Tremors 2
"Looking at what we just saw… maybe the reason zombies have been so scarce lately is that they've been gathering up like that somewhere, hibernating for the winter?"
One of the soldiers asked the question of Sergeant Kim, the squad leader of the recon team pulling out of the mechanical room.
"…First time I've seen anything like it in my life. You think I'd know?"
Sergeant Kim shook his head as he answered.
Then the radioman from the rear approached, radio in hand.
"Squad leader. Before we head back, shouldn't we at least radio in a quick report on what we just saw?"
"No… hold on. Just in case, let's check one more place like that and make a proper report."
After a moment's thought, he pulled a map from his front pocket and studied it.
"There's a big apartment complex around here. We'll just check the underground parking garage once more, then head straight back."
"The underground parking garage? Ah… I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"No kidding. Doesn't seem like there'd be anything to eat down there either, same as that underground mall earlier."
At the soldiers' grumbling, Sergeant Kim laughed and tried to cheer them up.
"Hey, you brats. If what we saw earlier applies to every zombie in this sector, that's going to be critical intel for the Cleaning Day operation. Even if command is stingy as hell, they'll at least throw us an extra pound cake or a bag of chocolate balls each, won't they?"
That cut down the complaining some. Reluctantly, the soldiers followed Sergeant Kim into the apartment complex that was their destination.
"Ah… looking at this, though, even I really don't want to go in…"
The entrance to the apartment's underground parking garage was hell itself, a perfect snapshot of the first day of the outbreak. Cars that had desperately tried to escape that very day lay tangled with the zombies that had blocked their path — smashed, shattered, and strewn about in grotesque heaps, dried bloodstains everywhere.
"…Maybe we shouldn't go in? Come to think of it, there's probably another underground mall nearby that isn't quite this wrecked…"
"Sergeant. You should've said that before we got here."
"It's already too late! Let's just check it quick and get back!"
Sergeant Kim hesitated for a moment, but the soldiers' reassurances that it would be fine finally got him to nod. He led them into the dark underground parking garage.
Down the dark ramp. The six-man recon team moved more carefully than before, footsteps quiet, tension higher. The first-day carnage they'd seen at the entrance had planted a seed of unease that the relatively clean underground mall never had.
When they reached B1, darkness and the smell of mold were all that greeted them. Wherever the lantern light fell, dust-caked cars and scattered belongings black with dried blood conjured ugly imaginings.
"…Nothing here either?"
One soldier whispered.
"Quiet. We don't know yet."
Sergeant Kim held them back, scanning the surroundings with even greater care.
"Looks clear here. We're going down to B2."
There was no trace of any zombie on B1. Sergeant Kim gathered the soldiers at the top of the ramp leading down and gave the order. They formed a circular formation at the mouth of the B2 ramp and descended slowly.
B2 was darker and damper still — less light from the entrance reached this far. Water droplets formed by the moisture fell at irregular intervals, the sound echoing unpleasantly through the space.
"Uh, squad leader…"
One soldier asked in a small voice, as if trying to break the tension the environment was pressing on them.
"That Cleaning Day operation… do you really think it can succeed?"
Sergeant Kim swept the lantern light ahead as he answered.
"…Hard to say. The plan is to scrape together every last armored vehicle left in the division, plus the entire firepower of the weapons company, and wipe this whole area clean in one go — stabilize it completely. Honestly, I don't know if it'll work."
"Why not?"
"You know Lieutenant Colonel Seo Guk, right? He went out on the Cleaning Day advance operation and we've had no contact… and yet headquarters is just pushing the operation through with zero investigation into what happened to him. I have no idea what command is thinking."
Doubt and disillusionment threaded through his voice.
"It'll work out, though. It has to."
At the soldier's hopeful reply, Sergeant Kim could only manage a bitter smile.
And when they stepped down onto B3, they found them.
In the widest central space of B3, hundreds of zombies — easily that many — were packed together like a vast beehive, bodies leaning against one another in a dense mass.
Just as they had in the underground mall, the soldiers approached carefully. They waved lantern light right in front of the creatures' faces. They even spoke in low voices right beside them. The zombies didn't so much as twitch, as if they had been taxidermied in place.
"Whoa… that's actually incredible… is it really hibernation?"
"Are these things seriously all sleeping through the winter like bears?"
For a moment the soldiers forgot the danger entirely, lost in wonder at the bizarre, fascinating sight.
After watching the motionless zombies for a long while, the recon team gathered again at Sergeant Kim's "That's enough — we're pulling out."
Just as everyone was assembling to withdraw, the same soldier who had messed with the zombies in the underground mall's mechanical room did it again — he gave the nearest zombie's shoulder a light tap with the muzzle of his rifle. Tok.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard?! I told you not to make unnecessary contact even if they don't react!"
Sergeant Kim barked at the sight of it.
The soldier mumbled, "Ah, yes! Understood!" then added, looking put-upon:
"But squad leader… I'm not making excuses, it really will be fine. Earlier in the underground mall I even threw a piece of candy at one, and it didn't do a thing — like it was hibernating."
"When the hell did you do that, you little shit?!"
Sergeant Kim glared at him for a moment, face twisted, then let the expression go.
"First we pull out and report the situation to headquarters. This is genuinely important intel — something's bound to come our way for it."
And then, the moment they started walking up the ramp from B3 toward B2—
From behind them came very small sounds. Tok. Tudok.
Sergeant Kim swung the lantern toward the noise. Starting from the zombie the soldier had touched, minute movements were spreading outward in every direction like falling dominoes.
And then, at some point, zombies that had been jostled by others began reflexively biting the ones next to them.
"What the fuck?! Why are they doing that? What the hell is this?!"
Zombies that had not moved an inch until now were suddenly stirring. Sergeant Kim and the soldiers, panicking, began edging backward up the ramp toward B2.
Then one zombie's arm and leg joints cracked with a wet ududuk as they bent the wrong way, its body warping into something grotesque — and the moment they saw it, every one of them spun and sprinted full-tilt for the upper levels.
"Run! Run faster! That's one of those weird dog-looking mutants!"
Sergeant Kim brought up the rear, herding the soldiers, shouting as he checked behind them in case the things were giving chase.
Whether the mad dash paid off or not, the recon team finally reached the parking garage exit and turned to listen to the sounds from deeper inside.
"Hoo… hoo… doesn't seem like they're following?"
"Hah… hah… yeah, I don't hear anything at all, so…"
"Holy shit… we made it?"
Gasping for breath, they confirmed that nothing — no sound, nothing at all — was coming up from the underground parking garage, and gradually let the tension ease.
"Radioman, give me the radio. We'll report what we just saw on the way back."
Sergeant Kim took the radio from the radioman, then snarled at the soldier who'd acted without thinking.
"And you, you fucking bastard! The second we get back, you're dead!"
"…I'm sorry. But it really was fine in the underground mall…"
"This son of a bitch is still making excuses! Shut your goddamn mouth!"
Sergeant Kim glared at the soldier, steadied his breathing, and reached to press the radio's transmit button.
Kiaaaa…
And then, in Sergeant Kim's field of vision, at the apartment complex entrance a short distance away, a fully mutated quadrupedal variant was staring straight at them through black, hollowed-out eye sockets.
"…Fuck. We're screwed," he muttered under his breath.
"Everyone, get ready to run. There's a dog-looking mutant at the complex entrance — looks like it saw us."
At that, the soldiers looked where Sergeant Kim was looking. Surprise, then despair, began to show on their faces.
"Snap out of it!"
Sergeant Kim barked at the soldiers frozen in fear.
Barely pulling themselves together, they watched the mutant approach them slowly and began edging backward, little by little, careful not to provoke it.
"Listen carefully…"
Sergeant Kim whispered.
"The second that thing starts running, you do not all bolt the same direction… everyone scatters different ways and gets back to headquarters on your own."
"Yes, understood…"
"One or two rounds won't stop that thing, so don't do anything stupid — just run. Got it?"
"Yes…"
And before long, the mutant's slow approach began to pick up speed.
"Go!"
At Sergeant Kim's shout, the soldiers were about to scatter in every direction — and in that exact instant—
From the dark shadows between the apartment buildings, a massive humanoid form of black and silver mixed together exploded outward at tremendous speed and drove a kick straight into the mutant's side.
Puh-uk—!
Kiaaaa!
The mutant, struck hard in the flank, screamed as it tumbled sideways for a long stretch before finally stopping against a parked car, leaving a massive dent in the bodywork.
A moment later, shaking its head to clear it, the mutant turned toward the humanoid that had kicked it and charged with a roar of pure rage.
Then another giant appeared from between the apartments the same way as before — bulkier, finished in a gun-metal color.
From a sphere on the back of its left hand, the giant drew out a massive blue energy shield and, with a dull kung—!, slammed the charging mutant flat against the ground, pinning the whole creature beneath it.
Kiaaaak!!
As the mutant thrashed desperately to free itself, the giant pulled a blue energy saw from its right hand and began mercilessly chopping down on the head and legs sticking out past the shield.
Kwak! Kwak! After a few of those sounds, the head and legs were completely pulverized — and still the thing kept twitching. The giant shook its head in disgust, stepped back, and spoke to the black-armored figure standing beside it.
"Aigoo, Seo Yeong-ju, you crazy bitch! At least say something before you charge in, for god's sake!"