Chapter 90: Wounds
Chapter 90: Wounds
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After finishing my cigarette, I hoisted Su-jin onto my back again.
Su-jin secured herself with the rope and activated Mapping.
This time, I set a course toward Sangsan Elementary School in Zone C.
We had found no large zombie hordes in either Zone A or Zone B.
Only a small number of zombies apparently remained inside the J Broadcasting Company building, and I had no idea where all the others had gone.
'I definitely saw quite a few there last time...'
The question remained unresolved as we entered Zone C.
I made a wide circuit toward Sangsan Elementary School.
I ignored every isolated zombie I saw and continued running.
When I inspected the schoolyard from a nearby rooftop, not a single zombie was visible.
"Raid Leader!"
Just as I began wondering about the strange emptiness, Su-jin awakened.
"There are no groups of zombies at the middle school either."
"Really? That can't be right... What about survivors?"
"I detected a few individuals here and there, but no groups of two or more."
Feeling uneasy, I entered the schoolyard.
Nearly every window in the school building had been shattered.
Bloodstains spattered the stands and sandy field, and one of the soccer goals had toppled over.
The ruined, utterly deserted school possessed an eerie atmosphere.
"Should we search beyond the zone boundary?"
"I suppose we have to. They clearly moved together as a group."
After a brief discussion, we decided to search the school first.
They might have left behind some small clue.
"Raid Leader, over here! What do you think this is?"
Standing on the assembly platform, Su-jin held up a black object.
I jumped onto the platform and found a large piece of black fabric spread across the ground.
"This is shade netting. It blocks sunlight. I think they often call it ginseng cloth."
"But this is an elementary school. What would they need it for...?"
"Right. Why would this be here?"
As far as I knew, it was generally used on farms and greenhouses.
Then I remembered seeing it installed on the rooftops of detached houses and villas during summer when I was young.
I thought it was supposed to lower the temperature inside the building.
Perhaps the school had acquired it for the same purpose, or simply to create shade over the field.
"But where did it come from...? Should we roll it up and take it? We could use it to make a canopy inside the barricade."
"Sure. We haven't found anything else, so we might as well take this."
"Anything covered with this would be difficult to see at night."
Su-jin spoke cheerfully as she rolled the rustling shade netting into a bundle.
"Huh? Difficult to see at night?"
"Yes. Could we use it to cover the throwing weapons and traps stockpiled inside the barricade?"
Something about Su-jin's words tickled the back of my mind.
An idea seemed on the verge of surfacing, but I could not quite grasp it.
"Or perhaps we could cover parts of the barricade too. Some materials deteriorate in direct sunlight. Raid Leader?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
"Ah. I was thinking about something."
The zombie hordes that had abruptly disappeared.
The black shade netting that seemed so out of place at a school.
'Difficult to see at night...'
I felt uneasy.
A powerful intuition sounded an alarm in my head.
I snapped my head around and stared toward our apartment base.
"Fuck..."
Su-jin stared at me with wide eyes after my sudden curse.
"Su-jin, get on my back. Quickly. We're going back."
"Huh? Yes, sir."
Su-jin apparently sensed the urgency in my voice and hurried onto my back.
Abandoning the shade netting and not even taking time to secure the rope, I bolted from the school.
Pat, pat, pat—
Supporting Su-jin beneath the thighs with both hands, I ran with everything I had.
With my arms unable to swing, maintaining my balance was difficult, and normally I should have been unable to reach full speed.
But my ability-enhanced body used its exceptional balance and coordination to find the optimal posture.
I leaned slightly forward, and my footfalls accelerated.
As I gathered speed, overturned vehicles rushed toward me in an instant.
"Eek!"
Su-jin released a brief shriek and clung tightly to my neck.
I put a little more force into my leap and kicked my leading leg forward until it was nearly parallel to the ground.
Drawing on my memories of the steeplechase, I cleared a chest-high vehicle with ease and landed running.
My speed barely decreased.
Perhaps five minutes had passed since our departure.
The road was littered with obstacles, and I had changed direction several times.
Even so, my greater strength and stamina, along with my improved dynamic vision and reflexes, allowed me to keep running with almost no loss of speed.
Those enhancements worked in concert and carried me back to base with remarkable speed.
Kwaaaaahhk
No zombies were visible near the entrance to the apartment complex.
Their roars came from deeper inside.
"Shield. Launch!"
"Compression."
"Spatial Slash!"
As I approached the base, the voices of my raid-party members reached me.
Then I saw the horde packed densely around the barricade.
Our expectation that no attack would come for some time had been wrong.
Somehow aware that I was absent, the enemy had launched a surprise attack while I was away.
Fortunately, the barricade had not yet fallen.
My raid-party members were desperately holding the line.
"Hold on tight."
I stepped onto the vehicles we had positioned as stepping-stones and bounded forward.
At the final vehicle, I drove power into my legs and leapt onto the top of the barricade.
When I lowered Su-jin from my back, her face was deathly pale.
"Tae-sik!" "Mister!" "Raid Leader!" "Boss~"
The moment I arrived, relief brightened the faces of my raid-party members.
Judging from the situation, recruiting the siblings had been an inspired decision.
The Buff had increased the destructive power of our throwing weapons, and Deok-hun was contributing more than his share.
"Everyone, stay focused! Su-jin, quickly check whether anyone is nearby."
"Okay!"
Su-jin climbed down behind the barricade and activated her ability.
I rapidly assessed the battle and considered the best response.
The rear wall, directly opposite the apartment-complex entrance, had collapsed.
Beyond it lay the area we called the rear mountain.
The horde appeared to have crossed over the mountain.
During our watches, we had focused primarily on the roads. Looking back, I couldn't understand why.
I'd think about that later. For now, I had to deal with the zombies.
"You sons of bitches, over here!"
I shouted as I jumped down from the barricade.
Bam, bam, bam—
Standing atop a truck, I hammered its body with my baseball bat.
The thunderous noise drew the zombies toward me in a mass.
Thump.
I leapt onto the next vehicle.
As I continued making noise and drawing away the horde, the area around the barricade cleared.
"Hahp."
I retreated farther to create more distance, then grabbed the sedan beside me.
I hoisted it completely overhead and hurled it into the oncoming mass of zombies.
Crash—clatter, clatter!
A considerable number of zombies flew aside and toppled like bowling pins.
It seemed I could continue drawing them farther from the base.
Kuwuooo
Before long, though, a tremendous zombie roar sounded from the rear mountain.
Every zombie pursuing me turned toward the barricade in unison.
"Not that way, you fuckers!"
I continued hurling parked cars and shouting, but I could not draw the zombies' attention back to me.
The roar—presumably from a Mutated Zombie—brought my diversion to nothing.
Still, the barricade was stronger and taller than before, buying us time.
Partly to vent my anger, I hurled a car into the backs of the zombies mindlessly charging the barricade.
"Shield! Ga-yeong, a Mutated Zombie!"
Thump. Thump.
The familiar Mutated Zombie I had fought once before appeared atop the barricade.
Seon-yeong deployed a thick Shield and knocked the leaping creature backward.
"Behind you!"
As I hurried to turn back and stop it, Eun-mi looked at me and shouted informally.
At her warning, I tried to pull away, but my feet seemed nailed to the ground.
Whoosh
The sound of air splitting came from behind me. Without even enough time to look, I ducked on instinct.
A red fire axe swept over my head.
"Hraaahp!"
I forced more strength into my body and tried to raise one leg.
It felt as though the ground itself were pulling me downward.
"Assistant Manager Jeon?"
"..."
In response to my questioning voice, Assistant Manager Jeon from our client company swung the axe at me again.
The attack was not especially fast.
It moved at the speed of an ordinary adult man swinging an axe.
Whoosh
The axe blade grazed my shoulder, spraying blood.
Normally, I would have evaded it easily, but my body moved sluggishly.
"Fuck... Why? What's this about?"
"..."
Assistant Manager Jeon kept his lips firmly shut and swung again.
His movements were mechanical...
Something was wrong. His eyes looked vacant.
Hwiing
This time, I evaded the blow.
I was gradually adapting to the pressure constraining my body.
Was this Assistant Manager Jeon's ability?
Clang
"Kyaak!"
"Get a spear up!"
Behind me came the sound of something shattering, followed by Ga-yeong's scream.
Eun-mi's voice followed immediately, rigid with tension.
Worry surged through me, but I couldn't turn around.
I trusted my raid-party members and focused on Assistant Manager Jeon before me.
"Fuck."
Whoosh
The wretched situation drew another curse from me.
I stared directly at the axe descending toward my face once more.
Grind.
I must have been clenching my jaw too hard, because the sound of grinding teeth escaped me.
Exerting far more strength than usual, I reached for the axe handle.
The falling blade drew closer and closer to my face.
Tap
Just in time, I seized Assistant Manager Jeon's axe handle.
"Hraaap!"
I gathered my strength and drove him backward.
As I advanced, I raised one foot and stamped down on Assistant Manager Jeon's instep.
"Urghk."
Assistant Manager Jeon released a suppressed groan, and the force hindering my movements vanished at the same moment.
Because I had been exerting so much force, my body shot forward the instant his ability released me.
Crash
Assistant Manager Jeon was struck by my surging body, and together we crashed hard into the truck.
When I came to my senses and stepped back, I could see that his sternum had collapsed from the impact of being crushed between me and the truck.
"Director... Kim... forgive... me. Thi... thi... cough."
He mumbled something quietly, then soon dropped his head.
"Forgive this, my ass."
I urgently spun my body around and headed back to the barricade.
As I ran, I could still see the Mutated Zombie on top of the barricade.
"You son of a bitch!"
I shouted with all my might and leaped.
Please, don't do this.