Chapter 29

“What is it?” Muwon muttered as he pushed himself upright.

The movement woke Hee-eun, who opened her eyes and shifted beneath her blanket.

“A barricade has gone up,” Yu-su told them.

“A barricade?”

“Really?” Hee-eun sat up at once.

Muwon and Hee-eun hurried to the window, narrowing their eyes as they peered into the distance. Near the farthest edge of their view, a towering gray wall now stretched across the landscape.

“When the hell did that happen…?” Muwon stared.

“I don’t know. It looks like they built it overnight.”

Just then, a thunderous explosion rolled across the sky.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

“Whoa…!” Hee-eun gasped.

“What the hell?” Muwon jolted fully awake.

On the other side of the room, Jujae and the others shot upright in their beds. Yu-su remained calm as he addressed them.

“Everyone, get up. A barricade has appeared in the distance.”

“That sound just now…” Jujae looked toward the windows.

“It’s fireworks.”

“Fireworks?”

Everyone rushed toward the window. Brilliant bursts of light exploded across the brightening dawn sky, proving Yu-su correct.

The explosions roaring from every direction were far louder than the helicopters had been. Perhaps it was the dazzling spectacle overhead, but the zombies appeared completely captivated. They poured into the streets like a swarm of locusts, reaching their arms toward the sky as though trying to seize the burning lights.

While everyone stared in horror at the grotesque spectacle, Muwon pointed into the distance.

“Look over there. Vehicles are coming.”

A convoy had appeared on the road near the station, still far in the distance. A crackle of static spread through the air before an amplified voice boomed across the city.

—“The military’s rescue operation is about to begin.”

—“We are drawing the zombies out first so they can be eliminated. Citizens, do not come outside, and remain clear of all windows.”

Muwon frowned.

“Didn’t they say the rescue operation was supposed to begin in three days?”

“They did,” Yu-su confirmed.

Hee-eun glanced between them. “But this is only the second day, isn’t it?”

“Well, if they came early, that’s a good thing.”

As they spoke, the convoy steadily drew closer. A large snowplow led the procession, apparently modified to shove aside the abandoned vehicles and zombie remains clogging the road. Behind it followed a long line of buses of every kind, ranging from small village buses to military transports.

Armed soldiers marched in formation alongside the buses.

Atop the leading snowplow stood a man who appeared to be an officer. The moment he raised one hand and swept it downward, the soldiers, already braced in firing positions, opened fire in perfect unison.

Their weapons seemed to be fitted with suppressors, reducing the gunfire to a series of muted cracks. The relative quiet only made the scene more surreal. Brilliant fireworks bloomed across the pale violet sky while, far below, packs of zombies collapsed one after another, spraying blood and filling the streets with shrieks.

The snowplow and soldiers advanced steadily, clearing the corpses from the road with brutal efficiency.

“They’re getting closer. Step back.”

Muwon pulled the others away from the window, where they had been standing transfixed. Only then did Yeong-ae seem to recover her senses. She clasped her hands tightly together.

“They must be here to rescue us, right?”

“It looks that way,” Yu-su replied.

“Oh, thank God…” Yeong-ae hurried toward the bed. “Mom. Mom, wake up.”

The clearing operation continued for several hours. As the road was gradually reclaimed, the thick, inescapable smell of blood spread through the air like a crimson mist, making the streets at noon appear as though they had already been stained by sunset.

—“As of this moment, soldiers are entering each building to begin rescue operations. Follow all instructions. Any behavior that obstructs the rescue process will be dealt with severely.”

Squads of five soldiers entered the buildings one after another. They appeared to be working methodically from the rooftops downward, sweeping each floor before proceeding to the next.

Survivors emerged in droves, some weeping and others laughing as they climbed aboard the waiting buses. Whenever a bus reached full capacity, it pulled away toward an unknown destination.

Muwon nudged Yu-su with his elbow.

“What’s on your mind?”

“…I’m thinking I’d like everything to end just like this.”

Although they had already packed their belongings, Yu-su could not stop worrying at the edge of the bathrobe bag cinched around his waist. Beside him, Hee-eun nodded and clenched her fists.

“Right. We get rescued, and we get out…” Her expression tightened. “But what happens after we get out?”

“We’ll find out once we’re there,” Muwon said. “There’s no point worrying about it beforehand.”

“Right…”

By the time the Korean medicine clinic’s turn came, the setting sun had begun to bleed in earnest across the horizon. Jujae, who had been staring out the window like a stone statue, suddenly called out in a low, taut voice.

“They’re coming to our building!”

“Let’s go to the entrance,” Muwon ordered. “Everyone, get to the entrance.”

They had only waited there for a moment when the heavy tread of combat boots echoed through the corridor. Yeong-ae was the one who flung the door open.

“Over here! We have people in here!”

Of the five soldiers, three continued downstairs with the civilians they were escorting, while the remaining two turned toward the clinic. One was a middle-aged soldier of evidently senior rank. The other was a young man whose face was still softened by the last traces of boyhood.

The young soldier approached and snapped a salute.

“Attention, please. I’ll begin by checking everyone for fever.”

“Why are you checking for fever?” Hee-eun asked.

“Many people bitten by zombies develop a fever before they mutate.”

“Private,” the older soldier cut in. “Do not engage in unnecessary conversation with civilians.”

“S-sorry, sir!”

“Compose yourself.” The middle-aged soldier surveyed the room. “Now, has anyone here had a fever or come into contact with a zombie?”

Everyone’s gaze involuntarily shifted toward the grandmother. The middle-aged soldier noticed and immediately approached her.

Yeong-ae stepped in front of him.

“No! That isn’t what happened. My mother hasn’t so much as been grazed by a zombie!”

“We have orders to check everyone thoroughly, so please cooperate.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Private.”

“Private Sim Gorak, sir!”

“What are you waiting for? Check her.”

Sim Gorak hurried to the grandmother’s side, inserted the thermometer into her ear, and waited.

Beep, beep.

When the device sounded, he checked the display and released a breath so faint that it was almost inaudible.

“She has a low-grade fever.”

“She caught a cold from the chill,” Yeong-ae explained hurriedly. “Her fever came down after she took some medicine.”

“Understood. We will depart after checking the others.”

Everyone else had a normal temperature. After glancing at the thermometer, Yu-su turned to Sim Gorak.

“What happens to someone with a high fever?”

“Uh…” Gorak hesitated. “As I understand it, they’re transported separately under quarantine.”

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances at his quiet, reluctant answer. They seemed to realize simultaneously that, had they failed to lower the grandmother’s fever with medicine, something far more distressing might have happened.

The middle-aged soldier spoke with stern finality.

“Enough questions. We are on a schedule. Move out. Carry only the bare essentials. Everything else will be placed in the cargo hold.”

By the time the group reached the ground floor, the bus parked in front of the building was already close to capacity.

Yeong-ae and the grandmother boarded first, followed by Jujae and Shin Daeseok. Hee-eun was about to climb the steps after them when the middle-aged soldier extended an arm, blocking her path.

“That is all this bus can take. Driver, move out.”

“Wait,” Hee-eun protested. “They’re with us.”

“Are they family?”

“Well, no, but…”

“I cannot make exceptions for personal acquaintances.”

With that, the soldier climbed aboard.

“Private, remain here and escort the next bus.”

“Private Sim Gorak, sir! Yes, sir!”

Yeong-ae and the grandmother had already vanished behind the tightly packed crowd. Jujae and Shin Daeseok remained visible near the driver’s seat, however, and they exchanged complicated looks with those left outside.

Hee-eun waved to them with an encouraging smile.

“The next bus will be leaving right behind you anyway. We’ll see you there.”

“Take care, all of you,” Jujae called.

“We will,” came the reply.

“Move out!” a soldier ordered.

Bang!

Another firework exploded overhead as the bus pulled away.

The next vehicle to arrive was a tour bus. Yu-su’s group loaded their luggage into the cargo compartment, then claimed seats near the front. While they waited for the remaining survivors to board, Muwon approached Sim Gorak, who stood rigidly at attention in front of the bus, sweat streaming down his temples.

“Private Sim Gorak.”

“Private Sim… Gorak, sir?”

Gorak had automatically begun reciting his rank and name, only to falter when he realized the man addressing him was a civilian. Muwon smirked and tilted his head.

“I have a question.”

“I can’t tell you anything! Private conversations are prohibited!”

“No one’s looking this way.”

“If I break regulations, I… I’ll get in trouble…!”

Yu-su quietly surveyed their surroundings before shifting his attention to Sim Gorak.

The young soldier could not have been much older than twenty. He was tall, with a somewhat naive but unmistakably kind appearance. With a smile, he probably would have looked sturdy and almost boyishly endearing. At present, however, his eyes were swollen from crying.

They were still damp, and his hands had not stopped trembling.

Yu-su said nothing.

His condition was understandable. Zombies still wore the faces and bodies of human beings, and pulling the trigger on them could not have been easy. The pressure of taking part in an operation where death might come at any moment must have been crushing.