Chapter 87: 87
Everyone became silent after that simple statement.
“B-but why don’t we all just work together and solve this thing?!” Olivia said as she heard us talking.
“If that ever happens in the first place, this thing wouldn’t even had happened.” I said.
“Hmm? Why do you think that?” Johnny said.
“In my opinion, this is not the end of the world as the holy book says or a supernatural one. Somewhere, someone or a group of people made this and spread it around the world. There could be multitudes of reasons on why they did it, it could even be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g accident. The point is, that is what we humans are, we are all the same but we are all different.” I said.
“Wait, you lost me there kid.” Oscar said.
“If everyone got along in the first place, will there be need of military presence? Will there be borders? Will there be wars? Or even this pandemic? No, there would not. Sure, we have people having the same mindset as all of us that are trying to save this world but there are also people who don’t.” I explained.
“But you also said that this could be just an accident, correct?” Tatiana said.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t categorize this thing as a cliché. What? Someone accidentally dropped the vial that contains the virus on the floor? Let’s say the person holding it is clumsy, they still made the virus that killed a lot of people. Granted we already have a few of those in circulation. Damn, I’m going down a rabbit hole. My food’s cold now.” I said while slicing another sausage.
“W-wait, what are the things we have in circulation?” Johnny said.
“Hmm? This is conspiracy theory stuff though, Alcohol? Drugs? Cigarettes? Some even say that HIV is man-made. Some people even argue that these things are made to counter the most devastating species on Earth.” I trailed.
“Hmm?” everyone has confused faces.
“Really? It’s us, humans. I read in a book that we might need to do something evil just to save humanity. It’s even the point of some villains in a few books and films. It can be removing half the people in the world with a snap or making a virus that would leave only a few people after it’s over. In short words, a reset or a culling. To be honest though, everything that this world suffers from is caused by us humans. Well, except for natural disasters of course.” I said.
“Wait, so you agree with the people that does these things?” Johnny asked.
“Don’t get me wrong here, I only agree to the sentiment that we’re the ones causing all the trouble in this world. What I don’t agree about is the way they resolve the situation. Like Olivia said, if people could just work with each other, that would be for the best. Too bad that we don’t work that way. We’re too focused on what we could achieve now and what we could take from each other that we forget what we could achieve together.” I said with a helpless sigh.
“What do you mean by that? War brought us the technology that we have now, correct?” Tatiana asked.
“Yeah, kid. She’s right. The smartphones that you kids use came from the wars that we participated in.” Oscar said.
“Hmm, let me put this in what I think about that. I deeply respect what all three of you have done for your country but hear me out. Communication devices was the result from wars, correct? What was the cause of wars then?” I asked.
“Conflict.” Johnny said.
“Right, people having different ideas. Can you honestly say that we won’t be able to make our communication devices that we have now if we don’t have wars? That is different from that! Technology will advance on its own whether we fight each other or not! That is like saying that people will grow stupid if we never had conflict. It is a fuel to a cause but I think that conflict should not be the driving force in how we advance ourselves. Can you say the same with all the other inventions that are made? F.u.c.k me then. We could be living through different planets by now and our population crisis could be solved by that. We could be exploring the galaxy, people bent on territory can infinitely explore it, f.u.c.k! We could even place our bodies to indestructible ones so we could live forever and death will never be an issue.” I said earnestly. My eyes are a bit watery and I stared at everyone while shaking my head.
The group looked at me with mixed expressions.
“But that’s impossible right now. F.u.c.k.i.n.g humans, am I right? If we all just got along… if we all just got along…” I trailed.
“Damn, kid. I never thought of it like that. But still… I can’t find the words to say right now.” Oscar said.
The rest of the group wore somber expressions.
“Well, it’s just something to think about to pass the time. We do what we can right? It’s just an ideal world that I wish to have instead of this. A man can at least dream right?” I concluded with a smile.
“My head hurts. Is this some sort of Philosophy class?” Russel said.
“Hah! Did you just rope us in this class kid?” Oscar said.
“Hmm, I didn’t though but it’s fun to talk about it sometimes. Oops, it’s past two o’clock already. We’ve been talking for a while, damn.” I exclaimed as I hurriedly finished my food.
Turns out, I was the only one not finished yet since I’ve been doing much of the talking.
“Take a break for now kid. I’m itching to go outside. I’ve been holed up in this place for a while and I need to stretch these old bones of mine. Where do I go next?” Oscar said.
“There’s still a lot more places to visit. The bike shop still has a few more motorcycles that we could use. We could fill up the tanker again with gas and search the convenience store next to it. A few places we passed by is the road going to Elsewhere, there are a few diners there and I think I saw a small pharmacy like the one we went to. However, if you drove past the DDR camp on the highschool entrance, there’s also a petrol station there and a bus terminal. There’s a lot more to scavenge from, just go for the places that has a lot first. We can sweep the looted ones later.” I said.
“Stop saying ‘we’ kid. Stay here for now okay? Just find something to do here eh?” he said.
“A break is good too, I guess.” I scratched my head and then I thought of something to do.
Oscar led the scouting/ scavenging group for now and he brought the truck while Russel made a run for gas with Tatiana and Jared. The clearings will be only for the mornings so a few could help with other work to be done inside the compound. I grabbed my guandao and attempted to go outside to clear a few but Kaley stopped me.
“Nope, stay here. You’re taking a break, right?” she said.
“Yeah, doing this is taking a break. I’ll take this for a spin too.” I said as I spun it around.
“Are you Guan Yu or something now? When did you turn part Chinese then?” Zeidrick interjected.
I laughed and I said, “Hah! I’ll use this like a naginata. I want Rin to try and use this but I think she can’t even lift this or even knows how to use this thing. If we have a lighter one it would be possible.”
“Well we have an engineer here; can’t we just make one?” Kaley said.
“Hmm, we might need a blacksmith rather than an engineer to make it. They could make something like it but we need the authentic stuff. It just doesn’t feel right in my hands like when I hold a machete.” I said.
“Oh boy.” my uncle said.
“What do you mean?” Kaley asked.
“Hmm, how do I put these into words then? Hmm… craftsmanship, maybe? I can’t find the right word.” I said reluctantly.
“What is that called? It looks cool!” I heard behind me.
“Cool! That’s the word!” I exclaimed.
“…” everyone else.
I looked behind me and I saw Aya was the one who spoke.
“Hey, nice catch! This is called a guandao, this is a Chinese polearm.” I explained as she nodded pensively.
“Back on topic, why don’t you just make one then? I mean a personalized one where you could decide on how it would look?” Kaley said.
“Oh? Like my katana? I could, I just don’t have the right tools for it.” I said.
“Hold up, wait a second. You made that and this too?!” Kaley exclaimed as she pointed at the blades in our h.i.p.s.
“Yeah.” I said.
“And the tanto?” Aya added.
“Yeah.” I replied.
“W-when?! Are you a blacksmith too?!” Kaley said in surprise.