Triple Border Zone (5)
A short while later, Major Oh arrived at the interchange. He barely managed to contain his boiling rage as he spoke in a low voice.
“……So this is the incredible discovery you were talking about?”
Indeed, countless zombie corpses were crammed inside the interchange, piled up in neat stacks. But what the hell did that matter? He hadn’t flown all the way from Busan by helicopter just to gawk at this kind of gruesome spectacle…….
“Yes, sir! After we cleared the debris from the staircase and entered the interchange, we found it in this state. I determined it provided evidence to estimate the enemy force’s scale and firepower, so I requested you come see it in person!”
Captain Lee answered with a brazen face. For a moment, Major Oh wondered if that could really be all there was to it. But it truly was. Major Oh pressed a hand to his forehead. He felt pathetic for having briefly hoped they might have found a trace of Hwang Nayeon. The disappointment fueled his anger.
“……Right. So those bastards killed a bunch of zombies and stacked them up. So what?”
Major Oh lifted his head, clenching his molars tightly as he continued.
“Is it that surprising a platoon could take out this many zombies? You call this an incredible discovery? You made me rush all the way out here just to look at this shit? Huh?”
As he raised his voice and jabbed his finger for emphasis, Major Oh secretly swallowed back a wave of nausea.
Gulp—!
The urge to vomit surged. This godawful stench……! And the horrific sight. It felt like an invisible hand was stirring his uvula and shoving fingers down his esophagus. He thought he’d feel better if he just threw everything up right then and there, but he couldn’t do that in front of his subordinates. Major Oh tensed the muscles in his lower abdomen and held on.
The tunnel was packed with zombie corpses, a revolting sight in itself. But the most horrifying part was the severed heads rolling around everywhere. That…… was on an entirely different level of dread compared to the other bodies that still had their heads attached.
‘They didn’t shoot the zombies…… they beheaded them? Why?’
He thought he’d seen enough ugly things in his life, but this was both excessively brutal and utterly absurd. This wasn’t the Joseon Dynasty—why would soldiers be cutting off zombie heads with blades? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed it.
‘And what the hell is this…….’
He turned his head away from the unpleasant sight of the severed necks, only to find a corpse with its skull caved in. Major Oh’s face twisted even more severely. Those bodies had clearly been beaten to death, no matter how you looked at it. But why? Why choose such primitive methods instead of simply killing them? Major Oh felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into a nightmarish pit full of bizarre riddles.
Ugh—! Uuugh—!
The sound of soldiers retching here and there only made his nausea worse.
“Stop puking and hurry up and check all the corpses. See if Major Yoo So-jin’s—no, if Hwang…… if any of them belong to her. And don’t forget to send men up there to search the building as well……”
Major Oh was pointing at the Jabeolle building, now reduced to ruins, and issuing orders even he knew were impossible to carry out, when a burst of gunfire rang out from the helicopters overhead.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat—!
The startled soldiers reflexively ducked their heads and lowered their stance. But the streams of bullets pouring from the helicopters were aimed at a spot far away from them.
“It’s zombies, sir! A mid-sized group four horde approaching from the two o’clock direction! Helicopters Two and Four have begun suppressive fire!”
The radioman, who had received the report from the helicopters, shouted urgently. A mid-sized group four meant at least three thousand or more. Just imagining it sent a chill down his spine.
But wait…… suppressive fire from helicopters?
Major Oh’s face hardened with a new kind of dismay. When helicopters opened fire indiscriminately, heads, limbs—everything would be shredded and blown apart beyond recognition. The bodies would be so mangled you couldn’t even tell what they had looked like before being hit.
‘What if…… Hwang Nayeon is mixed in with those zombies? If she takes a direct hit to the chest or head and gets blown to pieces, we’ll never find her!’
Having reached that thought, Major Oh screamed at the radioman.
“Hey! Tell the helicopters! Don’t just spray bullets everywhere—have them observe the zombies closely first! Check if there’s a female soldier zombie wearing a uniform mixed in! If there is, do not shoot it!”
“What? Ah, yes! Yes, sir!”
“Did you understand clearly? Tell them to get as close as possible from the air and check one by one for any female soldier zombie in uniform! If they spot one, they are absolutely not to fire on that direction—report to me first! No, tell them that if they spot any zombies at all, they must report to me before opening fire! This order applies to the entire company, not just the helicopter gunners!”
Major Oh’s eyes were bloodshot as he rapidly spat out the commands. The tense radioman hunched his shoulders and nodded vigorously.
“Yes, sir! Understood! Report first! Confirm presence of female soldier in uniform before commencing fire! I’ll relay it exactly like that!”
“Good, good……!”
When Major Oh turned around, rubbing his sweat-soaked palms together, he was met by the fearful gazes of Captain Lee and Lieutenant Seong, commander of the 3rd Platoon.
“A group four horde is approaching. Shouldn’t we pull the men back for now, sir?”
Captain Lee was already looking for an excuse to flee, using the soldiers’ safety as a pretext. Lieutenant Seong also seemed eager to retreat, but Major Oh would have none of it. He shook his head firmly and forced a bright tone.
“It’s fine! They’re suppressing them from the air! They won’t reach us! Captain Lee and 3rd Platoon, stay here and continue the search without worrying. The rest of you, follow me! We’re moving to the temporary command post!”
“……Major Oh, sir.”
Captain Lee’s eyes widened as he called out pleadingly. His tone made it clear he wanted to be taken along too, but Major Oh pretended not to notice and turned away.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat-tat—!
Even as Major Oh’s group hurried toward the riverside café with their heads lowered, the machine-gun fire continued without pause. With two helicopters already blasting away with their K-3s on top of his already chaotic thoughts, Major Oh felt like he was on the verge of losing his mind.
“Hey! What the hell is that gunfire? I told you to check first before shooting!”
Major Oh snapped at the unfortunate radioman. The man, still trembling after being grabbed by the collar while communicating with the helicopters, reported in a shaky voice.
“There are no zombies matching that description up ahead, and…… they say the zombies got too close, so they had no choice but to engage. The sheer number of zombies poses a major threat……!”
“What kind of threat are you talking about, you cowards! We’re fully armed and ready down here too!”
Major Oh grumbled irritably as he climbed to the third floor of the riverside café and turned his gaze toward the two o’clock direction.
“Goddamn it……!”
The sight before him made a curse burst from Major Oh’s lips. Thousands of zombies completely covering the eastern promenade. The moment he saw the horrific scene of them still surging forward even after their heads were blown off and their chests torn open, every worry about whether Hwang Nayeon might still be alive was wiped clean from his mind.
This was far beyond what a platoon’s firepower could handle. That woman…… she was definitely dead. Now all that remained was to find her corpse, and every problem would be solved. Of course, that problem itself was an incredibly difficult puzzle to unravel…….
“Major! Major, sir!”
The radioman came running, shouting urgently.
“Zombies approaching from the ten o’clock direction! Mid-sized group three! Distance two thousand seven hundred meters!”
“I know! You just reported it! You idiot! I can see it perfectly fine! ……Huh?”
Major Oh, who had been yelling in anger, suddenly fell silent as something occurred to him. The direction he was currently looking at was two o’clock. That meant the ones coming from ten o’clock were a completely different group of zombies?
“Hey, give me the binoculars……”
Major Oh turned around, blinking rapidly as he reached out into the air.
“Here, sir!”
The 1st Platoon leader quickly handed him the binoculars.
“Huu……”
Major Oh let out a deep sigh as he raised the binoculars to his eyes. They were still too far away to see clearly, but something was writhing like heat haze near Seoul Forest. All those things were zombies……. The bigger problem was that even if they killed all of them, it wouldn’t advance their mission one bit.
“Tell them to examine that group thoroughly too! Confirming the presence of any female soldier zombie in uniform comes first—killing them comes after! Even if they don’t look like it, make them check twice before pulling the trigger!”
Major Oh raised his voice even louder to maintain his authority. He had only been here a short while, yet he already felt exhausted. This insane level of stress……. He hated Captain Lee even more. If that son of a bitch had done his job properly yesterday, he wouldn’t have been dragged into this headache…….
“Damn it…… this place is completely fucked. No place for humans to live.”
Major Oh picked up a chair that had been lying on the floor, sat down heavily, and pulled out a cigarette. After seeing those two massive hordes of zombies, his legs had gone weak and he could barely stand anymore.
“Huu……”
Major Oh sucked in the cigarette smoke like a man being chased. Even though the nicotine and tar were absorbed into his lungs, his heart still pounded violently and the nausea rising in his chest refused to subside. The tips of his fingers, cold as ice, kept trembling. He couldn’t afford to lose face in front of his subordinates…….
Now that he had confirmed the situation with his own eyes, he needed to come up with an appropriate plan…… but only one sentence kept flashing in his mind like a flickering neon sign.
We’re screwed……. We’re screwed……. We’re screwed……. We’re screwed…….
The realization that they were truly screwed spread through every sense and every inch of his body. He wasn’t sure whether they could overcome this enormous crisis, achieve their objective, and return safely. Major Oh shook his head slightly. No matter how hard he tried to think of a solution, he only felt more and more hopeless.
“Major, sir! The helicopter squadron leader is asking for instructions regarding the operational plan!”
The radioman, having finished communicating with the helicopter pilot, added yet another layer of stress. Major Oh didn’t even turn his head. He exhaled a plume of smoke and replied.
“Tell them…… the two helicopters should continue surveillance and escort from both flanks. One should provide support over the 3rd Platoon. Another should make a wide sweep of the area to check if any other zombie groups are moving, and if they are, whether any zombies matching the target’s description are present. The remaining two should remain on standby south of the Han River so they can provide support immediately if an emergency arises here.”
Although he phrased it as “support,” the truth was he simply needed at least two aircraft ready to escape on at any moment.
“If they have to maintain hovering instead of steady flight, the operational window will be drastically shortened. He’s asking if that’s acceptable!”
The radioman asked again.
Throb—!
The moment he learned of yet another constraint, a heavy pain pulsed inside Major Oh’s temples. It was the kind of dizzying throb that came when the last thread of his patience finally snapped.
“How much…… is it shortened by?”
Major Oh asked with his eyes tightly shut to endure the headache. The radioman, having finished communicating with the squadron leader, answered.
“They say we must prepare to return within two and a half hours from now.”
“Tell the two helicopters to land south of the Han River and wait! They can just rotate like that!”
Startled by the two-and-a-half-hour limit, Major Oh glanced at his watch and shouted. It was only 09:23. That meant they could only search for another 150 minutes…… which meant they would have to head back in the morning. What kind of nonsense was that? He needed far more time than that.
“Ah, yes! Yes, sir! I’ll report it that way!”
The radioman, who had been nodding while communicating with the helicopters, turned to Major Oh with an unnecessarily apologetic expression.
“……That figure already takes that into account.”
“Goddamn it! Why the hell is everything getting in the way like this!”
Exploding with frustration, Major Oh threw his cigarette to the ground and roared. The stench saturating the area made his head throb, and even with his eyes squeezed shut, the horrific image of the beheaded zombie corpses still burned vividly on his retinas. How the hell was he supposed to find a zombified Hwang Nayeon before the day was over? What exactly was he supposed to do……!
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat—! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
The helicopters at two o’clock were still firing continuously. From a little while ago, even the 2nd Platoon’s ground-based K-3s had joined in, making the noise even more deafening.
Were those bastards really confirming that Hwang Nayeon wasn’t among them before they fired? Or were they just spraying bullets wildly and turning everything into mush?
The baseless, vague anxiety made his heart race so badly he could barely stand it. Even though he had taken an emergency pill at dawn, he felt no effect whatsoever.
“Then…… change it so one helicopter handles left and right perimeter surveillance while three remain on standby. The 2nd Platoon on the ground can handle the kills anyway.”
After thinking for a moment, Major Oh waved his hand in annoyance and relayed the order through the radioman. At least this way they might buy a little more time.
“Where’s the helicopter currently handling forward reconnaissance?”
Major Oh, who had already lit a new cigarette in his impatience, asked. The radioman quickly communicated with the squadron and replied.
“Yes, sir! Helicopter Two is currently following a zombie horde from above Konkuk University toward Seongsu-dong! Once that area is checked, they say they’ll head north along the Dongbu Expressway and then return!”
“Huu……! Are there zombies moving around there too?”
“They report sightings ranging from late group two all the way up to three or four!”
“Fucking hell, there’s so many of them. Heh heh……”
Major Oh’s heart grew even heavier. They had only just arrived in Seoul, yet the total number of zombies they had already confirmed exceeded tens of thousands. Once the enemy’s numbers surpassed ten thousand, it became impossible to kill them all. And the even more serious problem was…… how were they supposed to pick out a single woman from among those countless hordes? Especially from several hundred meters up in the air……. No matter how distinctive the target’s clothing was, it was an incredibly difficult task.
“Don’t fixate only on female soldier uniforms. If you see any zombie wearing any kind of military uniform, focus on those and examine them carefully. The target is likely mixed in among them! And…… contact 1st Platoon. Find out how much progress they’ve made in the search!”
“1st Platoon has just finished verifying the identities of the zombie corpses and is preparing to enter the subway station.”
The radioman reported after finishing the communication. That meant they hadn’t advanced a single step beyond the area Major Oh had personally inspected earlier. As expected…… that son of a bitch Captain Lee was completely useless!
“Tell them to speed it up! At this rate we’re falling way behind schedule! These bastards are a huge disappointment!”
Major Oh issued the stern order as if it were something simple. But he himself knew all too well that the situation wouldn’t be resolved so easily.
He was now in the position of searching for a single unique grain of sand on a white beach. So he desperately…… needed luck. Or perhaps some brilliant, miraculous plan that could get him out of this crisis…….