Light Pillar 2

The moment I entrusted my body to the rope, every sound in the world fell away. Only the thunder of my own heart, the rasp of rough rope against gloved palms, and the cold night wind knifing past my ears still felt real.

I descended one careful handspan at a time. Every muscle in my arms and legs screamed, but I could not stop.

The faces of the three people left on the rooftop—especially Yeong-ju’s trembling grip that had clung to my arm until the very last second—kept flickering before my eyes. I had to make it back.

I was about halfway down the apartment’s outer wall when the appointed time arrived.

KWA-AAAAANG

Far off, in the direction of the bus stop on the right side of the park I had designated, a massive explosion shook the earth. That would be the first grenade Yang Jin-ju had thrown.

Kueoooooh

The disordered, languid moans of the zombies below transformed in an instant into a single, frenzied chorus aimed at one target.

Hanging from the rope, I watched thousands—tens of thousands—of zombies begin to move as one, like a vast swarm of ants, all surging toward the source of the blast.

Part of the great tide that had been flowing toward the blue pillar of light now wheeled and charged toward the red flash instead.

Seizing that window of chaos, I dropped the remaining distance in a rush. The instant my feet touched ground I rolled silently into the nearest thicket and scanned my surroundings.

The diversion had worked, yet countless zombies still clogged the streets.

Just when the throng looked too dense to cross, gunshots rang out like a miracle.

Tang— tang

Single shots from a K-2 rifle, coming from the rooftop of Building 101.

Yeong-ju or Nam Jin-ju was clearing a path for me. The rounds cracked against building walls and abandoned cars in places far from my intended route—wherever the densest clusters of zombies stood.

At the sound, several of the creatures blocking my way immediately turned and shambled off toward the new source of noise.

I advanced carefully, eyes everywhere, toward my goal.

Not every moment went smoothly. In a narrow alley a zombie suddenly lunged out right in front of my face.

I had no time even to scream. I drew my dagger, drove it into the thing’s eye, and silenced it without a sound. Moments later the two-story park management building—my target—appeared ahead. I forced every last scrap of strength into my legs and rolled through a shattered window into the interior.

“Haa… haa…”

I lay on my back on the cold floor, gulping down the breath I had held for so long. Sweat and dust caked every inch of me; my heart felt ready to burst. With shaking hands I opened the system window.

A little over two hundred meters. Right on the doorstep now.

I pushed myself up and checked the interior. Being a city-run park management building, it had been built sturdier than expected.

Aside from a few broken windows, the outer walls and structure itself were almost undamaged. The emergency stairwell to the roof was intact. If the surrounding area weren’t a zombie paradise, this place would make a solid intermediate base.

I pulled a small hand mirror from my pocket and carefully angled it through a cracked window. Toward the faint silhouette of Building 101’s rooftop far away, I flashed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠agreed signal.

I made it safely. Proceed with the next phase as planned.

About ten seconds after the signal.

A tiny speck shot into the air from the rooftop of Building 101. It arced in a clean parabola toward the fuel tanker at the end of the road I had marked.

KWA-AAAAAANG—!

An explosion dwarfing anything before it swallowed the tanker in a towering column of flame. Yang Jin-ju had detonated the grenade in exactly the right spot.

The blast seemed to shake the entire world. Every zombie still near me wheeled as one and began streaming toward that massive pillar of fire and noise.

The plan looked flawless. I let out a long breath of relief. Things are actually going well?

Kiaaaa

Then, from beyond the tanker’s flames, that grotesque yet familiar cry rose. The exact same cry of the Mutant Zombie I had heard once before at the playground.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

And in the next instant something happened that froze my spine solid.

The creature’s cry changed direction. The sound grew clearer, closer—coming straight for me.

It had not been fooled.

As if it still remembered being tricked by a soda can long ago, the thing had used its unnatural senses to pinpoint the true prey amid two massive detonations.

Through the window gap I saw a black shape hurtling toward me in a frenzy. Its speed was incomparable to ordinary zombies—four limbs hammering the ground as it sprinted.

Fuck… what now?

Given that Mutant’s speed, escaping this building and returning to Building 101 was impossible. It would catch me first and tear me apart.

Kiaaaaaaa

While the creature laughed at the diversion and the hundreds of its stupid kin, while it sliced through the darkness straight at its real meal, tens of thousands of thoughts flashed through my mind like lightning in that single heartbeat.

“Think. Think!”

Going back was impossible. At that insane speed, the moment I left this building for 101, its teeth would be in my throat.

Hide, then? Even if I got lucky and found a corner inside this building and somehow avoided its pursuit—what next? The two great noises would soon die down, and the zombies that had lost their destination would return to the blue pillar of light, to the Buk-gu District Office Sports Ground.

I would be perfectly isolated inside this park management building, surrounded on all sides by zombies, left to starve or eventually be discovered and eaten.

“Fuck, I was so close! Right there… there?”

Neither choice was an answer. Forward meant death, backward meant death, standing still meant death. A perfect dead end. Absolute despair, every hope gone.

And finally my empty gaze landed on the number floating in the translucent system window at the edge of my vision.

Two hundred thirteen meters.

In that instant every fear and calculation in my head vanished. Only one thing remained. Only one choice. I started running like a madman.

Not toward Building 101. Toward the blue pillar of light at the Buk-gu District Office Sports Ground.

The second I smashed through the window and burst outside, the whole world seemed to slow. Zombies that had spotted me reached out as they closed in. Their faces, their empty eyes, the foul moans spilling from cracked mouths.

Tang tang tang

I yanked free the pistol Yang Jin-ju had given me and fired into the skulls of everything that blocked my path. Each shot burst a head like a watermelon, yet the empty spaces filled instantly with more of them.

Kieeek

The Mutant’s cry now felt like it was right behind me. The vibration of its limbs slamming the ground traveled up through my soles into my entire body. But there was no time to look back. Looking back meant stopping, and stopping meant death. I ran only forward—forward.

Click

The pistol gave an empty sound. Out of rounds. I flung it away without a second thought and yanked the crowbar from my back. The heavy steel settled familiarly into my grip. I smashed shoulders, swept legs out from under them, carving a path like a lunatic.

“Fuck! Fuck! Get out of my way, you bastards!”

Curses tore from my mouth on their own. Rotting fingernails snagged ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my clothes and yanked. I didn’t care if the fabric ripped; I tore the jacket off and flung it if I had to, forcing myself onward.

Right then—

Ta-ta-ta-tang

Thirteen, fourteen meters ahead, the head of a zombie coming straight at me exploded in a spray of blood. The women on Building 101’s rooftop had finally spotted me and opened covering fire.

But seriously? What if those crazy bitches hit me instead?

Even in this life-or-death moment that ridiculous thought flickered through my head. Their bullets whistled over my skull and dropped the zombies in front of me. Their desperate shooting was buying me the last stretch of road.

The pillar of light was right in front of me now.

To shake free the zombie clinging to my arm I ripped off the last of my clothing and swung my bare arm like a madman. Then a wrongness hit my right hand. The moment I swung to shove the zombie ahead, my eyes caught the hand.

Only two fingers left.

Pinky and ring finger. I hadn’t even felt them being torn away; there was no sensation at all. Just ragged flesh and bone jutting out in a grotesque mess. Without my noticing, I had already been half-eaten.

But something was wrong. My legs wouldn’t move properly. Several zombies had latched onto them, binding me like a giant snare. I shoved and fought with everything I had, yet I could not take another single step.

Behind me I felt the horrible sensation of teeth sinking in. With a wet crunch, searing agony shot through my spine and flooded my whole body.

“Ah…”

Tears burst out without warning. Injustice, rage, and the crushing certainty that everything was over wrapped around me. Fuck… only three meters left… just three goddamn meters…

The world began to blur. Yeong-ju’s face, Yang Jin-ju’s face, Nam Jin-ju’s face swam before my eyes. The thought that all of this had been for nothing rose just as—

Kuuung

The zombies biting my back and the ones clamped to my legs were all blasted forward by a massive impact. We tumbled in a tangled heap right to the base of the light pillar.

I forced my unmoving head around and looked behind me. The Mutant stood there.

In its charge to reach me it had smashed through the other zombies blocking its path as if they were bowling pins.

Ironically, the final rush meant to kill me had delivered me to the very threshold of my destination.

It roughly shoved aside the zombies that had been about to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pile on me and planted itself right in front of my face. Empty eye sockets locked onto me without a doubt. Its torn mouth twisted into something that looked almost like a sneer. Got you, you little insect. This is the end! it seemed to say.

In that hopeless moment, bleeding out, I instead burst into laughter.

Then I raised my left hand—the one that still had all its fingers—and stretched it toward the translucent button floating in the air that only I could see.

“Thanks for the help, you bastard!”