Encirclement
In an instant, my vision flooded red. The stench of blood stabbed at my nose. I pushed myself upright and scanned the surroundings. Floor and walls alike were painted a raw crimson, as if someone had hurled buckets of red paint everywhere.
“……Are you okay?”
When I looked down, So-hye was staring up at me with a completely blank expression.
“I’m fine. More importantly—what the hell just happened?”
Instead of answering, I got to my feet and pulled So-hye up with me. Seeing it for herself would be far easier to grasp than any explanation I could give.
“Ugh…”
A corpse with a pulverized head lay sprawled across the ground. The skull had been shattered open, brains laid bare and mixed with blood that soaked the concrete. Bones and organs had been torn free, scattered in a grotesque mess.
It no longer looked anything like a human being.
“……This is fucking disgusting. Shit. If you’re gonna kill yourself, just hang yourself quietly in your room and die! Why the hell do you have to drag us into it too?!”
Ga-hee, drenched head to toe in blood, spat out curses. She scowled, pulled a plastic bottle from her bag, and rinsed her face with water.
“Just like you said, Oppa… someone who completely gave up on living really did show up…”
“I told you.”
“I was braced for it, but I never thought they’d screw us over this badly. We almost got crushed to death when it hit us.”
Kueoooooo—
While we were still talking, a wail rose from farther down the street. I snatched up the axe I’d left leaning against the wall.
“Weapons out—move that way!”
At my order the two women, startled but obedient, grabbed their weapons and headed for the opposite side. Zombies appeared at the entrance right after. The numbers were no joke—easily more than ten.
I can’t afford a single mistake.
They must have heard the impact of the fall, or else caught the scent of blood.
Kueoooooo—!
I clamped both hands around the axe. A zombie came shambling forward, arms flailing. The instant it swung its hand in a clumsy arc, I brought the handle down hard.
Kwa-jik!
The blade sank deep into its skull, splitting rotten brain matter open. When I wrenched the axe free, the thing staggered and crumpled to the floor.
Kuaaa—
Another zombie stomped over the corpse toward me. I swung again. The axe carved halfway through its neck; blood erupted from the wound and painted the ground.
“Hey! They’re coming from this side too!”
Ga-hee’s urgent shout from behind. I finished the one in front of me and spun around.
Kkaang!
So-hye slammed her shovel into a zombie and shoved it back; Ga-hee followed up with a hand-axe strike to the neck. Surprisingly, the two of them were working together pretty well.
“Can you hold them?!”
“Yeah! There aren’t that many—we can manage! How’s your side?!”
“This side’s—”
—Kwa-jik!
I split the skull of a charging zombie and answered.
“Fine!”
They moved so slowly that the sense of real danger never quite spiked. The real problem was that they just kept coming.
Kuaaaaa—!!!
A savage cry cut through the shambling pack. Bodies heaved, and one with eyes gone blood-red launched itself straight at me.
My reaction stayed ice-cold. I pulled the axe back mid-swing and took three clean steps rearward.
Kuuung!
The zombie that had charged so boldly slammed face-first into the ground. Before it could rise I crushed its head.
Kuaaaaa—!
While I finished it off, more zombies crowded in. I kept the axe moving, methodically cutting down every one that came within reach.
After roughly ten more kills I risked a glance behind me. So-hye and Ga-hee were locked in a desperate fight of their own. It looked precarious as hell.
This isn’t going to work.
Even a clean one-hit kill still cost time to free the weapon, so I was being forced back inch by inch. Miss a killing blow and I had to give up a full step. Repeat that cycle long enough and the gap between us—front and rear—kept shrinking. They were being pushed the same way.
The fact that the distance separating us was closing was a clear death sentence. Stay like this and we’d all get eaten.
In the end I have to break one side.
I clenched my teeth, shifted my grip to the base of the blade and the butt of the handle, and shoved with everything I had at the open-mouthed zombie lunging for me.
Kuaaaaa—!!!
Muscles swelled across my entire body; the pack staggered backward, if only a little. I shattered the lead zombie’s legs and spun hard.
“So-hye! Move!”
“Uh—yes!”
Kkaang—!
So-hye smashed a zombie’s head with her shovel and flattened herself against the left wall. In the space she vacated, a zombie stumbled back off-balance.
Kwaak!
I crushed the handle in my fists and brought the axe down on its neck. The head hit the floor; blood sprayed in a wide arc.
“Whoa, fuck…”
“Stop gawking and watch our backs for more zombies!”
I snapped the order at Ga-hee and charged forward.
Kwa-jik!
I kept driving the axe down, carving through the pack. My vision reddened further; my heart hammered like it wanted out of my chest.
“Haa… haa…”
Adrenaline flooded every vein. I grinned and kicked a zombie’s leg out from under it. A wet crunch, and it toppled. I stomped its neck flat, then brought the axe down again.
Kwaak!
Skull caved in; brains splattered in every direction. I scraped the soft mass free with the handle—the squelching feel against my fingertips—then swung at the next zombie beyond the falling corpse.
Everything went red.
The wet sounds of flesh that had been hammering my ears faded somewhere along the way. The sensation of severing heads and necks grew distant; even the weight of the axe in my arms simply vanished.
I registered that something was wrong, but I didn’t care. I just swung, and swung, and swung again.
“……Hey! Hey! Stop it!”
Only when Ga-hee’s voice finally punched through and she seized my shoulder did the motion halt.
“Huff… huff…”
The high crashed out of me all at once. Strength drained, then slowly trickled back. I wiped my eyes and face with a sleeve; the world swam back into focus.
Nothing left ahead of me. Looking down, headless corpses littered the ground.
I did all of this?
Kueooo—
I was still staring blankly when a wail from behind snapped me awake. I spun; a fresh cluster of zombies had closed the distance without me noticing.
“Hurry—we have to move!”
At So-hye’s shout I nodded and slipped between the buildings. We spilled out onto the main road. No zombies in sight.
“Seong-won-ssi, you’re safe!”
When we reached the building, Kim Min-ho was waiting on the first floor. He broke into a wide smile at the sight of us—a smile that looked bone-tired.
“What? Why aren’t you upstairs? Why’d you come down?”
Ga-hee stepped forward before I could answer. On the walk back both women had been fussing over me; they clearly thought I was wiped out.
After fighting that auntie-monster and then cutting down that many zombies, it was an easy assumption to make.
Mentally, I really am exhausted.
Killing the monster and the zombies had restored my stamina and kept pumping energy into me, but the mental fatigue just kept piling up. If I hit a bed right now I’d be out cold in seconds.
“I was worried, so I waited.”
“Worried?”
“The internet and electricity both cut out, didn’t they? Right after that, screams started coming from all around us. I was standing by in case something happened to you on the way back—so I could help if it did.”
His words checked out; a kitchen-knife spear was gripped in his hand.
“……That so?”
“Yes. Now that I’ve confirmed you’re unharmed, I can head back up. I’d prefer to talk now, but you look exhausted. Rest for the remainder of the day; we can speak again tomorrow. How does that sound?”
Both women glanced at me. Apparently even answering this felt like too much to put on me.
“I think that works.”
“Understood. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He gave a short bow and disappeared up the stairs. Ga-hee watched him the whole way before turning back.
“Why’s he suddenly like that? He wasn’t that kind of guy before, was he?”
“He must’ve been anxious.”
“That ice-cold bastard got anxious enough to do something that risky?”
“It’s a time when anyone would be anxious.”
“Yeah…”
“More importantly—let’s get upstairs.”
We started moving again and returned to the apartment. Shoes off, straight into the bathroom. Water was still running. I let out a long breath of relief.
“It’s still coming out?”
“Thank goodness. I was worried we might’ve been too late.”
So-hye and Ga-hee both smiled at the gushing tap. They’d been fretting too.
“Anything that can hold water—doesn’t matter what. Fill everything you can, fast.”
“Wait. Looking like this, even if we collect it we won’t be able to use it.”
“……True.”
We were coated head to toe in blood. Hygiene would be a disaster.
“Then what do we do?”
“How about we all strip and wash together?”
At So-hye’s suggestion Ga-hee and I both turned to stare at her. She immediately flustered.
“W-why?”
“Wow. So-hye, I didn’t take you for the bold type. You’re braver than you look.”
“Right?”
“No! I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just urgent!”
Her face went scarlet and she practically shrieked.
“We don’t have time for this! Just wash already!”
“Got it. Obviously a joke~”
Ga-hee peeled off her top first; So-hye followed suit. Watching their skin gradually bare itself, I stripped as well.
Just like that, I ended up showering with two women.