Welcome to Zombie World (4)
The Sheriff stared at Jinwoo with the same look he’d given Mingu earlier.
“What the hell is wrong with you, man?”
“Why are you suddenly talking like some creepy bastard?”
“It’s obvious. The guy who was beating the shit out of my friends like that—if it had been you, Sheriff, you would’ve done the exact same thing, wouldn’t you?”
Jinwoo replied indifferently, without the slightest change in emotion. The Sheriff furrowed his brow and sank into deep thought.
“Would I have…?”
But Yubin simply nodded, looking completely convinced.
“Well… If I’d heard something like that before, I probably would’ve gotten goosebumps. But haven’t we all changed a little? In a world like this, if someone hadn’t changed, that would be even stranger.”
The fact that several corpses lay right at their feet and none of them recoiled or tried to avoid them was the clearest proof. In the old days, the sight would have been so horrifying they couldn’t have even looked straight at it.
“Anyway, we can save the chit-chat for later. Let’s focus. Looks like the zombies that were here earlier are moving over that way now.”
Standing with the Han River at his back, Yubin gazed toward the road behind the subway station and the pedestrian underpass. The fact that they could see the other side so clearly from here meant the zombies occupying the apartment complex could come patrolling this way too.
“This area is a blind spot that’s hard to see from that floating café…”
Yubin took a few steps toward the subway station to get a better look—
“Hey! Get back!”
The Sheriff roughly yanked him back by the shoulder.
“Ugh!”
Before Yubin could even react, he fell backward and landed hard on his ass. At the exact same moment—
Crash!
The loud sound of shattering glass rang out as something plummeted down along with a shower of glass shards. It was a zombie that had leaped from the second floor of the subway station.
Thud! Thump!
The first zombie slammed shoulder-first into the ground, and right behind it, the second and third zombies hurled themselves down in succession.
Graaaaah—!
With long, drawn-out roars, they charged straight at Yubin and the Sheriff. Their shoulder and ankle bones had twisted grotesquely during the landing, but they didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
“Are you kidding me?”
The Sheriff stepped in front of Yubin and swung his hammer in a wide arc.
Crunch!
The first zombie’s jaw and neck bones shattered simultaneously as its body flew up into the air. Using the hammer’s momentum, the Sheriff mercilessly smashed the second zombie’s chest.
Crack!
The zombie’s ribs caved in, its body bending like a bow as it was hurled backward. In that brief window, the third zombie had already closed the distance to just a meter away.
Crack!
The Sheriff twisted his body slightly and delivered a lightning-fast side kick to the creature’s knee. The moment the zombie’s leg bent backward from the impact of his heavy work boot, the hammer came crashing down onto its skull.
Splat!
With a horrific sound of the skull splitting into multiple pieces, the third zombie collapsed on the spot.
Bang! Bang!
Jinwoo, who had already shifted to the side, blew the heads off the first and second zombies as they tried to get back up.
“Haa…! Haa…!”
Yubin gasped for breath as he watched green brain matter leak from the back of the zombies’ heads. In the short time it had taken him to fall and try to stand back up, the Sheriff had fought three zombies in close quarters while Jinwoo had repositioned and taken down two more. It was a moment that made the vast difference in their talents painfully clear.
“You okay?”
The Sheriff checked on Yubin. Yubin nodded.
“Haa…! Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Dude… If that had been your real arm, it would’ve been completely shredded.”
The Sheriff looked at Yubin’s left hand with slightly widened eyes.
“Huh?”
Yubin looked down. The wrist section of his prosthetic left hand was gripping a life vest covered in fishing hooks. Just as the Sheriff said—if it had been a real hand, it would have been mercilessly impaled by all those hooks. Fortunately, the high-end prosthetic was unscathed. There were a few deep scratches, but that was nothing to worry about.
“That’s why you shouldn’t have yanked me so hard, Sheriff.”
Jinwoo helped Yubin to his feet and added a remark. The Sheriff raised his voice, looking wronged.
“Hey, Yubin was just walking straight toward it without thinking! What was I supposed to do?”
“You did good, Sheriff. But… how did you know the zombies were going to jump down? I didn’t hear anything.”
Yubin asked while brushing off his backside.
“Their movement was reflected in the glass. Up there on that window.”
The Sheriff pointed at the shattered large glass pane. Yubin followed his gesture and looked up.
No way… there was no angle that should have shown any reflection…
Even after hearing the explanation, he still couldn’t quite understand. It seemed the Sheriff’s field of vision was vastly wider than a normal person’s. Or maybe his ability to sense presence was more developed than anyone else’s. When Yubin glanced at Jinwoo with a look that asked, Did you notice that reflection too? the other boy simply shook his head. Jinwoo could sense zombies nearby through goosebumps, but in a place like this—practically a zombie field—his internal alarm was constantly going off, so it wasn’t much help.
“No, I didn’t see it either. Not until the Sheriff shouted.”
“So in the end, it’s just a difference in reflexes? Anyway, thanks to you, I’m still alive. Whew…”
Yubin placed his prosthetic hand on his chest and let out a long breath.
-Chhzt. You guys okay?
Mingu’s voice came through the walkie-talkie, asking for their status. He must have been startled by the gunshots. Yubin cleared his throat and pressed the transmit button.
“Yes, hyung. Don’t worry. We’ve cleaned them up.”
“I told you not to take the lead.”
The Sheriff gave Yubin’s stomach a light tap with a worried expression.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Yubin raised his hand to show he understood. He knew very well that he needed to stay calm, yet for a moment he had forgotten that he wasn’t all that strong. The basic rule was to never walk directly beneath a building like that. Because the Sheriff and Jinwoo were right beside him, he had carelessly assumed there wouldn’t be any problem.
“Are there more hiding up there?”
Yubin muttered anxiously as he looked up at the subway station’s large overhanging exterior. He thought he should be getting used to this by now, but every time he had a close encounter with zombies like this, his heart raced like it was about to burst. Maybe he could never become as cold-blooded as the Sheriff, Jinwoo, or Mingu.
The Sheriff, who had scanned the entire second-floor glass area, answered.
“Nothing moving right now.”
“Let’s finish the job quickly and get out of here. Damn, my heart’s pounding…”
Yubin wiped the sweat from his forehead and checked his watch. The stopwatch he had set when leaving the floating café had already passed the twenty-five-minute mark. Twenty-five minutes was more than enough time for a zombie horde with a six-kilometer activity radius to return to this spot.
“Where should I tie this?”
The Sheriff asked as he loosened the laundry line. Yubin pointed at the four bridge piers thickly covered in ivy, one after another.
“Tie it there and there, then loop it around over there. Like this…”
Yubin drew a large diamond shape in the air, then pulled out the silver emergency blankets and spread them wide.
“Won’t this block almost the entire path?”
The Sheriff followed Yubin’s instructions, but his face clearly showed he had no idea why they were doing this.
“The path here is way too wide, so we’re deliberately narrowing it. That way they’ll have to brush against this.”
After speaking, Yubin dragged over the scattered folding tables and plastic chairs and piled them together in one spot. This was also a kind of guiding device to funnel the zombies in a single direction. Of course, some would probably just trample over them.
“Well, I guess you’re right.”
The Sheriff quickly jumped between the piers, connecting the laundry lines. Yubin placed the silver blankets on the taut lines the Sheriff had tied and secured them with cable ties. Then he hung the balloons connected to the fishing hooks. When their work was about halfway done, Jinwoo suddenly raised his rifle and stepped forward urgently.
“Stop working! They’re coming from up ahead!”
Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, the zombies that had entered the underpass spotted them and began to roar.
Graaaaah—! Grraaaah—!
Their howls echoed off the narrow passage’s walls, amplifying several times over. It was impossible to gauge their exact numbers in the darkness of the underpass, but it was clear there were quite a few. And… if these things were making this much noise, there was a high chance others would join in.
“Let’s just grab the bikes and go! Forget the rest of the balloons!”
Jinwoo placed his finger on the trigger and brought his eye to the scope. The zombies currently visible were ones he could handle alone, but the problem was that there was no information on how many more might come after them.
Bang! Bang-bang—! Bang! Bang-bang-bang—! Baaang—!
Jinwoo’s K-2 spat fire once again. The gunshots ricocheting off the Cheongdam Bridge’s deck and piers filled their ears. At the same time, the zombies rushing out of the underpass collapsed like puppets with their strings cut, tumbling all over the place. The instant they emerged from the underpass and revealed themselves in the sunlight, Jinwoo’s bullets pierced their heads without fail.
Clack!
Yubin hooked the life vest—with the balloons still attached—to the laundry line and locked the clip. Since they had already invested time and resources into it, he didn’t want to waste the work. With a little luck, they might still be able to attach these balloons to some zombies.
Crunch!
The Sheriff quickly moved to the bike rental station, untangled the jumbled bicycles, and lifted three of them all at once.
Bang—! Bang-bang—! Bang-bang—!
Jinwoo was still pouring 5.56mm rounds toward the underpass exit. He had already swapped out one magazine, and after two more shots, this one would be empty too.
“Stop shooting and get on this!”
The Sheriff, who had come up behind him, held out a bicycle. Yubin was already seated on one and waiting.
“Got it!”
Jinwoo put one round each into the two zombies that had just leaped into the sunlight, then slung the K-2—now fitted with a fresh magazine—over his shoulder. He quickly mounted the bicycle.
“Go! Go! Go!”
The Sheriff gave the signal and began pedaling furiously. The saddle and handlebar heights were far too low for his massive frame, making him look like a grown man who had stolen a child’s bike, but there was no time to adjust anything now. He used his exceptionally developed muscles to stomp down hard on the pedals.
Thump-thump-thump-thump—!
As they descended several gentle, shallow sets of stairs, the seat—with almost no suspension—slammed into their butts. The three friends ignored it completely and focused on maintaining speed and balance. If they lost control and failed to make a proper turn, they would go flying straight into the Han River.
Whiiiish—!
Once they cleared the stairs and reached the bike path, the advantage of riding bicycles finally showed itself. The roughly three hundred meters to the floating café felt much shorter, and the zombies chasing them no longer seemed frightening.
Al-! Al-!
Samsuk-i, running swiftly beside Jinwoo, barked excitedly. This kind of walk was a first for the dog, so he seemed purely happy without understanding any of the humans’ feelings.
“Back when I was riding a bike in Gangwon Province…!”
Jinwoo sped up beside the Sheriff and shouted.
“…I got caught by soldiers from another unit and almost died!”
“You idiot! Why the hell are you telling that story right now?”
The Sheriff shot Jinwoo a glance that said he was looking at a weirdo. It was surprising that someone like Jinwoo—who wasn’t Samsik-i—would suddenly spout such ominous words so casually. Moreover, the guy was grinning brightly as he spoke.
“It just reminded me! That’s why I’m happy! Back then, my wish was to meet you guys and travel together like this!”
The man who had fulfilled his wish leaned his upper body forward with a huge smile on his face.
Whiiiish—!
As he picked up speed, the bicycle shot forward even faster along the road.
“Oh yeah? You wanna race?”
Stimulated by Jinwoo overtaking him, the Sheriff pedaled so hard it seemed the bike might break. The ill-fitting saddle height was no problem at all in the face of his tremendous strength.
“Uaaaaah!”
Not to be outdone, Yubin crossed his legs frantically and pedaled even faster. He could understand losing to his two friends, but he couldn’t stand the way Samsuk-i kept glancing back while running ahead, as if mocking them with that tongue-lolling grin.
Whoooosh—!
The headwind blowing from the northeast slapped their faces with considerable force. But even that fierce wind couldn’t slow the three friends’ powerful sprint.