loud noises from the inside.
We weren’t originally planning to make this much noise.
*
“Ugh…!”
“Both of you, prepare for your shots. Thankfully, we obtained a large amount of tetanus shots in that warehouse, or else there could have been a real disaster. Do you even know that?”
Fortunately, the blade pulled out of my arm was a clean military-grade sword.
The problem was Mr. Curtis—he drew the stares of three when he mentioned the blade that nicked him was rusty.
Mr. James and Sarah looked at us like we shouldn’t have ventured into such a dangerous place.
Mr. Curtis, for his part, looked like he’d been grounded permanently.
“For the time being, assume you can’t use your left arm.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, so you want the wound to open up and bleed profusely?”
“That-”
“You cannot do reconnaissance or even crafting for now. If you need any help, ask.”
“I wish I had postponed the vegetable patch work knowing this would happen.”
“Well, still… at least we found someone to get the seeds.”
“Ah, the seeds are important?”
“Ah!”
Despite taking painkillers,
The sudden pain made me gasp when the wound was pressed firmly.
“How do you plan to undo the stitches I carefully made? Are you ok?”
No matter how long I pressed, the bandage still stained lightly with blood.
As Miss Angela checked the arm again, Sarah, who had her arms crossed and seemed annoyed, finally sighed deeply.
“I’ll prepare your sleeping arrangements. After you-”
“The sleeping arrangement? Both of you will receive intensive care in my clinic for the time being.”
“Eh?”
“What do you mean, ‘eh’? One person has a straight wound on their arm and the other, an old man, received stitches. Do you expect them to be fine? Especially when we’re not sure whose blood might have contaminated the blade?”
Having yelled at us, Miss Angela breathed deeply and pointed to the bed.
“You’re under house arrest for a while. Lie down quietly and have food delivered.”
“Doctor, that seems like quite the harsh punishment-”
“Mr. Curtis, how old are you this year?”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“My heart is still young-”
“Father, you’re 87 this year. If anything goes wrong, you might-”
“Anyway, I should have died in that war. How many times do I have to hear the same thing?”
“Father!”
Amidst the commotion, Sarah rummaged through the bag I retrieved.
The military radio, the wires, and the radio.
She glanced at them with interest then asked,
“So, what are we supposed to do with these?”
“Uh?”
“Well, it’s not like you risked your life for just that vegetable patch. You might get bored lying there doing nothing. And since we’re down here, what else could be around to keep you company.”
She took a quick look around the medical room then turned to Miss Angela.
“Can we at least take a walk into the workshop sometimes for a couple hours every day? It doesn’t make sense to keep her here alone.”
“I can only take care of patients. Mr. Curtis will be with you.”
“As long as we don’t move the arm, there’s no need to be cooped up here, right?”
“Hmm…Hmm-”
“Grandfather, please stay still.”
Mr. Curtis gave me a sidelong glance with a sly smile.
What can I do here if you’re asking?
“As your tasks relate purely to medicine anyway, I could use the time to work on items needed to procure supplies.”
Ultimately, Miss Angela thought a while and nodded.
“With supervision only. Two hours after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
As soon as she got her answer, Sarah winked at me.
…Now that I understood the meaning of that wink, it started to feel a bit burdensome.
My lot in life, huh.
