The Wave of Hope
The Pastor knew how to put on a show. He displayed his uniqueness by walking around without a mask, created a religious atmosphere during services, and even performed by smashing zombies to death with a cross. Though I couldn't copy him to that extent, there were still lessons to learn from watching him. Zombie wave production… that might actually work.
Sitting on the toilet seat, I stared at my phone and tapped the screen with quick, impatient jabs. A cinematic scene played vividly in my mind. A surging zombie wave. The desperate struggle of the Hope Community. Victory after a few sacrifices. A community united as one, people filled with hope and confidence. The only problem was how to bring the zombie wave here, but couldn't I just outsource that part?
Right on cue, my phone buzzed. It was one of those messengers famous for its security. Apparently, many groups that had sprung up recently used it. Especially the ones operating in gray areas.
I quickly typed a reply.
The Delivery Vigilantes were a group formed by delivery riders who had banded together. They handled small errands, ran proxy purchases, and took on some rough jobs. From what I knew, their combat ability was considerable. Bodies protected by helmets and rider suits. Motorcycles that could weave through narrow gaps. Steel pipes that smashed zombies while speeding past. They truly lived up to the name of riders.
But it seemed they were real knights in every sense, complete with a sense of chivalry.
My phone kept vibrating nonstop.
I sat there with my mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the screen. She didn't even try to negotiate the price. She just blocked me and left immediately. It was absurd.
Is life still that easy? Has the world not fallen apart enough?
No, that wasn't it. It was image management. In the apocalypse, if a group wanted to last, it was better not to earn the hostility of others. If they kept causing trouble, they might end up getting raided. People really were smart. It wasn't easy to fool them.
I let out a small sigh and looked for another chat room. There were plenty of people who didn't care about image and lived only for today. The problem was that they were genuine lunatics who lived only for today, so instead of a zombie wave, I might end up with looters knocking on my door…
Ah. These guys are a bit…
I scrolled through the chat room with a sour expression. The Juvenile Delinquent Crime Syndicate. The room whose membership list I had leaked before. Their notice now featured group photos of several punks. Tattoos, tight clothes, cigarettes. Boys and girls alike. The text below was the cherry on top.
In other words, only people infected with the I-Virus could join their crime syndicate. It meant they were all already destined to become zombies. Real lunatics who had only three weeks left to live. Of course they had no brakes.
Kids these days are scary…
I shuddered and quickly left the chat room. No matter how I thought about it, outsourcing a zombie wave to this crime syndicate was a bad idea.
At that point, I turned off my phone and left the bathroom. I figured I should check the streets myself. See how many zombies there were, what condition the area was in. It was also the perfect time for a group outing.
As more families gathered at the Hope Community, roughly thirty people now lived in the church building. Naturally, there were all kinds of people. A young couple with a baby. A college student living alone who had brought a dog or cat. And people who had reasons to go outside regularly.
Thief Elder looked at the people gathered in the chapel and shouted.
“Anyone coming to pick up supplies from home, line up on the left! Anyone who needs to go to the hospital, on the right!”
The people split into two groups. But the number of people heading to the hospital was surprisingly large. Thief Elder blinked.
“Are that many of you sick?”
“I have high blood pressure… I need to take my medicine regularly.”
“I have a herniated disc.”
“Diabetes.”
“My wrist!”
Everyone was complaining about their ailments. I slapped my forehead. Modern people and their chronic illnesses. Diseases that required constant management. In a ruined world, these were patients carrying time bombs inside their bodies.
For a moment, wicked wisdom surged up, telling me how to weed them out, but I barely managed to suppress it. A post I had seen online came to mind. It said that when five people gather, at least one is trash. With thirty people in the church, that meant at least six were trash. Excluding the vicious electricity thief and the faithless Thief Elder, that left four hidden pieces of trash.
Compared to that…
Patients are better. Better than traitors or troublemakers.
Patients were at least loyal. Who would take in a sick person in the apocalypse? If someone did, they would work hard no matter what. Even if it was just farming in plastic bottles.
“Then for the hospital group… Deacon Kwon! Would you go?”
“Ah. I can’t drive. How about sending Dohyeong?”
I snapped back to attention and gave Jeon Dohyeong a light shove. There was no way I was going to a dangerous place like a hospital. My faithful right-hand man should go instead. Fortunately, Jeon Dohyeong smiled brightly and stepped forward immediately. It seemed Na Yeji had joined the hospital group because of her sore wrist.
Thief Elder made a slightly uncomfortable face.
“Then will you come with the supply team?”
I could guess what he was thinking. He probably wanted to swipe something, and my presence would be annoying. It wasn’t like he thought I was watching him because I considered him a thief. I quickly reassured Thief Elder.
“I just want to look around the streets a bit. I don’t really know what the city is like these days. It’s fine if I go with the hospital group too.”
A thief’s territory should be respected.
But this time, Jeon Dohyeong hesitated and stepped back. His eyes darted back and forth between me and Na Yeji. I had no idea why he was acting like this. It made me feel like I was some evil boss. Even my fellow looter colleague seemed wary of me. My mood started to sour.
In the end, the easiest target was Jeon Dohyeong.
“The hospital group is better. While you’re there, look for any doctors who might want to join us.”
“Yeah. I’ll look for a doctor. But it won’t be easy.”
And so we split up and left the church. The ownerless church van carefully drove down the road.
The trip to the hospital took a long time. Large hospitals that treated zombies or the injured were far too dangerous, so we visited small clinics one by one. Even those small clinics had so many patients that the wait was long.
“Then I’ll be back!”
“Hey, go together!”
It was already dark evening. To prepare for danger, three people rushed into the oriental medicine clinic together. Na Yeji said it was for acupuncture on her wrist. That left only three people in the van, including me.
Sitting in the passenger seat, I glanced at the rearview mirror. Two patients.
“I’m going to check the streets for a bit. Would you like to come with me?”
“Uh… that’s a bit…”
“Deacon Kwon. It’s dangerous to stay in the car.”
What was this? Were these guys the trash? Refusing important street reconnaissance. I burned their faces into my memory from the rearview mirror, then flung the door open and got out.
“Then please wait here for a moment.”
“Be careful!”
I double-checked my mask and walked down the street lit by brilliant streetlights. I couldn’t smell anything because of the mask, but the apocalyptic atmosphere was overwhelming. A street where shops and houses were mixed together. Many first-floor glass windows were shattered, and the glass powder scattered on the ground sparkled like the Milky Way. Occasionally, corpses lay on the pavement like people who had come out for a picnic on this cool evening.
Zombies are surprisingly hard to spot?
I looked across the street. It was a food alley packed with restaurants. Several people armed with fluorescent vests and weapons were patrolling. They were the vigilante group of the food alley. I could see dried blood on the knives used for butchering meat.
Indeed, if you prepared properly and with resolve, zombies were easy enough to deal with. If vigilante groups in each area actively hunted and killed every zombie they saw, a certain level of safety could be achieved.
That was when it happened.
I instinctively felt a gaze on me.
…What is it?
I looked around and spotted a wide-open door between two walls. And on the first floor of the mansion. A human silhouette staring at me through a broken window. No. It wasn’t human. A faint, gurgling moan. Drool dripping down. Eyes bloodshot red. It was a zombie.
A zombie was staring at me from inside the dark mansion.
Shit!
I flinched and raised my hammer, but even though the zombie bared its teeth, it didn’t come out. Several other zombies poked their heads out behind it, but they all stayed inside the house. Goosebumps rose all over my skin.
Learning?
The vigilantes had begun seriously hunting zombies. The zombies had experienced it and learned. They knew how to hide their bodies. Like beasts avoiding dangerous enemies. They even made good use of human houses. After all, houses good for humans to live in were good for zombies too.
For a moment, I thought of clever beasts. Dogs that could open doors. Cats that could turn on faucets. Parrots that could mimic human speech. Wolves that hunted in packs. Monkeys that used tools.
If they’re this… if they’re this smart…
Wasn’t it not just the virus, but the zombies themselves that were incredibly dangerous? Of course that was good for me, but right now, alone like this, it was a bit…
The moment I sensed danger, reality struck.
The power went out. It was exactly eight o’clock, the time when services would normally be held. The time when the lights of civilization went dark. The darkness became an instinctive terror that gripped me. Howling sounds like wolves echoed from all directions.
“Graaaah!”
The roar of the zombie that had been watching me.
“Kreeeeek!”
“Graaak!”
Responding cries came from all over the street. As if they had been hiding somewhere, zombie shrieks echoed endlessly from beyond the darkness. Like an omen of a terrible attack.
Cold sweat soaked my clothes. The chill of the night crept in, sending shivers down my spine.
A zombie wave? For real? Right now?
I spun around and sprinted toward the car. From behind, beside, and in front, countless presences chased after me. The sound of broken glass crunching underfoot in the darkness. The rapid patter of countless footsteps. Under the faint moonlight, zombie shadows writhed and surged out from every direction. A cacophony of horrifying shrieks overlapping. My teeth ground together with a grating sound.
Why now of all times!
When I was at the church, they should have come to the church!
I moved my body as roughly as a zombie would. It was dark anyway, so visibility was poor. If I acted similarly in the dark rather than bright daylight, the zombies probably wouldn’t bother distinguishing me and attacking. I opened my mouth and let out a shriek.
“Kreeek!”
I am a zombie. I am one of you. There’s no need to attack me. Thanks to the darkness, it worked well. Or maybe they hadn’t learned from this kind of experience yet.
At some point, I broke away from the surrounding zombies and returned to the car. Just then, the people who had gone to the clinic came running back in a panic. From behind them, I could faintly hear the ringing of an alarm clock.
It seemed Jeon Dohyeong had used it well.
“Hurry, hurry! Oh, in front!”
For a moment, I saw Jeon Dohyeong raising an axe toward me. The axe blade catching the moonlight.
“Hey, it’s me! Start the engine, quick!”
“Wait, why are you pretending to be a zombie again—”
There was no time for nonsense. We piled into the van in an instant, and Jeon Dohyeong skillfully started the engine. That light. The sound of the engine. Zombies that had burst onto the street swarmed the vehicle and pounded on it. They slammed their fists against the windows, climbed onto the hood and kicked it, and even smashed the glass with what looked like rocks.
Crack!
A crack appeared in the window.
“What are you doing! Step on the gas!”
“Where are we going!”
Jeon Dohyeong slammed on the accelerator. The van lurched forward, the zombie on the hood rolled off, and the ones in front were smashed aside. The car jolted. A zombie had been run over by the wheels.
I watched the scene illuminated by the headlights. Zombies that had been crouching down were now pouring forward like a flood. Not only the restaurants in the food alley that smelled of meat, but also the shops that had put vegetables and fruit outside were being smashed to the point of outright looting.
The vigilantes? They had been swept away by the wave of zombies. Instead, the zombies had taken the vigilantes’ weapons.
Jeon Dohyeong spoke calmly.
“Should we head to the church? If we’re not careful, it’ll look like we’re luring them there.”
Of course we had to go to the church building. Where else would we go? If the timing was right, this could actually be an opportunity. Luring them was exactly my goal.
I looked behind us through the side mirror. Zombies chasing the bright, noisy car.
“Slow down. Drive slowly.”
“What? Why—”
“We can still make phone calls, right? We need to contact the church and buy them time to prepare.”
In reality, I was leading a zombie wave, but for now I dressed up the excuse nicely.
“Tell them to prepare disinfectant at the entrance and get ready for a siege.”
I clenched my fist tightly. Yeah. What outsourcing? I could just bring them myself. This situation was actually cleaner.
We headed to the church, dragging along the hope that would unite the Hope Community as one.