The Cage of Survival
The madwoman—Jang Yeeun—was reinforcing the barricade. It was a makeshift defensive wall constructed from furniture, wire, and broken doors piled between the stairs of the 11th and 12th floors. The tool gripped in my hand was designed to tighten the wires anchored to the wall even further. From the 11th to the 15th floors, the survivors on each level had gathered into small groups. A community that cooperated and helped one another. And the person leading that community was none other than me.
The reason I was able to lead this community was… thanks to the familiar weight I felt on my back. It was an archery bow. Archery had been nothing more than a simple hobby. Back in my college days, it was a casual pastime I enjoyed with friends, a specialty where I was just a little better than the average person. But that hobby had now become an essential weapon for survival. Shooting arrows at human heads was never enjoyable. Every time I saw the monsters I’d struck fall precisely to the ground, I felt a twisted agony deep in my chest. What if they had been human?
Even when I tried to console myself by saying, "That’s right. These are monsters. They aren't human," that thought began to crumble within me. That question—"But they were human, weren't they?"—would not leave my brain. Every time it surfaced, I would bang my head against the wall, desperately trying to shake the thought away.
Just then, crash! The sound of glass shattering echoed from the floor below. In an instant, I spun around, eyes locked on the direction of the noise. I leaned out over the 11th-floor balcony and peered down. And then, a shocking scene entered my sight. Three zombies were falling out of a window. The monsters that fell disappeared into the darkness directly below.
"What? What on earth is going on?" I muttered to myself, struggling to grasp the situation. Why did zombies fall from the 8th floor? This was clearly something someone had induced intentionally. "Don't tell me... are there more survivors?" My heart began to race. If there were survivors, a powerful urge to save them washed over me. I took a deep breath and stepped back from the balcony. "If there are survivors… I have to save them, no matter what." Repeating that thought in my mind, I gripped my bow tightly.
The news coming through social media was chaotic.
"Quarantine has failed in Incheon."
"The infected are flooding into Seoul."
Daily life was already filled with a precarious energy, and I couldn't tell what such news would mean anymore. But what I had to do was clear. Prepare to evacuate. Among my preparations, the archery gear stood out. "I can somehow manage with this…" I didn't have plenty of arrows, but I figured they were reusable. Just then, a tremendous noise erupted from the first floor of the apartment complex.
"The security guard…?" The man was being torn apart by a moving corpse. The sight was too cruel, too inhumane. "This is…" Goosebumps broke out all over my body. That was when I realized. Evacuation wasn't the problem. Everyone knew the infected pouring in from Incheon were flooding into Seoul through Gangseo-gu, and we were just waiting for the result. And that result had already begun.
Our home was on the 11th floor, unit 1103. I had thought that being on a high floor meant safety, but… the zombies I saw in the videos possessed athletic abilities that defied imagination. They were monstrous beings that could climb half a floor in a single jump. When I ran out into the hallway, the residents were already moving busily. Everyone wore expressions of confusion. People caught in chaos and panic were screaming, pushing past one another. They didn't even know where they were going; they just moved urgently, as if trying to escape the apartment building.
At that moment, I realized something was wrong. "Going down like this is dangerous!" You shouldn't go down. Rationally speaking, it was the wrong choice. There was a high probability that the floors below were already occupied by the infected—the zombies. So why were they all trying to go down? "No! You can't go down from here!" I raised my voice and shouted at the residents. But they didn't listen at all. Everyone was in a state of panic, having lost their minds, pushing each other to get out of the apartment.
"Is everyone crazy?" They didn't understand the situation at all. People pushing each other to escape the building. I understood that they were in a situation they couldn't win, yet they were descending into a mess at a maddening speed. "If this keeps up, everyone's going to die…!" I couldn't stop the residents from going down. While they were only trying to escape, I remained in the hallway. In the midst of the confusion, I suddenly thought that the bow on my back might be useful. I gripped the bow and carefully aimed an arrow.
All I could do was control this situation, even if only a little. I fired an arrow, aiming precisely at the feet of a man trying to head for the stairs. Thwack! "Aaargh!" The man's scream rang out, and he collapsed onto the floor. A moment later, his movement stopped, and the hallway fell silent. I held my bow quietly, pointed it at the man, and said, "If you don't do as I say, I'll shoot you right now."
I approached and pulled the arrow from the floor. Then, I aimed the bow at him again and warned him. "From now on, tell the people upstairs. You must not go down to the lower floors. You need to install a barricade on the 11th floor right now!" The man’s hands were shaking, and I could feel his whole body trembling. "Please… please don't shoot…" After that, he quickly scrambled back upstairs. If reason was paralyzed, using fear was the best option. It was a method I had seen somewhere before, but in this situation, it was the only way I could control people and take measures for survival.
And there were four ways to move between floors in the apartment: three stairwells and the elevator. But everything was a hair-trigger situation, and I had to protect the 11th floor safely within the remaining time. Of course, there wouldn't be any idiot taking the elevator in this situation right now… I wanted to believe that, but at that moment, a ding sound rang out. It was the signal that someone had called the elevator.
"Ah, what the hell!" I spun around and ran toward the elevator. It was packed with people, and the doors were just about to close. I took a deep breath and aimed my arrow again. "If you don't get out right now, I'm going to shoot!" Their faces turned pale, and they froze upon seeing me. I jammed my foot into the elevator door and glared at them. When they met my gaze, they scrambled to open the doors and began to pour out. Like captured animals, they stumbled out of the elevator and knelt on the floor.
"I'm so grateful that you're listening to me so well." I drew the bowstring again and planted my feet firmly. "Everyone out!" Once everyone had cleared out, the last person left in the elevator was a woman holding a child. Did she believe I wouldn't shoot? She lifted her head and said in a trembling voice, "Please... please just let these children go down…"
I hesitated for a moment. Children? But I couldn't let myself look like the bad guy in this situation, could I? However, a moment of hesitation might be the end of everything. I took a deep breath and said in a cold voice, "If you don't want to die right now, get out!" At that moment, the woman's face contorted, and tears welled up. "Please…"
"Hey, what did I say? Right now, get out!" I swung the bow once more and shouted. The woman sobbed and stepped back, clutching the child. "Everyone out! Everyone!" I gasped for air and stared straight at her. "The lower floors are crawling with the infected; if you go down now, you'll all die!" Coldly, but firmly. "Going down from here is suicide! Do you want to put me in danger too? If you want to live, listen to me!" My voice grew sharper and sharper.
***
Thinking about it now, it seems like a truly insane thing to do, but I had no other choice at the time. But now, those people are grateful to me. Because the people who went down past the apartment barricade I had set up really did all become infected. During the time I’ve guarded this barricade, there were several moments where it almost broke, but this bow helped me every time. I had to go around and fight, and then go back to guard the barricade, but I fought every time. Because I fought, protected people, and saw blood, the people now trust and follow me.
But even so... I know well that if I leave this situation as it is, there is no future. Food will eventually run out, and while there is a water tank on the roof, food is truly limited. Even that is being rationed, but it’s already reaching its limit. And more importantly... now is not the time to be thinking about such things. The thing I need to do while I have time to worry about this is... to find a way to save the people who might still be on the lower floors.
My current floor is the 11th. And the noise I heard a moment ago was from the 8th floor. Floors 1 through 10... it’s no exaggeration to say they are already occupied by the infected. How to get down to the lower floors... Yes. That's it. There might be a way to go down through the balconies. There are still empty spaces on the balconies, and if I’ve already made it up to the 8th floor, I can use the spaces by climbing up and down. Of course, the danger will increase, but... there is no other way.