The Skeleton of Survival
Eun-ah, the backbone of their fledgling survival group, recounted everything that had happened so far in painstaking detail. "It was lunchtime, so a few students were already there," she said, her voice hoarse but her words clear. "Some from the judo club, plus a few others who'd wandered in out of curiosity. At first, everyone thought it was just some stupid prank. Even when we heard screaming outside, we figured it was just a fight... until kids came bolting into the gym like they were being chased by hell itself. Then we saw what was behind them—those things tearing into people—and everything went to shit."
As she spoke, Eun-ah wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Dried blood smeared across her skin. "The first couple, we thought we could just knock them down. Break an arm, choke them out, slam them into the floor and be done with it. But fuck—knock them down and they'd crawl right back up. Twist their necks and they still kept coming."
The profanity slipped out naturally, and no one batted an eye. In a world where the dead walked and ripped throats open, polite language would have felt far more out of place. "That was when we realized it. Just like in the movies—you had to smash the head completely or snap the neck and spine. Started with baseball bats. Switched to steel dumbbells later. If they got too close, we'd just grab them by the collar and smash them into the wall or floor. Took out a few that way."
With Eun-ah's strength, driving a zombie's skull into hardwood or concrete was entirely possible. Crude, but in a crisis, raw power often proved more reliable than finesse. When proper weapons were scarce, a strong body could still carve out a path.
Chae-won asked, "What about the other students?"
Eun-ah pressed her lips into a thin line. "...They all ran outside. Most of the zombies chased after them. If I try to call that a silver lining... it just makes my stomach turn."
The answer was short, but the horror behind it was obvious. The corpses and bloodstains still littering the gym floor were proof enough of what had unfolded. Ha-neul didn't offer empty comfort. In situations like this, meaningless reassurance only clouded the mind. What they needed now wasn't shared grief—it was a plan for what came next.
Chae-won seemed to share the thought. She gave a small nod and changed the subject. "This place is decent for catching our breath. The entrance is limited, it's spacious, and the second-floor spectator windows let us watch the outside. We can barricade the doors with stuff from the storage room too. But we can't hold out here long-term."
As a permanent base, it lacked food and water, and there was nowhere proper to lay down the injured. Eun-ah picked up the thread. "Exactly. We could manage a day or two at most. We'd find some water bottles and snacks if we looked, but that's not enough to keep a group alive."
Ha-neul rested her sword across her knees and slowly ran her hand along the hilt. The gym was relatively safe—they'd confirmed that much. But safety was relative. It only held as long as the three of them stayed together, kept the doors blocked, and the number of approaching zombies remained low. There were likely other survivors still inside the school, but there was no guarantee they'd all be uninjured. One wound, one bite mark, one student in shock could unravel everything.
Yet they couldn't build a community with fighters alone. A single face naturally rose in Ha-neul's mind—the school nurse. Though called a teacher, she was really a resident physician dispatched from a university hospital. She usually sat calmly in the health room wearing her white coat, handing out cold medicine or painkillers and disinfecting cuts. But that wasn't all she could do. Even at her young age, she was known for her skill in emergency and trauma care. Ha-neul still remembered how quickly she'd rushed over during an athletic club accident, stopping the bleeding and assessing the injury. She didn't pretend to be overly friendly with students and seemed to keep a certain distance, yet when disaster struck, she never hesitated to act. A real doctor.
Chae-won spoke the name aloud. "Nurse Cheon Ju-ha."
That single name told Ha-neul their thoughts had arrived at the same place. "The health room?" Eun-ah asked. Chae-won nodded. "Just adding more survivors won't mean much. Especially once injuries start happening that aren't from zombie bites. People will trip, break bones, sprain ligaments, or have panic attacks. Having a medical professional around changes survival odds completely."
Ha-neul mentally reviewed the wounds and corpses they'd seen. Even without direct zombie attacks, people could crack their jaws falling in hallways, get glass in their skin, or collapse from hyperventilating. In the worst case, zombie blood on the floor could infect open wounds.
Eun-ah agreed. "Yeah... I only made it because I'm built like this. If someone had been badly hurt, we'd have been screwed. You can press on a head wound to stop the bleeding, but after that, you're on your own."
The gym was a temporary shelter. Their numbers had grown to three. The next objective was the health room—and securing Cheon Ju-ha. Once that was settled, the conversation naturally turned to how they'd get there.
Ha-neul tapped the tip of her scabbard lightly against the floor, unfolding a mental map of the school. "Going straight from the gym to the field is out of the question," she said, drawing both women's attention. "It's too open. The field is already crawling with zombies. Once they notice you, they'll swarm from every direction."
Instead, they'd head back through the passage toward the special building, then cross into the main building to reach the health room. "The hallways are narrow, which forces one-on-one fights—or three at most. If we can control their numbers, even a hundred behind them won't matter."
Chae-won nodded and added, "On the way back from the health room, more zombies might follow the path we took—drawn by the smell of blood or coming to feed on the corpses we leave behind."
Ha-neul accepted the point without argument. "So we move fast. Fighting isn't the goal. We only take out what's blocking us and avoid the rest when we can. We can't just grab every person we see, either. The health room comes first."
Eun-ah's tired lips curved into a small smile. "I like how straightforward you are." She picked up the steel dumbbell again. "I don't mind fighting, but I hate getting tangled up in tight spaces. If we can slip past quietly, that's what we should do."
Once the movement plan was set, roles fell into place almost automatically. Ha-neul and Chae-won had already developed some coordination on the way to the gym, and Eun-ah's addition made the formation clearer. Ha-neul would take point. Her sword was the most efficient and reliable killing tool they had. She was best suited to cutting down zombies and clearing the path, and handling any that suddenly lunged from the front.
Chae-won would stay in the middle. The broken mop handle was still a crude weapon, but it worked well enough for keeping distance and precise thrusts. Her quick judgment and wide awareness made her ideal for balancing between the front and rear—stabbing anything that slipped past Ha-neul or adjusting their route.
Eun-ah would guard the rear. She knew her own strength. Grabbing close zombies by the collar and smashing them into walls or floors came naturally to her.
Ha-neul gripped her sword hilt tightly and stood. "We head to the health room, bring Nurse Cheon Ju-ha back if she's alive, grab whatever medicine and bandages we can, and return to the gym. Sound good?"
Until now, they'd survived on chance and instinct. From here on, they would move with structure. A sword-wielding vanguard, a calculating center, a powerful rear guard, and the medical personnel they would secure next. Inside the ruined school, the bare skeleton of a small survival group was taking shape.
The three of them moved equipment to the gym door to use as a barricade later, making it easier to seal again upon their return. They propped a metal shelf beside the entrance and positioned a stack of mats so they could be dragged into place quickly. Ideally, they'd return with only the people they needed, but they had to prepare for the possibility that they couldn't. It was the minimum precaution in case they had to use the gym as a base again.
The moment they opened the door, the distant groans sounded closer than before. Zombies were likely wandering just outside the field entrance or somewhere along the connecting corridor. But the three of them were no longer scattered individuals. Ha-neul stepped to the front and raised her sword. The blade still glistened faintly with blood, and her eyes were already fixed on the exit and the hallway beyond.
"Let's go."
At her single command, Chae-won and Eun-ah moved into position. Their footsteps fell into a single line as they stepped out into the ruined corridor, where the smell of blood still lingered in the air.