Chapter 96

Yohan looked inside the box he got from the old man. It contained bulletproof vests. There was enough in the box to outfit all the recon team members while still having some left over. Even though it was a burden to be indebted to someone, Yohan didn’t decline the gift. It was that valuable.

“Thank you.” Yohan accepted the gift with neither hesitation nor regret. Even if they weren’t going to take the mercenaries along with them to the second shelter, they were still useful as inland allies. If something happened here, the mercenaries would be the first line of defense and could share information about the situation.

“You were a big help. I’m sorry that we killed some of your comrades and got some more killed in the fight with the Union,” Yohan said, sincerely.

“You’re still worried about that? You’re such a petty person. Look around. Is there anyone that’s still hung up on that?”

Yohan looked at the mercenaries standing by nearby. As their eyes met his glance, they winked or smiled at him.

‘Is it because we fought together for a few days?’

They were good people. Unfortunately, Yohan didn’t know if or when they would work together again.

“I wish you good luck. See ya.”

“Okay, come visit sometime.”

Yohan shifted his glance over to Kim Jung Mi. Jung Mi looked sad as she reached out and held Yohan’s outstretched hand with both of her hands. Yohan sighed, carefully extracted his hand, and patted her on the shoulder.

“Take care of yourself, Jung Mi.”

“It looks like we won’t be together this time either.”

“There’s no one here that can take on your responsibilities.”

“…You’re right.” Jung Mi wiped something from her eyes and forced a bright smile. She was very pretty. She had a good heart and wanted to help others. Unfortunately, this was something that Yohan couldn’t do and, because of that, they couldn’t be together. Yohan hoped that, despite the current state of the world, Jung Mi would hold onto that mentality. He hoped that she would never experience a calamity that would ruin that mentality.

“The promise is still in effect. If we meet next time, we really need to be together.”

Yohan nodded gently. If it was these two groups, he knew they would survive.

* * *

Yohan’s groups barely managed to reach the expressway before sunset. They had been traveling for some time and the sun was halfway over the horizon. There hadn’t been any casualties yet, but everyone was exhausted just from constantly being on the edge. Most of the combatants were covered in zombie blood, the ones in the front group especially since they were fighting the most. Yohan had been going back and forth between the front and rear groups to provide back up. His breathing was ragged. They had just finished dealing with a situation where zombies appeared at both the front and rear groups at the same time.

— “This the rear. The 36 zombies that were approaching from the six o’clock direction have been cleared.” Ha Jin reported.

“Any casualties?”

— “None.”

“Good.” Yohan stopped in his tracks and turned to head back to the middle group. He got on top of their truck and pulled his binoculars to scout out the area.

He had heard some zombie howls ahead of the front group and noticed that their progress had slowed down. There were a lot more abandoned cars on the expressway than he had anticipated and zombies were constantly popping up. It looked like it had been a while since anyone had gone this way. Whenever zombies approached, they dealt with them using crossbows, harpoons, slingshots, and other silent weapons in order to avoid attracting more zombies. However, this method of fighting also slowed them down.

“We can take it slow, so stay safe and avoid casualties.”

— “Roger.”

At this pace, it would take them about a week to arrive at their destination. But this was okay. Even if it took time, it was more important to be safe and avoid unnecessary deaths. They were still advancing. It was slow, but they were definitely making progress.

“Hm…”

The rising heat from the empty asphalt was suffocating. The heat on the road was a bigger enemy than the zombies. The combatants had to endure the heat while fighting to clear the road while the support teams and other survivors could sit in the vehicles and enjoy the air conditioning. It would be bad if anyone got heatstroke and passed out.

— “Yohan!” Sweeper’s voice sounded urgent. Yohan quickly grabbed his walkie-talkie.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

— “I have some bad news and some really shitty news.”

“Hurry up and tell me both of them.”

— “The bad news is that one of the forklifts broke down. Dorky bro is looking at it right now, but it’ll definitely delay us some more.”

Dorky bro was Sweeper’s nickname for one of the construction equipment mechanics.

— “And the shitty news is that there’s a horde of zombies approaching from the north going south.”

“A zombie horde? How many?” Yohan frowned.

— “I’m not sure. Shit. 1000? 2000?”

“How fast are they moving?”

— “It’s not a zombie wave. They’re moving at a normal speed.”

It was bad timing. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the two incidents came up one at a time. Yohan suppressed his urge to complain. It’s not like he hadn’t expected these kinds of things to happen.

“Sweeper, I leave it to you.”

— “Okay, got it,” Sweeper replied, understanding his orders.

Yohan knew this wasn’t going to be an easy journey. He knew a lot could happen. If they were on a hill or incline, it wouldn’t have been so bad. However, they were travelling on a flat road right now, and that was an issue. Yohan wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible. Thankfully, it seemed like they still had time. He raised his walkie-talkie to his mouth to relay the situation to all groups.

“Attention everyone. There are 2000 zombies approaching from the north, moving southward. Sweeper will go to divert their attention and we’ll pass through quickly. Front group, you’ll have to move fast.”

This wasn’t their first time encountering a horde. Zombies weren’t intelligent. It was strange that a horde was moving toward one spot when they weren’t part of a zombie wave. A moment later, they could hear gunshots from Sweeper trying to draw the attention of the zombies away from them. However, Sweeper soon gave a troubling report.

— “Yohan, we’re in trouble. They’re not changing directions. A few did, but that’s all.”

‘What the hell?’ Yohan was shocked.

‘They didn’t change directions? Are they deaf?’

“The zombies aren’t following the sound?”

— “That’s what I said! We need to come up with a new plan quick…”

It wasn’t a zombie wave, but the zombies were still moving toward a single location and they were even ignoring prey that was right in front of them? Yohan had never seen this before. But rather than trying to solve the mystery, he had to focus on the crisis at hand.

“ETA?”

— “10 minutes!” Sweeper replied. No doubt, his estimate was erring on the side of caution. They probably had 12 or 13 minutes. Yohan switched to the group frequency quickly.

“Everyone, start moving back slowly while maintaining the gap between groups. Leave the construction machines and excess luggage and just retreat all the way back to the toll gates. Sweeper, get away from the zombies and rejoin the front group. I’ll check it out myself.”

Yohan immediately hopped off his truck and ran diagonally away from the groups. Even though they had been suffering through zombies non-stop, the undead in the area were still tenaciously running at them and now there was even a zombie horde approaching. Additionally, the horde was behaving weirdly. It felt ominous. Yohan went into a mid-rise building.

“Raughhhhh!” A zombie appeared out of nowhere and tried to jump onto Yohan’s face. Yohan dipped his head and flipped the zombie over him. He then casually stomped down on the zombie’s face before jogging up the stairs to get a look at the horde.

He frowned as he observed the horde from the rooftop. There were definitely more than 2000 zombies. Way more. It would have been a different story if they were prepared and could force them through a choke point, but they were in a wide open area and there were too many to handle. If they wanted to use their guns, they had to deal with all the zombies nearby first. If they had to fight this many zombies, they wouldn’t be able to avoid casualties. At least 10 people could die. Worst case scenario, half the group would get wiped out. Yohan pulled out a signal flare.

The flare screamed high into the air before it started descending. Even if the zombies couldn’t hear it, they could at least see the smoke and should be attracted to it. Should. However, only three zombies approached, and they were already nearby. They weren’t part of the horde that was still moving in the same direction. Even though Sweeper already told him, Yohan still couldn’t believe it even after seeing it with his own eyes.

‘How am I supposed to interpret this…’ Yohan observed the horde, from front to back, using his high magnification binoculars. He didn’t want to miss anything. There was definitely no mutant in the horde.

‘What’s the meaning of this parade? I’ll need to update the zombie rules…aside from normal zombies, mutants, and zombie waves, is there another pattern of behavior?’

It was an unwelcome development. Thankfully, the second shelter was an island. Once they get there and blow up the Yeongjong Bridge, any zombies that want to get to them will drown in the ocean.

Yohan watched as the zombies moved like a herd of American water buffalos past the supplies and vehicles that they had abandoned in their retreat. He thought about what would have happened if they encountered this kind of horde back at the Bucheon camp. It was a terrifying thought.

— “Yohan, everyone has retreated behind the toll gate.”

“Good job.”

With the survivors safe, Yohan tailed the horde from a safe distance. They had successfully avoided the crisis, but he was still feeling anxious. What if the horde suddenly changed directions and went towards the survivors? What if they suddenly become a zombie wave? Two thousand. There were over two thousand zombies. The size of the horde was not lost on the survivors and they were prepared to fight at the toll gate. There were a lot of cars there and the toll booths themselves made a natural choke point. It was better than nothing. If they did end up fighting…

‘No.’ Yohan immediately shook his head. With a horde this big, there would be consequences. Even if they had to split up and regrouped later, running away was the best call. Yohan could only hope that this event would end without any serious damage.

Yohan could practically hear the seconds tick by in his head as he quietly waited in the heat, sweat rolling down his face. The foul stench of the undead was overwhelming. Even straight up eating shit wouldn’t be as bad as breathing in this odor. The horde was huge, giving Yohan lots of time to think about random things while he waited for them to pass. He thought about what could have caused this behavior, where all these zombies came from, and what could happen if they had to fight them.

By now, Yohan had four years of experience dealing with zombies. Some of the things he thought about weren’t new. What are the zombies in general? What caused the outbreak in the first place? If someone created them, who were they and what was their purpose? Up until now, Yohan had been busy trying to survive, so he had pushed these questions aside. Figuring out the source of the outbreak wouldn’t lead them to solving the apocalypse. Additionally, he didn’t have an obligation to solve the apocalypse anyway.

Thinking about the whole thing wasn’t going to improve their lives. Their main concern was the crisis at hand. Even if the whole thing was the result of someone’s actions and intentions, they had to focus on dealing with the unnatural situations first, whether it was the mutants, zombie waves, or this horde right now. Besides, it was something that was difficult to figure out even if he was scientifically inclined. He had common sense, but the idea of a zombie defied common sense, so that wasn’t helpful. Ultimately, the thing that bothered Yohan the most was the unlikelihood of the whole thing. Yeah, the entire nature of the apocalypse itself was odd.

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