A Perfect Hunt
It was a perfect hunt.
The hidden water balloons had responded to the crazy mom's signal, leading zombies to surround them from both front and rear.
That left only one place to flee.
The apartment building.
Anticipating that the humans would climb the stairs to survive, the zombies had lain in wait.
But not on the lower floors.
They waited until the humans reached higher up, exhausted of strength and stamina, ensuring they couldn't even mount a proper resistance.
Did the humans underestimate them?
Or were the zombies just that smart?
But the zombies had underestimated the humans too.
They hadn't anticipated the ambush of Kim Chan-yeol and Choi Hoon.
Pfbt! Pfbt!
The lead zombies tumbling down had holes blasted through their heads as they collapsed.
The next rank trampled right over them.
The two fell back a few steps.
They stabbed the heads of the fallen ones in the gap, then retreated again.
In the meantime, obstacles and corpses tangled together, forming a wall that wasn't a wall on the stairs.
"Die! Die, you fucking bastards!"
Choi Hoon bellowed in fury.
The soldiers below, hearing their voices, mustered courage and climbed up, but the tight space left no room to squeeze in.
"Don't come up!"
Kim Chan-yeol shouted urgently, and the soldiers retreated back to the landing.
It was a space that could hold only two anyway.
All they could hope was that those behind would find a way out of this while they bought as much time as possible.
The two, drenched in zombie blood, were turning pitch black before their eyes.
The stench was nauseating.
The agony made it feel like their sense of smell was dying.
Worse still was the fear that gripped their minds as their stamina slowly bottomed out.
The terror of possibly dying.
The pain of being bitten in that instant.
The dread of becoming one of them.
All those emotions tangled together, crushing down on the pair.
"Fuck! Fuck! Hah, hah."
Choi Hoon jammed his dagger up under a zombie's jaw and spat curses as he heaved it upward.
His breath was right up to his throat.
Of course it was—he'd sprinted up the stairs like mad, and now he was fighting without even a moment to catch his breath.
To make matters worse, the corpse wall they'd been holding above was starting to crumble.
This was the end.
Once it collapsed, there'd be no stopping the horde surging down all at once.
Then.
Suddenly, Choi Hoon grabbed Kim Chan-yeol by the collar and yanked him back.
He shoved him down to the landing below.
Thud-crash!
Kim Chan-yeol tumbled down, his eyes bloodshot as he yelled.
"What the hell are you doing!"
"We can't both die!"
Choi Hoon smashed a brick and his dagger mercilessly into the head of a descending zombie as he spoke.
"No way!"
"Get going, you bastard! Why can't you listen just once!"
"Pulling that shit, huh."
A familiar string of curses echoed from behind Kim Chan-yeol's head.
The two whipped around simultaneously.
It was the Squad Leader.
'Why the hell is that lunatic here?'
"Filming a damn movie or what."
Ting!
A grenade?
Kim Chan-yeol and Sergeant Choi felt time freeze in that instant.
The Squad Leader had pulled the pin on a grenade.
"Choi Hoon! Get down!"
Choi Hoon's eyes bulged at the sight, and he bolted downward with all his strength.
"All of you rot, you filthy fucks!"
Kim Chan-yeol dragged the bellowing, grenade-tossing Squad Leader down to the lower floor like a ragdoll.
A few seconds passed.
BOOM!
A massive explosion and shockwave rocked the entire building.
The impact was so huge it was even felt in the Tower.
Thick concrete dust blanketed the stairs.
"Cough! Cough!"
Kim Chan-yeol, who had rolled down with the Squad Leader, coughed as he stood.
As the dust slowly cleared, visibility returned.
For such a dire situation, the effect was devastatingly certain.
The grenade had shattered the passage walls and stairwell sides.
Meaning half the upper stairs had vanished into thin air.
Dozens of zombies were plummeting to the ground.
Splat! Splat-splat!
The ones falling from the heights all died with their heads burst open.
Kim Chan-yeol and Choi Hoon were speechless at the Squad Leader's split-second ingenuity.
If that lunatic hadn't shown up at the perfect moment, they might both be zombies by now, tearing into their juniors' throats.
The company commander followed up right after.
"Everyone okay?"
"Yes, sir. We barely survived thanks to you, Squad Leader."
"Whew, really. Hey, Kim Chan-yeol. If you pull any more solo stunts like that, you'll die by my hand first. Got it?"
"Yes, sir, understood."
Kim Chan-yeol bowed his head with a deflated expression.
"And… good work."
When Kim Chan-yeol looked up again, he saw the company commander patting his shoulder, a faint smile on his face.
"Same for you, Sergeant Choi. Without you two, there'd be way more casualties. Like squad leader, like squad member—both crazy as hell. No exceptions from now on. I'm letting this slide just once. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
Kim Chan-yeol and Choi Hoon bellowed back so loud the passage rang.
"You two."
As the company commander headed down, the Squad Leader spoke just loud enough for them to hear.
"Yes, sir."
"Watch your asses. What good are you if my loot guy dies."
With that, the Squad Leader vanished.
Kim Chan-yeol and Choi Hoon exchanged hollow smiles.
Even a lunatic like that had his moments.
"He probably meant that last part for real."
Choi Hoon nodded vigorously at Kim Chan-yeol's words.
"Yeah, one hundred percent. Whew, fuck. I hate myself for even thinking otherwise for a second."
"I can hear everything. Get down here now."
The Squad Leader's voice echoed up the stairs like an afterthought, startling the two into hurrying down.
Below, soldiers lined up along the second-floor outer corridor, awaiting the company commander's signal.
With the upper floors cleared, it was time for the lower ones.
On the first floor, a platoon of soldiers aimed rifles at the stairs.
"Fire!"
A barrage of gunfire filled the apartment complex.
Soon, the zombies swarming the construction site began collapsing like waves.
Now only the water balloons remained.
With the regular zombies dead, over ten water balloon zombies charged the first-floor stairs in unison.
Concentrated fire from above took down most, but one made it to the entrance.
Rooooar!
The roar rivaled a beast's, forcing the soldiers in the passage to plug their ears.
"Whoa, it's swelling up, sir!"
One soldier shouted urgently.
Sure enough, as he said, the water balloon wedged in the doorway was ballooning like it might burst.
"Everyone up!"
At the sight, they all scrambled up the stairs in panic.
The info on its gas was burned into every soldier's mind.
The only prevention they'd learned? Run when it swells.
Keep your distance until the wind carries it away.
With its explosion, the area fell silent once more.
The soldiers began cleanup per orders.
Among the fallen zombies on the ground were comrades they'd shared life and death with moments ago.
Those close to the fallen broke into sobs, and the survivors shared their grief.
As the company commander collected dog tags alongside the squad leaders, he clicked his tongue at the tearful soldiers.
Guys in the prime of life, who'd dropped everything for national service.
The company commander had a son around their age too.
Though he had no idea if he was even alive now.
What to do about these unjust deaths.
The company commander looked up at the sky.
If God existed, He wouldn't have let the world come to this.
Or maybe...
Perhaps even God had abandoned it.
The cries around him and the sight of his men's bodies made his head throb like it might split.
Was everyone really just going to die like this?
Behind him, Kim Chan-yeol, moving a junior's body, pulled out a cigarette and lit up.
"Gimme one too."
Choi Hoon took one, exhaling deeply with a heavy sigh.
The corpse before them now was the squad's youngest.
A private who'd been in less than a few months.
Still homesick, where the barracks felt alien and the company building unwelcome even after training.
Choi Hoon glanced at Kim Chan-yeol.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
Black tears streamed from eyes fixed on the body.
Zombie blood mixed with real tears.
"Ha... fucking hell."
Kim Chan-yeol's legs gave out; he squatted, shedding his vest and clawing at his hair.
Choi Hoon, watching, turned away in pity.
Of course he was sad about the junior dying, but it wasn't quite the same as what Kim Chan-yeol felt.
Last-year sergeants don't fuss much over privates.
Plus, how many were even in the squad?
And Choi Hoon was infamous for laying low during his own sergeant days.
So his bond with corporal Kim Chan-yeol back then was on another level.
"You two... close?"
Kim Chan-yeol let out a long sigh before answering.
"This guy... he was one of my problem soldiers, sir. So I kept a close eye on him..."
"I see."
Choi Hoon watched him, then a thought struck.
'If Chan-yeol died, how would I feel? Worse than what he's feeling now, probably. And if I died, how about him? Something similar...'
"Chan-yeol."
"Yes."
Kim Chan-yeol still stared at the floor.
"Let's... not die."
Kim Chan-yeol looked up at Choi Hoon.
"Sorry about earlier. I won't shove you away to save you again. Thought about it—if you died like that, I don't think I could go on."
"Got it, sir."
"So don't you go saying thanks for everything either."
"Understood."
Kim Chan-yeol recalled the stairwell.
He'd completely forgotten until Choi Hoon mentioned it.
Even now, he couldn't fathom why he'd said it.
Thanks for everything, out of nowhere.
Come to think of it, he'd been with Choi Hoon a long time too.
Nearly two years together.
By the Defense Ministry's clock, Choi Hoon should've been discharged already.
"Prep for incineration!"
Squad leaders roamed among the soldiers gathering bodies, issuing burn orders.
On one side, they dug pits with shovels from the site, shoving corpses in.
The two felt strange.
The line between life and death was so thin.
No, now it was indistinguishable.
Just an hour ago, same voices, same uniforms, same movements.
Now rolling into that pit.
What meaning was there in living, or in dying?
"Fucking pointless, really."
Choi Hoon muttered, watching the burning bodies.
Kim Chan-yeol nodded blankly.
"I don't know anymore, sir. Why I gotta cling so hard to life. Sure, you said let's not die, so I'll try again. But even if I fight to the death, isn't it just over in one go?"
"Yeah. But think about it—dying was always like this. Nobody says goodbyes and ties up loose ends. We just knew it in our heads before; seeing it hits different. People died like this even before this shitshow. Just... pointless."
"Yes, sir. Way too pointless."
Kim Chan-yeol's eyes grew mournful as he replied.
Infected People