My Beloved Steed
I had ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. Several days had passed since then. All that time it was just the same cycle of eating, sleeping, and running errands. I'd fetch whatever that bastard told me to bring back, haul food, handle all sorts of miscellaneous chores, and if zombies showed up I'd smash their heads in. Still, none of it felt completely pointless.
Hoo. Hoohoo hoo hoo... hoohoo hoohoo hoohoo hoohoo hoo.......
Just looking at my beloved steed in front of me brought out nothing but laughter. It was a colossal cart made by linking together no less than six of those green shopping carts from the mart! That wasn't all—I'd ripped out fresh iron bars to build a frame and attached tires for wheels. And it didn't stop there; I'd mounted a bicycle at the front so pedaling would move the whole thing forward. At this size you could honestly call it a compact car instead of a cart. I'd had my doubts while rolling it around during construction, but seeing the finished product, I could only laugh.
"If someone saw this, they'd think you made it."
"Ah, why!"
"Hey, Lee! Shut up and pack the damn luggage."
"Fine, got it."
That bastard never once played along. If I cracked a joke or tried to savor the moment, he'd just ignore it and move on. Still, he was a pretty reliable guy, so it was all right. Having him next to me gave off a sense of trust.
I started with the most important thing—the blankets—folding them neatly and loading them into the cart. While I worked, Noh Changhun just stared at me.
"What!"
"Lee Yeji, my friend. What did I tell you to pack first?"
"Ah."
I hurriedly loaded the generator and batteries into the cart, then packed the rest of the items so they wouldn't rattle around. At this rate, unless someone deliberately tried to wreck everything, the cargo should stay secure. Just to be safe, I lashed it all down tight with the thick rope I'd taken from the big stationery store and filled every empty gap with more supplies. Thanks to that bastard making the side rails so high, we could even split the load across two levels.
"We need to move, but you don't know the way, right?"
"Obviously. You're the author, aren't you? You'll know."
"Ha....... Where were you originally planning to head?"
"The highway."
"Half right, that's lucky. We'll follow the roads."
"Huh? We're not taking the highway?"
"Nope. The highway's blocked if you follow it all the way."
"Why?"
I couldn't understand it at all. It wasn't like most stories where zombies swarm in and people abandon their cars to flee. If they were lucky, drivers could've kept going. I'd heard the highways weren't blocked up that badly. Besides, even if the road was jammed, this cart should be able to handle it.
Noh Changhun hesitated a moment before answering.
"It's wide open."
"Ah. That makes sense."
"If there were tons of abandoned cars, we could sneak under them, but that's impossible too."
"True. On the road it'd mostly be cars left after accidents, with empty stretches here and there."
"Better to avoid the highway than camp out in completely open terrain."
"And while we're at it, we can grab supplies along the way?"
"Yeah."
Now I got it. There was nothing more horrifying than running into zombies in a wide-open area. At least with normal zombies we could fight our way through. But if variants showed up, that would be the end. Even if we survived one crisis, we'd fail the next.
"And because you have to ride the bicycle."
"Huh? Me? Weren't you going to ride it?"
"You have to."
This part made no sense. That bastard was clearly stronger, so why make me do it? But when I pictured him on the bike, I understood. It was definitely an adult-sized bicycle, yet it looked awkward as hell with him on it.
"Can't you modify the bike?"
"Getting this far with half-assed online knowledge is already a miracle."
"Too bad."
"Besides, it's really just connected so the bike can pull the cart. See this rope and hook?"
"Yeah."
"Untie the rope hooked to the saddle and you can separate the cart."
"Aha.... If it breaks, we can just grab a new bike and reconnect it?"
"Pretty much."
Every time I saw it, I was amazed by how much he knew. His real-life self and his internet persona were completely different. I still couldn't wrap my head around a guy with that build spending his breaks working out and reading poetry.
Anyway, with the plan explained and my beloved steed completed, I stuffed Beopbong into the bag where I could draw it anytime, then climbed onto the bicycle.
"Let's take her for a spin, just one lap!"
"Cut the bullshit. I built it assuming you'd pedal at a light jog, so don't push it harder than that."
"Aw, damn."
"If you don't like it, build it yourself."
"Never mind. Let's hit the nearest convenience store."
"Yes, yes."
I answered sullenly, but slowly pressing the pedals turned out to be pretty fun. After grabbing supplies from the building I'd cleared earlier, we adjusted our route like Noh Changhun said. I chattered away the whole time, but honestly I was too busy handling incoming zombies and keeping the bike steady to focus. Something about Chilsan, the Seonakdong River, Garak—I think that's what he said.
More than that, killing zombies from atop the bicycle was surprisingly entertaining. It felt like I'd become a cavalry soldier charging on horseback.
"Not Chiksan—Chilsan. We'll resupply and rest briefly at Chilsan West."
"Aaah, got it. Then we're heading to Garak-dong after?"
"Yeah. There's a Meister High School there. We'll rest at that spot."
"Then after that it was crossing the river and resting, right? Wait, we're resting twice in a row?"
"Because Baron is over by Gimhae Airport. He was probably occupying the nearby districts and expanding his forces this direction."
"Aha."
Noh Changhun gave me an exasperated look. But I couldn't help it. I was just a reader, after all—the author would know the setting better. Plus I wasn't even from Gimhae. He was the one from Gimhae.
"But, Changhun."
"What."
"Where in Gimhae did you used to live?"
"Why?"
"No reason. Just curious. I have no idea where we are in Gimhae."
"Jinrye. Around Jinrye, but I went to school in Jangyu. University was in Busan."
"Aha."
"You?"
"Seoul."
"Hmph."
Noh Changhun clicked his tongue. It sounded like he was having some regionally biased thought, so I glared right back. If he started in with "Seoul pretty boy" or something, I was ready to tease him right back. That was my usual repertoire. He always pulled that whenever he tried to verbally beat me down.
"That'll be useful later."
"Huh? Why?"
"The King and Queen were supposed to be in Gyeonggi Province, right?"
"Ah."
"And then they headed toward Seoul."
"Aaaah."
"Make sure you guide us properly when the time comes."
"Got it."
I thought he was finally talking like a normal person, but it actually felt good. It was like I'd been acknowledged, which made me a little proud. Or maybe after spending days together constantly dancing on the edge of death, we'd simply grown closer.
I was grinning like an idiot when a familiar groan reached my ears. It hadn't even been ten minutes since we'd killed the last group, but more zombies were coming.
"They're normal zombies."
"Yeah. Stay there. I'll handle it."
Noh Changhun ran forward confidently. Well, five normal zombies wouldn't even be a challenge for him. In less than a minute the zombies lay sprawled with their bodies torn open in multiple places. He flicked the blood off his knuckles, grabbed the cart again, and we continued.
Because we'd loaded so much cargo, I'd had to push at the very start. But once it got moving even a little, it picked up speed quickly, so I had no complaints.
"Yeji."
"Yeah, why?"
"Pick up the pace. Let's skip Chilsan and rest in Garak-dong."
"Why?"
"There's a reason."
"Then tell me the reason. Don't just keep it to yourself."
I sped up like he said, but I had plenty of questions. To get this anxious after just killing five normal zombies? Still, since he was the author, I figured he must know something. Sure enough, he spoke up right away.
"There's an Officer or a General."
"What?"
"You have that 'why would that be here' look. But it seems there is one."
"Why?"
Noh Changhun pointed at the zombie corpses. At first glance they looked like normal kills, but when I got down to check, the difference was obvious. Four were properly dressed. One was dressed strangely. The top was a men's dress shirt, but the bottom was women's dolphin shorts. The clothes didn't fit at all—the shirt was far too big while the shorts were painfully tight.
That was enough to tell me. The four properly dressed ones had been survivors who turned. This bizarre one had been born a zombie.
"Shit."
"We'll talk while moving."
"Okay."
My thoughts grew complicated. It had only been a month since the outbreak. There were still three weeks left before the zombies would begin using plants to reproduce. Yet they were already creating new zombies and dressing them up to trick survivors. It made sense—if there were naked zombies everywhere, people would immediately realize something was wrong. So they put clothes on them to hide that fact. To keep survivors from getting suspicious.
"This is going to be a pain."
The sigh slipped out naturally. Like that bastard said, the chance of an Officer or General being here was high. We could probably beat either one right now, but the other zombies were the real problem. Whether the General led them in a direct charge or the Officer used variants to kill us from afar, neither was a good situation.
Noh Changhun seemed lost in thought too. He kept his mouth shut and pushed the cart from behind.
Then one idea hit me.
"Hey, Changhun. Let's just detach the bike and turn it into a rickshaw."
"No can do. I focused too much on increasing carrying capacity. There's no room for me in front."
"Ah, yeah. If you got in it'd be packed tight."
"And if we remove the bike, the burden on you gets way too heavy."
"So we have no choice but to travel like this on the bicycle?"
"Yeah."
"It feels cumbersome."
"In the long run, conserving stamina is better."
Noh Changhun was right. It might look a bit ridiculous, but saving stamina was smarter for the long term. Pedaling nearly three or four hours straight to Garak-dong left my legs aching. If I'd had that rope wrapped around my body or needed to hold handles the whole time, it wouldn't have ended with just sore legs. The constant stopping to fight zombies, stopping to fight more zombies, hiding whenever another group passed by—that was what made it exhausting. In the end, we had no choice but to hide inside a suitable building to rest.