Chapter 25: Wave

On the roof, the throwing team diligently threw sidewalk blocks, while at the landing between first and second floors, the defense team thrust weapons from behind barricades.

I went down briefly to check on the defense team.

Zombie howls and human battle cries and shouts. A narrow front line with flashlight beams swaying chaotically. Red blood spraying, corpses piling up, weapons swinging fiercely.

“Kill it!”

Long spears. Primitive weapons made by taping awls or nails to poles thrust up between chair and desk legs.

Though zombies fell before tactics using barricades as shields and spears as weapons, I quickly found weaknesses.

‘Too dark. And zombies are learning.’

A brief flash of flashlight. Something writhing between fallen zombie corpses where the defense team couldn’t see. A zombie crawling forward grabbed chair legs.

Rattle – the barricade shook.

Standing on the stairs, I pointed at that zombie and shouted:

“Below! It’s grabbing the barricade! You, yes, you looking lost! Come up here and assess the situation! Light it up well with your flashlight!”

“Ah, yes!”

That’s when it happened.

Something whipped through the air. Thwack, a dull impact. A high school student thrusting a spear staggered.

“Ack!”

“Blocks! They’re throwing blocks!”

Zombies that couldn’t get close started throwing sidewalk blocks they’d picked up. The weapons we’d thrown to kill zombies came back at us.

Plus the noise from the first floor was concerning. Bang bang, sounds of pounding on locked doors in unison. Zombies that had broken windows to invade first floor rooms seemed ready to surge up any moment.

‘This is really maddening.’

This was a real wave. A wave of zombies. The human breakwater was being swept away, worn down by waves of zombies.

Fighting back would inevitably cause losses, and in the worst case we’d all be submerged by zombies.

‘Let’s slip away.’

I gradually retreated to the third floor.

The defense team used stairs above the landing and shone flashlights from railings while thrusting long weapons, but the outlook wasn’t bright.

Do-hyung quietly followed me.

“How’s the roof?”

“Too dark to see well. More importantly, let’s prepare our escape route.”

“What?”

I looked him over. A marauder member who’d parked by the church entrance deliberately. The vicious electricity thief who’d laid groundwork for triggering a wave by parking where blocks would fall and setting off the alarm.

Though I wasn’t sure about other things, his assist was impressively excellent.

This operation too succeeded thanks to everyone’s cooperation. Me wanting to lead zombies, Do-hyung setting traps, the thieving elder triggering them.

‘The marauder members aren’t bad.’

With just current members, couldn’t we break most opponents?

Do-hyung trembled as if startled and said:

“How can we survive here? There’s no escape route. We have to block and kill all the zombies to live.”

The surrounded church building. First floor already packed with zombies. In a way, our backs were against the wall. That’s why people fought desperately for survival.

But marauders were different.

“There are many ways to survive.”

I’d prepared spaces to hide and wait until zombies thinned out. Several empty cabinets or bathrooms with metal doors. Safe places with hidden water and chocolate bars.

And the thieving elder…

“Deacon Kwon’s here? And beside you?”

“A true comrade.”

“Huh. This friend? Didn’t see him that way.”

“So that’s where the gun came from…”

After such warm greetings between marauders recognizing each other’s true nature, we quietly walked the third floor.

The deserted third floor. Peaceful except for muted shouts from the landing.

The thieving elder led us somewhere. A room at the corridor’s end.

“Being a church there’s no gas pipes to climb down walls barehanded. The drainage pipes for roof water aren’t sturdy. But I prepared something.”

The elder closed the door and shone his flashlight out the wide open window.

Something like rope installed near the window.

“We can escape using this. There’s a drainage pipe beside it that might help too. Problem is, yeah. Zombies outside too. Can’t leave right away.”

I barely held back from applauding. Worth recruiting marauder members. Far more satisfying than some weird community or wave preparation nonsense.

Do-hyung opened his mouth.

“One more. Can’t we take one more person?”

I knew who that one was. Na Yeji. He probably felt some responsibility. Since we killed her friend.

Fortunately the thieving elder stopped him in time.

“Can’t. If we could, Deacon Kwon would’ve brought them already. One becomes two, two becomes four. That’s when the front line collapses. Everyone dies.”

“Right. At least we should survive to continue Hope community’s hope.”

Just as we were busy injecting such self-justification.

Click – the lights came on. Thirty minutes had passed while fighting frantically. The blackout ended.

Simultaneously someone burst through a door on the third floor and shouted. The evangelism elder’s joyful voice handling communications:

“Everyone! The delivery vigilantes are coming to help! Just hold out a little longer! Let’s stay strong!”

We briefly looked at each other. Wouldn’t this change the situation again? I looked at the brightened streets. Zombies trapped in first floor rooms gradually escaped through windows.

Not few zombies surrounded the church. If we escaped outside now we’d be surrounded by zombies.

Conversely the building was safe.

It was time for the wave to stop. No more zombies swarming in.

I raised my hammer.

“Wicked zombies! How dare you touch the hope the pastor left behind!”

“Yeah! Can’t touch the church! Let’s quickly join in!”

The thieving elder drew his gun and ran with me to the battlefield bright with hope.

Faintly I heard Do-hyung following and muttering:

“What the hell are these people doing…”

The situation was quite good.

Backs against the wall with no retreat, barricades set up on narrow stairs, spears thrusting through gaps, natural obstacles formed by piled zombie corpses. Above all, visibility brightened by electricity’s return.

This was human power and hope’s power.

Of course the zombies weren’t easy either.

Monsters without fear. Monsters ignoring pain. That momentum surging forward no matter how many zombies died.

I encouraged from above the stairs. Deliberately shouting myself hoarse:

“It’s almost over! Just hold out a little longer!”

Ugh. Dead tired. Was this the weight of leadership? Just tired.

I poked zombies below the railing with a long pole. Though it had no spear tip, they fell when stabbed well or tangled in joints.

The reduced number of zombies gradually retreated. Seemed they vaguely assessed the barricades, human numbers and armament. Though growling and baring teeth with wide open mouths, they appeared to painfully suppress attack instincts.

Victory approached within reach. The defense team joyfully waved weapons wildly.

“Get lost, you zombies!”

“We won!”

Even someone streaming blood, perhaps hit wrong by a brick, shouted drunk on adrenaline.

I quietly watched the zombies. Neither fleeing nor attacking. Felt like a final attack coming?

My instinct was right. Suddenly bang bang, loud noise from the first floor.

Then a giant zombie wielding a hatchet approached leading a group. Tall height, muscles looking capable of easily benching 150kg. Above all, the hatchet that had torn through wooden doors.

“Uh…”

The defense team’s laughter died down. The lights were bright, and clear visibility helped feel the enemy’s overwhelming pressure in detail.

The administrative elder swallowed and shouted:

“They’re all just humans! Stab with swords, guns- ah. Gave my gun to my daughter.”

Just as words meant to raise morale instead made people shrink back.

The gym zombie opened its mouth wide and roared.

“Kraaagh!”

Simultaneously throwing its hatchet fiercely. Swoosh, cutting through air as it flew. The defense team instinctively crouched and backed away. The hatchet stuck firmly, trembling in a desk.

The gym zombie bounded up the stairs thump-thump. Dragging fallen zombie corpses grabbed as shields. Meat shields.

Whoosh, meat shields thrust forward.

“Block it!”

The defense team instinctively thrust spears but thunk-thunk, were blocked by meat shields.

Screech- crash-

The gym zombie hiding behind pulled down the barricade completely. Desks and chairs all collapsed in a heap. Though the gym zombie was swept up in that wave of junk too, the landing was now wide open.

The gym zombie was getting up pushing through the debris.

Above all, zombies had learned. Grunting as they picked up corpses. Behind were ones holding sidewalk blocks.

Time for guns. I quietly gripped the pistol that had belonged to the security elder.

“Evangelism Elder. Supply Elder. Really need to use guns now.”

“Ah. Hope this makes them retreat.”

The evangelism elder leaned on the railing extending his gun. The supply elder also nastily aimed his gun through railing gaps.

“That one. The muscular one. Seems like killing just that one would do it?”

“Uh, what do I do? No gun.”

“Administrative Elder, please bring people down from the roof. Tell them to stop throwing blocks outside and throw from here.”

I glanced at the defense team. They stood uncertainly. Losing the safe barricade had scared them that much.

Seemed they newly felt tired bodies and fear. Things like corpses they couldn’t see in darkness now pressured them too.

We needed courage, and courage was in hand. Bullets. Consumable courage.

I watched the gym zombie rising from barricade wreckage. This time holding a chair as weapon.

Had to seize momentum now.

“Let’s shoot. Be careful not to misfire.”

Pulling triggers. Carefully one by one.

Bang-! First shot was blank. The zombie whipped its head toward me. I fired again at the gym zombie glaring at me.

Second was non-lethal round. The bullet meant for the gym zombie went wide and pierced the head of a zombie poking out beside it.

Then ta-ta-tang, the elders’ gunfire followed, while bricks thrown by zombies cut through air.

‘Not aiming at me.’

Third was non-lethal too. Of course, non-lethal rounds still killed people. But this time it stuck in another zombie’s meat shield.

Shame to waste lethal rounds.

In gunfire loud enough to deafen ears, I stopped shooting and coldly observed the zombies.

“Kreek!”

Leading with corpse shields, throwing bricks.

But the gym zombie holding a chair let out a huge roar then turned and fled. Other zombies seemed confused, stopping then quickly following its retreat.

The church building fell silent in an instant.

“Did we win?”

The administrative elder returning late with an armful of bricks asked bewilderedly. People looked uncertainly at stairs full of corpses before jumping up.

Joy of returning to life from death’s doorstep.

People laughing, chattering, collapsing.

I judged coldly.

‘This is ruined. Can’t last long. Really time to slip away.’

The gym zombie’s strength wasn’t the problem. Zombies that learned siege warfare just retreated.

Of course people would learn from this experience too, but they’d used up bullets and taken wounds. Not few had heads split from bricks, some even died.

While people looked at zombie corpses, I looked down at dead humans. Pale faces stained red with blood flowing from split heads. The near future.

‘Time to harvest?’

Need to gradually pilfer resources the church worked hard to store. Time to slip away with just marauder comrades.

I went up to the roof and looked at the grounds bright with streetlights. Waves of retreating zombies. And delivery vigilante reinforcements just arriving.

Vroom-!

Several motorcycles entered church grounds riding the road. I examined their equipment.

Full body rider suits. Helmets made for traffic accidents. Protection enough to block most impacts or zombie teeth. Plus steel baseball bats they wielded fiercely.

“This is lance charging!”

Someone shouted loudly swinging a baseball bat. Added motorcycle speed. Whack, zombie knocked right down.

The motorcycle wobbled but maintained balance, sometimes ramming right into zombie groups. Though the motorcycle fell too, screech, the sliding rider laughed cheerfully.

“Lighter than getting hit by a car! Oh what? Wanna bite? Try it, idiot!”

Openly offering a hand while drawing a knife with the other to stab zombie necks. Looked almost invincible, but the problem was these zombies had learned siege warfare.

A zombie raised its hands high. The brick in those hands struck right on the helmet. Cracks appearing in the helmet face.

“Ack! This isn’t right! Zombies with bricks is cheating!”

The other siege zombies hit riders with chairs to cause accidents.

The more I watched, the firmer escape thoughts became in my mind.

‘Fixed bases aren’t good.’

Fighting while defending something inevitably causes losses. No, directly doing anything at all is too dangerous.

When waves come, isn’t it best to escape where waves can’t reach? Why fight waves?

I established principles. Principles for surviving the apocalypse.

Don’t fight directly. If fighting, target the weak. If fighting, use vile and cowardly means without revealing yourself.

Minimize action. Hide quietly in silent places like a ghost, target empty houses and the weak when resources run low.

Zombies are like natural disasters so avoid when possible. If unavoidable, pass them to others.

‘Small elite marauder groups really are right.’

I quietly pulled Do-hyung and the thieving elder away.