Zombie Apocalypse Whiteout - 17
EP17 120 Kilometers (2)
"Outside?"
Jin-woo ran to the door, startled.
"...It’s real."
Standing beside the sheriff and looking out, Jin-woo clenched his teeth. Zombies were pouring out endlessly through the pedestrian underpass connected to Jayang-dong.
"What the hell are those things?"
He stared at the front line of zombies, now within a hundred meters. None of them had balloons, meaning they weren’t part of the data Yu-bin had gathered. Unknown entities. Why the hell were they suddenly showing up now?
"No clue, shit. …Ugh, move! Let me in! If I stand here any longer, I’ll end up making eye contact with those freaks!"
Half-blocking the doorway, the sheriff shoved Jin-woo aside and stepped into the Jabeolle building.
Grrrrraaaarrr!
The zombies up front, now even closer, roared into the air. Yet more kept shuffling out from the underpass behind the subway station, an unbroken stream.
"You think… we could get away on the bike?"
Jin-woo glanced down hesitantly at the metal staircase exposed to the outside. The bike he’d left at the bottom was still right where he parked it.
If he sprinted down all those stairs, hopped on, and started pedaling, it’d take maybe five seconds. The zombies were 75 meters away. That was doable.
But he’d have to slow down when riding down the two sets of stairs along the trail. That’d cost him about two seconds. So, seven seconds total… No good. The moment he turned the corner at the bottom trail, he’d have a 90% chance of getting caught.
Sure, he could cut the time drastically by jumping straight down instead of taking the stairs, but the height was no joke. Technically it was just a second floor, but the building was built elevated off the ground. If he landed wrong and twisted an ankle… he’d be done for. Forget the jump, scrap that plan entirely.
Maybe if I take out the 20 closest ones first and then make a run for it…?
That thought flashed through Jin-woo’s mind in under half a second. Just as he was crunching the numbers, the sheriff yanked him by the shoulder.
"Cut the crap and hide, dumbass! What, you think you’re Usain Bolt or something?"
With more strength than Jin-woo could resist, the sheriff dragged him toward the interior stairwell, grumbling the whole way.
"Zombies right there and you’re talking about outrunning them down stairs… seriously?"
"I’ve got a bike, idiot! Who said anything about running?"
Jin-woo snapped back, but it was too late. The window of opportunity had already slammed shut. And honestly… thinking it through calmly, the sheriff had a point. The stairs were narrow, only one person could go down at a time. The last person in line would always fall behind in that kind of scramble.
"You think you can hit full speed the second you hop on? Not even a pro cyclist could pull that off. Just get to the third floor for now! Standing around here like bait is just asking to get seen by those bastards."
Shaking his head in exasperation, the sheriff led the way up the stairs. Thankfully, he’d been here once before, so he had a rough sense of the layout.
Shuffle, shuffle.
The three of them crept silently, even lifting their heels as they moved, until they reached a corner on the third floor, the part of the building that would be the "handle" if it were shaped like a cane.
"There’s a lot of them," Min-gu said, pressing his face to the window and peering down. The monsters had now swarmed right up to the outdoor stairs where the bike was parked.
"Yeah, told you."
The sheriff responded with a weird half-grunt, half-word, somewhere between "yeah" and "uh-huh." Min-gu didn’t expect manners from the guy anyway. Not that he himself had ever been accused of being polite.
"Ugh, that stench… Jesus."
Covering his nose with his sleeve, the sheriff swore. With hundreds of zombies packed in all around them, the thick, putrid stench was overwhelming.
"You sure this height’s enough?"
Min-gu asked again, eyeing the unusually low floor-to-ceiling distance. Considering the building was suspended above the ground, this was probably closer to three and a half floors in a normal building. Still, it didn’t feel quite high enough to be reassuring.
"...Probably," Jin-woo muttered, nodding without much confidence. Truthfully, he was less worried about whether they were safe and more fixated on something else, why had these things suddenly appeared, after staying hidden all day yesterday?
Zombies, showing themselves now for the first time in almost twenty hours… Not even the chopper had spotted them from above. If they were moving at six kilometers an hour, that meant they had a potential activity range of over 120 kilometers. That kind of insane mobility? They’d really been blindsided.
- Kzzzt!
Just then, as Jin-woo struggled to make sense of it all, the radio on his tactical vest crackled, and Yu-bin’s urgent voice burst through.
- Hey! Jin-woo! Where are you guys right now? Zombies are coming out from the Jabeolle side! You okay? Huh?"
The rapid-fire panic in his voice made it clear just how worried he was. It looked like the zombie horde had finally emerged from the blind spot even Yu-bin couldn’t see until now.
Jin-woo pressed the transmit button and replied quietly.
"Yeah, we saw them too. We’re holed up on the third floor now. They’re walking right underneath us."
- Kzzzt. What?! Why didn’t you just run? How’d you get trapped like that? Where the hell did those things come from?
“That pedestrian underpass, you know, the one that connects to Jayang-dong, right near the subway station... They're crawling out of there.”
- Then they should’ve been in plain sight. How’d you end up trapped? Kzzzt!
“We were inside the building looking for shields at the time, so we didn’t see them.”
Jin-woo answered. Yu-bin paused, as if unable to believe what he’d just heard, then replied in disbelief.
- All three of you went into the building without leaving someone on lookout? Kzzzt!
“…Yeah, that’s what we did.”
Jin-woo answered quietly, like a scolded child. The sheriff and Min-gu awkwardly looked away. Now that they were faced with the consequences, they finally realized how reckless their actions had been.
“Hm…”
Min-gu, who had been absentmindedly holding his loot, a polycarbonate riot shield, gently set it down.
- We don’t know the range or how long those zombies linger in one area. So for now, just stay hidden and quiet. We’ve got at least ten minutes before the sprinters show up. Kzzzt!
Yu-bin, now having collected his thoughts, laid out a plan. Not that it was a stroke of genius, just the bare minimum for surviving in a zombie-infested world. As long as they could avoid the sprinters, their exit wouldn’t be too hard to manage.
- Kzzzt! I’ll radio again if anything changes. Turn down your receiver volume, or kzzzt! plug in an earpiece.
“Got it. Don’t worry too much. Be careful too, Yu-bin.”
As Jin-woo ended the transmission, Sam-suk, who had been sniffing the shield that Min-gu put down, suddenly perked up and turned, feigning intensity.
Sniff sniff! Sniff sniff!
He sniffed the air a couple more times, muscles tensing all over.
“What’s with him? Is something out there?” the sheriff asked, startled.
“Sam-suk.”
Realizing what the dog was about to do, Jin-woo called his name softly.
“Not now. We’re not here to go hunting. Stay.”
Whine...
Sam-suk let out a disappointed whine and reluctantly stopped. He must’ve been excited at the chance to finally show off what he could do.
“What’s the situation at the underpass? Still pouring out?” Jin-woo asked, facing the window that looked toward the external staircase.
Min-gu gave a small nod.
“Figures.”
“We’re screwed.”
Jin-woo sighed as he wiped his face. The line of zombies was about 250 meters long, packed in rows of five or six. And there was still no end in sight. That meant the horde had to be well over 1,500 strong.
“This is insane… I thought the chills were coming from the ones near the subway exit…”
Jin-woo rubbed his arms while still staring out toward the external stairway. Thankfully, none had started climbing the metal stairs, yet. But it wouldn’t be strange if a few suddenly veered off and came up. Zombie formations always left gaps where stragglers could slip through.
“There are zombies in the subway too?” the sheriff asked, eyes wide.
Jin-woo nodded.
“I told you earlier.”
“Oh, right, you did say something about that. Damn, I got so rattled I forgot. But hold on, then we can’t stay here! If they come from the subway side too, we’re completely boxed in!”
Grumbling, the sheriff cautiously made his way to the big observation window at the end of the building. From there, you could vaguely see the longer side of the L-shaped building through the dirty glass.
“Son of a… It really is happening.”
Clenching his hammer, the sheriff muttered as he saw a few zombie heads glide past the shattered window. Whether or not they’d continue this way through the curved corridor was unclear, but they were within 70 meters now. That much was certain.
“Seriously?” Jin-woo turned quickly toward the window, startled.
Just as the sheriff said, the zombies were approaching via the corridor that connected to the subway exit. They could only see about a dozen or so for now, but who knew how many more were trailing behind?
And worse than their number was the danger that one of them might spot the group and howl. If that happened, the 120-kilogram rotters still roaming below would join the chase immediately.
“We should punch through toward the subway,” the sheriff said, turning to Jin-woo and Min-gu. It sounded like the only logical move.
The passage to the subway station was about 120 meters away.
The number of exposed staircases in between made him uneasy, but they couldn’t just sit and hope for a miracle. The subway had way more options for escape.
Maybe... 18 seconds?
Jin-woo did a quick mental calculation. With a heavy backpack and a rifle, that was the best-case scenario, assuming no resistance. Realistically, it’d probably take much longer.
“How many staircases do we have to cross?”
Jin-woo asked.
“No idea. But quite a few,” the sheriff replied, adjusting his Kevlar gloves like it was no big deal.
If there was anything remotely lucky about their situation, it was that the exterior staircases, no matter how many there were, weren’t that wide.
Even if the zombies caught their scent and started swarming, only two or three of them could squeeze through the doors at a time, and that much, Jin-woo could handle on his own. Not that he was alone, of course. The two men beside him were monsters in close combat. Still...
The real problem was that the one suggesting this plan was the sheriff.
He wasn't Yu-bin.
And Jin-woo wasn’t sure he trusted this guy’s judgment enough to go along with it.
He hesitated for a few seconds.
Clang!
The metal grate of the staircase below gave a heavy thud, as if to snap him out of it. Some of the unwelcome zombies had started climbing the exterior stairs of the caterpillar-shaped structure. They had maybe thirty seconds before they reached the first floor.
“Alright, let’s move!”
Jin-woo popped the safety off his K2 rifle and plugged in his earpiece. Just then, Min-gu pushed the barrel of his rifle downward.
“Don’t fire unless you absolutely have to. The noise’ll just attract more of those monsters.”
With that, Min-gu pulled a machete from his duffel bag.
Shhhk
He gave it a slow, deliberate spin and grinned, curling one side of his mouth.
“I’ll take point.”
“That’s fine and all, but don’t try to play hero. Just handle the left. I’ve got the right. Let’s go!”
The sheriff gripped his sledgehammer in both hands and was the first to break into a run.
Tatatak!
Min-gu followed hot on his heels.
“Seriously, man? You didn’t even bring your bag? How are you gonna survive without water?” the sheriff barked over his shoulder.
Min-gu shot back without missing a beat, “I’ll just drink yours.”
“Hell no, asshole!” the sheriff muttered in disgust, already regretting that possibility.
Still, whether they shared water or not, getting out alive came first.
“Let’s go too, Sam-suk!”
Once the others were about twenty meters ahead, Jin-woo gave Sam-suk the signal. That way, if anything went wrong, they’d have proper cover. He didn’t want to risk drawing more zombies with gunfire, but it was too late to worry about that now.
Grrrrrr...!
As the sheriff and Min-gu turned the corner on the second floor, more than a dozen subway zombies let out deep, guttural growls as they approached down the long corridor.
Graaaah...!
One of them, at the very front, opened its jaws wide, a clear sign it was about to let out a roar. But the sheriff had no intention of letting it scream.
“Nobody said you could yell!”
Graaah! CRACK!
With a full-speed charge, the sheriff swung his hammer with all his might, crushing the zombie’s jaw and neck in one blow. The creature was hurled into the left wall before it could finish its roar.
“RRRAAGH!”
Without missing a beat, the sheriff stepped forward and slammed the hammer down onto the skull of the second zombie.
CRACK!
Its upper body slumped forward, knees buckling. Before it even hit the floor, the sheriff twisted his torso and unleashed another full horizontal swing.
CRUNCH!
The first zombie, still staggering upright after bouncing off the wall, had its skull crushed between the wall and the hammer, twisting into an unnatural shape. That was two down.
But there were plenty more to go.
GRAAAAAAAH!
The remaining zombies let out a unified howl and charged.
Their cries echoed off the oval-shaped interior walls, making Jin-woo break out in a cold sweat.
That sound... did it reach the ears of those 120-kilometer uninvited zombie bastards on the lower floor?