Chapter 36: Deicide (１)

****

The world is full of irony.

I am currently sitting inside the mobile command center.

That mobile command center is inside the Foundation’s medium infantry fighting vehicle. And that armored vehicle is inside an abandoned city where monsters are running rampant…

Next to me is some cat I’m supposed to treat as my superior. Let’s not overthink it. Pointing out every strange thing would just be a waste of time. Keeping the strange things safe is my job, after all.

Inside this armored vehicle, excluding myself, there are five people. Three tank crew members, one engineer, and one task force operative.

Most of them were screaming, unable to accept the sudden change in circumstances.

“AAAAAAH!”

I pressed hard on my temple. I can’t even tell who’s screaming. Not that I’m saying this isn’t a situation worth screaming about.

The armored vehicle was racing along at considerable speed. The 105mm main gun had scored direct hits multiple times, but with no particular effect.

I need to think of a solution.

I turned the headset back on and connected to the vehicle’s internal wire communication. I’d turned it off earlier so it wouldn’t interfere with the engagement, but now I need it.

“Tank commander. Please stay calm for now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The tank should have special ammunition prepared for situations like this. Can you confirm?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Can you load a special round into the main gun?”

“Yes. It’ll take about a minute.”

I heard sounds of things bumping and being moved. The tank crew must be shifting ammunition around.

“Director Geum. There are several types of special ammunition here. Which round should we fire?”

How would I know? But I can’t just answer that I don’t. They came to me hoping for a solution, after all.

I need to come up with an answer as best I can.

“Do you have any Deicide rounds?”

If there’s Deicide gas, there should be Deicide rounds too.

“We have two. Will it work on that thing?”

I don’t know. That’s just the hope.

“Yes.”

“Moving the round now. Firing.”

I watched the monster through the screen.

BOOM!

The giant reptile collapsed. Its head blown off by the tank’s main gun. It seemed to be regenerating already, but we need to move fast.

The autocannon raked across the fallen monster.

BOOM!

The monster regenerated quickly and resumed its pursuit.

The bizarre reptile was faster than expected. Fast enough that it was keeping pace with the armored vehicle on foot. Several smaller monsters were chasing us too.

Can we even stop this thing?

SCREEEEEECH!

The monster vanished from the camera’s field of view.

“What the—”

“The monster has climbed on top of the vehicle!”

“Detonating the reactive armor!”

Can you just detonate it whenever you want?

BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, the reactive armor attached to the vehicle exploded. The monster was thrown off. The armored vehicle opened fire at the monster on the ground.

“Communications equipment and cameras are destroyed.”

What do I do now — I really don’t want to die yet.

The crocodile recovered fully before long. The monster resumed its assault on the armored vehicle.

“Can that thing tear through the vehicle?”

“Fuck if I know.”

Crocodile was bigger than the armored vehicle.

The monster’s claws scraped across the armor. By the laws of ordinary physics, a dinosaur scratching shouldn’t be able to breach an armored vehicle… but.

Who knows.

See, it’s already starting to break through.

“It’s been an honor serving with you, Director.”

Clatter, clatter.

I could hear small wooden dolls climbing up onto the armored vehicle. And the reptile monster hadn’t stopped scraping at the armor either.

I have to survive.

It took the monsters a long time to get in. They must have built this vehicle sturdier than I expected.

“Overseer. Do something about this.”

“I intend to witness your final moments.”

“And then?”

“I’ll run.”

The cat shrugged.

As useless as ever.

Kiiiiiiiiiiik!

The sound of tearing metal rang in my head. The monster shoved its head into the armored vehicle. Crack—more metal tore apart—

BOOM!

The armored vehicle was ripped in half. Sunlight came back into view. I gripped the shotgun.

The monster let out a shriek.

****

Death was right in front of me. Time slowed down.

One second passed.

“Ah, I remember now.”

Special ammunition and Deicide gas.

They said it was made by mixing cinnamon and mistletoe and the like. But the reptile monster chewed through the special rounds, the autocannon, and the gas alike.

Why?

Because of its regeneration ability.

It doesn’t matter whether that gas or those special rounds are substances that can harm the body. This monster just regenerates any wound.

Two seconds passed.

The monster was still shrieking.

What about a wound it can’t regenerate? What kind of wound can’t be regenerated? If it’s damage unrelated to the physical state of the body, maybe it would land a real hit.

I have a few artifacts in my bag. Which of them could deal that kind of damage?

Three seconds elapsed.

The monster slowly began to close its mouth.

The Foundation controls anomalies.

The Foundation is the place that controls the world. We control people’s perceptions. How do you control perception? In people’s memories.

The substance that sustains the Foundation.

A god must be remembered to exist.

Vertebrates share quite a lot of hormones.

I thought of a solution.

I shoved a test tube filled with white liquid into the muzzle of my shotgun. Thank goodness the test tube was small enough to fit inside the shotgun.

I pulled the trigger.

BANG!

My shotgun spat fire, and the giant reptile monster fell in a single blow.

****

Christopher screamed.

“What did you just do?!”

The giant reptile was lying on its back in front of me, twitching. Around us, the wreckage of the armored vehicle and the corpses of people were scattered about.

The engineer who had been riding in the tank with me was dead. I don’t know where the others are.

“Dr. Geum!”

The cat was running after me at my feet. Though this isn’t the time to play with a cat.

Click.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I fired the shotgun at the zombies. Blood and brain matter splattered in every direction. I’ve survived this long—what are a few zombies?

“How did I do it, you ask, Overseer.”

Ugh.

At this point, the zombies almost look cute.

THWACK! I smashed a zombie’s skull with the stock. Honestly, there’s no real evidence these are zombies. They just look like it.

“There was a test tube of amnestic in my bag—”

Damn it. I’m out of shotgun shells.

I shoved a zombie back with the stock, then tossed the shotgun to the ground.

“There was. So—”

This is exactly why I brought multiple guns.

I drew the pistol from my waistband.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“So I loaded the amnestic, test tube and all, into the shotgun and aimed for the monster’s mouth—”

Keeps interrupting me.

A zombie toppled over from a kick. Squelch—I crushed its skull with my combat boot.

“Anyway. That’s how I caught it.”

“Dr. Geum. You had a test tube of undiluted amnestic? You carry that around normally? How did you know that drug would take down the monster?”

“Overseer. Let’s keep moving and I’ll explain more.”

I found an assault rifle in the wreckage of the armored vehicle and grabbed it. Just what I was looking for.

FR-20. A Foundation-made weapon. Not an amazing rifle, but it has both vertical and horizontal recoil compensation built in, so it’s far more usable than the alternatives.

“No, wait. The rifle isn’t the important thing—can we just talk for a second?”

The cat stared at me as if I were being absurd.

First, move to a safe location. There weren’t many hiding spots left. I sprinted toward one of the few intact buildings remaining in the town center.

“Director Geum! Where are you going?!”

“Then. Let’s meet in the town center.”

***

Christopher Petraeus.

The Ninth Overseer was in a state of panic.

The destruction of a Foundation medium infantry fighting vehicle alone was already a major incident. And everyone except Director Geum appeared to be dead.

Director Geum had taken down the Crocodile in a single blow, then vanished into the town center spouting nonsense. No, seriously—how the hell did she catch that Crocodile?

“Praetorian Guard. Praetorian Guard, are you listening?”

[Connection established.]

“Director Geum killed the Crocodile and ran off. I don’t know how she killed it, and she seems to have lost her mind—whether from adrenaline or the drugs.”

[Understood. We will retrieve her.]

Well, at least that’s a relief.

***

I don’t know why I feel so good.

Every time a zombie’s head bursts, every time a Wooden Doll gets crushed, every time some grotesque humanoid monster with a name I don’t know falls—I’m happy.

“Hehehe…”

My clothes were soaked in blood from head to toe. With the gas mask on, it probably wasn’t dangerous, but. There was something I was supposed to be doing.

I leaned against the ruins of one of the few remaining buildings.

My head was spinning from the drugs and the cognitohazard exposure. What was I doing just now—who am I, and where is this?

I wiped the blood off my gas mask goggles.

First, let’s stay calm.

I feel like I say that ten times a day. It’s probably a temporary effect. If I think for a bit, it’ll probably come back to me, but—

I can’t take off the gas mask and take my meds here. This place is… Well. I don’t know exactly, but it’s a strange place. Let’s remember what I was doing.