Chapter 24.
Chapter 24.
The next morning, I launched the drone.
It had become a habit now. When staying in one place, I always make sure to conduct periodic reconnaissance of the surrounding area. It's necessary to grasp the situation not just nearby, but further out as well.
Electricity is plentiful anyway thanks to solar power. Information is both an asset and a weapon.
The drone climbed in altitude, widening its radius. The surrounding landscape unfolded on the tablet screen. Empty roads, stalled cars, a few zombies photosynthesizing. It was a landscape no different from usual.
While scanning the area about 3 kilometers to the south, something caught on the screen.
Several vehicles. And people.
I zoomed in on the drone screen.
They were in the middle of a battle.
A firefight was breaking out on both sides, with a few vehicles in between. One side had more numbers. It looked like over 20 people. Two of them were holding something. Air guns. Pak, pak. The distinct, dry firing sound was picked up by the drone's microphone.
The other side...
A familiar face appeared. It was Kim Tae-ho.
That Kim Tae-ho who had been kicked out of the Gurae Station subway shelter. A group of about 10 people was lying prone behind the vehicles. Their only armament was bows and crossbows. Bows against air guns? There was no way they could win.
Pak.
One person on Kim Tae-ho's side fell backward. They collapsed, clutching their chest. No, they didn't move at all.
Some people underestimate the power of air guns, but they are fully capable of hunting, and they dig deep into a person's soft skin.
Another one. A man hiding behind a car poked his head out and got hit. A spray of blood splattered.
"What is it, Boss?"
Yerin approached my side. She peered at the tablet screen, and her face stiffened.
"It's Kim Tae-ho's group. They're in a fight with someone."
She came closer and examined the screen carefully.
"Kim Tae-ho's side is being massacred."
Yeah. They're dying. Even at this very moment.
Kim Tae-ho's group on the screen fell one by one. They couldn't even lift their heads, let alone counterattack. The range and accuracy of the air guns were on a different level than the bows. It was a one-sided slaughter.
Kim Tae-ho raised both hands.
The others also put down their weapons one by one and raised their hands. It was a surrender.
The air gun group approached slowly. They forced Kim Tae-ho's group to kneel, and their hands were tied behind their backs. They were made to sit in a line.
Up to this point, sure. It's the result of a battle, so that's understandable.
The problem was what came next.
A man holding a gun walked slowly in front of the people sitting in a line. He seemed to be checking their faces one by one. Then, he reached out and pointed at a few.
Four women were dragged out.
Gun barrels were aimed at the remaining men. I couldn't hear anything. The drone was too far away. But the screen was enough.
Pak. Pak. Pak.
The men who had been tied up while kneeling toppled forward one by one. It was an execution.
The man with the air gun was shooting at the back of their heads, where it's easy to penetrate.
In the end, Kim Tae-ho fell too.
He was a bad guy. A piece of trash who was kicked out of the shelter for sexually exploiting women. But having them tied up, forced to kneel, and shooting them in the back of the head—that's just murder.
His end was miserable.
Yerin grabbed my arm. Her hand was trembling.
"Boss..."
On the screen, two of the four women were also executed. It was the same method. Kneeling, shot in the back of the head.
Two survived. They were young, good-looking women.
Those two had their clothes stripped off.
In broad daylight, with people standing in a circle around them, the two women were made to stand naked. It's something you couldn't even imagine before the world ended.
The men watched and laughed. They mocked them, and someone threw something at them.
The women couldn't move. With their hands tied, they hung their heads and just cried quietly.
The way they were crying and talking made it look like they were begging for their lives.
A man laughed and said something, and the women nodded.
My fists trembled. Those villains. This isn't something humans should do. They're scarier than zombies. Zombies just move on instinct, but this is something humans choose to do.
They put the two stripped women into a vehicle. The group split up into the cars. The engines started, and the vehicles began to move.
Fortunately, it wasn't in our direction. They moved in the opposite direction.
"Yerin, launch the other drone. Quickly."
"What?"
"The battery is low. We have to track them. They're guys who could become a threat to us."
Yerin quickly ran to the camping car. She brought out a new drone and launched it. Her hands were shaking, but her operation was precise. She had definitely become skilled at this.
When the first drone sounded its battery warning and I issued a return command, the second drone was already going up. I switched screens. The vehicle convoy was caught again.
Must not lose them. The drone followed them, keeping them in the frame.
The drone followed the vehicle convoy. About 15 minutes later, the place they stopped at was the Food Factory.
Two large buildings on a wide plot of land. High fences surrounded the perimeter, and two vehicles were set up like barricades at the entrance. They had their own defensive system.
A Food Factory, huh. There must be piles of stored raw materials and finished products. It's the best base in terms of securing food.
The two women dragged out of the car disappeared into the factory building. Two men grabbed them by the arms on both sides and dragged them away. The women couldn't even put up much resistance.
I raised the drone's altitude to see the entire factory.
I started counting the numbers.
There were people all over the factory grounds. Sentries stood on the fences, and there were people in the passageways between buildings and in the open spaces. Roughly around 100 people. Occasionally, women were mixed in.
I bit my lip without realizing it.
It's a quite large and cruel group.
A group of this size was formed in just ten days?
I can understand that small groups of delinquents have always existed, but the cruelty of humans that can build a group of this size so quickly makes me shudder.
Personnel carrying air guns were seen occasionally.
In a zombie world, air guns are a rational choice. They aren't loud like gunpowder guns, so there's less risk of attracting zombies, and they are lethal enough against people. The pellets are small and light, so they can be carried in large quantities.
How effective would air guns be against zombies?
To kill a zombie, you have to destroy the brain. With a hunting air gun, you could penetrate thin areas like the back of the head or the temples.
But the front of the skull is thick, so there's a high chance it would bounce off. Domestic firearms have many regulations, so people who hunt have always complained about that.
Just then, one side of the open space caught my eye.
Two pillars. People were tied to them.
I zoomed in.
Two men were hanging limp with their arms tied to the pillars. Their faces were so swollen that I couldn't recognize their original features. Their clothes were torn, and blood had dried on them. One of them had his head completely slumped. I didn't even know if he was conscious.
It's not just assault. It's torture.
People passing by them walked by as if nothing was wrong. They didn't even look at the people tied to the pillars. It meant it was an everyday scene. To think that's an everyday occurrence.
I returned the drone. There was no need to see more.
I came inside the camping car and put down the tablet. My hands were trembling slightly.
I thought zombies ruined the world. But the truly scary thing is humans. It's only been ten days. In just ten days since the law disappeared, a looting group of 100 people has formed, they're tying people to pillars and torturing them, and it's become a world where women are stripped and dragged away.
It's quite a distance from our location. But if they are expanding their power, we might run into them someday.
They can be seen as ticking time bombs, I suppose.
In the evening, the four of us sat together. I displayed the video taken by the drone on the tablet and explained.
Jeong-hoon's face stiffened.
"100 people?"
"Roughly. It could be more."
"Crazy."
Jeong-hoon tore at his hair.
"You said they even have air guns? How are the four of us supposed to..."
"We're not trying to fight. We're just identifying their location."
Su-jin opened her mouth cautiously.
"How far is it from there to here?"
"If they move by car, they can get here in 30 minutes."
Su-jin's hands clenched on her lap.
"If those people expand their power or widen their range of activity, they'll eventually come this way, won't they?"
No one could answer her. Because it would be the truth.
Yerin said in a low voice.
"Did you see the people tied to the pillars? And the women who were dragged away..."
Her voice trembled. It seemed the memory of being chased by looters had surfaced.
"Are we going to end up like that if we get caught?"
"We won't get caught. We're just identifying them in advance. Because the foundation of war is reconnaissance."
I said it calmly, but inside, I felt heavy too.
Jeong-hoon let out a sigh.
"Shouldn't we not stay here for long? Maybe we should move in the opposite direction..."
"Running away isn't the end. No matter where we go, there could be another group like this. In the end, humans are stronger the more they band together."
I paused for a moment and continued.
"Humans, when they're alone, have a conscience. With two or three, they're self-conscious. But when it becomes ten, twenty, a hundred, it changes. They feel it's okay because everyone is doing it together. They become desensitized to bad deeds. Because responsibility is dispersed."
No one said anything.
"It's only been ten days since the law disappeared, and they're tying people to pillars and torturing them. Is that something one person can do? It's possible because no one around them stops them. They're even watching."
"Th-that's true... Then what do we do?"
"For now, we keep monitoring with the drone. We'll figure out their movement patterns, and if there's any sign of them coming this way, it won't be too late to move then."
Jeong-hoon nodded, but his anxious expression didn't fade. Su-jin grabbed Jeong-hoon's arm.
The atmosphere sank. It feels like a lie that we were drinking ice water and laughing just a while ago.
I turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. It was the same arrangement as yesterday. Side by side with Yerin, back to back.
The inside of the camping car wasn't spacious because it was still piled high with supplies brought from the mart. When two people lie on one bed, our shoulders touch.
I closed my eyes. The scenes I saw with the drone today floated inside my eyelids. People falling, bodies tied to pillars, women made to stand naked. Even if I wanted to erase them, they wouldn't go away.
Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I felt movement behind my back.
Something warm pressed against my back. A soft arm came over my side and rested on my stomach.
Yerin was hugging me from behind.
My body stiffened.
"Yerin?"
"Boss."
Her voice was small. It wasn't her usual bright tone.
"I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"That video from earlier. I keep thinking about it. The women who were dragged away. If I hadn't met you back then..."
She trailed off. The hand resting on my stomach tightened.
"Can I stay like this?"
I couldn't push her away.
"Yeah."
Yerin buried her forehead in my back. I could feel her breath. The body heat transmitted through her arm was soft and warm.
The memory of being chased by looters must have overlapped with today's video. Because today, she confirmed with her own eyes that she could have been those women.
Yerin's breathing slowed down little by little. It seemed she was falling asleep.
Feeling the soft sensation against my back, I closed my eyes too.