Apocalypse Shelter Administrator

Mobilization Order (1)

[I’m so sick of eating canned food every day.]

“What kind of canned food are you eating?”

[Canned beans, canned chicken, canned bread. Canned fruit, and things like that.]

“They put bread in a can?”

[In America, they put anything in a can, as long as it’s edible.]

“What about drinks?”

[Just water. I’m not a professional survivalist. I just got lucky because the previous owner of this house was obsessed with survivalism.]

At the moment, I’m having a conversation over ham radio. To be precise, the American on the other end is using ham radio, while I’m speaking in front of my PDA.

The person I’m talking to is Mr. Hudson, who turns 60 next year. His son was deployed and killed in action, and his wife died of uterine cancer, so he’s alone. After those tragedies, he retired from truck driving and moved back to his hometown, just before the global infection outbreak.

It turned out that the previous owner of his house had built a bunker-level shelter in the basement, being a survivalist fanatic. Conveniently, he didn’t feel like going outside, so he packed up all the food and supplies stored in the house and sealed himself underground. He believes he can survive for quite some time by rationing carefully. While gathering information from the outside world via radio, he happened to connect with me.

[In any case, it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Finding a fellow ham operator in this situation is like catching a falling star. Back in my day, there were so many of us that frequency interference was the norm. That’s actually how I met Sarah—we got into a fight over whose turn it was to use the frequency, only to find out we lived in the same town. Now, it feels like searching for people in the middle of the ocean.]

Sarah was his late wife. Incidentally, her last wish was for him to quit drinking, so he didn’t stock up on alcohol when preparing for the disaster. He regrets that deeply.

“Well, at least you found someone across the ocean.”

I could hear laughter through the radio.

[You’ve got some skill. It’s not easy to make contact across the Pacific.]

It’s not my skill that’s impressive—it’s the equipment here.

[What did you eat today? What kind of emergency food do Koreans prepare?]

“Today, I had toast and beer.”

[B-Beer? Really? I’m jealous.]@@novelbin@@

“Wait a second, listen to this.” I placed the beer can near the radio and opened it.

[Are you teasing an old man right now?]

“No way. I just wanted to give you a pleasant sound to enjoy.”

Gulp Gulp—

“Ahhh…”

[You are teasing me.]

It took a while to calm down Mr. Hudson, who was grumbling as if genuinely annoyed.

[Your English is pretty fluent.]

“I used to be in the military. I retired as a major and was deployed to Lebanon and Israel. I had to communicate with locals, and I often worked alongside U.S. forces, so English was a must at my rank.”

[Well, I didn’t realize I was talking to such a distinguished person. Thank you for your service.]

Mr. Hudson spoke in a serious tone.

“Why are you making this so uncomfortable, sir? I wasn’t even in the U.S. military.”

[Even so, you worked with our soldiers, shared meals, and completed missions together. Thanks to you and your men, maybe one more of our soldiers came home safely. As an American, I feel indebted to you.]

Was he thinking of his son who died in action?

“I’m not sure how to respond to that…”

I felt something welling up inside, like a spring bubbling up from deep within. I had never received such gratitude even from my own country, and here I was, hearing it from a foreigner across the ocean in such circumstances.

[Haha! When you don’t know what to say, just let it go.]

According to Mr. Hudson, many Americans take up survivalism as a hobby, so quite a few people survived this way. However, it’s rare for someone to have their own communication system, so most can’t contact each other. Still, a small group of those with working radios are trying to form a network.

“So, there’s no large survivor group in the U.S.?”

[Unfortunately, no. A ham operator in Oregon said there was a military unit rescuing survivors and organizing them in San Francisco, but about a month ago, all communication was lost.]

“That’s unfortunate.”

[It’s a rough time. There are rumors of other survivor settlements in Nevada and Chicago, but they’re just rumors.]

“It’s a shame. There were so many places I wanted to visit in America someday.”

[Where did you want to go?]

“A lot of places. Central Park, the White House, Waikiki, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, to name a few.”

[Well, I’m sorry to say, but you’ll have to give up on those dreams. There’s hardly any place left intact.]

Mr. Hudson spoke with sympathy.

More than half of the U.S. territory has been irradiated. And it wasn’t even caused by enemy bombs—they nuked their own land. For a country willing to pay any price to protect itself, the fact that they resorted to nuclear bombardment shows just how dire the infection situation must have been.

[Central Park has become a man-eating forest. From a distance, it looks the same, but the moment you step inside, the whole forest starts shaking violently. Survivors who foolishly sought refuge there were cocooned alive. Those who barely escaped said there were spiders the size of bulls roaming around. Horrifying!]

“And the White House?”

[It’s not the White House anymore; it’s the Black House. Or maybe just ‘Black’ now, since the building’s gone. Only the charred pillars remain.]

“How about Waikiki? Scuba diving there was on my bucket list.”

[It must still be a sight to behold. That’s where the remnants of the Pacific Fleet made their last stand. If you dive there, you’ll see all kinds of ships. They’re probably quite rusty by now, though.]

“Oh boy…”

[What did you just say? ‘Oh boy’?]

“‘Aigoo.’ It’s a Korean expression similar to ‘Oh my.’”

[Aha.]

Mr. Hudson added that the Hoover Dam, at least, is still standing. Despite intense battles between the military stationed there and the infected, the dam, built with an absurd amount of concrete, survived. Even the TNT explosion set off by the last remaining soldiers, who decided to die together, didn’t bring it down.

“If this situation ever gets resolved, I’ll at least have to visit Hoover Dam.”

[Sometime, huh? I sure hope that day comes.]

We continued to pass time with idle chatter. At some point, the conversation turned back to the military.

[By the way, what was your rank when you retired?]

“I was a major.”

Technically, I was a lieutenant colonel (promoted), but still. Due to the special nature of my unit, even though I was in a company commander position, a major was assigned.

[I see. But weren’t you called up for mobilization? In Korea, all men are veterans, and in a war situation, they wouldn’t just leave someone with your qualifications behind.]

“It’s a complicated situation. I was working in a remote area, and when an accident occurred, I got trapped there. I wasn’t in a position to receive any news from the outside. By the time I had sorted things out, everything in the outside world was already over.”

[If you’re feeling any guilt or shame, don’t. Even if you’d joined the fight, it would’ve just been another body on a sinking ship.]

Mr. Hudson’s tone was sincere.

“I’m fine. I had no intention of throwing myself into a pointless death. In the end, because I survived, I’ve been able to accomplish something more meaningful.”

In fact, thanks to my survival, thousands of people were saved. And that number might still increase.

[Capable people are always needed in many places. You don’t always have to be on the frontlines with a gun like everyone else. You just need to be where you can make the biggest impact.]

“Thank you for saying that. Well, since I was an officer, even if I had been mobilized, I wouldn’t have been running around with a rifle. I would’ve probably been assigned a sector, leading a group of reserve soldiers to defend and…”

Then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

[Hmm? What’s wrong?]

Mr. Hudson must have thought the communication was interrupted when I suddenly went silent.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I need to go now, sir. Something urgent just came up.”

[You’ve done well putting up with an old man’s stories. Go on, take care of what you need to. When something comes to mind, it’s best to act on it right away.]

“No, I’m the one who’s grateful for your wisdom. Take care, and I’ll talk to you again soon.”

[Let’s hope we all stay safe.]

After ending the call with Mr. Hudson, I stood up.

Why hadn’t I thought of this before? I had overlooked the fact that I’m a former officer. In a disaster situation, this could be an incredibly valuable asset.