Alpha D
"Gwarghhh…! Kyaaak…! Kyaa…!"
Hidden in the bushes along the national highway, Jun-ho listened to the harmony of shrieks erupting from the horde while his eyes remained fixed on the tablet screen. Countless zombies were pushing through the snow, surging up the highway. It was a massive Wave—the largest he had witnessed since his regression, several times larger than the one at the Hanalreum Nursing Home. In Jun-ho’s experience, such waves were incredibly rare in rural areas like this. They usually didn't happen because there were rarely dozens of survivors moving in a group, let alone making such a loud, blatant racket.
"Cease fire."
- Roger that.
At Jun-ho’s command, the G1 Drone stopped firing. But there was no way the zombies, already fully aggroed toward Gahyeon Elementary School and its surroundings, would stop now. Even at a glance, there were at least 300 to 400 of them filling the highway. Similar numbers were pouring out of a cluster of a dozen villas located about 100 meters from the school, all heading in the same direction. If there was any silver lining, it was that their speed wasn't particularly fast. The ground was slick with snow, and more than half of the infected were elderly.
But that was only from the perspective of Jun-ho, who was watching the situation on his tablet. For those who had just passed the school gate and were heading toward the Nonghyup Mart, it was pure despair and terror.
"G1 Unit 2, follow me, then find cover near the Nonghyup Mart and wait. If zombies pop out, engage. If it's people, let them pass. Oh, and launch a delivery drone this way, too."
- Understood!
Click.
Jun-ho finished chambering a round, lowered his body, and moved rapidly along the roadside.
Whirrr.
> Low visibility detected.
> Switching to thermal imaging mode.
With the voice of the AI Akina, the thermal camera activated automatically, and a landscape composed of temperature differences rather than colors flashed past Jun-ho. Whirrrr! The G1 drone also sprinted hard, staying four or five meters ahead of him. There were several vehicles that had collided with the guardrails or piled up, but Jun-ho and the G1 drone moved without hesitation, knowing from their long surveillance that no zombies were lurking there.
Just then, three or four shapes marked in pale orange burst out from a precision machine shop building attached to a car center about 30 meters ahead.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pow! Pow!
Along with the sound of compressed air bursting, the subsonic rounds fired from the AR15 and the tungsten rounds from the G1 drone sequentially pierced the heads of the targets.
"Their response time is definitely slow."
- You're just too fast, Boss. And your aim is precise, isn't it?
It was true. Being able to detect multiple targets at this distance and land headshots without wasting a single bullet within three seconds was beyond the level of a professional soldier honed by real-world combat.
"Keep moving."
Again, the G1 moved first, with Jun-ho following close behind.
The alley leading to Gahyeon Elementary School was now only 200 meters away, and the zombies inside the buildings between them had already flocked toward the school.
"Hoo, hoo…."
Even while running, Jun-ho steadied his breathing and frequently checked the tablet screen attached to the center of his tactical vest. The people who had tried to escape toward the Nonghyup Mart had been terrified by the sudden influx of zombies and had hastily retreated, but the problem was that hundreds of zombies were now entering the highway they had just occupied, rushing toward the school.
- So, we're screwed, right? What should we do about the thugs now?
At Yoon Yeong-su’s cynical remark, Jun-ho felt there was only one choice. As Han Chang-oh swung his air rifle and screamed something, they began to act exactly as Jun-ho had anticipated. The most heavily armed among them stripped off their outer coats, covered the barbed wire installed on the school gate, and scrambled over it.
However, even if the zombies of Gahyeon-ri were mostly elderly, it didn't take them minutes to cover 50 or 60 meters. Furthermore, not all of them were elderly. Within 20 seconds, zombies rushing from two directions surrounded the school gate and collided with the men holding up their shields.
Since they were all under 40 and physically fit, they didn't buckle easily. Moreover, they were all wearing winter clothing that couldn't be easily torn by a few zombie bites. As they blocked the zombies, those behind them stabbed frantically at the zombies' heads with spears, awls, and knives. It was a highly effective tactic, and the gang had enjoyed much success with this method from their detached houses to the townhouses nearby. But that was over now.
The situation changed as zombies with ten times the mass and numbers swarmed them all at once. As if to prove it, more than ten hands grabbed a shield and its owner at the same time. The person pulled into the horde was instantly disarmed—no, literally 'dismantled.' Winter coats and helmets were of no use.
Gwarghhhhh…!
The screams of the dying were buried by the roars of the zombies, which sounded closer by the second. While ten or so were being wiped out, the rest of the group scrambled over the school gate. But what awaited them were the native survivors who had already prepared thoroughly during the chaos of the night.
Having confirmed that much, Jun-ho… Screech.
Tap-tap-tap-tap…!
He sprinted up the stairs of a four-story commercial building on the roadside leading into the school.
- Boss! The fight between the thugs and the Jung-dong guys has started!
- The thugs launched a preemptive strike, and they're fighting damn well! The Elimination Target has already taken down three people with his air rifle!
- I think the thugs stuffed magazines or something inside their clothes! The Jung-dong guys' knives and axes aren't doing much!
Listening to Yoon Yeong-su’s comms, Jun-ho climbed the stairs rapidly, using all five senses to scan his surroundings. The situation was urgent, so he didn't have time to scout the inside of the building with a mini-drone, but fortunately, there were no zombies left in the building. Upon reaching the rooftop of the four-story building, Jun-ho ran toward the side overlooking the school gate and playground, mounted his AR15 on the railing, and took a shooting stance.
Whether powered by a generator or batteries, the streetlights throughout the gate and playground were emitting light, so Jun-ho turned off the thermal mode, aimed through his scope, and surveyed the situation.
- The thugs have only lost two, but the Jung-dong guys have been hit over ten times! They're retreating toward the main building now! Ah!
- Boss! The school gate is going to collapse!?
As soon as Yoon Yeong-su finished speaking, the automatic sliding gate, made of stainless steel rather than the old-fashioned iron, could not withstand the mass of hundreds of zombies and collapsed immediately. Of course, they had piled up furniture, including desks and chairs, inside, but the survivors didn't know that zombies led by an Alpha could climb over them.
Crackle! Rumble! Gwarghhh…!
Without caring whether their comrades in front were being crushed or not, the zombies pushed the furniture and leaped over it. The survivors who had been pushing back the native survivors of the school ran toward the main building like madmen the moment they saw that sight. Even though ten or so of their comrades were still on the playground, the survivors in the main building closed the doors.
Since they couldn't break through the main building doors, which had even more furniture piled up than the front gate, the survivors—as well as the native survivors who had been fighting them—scattered to the left and right of the main building like a swarm of locusts. The zombies that had just crossed the obstacles at the gate pursued them.
"Whew… start."
As Jun-ho, who had steadied his breathing, muttered a single word—
Pow…! Pow…!
The G1 drone, positioned where it could look down at the school playground and main building at an angle, began to fire.
Pop! Bang! Pop!
Jun-ho also blew the heads off the zombies caught in his scope. While the G1 prioritized targets with the best 'angle' for shooting, Jun-ho shot the ones chasing the native survivors of the school.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Jun-ho, who had emptied three magazines in an instant with mechanical precision, changed magazines rapidly and spoke.
"What about the delivery drone?"
- It's almost there! It'll deliver to the rooftop in one minute!
Just as Jun-ho, who had changed the magazine while listening to Yoon Yeong-su’s voice, was about to continue firing—
"……!?"
A strange sensation made the back of his neck go cold, and Jun-ho turned his body and muzzle to the opposite side like lightning. The moment a black shape appeared, blocking the rooftop door, he pulled the trigger five times in a row.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pop!
Kweeeek! Gwork!
With the monstrous shrieks of non-human zombies, three black shapes collapsed onto the rooftop floor with a thud. Because of the gunfire and the roars of the zombies in the school playground, he hadn't heard them coming up.
Kwarghhh!
Then, behind the fallen ones, other zombies burst out of the rooftop door like beasts. Jun-ho reflexively moved his feet, creating distance, and continued to fire.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang! Pa-pa-bang! Bang-bang!
He was moving, and the pouring snow hindered his vision, but Jun-ho planted every single shot into their heads as if he were unaffected. In just ten seconds, over 20 zombies fell with their heads blown open.
Gwarghhh! Kyaaat!
However, the monsters, who knew no fear, didn't care at all whether their kin died or not; they burst out of the rooftop door and rushed toward Jun-ho. Having finally emptied one magazine by planting a subsonic round into the forehead of the one in the lead, Jun-ho quickly threw the AR15 to the floor and pulled out an awl and a Commando Dagger from his waist.
The adrenaline that surged in the face of a life-or-death battle made Jun-ho's body, which had already surpassed the physical abilities of an elite athlete, move even faster and more explosively.
Swish! Swish-swish! Swish-swish!
A 20-centimeter special awl and a custom version of the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife, commonly known as a Commando Dagger, danced a monotonous dance in the pouring snow. Though Jun-ho himself didn't realize it at all, he didn't blink once as he stabbed the zombies in their eyes, mouths, and ears.
Those that approached him fell like logs to that monotonous, mechanical attack.
Gwarghhh! Kwat!
Furthermore, five or six of them rushed at him from every direction at once. But Jun-ho, who had spent over two years training his body and learning every combat technique solely to prepare for the apocalypse, pierced their skulls and destroyed the insides of their brains with the fastest and most efficient movements, combining technique and instinct.
Not only that, but even while fighting, Jun-ho’s eyes frequently scanned the rooftop door.
'Alpha D…!'
He spotted one zombie standing by the rooftop door, unlike the others, repeatedly letting out shrieks. A zombie Alpha grows stronger the more it successfully hunts and eats humans. It wasn't just about physical ability. Just as a predator that knew nothing as a cub becomes a seasoned hunter by gaining experience as it grows over time, a zombie Alpha learns how to hunt humans like the most cunning and cruel beast.
And now, Alpha D, who was driving the zombies under its command to attack Jun-ho, was the only healthy male in his 20s among the Gahyeon-ri Alphas. Since he possessed the highest level of physical ability in Gahyeon-ri, it was safe to consider the 'D' as standing for Dangerous.
Swish! Thwack!
Jun-ho, who had stabbed the roof of a zombie's open mouth with the awl in his left hand to take it down, waved his right hand at almost the same time.
Swish!
The Commando Dagger flew, cutting through the pouring snow.
Thwack!
It struck Alpha D. But since the distance was 20 meters, the dagger didn't hit the creature's head but stuck right below its neck.
Kwarghhhhhhh!!!
As an Alpha capable of expressing 'emotion,' the creature let out a roar filled with rage and pain. It was very similar to the Infrasound emitted by large feline predators like tigers or lions. The Alpha's roar, containing frequencies lower than the human audible range, was closer to sound pressure or vibration than a clear sound, and it stimulated the sympathetic nervous system of living humans, increasing heart rate and muscle tension, causing the body to freeze.
Jun-ho, who had prepared for this because he had experienced an Alpha's roar once before his regression, also felt his body stiffen momentarily.
However.
"……!?"
Jun-ho overcame the physical and psychological abnormality in an instant, enough to surprise even himself. But there was no time to be surprised.
Tap! Ta-tap! Tap! Tap!
Jun-ho instinctively drew his Glock 17, fired rapidly, and then drew a machete with his left hand and sprinted toward Alpha D.