I Am Necromancer (3)
I don't even know why this is so fun. Zombies that would tear me apart if they caught me. Survivors in this mart who might suddenly open fire. Or, I could be an idiot and trip here, dropping my lymph nodes. It’s a situation where one wrong move means I’m screwed. Yet, here I am, doing such an incredibly dangerous thing like it’s nothing. Maybe I’m broken somewhere. Maybe I’m doing this because I need the dopamine.
But in reality, this situation isn't all that dangerous. They can't aim accurately in this darkness. It’s not even certain if they have guns. Zombies? If I get caught by those things, that’s just my fate. If I’m slow enough to get caught by those morons, I deserve to die. Why live any longer? With the zombies trailing behind me like a string of beads, I climbed to the second floor, and it didn't look like anyone was there. Looking at the moving walkway leading to the third floor, the top was blocked by miscellaneous items. Desks, carts, things like that. It looked like they’d set up a barricade to stop the zombies. So, I ran up to it and pushed everything aside with all my might.
They had put quite a bit of effort into stacking it, but the crude barricade, likely built with caution to avoid making noise, collapsed easily. There was a cart chained to another, but unfortunately for them, I’m a human, not a zombie. I simply unlocked the chain, and the zombies came crawling up to catch me. The moving walkway is narrow, so there’s no helping it. It’s a relief that those things can even climb up here. Honestly, I want to kick the zombie in the front. If I did, they’d all tumble down like bowling pins all the way back to the second floor.
"Who the hell are you! You son of a bitch!"
Then, a shout. An angry man’s voice. It came from deep inside. Hearing that, I hurriedly opened the airtight container, took out the lymph nodes, put them in the pouch, hung it around my neck, and dashed in the opposite direction of the sound.
"Fuck! Zombies are coming! Block them!"
Hearing that, I poked my head out just a little, but there was no one actually coming for me. The zombies had already made it all the way to the third floor. My presence had vanished, but since they heard the noise, the aggro had definitely shifted. The zombies passed the barricade I’d cleared and headed inside. I stood still and watched them. A feeling of superiority. A sense of smugness. I am safe from these zombies. But they won't be.
Their spines must be tingling. The outcome is obvious.
"Aaaargh!"
A scream echoed. There were already over ten zombies inside. And even now, more zombies were crawling up, one after another. Seriously. I want to help them up one by one. Or maybe turn on the moving walkway for them. Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Once they’ve made it this far, it’s over. If there were more floors, it would have been a hassle, but this mart ends at the third floor. The only options are to fight the zombies or jump outside. But zombies keep coming in, and it’s not like there are no zombies outside. It’s doubtful they could even make it safely from the third floor to the first. So, I joined the crowd of zombies and went inside. I’m glad I have a gas mask. It must be reeking in here, right? It’s the literal smell of death.
No matter what you do, you can't avoid death. Is it worse to die by being attacked by a zombie? Or is it better to turn into one before that? That’s impossible to know. And it’s not something I need to know, either. Since it’s flat ground and not a sloped moving walkway, the zombies move relatively fast. Even while falling over repeatedly, they head toward where the humans are at the maximum speed they can muster. It’s definitely dark in here. You can’t see a thing. Yet, the zombies keep moving forward. As if they know exactly where everything is. In other words, zombies aren't just about sight and sound. That’s for sure. These things detect the lymph nodes I’m carrying. But looking at the current situation, I can form another hypothesis. Perhaps these things aren't detecting the lymph nodes, but something else about humans? And the lymph nodes I have are just erasing that something. Or neutralizing it. Or maybe it’s both. They detect the lymph nodes AND something about humans. And that something isn't sight or sound. If so, that leaves taste, smell, and touch. Since it’s not taste or touch, by process of elimination, it has to be smell. Or, it belongs to a sixth sense, not the five senses.
I kept thinking while following the screams echoing from everywhere and the zombies heading toward them. Smell. That seems most likely. Can pheromones be considered a type of smell? That’s not certain. But it’s hard to call it a sixth sense. Anyway, I suspect it’s something along those lines. They detect and move toward human-specific pheromones. And the lymph nodes play the role of masking that. Logically, there’s nothing strange about that. I just don't know exactly what that 'something' is.
The scream someone was letting out in the darkness cut off. Did they die? Or are they turning into a zombie? Now I can hear a woman’s scream, too. Well, it’s chaos everywhere. Maybe the darkness is a blessing. The sight unfolding around me right now probably isn't very beautiful.
One thing that’s puzzling is that there are no gunshots. Of course, shooting a zombie wouldn't be of much use. But there’s no law saying you have to shoot the zombies. You could shoot yourself, right? If I had a gun and was going to die by a zombie in about 10 seconds? I’m confident I could put the muzzle to my head and pull the trigger without hesitation. That’s the most rational choice, isn't it? It’s a way to die with less pain and less horror, so there’s no reason to refuse.
One by one, the screams fade. I hear unpleasant sounds like crunch, squelch, kiiiaaak! I hear the sound of something being swung, and sounds of thud! bang! crunch! fuck! Zombies aren't that strong, so they must be making a final struggle. Not that it would change anything.
Following the sounds, I found a light turned on in one corner. And a man swinging a steel pipe. There were a few zombies lying dead near him, and one zombie had just been beaten by the man and joined the others on the floor. But that doesn't mean the zombies are dead. They just squirm on the ground, reaching out their arms to grab the man.
"Ughhh!"
The man swung the pipe again, crushing the head of another zombie, and crunch! he stomped on the arm of a zombie lying on the floor reaching for him.
"Fuck! Come at me! Come on! Ughhh!"
A shout filled with spite. Arms swinging threateningly. In the meantime, another zombie was hit by the pipe and fell. The man watched it, breathing heavily, and looked at the next zombie approaching him. And at that moment, the man stopped dead. Then his body began to tremble violently. The zombies stopped lunging. And the man turned into a zombie right there.
It’s a familiar sight. Well, I’m the one who forced the infection, but still. That’s probably the problem with fighting zombies. Zombies aren't that difficult. They’re dull and weak. Becoming a zombie doesn't give you superhuman strength or power beyond your original body. But they force the infection like that. It’s probably because the spore concentration rises rapidly when a zombie is nearby. Or maybe intense emotion or stress acts as a trigger? One thing is certain: fighting zombies without a gas mask is a victory that isn't really a victory. A world where you turn into a zombie once you hit 100 percent. So, there’s no chance of victory for humans. This is a game humans are guaranteed to lose. How can you beat a random infection? This is an airborne infection. And one that’s already piled up as much as it can.
Anyway, after the man turned, the commotion vanished. A strange silence. There are dozens of zombies in the darkness, but not a single sign of movement is felt. Having done what they needed to do, the zombies will remain quiet like that until they feel a new stimulus. But this is indoors. They probably won't find the stimulus they want, and won't they just die here like this?
I didn't want to stay inside any longer. So I came out. But I can't go back yet. I have to check how many died in there. 11 men. At the very least, I have to check that. That’s the only way to be sure. For now, it doesn't look like anyone escaped this mart, so even if they died, they died in there. Or they’re still alive, trembling somewhere. The gas mask was too suffocating, so I went back to the cafe. The black box was still recording. I lay down next to it, took off the gas mask, and put on a regular mask. Then I sprawled out on the sofa and spent time. Until the morning sun rose. Maybe because I slept earlier, I wasn't sleepy. So waiting was incredibly boring. To the point where I thought about going back to the main base. But I just waited. Thinking about zombies and humans. By the time the sun rose, I felt as if I had burned everything white. As if my brain had been raped by thoughts all night? So when I got up watching the rising sun, I felt a slight dizziness. I even thought, Is the morning sun always this bright?
I went to the mart. And checked it slowly, starting from the first floor. There were no corpses on the first or second floors. I occasionally mistook a lying zombie for a human, but none of them were. Climbing to the third floor, I could feel the tragedy of last night just as it was. The corpses. The problem is that some of them had turned into zombies. So counting the bodies wasn't easy. The only relief was that the ones who had newly turned into zombies had clean clothes. They probably couldn't do laundry, so they must have changed into the clothes in the store. Plus, their condition wasn't too bad. So I could distinguish between the zombies that came from outside and the ones that turned yesterday. 10 men and 5 women. 5 women. They brought a lot. The problem is the 1 man. Fuck. Where on earth is he? Did I miss him? I looked for a long time, but he wasn't there. But then, an emergency exit caught my eye. Just in case, I opened the door and went in, checking above and below slowly. And in a corner between the stairs of the first and second floors, I found a man curled up, trembling violently. He’s still alive. He’s not a zombie. He’s a human. But his mind could hardly be called human. I mean... he looked insane?
"Tsk."
With that, I clicked my tongue once, aimed my pistol at him, and pulled the trigger. With a bang!, the guy was put at ease. Leaving him behind, I went down to the first floor. Then, I calmly walked out of the mart, walked to where the car was, and returned to the main base.