A Lesson in Unfairness
The General seemed convinced I couldn't win. How did I know? Because he wasn't just punching me—he was beating me down in every other way possible. Like a schoolyard bully picking on a loser, he never went for a direct knockout. Instead, he just kicked me lightly or jabbed with his fingers. With that monstrous body of his, even those casual touches hurt like hell.
"........Ugh!"
I ducked my head just in time to feel his palm whistle past above me. He was toying with me. Testing me. Bullying me. The sheer humiliation and frustration made me charge at him with everything I had. I lowered my stance, aiming for his knee, only to catch a knee kick straight to the stomach that sent me sprawling. Stomach acid spilled from my mouth. My limbs trembled violently.
I scrambled back up, expecting the next blow, but the General just stood there with his arms crossed, watching me. His eyes held a mix of surprise and something like approval—So you can still keep going, huh? That look pissed me off so much I gritted my teeth and swung.
"You fucking bastard! Who the hell do you think you're looking down on!?"
"Graaah?"
"Aaaagh.... D-don't.... P-please.....!"
The General grabbed my arm and lifted me clean off the ground. My instincts screamed what was coming next. Primal terror flooded my body. He looked at my face and smiled.
"Hah, I told you not to—!"
"Graaah."
"..........................!"
My teeth slammed together hard. I was briefly grateful my tongue was still inside my mouth. Then something crunched, and my body went flying. My head rang. Something wet trickled from my nose. Before I could recover, he picked me up again, checked my condition with a nod, and—
".......Huh?"
Instead of the expected follow-up, he set me down almost gently. Then he drove a fist into my stomach. While I forced myself to stay standing through the pain, he slapped my cheek twice—light, almost playful—before kicking me away with his foot. I flew several meters, crashed, and skidded across the floor. Blood pooled inside my mouth from a torn cheek. At least nothing was broken. That was both a relief and a curse. My body shook at the realization that I'd charged in with such pathetic strength.
Still, I forced myself upright. I was sick of running. Sick of waiting for someone else to fix things. Sick of making excuses. Sick of pushing blame onto others. So I had to stand. It was more like forcing my body to stay upright, but eventually I could move again.
The General watched me with satisfaction, lips curling into a smirk. That smirk pissed me off so much I launched myself at him and smashed my right fist into his face mid-air. His head snapped sideways. The moment I landed, I threw another punch. My swings started sloppy but quickly grew precise. Soon his chest was torn open, blood flowing. I aimed for his knee next—Let's see how you like getting your gut smashed.
The General spread his arms wide, taking every hit without blocking. Before I could pull back, he grabbed my cheeks, pinching and tugging them like he found me adorable. Then his hands dropped to my shoulders. I'd been trying to twist free the whole time, but it was useless. Stars exploded across my vision. A headbutt, maybe? No—something else.
".................??????"
My head rang. High-pitched tinnitus filled my ears. I couldn't keep my balance. I was walking, but I had no idea where. While I staggered blindly, a green arm shot out. I grabbed it on reflex.
"Ah."
"Graaah."
The arm immediately seized my throat and hoisted me up. I dangled for several seconds before being slammed straight into the ground. My mind went fuzzy. I must have lain there for dozens of seconds. Then pain flared across my cheek. The General was crouched beside me, slapping my face. He didn't want me passing out yet. He knew I could still move, so he wanted me to keep going. That mocking smile said it all.
I staggered to my feet just like he wanted and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"If you'd broken my teeth, you'd be dead. Since you didn't, I'll let it slide."
"Graaah?"
"Stop grinning like that, you zombie piece of shit!"
I couldn't breathe. His finger had driven deep into my solar plexus. The General kept jabbing me with his index finger. Each poke carried serious force. My skin turned purple, then red. When I still refused to go down, he spread his arms again, almost inviting me.
"........You fucking bastard!!!!!!"
I knew it was a trap, but I couldn't resist the provocation. I'd wipe that smug look off his face. I threw punch after punch, tearing open wounds all over his body. I hammered his knee, determined to break it. Then I noticed something strange.
".......The blood... it's not flowing?"
I'd definitely opened a gash on his chest earlier. Why wasn't he bleeding? No way. That couldn't be it. I reached out and touched the wound. It was gone. The injury had vanished. This bastard was regenerating. Right—of course. He'd devoured every fruit in the building and become some kind of mutant. Naturally he'd be strong. I already knew he was strong, but this... this was bullshit! Even if I went all out trying to kill him, he'd just recover in no time. That wasn't fair. Why the hell did a monster like this have to show up in the shopping complex I'd claimed as my base? Even if he'd eaten all the fruit, it had only been two and a half to three weeks since the outbreak started! There was no way a General should exist yet!
"It's not fair........ It's not fair at all.....! Waaaaaaaah....!"
"Graaaah."
"..........Uweeeeh."
I swung with everything I had, but his knee slammed into my stomach faster. My legs buckled. I dropped to all fours and vomited stomach acid. The General didn't attack again. Instead he knelt and patted my back. In his own twisted way, he was showing concern for his future bride. Except every pat from that massive body made me shake. Since it didn't seem like he was going to rape me right this second, I just stayed there crying for a while. Then I stood up again like a damn Weeble.
I didn't need a mirror to know how ridiculous I looked. My stomach—once pale—was now bright red. My cheeks were swollen. My arms and legs were covered in bruises. My back stung and my entire body felt like it was falling apart. I knew I should have been dead long ago. The only reason I was still alive was because I was female. It was almost funny. I'd thought being a woman would be a disadvantage in a zombie apocalypse, but here I was, surviving purely because of it.
The General seemed to like me a lot. Of course he did—I kept getting up no matter how many times he knocked me down. He probably thought I'd make a good wife.
"Haa.... haa...... ugh....."
Tinnitus rang in my ears. My vision swam with hallucinations. In the corner of my sight, Lee Yeji crouched on the ground. On the opposite rooftop, the building manager's corpse swung from a noose. And on that same building's water tank, Yeji's father was frantically signaling for her to run. The sight was so absurd and horrifying that I started laughing through my tears.
Then the General came striding toward me. I threw a weak punch at his stomach, but it barely registered. He wrapped both hands around my waist and lifted me up. My instincts knew exactly what came next. Tears streamed down my face as I thrashed.
"Uwaaaaah..... uwaaaaah........."
"............................."
"I-I'm sorry.... Please don't....... I-I'm really going to die........ I don't want to.... I'm scared...!"
".............................."
"F-fine, I'll be your female.... Just stop..... I said stop, you fucking—!"
A heavy impact and the sound of impact. Then the memories flashed by like a zoetrope—too fast to follow, but I recognized my childhood self. The child grew quickly: kindergarten, elementary school, becoming an upperclassman who skipped studying to hang out in PC bangs with friends. High school came next, grades plummeting because I never studied. Everything after that blurred and sped past too quickly to understand.
"Kuhak!"
Coughing, I forced myself upright. My whole body screamed in agony. I crawled toward the PC bang. Down the stairs, through the door, into the room. Headset. If I put on the headset— No, I'd already given it to Yeji. I just had to keep running. There had to be a chance. I crawled desperately until something yanked my hair. Trembling, I looked back. The General was holding my hair, grinning.
".......Hwaaaaah. Huuuk..... Hwaaaaah......."
God. I really wanted my mom.