Chapter 17.
Chapter 17.
I spent the morning making a few more arrows and entrusted the drone to Yerin.
"Look for a clothing store. Somewhere like a shopping district."
"Yes, I understand."
She launched the drone and began scanning the surroundings. She watched the controller screen and changed directions here and there. She was handling it well, just as I had taught her yesterday.
A moment later, she spoke.
"I found it. There's a shopping district about 3 kilometers east of here. I can see a clothing store, a shoe store, and..."
"Zombies?"
"Hmm... I think there are about 50 zombies along the route."
She looked at me with a slightly worried expression.
"Isn't that a bit too many?"
"The more, the better."
"Pardon?"
"The more zombies I kill, the stronger I get."
Yerin blinked. She looked confused, but she didn't bother asking further. She had seen my skills firsthand yesterday.
"Show me the route. And find an empty lot where we can park the camper. Near the shopping district."
"Okay."
She piloted the drone again to scan the area.
"Here. There's a large parking lot on the outskirts of the city. It's about a 10-minute walk to the shopping district."
After I personally checked the route, shops, and parking lot on the drone controller screen she showed me, I said:
"Good. Let's go."
I recalled the drone and got into the camper. Yerin sat in the passenger seat. I started the engine and set off.
Driving along the road, I saw zombies in the distance, but I steered clear of them. There was no need to get out of the car to catch them. I could just herd them and take them out once we reached our destination.
Before long, we arrived at our destination. It was a spacious parking lot in a quiet area on the outskirts of the city.
It was empty for now. A few cars were abandoned, but there was plenty of space.
I parked the camper in a corner and turned off the engine.
"Get ready."
I grabbed my bow and quiver, and strapped the axe and knife to my belt. Yerin also strapped a hatchet to her waist and put on a duffel bag. It was for retrieving arrows.
"Let's go."
The two of us left the camper. We started walking toward the shopping district.
On the way to the shopping district, zombies were scattered here and there, just as we had seen with the drone.
I had plenty of arrows prepared. I had made nearly 50 arrows from yesterday until this morning.
The first group was three of them. They were standing in the middle of the road, soaking up the sun.
I zoomed in with my vision. The zombies 70 meters away looked as clear as if they were right in front of me. I activated Hawk's Eye and began rapid-firing.
Swish, swish, swish.
Three arrows flew in succession, piercing three heads. They all collapsed before they could even react.
"Retrieve the arrows."
"Yes!"
Yerin ran over with the duffel bag. She moved quickly between the corpses, pulling out the arrows. She returned in less than a minute.
"Here you go."
I took the blood-stained arrows and put them back in the quiver. None were broken. Good.
We moved on. Not long after, three zombies popped out from an alley. It seemed they had reacted to my footsteps.
"Kuaaaagh!"
They came rushing at us, letting out shrieks. I activated Hawk's Eye, and time slowed down.
In the slow time, I fired three shots with ease. All headshots. They collapsed one after another just 10 meters in front of me.
"Retrieve."
Yerin ran over again and pulled out the arrows. She seemed to be getting the hang of it; her movements were becoming faster.
The closer we got to the shopping district, the higher the zombie density became. Between buildings, on the road, in front of shops. I saw them standing everywhere with their arms outstretched.
I didn't stop, hunting as I advanced.
If I saw them from afar, I zoomed in and sniped them. If they popped out close by, I slowed time with Hawk's Eye and rapid-fired. Yerin followed behind me, retrieving arrows without rest.
Ten, twenty, thirty.
We encountered a large group in the middle. Twelve of them were clustered together. When I shot one, they all reacted and rushed at us.
"Step back."
I said to Yerin as I took a step back.
I activated Hawk's Eye and began rapid-firing. One shot per step. In the slow time, arrows flew, zombies fell, and I nocked another arrow.
Swish, swish, swish, swish.
It took less than 10 seconds for all twelve to fall.
I exhaled and scanned the surroundings. No more were coming.
"Are you okay?"
Yerin asked with a worried expression.
"I'm fine. Retrieve the arrows."
She ran among the corpses. Meanwhile, I relieved the strain on my eyes and kept watch.
Using Hawk's Eye continuously did bring on fatigue. But it wasn't at an unmanageable level.
Yerin returned after retrieving all the arrows. She was panting, but her expression was bright.
"I got them all. Two are broken."
"Good work."
We moved again. The entrance to the shopping district began to come into view. Signs were lined up. Clothing store, shoe store, accessory shop. It was the place I wanted.
There were eight more zombies near the entrance. I dealt with them the same way. One shot from afar, then rapid-fire to wipe out the ones that rushed in.
The shopping district became quiet. Only zombie corpses were strewn about here and there.
"I counted them."
Yerin said.
"52 in total. And it didn't even take 30 minutes..."
She looked around at the corpses with an expression of disbelief.
Instead of answering, I pointed to the clothing store.
"Let's go in there. Now, let's go shopping."
We stood in front of the clothing store. Through the glass display window, I could see the dark interior. Mannequins were standing there, and clothes were hanging on racks.
"Wait here for a moment."
"Okay."
Yerin stopped. I carefully opened the door with my bow in hand and went inside.
I checked the interior. It was dark, but there was light coming through the windows, so I could see roughly. Between the display racks, near the fitting rooms, behind the counter. I walked around slowly to check.
There were no zombies. It was safe.
"Come in. It's safe."
Yerin came inside. She looked around the interior and let out a sigh of relief.
"Pick what you want here. I'll pick from over there."
"Okay."
The clothing store sold both men's and women's apparel. I went to the men's section, and Yerin went to the women's section.
As I picked out clothes, I thought. In the apocalypse, practical clothes are more important than pretty ones.
Clothes that are easy to move in, durable, and easy to protect against attacks. I picked out a few long-sleeved cotton t-shirts and work pants. I also grabbed a thick jumper. It gets chilly at night.
I also stuffed in several pairs of underwear and socks. You can never have too many of these.
While most places were empty of essentials like food or medicine, this clothing store was almost untouched.
It was nice that it was essentially free shopping. Well, not free, since I had to kill zombies to make it possible.
"Boss!"
I heard Yerin's voice. It was from the fitting room area.
"What?"
"How is it? Isn't it pretty?"
Yerin came out as the fitting room curtain opened. She had changed into new clothes.
Dark-colored jeans and a gray long-sleeved t-shirt. She wore a khaki light jumper over it. She had also changed into new sneakers.
The jeans accentuated her long, slender leg lines, and the tight t-shirt showed off the volume of her chest.
"How is it?"
She asked, spinning around. As if showing off.
"It's practical."
"Aww, is that all?"
"It looks easy to move in and durable. It's the perfect outfit for the apocalypse."
"That's a compliment, right?"
"Yes, it's a compliment."
Yerin grinned. Perhaps because she was wearing new clothes, her expression looked much brighter.
"I'll pick out more. I need to pack spares, too."
"Sure. Take your time."
Yerin went back among the clothes. I waited while putting my clothes into the duffel bag.
A moment later, Yerin came out with her arms full of clothes.
But she tripped on the ledge in front of the fitting room.
As she stumbled and lost her balance, the bag fell from her hands. The bag hit the floor, and the underwear inside spilled out.
There were ordinary cotton underwear, but... mixed in among them were black bras and panties with lots of lace, red see-through lingerie, and even underwear that looked like it was made of nothing but strings. They were quite racy items.
A moment of silence passed.
Yerin's face turned beet red. She hurriedly crouched on the floor and began scooping up the underwear.
"Th-this...! There weren't many underwear options, so... I just grabbed whatever!"
She muttered. Her hands moved busily, sweeping the underwear into the bag.
I cleared my throat while turning my gaze away. I looked out the window with my head turned. It was a peaceful scene with zombie corpses strewn about.
When I looked back, Yerin was standing there clutching the bag tightly. Her face was flushed red, even up to her ears.
"Is this enough?"
Several long-sleeved t-shirts, a few pairs of jeans and pants, two jumpers, several pairs of socks. They were all practical clothes.
There wasn't a single skirt or flashy item that women usually like. Except for the underwear.
She packed the clothes into the duffel bag. She stuffed the problematic bag deep into the bottom of the bag. The bag looked quite heavy, but she didn't seem to mind.
"All done. Let's go."
We left the clothing store and entered the shoe store next door. The inside was clean and there were no zombies.
Yerin picked out a few pairs of sneakers.
Two pairs of running shoes that were easy to run in, and one pair of sturdy trekking shoes. I also grabbed a pair of spare sneakers.
"You need spare shoes. So you can change immediately if they get wet or ruined."
"Yes, I understand."
Next was the pharmacy. A small pharmacy at the end of the shopping district.
But when we went inside, a disappointing sight unfolded. The shelves were almost empty. It seemed most of it had been looted.
Still, just in case, I searched the storage room. Fortunately, there were a few things left in the corner and on the floor.
Disinfectant, bandages, fever reducers, painkillers, digestive medicine. There wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
"This is all there is."
"It's a shame, but it can't be helped. Let's look for another pharmacy next time."
We packed the medicine into the bag and left the pharmacy.
We hunted zombies while exploring the surrounding shops further. Yerin retrieved the arrows, and I looked for the next target. It felt like we were quite in sync now.
I found a small restaurant that looked like it might have food. The sign was broken, but the interior looked intact.
"Let's check inside."
We opened the door and entered. Tables and chairs were scattered messily. When I went to the kitchen area, the refrigerator was open and empty. It looked like someone had already looted it.
"The storage room here..."
Yerin opened the door inside the kitchen. And then she was startled and covered her mouth.
"Ugh...!"
I ran over quickly. The moment I looked into the storage room, the smell of rot pierced my nose.
They were corpses.
They looked like college students in their early 20s. Three men, one woman. The men were lying on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs.
Their heads were smashed. It was a sign of being struck multiple times with a blunt object.
The woman's corpse was in the corner. She was naked, gagged, and tied up in a horrific state. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened.
Humans had done this.
I silently went into the storage room and checked the surroundings. The shelves were empty. There was no food at all. It seemed the raiders had killed these people and taken all the supplies.
I returned to the restaurant interior. Yerin was leaning against the wall with her hand on it, head bowed. Her shoulders were trembling slightly. It looked like she was holding back vomit.
"You can throw up if you want."
She shook her head. After letting out a few trembling breaths, she raised her head. Her eyes were red, but no tears were flowing.
"No. I have to... get used to seeing things like this too."
Her voice was trembling, but her eyes were trying to harden.
I didn't answer and left the restaurant. Yerin followed behind me.
This is the world now. There's no choice but to get used to it.