Chapter 5.
Chapter 5.
And the dream began.
It was the same dream as before. An endless blue field stretched out, and the sky was a piercing, brilliant blue.
The blades of grass were swaying in the wind, but I couldn't feel the touch of the wind.
I was lying on that field. No, I thought I was lying down, but when I felt closely, I realized I didn't even have a body.
Even if I tried to lift my hand, there was no hand, and even if I tried to turn my head, there was no head. It felt as if only my consciousness existed here.
It was strange, but I wasn't afraid. On the contrary, I felt strangely peaceful.
I felt a presence from high above. Something giant, whether it was the sky or the sun, I couldn't tell, was looking down at me. I couldn't see a form, but it was definitely there.
A voice echoed. It didn't feel like I was hearing it with my ears, but rather that it was being carved directly into my mind.
- Congratulations on the achievement.
Achievement? What did I achieve? Are they talking about the condition to kill ten zombies?
- I will grant you the ability to not be infected.
Infection? Zombie infection? Or all types of infections? Then what about my arm that was bitten? Am I not infected?
I wanted to ask, but no voice came out. No, I didn't even have a mouth to make a voice.
I had no choice but to simply accept those words.
- Kill 20 zombies.
A new condition was given. With those words, the Giant Existence moved away. The blue field faded, and the blue sky began to be consumed by darkness.
I opened my eyes.
I was inside the dark convenience store storage. I was in the exact same position, sitting with my back against the wall.
I checked my watch, and only a few minutes had passed. It felt like quite a long time had flowed in the dream, but it seemed it was just a split second in reality.
I looked down at my left arm. The wound area, wrapped in cloth, was throbbing. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but the bite marks wouldn't have disappeared.
The ability to not be infected.
If that word is true, it means I won't turn into a zombie regardless of whether this wound heals or not.
It could just be a weird dream. But isn't it possible that it's real, given that I had the same dream consecutively?
My body condition feels better than I thought. I'm not shaking, and I have no fever.
Anyway, I got up.
I carefully opened the storage door and checked outside.
The inside of the convenience store was still the same mess as before.
Fallen zombies, broken glass, scattered items. But there was no new movement. It didn't look like any additional ones had come in from outside.
First, I retrieved the arrows from the fallen zombies. Every time I pulled an arrow stuck in a head, I felt a damp sensation, but I was a little scared that I was getting somewhat used to it now.
Some arrow shafts were broken, but most were in a reusable state.
Next, I gathered the convenience store items. The shelves were quite empty, but there were still usable things left.
Canned goods, rice, cup ramen, energy bars, bottled water. I chose things that I could eat immediately as long as I had water.
After packing them into my backpack as tightly as possible, I figured I could last about 4 to 5 days. If I rationed them, maybe even a week.
I put on the backpack and went toward the back door of the convenience store. It was the door the woman had blocked earlier.
A desk had been placed in front of the door, but when I pushed it with force, it opened without difficulty.
I checked the hallway, but there was no sign of anyone. As expected, the woman from earlier was nowhere to be seen.
She must have already run far away. Where she went, whether she was alive, I couldn't know, and I didn't want to know.
I closed the back door and decided to head back the way I came. The route I had checked with the drone would be the safest.
I moved carefully. I stopped at every corner of the building to check my surroundings and moved my feet so as not to make any noise.
Still, encounters with zombies were unavoidable. The ones standing on the road, the ones that popped out from inside buildings. I had to kill five more on the way back.
I thought I had gotten the hang of it now, but reality was different every time.
One of them rushed at me faster than expected, forcing me to fire my arrow into thin air, and in the end, that arrow flew off somewhere and I couldn't find it. I had lost one arrow.
Around the time the sun began to set, I arrived safely at the camper. I opened the door, went inside, and put down my backpack, and only then did my tension release. My legs lost strength, and I slumped to the floor.
I counted the arrows. 22 left.
If I keep fighting like this, the arrows are bound to decrease. I can't retrieve all of them every time, some break, and some get lost like earlier.
Killing zombies in melee combat was definitely dangerous. As I experienced at the convenience store earlier, once you get tangled up, you're bound to get bitten.
I could kill one, but if several rushed at me at once, I would have no choice but to die.
It was clear that the bow was the safest ranged weapon. Firearms are more dangerous because of the loud noise, and the bow is the only thing that allows for ranged attacks without noise.
Should I make arrows myself... I thought about it in my head.
Whittle wood to make the shaft, attach feathers, attach the tip. It would be possible in theory, but making usable arrows without proper tools wouldn't be easy.
Or could I find more arrows somewhere? If there was an archery range or a hunting supply store, it might be possible.
For now, I have no choice but to use them sparingly. Shoot only from a distance where I'm sure to hit, retrieve as much as possible, and avoid melee combat.
My left arm throbbed. It was where I was bitten earlier. I unwrapped the area I had covered with cloth to check.
The bleeding had stopped, but the tooth marks remained clear. The red, swollen wound looked hideous.
It's been over an hour since I was bitten by a zombie, but I'm still fine.
My condition isn't bad either. I was tired and hungry, but that's only natural. I didn't feel like I had a fever or that my consciousness was clouding.
Did I really become a body that doesn't get infected...
The voice I heard in the dream came to mind. I will grant you the ability to not be infected. Was that real? I couldn't be sure yet, but at least until now, it seemed that those words were true.
I looked out the window. The sun was setting. Today felt too long. Having coffee with Hyung-nim in the morning felt like something that happened days ago.
I had to eat dinner before the sun went down. If it got dark, light could leak out, and that could attract something, whether it be zombies or people.
Inside the camper, there were enough cooking utensils and water.
Just as Hyung-nim boasted, there was still plenty of water in the water tank, and the gas burner worked well.
I put water in a pot and opened the cup ramen I brought from the convenience store. While waiting for the water to boil, I looked out the window.
The sunset was happening. It was a peaceful landscape. To the point where it was hard to believe the world was ending.
When the ramen was ready, I ate it with a slurping sound. The ramen I ate after going through a near-death crisis tasted like honey.
Every time the salty taste wrapped around my tongue and the warm broth went down my throat, I felt the reality that I was alive. I didn't know I would be this moved by a single ramen.
After finishing my meal, I took out my phone. The camper had a 1200w solar generator, so there was plenty of power.
Fortunately, the internet was still connected. It was slow, but the pages loaded.
Some SNS and communities were inaccessible, but some were open even if they were slow. The posts coming up were hell on earth.
The first thing that caught my eye was a video someone uploaded. It looked like it was filming the streets of downtown Seoul, and the screen was swarming with zombies.
The bastards standing with their arms spread wide toward the sun were filling the streets, and corpses could be seen in between them.
The person who uploaded the video seemed to have filmed it from an upper floor of a building, and the video cut off with a trembling voice saying that it really seemed like the world had ended.
I scrolled down. A photo caught my eye.
It was a highway. Cars were tangled up, forming a massive traffic jam, and people were captured fleeing, abandoning their cars.
Behind them, green-black skinned zombies were pouring out.
Below the photo, a short text read, 'Tried to escape but was blocked. People trying to go to the highway, be careful.', and hundreds of comments were attached below it.
As I scrolled further, desperate posts continued endlessly.
[Mom changed... Dad isn't answering... What do I do? What should I do? I think I'm going crazy.]
[Our apartment is completely surrounded. I hear sounds on the stairs. I think they're coming up. Fucking, fucking, fucking.]
In between those, strange posts were also visible. People who seemed to enjoy the situation.
[LOL, the real zombie apocalypse is here LOL. Just like in games.]
[I got 3 kills LOL. Hit it with a baseball bat and the head really exploded.]
[Looking for a girl. Only those with solid power, I'll protect you for free if your looks are decent.]
Someone uploaded a video of themselves killing zombies.
[You have to be at least an adult male to handle them. As expected, aim for the head no matter what. Never get bitten.]
One of the posts that recorded high views was a video taken from a high-rise apartment.
It was a video of two police officers moving people, but when a few zombies swarmed, they pulled out their pistols and started firing.
Fortunately, it seemed like a few fell, but soon after, zombies swarmed from all sides.
The swarming zombies looked like hundreds, no, thousands.
Some people were caught while running away, and some just sat down on the floor helplessly and were swept away by the zombies.
The person who uploaded the post only wrote 'Zombie Wave' at the bottom of the post. And the countless desperate comments and enthusiastic comments that followed.
Humans are truly strange. To think there are people who are enthusiastic even in a situation where the world is perishing... Perhaps they had already felt disillusioned with this world.
Another post was about infection.
[Even if you get bitten you turn into a zombie, but it seems true that it's an air infection too. It's certain that people who weren't bitten also turned in droves.]
'So it really is something like an air infection... Since Sangman Hyung-nim just turned too. Does it differ by person?'
If they turned just like that without even being bitten, it's understandable that the world is collapsing all at once.
How can you handle it when people next to you turn into zombies all at once? I might have died immediately if I hadn't responded properly.
Even while the world was collapsing, people were reacting in their own ways.
People terrified, people in despair, people denying the situation, people strangely excited. All sorts of human appearances were mixed on the internet.
When I refreshed, new posts came up. But the update speed was getting slower and slower. The posts were becoming less frequent than before. Are the number of people who can upload posts decreasing?
I put down my phone and turned on the radio. A voice came through the static.
- Repeating. Citizens, please refrain from going out and stay indoors. Lock your doors and windows, and do not make noise. Do not approach the infected, and if you have been bitten or scratched, please isolate immediately. The government and the military are doing their best to control the current situation. The situation will stabilize soon. Repeating...
The same content was repeated. It was the same content as the disaster text message that came.
Stay home because it's dangerous. It will be solved soon. I couldn't tell if those words were sincere, or if they were lies to prevent panic.
But thinking of the appearance of Seoul I saw on SNS, the words 'it will be solved soon' felt empty.
I turned off the radio and looked out the window. The sun had completely set, and darkness was falling. Outside the camper, it was silent.
I couldn't sleep easily that night.
I checked several times to see if the camper door was locked, and I even peeked outside through the window curtains.
I lay in bed with my shoes on so that I could run out immediately if I heard the sound of zombies approaching.
Even when I closed my eyes, the things I saw during the day came to mind. The zombies that rushed at me in the convenience store, the eyes of the woman who blocked the door and ran away, Hyung-nim's crushed skull.
Those things alternated in my mind, and at some point, fatigue covered everything. I fell into a deep sleep without realizing it.