Ch.175Chapter 20. Patriot (27)

“Sniff. Sniff.”

As the smell of burning flesh wafted through the air, those creatures drooled uncontrollably. One of them even pressed its head against the Humvee’s window.

“Stay still.”

Catherine gently held the trembling gunner’s hand. After waiting a moment, they heard the sound of dragging footsteps. The zombies had moved to the rear.

“Phew.”

Elian breathed a sigh of relief. Needing to check the situation behind them, he slightly raised himself from his seat.

Thud!

At the sudden noise, everyone in the vehicle looked toward the Humvee’s window.

“GWAAAK! GWAAAK! GWAAAANG!”

Something resembling a human but far more hideous frantically shook the window.

“…A monkey?!”

“KRUWAAAK! KRUWAAAAAK!”

A monkey that had climbed onto the Humvee was thrashing about wildly. An ominous creaking sound could be heard.

“This bastard is trying to rip off the machine gun!”

“Step on it!”

Vrooom! The Humvee took off roughly. Not knowing what was happening, the Humvees behind followed suit.

“KYAAGAK! KYAGYAGAK!”

A pack of zombie monkeys chased after the Humvee. Their shrill screams and howls attracted humanoid zombies as well. The driver sharply turned the wheel. The monkey on top of the vehicle fell off with a shriek.

– WEEEEENG! WEEEEENG! WEEEEENG! WEEEEENG! Air raid! Air raid!

The air raid siren sounded again. The location was completely different from before.

‘Could it be my imagination?’

Catherine had the absurd thought that the siren might be following them. Somehow, it only seemed to sound from the direction they were heading. If sirens were sounding elsewhere too, they should have heard echoes, but strangely, there were none.

“Too many zombies! We can’t get through like this!”

The driver shouted.

Zombies filled the six-lane road, surging toward them. As they trampled over damaged cars, the vehicles collapsed helplessly. Those that fell while running were crushed under the horde.

“Run! We need to run…!”

But zombies were pouring in from the road behind them too. Elian gave orders. The machine guns mounted on the five Humvees spat fire.

“Suppress those coming from medium to long range! Use personal weapons only for those coming close! Don’t waste more than two shots per target! I repeat, no more than two shots! Whether you hit or miss! No point in wasting ammo! Catherine, is there any way through?”

Catherine’s mind raced. Should they return to base? No. That was too dangerous now. They needed to find another route.

‘I was supposed to keep it secret.’

But this wasn’t the time to worry about that. She couldn’t let twenty healthy lives be lost here.

“…Elian. Listen to me. Let’s head to the southeast wall, where Link Elementary School is.”

“What?! The wall is completely blocked!”

“No! There’s a sealed sewer under the school gymnasium. It’s wide enough for two people to walk side by side standing up!”

“How do you know that?”

Catherine didn’t say, ‘Because the 284 Military Police Headquarters members escaped through there.’

“As a guide, I should know a couple of places like that! Come on, hurry…!”

“Later!”

Elian was firm.

“The mission comes first. We can go to the escape route later! Let’s try to break through to the health center first!”

“Are you crazy, Elian?”

“Catherine! We just need to see the health center, even from a distance!”

“It’s surrounded by two and three-story buildings, so we’d have to push through alleys—that’s suicide in this situation!”

“Which way do we go?!”

The terrified driver shouted. The intervals between machine gun fire grew longer. The barrels must have overheated. If they didn’t decide on the right path now, all routes would soon be blocked.

As Catherine hesitated, sunlight stabbed sharply into her eyes.

‘?’

A flag fluttered against the sunlight. It was Elza’s flag. Beneath the flag waving atop a four-story building, someone was standing.

“…A person?”

“What did you say?”

“There.”

Catherine pointed at the person. Judging by how straight they stood, it wasn’t a zombie. The figure, so still it could have been a statue, waved the flag. It fluttered in one direction like flowing water, then stood straight again, repeating the pattern.

“Turn left up ahead!”

Catherine shouted.

“What?!”

Elian responded in shock. Catherine shouted again.

“I said turn left up ahead! That person is signaling to us!”

“What if it’s a trap?!”

“We’re already in a trap!”

Elian stomped on the Humvee floor once. He grabbed the transmitter and shouted.

“Everyone! Prepare to follow vehicle one in a left turn. Open fire while taking the curve!”

The windows went down. They mounted personal weapons on the window frames and fired. Rather than firing, it would be more accurate to say they sprayed bullets, but it shredded the approaching zombies.

They took the curve. A truck stood in the middle of the four-lane road. It was loaded with LPG gas tanks. The road glistened black. Someone had clearly spilled oil.

“P-pass through! Cease fire and pass through quickly!”

Elian gave the order, but the driver cursed.

“This is a dead end!”

It seemed open at first glance, but further ahead were collapsed building debris and overturned vehicles. The road was definitely blocked.

“…No. Go in.”

Catherine gritted her teeth.

“Ms. Catherine!”

“Elian! We need to go this way! We’ll lure the zombies into this road, blow up the gas tanks, and then shoot down any that make it through the wall of flames!”

“But there are too many!”

“We can push those overturned cars with the Humvees! If three vehicles push together, they can hold, right? Hurry!”

“Fuck, Goddess of Hunger!”

Before Elian could give the order to advance, the five Humvees had already rushed forward. Shortly after passing the LPG truck, zombies swarmed in black masses.

The zombies that had filled three six-lane roads were now funneling into a single four-lane road. They no longer looked like people but like waves shaped like humans, writhing black masses of flesh, like the fingers of a giant trying to devour the world.

Once again, sunlight stabbed Catherine and Elian’s eyes. A person silhouetted against the sun was aiming a gun from a rooftop. Flames flashed from the muzzle.

“Duck!”

A blinding flash. An ear-splitting boom. The ground groaned and twisted, and even the heavy Humvee shuddered with the vibration.

With the tremendous explosion, buildings on both sides collapsed. The four-lane road narrowed to about two lanes, and massive flames erupted. Waves of fire spread over the exploded zombie bodies.

Without being told, everyone jumped out of the Humvees. They shot down the creatures that managed to crawl through the wall of fire one by one. A beast that might have been a wolf in life leaped through the flames.

Crack!

A lightning-fast gunshot from above. The wolf’s head exploded instantly. Its body slid across the road and stopped in front of the Humvee’s tires.

“Hey!”

Elian and Catherine waved enthusiastically at the person on the building. It was a way to show they had no hostility, and they wanted to know who had saved their lives.

‘Looks like a man.’

They couldn’t tell exactly, but judging by the impression and silhouette, it seemed so. However, the man had already disappeared.

“…Should we follow?”

Elian and Catherine looked at each other. Half wanting to meet him, half thinking it might be extremely dangerous.

– WEEEEENG! Alert! Alert!

The siren sounded again from this direction. Elian made a decision.

“We have no choice. We’ll leave the Humvees here. Lock the doors properly, and we can come back for them when things improve. Everyone disembark, divide the supplies, and head up the building.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to move with the vehicles?”

The machine gunner objected, but the driver answered instead.

“Where to? We can’t go forward. The flames are still raging. The tires would melt. And going back would be the same. As long as that damn siren is blaring, the zombies will follow us to the ends of hell.”

“Just until the flames die down. Let’s block the entrance to this building with the Humvees and set up a defensive line in front. The rest go up the building and prepare to fire. We’ll use this building as a temporary command post.”

Elian looked at Catherine as if seeking her approval. Catherine nodded. It was flawless, good leadership. Buildings were better than open roads for evading zombies anyway.

The building, which might once have been an office, was empty. Catherine and Elian climbed up with their M4 rifles. Unfortunately, there was no trace of the man. Only an empty plastic water bottle and a sweat towel remained.

The wind blew toward them. Somehow, a pleasant scent wafted through. Elian lifted the sweat towel with the tip of his rifle.

“What perfume is this? Do you know? It smells amazing.”

“I don’t know much about these things either.”

The two women unconsciously sniffed the sweat towel. Of course, they put it down when they realized how embarrassing it was.

“…Who was that man, I wonder?”

“I don’t know. He couldn’t have gone far.”

The two women looked in opposite directions. They wondered if the man might be jumping across rooftops. But there was no trace of him anywhere.