Rumors
While the community churned through its time of upheaval, the world outside turned on as though nothing had happened. Though, granted, if you called the apocalypse a perfectly normal world, then yes — it was turning just fine.
"A-and it's the truth, I swear! I know it's hard to believe."
"…."
Yoon Seunga let out a sigh as she regarded the boy across from her.
How many times has it been now?
Concluding there was nothing more to gain, she sent him on his way.
"Thank you! Heh heh."
Snatching up a loaf of bread as payment for the information, the boy vanished in a flash — no doubt frightened off by the sight of her, spear in hand, and the full-grown awakened standing guard at her side.
"Hm. Has everyone been doing drugs or something? Planes flying around. Three years since the world went to hell, and they expect me to believe it's running properly?"
"Didn't one of them say a car was flying too?"
"As if that makes it any more believable. Haa…."
"What kind of hardship is this, anyway."
"Just wait till we catch him."
"A B-rank awakened got killed, and what do you think you're going to do?"
"Please. You think the guy killed him with his own ability? He got help, or he got lucky."
"Fair enough."
The pursuit team of awakened agents numbered three, Seunga included. Their ranks were lower than those of the team that had been wiped out before them, and there were fewer of them to boot. But they weren't particularly worried.
Kim Youngsik was a powerless civilian, and more to the point, it was Yoon Seunga leading the pursuit.
'Squad Leader Seunga's the closest to Kim Youngsik, isn't she?'
'Surely they won't actually cross blades. Neither of them is the type, right?'
'Still, I heard something… Squad Leader Seunga might draw her spear for real.'
'The Leader gave her direct orders. If she doesn't want her whole family thrown out with the rest of them, she doesn't exactly have a choice, does she?'
'So isn't that dangerous?'
'If it gets dangerous, we just bail. Simple.'
'Fair.'
Seunga could tell from the atmosphere what her squadmates were murmuring about, but she paid it no mind. She felt no particular need to explain herself.
After all, they weren't exactly wrong.
She forced the darkness from her expression. Shaking her head, she pressed on with the investigation, relentlessly.
Youngsik, for his part, apparently saw no reason to hide his movements — there had been no shortage of witnesses.
The problem was that the rumors were almost entirely impossible to believe.
A plane?
Wiped out the zombies?
A flying lightsaber?
Made an Apache helicopter look like a toy?
Nothing but wild fantasies. Testimony after testimony that no sane person could swallow.
Still, the reason she kept up the chase to the end was that his route hadn't been difficult to track.
"No end to this road."
"How much farther do we go?"
"He really did go a long way."
"Quiet."
At her word, the two squad members shut their mouths. Unlike them — D-ranks — she was B-rank.
Having warned them, she moved carefully through the area.
The zone had already been picked clean of zombies, so it seemed safe, but you could never be too sure. Outside the shelter, complacency was fatal.
She was wrapping up her survey of the area and heading back toward their temporary lodging when it happened.
Halt—
She flashed hand signals to her squad and darted hastily into the building beside them. Her squadmates followed her inside with urgent expressions on their faces.
Signaling them to stay alert, she pressed herself close beneath the window.
-!@!%!….
-%#%!^!
The sound of voices drifted up from somewhere below.
"—Haa. That woman was supposed to be mine. I had her first."
"Plenty of guys are eyeing her, you know. We hauled in a big batch this time, so just pick a different girl."
"Tch. I like a woman who's already taken, you know? Tie the man up and make him watch…"
Yoon Seunga's brow furrowed as she listened. It took only that brief exchange to identify them.
Slatters.
The catch-all term for raider bands. They weren't called Slatters merely for looting. Murder, human trafficking, rape, drugs, cannibalism — these were people who committed atrocities without hesitation. Vile, irredeemable trash who preyed upon and terrorized their own kind.
There shouldn't be any Slatters settled around here.
Her eyes turned grave. The three of them, working together, could probably manage to deal with that many. But if there were more of their crew nearby, there was no telling how it would end.
"—Heh heh. World's in this state and people still seem to be living it up, huh? Look how many there are."
"—Tell me about it. The zombies get swept away, and these vermin come crawling out of every hole like bugs."
"—Ahaha!"
Only then, hearing their conversation, did it hit her.
Of course. Once Youngsik swept the zombies away, the survivors must have started moving around freely again. And then they'd caught the Slatters' eye and been dragged off.
Slatter bands that once wouldn't have come anywhere near this area would have found it all the easier to expand their territory now that the zombies were gone.
For her — someone who had once been captured by Slatters and nearly subjected to unspeakable things — it made her blood boil.
"Ghh."
"Boss…."
"…."
Her subordinates knew her hatred of Slatters all too well, and so they tried to hold her back. If she lost herself and charged out, they would have to risk their lives right along with her.
But their worry proved unnecessary.
The Slatters had already sensed them.
CRASH—
"A female's scent is practically radiating from in here — how the hell were we supposed to pretend not to notice?! Kekeheheh!"
"Phew- what a windfall! Two hunks of meat and a woman on top!"
"Kikik. And she's a pretty one, too? Hahahaha."
Their eyes glistened with greed as they raked their gaze over the group hiding inside.
The Slatters who smashed through the door bore grotesque tattoos across their faces and wore clothes little better than rags. Yet no one there dared look down on them.
Awakened.
As dangerous as zombies — no, worse, for they were intelligent and cunning besides.
Yoon Seunga bit her lip as she realized the aura pouring off them was in no way beneath her own. Perhaps because of memories from the past, her hands and feet had begun to tremble finely.
But she couldn't just let herself be dragged away without a fight.
Drawing the spear from her back, she charged at them. Her squadmates were merely D-rank; if she didn't draw their attention, things would go badly. The one mercy was that they were inside a building — in this cramped space, so long as her squadmates did their part while she pressed the enemy, there was a chance.
As a physical-enhancement type, her spear tore toward them like a streak of light.
KAANG- KANG!
Even against what amounted to a surprise attack, the men blocked her strikes with clubs and machetes.
Kang! Swish—
"Whoa, this one's the real deal? Physical enhancement type?"
"Top-tier face AND a solid body? Kyahaha! A jackpot!"
Her carefully aimed strike succeeded in splitting one Slatter's shoulder — but they simply burst out laughing, utterly at ease.
'I can't keep stalling like this. Even at a cost, I have to cut down their numbers!'
Yoon Seunga steeled herself for injury and threw her body in, severing one man's right arm.
"GRAAAAAGH!"
And because of it, an opening opened up on her flank — she took a sizable wound to her side.
Slaaash—
"Ugh!"
"Keheheh, my skills haven't gotten rusty yet, have they?"
"GRAAAH! You maniac! I'm dying here!"
"Nice and agile, aren't you? I'm looking forward to seeing how you move on a bed."
Even with one of their own down, the men kept fighting, laughing and jeering. Her eyes went cold and sharp. She threw herself at them again — they'd never expect her to counterattack immediately after taking a wound!
This time she needed her squadmates' help. With a combined attack, they'd only need to severely wound one more of the—
CLANG!
"Huh? Whoa, those two are fast. They're running. Kkukuk."
Two of the pursuit squad smashed through a window and hurled themselves out without a backward glance.
Seunga, left behind, let her mouth fall open in quiet disbelief.
"Let those two go. We'll finish bagging this one here."
"Yeah, and the one-armed cripple needs treatment fast anyway."
She felt it — the edge of disaster.
'Ah….'
So this is where it ends.
Even for her, facing two awakened of the same rank while wounded was beyond her. Even with everyone attacking in concert the outcome would have been hard to call — and now two of her own had fled.
'They may not have been my direct subordinates… but they were personnel the Leader assigned….'
Then, in her despairing eyes, something appeared in the sky beyond the window.
Drifting…?
Something was gliding serenely through the air, floating slowly closer.
"Wh…?"
Even in the middle of battle, the sight was strange enough to make her mind go blank.