Chapter 97

If someone said that the rabies virus was making people eat each other, it wouldn’t seem that crazy. However, if someone said that a zombie wave would occur whenever there was a large group of people, that fell in the realm of fantastical. Still, there’s a reason for everything. Everything starts from something. So what about the zombies and Yohan’s revival? Who was responsible for putting the world in this state and what did they want?

“Whew…” Yohan wasn’t educated enough to figure out the answer to this burning question. He just hoped that, when the end credits started rolling, the scene that was playing wouldn’t be human extinction or the end of the world.

It took almost a full hour for the back end of the horde to exit the safety zone. In the end, nothing happened. Yohan wasn’t able to figure out the zombies odd behavior. It was just another variable that he had to take into consideration in the future.

“It’s Yohan. The zombie horde is gone. Starting with the front group, slowly go back to where we were before.”

They resumed travelling. The survivors had been moving sluggishly for a few days, but now they picked up the pace. Once they got onto the Incheon Airport expressway, there were no more blockers on the road. There had been some sort of commotion on the interchange where a few buses crashed and overturned, leaving a big mess. The area behind the crash was chaotic, but everything beyond it was clear. This was a relief for the survivors since it meant they didn’t have to spend a week on the road. Within four days, they arrived at Yeongjong bridge.

Their vehicles drove smoothly along the empty highway. Through the car windows and over the bridge, they had a wonderful view of the ocean. The ocean breeze, carrying the scent of sea salts, wafted through the windows. Compared to the smell of rotten corpses that enveloped the city, it was refreshing. After 20 minutes of travel, Yohan called for the front and rear groups to halt.

“Everyone stop. We’ll take a break here. Gather toward the center.”

Everyone gave Yohan a puzzled look. They were in the middle of the bridge. However, when they peered over the bridge, they exclaimed. There was a small island directly below the bridge. It wasn’t tremendously large, it would only take around 20 minutes to go around the island. Some of the land stretched out from toward the airport, covered in thick reeds. There was also a small mountain behind a few buildings and, beyond it, were a few boats with only the wide open western sea in their way.

“Oh, it’s Un-Yeom Island!” Jae Ho exclaimed.

“Oh, I didn’t know a place like this existed.” Sweeper was surprised. He had probably driven over this bridge many times, but had never noticed the island.

“From the entryway for Yeongjong bridge, if you get off on the shoulder, you can get here. Even though the place is accessible, not a lot of people know about it. The name of the island means ‘all life has disappeared’ or ‘the ground has cracked’. Sixty years ago, it was a deserted island. Around fifty people tried to live here, but due to the land being reclaimed recently, the majority of the residents moved, leaving just the basic infrastructure behind.” Jae Ho whipped out his polaroid camera to take a picture. He stuck the photo in his notebook and started scribbling some notes.

“You’re smart, reporter bro. Is it because you’re educated?”

“It’s because I came here before for an article.” Jae Ho’s hands were moving furiously.

‘I’m going to record everything about our survival.’ This was Jae Ho’s ambition. It was a mantra that he yelled out every day while taking pictures and scribbling notes. He was even doing this now, when the group was in-between safety zones after a big battle.

Yohan criticized him for being distracted and not staying alert, but Jae Ho reasoned that his records could become part of humanity’s new page in history. He was obsessed with record keeping and was the only person who still remembered exactly what day it was. Yohan didn’t stop him. Indeed, if humanity did survive the apocalypse, these records could eventually play an important role.

Elder Park had been staring at the island in silence. After a while, he approached Yohan.

“Yohan, if this place is our final destination, then I think it would be best if we reconsider. There is an ocean here, but there’s no water purification facility and, without water, it’ll be difficult to grow anything. There’s a limit to how much we can get from the mountainsides.”

“That’s a good point, Elder park. This place isn’t the final settlement site. It’s a forward operating base. Recon team, gather ‘round.” Yohan waited for the recon team members to gather before continuing. “You can get to Yeongjong Island through two different bridges. We’ll cut off both of these bridges and make this island into a fortress. In order to block out intruders and zombie waves, we’ll create one primary route to the island.”

Yohan pulled out a blank sheet of paper and drew a rough outline of the area. Even though they had lost their map during the fight with the Seoul Survival Union, Yohan had already memorized the geography of the nearby area. With a few lines, a near-perfect representation of Yeongjong Island and its nearby islands were detailed on the sheet of paper.

“We’ll set up a temporary camp on this island and destroy Yeongjong bridge first. We’ll rest here for two days and recover a bit. Then we’ll move to Yedagnpo Dock, which will be our second base. If the road is clear, we can get there quickly. I prepared a fishing boat at the dock.” Yohan pulled out some keys and showed it to the recon team. Saeri’s eyes grew wide.

“Wow, you prepared a boat too?”

“It’s a boat that some people I knew had stopped using. I borrowed it last year and it runs fine. Our final destination is Samhyongje Island. On the island is Gubong Mountain, where there’s a reservoir, farmland, and well-preserved wilderness. There aren’t a lot of residents there, so there’s probably not a lot of zombies. While the main force stays on stand-by at the docks, the recon team will go to Sindo Island and clear out the zombies. Once we confirm that it’s safe, we’ll move people there one by one. Of course, before that, there’s a deserted island between the docks and Sindo that we need to stop at first.”

“How come?”

“I released some chickens, pigs, and goats there. I also stashed away some seeds and grains. If zombies didn’t get to the island, they should all be safe. It’s a small and remote place.”

“Wow…”

“We’ll make this place our final destination and produce supplies to support Yeongjong Island. Yeongjong has cities where supplies can be distributed and there’s a storage base for freight.”

There was a dragon’s hoard worth of supplies among the freight. Cargo brought in by plane tended to be non-perishable. The amount stored here was equivalent to a large grocery store or two.

“We need to take our time. Our first goal is to make sure that Yeongjong Island is zombie free. Our final goal is to convert it into a place where we can survive until the end of the apocalypse. 10 years…no, at least 20 years. Until all the zombies in the world have rotted away and turned to dust.”

After hearing Yohan’s plan, everyone felt a chill go down their spines. It was the feeling of excitement.

* * *

“And the location of the blast?”

“It has to be at least one kilometer away from Un-Yoem Island. Even if the zombies fall into the ocean, we have to stop them from getting to Sindo.”

Yohan and the recon team members were in their positions, ready to blow up the bridge. Since they could only theorycraft the plan, they weren’t sure if they would be able to completely destroy the bridge. If it didn’t work, they would have to blockade it with cars. However, just using cars wasn’t good enough for Yohan. Destroying the bridge was better insurance.

Yohan picked out a few talented people and sent the rest to guard the rear. On a spot, one kilometer away from the island, they used an industrial grade drill to make a hole in the steel plating. The sound of the drill boring a hole into the asphalt was extremely loud. Yohan drilled as deeply as he could. Even though they had brought as much as they could, he still wasn’t satisfied with the amount of explosives they had. They carved out two vertical lines with the drill and Yohan placed half of all the explosives they had into the holes and hooked up the fuses.

In order to avoid mistakes, Yohan carefully double checked the notes he had written down when the old man gave him the instructions. Afterward, he went underneath the bridge to the subway tracks and drilled more parallel holes, in which he planted dynamite. Yohan intended to collapse the center of the bridge by blowing up the steel plates on both sides of the support beams. He had prepared for this by referencing videos of people actually blowing up bridges. However, his lack of experience with explosives made him nervous. Thankfully, while the structure was a double layer of steel plating, the actual bridge material was thin.

After the preparations were done, Yohan made everyone retreat to the back. Jung Hwan and Jae Ho stood behind Yohan, wiping the sweat from their brows.

“Eh, I’m worried. What do we do if the whole bridge falls apart?”

“Blowing up a small bridge requires several tons of explosives. I’m worried that we won’t even make a hole in the bridge. In my opinion, it would be a miracle if this succeeds.”

Yohan signalled to the guards that were on stand-by, indicating that he was about to detonate the explosives. He held the detonator in his hand and immediately began to count down without any hesitation.

“Three, two, one, blast.”

The shockwave of the explosion sent ripples through the ocean water. If the drill was considered loud, the explosion was ear shattering. Yohan, Jung Hwan, and Jae Ho all covered their ears and watched the explosion from afar. Plumes of grey smoke were rising out. As the smoke and dust spread towards them, the trio started to cough.

The bridge didn’t collapse. There were holes at the site of the explosion, looking like someone had dug into some sand or dirt. The dust and debris was reminiscent of the explosion videos that Yohan had seen, but the miracle that he had been hoping for didn’t happen. Just as Yohan’s eyes were filling up with disappointment, large cracks started appearing around the explosion marks on the bridge.

The holes made in the steel plating started getting larger, spreading out like a spider web. Then, with a loud crack, the floor of the bridge started falling. Like a landslide, various materials sank into the water. All the witnesses were shocked.

“Wow…”

A large piece of asphalt hit the ocean, creating a tall pillar of water. The water dispersed into the air, creating a refreshing ocean breeze. This was the first time Jung Hwan or Jae Ho saw anything like this. Their jaws dropped at the sight of it all.

“Miracle-like events keep happening.” Yohan smiled as he turned around, walking away from the broken bridge. In front of him was a horde of zombies that arrived after hearing the noise they made. The recon team formations had their backs to the wall, but they fought as if they were enjoying the first steps of a fresh start.

“God must be protecting us, right?” Jae Ho excitedly snapped a picture of the broken bridge. Even though they weren’t here, if the other survivors heard that they successfully destroyed the bridge, the majority of them would probably feel the same way. The first step was successfully, which made it easier to be hopeful while taking the next step. There had been many setbacks, which made this feeling of hope that much sweeter. Jae Ho started thinking about life. Was there any other moment where their lives felt more valuable than right now?

“Maybe. Let’s go, we need to help”

Jae Ho was overwhelmed with emotions. He scribbled down a verse from a poem and then followed after Yohan. Maybe it was because he was in a rush, or maybe it was the excitement, but his handwriting looked uneven.

‘The sun may be swallowed as the night grows dark. Even if you swallow the dawn, the sun will come up.’

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