Leaping into the Void
Innumerable infected hurled themselves into the empty air.
A horrifying sight unfolded before them—at least hundreds plunging to their deaths like lemmings.
They had one target.
The Black Hawk.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A flicker of dread crossed Jaejeong's eyes.
Inside the chopper, desperate pistol shots rang out, but hitting the ones leaping from dozens of stories up was damn near impossible.
The helicopter bucked violently.
Most bounced off the rotors and plummeted.
But those slipping through the blades slammed into the fuselage, shaking it wildly.
Even as they fell, the infected clawed at handholds and footrests, clinging with grim tenacity.
And their numbers were growing visibly.
Now even the rotors, once flinging them away, belched thick black smoke.
Despair etched the group's faces, but Jaejeong sensed something far worse.
The chopper's path, wreathed in smoke and shuddering, was all wrong.
In Jaejeong's mind, the aftermath flashed clear.
If it crashed, explosion or not, no one on the rooftop would survive.
So.
The nagging thoughts converged on one conclusion.
Jaejeong snatched the rifle from Hyun-soo's back and leveled the barrel.
Straight at the cockpit.
The pilots were frantically pulling up, desperate to avoid smashing into the broadcasting station.
But it was too late.
Left as is, it would crater the rooftop for sure.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots cracked out.
The bullets punched cleanly into the pilot and copilot. Altitude plummeted in the aftermath.
Youngman yelled urgently.
"Down! Get down!"
BOOM! KABOOM!
The earth-shaking impact sent roaring flames licking up the outer wall to the rooftop.
If they'd ignored Youngman and stayed by the railing peering out, they'd have been barbecued.
Black ash and debris from the blaze choked the air.
Everyone sprawled flat coughed it out as they staggered up.
The rooftop felt like it was on fire itself, the concrete scorching hot.
Soot streaked their faces.
Thick smoke obscured the crash site, but it looked like it'd hit a few floors below.
Soon, a familiar sound began to build.
Choi PD reacted first.
Drawn like a moth to the horde's boiling clamor, she shuffled to the edge.
The heat rising from the floor couldn't quell her curiosity.
She leaned out and saw it.
Infected leaping outward.
Through the massive hole gouged by the chopper's impact.
One whole face of the outer wall had collapsed.
Choi PD found it more bizarre that the rooftop hadn't crumbled despite chunks of concrete ripped clean away than the idiots jumping to their doom.
Thud!
Then it hit.
"Agh! What the—?!"
The entire rooftop lurched.
Startled, Choi PD braced against the railing and screamed.
She glanced back. She was the only one at the edge.
Everyone stared at the section under her feet and backed away.
"Hurry, over here! Come on!"
Minyoung shouted frantically.
Choi PD kicked off to run, but cracks spiderwebbed outward from her feet at terrifying speed.
Another tremor shook the building. The floor gave way with a sickening drop.
The chopper crash had weakened the rooftop's corner—it collapsed entirely.
The edge and surrounding area vanished. Choi PD was gone.
Plummeting into the darkness.
"No!"
Minyoung's scream tore through the night sky.
It had happened too fast.
No time to react, no chance to reach her.
Youngman sighed heavily, bowing his head.
Bottomless despair crushed the group.
Their lifeline chopper was wrecked, and the crash had claimed a life.
Already short on hands, now one fewer.
Beom-sik could barely hold it together.
This couldn't be real.
It wasn't supposed to be this brutal.
How had they made it this far?
Everything couldn't end so pointlessly.
Even crawling back through the sewers to the riverside offered no path to Yeouido.
"Fuck!"
Beom-sik hurled a chunk of broken concrete outward.
Jaejeong, eyes closed, warned flatly.
"Calm down."
"Calm down? Calm the fuck down how? We're done! It's all over!"
"I said calm down!"
Beom-sik swung instinctively as Jaejeong grabbed his collar.
A meaty thwack. Jaejeong's head snapped sideways. His face darkened as he slammed Beom-sik to the ground.
Minyoung moved to intervene, but Youngman pulled her back.
It was over.
Beom-sik stayed down anyway.
They both knew fighting gained nothing.
At least the exchange cooled them to a standoff.
Jaejeong wiped his face.
"It ain't over. That the only chopper they got? They'll radio back. If they say no manpower, we wait. Done? Fuck off and quit if you want. I haven't even started."
Beom-sik, arm over his face, didn't budge.
"Get up."
As the others followed Jaejeong down the stairs, someone extended a hand to the lone Beom-sik.
Beom-sik, sleeves rolled, looked up at the voice.
Youngman's hand.
Beom-sik gripped it and rose.
"Cool that temper. It ain't helping anyone, least of all you."
Beom-sik turned away without a word, eyes on the outside.
He was still pissed, but Youngman wasn't wrong.
This attitude helped no one.
But the rage was real.
Youngman patted his shoulder.
It's okay. We'll find another way. No need to break here. We're still breathing.
Youngman's eyes said it all.
Beom-sik finally nodded.
Acceptance.
Only Youngman could talk him down here.
He'd brought Beom-sik into the fold from the start.
No rebelling against that now.
If anything, it grew harder over time.
Youngman was strong.
A rugged warrior's grit.
Yet soft too.
An irresistible gentleness.
Perfect balm for a raging beast like Beom-sik.
One touch outdid a punch.
That was Youngman's weapon.
They trudged down the stairs listlessly. The group ahead waited at the landing, not entering the hall.
Something wrong. Jaejeong checked.
Worst-case scenario.
No one but the dead Choi PD had seen where the chopper hit.
It was embedded dead-center in the eighth floor. The studio inside was obliterated by the blast.
Jaejeong slumped on the stairs, head down.
Anna beside him eyed him worriedly.
What now?
Even Youngman clamped his jaw.
They needed another transmitter from downstairs.
But could they?
Only one flare arrow left.
Waste it hunting, and nothing else was possible.
No fireworks in this dense urban maze anyway.
And the killer issue.
The crash noise had drawn tens of thousands of infected swarming the station.
One option burned in Jaejeong's mind.
Use the last flare arrow to escape.
Then scavenge fireworks or a radio.
Calling another chopper came after.
Couldn't stop here.
Despair gripped them, but answers weren't zero.
Just dwindling odds.
"We move out first. Anna, fire the flare to lure these bastards away. Then scour for anything useful."
Best play.
Sewer crawl back? Insane.
No more flares, riverside dead end.
Then it clicked.
Riverside?
Jaejeong's eyes lit up.
"Hold on."
Anna, igniting the flare, glanced over.
"What?"
"Wait, don't. Uncle, that boat earlier. Fuel's all it needs, right?"
"Damn right. If we had gas... Ah, yes! Why didn't I think of that? So simple—why suffer this long?"
Youngman clapped, beaming. The rest exchanged baffled looks.
"Back then, no gas station map, no way to get it. All we thought was wait for rescue. Listen up. We lure 'em far as possible, hit that station ahead for fuel. Boat across to Yeouido."
"Sewer to the riverside!"
Anna chimed in.
Faces brightened again.
A path forward.
Torture of hope maybe, but beats helplessness.
Station was close.
Across an eight-lane divided road, facing each other.
Didn't need much.
One jerry can.
Yeouido—what, minutes away?
Survival fire reignited in Beom-sik's eyes.
Anna lit the flare beside him, nocking it through the shattered window.
Fight with infected.
Victory wasn't impossible.
Superhuman bodies, sure, but low wits and hypersensitive hearing.
That edge would be their weakness.
The flare arrow sliced the night sky.
Coasting downhill, it dropped into a residential maze.
As expected, the horde trailed it away.
Nothing beat this trick.
Outside, they smashed the few stragglers wandering.
Plan set—move fast, conserve energy, no dawdling.
Craved safety sooner.
Whatever it took—even cold showers, fresh clothes.
Sit comfy, eat without scanning, ears perked.
Just relax.
The group reached ground level and emerged.
Jaejeong and Beom-sik grabbed a can at the station first thing.
Hyun-soo fiddled masterfully with the pump controls.
"Did some gas station gigs. Experience counts for guys!"
Hit the nozzle—fuel gushed in.
The sharp reek was pure bliss.
As the trio filled up, Anna climbed an RV roadside, binoculars from the army truck in hand.
Keep watch while they fueled.
The endless skyscrapers glowed like daylight.
How long till power failed?
Thoughts swirling, she scanned.
Her face froze.
She zoomed the lenses.
Then lowered them, frowning.
Back up, staring somewhere.
What the hell?
Something rippled.
Like waves.
But downtown Seoul.
No ocean here.
So what...
Thud!
Binoculars clattered on the RV roof.
Jaejeong, gripping the can, shot her a look at the ominous noise.
If not a trick of the eye...
Anna's hands shook.
"St-stop. St-stop."
"What?"
Throat clogged, she couldn't yell properly.
Distance from RV to station muffled it anyway.
Seconds ticked.
"Stop! Drop everything and run!"
Her unearthly wail froze them. They bolted for the RV.
That's when it hit.
A sound too massive to believe.
Infected.