The Siege

"Move your asses! They're gonna come crashing in any second!"

Under Kang Hanna's command the barricade rose like a fortress wall, higher than before and far more solid. As the moment the zombies were due to hit us drew near, I called the quest window up again.

Was I supposed to be grateful they'd handed us a whole five minutes to prepare? One look at the numbers massing beyond the window, and a sigh dragged itself out of me anyway.

Fifty minutes and fifty-eight seconds. Close to a full hour, in a hell like this. My mouth had gone bone-dry.

Didn't matter. We had to.

"Everyone ready?"

My voice cut through the tension.

"Yeah. We've done everything we can."

Kang Hanna nodded, her fist clenched tight.

"All right, listen up! We get up on the barricade and stab anything that tries to climb. That's all!"

The barricade was finished, and the time to face them had come. I barked the rest at the others.

"Anything that gets high enough to be a real threat, I'll handle! The rest of you—eyes forward, and stab!"

The words were barely out before everyone seized a spear and hauled themselves up onto the barricade.

Then it came from the floor below—a crash, and glass shattering to pieces. The color drained from every one of our faces.

"They're inside. First floor."

Kang Hanna said it with her spear locked in a white-knuckled grip.

"All right. This is the real start. Get to your posts. Don't you dare freeze."

We caught one another's eyes and broke for our positions.

"Think we can actually survive this?"

Kang Hanna had ended up at my side before I noticed. The question came out low.

"Honestly? I don't know. All we can do is give it everything we've got."

I took a moment to find the words, then threw the rest in after.

"And if we make it out of here, there's still something we've got to take care of, remember? You definitely said you'd do everything I asked. All of it."

I was only throwing back the promise she'd sent me through the schoolgirl.

"Fuck. You're thinking about that even now?"

The words were rough, but the tension seemed to drain out of her all the same. She let out a laugh of pure disbelief.

Footsteps scraped up the stairs. Zombies, climbing. Squeak... squeak... Like the second hand of a clock ticking down to death.

Kang Hanna spoke low beside me.

"Everyone, stay sharp. Even one of them gets up here, you put a spear through it. Right away."

Jeong Mina's face had gone pale. The spear in her hands shook.

"I... I don't think I can do this. I'm too scared..."

I shot her a look.

"Hey. Pull it together. This is not the time to be scared. You break, and every last one of us dies."

Then, from beneath the barricade, a heavy thud—and a zombie's rotting hand came into view. Bone showed through the flesh that had sloughed away.

"Kieeeeeek!"

The thing shrieked at the sight of us up top. Thwuck—and Kang Hanna drove her spear clean through its skull.

"So it begins."

The timer hit fifty minutes in the same instant the first zombie dropped.

"Kieeeeeek!"

Thud. Thud.

As if they'd caught a cry from their own kind, the thunder of countless zombies on the stairs followed at once. Was this some System correction at work, or were there simply ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too many of them? Contrary to everything I'd heard, they came up those steps without a moment's hesitation.

"Kieeeeeek!"

"Here we go! Aim for the head! Don't you hesitate!"

A mass of them came into view, and at my word the others drove their spears down as one. Skulls split with a wet tear, and dark crimson sprayed. I grimaced and set my teeth.

"Keep going!"

I shouted it.

"Don't stop!"

They kept coming, endless. The slap of rotting flesh against the barricade rolled over us like surf, and we kept driving the spears down.

"Kieeeek!"

"Eek! It—it's up here!"

Shhk.

"Hey, you piece of shit! I told you to keep your eyes forward, didn't I? Want me to throw you down there first?"

I cut down the zombie that had stolen Kim Minho's attention and spat the curse at him in the same breath.

His face went white. Terror flashed in his eyes, and he ducked his head, gripping the spear with shaking hands.

"I-I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

I ground my teeth and glared at him. There was no time to waste on a fight, though. More of them were already surging at the barricade.

"Fuck. There's a shitload of them..."

If you had to name the busiest person in the group, it was me. Too few of us to hold the whole barricade meant blind spots were inevitable, and I was the one sprinting back and forth to cover them.

For all that, the sound of rotting flesh hammering the barricade only grew louder. Their growls and the stench of decay stabbed up into my nose. I clenched my teeth and reset my stance.

"Everyone, focus!"

I shouted.

"Crack their skulls before those bastards get up here!"

Beside me, Kang Hanna stabbed without mercy. A head burst, and dark red sprayed in every direction.

"Urgh..."

Someone retched. I set my jaw.

"No time to puke! Keep going!"

And we threw ourselves back into cutting them down.

"Something's off."

I'd been hacking through them without a second to think when I realized their movements had gone strange.

"Their numbers are dropping."

The horde that had seemed endless had thinned in a way you could see. No matter how many we'd put down, far more of them were simply gone than our kills could account for.

A System correction?

I checked the time. Barely ten minutes left. With the clear that close, maybe the System had started cutting their numbers.

Then I do it now.

A little room to breathe, at last. I decided to put into motion what I'd been turning over since the moment the quest began.

I can live. I can live!

Kim Minho had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stabbing in a blind frenzy when he realized the zombies in front of him had thinned, and hope flooded him.

"Kieeeek!"

Maybe that was why he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠missed it. A hand shot up from right beneath him, and his ankle was caught before he knew what had him.

"Aaaagh!"

His face crumpled with terror. Screams tore out of his bloodless lips, one after another, as he kicked wildly, trying to shake the thing loose.

It didn't go the way he wanted. Little by little, his body was dragged down off the barricade. His nails scraped the floor as he clung on with everything he had, and it did nothing.

"S-save me! Please!"

He grabbed the ankle of Jeong Mina beside him and begged.

"Fuck off! You wanna die, die alone!"

She wrenched his hand away and spat it at him.

"Y-you fucking bitch!"

Betrayed by her yet again, bloodshot madness boiled up in his eyes.

"If I die, you die with me! You worthless fucking whore!"

He set his teeth and clamped onto her ankle with all the strength he had left. Only then did terror break across Jeong Mina's face.

"You crazy bastard! Let go! Let go right now!"

She kicked with everything she had. Her foot cracked into his face. He didn't care. He only held on harder.

"How many times did you think you could betray me and walk away clean, you fucking bitch?"

Madness flashed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in his eyes. Cold sweat ran from his brow down into them. He didn't blink.

"D-don't do this, I was wrong, okay?!"

"Fuck off, you bitch!"

"Fuck! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Let go!"

Her nails raked the floor until they bled, and still her body slid downward, inch by inch.

"Gaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts!"

"Y-you son of a bitch! This is your fault! Because of you, I—gaaaaah!"

In the end, both of them went over the barricade. The moment fresh meat hit the ground below, the zombies rushed in.

A heartbeat later, Kim Minho's and Jeong Mina's screams split the air—wretched, shredded things, soaked through with terror and with despair.