Chapter 11: Farming
Chapter 11: Farming
#
The cries of zombies echoed down the corridor, shattering the silence.
They came from the zombies gathered near the rooftop stairs.
I couldn't tell how many there were.
Their shrieks reverberated through the corridor and overlapped in the echoes, making it hard to tell how many there were.
'This was complete bullshit. How could a wooden bat make that much noise rolling away?'
I didn't blame Seon-yeong for dropping the bat.
She probably felt it was unfair too.
Bumping into the person ahead was careless, sure, but it was the sort of mistake anyone could make.
It was a little different in nature from failing to watch the road while driving.
If I had to compare it to something... yeah, it reminded me of my army days more than ten years ago.
It was on the return march after completing cold-weather training.
It was a cold winter, and the march we'd begun after an early dinner continued through the night.
A dark mountain trail.
The snow hadn't melted and even walking carefully was dangerous, but after trudging along in a daze for hours, I couldn't fight off the drowsiness.
I trudged along at a steady pace, half asleep, until a sudden impact jolted me.
Back then I was a private, and without realizing the senior soldier walking ahead of me had stopped, I slammed my face right into the pack he was carrying.
I lost my balance and started falling down the slope beside us, but another senior soldier yanked my pack from behind and prevented an accident.
Accidents could happen in a split second, and like back then, the response had to be fast.
If I'd been properly alert, there wouldn't have been a collision in the first place, but what was done was done.
Once I'd made that mistake, I was more careful afterward.
We'd only been together for a day, but Seon-yeong and I had already survived several crises side by side, and I thought we worked well together.
A mistake like this couldn't be avoided—
not until we'd experienced it once.
Graaaargh!
Hearing the zombies' cries ring out, I immediately grabbed Seon-yeong's hand and started running.
There was no time to flee outside.
Outside might even have been more dangerous.
In that case, we'd lure them into a narrow choke point.
"Seon-yeong! Get your shield ready."
I threw open the fitness center door, rushed inside, and shouted to Seon-yeong.
Scrape—crash!
I didn't know where that strength came from.
I dragged over the shoe rack that had been taking up one whole wall and toppled it, blocking the entrance.
A pack of zombies came charging down the corridor at high speed.
'One, two, three... five of them.'
They were all female zombies wearing leggings.
Had there been a yoga class or something at the fitness center?
I looked at the zombie in the very front.
Her top was nowhere to be seen, and she roared with a vicious expression, her flat chest thrust out without so much as a jiggle.
She really did look vicious.
Graaaargh! Thud! Thud! Thud!
As if things weren't bad enough, harsh cries also came from the sliding door inside.
The zombies that had still been in there must have been drawn by the noise and were now raging.
"I'll hold this door somehow. Shield!"
The pack of leggings zombies drew closer and closer.
The riot of colorful leggings made my eyes swim.
I picked up the red fire extinguisher next to the desk.
'Please hit one of them.'
Fwoom
I threw the fire extinguisher with all my strength.
The extinguisher sailed harmlessly past the flat-chested zombie.
Thwack
Still, I got lucky.
The extinguisher I'd missed with struck the black-leggings zombie behind her square in the head.
Not what I'd aimed for, but whatever.
'Starting with this bitch.'
The flat-chested zombie charged at me, bent slightly forward.
I fixed my eyes on her skull and settled into a stance so familiar it had become second nature.
I held the bat lightly and relaxed my body.
My feet spread naturally, my knees slightly bent.
My body settled into position in less than half a second.
'Just a little more.'
I lifted the bat and took it back.
I locked my gaze on the zombie's head and waited for the right moment.
'Now!'
My hips rotated and I swung.
Thwack
No need to check. I'd hit her cleanly.
A moment later, another zombie tripped over the fallen black-leggings zombie and slid toward me.
Like a runner diving for a base.
Screeeech!
I quickly recovered the bat from the swing and raised it over my head.
I kept consciously trying to stay loose.
A fragile skull didn't require my full strength.
Fwoooom thwack
With a light downward chopping motion, the zombie's head burst open.
The other two were still some distance away, so I glanced back.
The sliding door was shaking violently as zombies slammed their bodies against it.
Seon-yeong was holding it off as best she could, but it looked like it would give way soon.
"Shield."
How many shields had that been by now?
Seon-yeong had shown quick thinking by deploying each shield right against the door, but the repeated impacts kept shattering them.
Graaaargh!
While I briefly turned my head to check what was happening behind us,
The two leggings zombies that had been lagging behind closed the distance.
Whoosh—thud!
This time I thrust the baseball bat like a sword for a faster recovery.
The rounded end of the bat struck the zombie on the left square in the skull.
The grotesque sight of her eye rupturing and her frontal bone caving in was seared into my mind.
At the same time, I caught sight of the remaining zombie beside her, mouth stretched wide as if begging for just one bite.
Crack! Graaaargh!
From behind me came the ominous sound of something breaking, and at the same time the zombies' shrieks grew even louder.
I pulled the bat back and slid one hand up to grip the barrel.
Something disgustingly sticky was smeared on it, but I didn't have the luxury of caring about that.
Slide—whoosh!
I actually stepped one pace closer to the zombie on the right.
Using the barrel as a pivot, I swung the handle.
A short, snapping strike.
Crunch
The end of the handle drove cleanly into the zombie's skull.
I turned with the motion and brought my hands together on the bat again.
When I turned around, Seon-yeong was struggling to hold off the jaws of a male zombie climbing over the shield, using a drumstick to keep it back.
I immediately planted my foot and lunged at the male zombie.
Fwooooom
The baseball bat narrowly cleared Seon-yeong's head with a whoosh and blew the male zombie's skull apart.
My swing had been way too big, probably from the urgency.
The zombie's head burst like it had exploded, splattering viscous black blood and brain matter in every direction.
Through the spray of disgusting debris, I saw a female zombie charge out through the doorway.
I still hadn't recovered my stance from the swing.
Seon-yeong squeezed her eyes shut for an instant against the flying debris and ducked her head.
Everything seemed to slow down.
Realizing I couldn't bring the bat around in time to strike her head, I let the momentum of my swing carry me forward.
Thump—whoosh!
I ducked my head as low as I could and drove my shoulder into the charging zombie's chest.
A sound like breaking bones rang out as the impact sent her flying.
The tackle sent me crashing hard to the floor as well.
Crash!
I rolled across the floor once and scrambled to my feet.
The first thing I saw was Seon-yeong sitting where she'd dropped, staring blankly.
I whipped my head around in every direction to get a handle on the situation.
Two corpses lay sprawled across the floor, which was covered with yoga mats.
The female zombie who'd been sent flying by my tackle had apparently hit the window frame, and the back of her head was caved in.
'Haa... I was alive.'
Along with the relief, I felt a sharp pain in my side.
With an oof, I clutched my side and dropped to the floor.
#
The fight hadn't lasted even ten minutes, but my whole body was exhausted and I couldn't move.
I was still gasping, unable to catch my ragged breath, and the pain in my side kept flaring up.
The impact from landing badly must have done it.
Tap, tap.
Seon-yeong had gotten to her feet at some point and came over to me, her footsteps soft.
Her restless movements and anxiously shifting eyes seemed to say everything she was feeling.
I forced a smile to show I was okay.
'Did I grin like a total idiot?'
Beyond the sliding door of the fitness center was an empty space with several yoga mats laid out across the floor.
The zombies that had been inside were just two: one male and one female.
It was an unpleasant space with the floor and walls covered in blood, but I was too wiped to get moving, so I just lay flat on my back.
Rustle.
Seon-yeong carefully lifted my head.
Then something soft cushioned the back of my head.
I opened my eyes and found myself looking up at the swell of her breasts and her worried face.
She soon held a water bottle to my lips.
It was only lukewarm, but it felt wonderfully cool.
After carefully giving me water, Seon-yeong wet a towel with what was left and wiped the blood that had spattered onto my face and neck.
It felt like an unexpected luxury, and I relaxed.
"Team Leader... are you okay? Where are you hurt?"
"I'm okay. When I fell, I landed on my side, so it just hurts a little. A little."
"What about anywhere else? If you've broken a bone, that would be terrible..." She sniffled.
"Everywhere else is fine. I don't know if it's broken or just a bruise. I'll get up after resting a bit."
She answered softly, then sniffled again.
Was it guilt, or just shock?
I felt sorry for her, seeing a woman who'd stayed so composed until now crying.
"It was my fault... I'm sorry. The zombies came because of me..."
"Seon-yeong, this is those damn zombies' fault, not yours. I'm fine, so don't cry. Save your strength."
Damn my lousy vocabulary. 'Save your strength'?
What a pathetic thing to say to a woman crying from guilt.
But it was also awkward to say anything else, so I shut my mouth.
I was worried about Seon-yeong, but my injury was the more immediate concern.
Since there was no way to get to a hospital.
Thinking I might as well use the points I'd saved to boost my recovery, I closed my eyes and brought up my Status Window.
* Transformation: Optimization
* Enhanced Recovery (5), Body Enhancement
* Available Points: 11
'Huh?'
I rubbed my eyes, then closed and opened them again.
An entry I'd never seen before had appeared on the second line.
No matter what I did, the Status Window stayed the same.
Enhanced Recovery and Body Enhancement.
I had an intuitive grasp of what they meant, but I had no idea why new entries had suddenly appeared.
One thing was clear: new options could appear.
'Maybe because my Available Points exceeded 10?'
I still couldn't get an answer out of the unfriendly Status Window.
But I was in too much pain to keep saving points just to solve the mystery.
I thought it over for a moment, then decided to invest.
If I didn't invest now, I might not survive long enough to save more points.
What good was hoarding them if I died before using them?
It wasn't even certain that it had anything to do with amassing points.
* Transformation: Optimization
* Enhanced Recovery (10), Body Enhancement (6)
* Available Points: 0
If the system unlocked new abilities once I accumulated enough points, how many would I need for the next one?
Increments of ten seemed like the most likely pattern.
'No point worrying about it now... whew.'
No matter how much I thought about it, I wasn't going to find an answer on my own.
As on the first day, I decided to accept it for now and set the question aside.
What mattered was right now.
After spending every last point, I clenched and unclenched my fist, searching for any change in my body.
Hmm... I didn't feel anything.
I seriously had no clue.
Damn Status Window.