Escape
Screeeech—
That sound cut through our petty, childish argument like a warning shot.
Every other noise in the world around me vanished as if it had never existed, and only that ominous scrape of friction bored straight into my eardrums.
I locked eyes with Yeong-ju and prepared to move as quietly as I could.
Any further conversation was pointless. After five months of dancing along the edge between life and death, our bodies had worn down to the point where they reacted before reason or judgment ever got the chance.
"Rooftop!"
The moment I shouted it—small but urgent—Yeong-ju nodded and spun around without a shred of hesitation, breaking into a run.
There wasn't a flicker of doubt in the way she moved. Straight through the deepest part of the supermarket, into the narrow, steep emergency stairwell that connected through the employees-only area.
Whether they'd spotted us or were simply following the sound, the hungry groans of them grew clearer and closer behind my back.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just one. Multiple howls tangled together into a dissonant chorus rising from our rear.
Thud. Thud.
Our footsteps pounding up the dust-caked concrete stairs competed with the frantic hammering of our hearts, each trying to drown the other out.
Shit! We never should've walked into that goddamn trap earlier.
Seo Yeong-ju's sharp scolding rang through my head. How many times did I tell you that one mistake could get us both killed! Regret crashed over me in waves, but right now—when staying alive came first—even drowning in that feeling was a luxury I couldn't afford.
I took the last stairs two at a time and slammed my full weight into the old iron door, its surface already blooming with rust.
"Hah… hah…"
The door swung open onto a dull ash-gray sky and a wind sharp as a blade, both of them striking us full in the face. The rooftop of the building.
The brief sense of release that came with open space lasted only a second. We scrambled back to the iron door we'd just come through and heaved it shut with everything we had.
It slammed closed with a heavy bang—but the ancient locking mechanism had been completely wrecked by someone long ago, and the latch just dangled uselessly in the air.
"Push!"
At Yeong-ju's near-scream, I threw my whole body against the door on pure reflex. Almost at the same instant, a dull thud rang out from the other side—something massive slamming into the metal.
"I don't know how long this door's going to hold!"
I shouted with my shoulder jammed against the groaning door, both feet braced hard. The force coming through from the other side was beyond anything I'd imagined, and my feet kept slipping backward no matter how hard I dug in.
"You sons of bitches!"
To buy even a little more time, I clenched my teeth, yanked the crowbar from my belt, and jammed it into the gap between the door and the wall like a lever. The crowbar shrieked as it bit into the masonry, but it was still far better than trying to win a pure strength contest with nothing but my own body.
"Just hold on a second! I'll find us a way out!"
Yeong-ju shouted urgently and sprinted toward the edge of the roof. Our only escape route was crossing over to the rooftop of the building opposite us.
I didn't even dare look down. The streets below had long since been completely overrun—a hell whose only masters were the already-dead.
"How far is it?"
"Pretty damn far! Jumping it would be suicide!"
Desperation thickened her voice. Even at a rough estimate, the gap between the buildings looked like a solid five meters or more.
A distance no human leap could ever cover. And between the two buildings, there was absolutely nothing to set a foot on.
Thud. Thud.
Even as we spoke, I could see the door's durability failing by the second.
The panel bowed inward, crushing hard against my shoulder. The old bricks where I'd wedged the crowbar began to crack, unable to withstand the force of whatever was shoving from the other side.
"Yeong-ju! Anything? A rope, something!"
"I'm looking, okay? Just shut up for a second!"
Her answer was far sharper than usual, but I could tell she was just as desperate as I was.
Yeong-ju kicked open a battered old fire-hose cabinet abandoned in the corner of the roof, its paint long since peeled away. A moment later she pulled out a dust-caked length of hose-rope that looked decently long.
But a hose alone wasn't enough to get us across. We needed something weighted on the end—something we could throw and hook onto the other side.
"Damn it, there's nothing to throw!"
Yeong-ju spat a curse as she scanned the area. The rooftop held nothing but chunks of cement and small stones—nothing heavy enough to carry a rope cleanly across and catch. In the end she started tying a thin, long metal rod she'd torn from a broken ventilation cover to the end of the rope. But that thing would never be enough.
"That's too weak! Way too light! Something heavier!"
"Then why don't you magic something up over there yourself? Can't you see I'm looking?"
Yeong-ju snapped back, nerves fraying. I knew. I knew exactly how pathetic I looked, stuck holding a door while she did all the real work…
BANG.
With a deafening crash, part of the door panel tore free, and a rotting hand thrust through the gap.
Blackened nails and thick clots of dark-red blood crusted the fingers as the hand flailed wildly through the air, clawing for my face.
"Argh—fuck!"
I jerked back in horror, batting the hand away and slamming my body into the door again. A shard of broken iron stabbed sharply into my shoulder, but there was no time to feel the pain. The second this door opened, we were finished.
In that same moment, Yeong-ju finished her preparations and began whirling the rope in wide circles. Whoosh, whoosh—the sound cut through the wind. Every scrap of our hope, every second of our lives, hung by a thread at the end of that rope.
"Please!"
With her cry, the metal rod arced through the air. But contrary to every desperate wish we had, it was simply too light.
It lost momentum before it even reached the opposite building and dropped weakly, clanging off the outer wall. A hollow, hopeless little ting.
"Damn it!"
Yeong-ju hauled the rope back in. Anxiety was written plain across her face. Thud. Thud. Bang. The door was almost at its limit.
The bricks gripping the crowbar looked ready to crumble into powder at any second.
"Yeong-ju! Hurry!"
"I know! Shut up and hold that door properly! Stop yelling and wasting your strength!"
She spun the rope again. Harder this time, putting her whole body weight behind it. Whoosh! The rope flew farther than before—but still not far enough.
The metal rod clipped the opposite rooftop railing by a hair's breadth, then slid off uselessly and plummeted back into empty air. Our hope fell with it, once again. A moment of pure despair.
CRACK!
At last a section of the wall holding the crowbar gave way with a thunderous roar.
The door surged inward and I nearly lost my balance, sprawling across the floor. Now the only thing holding that door shut was my own body. Even the slightest turn of my head showed me their rotting faces and bloodshot eyes through the gap.
"Shit!"
I braced the door with my feet in pure desperation. But it was opening—slowly, steadily, and without any doubt.
"Yeong-ju… sorry about earlier. For the screw-up."
I called her name half in surrender. Our eyes met over my shoulder. Eyes that were ready to give up. She had set the rope down and was reaching for the dagger at her waist.
Was she planning to fight to the end?
The sight of it snapped me wide awake.
Yeong-ju dying here because of me? Absolutely not. Think. Think, Seo Yeong-chan.
In that instant, my crowbar caught my eye. I'd forgotten it while using it as a door brace—the weapon that had saved my life more times than I could count in this hellish world. And a pretty hefty chunk of solid metal.
That was it! It had weight, and that long shape would catch on something easily!
"Yeong-ju! Catch!"
I peeled one foot off the door I'd been holding with everything I had, twisted my body with the rebound, and hurled the crowbar toward her.
The heavy length of steel arced through the air. She startled—but her hands shot out on pure instinct and snagged it cleanly.
"Tie that on! Now!"
The light returned to Yeong-ju's eyes the second she understood. Without a second's hesitation she stripped off the metal rod and lashed the crowbar firmly in its place. The hooked end would catch far more securely than a plain lump of metal. The perfect weight.
Meanwhile the door was nearly halfway open. The first one stretched a rotting arm through, groping for my ankle.
I drove my other foot into its skull with everything I had. A dull thud, and the thing toppled backward—but an endless line of them pressed in right behind it.
"Get ready to leave the door! I'm throwing it!"
Yeong-ju's voice reached me. I kicked the door one last time with every ounce of strength left, buying us a split-second of stagger from the horde, then spun and sprinted toward her without looking back.
Right behind me came the shattering roar of the door finally giving way completely, and the howling flood of them pouring through.
If there was any luck left, it was that they were tripping over each other—buying us the tiniest scrap of time.
Yeong-ju was already whirling the rope with the crowbar tied on. Her eyes were locked on a single point across the gap.
I planted myself beside her, drew my dagger, and leveled it at the ones charging us. The lead creature was only a few meters away.
"Now!"
Yeong-ju released the rope. The heavy crowbar cut through the air with a speed and force that made the earlier attempts look like jokes. Our last hope. It flew in a long, wide arc and dropped cleanly inside the railing of the opposite rooftop.
Clank.
The bright, beautiful sound of solid metal striking concrete. The sound of our lifeline connecting. The crowbar had lodged perfectly between the railing and an old ventilation structure.
"Got it!"
"You first!"
I said it while stabbing the nearest one—the first to scramble upright and lunge—through the throat with my backup kitchen knife. Yeong-ju didn't hesitate. She seized the rope in both hands, kicked off the edge of the roof, and launched herself into open air.
Like a circus performer, her body sailed across the void between the buildings.
Nearly at the other side, she kicked off the wall for momentum and landed cleanly.
"Yeong-chan! Hurry!"
My turn. But they were already right on top of me.
Three or four rushed me at once. I swung the kitchen knife to buy time, but it wasn't enough. One of them locked onto my arm. A hideous grip. Pain like my bones were being wrenched out of their sockets.
"Ghk—!"
Still caught, I threw myself toward the rope. The instant my hand closed around it, I toppled off the rooftop together with the thing still clamped to my arm.
Dangling in midair, I thrashed desperately to shake it off. Its jaws yawned wide, ready to sink into my arm. In that same moment, something tumbled out of my jacket. A comic book.
That stupid comic book. The one Seo Yeong-ju had called trash. But as it fell, it dropped—by pure dumb luck—straight into the creature's open maw. I didn't waste the fraction of a second. I drove my foot into its face with everything I had left. It screamed as it plummeted dozens of meters down.
Now it was just me on the rope. Deep gouges from its nails scored my arm, but not getting bitten was a miracle in itself.
I clenched my teeth and hauled myself along the rope with nothing but arm strength. Hellish seconds. Each one stretched out like an hour.
The moment my hand finally found the opposite rooftop, Yeong-ju seized my wrist and wrenched me up with all her might.
"Hah… hahh…"
I collapsed flat on my back across the rooftop. Every last drop of strength drained out of me.
Gasping for air, I stared up at a sky that was, paradoxically, far too peaceful for the hell we'd just crawled out of. On the rooftop behind us, the ones that hadn't made the crossing howled and raged after us in helpless fury.
"Fuck… I really thought we were dead."
Yeong-ju dropped down beside me. Her voice trembled, just slightly.
"Yeah… me too."
I answered between ragged breaths. Then I patted my jacket. Empty. Ah. My comic book. My little scrap of romance.
"What are you looking for?"
"Nothing… it's nothing."
I let out a short laugh and closed my eyes. Would she even believe me if I told her a comic book had just saved my life?