(Side Story) Zombie.
(Side Story) Zombie.
After checking outside, Master Sergeant Kim sensed an opportunity and turned around.
"Given the situation, may we search the building?"
"Oh~ Your friends showed up, did they? But you know this is our territory, right?"
Kwak In-gu received something from Myeong-cheol, who was standing beside him.
It looked like a detonator.
"With that much... wouldn't it destroy the entire Grasslands ecosystem?"
Master Sergeant Kim slowly turned and surveyed the area around the man revving the motorcycle.
From the buildings to the cars...
He pictured everything being wiped out at once.
"....."
A smile bloomed across Kwak In-gu's deeply lined face.
"...Why? You want to do it?"
The moment Kwak In-gu offered the detonator to the master sergeant, laser sights lit up all around them.
Twenty laser sights targeted the people one by one.
"You know we have twenty-seven guns... Major Im didn't give us much ammunition, but we have 248 rounds to defend ourselves. Each of you only has to dodge four or five shots."
The more Kwak In-gu smiled and tightened his grip on their shoulders, the more violently the two soldiers trembled.
"Our Ga-in worked hard on the cleaning, so listen carefully... You hear that sound?"
"....."
With laser sights trained on their heads, everyone fell silent. In that silence, they felt a tremor as though the building itself were shaking.
They could tell a massive number of zombies were approaching.
"Our Ga-in worked hard, you know? What are you waiting for~? Take your friends and run if you don't want to die."
Zombies were rushing in from all around.
The moment Kwak In-gu let go, they all started bolting out.
As he ran, Master Sergeant Kim shouted to the people ahead.
"Run to the defense line!!!"
People looked around in horror as zombies surged from the alleys like a tidal wave swallowing buildings. They dropped everything heavy and ran.
The road was wide, but not wide enough for more than fifty people to sprint at once while maintaining formation.
"Let's not meet again!!!"
BOOM!!!
A steel gate—not a hinged door, but one that dropped vertically—slammed down where Kwak In-gu had been standing.
The Field Mice watched from the rooftop.
"Whoa... look at all those zombies. That's more than I expected."
"You're right, Boss. Wow... when did she gather that many?"
"Guess Ga-in was really bored..."
"Hey, get up."
Yoo Min-seong heard the voice and looked around.
He saw a motorcycle with a long white rope running from its shackles.
Yoo Min-seong was wearing only boxer briefs and a black undershirt.
"Uh... where—"
"Where do you think? Right in front of the place you hid."
Yoo Min-seong looked around and spotted the alley he had gone into.
Then Kim Ji-seong appeared.
"You son of a bitch, look what happened because of you!!!"
He was also tied to the motorcycle, wearing only his underwear like Yoo Min-seong.
The man with the eagle tattoo on his face grinned as he spoke.
"Before we start the game, can you tell me what was in the case?"
"I don't know either... I was just told to deliver it."
The man with the eagle tattoo giggled like a maniac at Yoo Min-seong's answer.
"Ahahahak, good, good. Then do you remember where you hid it?"
"I only lost it, I never hid it."
"Heh, good, good~"
"....."
The eagle-tattooed man started beating the unmarked man.
"Ah! I remember now. It wasn't you, was it!?"
Leaving the already battered man behind, the eagle-tattooed man approached Yoo Min-seong and said,
"We're gonna play a game. If you remember while we're at it, just tell me~ Go!"
The motorcycle's engine began to rev. Watching it, Kim Ji-seong shouted urgently,
"You crazy bastard, tell him already!!! Talk!!! Fuuuuuck!!!!"
The rope jerked forward, and Kim Ji-seong grabbed the slack and ran.
Yoo Min-seong quickly assessed the situation and started running too.
‘If I stay at the end of the rope, one fall and I'm finished...’
Running barefoot on the hot asphalt rapidly tore up the soles of his feet.
Even so, in order to run faster, he gathered up the slack in the rope and sprinted.
Yoo Min-seong checked the condition of the rope, then spotted a signpost ahead.
He sprinted to the signpost, looped the rope around it once, and pulled with all his strength. With a sizzling hiss, the immense friction melted the rope.
The backlash flung a man off the motorcycle.
Seeing that, Kim Ji-seong spotted a pole and quickly attempted the same thing Yoo Min-seong had done.
The noise had already drawn a lot of zombies to the area, so the two began running again.
Kim Ji-seong soon caught up behind the running Yoo Min-seong.
"We have to get into the Field Mice's den before it's too late!!!"
"I'll follow you, so lead the way!"
"Shit!! The skin's torn clean off the soles of my feet. Fucking hell... If we get caught this time, we're dead for sure... Fuck..."
Since his hands were bound and useless, Kim Ji-seong ran ahead, guiding them down a passable route.
"Hey, can't you get these off?"
"No... It's impossible without tools."
"Fuck... We might actually die to blind zombies... Agh!!!"
Zombies with highly developed senses of smell would track them no matter where they went.
Their blood marked the ground like footprints.
"Hey, watch where you step. If you step on something infected, it's over."
"Yeah."
They spotted some sand, rubbed it on their feet, and started running again.
"Why is my rope so fucking long? It feels like I'm going to trip over it."
"True, but at least your hands aren't torn up like mine..."
"You got a point there."
After running for a long time, Kim Ji-seong and Yoo Min-seong stopped in front of a house.
"If there are zombies inside, it's over. Pray."
"I don't believe in God..."
"You little shit. In a world this fucked up, you should at least believe in something. You're Christian now."
"It's because the world is so fucked up that I don't believe."
"Oh... that actually makes sense. I think I like you for the first time."
Kim Ji-seong saw the knife marks in front of the door and let out a sigh.
"Hey, get in. No zombies."
The knife marks on the door were a Field Mice sign.
Kim Ji-seong found medicine and applied it to his soles while Yoo Min-seong returned with a screwdriver.
He wedged the screwdriver between two chain links, inserted the handle through the gap, and applied force.
Snap!
The handcuffs shattered and split into two pieces.
"What the hell, how'd you do that?"
Yoo Min-seong also split Kim Ji-seong's handcuffs for him, then applied the medicine to his own feet.
"Until these wounds close, the smell of blood will draw an insane number of zombies..."
Kim Ji-seong, who had been checking what was available to wear, nodded.
"The Field Mice leave plenty of supplies around their territory... but if they catch us scavenging for clothes, we're dead."
"What the hell are the Field Mice?"
"Forget it. Where's the box you were carrying?"
"....."
"If they catch me, I'm dead. Even if you won't tell me, shouldn't you at least give me a chance to run for my life?"
Yoo Min-seong hesitated, then decided he could trust Ji-seong and answered.
"I put it in the grass in the alley."
"What did you hear was in it?"
"That's... I can't tell you."
"Fine~ Forget it, forget it~ Fuck, it's my own damn fault for going through all that to save you. Fuck."
As the two finished preparing, Ji-seong—knowing the search perimeter would tighten if they stayed—spoke.
"Why are you dawdling? Hurry up."
Ji-seong came out holding a kitchen knife.
"Moron. Try stabbing a zombie's skull with that and your fingers will slide onto the blade before it reaches the brain."
After a moment's thought, Yoo Min-seong grabbed the screwdriver.
"Yeah, that's better."
They put on shoes and stealthily approached Geumoh-dong, Field Mice territory.
Walking ahead, Kim Ji-seong suddenly stopped.
He signaled for silence, hurried past Yoo Min-seong, and started walking the other way.
"Why are you going that way?"
Kim Ji-seong panicked at Yoo Min-seong's question and slowly turned around.
"!!!"
At the end of the alley, a zombie with a swollen neck was staring in their direction.
"Gruk?!"
Its pupils moved, then fixed clearly on Yoo Min-seong and Kim Ji-seong.
Yoo Min-seong slowly—very slowly—turned his head to look behind him.
"Kreeeeeeeek!!!!!"
"Run!!!"
The Screamer's cry sent the hundreds—thousands—of zombies Ji-seong had seen flooding into the narrow alley.
Zombies started piling up, forcing their way into the tight space between the buildings...
The mass rose several meters high, literally a tidal wave made of zombies.
And it was a sight neither of them had ever seen in their lives.
""Aaaaargh!!!!""
Yoo Min-seong glanced back, recoiled at the torrent of zombies, and ran with every ounce of strength he had.
A wall stood about 2.5 meters high.
Yoo Min-seong, running ahead, braced himself beneath the wall to give Ji-seong a foothold. Ji-seong stepped on him and climbed up.
Yoo Min-seong looked back and stretched out his hand as if asking to be pulled up.
But when his hand wasn't grabbed, Yoo Min-seong looked up.
However, there was no one visible above him...
With zombies already right behind him, he had no time to think. Yoo Min-seong kicked off the wall and hauled himself up with his injured hands, struggling.
A zombie grabbed his pants and nearly pulled him down.
Yoo Min-seong forced himself to stay upright. Realizing the zombie tide was right behind him, he kicked the zombie off his leg and scrambled up the slope.
With no time to rest, the zombie tidal wave approached, rising higher than the wall.
Yoo Min-seong didn't know the way, but he started running through the alleys wherever his feet took him.
The path narrowed until he entered a dead-end alley, and he shut the gate at the alley entrance.
"Huff... Huff... Ah... Kim Ji-seong, that son of a bitch..."
The zombie tidal wave would soon pour over that gate.
There was no way out, so he looked up at the sky with a despairing expression...
He spotted a child looking at him, too young for him to tell whether the child was a girl or boy.
"...! Hey! Help me!"
Ga-in watched while picking her nose, then flicked what she had dug out at Yoo Min-seong.
Ga-in gave him a cold, vicious smile far beyond anything expected from a little girl and flipped him off.
"Fuck off."
But Yoo Min-seong, having spotted Ga-in, felt a last shred of hope. He planted his feet between the buildings and slowly climbed up.
Zombies began spilling over what had looked like a high gate, dropping to the ground.
Watching the space beneath his feet start to fill up with zombies, Yoo Min-seong climbed up even faster.
"Huff!! Huff!!"
Having pushed his muscles to their absolute limit, Yoo Min-seong couldn't breathe properly.
"Huff... E... Excuse me... Hah... I know you're in there. Hah..."
A voice that sounded more childlike than expected came from behind the door.
But its tone was not childlike at all.
"Just die. Don't become someone else's problem."
"...Please... Save me..."
But the firmly shut door did not open.
He had used every ounce of strength to climb. His body shook with rigid muscles, and he stared in despair at his torn, bleeding hands.
"...Please."
Ga-in watched from the other side of the door.
Holding her breath, Ga-in aimed her crossbow through the crack at Yoo Min-seong's head, ready to put a bolt through it.
A zombie's head appeared near the rooftop, apparently atop the growing pile. Yoo Min-seong, having given up on everything, spoke.
"Sigh... you're right... Why should you trust me...? I'm sorry. From your voice, you sound like a kid... I'm not asking you to die with me... Sigh... You're right. I'm an adult, and all I've done is become a burden."
Yoo Min-seong seemed to have given up entirely, closing his eyes and hanging his head.
"Kim Ji-seong, that son of a bitch..."
A single zombie approached right up to him.
"Lower your head unless you want the bolt to go through you too... idiot."
Upon hearing that, Yoo Min-seong instinctively ducked his head.
TWANG!
The bolt cut through the air and buried itself deep between the zombie's eyes.
The door flew open with a clank, and Ga-in said firmly,
"Get in."