Apocalypse Hunter - Chapter 55

“Let’s rest up here. I think the headlight is broken, too,” Zin said.

The sun was setting, and it was hard to drive in the dark with a broken headlight.

“We can switch to night vision mode. You don’t have to worry about it.” Ramphil’s eyes had many features added to them, and he was able to see at night using infrared. He did not have much concern about driving at night.

“I know that. But the engine’s sound can be heard further at night. We may draw unnecessary monsters.”

“Hmm… You are right.”

As Zin suggested, Ramphil parked the vehicle, and turned off the engine.

“Uhhh…”

Leona took off the seatbelt, and fell down to the floor of the vehicle.

“The ground… is… shaking…”

Zin and Ramphil left Leona in the armored vehicle. Even though Zin didn’t order it, Ramphil gathered firewood, and started a fire.

“…”

It was not hard to start a fire using a chip. When a chip was burned, it released blue-black flames. The blue chip didn’t emanate much heat, but it had a high temperature, and was smoke-free. Zin did not like burning chips because it was inefficient. Zin preferred to use tree branches to start a fire. Some of the tree branches did not smoke, and were good burning fuel.

The tree branches that Ramphil brought were the type of branches that did not smoke.

Without orders, and on his own, Ramphil started a fire, and the firewood that he brought was the type of firewood that Zin wanted. Ramphil started a fire, and took out cookware from his bag.

Ramphil looked at Zin and said, “I am going to prepare the meal…”

“Ah, I have some potatoes. You can use them if you need them.”

Zin thought that Ramphil could cook a potato soup with some salt added. Zin though that Ramphil would be able to cook a beef potato soup. But Ramphil made an unexpected comment.

“Three cans of C-rations should be enough, right? One would be enough for the kid.”

“…”

Zin was out of speech as Ramphil talked. Zin was thinking what C-ration meant.

In the past, the US army referred to them as emergency food, but now it referred to the portable food that the Wargrave soldiers carried around. Combat rations were made to have high calories, and the best ingredients were used for the Wargrave soldiers.

In another word, it was the best meal one could hope for in an era where many died of malnutrition.

“You didn’t destroy all the C-rations?”

“I took them to eat.” Ramphil waved at Zin, and went to the armored vehicle. He opened the trunk of the vehicle. Zin was astonished at what he saw.

Inside the trunk, many boxes of C-rations were stacked.

“I just got new ones.”

“… I knew there was a reason that you were picky about selecting a vehicle…”

Ramphil had been testing the engines of a particular type of vehicles as if he was not fully satisfied. Zin now realized that Ramphil was only testing out vehicles that were used for delivering goods, and looking for vehicles that carried food. Ramphil picked out the vehicle that contained food as he knew that they would be on a long road trip.

And so the trunk of the vehicle was packed with C-rations.

Zin thought how great of a soldier Ramphil was. Zin was so happy to see all the food boxes in front of him.

Zin put his hand on the shoulders of Ramphil who was looking at him and said, “You are an elite.”

“?”

“I have never seen an elite soldier like you before.”

“Ramphil did not understand what Zin was talking about, but he didn’t reply as Zin seemed to be very serious.

Ramphil continued to demonstrate his excellent skill sets.

The Wargrave C-ration could be eaten without heating them up, but the food tasted better when it was warm. There was no need to boil water as the box contained a heating agent. And chips were all sources of energy in the apocalyptic days. Chips were used as the heating agent.

Ramphil opened the heating agent pouch, and separated the chip dust from it. He was able to gather about a handful of chip dust from three C-ration boxes.

There was no need to waste chips in order to start a small fire.

It was hard to refine chip dust into a chip, but it was possible to use the dust as a detonator or explosives. Ramphil put the dust into a container and put it in his pocket.

Ramphil’s action was something that only true combatants were able to do.

Ramphil poured the food into a big pot, and the food started to boil.

Leona finally woke up, came out of the vehicle, and watched Ramphil. Leona looked at the food that was getting warmed up.

“What are you doing?”

“C-rations have high level or sodium, so it’s better to dilute it before eating.”

Ramphil took out meatballs with tomato paste. There were onions and potatoes as well, and there was no problem boiling them altogether. As the pot was heating up, Ramphil took out the black pepper container from the trunk, and added the pepper to the food. He also took out a peanut snack bar, crushed it into peanut powder, and added to the pot.

As Ramphil was cooking, Zin added lemon powder to a cup of water, and passed it to Leona. Leona looked at the yellow liquid, and refused to drink it.

“… it looks like pee. Can I even drink this?”

“Don’t ask for more after you drink it.”

Leona started to drink the lemon punch, and shortly after, had a frown on her face.

“Wow, so damn sour!” Zin was surprised at her reaction, as Leona opened her eyes wider. “This so damn good! What is this stuff?”

Sweet things were hard to come by, and Leona was so excited to taste such a sweet drink. Zin created a couple more cups of lemon punch and drank with Ramphil.

Zin didn’t bother explaining C-rations to Leona, and asked her to eat without any questions. He thought that it would be easier to explain by having her eat the C-rations. Leona had lemon punch, biscuits with cheese sauce, dried raspberries, and pound cake. She ate them all for the first time, and she was amazed at what Wargrave could offer to the soldiers.

And she was even more amazed when she got to try the meatball stew that Ramphil cooked up.

“Can I cry?”

With a single sentence, Leona expressed all of her emotions. It was the first in her life that she got to try so many different tastes, and she kept on yelling “I’m so lucky to be alive and eat this!” as she finished the meatball stew.

Ramphil added extra water to make the stew less salty, and added pepper and peanut powder for extra flavor. Leona, who was not used to salty or sweet food, was able to enjoy the meal thanks to Ramphil.

It had been a while since Zin had C-rations, and he also enjoyed the meal for the longest time.

“I’m not going to die tomorrow, right?”

As Leona spoke up, Zin pointed to the trunk. Leona looked at the boxes of C-rations, and hoped she would live many more days to eat all the food.

After the meal, Ramphil cleaned the silverware and cookware with boiling water, and wiped them clean with a cloth. He showed off his elite cooking skills until the end.

“Do you eat C-rations like this all the time? I don’t see you as the type of person who would put in much effort.”

Zin thought that Ramphil was not a kind person. He didn’t think that Ramphil cooked considering the taste buds of Leona. After Zin asked, Ramphil nodded, “I always try to make the best choices.”

Ramphil tried his best not only on the battlefield, but also during daily routines. To him, there was no reason to have a mediocre meal.

“It’s not that hard.” He thought that it would be worthwhile if his companions were going to enjoy a good meal.

Zin felt weird as he listened to Ramphil speak in an unexpected way. He thought that Ramphil was as weird as Leona, but he was different in some ways. Zin was able to tell what Leona was thinking even though she could be wild at times, but he was not able to figure out what Ramphil was thinking.

“Ramphil, I don’t know if you are a nice or a weird guy.” As Leona talked about him, Ramphil shrugged, and went on to do his work.

Ramphil seemed to be a perfectionist. But it seemed that his tendencies as a perfectionist was a big help to Zin and Leona.

Zin thought that maybe Ramphil was not that bad of a person even though he acted weird. Zin helped Ramphil clean up, and Leona gathered all the trash and burned them in one place.

That night, the team decided to sleep on the trunk area of the armored vehicle. They placed a blanket in a good location where the wind was blocked off by the vehicle.

It was a humid night.

“Can I sleep with the A/C on?”

There were people who never experienced the usefulness of the A/C, but once someone experienced it, they couldn’t forget about the A/C.

“If you want to freeze to death, go ahead.”

A simple cold wouldn’t lead to death, but Leona believed in Zin’s joke, and she remained silent. Ramphil was watching Zin and Leona talk and quarrel before they went to sleep.

Ramphil questioned himself, but he couldn’t figure out the answer.

Why is the devil hunter travelling with a little kid?

No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t think it was a wise decision. Little kids were always annoying, and in fact, Leona seemed to only complain. She didn’t look like a person who could help out Zin in any way.

Ramphil would have abandoned an ally who didn’t benefit him in any way.

As Ramphil continued to think, he wondered about himself.

Did other allies help me out?

There was not a single time when his allies helped him out. He tolerated his comrades because they were given orders. Ramphil did not really care about his comrades. He had engaged in many battles with comrades who were of no help, and he had to save their lives all the time.

He didn’t think that it was okay to let them die. And he didn’t avoid his comrades just because they couldn’t help him.

Ramphil admitted that his thoughts about Zin and Leona were wrong. He thought that it was understandable that a devil hunter could be travelling with a weak friend.

Ramphil had travelled through many battlefields with his comrades because they were soldiers who were given orders.

Ramphil thought that maybe Zin had his own reasons for travelling with Leona. There were many things that were not explainable in the world. Ramphil realized that he didn’t really know much about himself, either.

“It’s so hot. I need A/C.”

“You slept well through the night. What’s the matter now, punk?”

“Punk? What did you say again?”

As Ramphil was thinking to himself, he continued to listen to Zin and Leona quarrel.

They aren’t bad people.

He thought about the times when he fought to protect his weak comrades. It may have been inefficient, but it was not a bad memory for Ramphil. He didn’t cry for the comrades who passed away, but he didn’t feel too bad looking at the comrades who survived the battles.

And the friendly quarrel between Zin and Leona didn’t look bad at all either.

Next morning, Leona was grasping her stomach, and walking back towards the camp.

“Damn, it hurts…”

Leona was grumbling and cursing as she was walking towards Zin and Ramphil.

“Ah… Damn, damn it…”

Leona ran towards the bushed nearby with tears in her eyes.

Leona was used to eating unprocessed carbs and protein. And it was inevitable that she would get an upset stomach as she consumed a lot of food that contained fat, sugar, and processed carbs.

“She must have an upset stomach.”

“Hmmm… yeah. It’s funny.”

Ramphil was asking if Zin should actually be worrying about Leona, but Zin shrugged.

“She used to be fine eating the ghoul meat. And now she’s getting a stomach ache after eating C-rations?”

Leona had C-rations which was good food with many nutrients, and it was ironic that she would get sick because she wasn’t used to fatty food. Zin found it amusing, and Leona came back very unhappy.

As soon as she saw Zin smiling, she yelled at him angrily,”How can you be smiling all happy when I am suffering here, you devil! Ah…?”

Technically, as Leona was the true devil, she felt awkward and started to scratch her head after yelling at Zin.