Chapter 98

Part 3 – Apocalyptic Chapter

* * *

11. The Survivors’ Island

Her vision was hazy, as if she was watching a film that had a blur effect applied. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.

‘This…is a dream.’

The dreamer realized that she was dreaming and entered a lucid state. It was a familiar experience. Ever since the apocalypse started, she had been having lucid dreams occasionally. Scenes flashed before her eyes like clips from a movie before freezing on one particular scene. The scene depicted a familiar island that she had seen before. There were people living on this island. The people were laughing and having fun while farming and raising animals. Just from this scene alone, it was difficult to tell if this was before or after the apocalypse.

Suddenly, the scene changed. The peaceful island sunk into chaos. The laughing people were now undead and were feasting on the corpses of the comrades. It was hard to tell where the zombies came from, but there was no end to them. They bared their shark-like teeth as they tore apart the struggling people.

[Jung Hwan!]

[Yohan! Ahhhhh!]

A man screamed as he watched the people get brutalized. The man called Jung Hwan reached out his hand to someone as he died. The screaming man was kept busy by the zombies around him. There were only a few people left. They grouped up as they backed away from the zombies. One by one, their flame of life flickered out.

There was a man who shielded the polaroid camera around his neck like a treasure, a woman who fought back courageously, and even a military officer who took out a zombie with every single shot he made. One by one, they were all killed.

Now there were only three survivors remaining. There was a man with a prosthetic arm, but he had already been bitten in the shoulder. The three were surrounded by zombies, there was no way for them to escape. Despair was etched onto the faces of the three men, but they endured the endless rush of zombies for a long time. The man with the prosthetic arm swung the weapons in each of his hands, adding to the pile of dead zombies in front of them. Soon, he stopped caring about defense and just accepted the bites as he swung his blades to kill as many zombies as he could until he breathed his last breath. He died standing up.

Two people left. The man with the hippie hairstyle was trying to block a zombie and couldn’t watch the other man’s back. The man named Yohan struggled against a mutant zombie with sharp claws and teeth as zombies surrounded him. Thankfully, most of the other zombies nearby were pushed away in the struggle. The man with the hippie hairstyle attacked anything that didn’t move like a normal human, but, in the end, he was torn to shreds by the undead anyways. He was still smiling as he died.

[Well, this is shitty. Right, bro?]

His smile soon turned into a grimace of pain. Finally, there was the man named Yohan, the last survivor on this peaceful island. He stared out at the approaching zombies and, with a dispirited look, he spread open his arms. At that moment, the scene shattered.

“Ah!”

“Lady Lina, are you awake?”

“Hah…hah…” Lina, full name Paulina, panted. Her entire body was soaked in sweat.

“It looks like you had another dream.”

“Verda.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Please call for Pio right now.”

“What…should I tell them?”

Lina was still trying to catch her breath. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she looked at Verda. Her lips felt dry. Since the zombies first appeared, this was the most vivid dream she had ever experienced. The scene of the island was definitely familiar to her, she had no doubt that the location was near where she was.

Every time she slept, she had dreams. Some were precognitive dreams while others were nightmares. Her dreams mixed together like watercolors and, at some point, she had stopped worrying about the contents of her dreams. However, this time, Lina was certain.

“They’re coming.”

This wasn’t the first time she saw these people in her dreams. Now, they needed her.

* * *

Yohan’s group arrived at Sammock dock. Sindo, their destination, was close enough that they could see it from where they were with the naked eye. An old, mid-sized fishing boat stood out among the smaller fishing boats and passenger boats. There was an abandoned car parked at the docks and all the nearby buildings had their doors closed. Since there weren’t that many people here, there weren’t that many zombies.

“Let’s get organized,” Yohan ordered. Everyone started unpacking their belongings and rearranging their stuff. The recon team members moved to the outskirts to reassure the non-combatants. They set up a border around the area so that they could work with ease.

Everyone worked as a unit. It was the first time that the regular camp members could see the recon team do their stuff outside the main camp. It was impressive. Yohan watched with satisfaction. Once everything was organized, he gave his next orders.

“It’s not a dangerous area, so we can split up. Take one building and eliminate all the zombies you see. Work within reason and come back after taking care of the zombies.”

Yohan headed over to the boat as the recon team members split up like well-trained hunting dogs. Since there weren’t many people living here originally and there were many small buildings, it was safe and efficient to split up. They didn’t need to stick together to clear out the area. Their method of dealing with zombies wasn’t to fight them inside the dark buildings. Rather, they opened the entrance, lured the zombies outside, and killed them in the open. For trained combatants, it wasn’t very dangerous.

“Huh? Ah Young, you don’t have to follow me. It’s dangerous, so stay with the other.” Jung Hwan motioned to Ah Young to go away. She had been trying to follow him discreetly. Ah Young hesitated.

“Go, go.”

Children were excluded from the majority of the work at the camps. They were more prone to make things worse than help, so it was better to have them stay somewhere quiet. Jung Hwan felt increasingly agitated as he tried to get Ah Young to turn back.

“Huh?”

However, Ah Young pretended she didn’t hear him and continued to follow.

‘This is troublesome.’ Jung Hwan disapproved. He was mindful of getting caught by Yohan and reprimanded. He put both of his hands on his hips and gave Ah Young his most stern look, but it wasn’t effective. Instead, Ah Young smiled brightly. Seeing her fair expression, Jung Hwan felt all the tension in his body melt away.

‘I knew it. I’m really bad at being strict.’ Jung Hwan shook his head.

“You have to be careful, okay? This job is no joke, Ah Young. It’s really dangerous.”

Ah Young nodded with all her might.

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine.’

It would have been different if this was Jung Hwan of the past, but now he was confident that he had the ability to protect at least one person. Like Yohan said, there weren’t that many zombies here, so it wasn’t that dangerous. Still, he realized that he was bad at dealing with women. He was comfortable enough with Saeri, since she was aggressive and outgoing, and worked well with Ji Hye, who was a caring person. Aside from those two, he struggled, even with Jung Eun, who was part of the recon team.

As he thought about Saeri, he blushed. Once upon a time, he thought he had strong feelings for her, but now that some time had passed, he no longer thought this way. Reflecting on his actions in the past…it was a bit embarrassing. He recalled when he complained to Yohan and regretted his actions in the past.

“Oh…Ah Young.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you following me?” Jung Hwan tried to break the awkward silence with some small talk. He complimented himself on his initiative.

After a moment of silence, Ah Young whispered, “I’m scared of the other people.”

“Haha, so you mean I’m not that scary?” Jung Hwan laughed sheepishly. Ah Young didn’t reply. Jung Hwan took it as confirmation and felt a bit sad. “So I’m a bit of a pushover?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Huh?”

“You’re strong…but you’re also friendly…”

“Oh…oh?”

It was an unexpected and surprising answer. Jung Hwan felt a surge of emotions in his chest. This was the first time that someone actually acknowledged him. His heart felt light and he felt like he was walking on air. Since he always compared himself to the other men in the recon team, he felt like his athletic and fighting abilities were lacking. They never put him down and always trusted him, but he still felt like the most insignificant member of the recon team. This was the first time that someone said he was strong. It was awkward, but it felt good.

As the two chatted quietly, they arrived at the building that Jung Hwan was assigned to. Jung Hwan motioned Ah Young to stay back. Ah Young ran a few steps away and curled up timidly. Jung Hwan kicked open the door to the fish market and took two steps back. A zombie stumbled out of the darkness.

“Ha!” Jung Hwan mimicked the form of a sidearm pitch as he swung his knife horizontally. The zombie’s head fell off its body. The body stayed standing up for a moment before toppling over. The eyes and lips on the head were still moving, so Jung Hwan stabbed his knife into it.

Jung Hwan’s movements felt lighter than before. He was filled with confidence. He knocked on the fish market’s steel door and could hear the howls of the undead. There were maybe two, three at most. They would be no problem.

“They’re coming. Two, maybe three.” Jung Hwan didn’t forget to warn Ah Young. He didn’t want her to scream when a group of zombies suddenly appeared. They could hear growling, but nothing came out. The zombies probably got lost inside. Jung Hwan pounded on the door harder.

“Raughhhhh!” A zombie suddenly leapt out of the darkness with both of its hands outstretched. Jung Hwan used his light movements to deftly jump behind it while stabbing it at the same time. The zombie flailed as it fell down. More zombies trailed out, one by one. Jung Hwan killed them and tossed their corpses to the side.

“Whew…”

If Sweeper or Ha Jin were watching him, they would probably tell him that he wasn’t filming an action movie. However, in the eyes of an ordinary person, he looked cool. Ah Young’s eyes were wide as she watched Jung Hwan fight. It was as if she was looking at a superhero.

‘Don’t let your guard down.’ Yohan’s training was etched into Jung Hwan’s mind. Just as he was about to relax, he heard his voice chime in his head.

“What a scary person…” Jung Hwan mumbled. Even now, he was still hearing Yohan’s voice in his head. He knocked on the door again to be safe. If he had gotten carried away and entered the dark building instead and encountered a group of zombies, he could have died a mysterious death.

Before entering the building, they had to double and triple check. This was the most basic of basics that were drilled into the heads of every recon team member. Even three times wasn’t enough, so Jung Hwan knocked four more times. There was no reaction. Either there weren’t any zombies or they were stuck in a situation where it was difficult to move. Jung Hwan swapped for a shorter knife and held a flashlight in his other hand.

The floor creaked as he stepped inside. It was a really old building. Dust and debris crumbled from the ceiling. The entire area overhead was corroded and Jung Hwan could see light shining through some cracks in the ceiling. It was bright enough inside that he almost didn’t need a flashlight.

“This is scary. The ceiling isn’t going to collapse, right?”

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