Tremors 4
I decided to take them at their word — for now — that they weren't on the same side as Seo Guk.
Dealing with the soldiers could wait. I told them we'd hear them out first, and after we'd disarmed them, we started listening to a more detailed account of the 50th Division's current situation.
Under the sergeant's direction, they complied surprisingly readily with the disarmament and began to talk.
Most of what they said boiled down to one thing: the 50th Division's present state was an absolute mess.
In the early days of the outbreak, the division commander had collapsed unconscious from the shock of watching his main force get wiped out during rescue operations. After that, the deputy division commander had effectively seized all power. Those who'd climbed onto his coattails were committing every filthy act imaginable to feed their own greed — forcing people who'd fled the zombies into shelters into hard labor, and in some cases dragging women in as "provisions" for sexual exploitation.
At least a faction centered on a certain Colonel Shin was still operating out of a sense of military duty — guiding remaining civilians to shelters, stopping looters, and so on — while quietly resisting the ones at 50th Division headquarters.
That was when it happened, just as we were absorbing this new information.
Bang—! Rat-tat-tat—!
Faint gunfire echoed from somewhere in the distance.
"What was that? Another recon team nearby?"
We all turned toward the sound. When I asked them, the sergeant shook his head.
"No, sir. Our recon teams almost never have overlapping patrol zones. It's probably looters."
"No… that's a soldier."
"What?"
Yeong-ju had somehow climbed onto a wrecked car beside us. The moment she contradicted the sergeant, both the soldiers and I spotted him — a soldier sprinting madly in our direction.
And behind him—
"KRAAAAAAH—!"
An incomplete mutant, one arm grotesquely swollen with massive muscle, was chasing him down with a horrific roar.
"Huh!"
"That bastard!"
"Why the hell is he bringing that thing here!?"
The sergeant and the other soldiers recognized the runner's face, froze for a beat in shock, then started cursing.
"…You fucking piece of shit…"
The sergeant especially, his voice cracked with hollow disbelief as he watched the approaching soldier.
"He ran off to save his own skin… I told him to head back to HQ. Why the hell is he dragging that thing with him?"
"Seo Yeong-chan."
The instant Yeong-ju dropped down from the car and said my name, I was already moving.
I deployed the energy shield from the left arm of my Foundation Suit and planted myself in front of the soldiers.
Then I issued new orders to every security robot in the vicinity.
"All security robots, combat ready! The upper-body muscle armor on that approaching mutant is abnormally hard — concentrate fire on the relatively weaker lower body!"
At my command, four security robots moved in perfect coordination, forming a fire net with a series of pong— pong— sounds as they opened up on the mutant.
In case it might hurl boulders the way the ones at the old Shelter had, I kept watch from behind the shield and called out to Yeong-ju.
"Yeong-ju! We've already seen a four-legged mutant, and now one's with muscle armor — there might be more. If there's another mutant nearby we need to pull back immediately. Check for any other mutants or threats in the area!"
At my rapid-fire orders, Yeong-ju looked at me for a moment, then answered shortly, "…Got it," and vanished between the apartment buildings.
I held the massive shield firm and faced the mutant charging straight at me — the first one I'd seen in a while.
Under the concentrated barrage from the security robots, the mutant stopped chasing the soldier. Spotting me, it raised its enormous right arm to bat away the incoming energy rounds and came thundering toward me again.
"It's dangerous! You need to run! That thing — even we can barely take one down with heavy weapons like grenades or mines!"
The sergeant shouted desperately at me as the mutant charged our way with murderous intent.
"I know it's dangerous. I've nearly died to them more than a few times."
"What?"
Right then, one of the mutant's legs gave out under the relentless assault of the security robots and exploded with a wet thud—!
"Yes!"
"KRAAAAH—!"
The mutant, still howling its terrible cry, could no longer charge. It started ripping doors off wrecked cars and tearing up chunks of broken asphalt, hurling them at us.
"Get behind me!"
At my shout, the soldiers — who'd been frozen between fleeing and staying after watching the mutant's leg blow apart — finally clustered behind my back.
Clang—! Thud—!
Heavy impacts, their force reduced but still bone-rattling, kept slamming into the shield.
Absorbing every shock with my whole body, I glanced back at the security robots still laying down their fire net.
"Unit 10, Unit 11! Circle around behind it and hit it from the rear!"
At my order, two of the security robots kept firing energy bolts while racing in a wide arc around the mutant.
"KRAAH!"
With only one arm mutated, it couldn't move the way a fully evolved specimen could on both arms. Now missing a leg as well, it was stranded in place — desperately flinging whatever it could grab while the security robots' ferocious assault gradually shredded its body to pieces.
"…Incredible."
"Holy shit… that mutant…"
From behind my shield, I could hear the soldiers' voices thick with astonishment.
And a short while later, starting from its ruined lower body and cascading upward, the mutant's flesh began to burst apart in a chain reaction. Finally its entire torso exploded, the massive muscle-arm sailing into the air as the creature collapsed completely.
As I deactivated the shield and scanned the surroundings, Yeong-ju's worried voice came through the comms.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Any other mutants around?"
"No, luckily nothing. But… looking at the movement traces, that four-legged zombie from earlier and this muscle one just now… weirdly, both of them seem to have come from the same direction."
"Ah… is that so?"
From that underground shopping complex the sergeant mentioned earlier?
Yeong-ju's loaded remark left me thinking for a moment — until I looked over and saw the sergeant and the other soldiers surrounding one of their own, kicking him.
"But… should we maybe stop that first?"
The reckoning had only just begun.
"You fucking bastard! You never listen to a damn word anyone says, but the second someone yells 'Run!' you hear that just fine, don't you? So why the hell didn't you go back to HQ like I told you!"
"Why'd you even come back, you idiot! You couldn't stand dying alone so you dragged that monster all the way here to take the rest of us with you!?"
"I always thought there was something off about how clueless you were! This washout finally showed his true colors!"
"Ack! Ugh! W-wait! I'm sorry!"
The soldiers were stomping without mercy on the "traitor" who'd fled and then come running back. Curled into a ball on the ground, screaming in pain — their rage at him seemed justified.
And yet… something about it felt off. They were beating him, sure, but it didn't look like they genuinely meant to kill him. More like they just wanted to properly punish a guy they hated. It was an awkward situation to intervene in.
Yeong-ju had come up beside me at some point. Even standing right next to me, she whispered through the comms in a tiny voice.
"…They're doing this on purpose."
"Kind of a mood-changer?"
"Yeah. We took down that mutant way too easily, so they probably feel even more threatened by us now."
While we were murmuring over the comms, the sergeant stopped the punishment and approached us.
"…He's a worthless bastard who ran off dragging something like that with him, but he's still my subordinate. Thank you — truly — for saving him."
I nodded at the greeting, complicated feelings and all.
"Then there's one thing I'd like you to tell me."
Looking past the sergeant at the rest of the soldiers still laying into the guy, I asked him again.
"That Cleaning Day operation you mentioned earlier. When exactly is it set to go?"
"…What?"
"When is Cleaning Day."
The sergeant hesitated at my question. Then he shook his head and answered.
"I'm grateful you spared us, and I'm truly grateful you saved that idiot over there. But… there are still things I can't say, as a soldier."
Fear still lingered in his eyes as he looked at us. Even as his gaze flicked to the security robots behind us, he held firm that he couldn't talk.
"I see…"
I'd been thinking of letting them live if they cooperated. Shame.
The moment I reached to draw the energy saw again—
Yeong-ju stepped out in front of me, arms crossed in a pose I hadn't seen in a while, and addressed the sergeant.
"Earlier you said you weren't on the same side as the deputy division commander, right?"
"What?"
"And this Cleaning Day operation — that's something the deputy division commander's people are pushing for?"
"Y-yes… for now, that's correct."
"Is that so?"
Yeong-ju stood with her arms crossed, tapping a finger for a moment, then asked him again.
"Then why does this 'Colonel Shin' want to stop it?"
"I'm just a low-ranking NCO, so what would I know… but I believe he opposes it because there may still be survivors in this area we don't know about."
"Really? Then why isn't he stopping it? Not enough power?"
"…In the military, rank is everything. And a lot of the mid-level officers — the majors and lieutenant colonels in between — have already gone over to the other side because they get more women and more food that way… If we make a move too hastily, we could end up getting crushed instead…"
At his words, Yeong-ju uncrossed her arms. She glanced at me once, thought for a moment, then said to the sergeant:
"…This Colonel Shin. Would it be possible for us to meet him?"
At her unexpected proposal, the sergeant's eyes went wide.
"No! …We can't. Colonel Shin, with outsiders…"
At the sergeant's immediate refusal, Yeong-ju raised a hand to cut him off, as if telling him to wait.
"We don't have to meet in person. Talking over radio or some other means of communication would work too."
"Uh… if it's that…"
"And if even that's hard, just go and pass along a message. Just ask Colonel Shin whether he's willing to communicate with us."
"…Does that mean… you're letting us go right now?"
At the sergeant's words, the sounds of the beating behind him stopped. The other soldiers were all looking our way now, listening intently to the conversation.
"Yeah. This time for real. I'll send you off right now."
Yeong-ju nodded at the sergeant and continued.
"Go, and ask him this."
Her words grew sharper.
"We'll help you. So ask him whether eliminating that 'deputy division commander' bastard would actually make it possible to take control of the division… then get back to us."
At her bold, unflinching proposal, every soldier's face — the sergeant's included — went pale with shock.
And for the record, so did mine.