Chapter 98
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
I heard their footsteps approaching.
The ground rumbled and my senses started to tingle, stimulated by the overwhelming sound.
I could hear Do Han-Sol swallow. I saw him trembling, the walkie-talkie still in his hand.
When I touched his shoulder, he jumped in surprise. I wondered how nervous he had to be, to react so sensitively to even the slightest touch.
'Don't be nervous. I’ll take care of the strong ones.’
‘Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok…’
Do Han-Sol trailed off, then schooled his features into an expression of determination and gave me a sharp nod.
Four hundred meters… Three hundred meters… Two hundred meters… One hundred meters.
The moment they came within our reach, I looked at Do Han-Sol and nodded. Do Han-Sol shouted into the walkie-talkie as if he’d been waiting eagerly for it.
“Fire in the hole!”
Moments later, explosions rocked the northern side of Achasan-ro. The guards in Seongsu 2-ga, 3-dong were hurling grenades toward the zombies.
We didn’t have explosives to plant on the streets, but grenades were enough to hold them off.
However, the zombies entering Seongsu 2-ga, 1-dong showed no signs of surprise, and rushed toward me and Do Han-Sol after hearing the explosions.
I gave my underlings a signal to attack as I jumped down to the first floor.
Since we were outnumbered, I couldn’t just sit around on the rooftop and give orders. I had to reduce the number of zombies somehow.
Or I had to kill the enemy leader.
GRRR!!!
A zombie came running toward me, waving its arms madly. I grabbed its head at once and smashed it into the ground.
Crack!
The enemy leader hadn’t shown up yet, but I couldn’t go easy on them. I knew that restraint would only cost me more of my underling’s lives.
My eyes flashed, heightening all my senses. In order to become stronger and faster, I increased the rate of circulation of my blood.
My inner instincts were stimulated by my heightened senses and rapidly flowing blood.
Pshhh…
“Kia….”
Steam poured out from my mouth. My pupils constricted, and a constant ringing inside my head triggered a feeling of ecstasy throughout my body. The thrill I felt in the midst of this intense situation caused joy to erupt within me.
My glowing red eyes flashed.
“GRRR!!!”
I roared at the enemies and charged toward them like a raging bull.
I cracked the heads of the zombies in front of me as if I was splitting apples in half. The tremors shooting up from my fingertips into the rest of my arms no longer felt abhorrent.
I'd been through many similar situations, and each of those instances had contributed to making me the monster I was. The adversities I’d suffered became the foundation for my growth as a zombie, but like a double-edged sword, it had also slowly carved away the humanity within me.
I bore down on the enemy forces like a raging wave.
No matter where I turned, all I could see were zombies.
A zombie reaching out its hand toward me; a zombie charging at me with its mouth wide open; a zombie with severed limbs.
I twisted my upper body at an angle that was impossible for any other living being, and tore their limbs apart.
‘More, more, more! More!!!'
I wanted more to slaughter.
I wanted more deaths.
I wanted to move faster.
My zombie instincts were nothing but pure violence, and they started to take over my body.
I tore off the street sign at Seongsu intersection and swung it toward the zombies. I had no time to deal with these zombies one by one, zombies that believed they held the advantage purely because of their numbers.
The smell of fresh zombie blood made my nose twitch, further stirring up the madness inside me. I hit everything and everyone that came my way. I didn’t come up with a reason, didn’t care to justify my actions; I was only concerned with smashing everything that stood in my way.
Thud!
Something blocked the street sign that I was wielding.
My gaze fell on a zombie with glowing red eyes, who was holding the tip of the sign with its hand.
"It’s you, you motherfucking bastard.”
I couldn’t help but smile after hearing its voice.
The enemy leader had made their appearance, drawn by the chaos that I’d created.
I rushed toward it like a beast that was starving to death.
Its eyes grew wide, and it twisted its upper body aside. I noticed early on that it had planted its right foot behind as it twisted its upper body, and was able to anticipate the direction in which it was going to dodge.
I quickly twisted my head, stretching my neck and baring my sharp teeth. It gasped and grabbed onto my face with its hands.
It was dead.
I reached out to grab its arms, pulling it toward the ground. It lost balance and fell to the ground. I didn’t let the chance slip by, sinking my teeth into its neck.
“Dong leader!!!”
A voice cut through the chaos, calling for the dong leader.
I turned to see where the voice was coming from, and saw two zombies with glowing red eyes. Their frightened faces almost made me drool with anticipation.
I straightened my upper body and stared at them. My thirst was insatiable.
I always knew that the zombie vanguard had to be decimated before the real, tense fight could begin. I couldn’t be more thankful that the enemy leaders had appeared in front of me of their own accord.
They seemed to hesitate for a brief moment, but quickly looked at the zombies around them and began to give out orders. All the surrounding zombies converged on me at once.
I lowered my upper body and clenched my fists.
This was exactly what I wanted as well.
Whoosh–
At that moment, I sensed a murderous glare fixed on me. I looked up instinctively and saw a pair of glowing red eyes shooting toward me like a falling meteor.
I realized that it was aiming straight for my head, and quickly threw myself backward.
Bang!!!
The impact threw up a huge cloud of dust, and pieces of asphalt exploded outward in all directions.
I squinted, trying to make out the unknown being hidden within the cloud of dust.
The killing intent that was trained on me sharpened my five senses, and cold sweat trickled down my forehead. The madness that had peaked within me was quickly wearing off, and I tried my best to hold on to my sanity.
This brief moment felt like an eternity.
The sudden surge of emotion wore off, and I could hear a constant, high-pitched whine in my mind.
I knew intuitively that the being that had crashed into the ground in front of me was not to be taken lightly.
I saw a pair of red eyes flash within the thick dust cloud, and before I knew it, the being launched itself toward me.
My eyes went wide, and I quickly twisted my body.
The lethal attack that had been aimed at my stomach flashed inches wide. I knew it would’ve gotten me if it had landed.
As I lost my balance and stumbled, the zombies nearby stretched out to grab me in unison. I was like a fly caught in a spider’s web, being tugged around left and right.
I quickly braced my lower body to regain my balance, and before I knew it, a pair of glowing red eyes were right in front of me, the arms of the zombie that they belonged to flashing toward me.
It was a woman.
Her pupils were thin vertical slits. She wore thick makeup in an attempt to cover up her bluish complexion, and she was grinning widely.
“Hup!”
I took in a breath and pulled the zombies that were biting my arms in front of me.
Her fingertips pierced through my two makeshift meat shields and speared into my solar plexus. I fell backward, my eyes wide with shock.
Reddish blood oozed from the deep cut just below my chest.
I got up and wiped the blood off my stomach.
Now I was certain.
This woman was an officer.
As soon as I was injured, the ringing inside my head had intensified, and the high-pitched whine was even clearer than before.
I couldn’t let this fight drag on.
In fact, there was no way that I could continue the fight under these circumstances.
I couldn’t fully focus on the officer, not with all these other zombies grabbing onto me left and right like leeches.
The odds of defeating the officer here were slim to none.
The wise move would be to momentarily retreat from enemy-held territory.
I knocked aside the zombies around me and flicked my gaze across the area, taking in my surroundings.
I didn’t see any tall buildings, but I saw the tracks of Line 2 passing right above my head. Crouching down, I sprang into the air.
The officer, who was watching my every move, followed me instantly.
I landed on the rail tracks and saw a train leaning halfway over the tracks, suspended by wires. The scene perfectly depicted the world that we’d inherited.
I looked into the officer’s face, and she smirked.
“You’ve got some moves under your belt. Pretty impressive.”
‘Are you an officer of the Family?'
“I’m the seventh officer.”
The seventh officer’s tone was cold, and she was no longer smiling.
She seemed to have an authoritative side to her.
We were fifty meters apart.
Judging from her movements I’d seen, she seemed to be roughly as strong as me.
I kept an eye on her, slowly feeling the tension growing between us.
My hair stood on end, and my nerves were on the edge of fraying.
I knew that letting my guard down even for a split second or giving her the slightest chance, would end with my death.
Wham!
The seventh leader launched herself off the ground and hurtled toward me.
I braced my lower body and kicked out at the seventh officer’s face as though trying to kick away a mad dog.
The seventh leader leaped into the air to avoid my strike.
I tracked her with my eyes, trying to calculate where she would land.
No matter how strong her physical abilities were, I knew it was impossible for her to switch directions midair.
I intercepted her as she landed, grabbing her by the waist and slamming her to the ground. She tried to kick me, hurling a stream of vulgarities in the process.
As her right foot flew toward my chest, I grabbed it and slammed my shin into her knee. There was a strange pop, and her leg bent in a rather bizarre way.
Pressing my advantage, I tightened my grip on her broken leg and threw her across the tracks and into the derelict train.
Crash!
The train flipped over as she crashed into it, and her body was thrown to the ground below.
I pondered whether to jump down after her.
However, I realized there was little point in doing so, with all the zombies down there.
Thud!
The seventh officer leaped back onto the tracks and began to tie up her messy hair.
"You’re dead meat.”
The seventh leader gnashed her teeth and spewed hot steam out her mouth.
The dong leader of Seongsu-dong was right.
The officers had eaten the black creatures’ brains, and so they also had amazing regenerative abilities. Her broken leg had already healed itself, and steam was coming out from her body.
My red eyes flashed, and I forced my blood to circulate more quickly.
Pshhh…
We both could sense that there was no going back. Spewing steam, we charged at each other.
Her fingertips, nails painted red, brushed my jawline. I twisted my head aside and went for her left leg, tripping her up.
The seventh officer stumbled, but she quickly grabbed me by the collar and dragged me down. My upper body was pulled downward mercilessly, like an iron bar drawn to a magnet. Her knee crashed into my face.
Pain blossomed from the tip of my nose, knocking me senseless. The seventh leader kept at it, raining punches down on my face, my sides and my abdomen.
Slash!
I gasped as a vicious stab pierced through my stomach.
I grabbed onto the arm that had gone through me and gritted my teeth. I twisted her elbow so that it bent in the opposite direction, but she leaned to the left to prevent her right arm from breaking.
I saw the opening and raised my right foot. I locked the seventh leader’s neck between my calf and thigh and slammed her to the ground.
I could hear the bones in her neck crack as her face was hammered into the tracks. Her forehead slammed against the metal tracks with a clear ringing sound.
I raised my right foot again and slammed it down into her shoulder as I pulled her right hand out from inside my stomach, ripping up my insides further.
The seventh officer was still down. I threw away her right arm and kicked her in the face. Even with all the blood gushing out of her forehead, she instinctively twisted her head to the side and bit down on my ankle like a crocodile trying to kill off its prey.
Like a piece of meat on the butcher’s block, my foot was sheared off at the ankle.
I limped and fell over, and the seventh officer threw herself on top of me, her teeth closing in on my neck.
* * *
Bang! Bang, bang! Bang! Bang!
“Cover them!”
Gunfire filled the air around Seongsu 2-ga, 3-dong.
The guards had occupied the high ground, but a mound had formed as the dead zombie bodies piled up. Fear was rising in the hearts of the guards that were shooting at the zombies.
The pile of dead zombie bodies slowly grew as tall as a four-story building, and the zombies began to spill over the balcony railings and into the buildings.
Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings had split off to the flanks, trying to hold off the zombies from advancing as much as they could, but the zombies charging in from the front were too much for the survivors.
Hwang Ji-Hye, who was observing the situation, shouted to her guard team, “Retreat, retreat! Everyone, up onto the roof!”
Hwang Ji-Hye held the exit as the other guards flooded past her to safety.
Three guards hadn’t heeded her order, and were still defending the windows.
It was possible that they’d been unable to hear her because the constant explosions had dulled their hearing.
Hwang Ji-Hye nailed the zombies trying to get through the window in their heads and ran toward the three guards.
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear the order to retreat?"
“Come! Now!”
One of the guards shook off her hand and shouted something. Immediately, Hwang Ji-Hye noticed the telltale marks of zombie bites on them.
All three men who were still defending the windows had been bitten by zombies.
As Hwang Ji-Hye looked at them in stunned panic, one of the men grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to the exit, shoving her through the door.
“Go, damn it!”
Bang!
The man slammed the door shut.
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