Human Non-Protected Zone (Complete)
A long time after Yohan left, one of the personnel transport trucks with the words “Mission in Progress” parked on the road in the small village of Mini Bell. The engine roared loudly, the fumes made his throat burn, but the driver didn’t shut it off. Instead, he flipped the switch and turned on the attached spotlights all at once. The truck and its surroundings suddenly blazed like midday.
Soldiers in hazmat suits descended in perfect formation. About the size of a platoon. Their rifles had flashlights attached, and the glare was so blinding they couldn’t look straight at it. The soldiers quickly cleared the village street by street.
Moments later, a man was tossed out of the truck. He was wearing nothing but a pair of panties and handcuffs with shackles around his ankles. His entire body was covered in bruises, yet not a single scratch marred his skin. A thick phone-book-sized book could beat him bloody if you swung it just right, the skin wouldn’t tear.
A man wearing a balaclava and lieutenant’s bars was the last one down. He too was in full hazmat gear and gas mask. He was the one who had tossed the dirty prisoner out.
Without a glance at the crumpled figure, he strode toward the burning house. Two soldiers trailed behind. After a thorough search they found nothing but the blackened remains of the zombie corpses and the gutted house.
The officer approached the prisoner. His steps grew quicker the closer he got, his mood clearly rising. The fallen man moaned in pain, then screamed.
“No, I really don’t know anything! You think I’d torch the place just because I knew there was something inside? That’s not even logical!”“
The officer didn’t hold back. He kicked the prisoner’s belly and back with his boot over and over. The rag-like man tried to shield his stomach with the arms locked in the cuffs.
“Stop it! I surrendered! I walked all the way here myself! Do they even let you treat prisoners like this?”“
He moaned again. His phone rang. The officer waved the driver aside and climbed into the passenger seat, tossing his gas mask to the side. The young, good-looking man’s face twisted into a sneer. When the driver wiggled his hips, the officer just gestured for him to sit and answered the call.
“Yes, sir.”“
“Hey, Redeker. Yeah. You hungry?”“
His voice was dry as tinder. Redeker swallowed hard.
“I’m fine.”“
“We haven’t arrived yet. Report’s a little late.”“
“Sorry. Something unexpected came up. Hoot claimed he hid a bag in some shack, but it burned to the ground. We’re searching the area now.”“
“Really? And Hoot?”“
“He’s here. He’s claiming to be a prisoner of war. In truth he’s been pretending to be a civilian and ran off because he was scared of the suicide mission. He dumped the bag and everything else.”“
A light chuckle.
“Your platoon leader must be furious. Try not to stress too much. We’ll be seeing a lot more of those kinds soon. Since we already went to all this trouble, might as well use Hoot as bait and switch to cleanup. We mobilized manpower and vehicles but got nothing. What kind of report is that?”“
“Cleanup… you mean?”“
The driver looked uneasy at the sudden change. Redeker pretended not to notice. He had always disliked using bait for cleanup too.
“Understood. I’ll report any new developments.”“
“Dismissed.”“
The call ended before Redeker could salute.
“Sir! Is the mission changing?”“
He could scold the corporal for sounding so weak, but he couldn’t. Cleanup always fell hardest on the driver. Claims that a commissioned officer should lead cleanup were common, but reality made it impossible.
Redeker didn’t blame the driver. After fighting side by side through everything that had happened since the outbreak, he didn’t want to be too harsh with his men.
“Not confirmed yet. Do you have the key for the glove box? Thanks. Perfect.”
A long-handled spanner for vehicle maintenance. Heavy enough to snap bones, not too long, not too short. Redeker set his gas mask aside and stepped out of the truck.
‘Bait.’
Redeker came from an aristocratic officer family in eastern Roemer Republic. Like any ordinary Roemer, he looked down on citizens of other nations as subhuman. That was why he despised Hoot more than anyone for claiming to fight for Elza’s independence while throwing lives away like they were nothing.
If ordered to shoot Hoot, he would have done it without hesitation. If told to shatter every bone in his body, he would have done it out of a sense of justice. But being called “bait” carried a deeper, visceral disgust that went beyond all that.
He couldn’t explain why. But he knew it had been drilled into him since childhood: greet your neighbors, help people, you can’t survive alone.
‘I have to squeeze every last drop.’
The lieutenant sat down in front of Hoot, hardened his heart, and started hammering the spanner down.
“Aaaah! Aaargh! My fingers! My fingers! Ah!”“
“Where did you hide the bag?”“
Redeker growled. Hoot could only whimper and gasp. The lieutenant brought the spanner down harder. Hoot’s right index finger bent like it was made of red-hot iron. His eyes rolled back.
“Listen up, you filthy insect!”
Unable to hold back, Redeker roared. The naked man curled up and groaned.
“When were you planning that bomb terror? When you were screaming about starting a suicide mission with the Elza Liberation Movement! You ran because you were scared of your own life, got caught, and now you’re making up more lies?”“
“I didn’t run! I didn’t run!”
Tears streamed down Hoot’s face as he shouted.
“My job wasn’t suicide! I was supposed to deliver the bag and the phone!”“
“The phone?”“
Redeker muttered. Hoot gritted his teeth. That phone had been the one thing he was saving for his very last moment. He had spilled it too soon.
“What about the phone?”“
Hoot trembled. Not from cold or hunger or pain, but from terror in the presence of a predator. Redeker lifted the spanner again.
“There was a clue in the phone!”“
“What?”“
“The assassination of the prime minister! The rumors about the first infected person being there! I thought it was just gossip until I saw it! But the video in the phone showed it for sure! The first human to eat someone alive, the starving goddess statue drinking blood, they were all there!”“
“What nonsense is that? Speak clearly! Does Hans know?”“
“I only know the content and that the phone has a video file! The network was too unstable for calls or simple texts! The spy app the organization uses was barely installed!”“
“Where did you get that phone?”“
“I stole it, of course! The guy who goes to burn down someone else’s house while carrying his own phone? There’s no such person in the world! I picked up anything and installed the spy app, then started snooping for fun when I saw it.”“
“You could have just taken the phone and run. Why did you ditch it with the bag?”“
“The spy app gives real-time location! If I went somewhere suspicious, I’d get caught! That’s why I turned it off too!”
Either a perfectly woven lie or a near-truth. Redeker weighed his options. Pushing too hard and the prisoner would invent information to make it sound believable. That was basic interrogation knowledge.
Then.
“Sir!”
Two soldiers walked over. They had followed orders to the letter: don’t waste energy on useless things.
“We think you should see this.”“
The soldiers knew Hoot was listening and spoke carefully. ‘Clever boys.’ Hoot felt a tiny bit better. The three of them stood in front of the neat front door across the street. The Human Non-Protected Zone warning sign had been slashed.
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