120 Kilometers (2)
“Outside?”
Jinwoo sprang up in alarm and bolted for the door.
“...It’s real.”
Standing beside Sheriff and peering out, Jinwoo clenched his teeth. An endless tide of zombies was pouring through the pedestrian access connected to Jayang-dong.
“What the hell are those?”
Jinwoo asked, staring at the front line of zombies now within a hundred meters. The absence of balloons told him these were unknown entities not even listed in Yubin’s data. Why would creatures like that suddenly appear out of nowhere?
“How the fuck should I know? ...Ugh, move! Let me inside! If we keep standing here we’re gonna make eye contact with those bastards!”
Sheriff, half-blocking the doorway, shoved Jinwoo aside and stepped fully into the Jabeolle building.
Graaaaah—!
The lead zombies, now even closer, roared into the empty air. Yet from the access point behind the subway station, more of them kept surging out in an unbroken flood.
“We can’t escape on the bike… right?”
Jinwoo couldn’t quite let the idea go. He glanced down at the exposed metal staircase. The bicycle he had left at its base was still there.
Running down all those steps, mounting the bike, and taking off would take roughly five seconds. The zombies were seventy-five meters away. That seemed worth attempting.
But slowing down twice to descend the promenade stairs on the bike would cost him another two seconds. Seven seconds total. That was too slow. The instant he turned on the promenade, the zombies would catch him—ninety percent chance or higher.
Jumping straight down without using the stairs would cut the time dramatically, but the height was no joke. It might be called the second floor, yet the building itself hovered high above the ground. If he rolled an ankle on landing… he was dead. Better to scrap the direct-jump plan entirely.
Maybe it’s better to shoot the nearest twenty or so, clear them out, then run down?
Jinwoo’s mind raced through the calculations. In real time, only half a second had passed when Sheriff grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.
“Stop talking shit and just hide, you idiot! Who do you think you are, Usain Bolt?”
With a grip too powerful to resist, Sheriff hauled Jinwoo toward the internal stairs, grumbling the whole way.
“The zombies are right there! How do you expect to lose them by running down stairs…!”
“Because there’s a bike, dumbass! Who said anything about running on foot?”
Jinwoo shot back, but the chance had already vanished. And if he thought about it coldly… Sheriff was right. Three people could not run down the stairs abreast, so whoever brought up the rear would lose precious time in that narrow window.
“You think the bike will hit full speed the second you pedal? Even pro cyclists can’t pull that off. For now just head to the third floor! If we keep loitering here and those things spot us, we’re fucked.”
Sheriff shook his head and took the lead up the internal stairs. Fortunately they had visited once before, so the layout remained vaguely mapped in his head.
They crept upward on the balls of their feet, muffling every step, until they reached a corner on the third floor—the tip of the cane-shaped building’s handle.
“A lot of them,” Mingu said, pressing his face to the window and looking down. The monsters had now swarmed right up to the outdoor stairs where the bicycle waited.
“Yeah. A whole damn lot,” Sheriff answered with a strange sound halfway between “yeah” and “right.” Mingu, of course, expected no etiquette from him. Truth be told, Mingu himself had never been accused of good manners anywhere.
“Hoo, that stench is brutal… Fucking hell.”
Sheriff covered his nose with his jumper sleeve and cursed. Hundreds of zombies packed the area, and their signature foul odor rolled off them in waves.
“Is this height safe?” Mingu asked again, mindful of the unusually low ceiling. Even accounting for the floating structure, it felt roughly like the third or fourth floor of a normal building, yet it didn’t seem high enough to be truly reassuring.
“…Probably,” Jinwoo answered, nodding without much confidence. In truth, he was less worried about their immediate safety than about why these creatures—who had not shown themselves once in the past twenty hours—had suddenly appeared now.
Zombies showing their faces for the first time in nearly twenty hours… They had not even been visible from the helicopter. Assuming a marching speed of six kilometers per hour, their activity radius had to be at least 120 kilometers. To think there were monsters that roamed such vast distances… He had been blindsided.
The rapid-fire questions revealed exactly how worried Yubin was. It seemed the march of zombies had finally entered his line of sight as well. Jinwoo pressed the transmit button and answered quietly.
“Yeah, we saw them too and took shelter on the third floor. Those bastards are passing right under our feet now.”
“The pedestrian access—the one connected to Jayang-dong. Right by the subway station… That’s where they’re crawling out.”
“We were inside the building looking for shields at the time, so we didn’t see that direction.”
Yubin paused, as if the situation was hard to believe, then asked again in disbelief.
“…Yeah. That’s what we did.”
Jinwoo answered weakly, like a child being scolded. Sheriff and Mingu both looked away, embarrassed. Only now did they realize what a dangerous mistake they had made.
“Hmm…”
Mingu quietly set down the polycarbonate shield he had been holding absentmindedly—the trophy he had taken earlier.
Having organized his thoughts, Yubin laid out their best course of action. He had no miracle solution, of course. It was simply the most basic rule for surviving in a zombie world: avoid the slick ones and the escape route would take care of itself.
“Got it. Don’t worry too much, and watch yourself too, Yubin,” Jinwoo said, trying to calm his friend before ending the transmission.
By then Samsuk-i had thoroughly sniffed the shield Mingu had set down. The dog suddenly turned, pretending to be fierce.
Sniff sniff—!
After sniffing the air a couple of times, the dog tensed every muscle in his body.
“What’s he doing? Is something there?” Sheriff asked, startled.
“Samsuk-i,” Jinwoo called softly, realizing what the dog intended.
“Wait. This isn’t the time to go looking for that. Stay.”
Whine—!
Samsuk-i, who had been ready to charge off in search of the shield, stopped with a disappointed groan. He had apparently been excited at the chance to show off his skills.
“How does the access point look, brother? Are they still coming out?” Jinwoo asked, facing the window that overlooked the external stairs. Mingu gave a small nod.
“Yeah. Still coming.”
“We’re really screwed,” Jinwoo muttered, rubbing his face and letting out a small sigh. The column stretched more than two hundred and fifty meters, five or six zombies abreast, and showed no sign of ending. That meant these uninvited guests numbered well over fifteen hundred.
“Damn it… I thought the chill I felt was from the ones coming out of the subway…”
Jinwoo kept watching the external stairs while rubbing the goosebumps on his arms. Fortunately none had climbed the metal steps yet, but it would not be strange if a few suddenly changed course. Zombie columns always left a few stragglers.
“There are some in the subway too?” Sheriff asked, eyes wide, turning around. Jinwoo nodded.
“I told you earlier.”
“Oh right, you did. I got scared and forgot for a second. Wait, then we can’t stay here! If they’re coming from the subway too we’ll be trapped from both sides!”
Even while grumbling, Sheriff moved carefully toward the large observation deck at the end of the building. From there the long section of the cane-shaped structure was dimly visible through the glass.
“It really is like that… Son of a bitch!”
Sheriff gripped his hammer tightly after spotting several zombie heads sliding past the broken windows. They did not yet know whether the creatures would round the curve and reach them, but it was now certain they had come within seventy meters.
“Really?”
Jinwoo turned, startled. Just as Sheriff said, the zombies were approaching along the passage connected to the distant subway exit. Even if only a dozen or so had appeared so far, no one could guess how many more might follow.
And far more dangerous was the possibility that they would spot the hidden survivors and roar. If that happened, the 120-kilometer horde wandering below, reeking of rot, would immediately join the hunt.
“We break through to the subway side first,” Sheriff said, looking at Jinwoo and Mingu. It sounded like the correct decision.
The distance to the passage connected to the subway station was roughly 120 meters.
The several exposed external staircases they would have to cross were worrying, but they could not simply sit here hoping for luck. The subway station offered far more escape options than their current position.
Eighteen seconds, maybe…
Jinwoo ran the numbers in his head. With a heavy backpack and rifle, that would be the best possible time—assuming nothing slowed them down. In reality it would take much longer.
“How many external staircases are there?” Jinwoo asked.
“Don’t know. Quite a few.”
Sheriff answered casually while tightening his Kevlar gloves again. If there was any silver lining, it was that no matter how many connecting stairs there were, none of them were very wide.
Even if the zombies sensed them and swarmed, only two or three could enter a doorway at once. Jinwoo was confident he could handle that many by himself while advancing. The two men with him were monsters in close combat as well. But… the problem was that the person making the call was Sheriff. He was not Yubin. Jinwoo could not feel certain that following Sheriff’s decision was the right move. He hesitated for several seconds.
Clang—!
The metal grating of the external staircase below rang heavily, urging Jinwoo to decide. Some of the uninvited zombies had finally begun climbing the outer stairs of the Jabeolle building. They would reach the first floor in less than thirty seconds.
“All right, let’s go!”
Jinwoo flipped the safety off his K-2 and inserted the radio’s earpiece microphone as he spoke. At that moment Mingu gently pushed the barrel of Jinwoo’s rifle downward.
“Avoid using the gun if possible. The sound will draw more monsters.”
After warning Jinwoo, Mingu pulled his machete from the Boston bag.
Srrrng—!
Mingu spun the long, heavy machete once in a light circle, the corner of his mouth twisting into a smile.
“I’ll carve the path here.”
“Sounds good, but don’t try to do it alone. Take the left side. I’ll handle the right. Let’s move!”
Sheriff gripped his sledgehammer with both hands and charged out first.
Tatata—!
Mingu followed right on his heels.
“Hey! How can you leave your bag behind? How are you going to last without even a bottle of water?”
Sheriff glanced back at Mingu, who carried nothing but the single machete, and scolded him. Mingu answered without the slightest hint of intimidation.
“I’ll just drink yours.”
“Like hell you will, you bastard!”
Sheriff spat the curse quietly, as if the mere thought annoyed him. Still, whether they shared water or rationed it, the priority was escaping this place alive.
“Let’s go too, Samsuk-i!”
When the others had opened a twenty-meter gap, Jinwoo signaled the dog. That way he could provide proper cover if anything went wrong. He was afraid the gunshot would summon the zombies below, but the time for worrying about noise had passed.
Grrrrr…
As Sheriff and Mingu descended to the second floor and rounded the corner, more than ten subway zombies that had been walking down the long corridor turned with throaty growls to meet them.
Graaah…!
The foremost zombie opened its maw wide—clearly about to roar. But Sheriff had no intention of giving it the chance.
“Who said you could scream!”
Graaah… Crunch—!
Sheriff’s full-speed dash ended with a hammer swing that shattered the creature’s jaw and neck together. The lead zombie swallowed its scream and was hurled into the left wall.
“Uraaa—!”
Sheriff immediately stepped in and swung the hammer again, smashing the second zombie’s skull.
Crack—!
The second zombie’s crushed skull made its upper body slump forward, knees buckling. Before its head could hit the ground, Sheriff twisted the hammer and delivered a horizontal full swing.
Wham—!
The first zombie, which had been trying to rise after bouncing off the left wall, had its head hammered into the wall and deformed into a grotesque shape. Two down. But plenty of zombies still remained.
Graaaaah—!
The remaining zombies all roared at once and charged Sheriff and Mingu. The echoes of their cries reverberated off the oval building’s inner walls so loudly that cold sweat ran down Jinwoo’s spine.
That sound… did the 120-kilometer uninvited guests on the floor below hear it too?