Chapter 3: S#1. The First House on the Right (2)
by fnovelpia
Lakeside house.
Bright light was leaking from a window.
A bright smile was on Nancy’s small face.
“Let’s go to that house, Summer! We can ask for help!”
“I have something to say before that, Miss Strode.”
“Just call me Nancy!”
“Alright, Nancy. What I have to say is, we absolutely must not go to that house.”
In horror movies, a lake means death.
A cabin means death as well.
That building is a wooden house (a large cabin) by the lake.
Lake X Cabin = Death².
So, going to that house means a 10000% chance of dying.
We might even get the ‘Lost Visitor’ debuff and increase our chance of dying.
Either way, it’s all the same; we’d die.
“Why can’t we go to that house?”
But Nancy couldn’t understand that formula.
She didn’t know she was in a horror movie.
What the hell should I explain to her?
“I just have a bad feeling. Going to that house might mean encountering a sealed demon in a forbidden book, or a cannibalistic psycho-killer.”
“But Summer, it’s getting dark. There are strange, monster-like people wandering in the forest; it’s dangerous.”
“I’ve killed everything we’ve encountered so far.”
“Umm, still… We can’t wander around the forest at night…”
I don’t really care.
Zombies can be dealt with by beating them up.
Actually, Nancy was the problem.
Though it was a minor injury, she was hurt and looked very tired.
She even sneezed, perhaps because the temperature had dropped.
What to do. I couldn’t leave Nancy alone.
If she goes to that house by herself, there’s a 10000% chance she’ll be murdered, and I would be just standing by, watching.
Even though my role was to be a serial killer, I had absolutely no desire to let an innocent person die.
“Okay. We’ll only contact the police then. We absolutely must not do anything rash before the police arrive.”
Nancy nodded like a child to my words.
We went to the lakeside house.
The person who greeted us as we opened the front door was a middle-aged woman.
“Who’s there?”
“Hello, ma’am. Could we possibly borrow your phone…”
“Aaaaahhhhh!”
She screamed the moment she saw me.
It was understandable; a menacing man over 2m tall, covered in blood, holding a hand axe, was quite the sight.
Fortunately, Nancy was with me.
She reassured the woman.
The homeowners were Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a middle-aged couple.
Nancy and I explained the whole situation to Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
We had been attacked by zombies and had wandered the forest all day.
We needed to contact the police immediately.
Mr. Smith adjusted his glasses in a troubled manner.
“What to do… There’s no phone here. We didn’t install a line.”
“This isn’t a house, but a vacation home we occasionally visit during the holiday season,” Mrs. Smith added.
Not having a phone meant we couldn’t call for help.
It was like a place advertising for murderers or evil spirits to come.
“If you’re okay with it, you can stay here for the night. I’ll take you out of the forest in the morning,” Mr. Smith said kindly.
Spending a night in a lakeside house from a horror movie?
It was an event anyone but a suicidal person would absolutely refuse.
“Nancy. Let’s just go.”
“Where to? We might die of hypothermia outside?!”
“We’ll die a different way if we stay here. And we made a promise, right? To only contact the police.”
“We can’t contact the police, Summer. So, we have to wait until morning.”
“Fine. Have a good night then. I’m leaving.”
I turned and started walking away. I had to survive.
Waiting a few hours for the police was one thing, but spending the night here was out of the question.
I decided to wish Nancy well.
But suddenly, Nancy grabbed my arm tightly.
“No, you can’t! It’s dangerous outside!!”
My arm touched Nancy’s ample chest.
The softness was beyond what I had imagined.
Though her appearance was cute, her figure was a little violent, a fact I was newly aware of.
Accustomed to horror movies but not at all to women, I stuttered and was dragged back into the house by Nancy without any resistance.
“Unexpected guests. We were just about to have dinner. Join us,”
Mrs. Smith said as she led us to the dining table.
The inside of the house was cozy.
There was no sign of a sinister atmosphere.
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
I held onto the hand axe, ready to counterattack if something jumped out.
The dining table was set with a feast.
Appetizing meatloaf and a golden-brown roasted turkey.
I decided not to touch anything until Mr. and Mrs. Smith started eating, in case there were sleeping pills or poison in the food.
Mr. Smith, sitting across from me, started a conversation.
“You’re Summer, right?”
“That’s correct, Mr. Smith.”
“I’m curious about those weirdos you encountered in the forest. Were they drug addicts having a drug party?”
“No. They weren’t addicts, but zombies soaked in water.”
“Zombies? What’s that?”
It dawned on me that the setting of this film was the 1980s.
Before the release of movies like “Braindead” or “28 Days Later” that fired the starting gun for the mass production of zombie films, many people found the concept of zombies unfamiliar.
“Mr. Smith, have you ever seen the movie ‘Night of the Living Dead’? The living corpses in that film are what zombies are.”
“Um, I’ve never heard of such a movie.”
“It’s a horror film released in 1968, a legendary masterpiece by director George A. Romero. Its sequel, ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ is also famous.”
The Smiths seemed to have no clue at all.
I was a bit shocked.
It’s such a famous film, yet they didn’t know it.
Especially “Dawn of the Dead,” which is a monumental movie where the cliché, ‘if a zombie outbreak happens, head to a shopping mall,’ first appeared.
“Well, my wife and I don’t really like movies.”
“That’s right. Both he and I can’t stand horror films,” the Smiths said with a laugh.
“If those zombie fellows come here, you, Summer, will have to protect us!”
“It’s really fortunate to be with such a strong young man.”
Mr. Smith ate the meatloaf.
Fortunately, it seems it wasn’t poisoned.
I decided it was safe to eat as well.
Nancy had been eating already, her cheeks puffed up like a hamster’s.
Mr. Smith continued the conversation while we ate.
“Summer, you’re really muscular. Your arms are as thick as my thighs. How much can you bench press?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never lifted weights before.”
“Ha! That’s a funny joke! Anyone can see you must have been a rugby player!!”
Mrs. Smith’s cooking was excellent.
The meal was delicious without fault.
However, I felt a bit empty without rice and kimchi.
I wondered if I had to eat such greasy food from now on.
Suddenly, Nancy asked Mr. Smith a question.
“What do you do, Mr. Smith?”
“I used to stand at the podium and teach students. I’m retired now.”
A retired college professor? Perfect for a zombie movie protagonist.
“You seem too young to retire?”
“The college offered me a tenure position, but I turned it down.”
“Why?”
At that moment, Mrs. Smith stood up.
“…Excuse me for a moment.”
She took the plate with the meatloaf and went up the stairs to the second floor.
Nancy and I, puzzled, watched her go.
Mr. Smith opened his mouth with a smile.
“Don’t worry, youngsters. My wife is just going to our daughter’s room upstairs.”
“Daughter…?”
“I turned down the tenure position because of my daughter.”
“Ah… Is your daughter unwell?”
Mr. Smith’s expression darkened.
He nodded slightly and continued eating without adding any explanation.
The fact that a child was so ill it made him give up his career…
Something was suspicious.
After finishing the meal,
Filling my stomach made me even more eager to escape this place.
I absolutely wanted to avoid sleeping here.
A good-looking blonde woman (Nancy) and a rough-looking muscular man (me) are usually the first to die in zombie movies.
“I understand you want to leave this forest quickly, Summer, but even during the day, it’s easy to get lost here. If you go now, you’ll definitely lose your way. You might also be attacked by those zombies,”
Mr. Smith said, encouraging us to stay the night.
I had no choice but to agree.
However, I decided to stay awake on guard until morning.
“But what do we do? There’s only one room left.”
Mrs. Smith said this, looking troubled, while Nancy blushed.
“Th-then…”
“I’ll sleep in the living room.”
I stated firmly.
The large window on the side wall of the living room was good for keeping watch outside.
The sofa in the center of the living room would serve as my watchtower.
Nancy, unaware of my intentions, looked serious.
“No, Summer. You’ve already had a tough day because of me. I should sleep in the living room instead.”
“I can’t let an injured person sleep on the sofa.”
“But…”
“Listen to me.”
Nancy reluctantly nodded.
It was time to shower and change clothes.
Of course, I couldn’t let my guard down in the bathroom either.
In horror movies, showering is a highly dangerous activity, more lethal than swimming in a pool full of sharks.
I was also alert while changing into new clothes.
Wearing cursed clothes could lead to possession.
After safely finishing my shower and changing, I sat on the living room sofa.
The view outside the window was dark.
The lake, devoid of starlight, resembled the eye of a giant monster.
“…Summer.”
That’s when Nancy approached.
She looked good in loose pajamas.
She was much more at ease than when we first met in the forest.
“Why, Nancy? Can’t you sleep?”
“No, it’s not that… I just realized I hadn’t thanked you.”
Nancy hesitated before sitting next to me.
Her flowing golden hair emitted a pleasant scent.
In her fidgeting hands, she held the bandage I had wrapped around her in the forest.
“Summer… If you hadn’t fought off those things in the forest, I probably would have died. Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“I just did what had to be done, that’s all.”
“It goes without saying that you’re a good person. But apart from that, you seem… a bit off in the head.”
Nancy looked at me with concern.
“I’ll help you, Summer. Once we get out of this forest, we should see a psychiatrist…”
“No. I don’t need a psychiatrist.”
The medical system in horror movies is the opposite of reality.
There are far more people who kill than save.
Especially be wary of psychiatrists.
It’s a cliché that the situation gets uncontrollably worse whenever a psychiatrist appears.
Nancy, unaware of this fact, gently placed her hand on the back of mine.
“Summer, you need a doctor.”
“I told you, I don’t.”
“You believe you’re a Korean in your twenties. But you’re not in your twenties, nor are you Asian.”
“…”
“You’re a Westerner in your thirties. Even your English pronunciation is perfect American.”
“Wait a minute, Nancy.”
I stood up from the sofa.
“Did you just hear that?”
“Hear what…?”
“Laughter.”
It was coming from upstairs.
Nancy turned pale.
“The, the sick daughter’s room is upstairs… Could it be from there…?”
“I don’t know. We need to go upstairs and check it out.”
“Without asking Mr. and Mrs. Smith for permission?”
“Come with me, Nancy.”
Sticking together means survival; splitting up means death.
‘Isolation=Death’ is an absolute rule that governs horror movies.
Nancy and I went up the stairs to the upper floor.
The hallway was engulfed in darkness.
A chill in the air.
The creepy laughter sounded even clearer.
The laughter was coming from a room at the end of the hallway.
Nancy clung to my arm, trembling.
“Summer… I’m scared.”
“You shouldn’t say lines like that in this situation, Nancy.”
I quietly opened the door.
A small room, likely for a young girl, appeared.
In the middle of the room, there was a bed.
In front of it, Mr. and Mrs. Smith were kneeling.
Were they taking care of their sick daughter?
But it didn’t seem like it.
“…Mr. Smith? Mrs. Smith?”
The couple turned their heads simultaneously.
They were wearing gas masks.
“Why… are you wearing gas masks?”
Mr. and Mrs. Smith chuckled behind their masks.
The chilling laughter Nancy and I heard was coming from them.
Then, I caught sight of their daughter lying on the bed.
It wasn’t… a girl.
It was a withered corpse.
“Aaaaaaaah!!!”
Nancy screamed at the sight of the corpse on the bed, as if she was being torn apart.
Mr. Smith, who had been chuckling, took something out of his pocket.
Then, a curtain-like gas spewed out.
Before I could rush at them, the surroundings blurred.
“Damn it…”
My consciousness became hazy.
The gas seemed to contain a sleeping agent.
Why were Nancy and I… Was this their plan from the start?
Only then did I realize the oddities.
Deep in the forest where it’s easy to get lost even during the day.
A house without even a phone line.
Mrs. Smith said this villa was a place they visited during the holiday season…
…but it made no sense to bring a sick daughter to such a place.
Just before my consciousness faded, the narrator’s voice echoed in my mind.
-The Smiths’ daughter died 10 years ago.
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