Episode 4.
Episode 4.
The drone returned and landed on the ground. I put it in my backpack and picked up my bow.
The sun was still high in the sky. If I was going to move, I had to do it now.
The distance to the village I'd checked with the drone was about 3 kilometers. It was a distance that would take just over 30 minutes if I moved at a brisk pace.
Driving the camper would be faster, but the engine noise could attract the zombies' attention. For now, I decided to leave the camper here and travel on foot.
I prepared before leaving. I grabbed my bow and quiver, and tucked the hammer into my belt.
After thinking for a moment, I took a thick coat out of the camper. It was Park Sang-man-hyung's.
After a brief hesitation, I wrapped the coat around my left arm and tied it tightly. My thickly wrapped forearm looked like a guard used to fend off fierce dogs.
With this, I should be able to withstand it to some extent even if a zombie bites me.
As I stepped out of the camper, the sunlight was stinging, and the sky was clear without a single cloud. The peaceful weather, as if nothing had happened, felt bizarre.
I walked along a quiet country road. I moved my feet quickly but carefully so as not to make loud footsteps.
I kept a lookout, casting my gaze in all directions. I heard nothing but the sound of insects and the wind.
How long had I walked? I saw something standing on the road in the distance.
It was a zombie. It was standing motionless with both arms spread wide and its head tilted toward the sun. It was the exact same posture I had seen via the drone.
I gauged the distance. About 70 meters. It was similar to the shooting distance in archery. A familiar distance. However, while an archery target is 122 centimeters in diameter, a zombie's head was much smaller than that.
To kill it for sure, I had to aim for the head, and that was a much harder shot.
I raised my bow and nocked an arrow. I drew the string and steadied my breathing. There was almost no wind. The conditions weren't bad.
- Ping!
The arrow grazed the guy's shoulder. It missed. Damn it...
The guy moved. The arms that had been spread wide came down, and its head turned toward me. I locked eyes with its crazed pupils.
"Kuaaaagh!"
With a roar, it started running toward me.
I quickly pulled out an arrow and nocked it. This time, my hands didn't shake. I tracked the running guy's movement with my eyes and aimed.
50 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters.
Fire.
- Puk.
The arrow pierced the exact center of its forehead. It tumbled forward and slid, maintaining the speed at which it was running.
I exhaled. My heart was pounding fast, but it was better than before.
I retrieved the arrow and started walking again.
Not long after, I saw two more.
They were standing side by side, photosynthesizing. The distance was about 60 meters.
This time, I focused from the first shot. I drew the string, held my breath, and released.
The arrow lodged into the left one's head. The one next to it reacted.
It saw its fallen companion and came running toward me, letting out a roar.
- Kuaaaaagh!
I quickly nocked an arrow. The closer the guy got, the calmer I actually became.
40 meters, 30 meters, 20 meters. I shot when it was close enough.
The arrow pierced through its eye socket, and it collapsed without even a scream.
Good. At this rate, zombies are no problem. As expected, a quiet ranged weapon is the best.
I retrieved the arrow and walked again. Three kills.
And further down the road, I saw three more. This time, they were bunched together. They were standing side by side with 1 or 2 meters between them.
I'm a little nervous. If I shoot one, the other two will come running at the same time.
After hesitating for a moment, I raised my bow. If I can't avoid it, I have no choice but to push through head-on.
I drew the string, aimed at the leftmost one, and fired.
The arrow lodged in its head, and as expected, the other two reacted simultaneously.
They came running like crazy, letting out roars.
I quickly nocked and fired an arrow. Hit the other one in the head. It sprawled on the ground. But the last one was too fast. I didn't have time to nock an arrow.
I thrust my left arm out in the direction the guy was jumping with its mouth open. Its claws scratched my shoulder, and its teeth bit my left arm.
I felt the pressure of the teeth digging into the coat I had wrapped around my arm. It hurt a little due to the powerful grip, but it didn't pierce through.
I pulled the hammer from my belt with my right hand and struck the guy's head.
- Puk!
One hit. The guy's head snapped to the side. Two hits. The skull caved in. Three hits. Blood splattered, and the guy's body went limp.
I pushed it away and stepped back. I was breathing heavily, and sweat was pouring down my whole body.
I checked my left arm. The coat was slightly torn and had teeth marks, but it didn't seem to have pierced through to the skin.
The guard is effective.
I continued moving along the path I had scouted with the drone. The target was a convenience store in the center of the village.
On the way, I encountered three more zombies.
Now I had gotten the hang of it to some extent. If I spotted them from afar, I'd aim first, and even if I didn't hit with the first shot, I just had to nock a second arrow without panicking.
I was able to take care of all three without much danger.
I entered the downtown area of a small town.
Besides the convenience store, there were rows of shops like a small restaurant, a hardware store, and a dry cleaner.
It was a street that would normally be bustling with residents coming and going, but now it was empty.
There were almost no people to be seen on the roadside, and instead, a few corpses sprawled on the ground caught my eye.
Judging by the fact that they weren't moving, they were either completely dead zombies or corpses that hadn't turned yet after being attacked by zombies.
I didn't want to get close to either, so I walked around them.
I saw the convenience store. It was the same convenience store I had seen with the drone. The glass door was cracked, and the inside was dark.
Just then, I heard a woman's scream.
It was a sound coming from inside the convenience store. I ran over and looked through the glass door.
A young woman was clumsily fending off an attacking zombie with a small stick.
The stick looked like a mop handle, and the woman was staggering backward, pushed by the zombie's strength.
There was no time to hesitate. I raised my bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the zombie.
I could see the zombie's head over the woman's shoulder. I held my breath and shot.
- Puk.
The arrow pierced the zombie's temple, and it fell over to the side just like that.
I went inside the convenience store. The woman was sitting on the floor, breathing heavily.
She was a young woman who looked to be in her 20s. Her face was deathly pale, and the broom handle in her hand was trembling violently.
Her pretty face and clothes didn't look like someone who belonged in the countryside. Did she get isolated while visiting like me?
"Are you okay?"
I said, reaching out my hand. The woman looked up at me. Her eyes were welling up with tears.
"Th-thank you..."
The woman said in a trembling voice, taking my hand and standing up.
Just then, I heard a noise from the convenience store entrance. I turned around and saw zombies flocking in.
It was a group of at least three.
It seemed they had gathered, drawn by the woman's scream earlier.
"Go to the back door, quickly!"
As I shouted, the woman staggered and ran toward the back of the convenience store. I raised my bow toward the entrance.
The first one pushed the door open and came in.
I shot an arrow. It hit the head accurately, and the guy collapsed.
I immediately nocked the next arrow.
The second one stepped over the first one's corpse and came in.
This time, too, a direct hit to the head! The zombie fell as if its strings had been cut, smashing the convenience store's display stand.
The third one rushed in. I nocked and shot an arrow, but this time it hit the shoulder. It lost its balance, hit the display stand, and fell.
It's awkward to shoot the fallen guy again because it's hidden by the display stand.
'D-damn it...'
I ran toward the back door. I saw the door leading to the storage room, and beyond that was the glass door leading outside.
The woman must have already gone that way.
I arrived in front of the glass door and stopped.
There was a desk placed outside the door. The desk was blocking the back door.
I saw the woman through the glass door. She and I made eye contact.
Her eyes were filled with terror. Her lips were trembling violently. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... It was as if she was saying that without sound. And then the woman turned around and ran off somewhere.
She must have thought I wouldn't be able to stop all the rushing zombies... So she blocked the door and ran away.
'F-fucking bitch...'
There was no time to resent her. Footsteps were approaching from behind.
As I turned around, I saw that three of them had entered the convenience store.
The one that got hit in the shoulder earlier and two new ones. All three were rushing toward me.
I threw away the bow and thrust my left arm forward.
The one in the front jumped, and its teeth bit my left arm. I felt the pressure of the teeth digging into the coat I had wrapped around it.
I pulled the hammer out with my right hand and struck the guy's head. One hit, two hits. The guy fell, but the second one pounced right after.
My body was pushed back. My back hit the shelf, and bags of snacks spilled down.
It scratched my shoulder, and its teeth came toward my face.
I turned my head to the side to avoid it and swung the hammer, hitting its jaw. While it was staggering, I struck it again. I felt its skull cave in, and it collapsed.
The third one rushed in. Without time to dodge, our bodies tangled, and we fell to the floor.
It climbed on top of me and tried to bite me. I pushed its neck away with my left arm and swung the hammer with my right hand.
The angle wasn't right. Its teeth sank into my left arm again. This time, I felt a sharp pain along with the sensation of the coat tearing.
I gritted my teeth, raised the hammer again, and struck. One hit, two hits... Its head was crushed, and it stopped moving.
I pushed it away and stood up. My whole body was trembling, and I was breathing heavily. The inside of the convenience store was a mess of blood and corpses.
I had to move before more zombies came in. I found the storage room door, went in, and closed it. I sat down in the dark storage room as if collapsing.
I looked down at my left arm. The pieces of the coat I had wrapped around it were completely shredded. They were torn, soaked in blood, and tattered.
I carefully unwrapped them. My hands were shaking.
'Please, please let it not be...'
As the coat pieces were removed, my left arm was revealed.
There were clear teeth marks. The skin was torn, and blood was flowing out. Red blood flowed down my wrist and dripped onto the floor.
'Did I get bitten? Am I... infected?'
My heart was pounding like crazy. My mind went blank.
The image of my hyung who had become a zombie came to mind. The way he was fine one moment and suddenly changed.
Am I going to become like that soon, too? When? Now? In a minute? In an hour?
I sat blankly in the dark storage room, holding my bleeding arm.
A while later, I tore a piece of my clothing and wrapped it around my bitten left arm. Blood soaked through, and the cloth turned red quickly, but it seemed to stop the bleeding for now.
My hands were shaking, so even tying the knot wasn't easy.
The inside of the storage room was dark. The faint light coming through a small ventilation window was all there was, and ramen boxes and beverage boxes were piled up around me. It seemed to be the convenience store's stockroom.
I decided to rest for a while. I sat down, leaning my back against the boxes. My legs gave out, and my whole body felt as heavy as lead.
'Is there any need to do anything more now...'
I'm going to turn into a zombie anyway. I'll become a monster like hyung, who was fine one moment and then suddenly his eyes changed, and he came rushing at me while roaring.
Who will I bite then? Or will I become a zombie all alone in this empty storage room and wander forever?
Fear and regret mixed together and filled my head.
Why did I go in to save that woman? If I had just passed by, this wouldn't have happened.
No, why did I leave the camper in the first place? If I had just stayed hidden, I could have lasted a little longer...
Even though I knew it was useless to regret, thoughts kept piling up.
My body is shivering strangely. I feel like my body is hot, so I touch my forehead and it really feels like I have a fever.
'Ha... am I really becoming a zombie now...'
My eyes closed. It felt like I was losing consciousness. I couldn't tell if it was sleep or fainting, and I only felt myself falling into the darkness.