Wolf Among the Sheep (3)
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
They'd made it right under the apartment, but still no clue what that sack-like thing was. To figure it out, they'd have to head up into the building, so the hunters rushed up the stairs.
"One's coming down!"
At the scout's shout, Ju Kang-rim gripped his hand axe lightly as he climbed. The pot-bellied zombie spotted him and let out a guttural roar. Ju Kang-rim didn't flinch even as it charged. But the moment it entered range, the axe in his hand flashed.
The zombie split cleanly from crown to chin in one stroke, stumbling past Ju Kang-rim before collapsing. The hunter from Lee Tae-hu's group watching nearby stared in stunned disbelief.
"You're really telling me you haven't even been at this for half a year?"
"It's the axe. The axe's just good."
Ju Kang-rim brushed it off casually and glanced up toward the higher floors. Lee Tae-hu had already pushed ahead with two nearby hunters. They were scouting upward while leaving the rear guard to Ju Kang-rim and the Goda-juk group for cleanup. It was the riskiest role, but Lee Tae-hu didn't hesitate.
Ju Kang-rim watched Goda-juk wipe the blood from her hands on her leather coat. She was covered in far more gore than the other awakeners, which suggested she was the strongest in her bunch.
"She just goes around killing zombies barehanded."
Han Min-ah muttered with a queasy look. She was handling a gun and hand axe, however clumsily. They were hefty weapons, but she seemed capable of swinging them without issue, even if she wasn't comfortable yet.
Ju Kang-rim eyed Goda-juk and murmured,
"They say to be wary of awakeners who don't carry weapons."
"'Cause they're crazy?"
"...That too, but it also means they're strong enough not to need them. Though, yeah, your point stands. No normal person would rip zombies apart with their bare hands."
No matter that they were zombies now, thinking back to their human days made it unsettling. Yet Goda-juk dispatched them barehanded without a second thought.
"Situation doesn't look good."
Lee Tae-hu came back down the stairs after finishing his recon, his face grim as he continued.
"No sign of any residents in this apartment."
"Didn't that sack thing scare 'em off?"
Another hunter asked, and Lee Tae-hu gnawed at his finger.
"Maybe. God, I hope so. But they left everything behind—supplies, gear, the works. And most of the zombies look like outsiders, not residents."
"Where's that sack thing now?"
"That's the problem. It's gone too."
The hunters started murmuring. It had been too massive to miss. For it to vanish, it must have moved in the meantime.
"I checked out the windows—no sign on the walls where it was stuck. If it was some kinda sack, maybe someone poked it and it burst. We should search the area."
Lee Tae-hu pulled Ju Kang-rim and Goda-juk aside to explain the apartment layout and nearby terrain. Since they were here, the plan was to turn the remaining facilities and infrastructure into a base. Uijeongbu was a decent-sized city, so long-term ops needed a foothold.
"We'll clear zombies floor by floor while scouting. No enhanced ones so far, but report anything suspicious right away."
The group split into three to sweep the apartment. Ju Kang-rim held back on his abilities, dismantling zombies solely with expert axe work. He also made sure to toss Han Min-ah easy kills now and then, like a mother bird feeding her young.
Her form wasn't great, but the fact that she killed without hesitation was prime zombie-hunter material.
"You're catching on faster than I thought."
"Huh, maybe it's a decent stress reliever."
Han Min-ah kicked a charging zombie's knee, toppling it, then pinned its neck with her own knee and stabbed the dagger into the back of its skull. A quick twist revealed the black core. As she reached for it, Ju Kang-rim suddenly stopped her.
"Han Min-ah, hold up."
"Yeah?"
"Mind trying your ability on that wound?"
"On a zombie?"
She gave him a puzzled look. Her awakening was healing—fitting for a nurse, but to Ju Kang-rim, it felt like more than standard healing.
Han Min-ah extended her bite-scarred hand to the zombie's skull and activated her power. A soft glow leaked from her bandages.
"...No change."
Even healing had limits. Cuts and stabs were easy; poisons, diseases, harder. And the zombie plague itself? Near impossible. The wound wasn't healing—in fact, it was bleeding worse.
Ju Kang-rim examined it, smearing blood between his fingers. After a moment's thought, he nodded.
"Good enough. Finish it."
Stab.
Han Min-ah drove the dagger deep, ending it. Pop. Pop-pop.
Ju Kang-rim turned at the sounds from across the hall. The Goda-juk group was clearing zombies. Her hunters dispatched them skillfully, but Goda-juk stayed barehanded. She casually swatted an oncoming zombie with her knuckles.
Pop. Crunch-crunch.
Its arm exploded on contact, scattering. She swung her other hand, obliterating its head.
Vacuum explosion?
Ju Kang-rim pegged her ability. It expanded and burst whatever it touched—flashy and gruesome, but inefficient in his eyes.
Can't harvest black cores like that.
Zombie cores weren't solidified like immortals'. Hunters lived off them, so Goda-juk's style screamed showboating over efficiency. Maybe she was some rich kid, the other two her bodyguards. That ugly mug suddenly looked even uglier.
Goda-juk wiped blood and locked eyes with him. She bared her teeth in a snarl.
Ju Kang-rim couldn't fathom the blatant hostility.
"She doesn't like you, Ju Kang-rim."
Han Min-ah whispered.
"Yeah. Not like I care to win her over, but that attitude won't do her any favors."
"Barehanded and ballsy. We've got axes and guns."
"...Not what I meant, but yeah, she can match armed fighters unarmed, so whatever."
"Popping zombies barehanded—gross as hell."
Ju Kang-rim glanced at Han Min-ah. She was splitting a zombie skull, extracting the core, snapping research pics. He wondered who was grosser: the exploder or the brain-digger.
"G-line's mostly clear."
Lee Tae-hu called up from the stairs.
"Good they're pulling their weight."
He eyed Goda-juk—she was his biggest worry. She met his gaze with a snort and stomped upstairs.
Lee Tae-hu asked Ju Kang-rim,
"Anything stand out?"
"Nope."
"Trouble. We need to ID that thing to plan..."
"Stay somewhere else?"
"Nowhere safer or more fortified. We'll rotate watches. Better than building from scratch at night."
Ju Kang-rim thought it was a bad decision, but he simply shrugged and nodded. After all, he had put Lee Tae-hu in charge as the leader of the last-minute raid party.
A scream cut them off.
"Aaaargh!"
Ju Kang-rim half-hoped it was Goda-juk—male voice. Hunters bolted toward it without orders.
"Damn it all! No enhanced zombies, my ass!"
The scream came from a family apartment. Goda-juk had arrived first at the living room, pale as she stared at the balcony. Something massive clung to the window.
Ju Kang-rim thought of a giant slug at first. But no—it was zombies fused into a tangled mass. Arms, legs, torsos crawling the outer wall.
That sack on the apartment wall.
It was an enhanced zombie of fused bodies. Watching a hunter get sucked in real-time, Ju Kang-rim realized where the residents' corpses had gone.
"Do something!"
Goda-juk unleashed on the slug-zombie. Pop. Pop-pop.
Blood and flesh sprayed, but the hunter was done. As more arrived, it scampered up the balcony wall—freakishly fast for its bulk.
"It's... running?!"
Lee Tae-hu gaped. Even with his experience, fleeing zombies were new.
"What zombie runs? No professional ethics?"
"Catch it first, sue or spank later."
Enhanced zombies usually charged blindly. Was it fleeing or prepping? Had to catch it. Intelligent zombie possible.
If controlled, it had to die. The slug zipped up out of reach.
No veteran hunter could chase it clinging to a balcony rail.
"Knock it down. I'll track— you guys..."
"What? No way. Someone died right in front of me. That's mine to kill!"
Goda-juk blew past Lee Tae-hu and bolted out. He ground his teeth, tempted to shoot, then looked to Ju Kang-rim in resignation.
"I'll cover below. Ju Kang-rim, drop that crawler from the side Goda-juk's group misses. We'll finish it."
"Got it. Han Min-ah, with me. Opposite direction from Goda-juk."
The victim was a solo hunter—not from Lee Tae-hu or Goda-juk's groups. Loners were usually noobs or antisocial; he'd never spoken to Ju Kang-rim.
Those types die first.
Ju Kang-rim felt no pity. Refusing teamwork in a crisis was suicide. But revenge? He could manage that.