Witch of Ruin (5)
Click—!
The key slid into the driver’s door of the Genesis Coupe and turned. The lock released with buttery smoothness, as if the whole thing had been waiting for him.
“Well, this changes the math…”
Sheriff wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, staring at the door that had opened so easily. He had turned down Jinwoo’s earlier suggestion to find a working car because the hassle far outweighed any realistic payoff.
First you had to pick one from the endless wrecks piled along the roadside that could actually be driven out. Then you had to locate one with its keys still inside, track down a fresh battery, and swap it in. A brutal amount of work.
But this? This was practically a gift from the gods. All it needed was a new battery and he could cruise back to the theater in the car he had dreamed about for years. He could stuff the trunk with entire cases of canned ham, load it with all the bottled water they could want, and never break a sweat. Just picturing that smooth, powerful drive was already scrubbing away a solid third of the stress that witch bitch had dumped on him today.
“Let’s see…”
Sheriff set his hammer on the roof and dropped into the bucket seat. His massive frame, plus the backpack and duffel, made it a tight fit, but it still felt right.
“Only problem is the battery…”
He pressed the start button without much hope. The battery had died long ago, of course; the engine stayed silent. Last summer a few abandoned cars still had juice, but four months later that was impossible.
“Where the hell do I find a new one?”
Both hands on the wheel, Sheriff was scanning the area when—bang!
A single gunshot echoed from the supermarket entrance. A warning. Zombies, and a lot of them.
“Son of a bitch! Can’t even daydream for five seconds!”
Sheriff vaulted out of the car, snatched up his hammer, and sprinted through the back door, across the store, and out the front like lightning.
“Up!”
Jinwoo pointed at the stairs leading to the upper floors. Sheriff didn’t bother asking how many or from where; he simply obeyed.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Jinwoo, Sheriff, and Samsuk-i raced up hundreds of steps to the rooftop. When you had the chance, you got as high and as far away as possible. That was the safest way to let a zombie march roll past.
“Haa… haa… how many times are we doing this shit today?”
Sheriff slammed the roof door shut and bent over, gasping. They had already climbed to the theater, come back down, and repeated the rooftop-evacuation dance several more times on the way here. Any normal person’s legs would have given out long ago. Jinwoo pulled off his helmet to let the sweat cool on his scalp and gave Sheriff’s shoulder a light tap.
“Look on the bright side. All these zombies have their advantages.”
“The fuck… haa… what advantage?” Sheriff panted, incredulous.
Jinwoo answered with a straight face. “Tomorrow, even if the Sun side sends more search teams, they won’t be able to sweep buildings freely. That makes us safer.”
That much was true. Anyone who didn’t understand how to survive in a city crawling with the dead would find it nearly impossible to last two days in Seoul, no matter how many hundreds of fully equipped soldiers they dropped in.
“So how many are coming right now?”
Sheriff flapped his jacket to vent the heat trapped against his body.
“No idea. Whew…!”
Jinwoo shook his head shamelessly, then cautiously peered over the edge of the roof.
“You don’t know?”
“I didn’t see them. I got a full-body chill and warned you immediately.”
Jinwoo rolled up his sleeve to reveal the gooseflesh on his forearm. In a downtown area already infested with zombies, a reaction this strong meant a sizable horde was closing in.
“Goosebumps again? Back at Jabeolle you didn’t feel a thing until we were completely surrounded.”
Sheriff snorted, skeptical, but Jinwoo trusted his zombie sense completely.
“I did get chills then. I just misjudged where they were coming from—thought it was the subway station. But more importantly…”
Jinwoo glanced at the bundle of power strips hanging from Sheriff’s backpack.
“Why did you bring that thing back? You were gone long enough. What were you doing instead of running lines?”
“Ah, this… I found something killer in the parking lot. Didn’t have time to mess with the lines.”
“What’s killer?”
“You’ll see when you look. Come over here… whoa!”
Sheriff had been dragging Jinwoo toward the railing overlooking the rear parking lot when he suddenly ducked. Jinwoo dropped low and clamped his mouth shut. A massive horde of zombies had just appeared on the road to the left of the supermarket.
Groooaaar—!
At least three hundred corpses filled the street, shoulder to shoulder. The front of the horde had already passed the supermarket and was turning toward the Konkuk University area. Getting caught in that tide meant certain death. Both men pressed themselves even flatter against the roof, terrified of being spotted.
“Oh, they really did come,” Sheriff whispered, eyes wide with fascination.
Jinwoo, lying flat beside Samsuk-i, gave a small snort of laughter. “What, you thought I was making it up?”
“No, but it’s still weird as hell…”
Sheriff peeked under the railing and continued in a low voice. “No sound, nothing in sight, yet you still felt them. It’s not exactly logical. You’re not a shaman.”
“Either way, without these chills I wouldn’t have survived long enough to meet you guys.”
Jinwoo shrugged. Sheriff tapped the younger man’s helmet with an expression that said he was full of it.
“You’re crediting the wrong thing. The reason you made it to Seoul isn’t because you get goosebumps. It’s because you shoot like a goddamn machine, you idiot.”
“Well… that’s part of it too.”
Jinwoo answered calmly, but he knew the truth. No matter how good your aim, facing an endless tide of zombies head-on dropped your survival odds to almost nothing.
That night at the Samcheok nuclear plant, when wind and rain and corpses swallowed everything, he had been small and powerless. He pulled the trigger until his finger bled, exploding head after head, yet he couldn’t save a single squadmate.
“They gone yet?”
Once the zombies’ growls had faded enough, Sheriff cautiously raised his head and scanned the area. The tail of the horde that had clogged the street in front of the supermarket was now disappearing into the alleys, heading toward Konkuk University.
“Any more coming?”
Even after the last zombie vanished from sight, the two friends stayed on the roof a while longer, watching. The passing horde had left stragglers scattered along the streets, but no new groups were approaching.
“Whoa, there’s an auto shop over there? This just got a lot easier!”
Sheriff’s face split into a huge grin when he spotted the repair garage not far from the supermarket’s rear entrance. It wasn’t huge, but it would definitely have batteries.
“You really going after a car?” Jinwoo asked.
Sheriff waved a hand and pointed toward the rear parking lot. “Not just any car, dumbass. I told you—it’s killer.”
“Huh?”
Jinwoo looked down and instantly understood. “A Genesis Coupe… the door’s open?”
His eyes lit up with clear interest. Sheriff knew the guy had always loved that sports car. Before Jinwoo enlisted they had spent hours watching reviews and arguing specs together. Sheriff held up the smart key.
“I opened it with this.”
“You even got the key?”
“Just need to grab a battery from over there and swap it. Let’s go. I’ll handle it—you keep watch.”
Sheriff gave Jinwoo a light punch to the stomach, then bounded down the stairs with a spring in his step. They stopped on the sixth floor to retrieve the ammunition and K-2 rifle Yubin had hidden in the office closet last summer, then headed straight back to the ground floor. A car, out of nowhere. Their hearts were pounding with unexpected luck.
“It’s pretty, but a two-door is going to be a pain in the ass for Samsuk-i…”
Once they reached the rear parking lot, Jinwoo pointed at a Damas van parked right beside the Genesis Coupe, expression thoughtful. “Doesn’t that Damas have keys? If we’re hauling gear, something like that would be way more practical. The Gen Coupe’s exhaust is going to be loud as hell…”
Even as he listed the sensible reasons, Jinwoo was already circling the sports car with open curiosity. When he spotted the “200Turbo” emblem on the rear quarter panel, he clicked his tongue like a man who had suffered a personal loss.
“Ah… it’s not the 380.”
“Pfft—haha, you crazy bastard!”
Sheriff couldn’t hold back his laughter. The way Jinwoo had coolly listed every practical drawback of the two-door and then immediately sulked over the trim level was too funny.
“You’re worried about noise but disappointed it’s not 3.8 liters? You think a bigger engine would somehow be quieter?”
“No, I just figure if you’re going to drive one, might as well drive the more expensive one.”
Jinwoo answered without a trace of shame. Sheriff winked and gave him a thumbs-up.
“This is plenty good, dumbass. Even if we were heading all the way to Konkuk University, the roads around here are too short to really open up a 2.0 turbo anyway. Untuned, this thing still puts out over 270 horsepower.”
“…270 horsepower. Killer.”
Jinwoo repeated the number, unconsciously licking his lips. Compared to high-end foreign supercars it might not sound impressive, but someone who had only ever driven one-ton trucks, vans, or compact cars would consider it a dream figure. Sheriff added with a knowing look:
“And it’s rear-wheel drive.”
“Still… it’s going to be pretty loud. Though having a car would be convenient and safe, right? Travel time drops dramatically, and reconnaissance becomes way easier…”
Even while muttering indecisively, Jinwoo had already slid into the driver’s seat and was gripping the wheel.
Arf—!
When he pretended to drive, Samsuk-i immediately burrowed into his lap and gave a short, sharp bark. It was clearly a warning: don’t you dare leave me behind. The nightmare of the rubber boat’s rope coming undone and being abandoned still haunted the dog.
“No, no! We can’t leave yet anyway. Big guy over there still has to fetch the battery. So stop climbing on me! You’re heavy, you mutt! Ow!”
With the massive dog pressing his head onto Jinwoo’s thigh and frantically pawing at him, Jinwoo had to struggle to extricate himself from the car.
“All right, let’s go. Where’s that auto shop?”
Having made up his mind, Jinwoo asked the question with new purpose. Only after actually sitting in the seat and holding the wheel had he realized how much comfort even this dusty old toy could give him right now. A true dream car was different from ordinary vehicles. At this point, it was more than worth spending thirty minutes to check alleys where zombies might be lurking.
“Just a short detour that way. I saw it clearly from the roof. It’s close.”
Sheriff pointed left with his thumb and popped the hood.
“It’s an 80L. If I grab one of those and the right tools, we’re good.”
Sheriff had leaned in to check the battery model and size. The multi-tool in their standard backpack would work, but proper tools would make the job far faster and cleaner.
“80L,” Jinwoo repeated, committing it to memory. That way, even if Sheriff grabbed the wrong one by mistake, he could correct it.
“Sheriff, stay behind me.”
Jinwoo kept the muzzle forward, ready to fire, and motioned for Sheriff to cover their rear. The zombies had just swept through the area; they were bound to have left plenty behind. In open terrain like this, it was better for Jinwoo to take point and clear threats quickly.
Step. Step.
The two friends moved quickly but carefully along the left path from the supermarket’s rear entrance.
Groooar—!
The moment the auto shop sign came into view, zombies came roaring out of the alley in a wave.
Bang—! Bang bang—! Bang—!
Jinwoo fired without the slightest hesitation.
Thud—! Crack—! Thud—!
Four zombies sprayed brains across the wall and fire hydrant before collapsing in sequence.
“Fuck, that’s cool as hell,” Sheriff muttered, genuinely impressed. Four sudden zombies neutralized in under four seconds. Watching Jinwoo made it look effortless, but anyone who actually picked up a gun quickly realized how brutally difficult it was to land single shots on fast-moving targets like that.
“There’ll be more.”
Jinwoo raised his left hand in a signal to stop. Almost simultaneously, zombies that had heard the shots came pouring out from shops all around them, drawn like iron filings to a magnet.
Bang bang—! Bang—! Bang, bang—! Baaang—!
Six more shots. Six more heads exploded. Jinwoo swapped magazines in one fluid motion.
“Damn, you’re a monster.”
Sheriff whistled softly as they passed the corpses slumped against the wall. He could have taken six wandering zombies himself, but not at that speed.
“Ugh… this place is a wreck too.”
Jinwoo frowned at the devastated interior of the auto shop. The back wall where old corpses had rotted was covered in black blood spatter that looked like someone had taken a spray gun to it. A car that had slid off the lift had completely shattered the glass-walled office.
“There’s a truck.”
Jinwoo nodded at the one-ton truck parked across the sidewalk in front of the shop. The key was still in the ignition; they could swap its battery and use it instead. Sheriff shook his head firmly.
“Don’t even look at it. When we can take the Gen Coupe, why the hell would I drive a Porter?”
“Fair point. Think that was a zombie?”
Jinwoo jerked his chin toward the crushed corpse whose head was wedged and flattened between the bumper and the inner wall.
“No idea. Doesn’t matter now, does it? 80L… 80L…”
Sheriff walked over to the battery rack, muttering as he scanned the labels with his finger.
“Found it!”
He dropped the battery into the large bag they had brought for food. As he was about to zip it shut, Jinwoo spoke up.
“Grab one more of the same battery, Sheriff.”
“Huh? Why two?”
“No guarantee the voltage will stay stable. And if it dies again, we’ll have a spare ready to swap in.”
“Oh! Smart. You really are thorough. No wonder you made it all the way from Gangwon Province by yourself.”
Sheriff gave him another thumbs-up, then added a second identical battery to the bag. Two large batteries plus tools made the load heavy, but for Sheriff it was nothing.
“Who’s driving first on the way back?” Jinwoo asked as they headed toward the supermarket.
Sheriff thumped his own chest. “Finder drives first. That’s just common sense, isn’t it? Plus I have the key.”
“Doesn’t the guy with the gun get more say?”
“Bullshit! Threatening your friend now? Only learned bad habits in the army…”
Sheriff was still snorting with laughter when a voice crackled from the walkie-talkie clipped to his backpack strap.
Kshhh! Sheriff! Where are you guys right now? You okay? …Kshhh!
“Shh—!”
Sheriff’s face tightened. He signaled for silence, then pressed the transmit button.
“Ah, Yubin. We’re currently…”
A lie slipped out before he could stop it.
“…loading supplies at the supermarket. The really necessary food and… batteries, chopsticks, stuff like that, you know.”