Escape from the Police Station
It was completely different.
An entirely different dimension.
Killing a zombie just hanging there against the bars was nothing like fighting ones that came charging at me to tear me apart.
"Kraaaagh!!!!"
But I'd practiced enough.
I'd swung the entrenching tool through empty air like shadowboxing, inventing imaginary zombies and running every kind of fight I could think of. For days I'd blocked and knocked aside whatever O Jihye threw at me, drilling as close to real combat as we could get.
And it was still early days—the zombies weren't that fast yet.
"Kraa..."
I yanked the entrenching tool free from the temple of the zombie that had just stopped mid-scream and swung it straight into the next one.
Thwack!!!
The blade smashed through the skull around the temple and buried itself deep.
Thud—
It had sunk in farther than I expected.
Instead of the tool coming free, the zombie came with it.
When that happens, you pull it out like this.
Thud!!
I kicked the zombie hard in the side and yanked the buried blade free at the same time.
Then I swung the freed tool again.
Whack!!!
I hit with the flat instead of the edge, so it didn't kill, but the charging zombie went flying sideways and crashed to the floor.
"Hah...! Hah...! Hah...!"
"Kraaa..!!!"
"Krah!!"
"Kraaa!!"
"Kraaaaagh!!!"
The one on the ground scrabbled and pushed itself up while the others raced each other to get to me and eat me alive.
Thud!
Whoosh—
I planted my left hand on a desk and vaulted lightly over it.
One desk now stood between me and the zombies pouring after me.
It might look like nothing, but that single piece of furniture made an enormous difference.
Thud! Clatter! Thud!!
The pursuing zombies slammed into the desk and pitched forward.
Right. Once these things lock onto prey, they don't register objects or terrain in front of them. They just charge.
For now, at least.
Crunch!!!
I split one of them open at the back of the skull with a downward swing, then quickly stepped back to avoid a reaching arm.
The next one lifted its face; I drove the blade straight down into the crown of its head.
Crunch!!!
Two left.
One was coming around the side of the desk; the other was climbing up on top of it.
Boom!!!
I kicked the desk hard and wrecked the balance of the one on top.
It staggered, toppled forward, and hit the floor.
In that same moment the one that had come around the side closed right in on me.
"Kraaaagh!!!!"
It lunged with its mouth stretched wide—I didn't need to smell it to know the stench would be foul—and I smashed it across the head with the expandable baton in my left hand.
Thud!!
The hurried swing didn't quite catch the skull, but the baton cracked into its neck. The zombie reeled and slammed face-first into the desk.
Crash-clatter!!
Thud!!!
While one of them was dancing with the furniture, I kicked the face of the one going for my ankle.
Then I let my raised hand drop, caught the spinning shaft of the entrenching tool, and drove it down.
Crunch!!!
The blade punched straight into the zombie's eye.
Normally my hand would have slid all the way to the blade and I might have cut myself, but the Non-slip Gloves held with their perfect grip and nothing of the sort happened.
These things really were useful in every way imaginable.
"Kraaaa...!!!"
"What are you looking at?"
I reversed my grip and swung the entrenching tool sideways, burying it in the temple of the zombie sprawled in front of the desk.
"Hoo... Mission clear."
I was covered in blood from head to toe.
None of it was mine, of course.
All of it had sprayed from these things.
"I killed a lot of them..."
Corpses of zombies littered the floor, the desks, the chairs—everywhere.
It wasn't that one was hanging outside a window, or that I'd killed it, or that it had gone somewhere else.
I was simply somewhere else now.
If this were a game, it felt like I'd stepped out of the starter village into the hunting grounds.
The place I'd spent the last few days was the Women and Juvenile Affairs section. Right now I was standing in the Investigation Division 1 office.
I hadn't run here because I was afraid of getting jumped—I'd left the starter village so I could get out of this place entirely.
To clear the hunting grounds completely and claim the hidden reward.
But I was realizing just how foolish and stupid that idea had been.
"No matter how I look at it, this isn't right..."
The police station was huge. Way too huge.
If it had just been a neighborhood precinct, I could have handled it casually...
"This is just..."
Still, it wasn't completely impossible.
Coming to a different office had at least let me secure extra food that was here.
But having enough food didn't mean I could kill every zombie in the building.
There couldn't be any additional zombies flowing in.
I'd hung O Jihye outside the window to lure the ones nearby so we could move somewhere safer once we got out—but that had been a complete mistake.
The building was big and sprawling; there had already been plenty of zombies inside. Pulling more in from outside meant I had no idea how much longer this would take to finish.
And above all, the biggest problem was that I'd forgotten there was a time attack.
"By tomorrow the zombies will get stronger too...."
This webtoon had a setting where the zombies gradually grew stronger.
At the start even I could handle four of them by using the terrain, but as time passed, anyone who failed to grab enough stats and skills through quests or form a group would eventually be weeded out.
And the first major turning point was exactly tomorrow—one week after the outbreak.
It wasn't some dramatic overnight power-up, but just thinking about the zombies getting even a little faster and stronger made my vision swim.
"In the end, do I just have to leave..?"
If I didn't go today, I might miss the window entirely.
Getting out of here was one thing; tomorrow I'd also have to find somewhere safe while dodging zombies that were even a little quicker and stronger.
Boom!!!!
What the hell was that sound??
Thud-thud-thud—
I sprinted to the window to check.
I opened it, stuck my head out, and understood immediately.
"Nice."
One dumb zombie had fallen and died on the ground below.
But then...
"Krah!!"
"Kraaaagh!!"
"Kraah!!"
"Krah!!!"
"Kraaaa!!!"
"Kraaa!!!"
"......"
Zombies were gathering around it.
Of course they were.
A noise that loud was bound to draw them.
Why hadn't I thought of something so obvious until now?
"I'm seriously an idiot.."
I berated myself, turned away from the window, and went through the pockets of the dead zombies before coming back.
Squeeze—
Not this one.
"Kraaagh!!!"
A zombie I'd hit in the head with a thrown car key reacted violently.
I ignored it and kept mashing the key fobs.
Beep-beep!
Okay, one secured.
And it was a good distance away—perfect.
Now I just needed one close by...
Not this one.
Not this either.
Where the hell did they park these cars?
Beep-beep!!
Found it.
The front courtyard of the station, I guess?
Anyway, a car sitting in the surface lot right in front of the police station answered the key I was pressing.
The one that had chirped a moment ago was near the distant entrance gate; the one that just answered was right up against this building.
The distance between the two cars was about thirty meters.
"Good. Let's try this."
I pressed the key fob again.
The button with the red horn icon.
Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!!
The car near the entrance started blaring its alarm, and the zombies clustered around the suicide jumper all roared and charged toward the sound at once.
Of course an enormous number of zombies also poured in from the road outside.
And just like that, the zombies inside this building began flooding out as well.
"Kraaaagh!!!"
"Krah!!"
"Kraaa!!!"
"Kraaaagh!!"
"Kraaaa!!"
"That's it!"
This was insane.
I'd been planning to kill all of those?
That was pure madness.
Crash-shatter!!!!!
Jesus—
"Kraaaaaa!!!!!"
"......"
By pure coincidence I locked eyes with a zombie that had just thrown itself out the window.
It vanished downward a second later, but the unpleasant feeling stuck with me anyway.
"Ugh! Forget it. Let's just get out of here."
The two key fobs looked different, so just in case I stuffed them into separate pockets, grabbed the entrenching tool and the expandable baton, and headed for the door that led to the corridor.
"Kraah!!"
"Kraaaa!!!"
"Kraaa!!!"
"Krah!!!"
Even here, zombies that had reacted to the noise were still racing past.
I stayed hidden for a moment, triggered the alarm again when it cut out, then bolted into the now-quiet hallway.
"Open the door!"
"Th-that car—what's wrong with it?!"
"Just open the damn door..!!"
O Jihye fumbled with the latch and finally swung the door open; I dove inside at once.
Then I rapidly explained the situation and the plan.
"Ah... luring them outside..."
"What about the left hand?"
"Huh??"
"Left hand!"
"Th-the far car! Every time the sound stops, you press this!"
"Right hand?"
"The one you give me!"
"Good. Hit the red horn button."
"I got it already..!!"
"Then I'm going."
"B-be careful..!"
Worrying about me like that didn't suit her at all.
I didn't bother answering; I just turned and headed straight back into the corridor.
I moved while listening as hard as I could.
Toward the top floor of the building.
"Yeah. Because of bastards like you, I can't just walk out the front door."
"Krrraaa...!!"
One zombie was still shambling around.
I couldn't be completely sure, but if my guess was right, the condition for the extra reward was clearing every single zombie inside this building.
So not even one could be left behind.
Not when I finally stepped outside.
"Hey!"
"Krah!! Kraaaagh!!!"
I strode boldly down the hallway and called the zombie with a loud shout.
It reacted instantly, roaring as it charged, and I tightened my grip on the entrenching tool in my right hand and the expandable baton in my left.
One of them I could handle by now....
"Fuck!!!!"
"Kraaaagh!!!"
"Kraah!!"
"Kraaaa!!!"
"Krah!!"
"Kraaaaaa!!!!"
Of course showing off never works!!!!!
Fuck! There's a shitload of them!!!!!
"Stop following me already, you bastards!!!!"
There were a lot of them.
Really a lot.
Not just the top floor—bathrooms, offices, break rooms, shower rooms—practically every place that made a sound had zombies in it.
But.
Step—
I did it.
I completed this goddamn quest.
Me... I did it!!
Quest Complete!
Success rewards are being issued.
Status Window acquired.
Random Box acquired.
And exactly according to my plan.
Hidden Condition
▶ Eliminate every zombie inside the police station — Complete
Additional reward is being issued.
Random Skill Box acquired.
A Random Skill Box.
Even the webtoon protagonist—who was plastered in every buff imaginable—hadn't received this on the first quest.
That enormous reward had just been handed to me.
But the joy only lasted a moment.
There was one fact this made clear.
Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!! Beeeep!!!
Zombies prioritized visual information over sound.
"Run!!!"
"Kyaaak!!!!"
"Kraaaaagh!!!"
"Kraah!!"
"Kraaaagh!!!"
"Kraaaagh!!"
"Kraaaaaaagh!!!"
"Kraaaaaa!!!!"
An enormous horde of zombies that had spotted me and O Jihye walking boldly out the front entrance of the building—completely ignoring the alarm blaring right beside them—began charging at us like mad.
But I'd already finished calculating the distances.
The two cars were thirty meters apart.
From the building entrance to our target car was ten meters at most.
Zombies slower than people were never going to reach us before we got inside the car.
The problem was something else.
"Kyaaaaaaagh!!!!! Do something!!!!"
"Shut up for a second..!!!"
In an instant the car was surrounded by zombies.
Thud-thud!! Thud!
Thump! Thud-thud!! Thump-thump-thump!!
Clack! Clack-clack!!
Zombies climbing onto the hood, zombies climbing onto the trunk, zombies slamming their bodies against us and hammering the windows without mercy.
Completely exposed to the assault, the car hit its limit frighteningly fast.
Crack..!!
Spiderweb fractures spread across both the driver's and passenger-side windows.
At this rate it wouldn't last even a minute.
"Hurry up and go!!! The windows are gonna break!!!"
"Just put your seatbelt on!"
"Kyaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!"
I immediately threw it into reverse and backed up.
Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!
Zombies falling off the trunk and getting shoved from behind piled under the car; the whole vehicle rocked and lurched.
Didn't matter.
I planned to crush a lot more of them.
Rrrrk!
I yanked the gearshift down and floored the accelerator with everything I had.
Screeeeech!!!!
The tires spun uselessly for a second—probably because of the zombies underneath—but then the car shot forward like a bullet, peeling off the ones clinging to it and plowing through the ones ahead.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!!
But the speed just wouldn't climb.
I might have been imagining it, but it actually felt like we were slowing down.
Was a regular passenger car really not enough to punch through this many zombies?
"There's no such thing as can't?! Just push through!!!!!"
"Kyaaaaaaagh!!!!!!"
Encouraged by my cheering, the car found its power again. Light began to break through the road that had been darkened by the wall of zombies.
And finally, shedding the last clinging bodies, it roared free.
Vroooooom!!!!!