The Black Dust Storm
A sound like water gurgling down a massive sewer grate echoed from somewhere in the distance.
Han Jaejeong vaulted onto the RV in an instant and snatched up the binoculars.
Beneath the swirling mix of darkness and faint light, something rippled into view.
What the hell is that?
Jaejeong cranked up the magnification.
Chills raced from his forehead down his spine.
The undulating mass was a horde of infected.
An unbelievable number of them churned up a hazy storm as they charged forward.
It was like a tsunami pouring between the orderly buildings of the city center.
Even as goosebumps prickled his skin, they surged closer at terrifying speed.
Below, a panicked Anna babbled incoherently to the group.
This was no time for that.
They had to get out of here—now.
Right fucking now!
But...
“What’s wrong?”
It was Lee Hyun-soo’s voice.
Jaejeong whipped his head around to see Hyun-soo standing at the gas station across the street.
At least fifty meters away.
What the fuck is he doing over there?
He’d been tinkering with the pumps on this side just moments ago!
The faint rumble swelled into a deafening roar, and a pitch-black dust storm erupted from the nearby intersection.
“Everyone, run to the gas station!”
Youngman, Minyoung, and Anna bolted toward it with every ounce of strength the second the words left Jaejeong’s mouth.
Jaejeong planned to head for Hyun-soo across the street.
Right then.
Lee Beom-sik, who’d been standing by the RV, sprang toward Hyun-soo like a coiled spring.
Hyun-soo, spotting the dust storm too late, froze in place.
There was no helping it.
Hyun-soo was in Beom-sik’s hands now.
Jaejeong kicked off the RV and sprinted after the others with all his might.
Anna, who’d just burst into the office, turned back to wait for him.
Mid-stride, Jaejeong glanced sideways.
The storm had reached the traffic light right ahead, swallowing everything in its path.
Like a sandstorm in the desert.
Their grotesque faces, twisted expressions, severed limbs tangled with debris—it all barreled toward them.
Anna’s heart pounded like it would burst as she gripped the door.
“Run!”
Youngman’s thunderous shout was drowned out in an instant, but Jaejeong hurled himself inside the office.
Anna slammed the door shut while Youngman dragged a sofa to barricade the entrance.
The door lock clicked just as Jaejeong, Minyoung, Anna, and Youngman ducked behind the sofa.
Soon, the ground shook with vibrations, accompanied by an unbelievable cacophony.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The hinges rattled wildly against the doorframe.
It wasn’t enough to throw them off balance, but faint tremors coursed through their bodies.
Please, just keep going. Please pass by.
Youngman, peeking over the sofa, screamed it inwardly.
The building lights had long been swallowed by the dust storm, leaving the outside pitch black.
How many had to be moving to create a scene like this?
Youngman had always figured he’d seen it all in his long life.
Nothing could top his experiences.
Yet this, unfolding right before his eyes, was beyond belief.
Tens of thousands—no, hundreds of thousands—of infected churned up the dirt as they thundered past.
They trampled and shattered everything in their path.
Glass shattering, steel beams bending, rebar snapping—it all blended into a hellish symphony.
Like a plague of locusts blanketing the road in darkness.
If they’d been caught in that...
Being trampled wouldn’t have been the end of it.
Torn apart, pulped, not even a trace left behind.
But... it didn’t end.
Every time he thought it was over, another wave hit harder.
Against expectations, they blew right past the front of the gas station.
They’d seen Jaejeong running, but something bigger had their attention.
Jaejeong, face buried in the sofa, clutched his hair.
Hyun-soo across the street, and Beom-sik who’d dashed to save him.
No way they’d survived.
Anyone seeing this would think the same.
No one could live through that infected storm.
A perfectly fine sedan lifted into the air and exploded into scrap.
If cars were flipping and crumpling, no human could endure it.
Even if Beom-sik was fast, there hadn’t been time to drag Hyun-soo into a building.
As Jaejeong recalled, Hyun-soo had still been frozen when Beom-sik started running.
Definitely.
Jaejeong turned to look beside him.
Youngman held a trembling, tear-streaked Minyoung tight, her body shaking like a leaf.
Their eyes met Youngman’s and Jaejeong’s, reading the fear in each other’s gazes.
Anna gripped her bow, arrow nocked, knuckles white.
Something she’d said once came back to him.
She’d kill as many zombie bastards as she could while she was still breathing.
Jaejeong peeked over the sofa again.
Small mercy: they were skimming just past the pumps.
He gritted his teeth and prayed.
God, let them stay out of the station.
If that storm wrecked a pump, fire would lead to the whole place blowing sky-high.
It might thin the herd, but the group wouldn’t survive.
So all they could do was hunker down and pray.
Anna bit her lower lip.
“Hoo... hoo... hoo...!”
Her breaths came in ragged gasps.
The roar outside and the earthquake-like shaking filled her with suffocating dread.
“I—I can’t take it anymore!”
As the agitated Anna started to rise with her bow, Jaejeong grabbed her shoulder.
He pinned her down with brute force, preventing her from standing.
She struggled wildly, but she couldn’t overpower him.
Jaejeong’s eyes, fixed outside, softened.
He nodded.
Nodded again.
“It’s okay. It’s over.”
Anna’s breathing gradually steadied.
The ear-splitting noise began to fade.
Crushed by the fear of imminent death, the group could only peek out.
It grew quiet.
Light flooded the street again, as if nothing had happened.
The glow was the same, but the road the infected had swept was a wreckage-strewn mess.
One more thing.
Over a hundred infected lingered near the gas station.
Scattered irregularly, shambling about.
The group scanned outside in unison.
Gone.
No sign of Beom-sik or Hyun-soo anywhere.
They scoured the building across the street, but the windows were empty.
If they’d survived, they’d be at a window by now.
Jaejeong dropped his gaze to the floor.
He couldn’t have stopped it.
No time to come up with a plan.
In the end, Beom-sik had made the choice.
Hyun-soo too.
But.
He hadn’t expected them to go so suddenly.
Countless people had died.
This wasn’t the first companion they’d lost.
So why was it so hard to accept?
Anna peered outside and asked,
“The gangster... gangster bro? And that BJ guy, Hyun-soo or whatever?”
When Jaejeong avoided her eyes, she turned to Youngman.
But no one could answer.
They hadn’t seen bodies, but no survival signs either.
More accurately, there was nowhere to find one.
Minyoung, huddled behind the sofa, sobbed quietly, trembling.
Just four left now.
Scary. So scary.
They’d been seven when they left the hospital.
Lost one, but picked up another at the broadcasting station.
And in just hours, the group was halved.
They’d be next.
Despair clouded their vision; terror crushed rational thought.
Only visions of a miserable death filled their minds.
Jaejeong set down his rifle and scanned the road.
He’d tossed the sledgehammer somewhere, but couldn’t remember where.
Too chaotic.
The shambling infected made it impossible to spot anyway.
Dozens of them roamed irregularly, filling the area every few meters.
“What do we do?”
Jaejeong, ducked back down, asked Youngman.
But Youngman had no magic solution either.
“That’s what I want to know.”
“For now...”
“Let’s wipe ’em all out.”
Anna cut in.
She stood with her bow ready, face set in grim resolve.
Her vibe screamed she’d charge out and loose arrows the second anyone gave the word.
“No.”
“Why not? Why the hell not?”
“That won’t solve shit. There’s too many.”
“You wanna live now or what?”
“You think I’m doing this to die?”
Jaejeong shot her a sharp glare.
Tears welled in Anna’s eyes instantly, and she started laughing like a madwoman.
Then her face twisted into something terrifying.
“How? You think we can? This ain’t the hospital. No basement, no tight corridors. One door out, and those fuckers right there—if we don’t smash their heads first, we can’t move an inch. Swing anything, and they all swarm. We got no choice anyway.”
Anna pressed on with a hardened glare.
“Let’s just... go out proud. Not cowering like rats, shaking. Proud.”
“Wait.”
Jaejeong grabbed Anna as she moved for the door.
She thrashed desperately, but it was futile against his strength.
Should he yell?
As she opened her mouth, her eyes met Minyoung’s.
Bloodshot eyes.
Drooping eyelids, cheeks crumpling.
Minyoung wept silently.
Seeing that snapped Jaejeong awake, like from a nightmare.
This wasn’t it.
He hadn’t meant to scare anyone.
Just stating the realistic option.
His throat tightened suddenly.
Finally, he pulled her down to the floor.
She clenched her teeth.
She didn’t want to cry.
Shedding tears expecting death was humiliating enough, and looking at Minyoung nearly broke her.
“Listen up. Those two dying? Couldn’t be helped. No need for guilt. And mourning? Not now. I know how hopeless it looks. But Anna, think. Were the crises we’ve survived so far ever easy? Hell no. We’ve had worse.”
To Anna, eyes red from holding back tears, Jaejeong kept talking without pause.
“Remember? That guy ten times my size chucked you, and you got up without a scratch. Think for a sec. I get how tough it is, but this ain’t your call alone. Four lives on the line. Right? You get me. You know what I mean. Say it.”
“Y... yeah. I get it.”
Anna finally managed a voice and nodded.
“I said it before, right? We’re going to Yeouido. Somehow. Plenty of ways. Just takes time. We can do it. Gotta believe we can to make it happen. You’ll think it over again?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Thanks. Take a breather.”
After seating Anna behind the sofa, Jaejeong waddled to the window.
Youngman, catching the signal, hurried after him.
Truth be told, with the darkness outside and their poor eyesight, they didn’t need this much caution.
But variables could lurk.
No rule said mutants came in one flavor.
Since seeing that one at the hospital, Jaejeong’s imagination ran wild at every moment.
Youngman got it completely.
They hugged the wall by the window and lowered the blinds.
Rattle! Rattle!
Youngman squeezed his eyes shut at each noise.
The infected outside whipped their heads around in response.
Their hearing was that sharp.
Even tiny sounds set them off.
Both sets of blinds were down.
Now they could move freely anywhere except the sofa-blocked front door.
Jaejeong finally straightened and sat in an office chair, prying the blinds apart.
Right then.
Clunk!
A door opened somewhere on the road.