The Apocalypse Has Already Arrived
The chairman’s smile twisted again in my mind. It was the smile of someone who had already achieved their goal. ‘Chairman. What the hell are you…’
I shook off the stray thought and snapped back to reality. I was a little late, but I needed to run. Now.
“Aaaagh!”
People who saw the machete zombie’s swing were already screaming and bolting. The zombies, spurred by the noise, went berserk. The chicken-eating zombie lunged at the security guards surrounding it. The machete zombie swung wildly. Others tore off their stifling masks and threw themselves at anyone nearby.
A few brave souls tried to fight back with baseball bats and golf clubs, but it wasn’t enough.
“Hup!”
Whoosh—! A full swing. The man must have played baseball; he smashed the fish zombie’s arm clean off. The bone snapped with a sickening crack, yet the zombie staggered forward and sank its teeth into his neck. Blood sprayed.
Every zombie was busy attacking the people around them. ‘They’re not interested in me.’ I could afford to make some noise.
I spun on my heel and sprinted at full speed. Jeon Dohyeong was right ahead on the path I was taking. He had heard the commotion and was glancing around when he spotted me. His eyes widened.
“When did you—”
“Move. Now.”
He dumped the cereal boxes he was holding onto an already overflowing cart. I caught my breath and scanned the load. He’d picked up a decent haul in a short time. Or rather, he’d grabbed whatever he could reach and stacked it neatly—pure camping-car instinct. Either way, we had most of what we came for.
‘The apocalypse is already here. We can’t afford to leave resources behind.’
I grabbed the front corner of the cart and started running. Jeon Dohyeong, ever the quick-witted thief, read the situation and pushed from behind, matching my pace. Screams echoed faintly from behind us.
He suddenly lowered his voice. “Shouldn’t we come back for the rest later? I think there are zombies back there.”
I glanced over my shoulder while running. His pupils were shaking—fear, panic, tension. Even a man bold enough to steal national electricity was terrified of zombies.
“We don’t have time to check out. We get out first.”
“Nonsense. In an apocalypse you don’t scan barcodes one by one. You just take the whole damn cart.”
“No. Straight to the exit.”
“What? But—”
I yanked the cart roughly. People in front were shoved aside, carts collided, irritated glares turned our way—until they saw what was behind us. Their eyes flew wide. The thunder of a panicked crowd and frantic shouting.
“Zombies over there! Four of them! Evacuate now!”
Someone behind us yelled. I ground my teeth. ‘Why the hell would you announce it?’
Shoppers who had been browsing abandoned their carts and baskets and started running. The narrow aisles clogged instantly with people, carts, and scattered goods. Even the escalator in the distance was chaos—people trying to force their way through blocked paths, others panicking and climbing the wrong way. If everyone fled at once, the odds of survival dropped to nothing.
“Keep pushing the cart!”
“Seriously, this feels wrong!”
I was in front, swatting aside anything in the way. Someone overtaking me clipped my shoulder. The cart slammed into me from behind. I nearly slipped on spilled merchandise. Even in the middle of all that, my eyes darted, calculating the best route.
Straight ahead was impossible. Someone had tripped and created a human pile-up. We couldn’t break through that.
“Left!”
The cart tilted dangerously. I shoved it down and we swung around the corner into the fruit section. A man stood in the middle of the aisle with his back to us, casually eating an apple like he was blocking the path on purpose.
Crunch. The sound of him biting into the fruit reached us.
I felt my eyes twitch. Zombies behind us. A stampede coming. We needed to escape, and this idiot was in the way? Holding us up? He was begging to die. An honorary zombie. Not human.
“Ram him!”
I yanked the cart toward the man. Jeon Dohyeong must have thrown everything he had into it—the cart shot forward like a cannonball and slammed into the apple-eater.
Crash. The man staggered, then slowly turned. I skidded to a halt.
“Ah.”
Not an honorary zombie. A real one. Bloodshot eyes, drool dripping, apple bits stuck to his mouth. He looked straight at me. His expression twisted—prelude to an attack. The target was either me or Jeon Dohyeong.
I slipped one hand into my hoodie pocket and gripped the hammer. Whether it would work or not, I didn’t know. With the other hand I made a small gesture, as if to say, You’re the one who hit him, Jeon Dohyeong. At the same time I whispered, “Jeon Dohyeong. Grab anything. Anything at all. Even the cart.”
No answer.
“Jeon Dohyeong?”
The zombie crouched, ready to spring. Using the cart as a shield, I sidestepped and glanced sideways. Jeon Dohyeong was creeping away, trying to slip off.
Our eyes met. He suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Screw you, you criminal bastard! I never liked you from the start! The world’s ending? You’re just insane! You’re out of your goddamn mind—”
A betrayal born in the heat of the moment. The fragile bond between us snapped. I felt a sharp sting of betrayal, then sprinted straight at him. Behind me came the sound of the zombie slamming the cart aside and a guttural roar.
“H-Hey!”
Jeon Dohyeong’s face went deathly pale as he tried to run, but he was too slow. He should have bolted the second he decided to betray me.
Grab! My hand caught the back of his collar. I swept his legs and yanked hard. He crashed onto his back.
“No! Help—”
I took a few more steps, then looked down at him. Expressionless, I pulled the hammer from my pocket and drew it back over my shoulder. Jeon Dohyeong, half-risen on his elbows, opened his mouth to scream just as the zombie reached him.
“Graaah!”
The zombie lunged, jaws wide, and crashed down on the fallen man. Its hair brushed the back of Jeon Dohyeong’s neck. I stepped in and swung the hammer with everything I had.
Crack! A heavy impact and the sickening sensation of something giving way. The zombie collapsed like a sack of trash. I spoke to Jeon Dohyeong.
“What did I tell you?”
“Uh, well…”
Still trembling, Jeon Dohyeong shoved the zombie away and stared at my hammer. His face had gone from white to a sickly green.
“That you’re a man of great foresight and wisdom, sir.”
I shook my head. That kind of praise belonged to the chairman of Immortal Company. I couldn’t even tell an honorary zombie from a real one.
I held the hammer out. Grab it and get up. I didn’t want to touch him directly after he’d been in contact with the zombie. Jeon Dohyeong hesitated, then took the hammer and stood.
I said, “I’ve saved your life twice now. Once from the zombie, and once from me after you betrayed me.”
“No, that’s… yeah, you’re right.”
“There won’t be a third time.”
Nothing weighs heavier than a life debt. Jeon Dohyeong now owed me twice. Next time he thought about betraying me, even in a crisis, he would hesitate a little longer.
He stood there in a daze, pushing the cart like a sleepwalker. I decided to hammer some sense into his soft head.
“Repeat after me. The world is ending. Say it.”
“The world… is ending.”
“The world is—”
“Ending!”
Jeon Dohyeong squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
***
While I was busy dealing with the zombie, everyone who could run had already fled. The supermarket felt strangely empty. No more zombies in sight. Then again, this was only the first wave. There wouldn’t be that many yet. Soon there would be more.
We moved quickly toward the exit, tossing whatever caught our eye into the cart. Then we walked straight out the entrance.
Beep— The anti-theft gate screamed that it had caught a thief, but there were no security guards left to stop us. The cashiers huddled far away; when they saw the bloodied hammer in my hand, they backed off even farther.
“…We’re really just leaving like this?”
“Take the elevator.”
I wiped my hands and the hammer with the alcohol sanitizer by the entrance. Jeon Dohyeong disinfected every spot the zombie had touched, then we stepped into the elevator. We rode from the first floor up to the seventh-floor parking garage. The doors closed, sealing us in the narrow space. I checked my mask. I didn’t get infected, did I? As long as the mask stayed on and I kept disinfecting, I should be fine, but the unease lingered.
Ding! The elevator stopped on the second floor. A man glanced at the hammer and stepped in. Then it happened again. The elevator paused at every floor, picking up more people until the small space was packed tight with only a sliver of breathing room left. Silence fell.
“…”
“…”
My palms grew clammy. I wiped my forehead with my collar. My heart pounded. What if one of them was infected? What if someone suddenly turned right here?
My grip tightened on the hammer until my knuckles ached. The short ride to the seventh floor stretched into an eternity. Thankfully, no one transformed before the doors opened.
Ding. The moment we stepped out, I exhaled deeply. My mind and body felt completely drained.
“Let’s take the cart too,” I said weakly.
“The cart? Oh. Yeah, that could be useful.”
Jeon Dohyeong nodded in understanding. The cart could haul supplies, run over zombies or people on a downhill slope, or serve as a barricade. We somehow crammed it into the camping car and climbed into the driver’s and passenger seats. As Jeon Dohyeong started the engine, I looked at him.
‘…He’s not infected either, right?’
Trust was impossible. Before any talk of relationships or camaraderie, there was only fundamental distrust. An apocalypse where people could not trust people.
‘If this is the apocalypse, I’ll adapt. That’s how I’ll survive.’
I leaned back in the passenger seat. The camping car glided out of the parking garage and into the city. Sirens wailed from police cars and ambulances. Occasionally a zombie sprinted down the street. Some people lay wounded on the ground. Others were drenched in blood. I watched it all through the window.
Day six of the zombie outbreak. The apocalypse had already arrived, and the world was drowning in blood and distrust. A perfect world for looting.