Anyway, We Survived

Right now, all I could do was pray.

There was no other way to make it out of this alive.

Slash!!

I turned my head away even as the blade kept sawing through a zombie's neck, praying with everything I had.

We were alive.

Thank you so much, Lee Seongho…!!

The reason I had to revere a middle-school kid who wasn't even here like some kind of god was simple: he had saved us.

Crunch!!

I flinched at the sound of glass shards grinding underfoot, but I kept moving.

I carefully poked my head out past the apartment entrance—nothing left of the door but a bare frame—sized up the situation, and bolted.

"Kraaagh!!!"

"Kraaaaaagh!!!"

"Kraaaagh!!!"

"Kraagh!!"

"Kraaaaaagh!!!!"

"Kraagh!!!"

"Kraaaaagh!!!"

From my vantage point, the screaming horde of zombies was streaming down the road to the right.

They were chasing Lee Seongho's drone as it performed its infuriating aerial acrobatics—always just out of reach, always just close enough to keep them hooked.

Thanks to that, we made it safely to Gongdeok Five-Way Intersection.

"Follow me and listen up! Keep moving on top of the cars just like this! The zombies are still too clumsy to climb up after us!"

I raised my voice a little, but it didn't matter.

Every zombie in the area had already spotted us anyway.

"Kraaaaaagh!!!"

"Kraaaagh!!!"

"Kraagh!!"

"Kraaaa!!!!"

"Kraagh!!!"

"Kraaaaagh!!!"

"Hyung! Wh-what do we do now?!"

"In a situation like this…"

I handed Yang Jaeyeol the machete and took the entrenching tool back.

Honestly the machete was the more powerful weapon, but right now I needed Jaeyeol's combat power higher than mine.

"We're punching through and moving. Don't screw up. Screw up and we all die."

"Yes."

The cars lined up like stepping stones had gaps too wide to jump.

Barely five meters, but from here on we would have to run on the road itself—same height as the zombies—and that was pure suicide territory.

"How are we even supposed to get down?!"

"Like this."

"Kraaaagh!!!"

I slammed the shovel blade into the back of a zombie's skull as it tried to haul itself onto the hood, then yanked it up with the blade still buried in its head.

Jaeyeol stepped down onto the windshield the same way, drove the machete into another zombie's skull, and hauled it up.

Two zombies ready. Now we just needed to throw them together.

"One… two!!"

"Three!!!"

Gihoon and I flung ours left; Kim Jaemin and Lee Yeonghun flung theirs right.

The two zombies sailed into the screaming crowd near the headlamps on either side, and in the same instant we leapt down toward the ones blocking the front of the car, weapons already swinging.

"Gihoon!!"

"Coming!!!"

Jaeyeol and I cleared the path up front; Gihoon charged out with the riot shield and slammed straight into the zombies.

"Ugh!!"

"Watch the ones on the ground too! Don't just look ahead—look down!"

I caught Gihoon's back with my left hand as he staggered and shouted.

"Kraagh!!!"

"Die."

I drove the entrenching tool into the skull of a zombie sprawled at our feet. The girls right behind us slipped past and clung to the trunk.

"Kraaaagh!!"

"Kyaah!! Move! Move! Move!!!"

"S-unnie…!!"

"Get up there already!!"

At least all the time we'd spent dragging them around was paying off.

Jihye bought us seconds by smashing her collapsible baton into the head of a zombie that was shoving its filthy teeth toward the side of the trunk.

With that kind of perfect teamwork we got the girls up onto the trunk in no time.

We could only pull this off because of the two stat points we'd received back at the apartment.

The girls' Agility stats—stuck at 1 or 2—had climbed to 3 or even 4.

My own starting Agility had been 3, so this much was more than doable.

"Kraaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!"

"Hyung…"

"Ignore it."

Whether it had taken the elevator or sprinted down the stairs, the Mutant had finally chased us outside.

But it wouldn't catch us easily.

Just like it hadn't been able to grab the elevator on the lower floors, this sea of zombies was a massive obstacle for it as well as for us.

Of course, if it started hopping across car roofs the way we were, that would be a different story.

"Kraaaaaagh!!!!!"

"Hyung!!"

"Wh-what the hell is that thing?!!!"

"Run!!!"

It was already leaping from car to car faster than we were, closing the distance at terrifying speed.

At this rate it would catch us before long.

What now?

We still hadn't even reached the area around Mapo Station.

Getting to Mapo Bridge would take another kilometer at least.

It would definitely catch us before then.

And there was one more problem.

"Hah…! Hah…!"

"Hah! Hah!"

"Ah…!"

"Seonye, you can't stop!"

"S-sorry…! Hah! Hah!"

"Huff…! Huff…!"

Stamina.

Even a healthy adult man is completely spent and gasping after an all-out hundred-meter sprint.

We had already been moving nonstop for at least three hundred meters.

This wasn't a measured pace. We were running for our lives from the monster behind us, giving everything we had.

Stamina was draining fast.

Naturally our speed dropped, and the gap with the Mutant shrank.

Just like this.

"Kraaaaaagh!!!!!"

"Won Gihoon! Park Mingu! Yang Jaeyeol! Listen carefully from now on!"

I laid out the plan as briefly as possible.

Even adding one extra word took energy we didn't have.

"Hyung! What about us?!"

"We can fight too!"

"You two protect them. Keep moving."

Kim Jaemin and Lee Yeonghun had to take the girls and keep going.

Even hopping across car roofs, you never knew when some new variable would explode out of nowhere.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Handing that job to Yang Jaeyeol would have been the safest choice, but we needed him against this monster.

"Where are we doing this?!"

"Over there."

A long gray van, and a tour bus.

That looked about right.

Thud!!

We crossed into the next lane and jumped onto the hood of the van that had rear-ended the tour bus.

Then I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stepped up onto the windshield and reverse-ran a short stretch.

Not because of the reverse direction—because we had stopped moving. The Mutant was close enough now that I could see the muscles of its face twisting.

"Hoooooo…."

I let out a long breath and forced my breathing under control.

Then I shouted at the Mutant that was still closing in even now.

"Bring it!! You monster bastard!!!!"

"Kraaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!!!"

Here it came.

Exactly the way I had a moment ago, it crossed into the next lane, crossed one more, planted a foot on the hood of a tiny compact, and launched itself.

Thud!!

One jump took it from the compact's hood all the way up onto the high roof of the van.

They hadn't even been that close.

And the crumpled roof under its feet only made the intimidation worse.

But it was fine.

We had the numbers.

"Krrrrr…!!! Krrrrr…!!!"

The Mutant growled like a beast and dragged its raised hand down over its bandaged right eye.

It was burning with the will for revenge.

And it clearly had no intention of putting that revenge off.

Boom!!!

The already-crumpled roof sank even lower as the Mutant launched itself at us.

Right on cue, Gihoon and Park Mingu stepped up boldly.

"Now!!"

"Uwaaah!!!"

Gihoon, full of fighting spirit, planted his left foot hard and thrust the riot shield locked to his left arm straight forward.

Park Mingu locked his arms around Gihoon's waist, planted both feet as far back as they would go, and threw every ounce of his body weight into the brace.

Then they collided.

The Mutant's swinging fist met the riot shield Gihoon had thrust out.

CRAAACK!!!!!

The shield had been clear except for the zombie blood already smeared on it. Now hairline fractures raced across the entire surface like tempered glass shattering, turning it milky white in an instant.

And the force that hit the shield was enough to send both Gihoon and Park Mingu—grown men who had each received a full 4 points in Strength—flying at the same time.

Whoosh!!!

A rush of cool air, and Gihoon and Park Mingu, who had been standing at an angle in front of me, were blasted backward.

If I hadn't had the Enhanced Vision skill and the dynamic visual acuity that came with it, I would have been swept up with them.

Luckily I twisted my left shoulder back and slipped clear.

Getting caught in the blast would still have been better than taking that fist directly, of course.

Whooooosh!!!!!

But I wasn't going to get hit.

I couldn't keep dodging forever, but this one punch—the Mutant's first enraged haymaker, all its power packed into a big, telegraphed swing—I was certain I could avoid.

If I couldn't, I was dead anyway.

Whoosh—

I ducked my head forward and slipped under the swinging fist. The violent wind that raked the back of my skull still sent a full-body chill through me.

If Gihoon and Park Mingu hadn't tanked that first attack, I probably wouldn't have made it.

This follow-up with the opposite hand was far clumsier and slower than the first punch—just an attempt to recover.

They weren't dead, right?

CRASH!!!

SHAAAAATTER!!!!

Gihoon and Park Mingu slammed into the back of the tour bus. The impact shattered the upper window, and a rain of glass shards poured down over the two of them.

Please stay conscious.

Otherwise the zombies would start chewing on them.

But right now I had to focus here.

Griiiip!!

There was a reason I had deliberately ducked my head forward to dodge.

This time I wasn't going for the eye. I was going to take the knee right in front of me.

Whoosh!!!!

I drove the tightly gripped entrenching tool down like a spear thrust.

But this bastard was surprisingly cold-blooded.

Whoosh—

CRUNCH!!!

The Mutant pulled its right leg back and dodged. My shovel punched clean through the van roof instead and stuck there.

But too bad for you.

I had already predicted you would dodge.

Did you predict my next card?

Shiiing!!!

Yang Jaeyeol had been crouched low on the van's hood—out of sight from the roof—and the moment Gihoon and Park Mingu went flying he had already vaulted up.

Now he burst out from behind me and drove the machete straight at the Mutant's remaining left eye.

Grab!

This monster bastard…!

I could tell just from the sound.

It had caught the blade Jaeyeol thrust with its bare hand.

Sliiiice…!!

Tuk— thud— tuk—

The sickening noise was the sound of its thumb being sliced open around the blade. The hot liquid dripping onto the back of my neck was the Mutant's blood.

The attack had failed, which was a shame, but the hopeful part was that we had now taken one of its hands out of the fight.

And the sound that came next was the second hopeful signal.

CRAAACK!!!!

The sound of a fist slamming into Yang Jaeyeol's face, by the sound of it.

Which meant the Mutant had used both hands—one holding the blade, the other punching his face.

Swoosh—

I abandoned the shovel stuck in the roof without a second thought, snapped my head up, and thrust both hands high.

Then I clamped those outstretched hands around the Mutant's skull.

"……"

"……"

The eyes that locked for an instant seemed to say the same thing to each other.

You son of a bitch.

I'm taking the other eye too.

I yanked the Mutant's head toward me with both hands and drove my forehead straight into its remaining left eye.

CRAAACK!!!!!

It connected perfectly.

Absolutely perfectly.

The Mutant's knee drove into my solar plexus.

"Urgh…..!!!!!"

The terror of not being able to breathe hit me first.

The pain came second.

And last came the fear of dying.

"Kraaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!"

The Mutant roared in my face like it meant to blow my head off, jaws yawning wide as it lunged in.

Like it was going to chew my face off right then and there.

I was going to die like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this?

No.

This was not how it was supposed to go!

A Mutant showing up here already made no sense! You perverted bastard of a god!!!!!

Tuk—

What?

The wide-open mouth snapped shut and pulled back.

The Mutant staggered and retreated a step.

Was it toying with me?

Or had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone just saved me?

Yang Jaeyeol? Gihoon? Park Mingu?

"Kraaaaa!!!!"

The Mutant roared again and lunged with its teeth, but once more it was forced back, stumbling.

And this time I heard it clearly.

The sound that rang out.

BANG!!

Thud!!!

The gunshot wasn't that close, but blood sprayed from the Mutant's shoulder as it was knocked backward.

"Kraaaa!!!!"

It roared again and whipped its head around, but all that came back was another single gunshot and blood bursting from the right side of its chest.

Thud!

While the Mutant reeled from whoever was shooting it, I dropped to my knees on the car roof and looked up at it.

It clearly hadn't been able to hit the head because I was standing right in front of it.

But in a situation like this, the shooter would go for the head, not the right shoulder and chest.

So…

"Die, you bastard…!"

"Kraaaaaa!!!!!"

Whether it understood me or not, it roared even more desperately.

That would be your last will, you monster bastard.

BANG!!

Another gunshot rang out, and blood sprayed from the Mutant's head.

Just as I expected, the bullet from somewhere had been aimed at its head—but unfortunately it only blew off the right ear instead.

"Fuck… lucky bastard…!"

"Kraaaaaagh!!!!!!"

My body started to topple forward. The roaring Mutant glared at me like it wanted me dead, but in the end it spun around, leapt down off the van, and vanished into the sea of zombies.

At this point I was basically getting main-character treatment, wasn't I?

They were keeping me alive like this.

But who was it?

A soldier? A cop? Or just someone lucky enough to get a gun and ammo as a quest reward?

No idea.

Anyway, we were alive, and that was what mattered.

And as a bonus, we'd cleared the quest too.

The rewards were sweet.