Chapter 9: Farming
Chapter 9: Farming
#
Our opinions had been split on whether to move, but it seemed Seon-yeong had concluded that preparing was essential for survival too.
She also seemed to want to actively hunt zombies to strengthen her Shield.
The problem was how to prepare, and to what extent.
We put our heads together and thought through what mattered most.
But no one had ever faced a crisis like this before, so answers didn't come easily.
"We need water, food, clothes... This is tough. Should we check MeTube? We can keep the phone charged."
"Good idea. Sure wish someone would put together a guide on MeTube for surviving among zombies. I'll start sorting the food. You get some rest."
"Let's do it together. Ngh."
"I'm more comfortable doing it alone."
We'd been moving on high alert since dawn.
Then we'd filled our stomachs, and now everything felt like a hassle, but I forced myself up.
If I let myself relax completely, I'd only want to keep resting.
After a brief argument with Seon-yeong when she tried to follow me, I made her sit back down.
I was worn out as it was—how much more exhausted must she be?
Reluctantly, Seon-yeong slumped awkwardly into the chair.
Her body clearly wasn't cooperating.
Leaving Seon-yeong behind as she pulled out and turned on her phone, I began examining the convenience store stockroom.
'There was more in here than I expected.'
One side of the stockroom was stacked with boxes of instant noodles, boxes of snacks, and several bundles of drinks.
Beside them, a foldable cot leaned against the wall.
I sorted the food by expiration date, putting the items that needed to be used first at the front.
'Wait, where's the bathroom?'
Here I was, looking for a bathroom in the middle of all this. Maybe I was being too nonchalant.
It was because I didn't want to give up on human dignity just yet.
If the streets had been packed with an unmanageable number of zombies, a bathroom would've been a pipe dream.
As I kept moving, a stale, sour smell rose from my clothes.
The moment we went outside, clothes would be the number-one priority.
I felt as though I'd make myself sick if I kept wearing the same clothes.
"Team Leader, take a look at this."
"What is it?"
A MeTube video was open on the screen Seon-yeong showed me.
- Presidential Emergency Order
Looking at the thumbnail, it seemed the president hadn't turned into a zombie.
She played the video.
- This broadcast is pre-recorded.
Fellow citizens, this is a real situation. On May xx, 20xx, a worldwide pandemic of unknown cause has erupted, and I hereby declare a national state of disaster.
The provisional designation "zombie" is spreading at a rapid pace, and the current scale of damage is impossible to measure. I reiterate: this is a real situation. (omitted) You must refrain absolutely from outside contact and evacuate to a safe location to preserve your lives.
My dear fellow citizens, the government will devote every effort to bringing this situation under control.
After roughly five minutes of playback, the screen went black.
The president in the video did not look like the neat, composed figure we were used to seeing on television.
He was wearing a shirt with a torn sleeve, and his hair was disheveled.
The video confirmed one thing.
The world had simply gone to shit.
If the president had to appear in a video looking like that, all of humanity had to be in crisis.
I didn't even know where a safe place was, but say we'd evacuated somewhere safe—then what?
The government was saying they'd bring things under control, but how long would we have to wait for that?
Was it really the right move to hold our breath and wait until someone finally told us, "It's safe now, you can come out"?
I could feel impatience starting to creep in.
A sense of crisis surging up from some primal instinct was warning me not to stay still.
It wasn't a conclusion born of rational reasoning. It was pure instinct.
"Hoo."
It was hard to put into words, but I took a deep breath and tried to calm that inexplicable sense of danger.
I wasn't an entirely rational person to begin with, so there was no helping it.
If I ignored the warning my instincts were sending, I'd keep feeling uneasy.
Whenever I was tense, sad, angry—
whenever my mind was in turmoil, I habitually turned to a breathing technique I'd used to find calm, and I used it now to clear my jumbled head.
'Nothing had changed anyway.'
I'd already decided to move forward assuming the worst-case scenario.
'I just had to prepare as planned.'
#
Riiip. Riiip.
I wished we'd had some packing tape or electrical tape.
As I wound the clear tape I'd found in the convenience store around my forearm, I couldn't help but wonder whether this would actually help.
"This feels kind of awkward. I can barely feel anything underneath."
Seon-yeong twisted her wrist this way and that as she spoke.
We'd taken stock of the convenience store's supplies and rested briefly, and now we were gearing up to head back outside.
Though I wasn't sure you could even call this gearing up.
I pulled on a pair of half-coated black work gloves and wound tape from the wrist up over my forearm.
I did the same around my ankles and calves.
"Wouldn't this stop at least one glancing zombie bite? Our arms and legs feel too exposed. I'm just hoping it helps a little."
That was what I said, but honestly, I wasn't sure whether it would help or only get in the way.
I answered Seon-yeong and grabbed a cotton T-shirt off a shelf to wrap around my face.
Just in case a lot of blood splattered, I covered my nose and mouth completely.
The shirt covered my nose and mouth, but it wouldn't stay in place.
"Team Leader, there are masks right here. Wouldn't those be better?"
"Oh, yeah, that's much better. Way more comfortable."
There I was, pulling a cotton T-shirt over my head when disposable masks were sitting right beside me.
I felt a bit embarrassed, but I said thanks as coolly as I could and chucked the T-shirt into a corner.
We'd be coming back anyway, but I pocketed a few energy bars just in case, and we were ready to head out.
As a final step, I pulled up the map app and checked the route once more.
The ground floor of this building was the convenience store, and the second floor housed a drum academy.
The building sat on a three-way corner. Right across the street from the convenience store's front door was the grass field from yesterday.
If we turned to the side and crossed the road, we'd reach an apartment complex.
Behind the convenience store was a fairly large neighborhood park that looked like a nice place for a stroll.
When there weren't any zombies, of course.
"So, shall we go?"
"Yeah."
We decided to check this entire building first, then head toward the apartment complex.
Our destination was the commercial building at the entrance to the apartment complex.
We stepped out onto the quiet street and immediately entered the building next door.
Climbing the stairs, we found a bathroom on the landing and the glass door of the drum academy on the second floor.
After confirming the bathroom was zombie-free, we headed for the drum academy.
"They're probably inside those rooms, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Almost guaranteed."
From behind the wall, Seon-yeong and I poked our heads out—one above the other—and scanned the other side of the glass door.
The inside of the drum academy was a wreck.
Bloodstains splattered the floor and walls everywhere, and all kinds of furniture lay toppled in a mess.
A hallway stretched farther inside from the lobby.
There were four rooms flanking that hallway, and the way the bloodstains continued suggested the zombies were inside them.
Pushing aside the images rising in my mind, I quietly worked out a plan.
"Alright, I'll be right back."
I remembered the bell that had been attached to the convenience store door.
I checked, and sure enough, the drum academy door had one attached as well.
I eased the door open and removed the bell first.
I moved as quietly as possible, carefully avoiding the obstacles strewn across the floor.
Even crossing that short distance took ages and left me sweating.
Grrrrrrr.
As I neared the hallway, I heard zombies growling softly.
I listened carefully, staying completely still.
'Four of them?'
By sound, it seemed like four.
I held up four fingers to Seon-yeong, who had stayed by the door, to tell her how many I'd heard.
Our plan was basically the same approach we'd discussed that morning.
The plan was simple: Seon-yeong would block the zombies' charge with her Shield while we attacked their heads.
We'd also use chairs and desks to slow the zombies down.
As I carefully moved the chairs and desks without making a sound, my muscles screamed in protest.
I'd insisted on doing it alone because I was afraid we might accidentally make noise if we worked together.
'Maybe we should've moved the desks together?'
I wasn't weak, but since the day before, I kept finding that my strength and stamina weren't enough.
Physical capabilities seemed likely to matter even more if we wanted to survive.
When the body fell short, the brain had to work overtime.
'Would I ever have time to work out?'
Then again, if I kept struggling and straining like this, maybe my strength and stamina would eventually improve on their own.
Letting my mind wander through these idle thoughts, I grunted and strained by myself for a long while before heading back to the entrance.
Seon-yeong used the towel around her neck to wipe the sweat from my face, mouthing the words, "You worked hard."
I had a towel wrapped around my neck too.
She had to be able to see it, so why was she doing this?
Feeling strangely self-conscious, I took a short breather.
A moment later, we exchanged a look, stood, and took our positions in front of the door.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Krwaaaahhhk!
Seon-yeong rapped her baseball bat against the doorframe, and the zombies burst out with a tremendous racket.
A middle-aged male zombie and a teenage zombie emerged first, followed by two female zombies.
Thud. Flop.
The middle-aged zombie, who'd been charging at the front, tripped over a chair and went down.
The teenage zombie behind it caught a leg on a desk and tumbled across the floor.
Thank god they were as stupid as I'd hoped and fell right over.
But the grotesque way they flailed their limbs and crawled forward sent a chill down my spine.
"Shield."
Wham.
A middle-aged female zombie whose face was so badly damaged I couldn't make out her original features arrived first.
Seon-yeong formed her Shield with perfect timing.
I swung my baseball bat and took it out in one hit.
As I pulled my bat back, Seon-yeong swung hers.
Seon-yeong's bat smashed the skull of the other female zombie that arrived behind the first.
Krwaaaahhhk!
The two female zombies collapsed, crashing into each other.
Behind the falling zombies, the teenage zombie's head suddenly popped up.
The Shield hadn't broken yet.
The teenage zombie was caught on the Shield, leaving only its head jutting forward as it snapped its jaws uselessly.
Envious of Seon-yeong's ability, I crushed the teenage zombie's skull as it tried to climb over the pile of corpses.
The middle-aged zombie had crawled all the way forward, only to become pinned beneath the other zombies' bodies, where it continued thrashing.
Wham. Wham.
Seon-yeong finished off the middle-aged zombie and let out a sigh.
It was a brutal sight.
The mangled corpses, their skulls shattered, had piled up like a tower.
Despite the gruesome scene we'd created, we looked at each other and smiled in relief.