Going to the Dogs
I carefully poked my head out and scanned the area around us. Things looked more or less cleaned up.
"Looks like we can head out now."
"Ah, yes."
Yejin stuck close behind me as we stepped off the bus, surveying the surroundings with a face full of tension.
"Coming out like this, I don't know why that suffocating bus suddenly feels so safe."
"Then you want to just stay inside?"
"No. Being by your side is still several times safer, oppa. And I should carry the luggage for you."
How many years had it been since I last heard someone call me oppa?
Not that it felt particularly fresh or anything. It just didn't fit this bleak atmosphere.
"You don't really need to do that."
"If I don't do at least that, I'll start hating myself. Oppa, cut me some slack."
"What's there to hate yourself over something like that?"
"You know how it is. In movies and stuff, there's always that person who just causes trouble, is zero help, but ends up getting the most help."
She was saying she was secretly stressed about the possibility of becoming like that herself.
Looking at her, I thought she was one tough woman.
Of course, she might be acting that way on purpose so I wouldn't abandon her, but saying it was easy. She looked like someone who'd never done hard work and had been raised delicately.
"...If you're going to go that far, I won't stop you. But are you confident you can run well?"
"Of course. I was on the track team in elementary and middle school, you know! Though I haven't done it since then..."
That was unexpected.
"Track team? Doesn't really suit you. Looking at your skin..."
Rustle—
I immediately shut my mouth and looked toward the sound.
"Grrrrr..."
The thought of how there could still be zombies around vanished the moment I saw the thing's state. Its lower half was missing somewhere, and it was dragging its guts along as it came this way.
I stared at it blankly without any particular emotion, but Yejin, who still couldn't get used to the sight no matter how many times she saw it, frowned deeply and took a step back.
Looking at her, an idea suddenly popped into my head.
"Wait a second."
"Huh, oppa?"
I was about to grab the chair I'd used usefully on the bus, but seeing its completely crushed form, I just picked up another chair.
"Here, take this."
"...Why this?"
Yejin looked bewildered for a moment, then her face went pale soon after.
Sharp as ever.
"Uh... oppa."
"First experiences are better done sooner rather than later, right? You should get some practice in while there's a guy like this around."
After saying that, I wondered if it was something you should say to a girl, but Yejin didn't mind at all and instead looked back and forth between me and the zombie with trembling eyes.
Then she finally gulped and nodded.
"Alright. I trust you, oppa. I'll give it a try."
The way she said it was a bit off. She meant she believed I'd handle it if something went wrong.
I barely managed to drive off the lewd devil that kept peeking into my brain and approached the zombie.
"Grrraaaah..."
Given its condition, it looked the weakest of any I'd seen so far. Its characteristic gurgling was faint, and the hands flailing up at me looked utterly pathetic.
Of course, Yejin couldn't really share my assessment.
"Let's finish this quick and go. Someone else might loot the store before us."
"...Yes."
It was admirable that she didn't look completely terrified. Still, even if she wasn't panicking, her hands were trembling a bit, which couldn't be helped.
For her sake, I stepped on the zombie's arms to pin them down, then smashed them with the rod to eliminate any variables.
"There. I've set the stage for you. You just need to bash this part. Easy, right?"
She looked at me pitifully without a word, then finally squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hiyah!"
She lifted the chair with all her might.
Thud—!
The heavy sound that followed. I glanced at Yejin, who was wearing a look of accomplishment, and opened my mouth.
"You're not done yet. Look at this. It's still twitching."
"...Ah."
"I had a hell of a time trying to smash these bastards' heads myself. Come here. I'll fix your posture for you."
Yejin eventually felt her heavily smeared eye makeup getting moist again.
One of those things you often hear in life.
They say that in each person's life, everyone is the protagonist. Was that it?
Bullshit.
I too had been living day by day, taking comfort in that flashy-sounding nonsense.
But what about now? This situation.
Just a few hours ago, things were fine. The egg I'd cracked into my morning ramen for a rare treat had tasted pretty good. The station beggar I habitually checked on before work was still there as usual.
Taking comfort from that expression that looked like it had no reason to live, I'd been thinking maybe I could tough out another day.
What the hell did I do wrong to have to experience this zombie shit I don't even enjoy watching in real life?
Protagonist or whatever, if the world falls apart like this, what does that make the life I've been enduring all this time?
"What the hell is this even about?!"
"Fuck. You startled me! Old man, are you crazy? Keep it down!"
"Ah... we're fucked."
People wore expressions of despair.
They'd barely escaped the clutches of the corpses and were huddled in the convenience store, holding their breath and hiding well.
But some fat middle-aged man started yelling, and all the zombies outside flocked toward the door.
"You fucking retard... if you're gonna kill yourself, die alone, you bastard!"
Thud—!
A young man whose eyes had gone wild at the zombie horde savagely shaking the convenience store's glass door threw a punch.
When the middle-aged man fell from it, people tried to stop them.
"Hey, keep it down! Lower your voices!"
"If we just shut up, they'll eventually leave! Everyone cover their mouths."
"Mmph. Mmmph!"
When his friend covered his mouth with a palm, the young man snapped at the middle-aged man, jabbing a finger, then stomped away huffing.
"Fucking bastard. What kind of troll is that? Shit..."
"Hey hey. Calm down. How shocking must this situation be for that old man to act like that? If we just stay quiet from now..."
"Aaaaah!"
Everyone jumped again at someone's sudden scream, and their anger doubled.
"For real, which brain-dead bastard now..."
Grinding his teeth as he turned his head, the young man then had no choice but to scream in the same way, horrified.
"Uwaaaaah!"
"Zombies got in! Zombies!"
Even if I suddenly appeared looking like this, was there any need to make such a fuss?
Scratching at the blood-stained area around my neck, I watched the people scattering far away, when Yejin, standing behind me, tugged at my clothes and called me.
"Oppa... it might be better if I do the talking."
"...Alright."
I stepped aside a bit at her words, and Yejin took a step forward in my place, bowing her head to the people.
"Um, first of all, I'm sorry. We came in suddenly and startled you. The back door was just open..."
"...Wh-what. They're people?"
"People? That, that guy isn't a zombie?"
"W-well, seeing him with the girl... he seems like a person."
People are people. What's with the 'seems like'? I shrugged cynically and opened the drink fridge next to me, rummaging through it.
"H-hey, that's our food..."
Yejin glanced at me, then continued.
"As you can see, both of us are people, so you don't need to be so wary."
"...Yeah. They're really people."
"Th-then, miss, could you please restrain that man of yours?"
I turned my head at that and looked at the ajumma.
"Are you the owner of this convenience store?"
"...No. I'm not."
"Then why is all this yours? Where'd the owner go?"
I pulled out my wallet from my pocket and waved it to show I was ready to pay, then cracked open a lukewarm milk and downed it in one shot.
"Hey. Don't just eat like that. I said it's our emergency food."
The young man who'd been watching with a frown spoke to me.
I casually ignored him and handed Yejin a coffee, then tore into some bread this time.
"I don't plan on eating everything here. Just grabbing a few things and leaving, so mind your own business."
Somehow, looking at all this food, my appetite was rising like crazy, and if I felt like it, I could actually devour it all.
But that college kid staring at me like he had a problem kept glaring and said,
"Leave? What leave. We know you guys aren't planning to leave. Stop lying and just stay put quietly, yeah? We'll distribute the food later."
"Believe it or not, that's up to you."
I looked around for where bags were hanging, then immediately grabbed a bag and stuffed a few more breads and drinks into it.
At that, the young man's face twisted, about to say something.
"Instead of worrying about us, maybe reinforce that front door first?"
It looks pretty dangerous.
"...?!"
At those words, people hurriedly turned around and freaked out at the glass door that was cracked and looked ready to shatter any second.
"Block it! Move something to block it!"
"Help me lift this counter desk!"
Watching the people get busy, Yejin slowly approached me as I finished packing food.
"If you want to grab some too, go ahead. We each need to carry a bag."
"Yes, oppa. But... are you really only taking a little?"
"Then what, should we take it all?"
When I said that expressionlessly, Yejin glanced at the people once, then shook her head vigorously.
"No. I'll just... do as you say, oppa."
"Anyway, the bags are all small, so we can't take much."
Taking advantage of the people being too busy to notice us, I quickly packed food, and Yejin stuffed survival items like bandages and disinfectant into the bags.
"I'll carry your bag, oppa."
"Just hurry up and let's go. If we go into that alley, there's a supermarket. It's out of the way, so there shouldn't be people yet."
"I'm really carrying it. I'm already not much help..."
"Don't overdo it. I can see you struggling under that weight."
After Yejin and I quickly packed the bags and went out the back door, a moment later, the young man who'd been panting while blocking the front door finally whipped his head around and said irritably,
"Hey, I've been watching and watching. You don't even help and just consume food... huh?"
What. Where'd they go.
Looking around for the pair of man and woman who'd disappeared in just a few minutes, he spotted the firmly closed back door and his eyes widened.
"...They really left?"
In this situation, abandoning this place full of food to go somewhere else?
And just the two of them?
The young man seriously doubted the sanity of that suspicious-looking man.
No, did he lose his judgment after going through something that rough?
But then again, the woman next to him looked normal.
The young man could only groan under the continuing questions.
Fortunately, my prediction was right.
The inside of the supermarket was a complete mess, as if they'd fled in a huge hurry.
But seeing there were no corpses, not even much blood, it seemed they'd managed to escape safely.
"Wow... ice cream."
Yejin muttered in a somehow wistful tone and opened the ice cream freezer.
But as expected. It was all melted into basically water.
"The electricity's completely out across the whole city. Not a single exception."
"How is this possible? Even with so many zombies, this is..."
Impossible. I agreed with Yejin.
"Even if zombies swarmed the communication facilities and paralyzed them somehow, a city-wide blackout in such a short time doesn't make physical sense."
That left only one answer.
Yejin met my eyes and carefully said,
"That... the power of the man in the monitor, right?"
"Just call him the mummy bastard bluntly. What's with the 'monitor whatever'."
At my blunt remark, Yejin flinched in surprise and grabbed my arm, shaking it.
"How can you curse like that! What if he hears?!"
"Let him hear. He's the one who turned our lives into this mess, so what does it matter."
"Even so..."
The brief squabble ended when Yejin awkwardly let go of my arm she'd been holding.
"S-sorry."
"Whatever, come here and pack the food."
We stuffed food into the bags we'd already packed a bit more at the convenience store. Mainly small, long-lasting canned goods and dried foods.
As Yejin and I were packing food solidly without any interference, we froze at the sudden sound of presence from the warehouse inside the mart.