Side Story. And They
In the Los Angeles City Government conference room.
The newly formed city council after Ross Preston's death was in quiet silence, as if waiting for someone.
Crash!
Clatter!
The conference room door opened hurriedly and a woman in a white coat rushed in.
"We-we've succeeded! Mass production of the vaccine is now possible!"
Woohoo!!
The entire room erupted in cheers.
Now, LA had reached the starting point of completely escaping the danger of the zombie virus.
While people were hugging and cheering with joy, Ava, LA's military commander, secretly wiped away tears.
Because they could finally fulfill the wish her sister had so desperately hoped for.
One year after Ross Preston's death.
In what could be considered a short time, they had fiercely battled zombies coming over from the desert.
Before mass production of the vaccine, countless trials and errors were undergone to complete the vaccine.
The most important experiments could be completed thanks to the sacrifice of soldiers who directly signed up for dosing.
Without their sacrifices, the completion of the vaccine would have been delayed even more, and the current mass production would have been possible only after several more years.
Ava stood up and calmed the excited people.
"Everyone! The results of all of LA's hard work have finally shown hope. Until we gained this hope, for the sake of the soldiers who showed noble sacrifice while protecting LA with the sole intention of protecting their families, how about we take a moment to honor them?"
Everyone became solemn at Ava's words.
Following Ava's words, they honored the soldiers with a moment of silence.
Then everyone sat down and began discussions for the vaccine production schedule, distribution, and LA's future plans.
* * *
LA was enveloped in a festive atmosphere for several weeks.
This was because the city government had officially determined the success of vaccine production and the distribution date.
Everyone was excited with the hope that the daily anxiety due to the fear of zombies would disappear and that humanity could finally escape this apocalypse.
While everyone was in high spirits, one area inside the wall was quiet.
This was Beyond, the arela for junk dealers and outsiders.
Aiden, living in an old apartment located in the corner of the area, was looking at the hopeful interior of LA.
It had been well over a year since he settled and lived here.
During that time, he had become an important figure among LA's junk dealers, handling various difficult requests as a veteran junk dealer of Beyond.
Recently, requests had decreased considerably, so he was only doing light work like patrolling the surroundings.
Everything that had happened in LA passed in an instant, and time was spent busily for city restoration.
So he felt grateful for this leisurely time.
Moreover, today was the day to meet Arian and Sadie.
Although not possible frequently, they make sure to meet twice a month to share their stories.
"Why are you spacing out?"
Arian appeared.
And a gentle, bright voice popped out.
"I'm here too!"
It was Sadie.
"You've come."
"Of course we came."
Arian replied gruffly.
Aiden was rather satisfied with Arian's unchanged demeanor.
"Have you been well?"
"Of course."
Aiden thought Sadie looked even brighter than before, which was nice to see.
After greetings, the three sat in chairs placed in the living room and chatted about various trivial matters.
Of course, most of the conversation was Sadie, while Arian and Aiden were just listening intently.
After talking enthusiastically for a while, Sadie excused herself momentarily to bring drinks.
"How's the situation beyond the wall?"
Aiden asked Arian.
"If things continue as they are now, I think we might be able to reclaim all of LA within a year. The vaccine is complete, and the material shortage will gradually be resolved. The problem is the fanatics and the mutants."
"I see. I heard from other junk dealers that the fanatics are growing in power, but is the problem very serious?"
For Aiden, mutants were just monsters that were tricky to deal with. They were beings that could be killed.
Moreover, the military had Arian.
If enough blood is supplied, even grotesque mutants are no match for Arian.
However, the fanatics are beyond just being tricky.
Their atrocities that he had seen on the way to LA were beyond imagination.
"Those madmen are hiding even inside LA, so it's not easy to root them out, but I heard they've started full-scale activities by building a wall near Bakersfield."
"Bakersfield? It's about 100 miles from LA... It's certainly a potential threat. Does the city government have any countermeasures?"
Arian shook her head.
"The opinion is that nothing can be done right away. They're busy reclaiming all of LA, producing vaccines, and the number of incoming survivors keeps increasing."
"Hmm..."
It's inevitable to keep worrying about the fanatics, but Aiden thought it wasn't something he could step up for.
"What are you talking about so seriously?"
"Huh? It's nothing, Sadie. Come to think of it, didn't you say you were learning something these days?"
Sadie asked as she put down the cups in her hands, but Arian brushed it off.
"I'm learning combat skills these days!"
"Huh? What?"
"Um..."
Arian and Aiden seemed quite surprised.
Of course, Sadie couldn't always be under others' protection, but they couldn't help but be surprised.
"Why is Sadie learning that?"
"Of course, because I want to be helpful too."
"I mean, there are many ways to help, but why combat skills specifically?"
When Arian asked pressingly, Sadie's face turned slightly red.
"Th-that's because I want to be helpful to Aiden and Arian too."
"Huuuh?"
Arian made an expression of even less understanding.
With a look that said "What is this kid thinking?", just as she was about to say something more, there was a knock on the door.
Knock knock.
Aiden looked at Arian.
"A soldier?"
"Seems so."
Aiden pulled on the casually tossed motorcycle helmet and opened the door.
"Hello."
A soldier with just a combat cap pulled low, without any weapons, greeted.
"What's the matter?"
"I understand Arian is here as well. Military Commander Ava has requested a meeting."
"Both me and Arian?"
"All three of you."
"Sadie too?"
"That's correct. She asked to relay that she'd like you to come right now if possible."
Aiden seemed to ponder for a very brief moment before nodding.
"We'll prepare and head over. We'll be as quick as possible."
"Understood. Then."
The soldier gave a light salute and disappeared.
Aiden returned to the living room and looked at Arian.
"You heard everything, right? Shall we go?"
"Of course we should go, but why is Sadie asked to come along?"
"Me?"
Arian was bothered by Sadie's somewhat awkward expression, but didn't say anything.
Aiden put on the newly issued white doctor's coat, hung the doctor's name tag around his neck, and pulled the helmet down low as he said:
"Let's hear the details first."
Arian just nodded and followed Aiden along with Sadie.
* * *
Arriving at the checkpoint connecting Beyond and LA's civilian area, Aiden's group was able to move quickly to the military headquarters by jeep, as if they had already been informed.
Some soldiers watching Aiden's group pass by saluted Arian.
Watching this, Aiden made a comment to Arian.
"You've been promoted."
"Shut up!"
Seeing the two, Sadie giggled quietly behind them, and the group soon arrived at Ava's office.
Arian knocked on the door.
Knock knock
"Come in."
As Aiden's group all entered the office, Ava stood up from her desk and offered a handshake to Aiden.
"It's been a while, Aiden."
"Has it? Why did you call us?"
Aiden went straight to the point while accepting Ava's handshake.
Ava smiled with her eyes at Aiden's still emotionless demeanor.
"Let's sit down first. The conversation might get a bit long."
Sadie, Aiden, and Arian sat in that order on the quite spacious sofa, and Ava sat across from them.
"Do you need anything to drink?"
"I'm fine."
"Don't need it."
"I'd like just a glass of water..."
When Sadie requested water, Ava told the duty soldier to bring water, and the soldier immediately brought it.
"Now let's get into the main discussion."
Ava started by talking about the current progress of mass vaccine production.
The production volume hasn't been able to keep up with enough to cover all the people inside the LA wall, she said.
This was because acquiring materials wasn't as easy as thought.
The military was doing its best to secure materials by continuously distributing material-related requests to junk dealers.
But Aiden knew well the difficulty of material procurement because junk dealers and the military had already swept up almost all resources to the extent that it could be said they had searched all of LA.
Ava's explanation that followed was rather positive.
The situation would improve because soldiers had cleared zombies from multiple directions in quite wide areas, enough to move to Santa Barbara or Santa Clarita, she said.
Then, she also explained about the issue of fanatics.
This part was rather simple.
The government's policy was to leave them alone for the time being if they don't threaten LA, she said.
However, as the military commander, Ava herself knew that unstable elements like fanatics could drive the situation to the worst at any time, so she added that she would steadily gather information and remain vigilant.
"For what you called the main discussion, there doesn't seem to be a core point."
"Of course, the really important talk starts now. Our government wants to entrust you and Arian with the task of delivering the vaccine to the government of Las Vegas."
"Hmm..."
Aiden looked at Arian.
"This is the first I'm hearing of this too."
"Is that so."
Seeing Arian's reaction, it seemed she really didn't know, so Aiden looked back at Ava.
"You'll need more explanation. A quite large survivor group has formed in Las Vegas, though not on the scale of LA."
Ava continued to explain that Las Vegas was one of the cities with an extremely high number of zombies until just two years ago.
However, due to the incident a year ago, a large number of zombies rushed to LA, and as a result, the number of zombies in Las Vegas decreased. Naturally, small groups joined forces to survive, and now they have become a large group, gathering survivors in a role similar to an administrative district like LA, and protecting them.
"So, the representative of the Las Vegas group has sent a request for cooperation to LA. For the future survival of humanity, we are in a position where we cannot ignore their request as we will strive to create a world where people can live again by continuously cooperating with intact groups."
As if her throat was dry, Ava took a sip of water and continued speaking.
"And because we can also exchange supplies with Las Vegas."
"Then is our role to take a few of the developed vaccines, show them the efficacy of the vaccine, and then get a promise of material exchange?"
"That's right."
"...The compensation?"
"Priority provision of the vaccine for Sadie. And accepting you, Aiden, as a citizen of LA."