Chapter 62
August, 2017.
In front of Nongmin Bank.
‘Tap, tap, tap.’
Three men were running, avoiding zombies.
Meanwhile, Sweeper and his team were watching the new survivors who had appeared on the roof of a building on the border.
The survivors, who had been running with tired expressions, froze in panic when they saw the wall of cars blocking the road.
“Ah, testing, one, two, three.”
At that moment, a loudspeaker sounded from above.
“Hey, you guys. Before crossing over, disarm and raise your hands above your heads to wait.”
The survivors, confused, looked around but couldn’t immediately find the source of the voice. They then cursed loudly.
“What the hell! Who’s that?!”
“Hey, just go!”
Sweeper let out a sigh, shaking his head. Oh no, this could be troublesome.
“This is your second warning. There are no zombies inside, so you better disarm before crossing. If you just try to cross, you’re dead. Did I make myself clear?”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
The men started climbing the wrecked car barrier. Sweeper shrugged and lowered the loudspeaker. It seemed like a rough greeting for these visitors.
Sweeper then radioed Sergeant Ong.
“Ong, are you watching?”
– Yes, sir. What should we do?
“There’s no helping it. The captain’s policy is harsh. Take them out.”
– Understood.
On the opposite building, Sergeant Ong was preparing to fire. His eyes were focused on the scope of a K-14 sniper rifle.
The reticle slowly moved and locked onto the heads of the intruders climbing the wrecked car barrier. The moment one of the intruders’ heads came into view, a muffled shot echoed as the silencer did its job. One of the men fell to the ground, dead.
“What?! Hey!”
The next two men, realizing too late, tried to turn around, but before they could, two rounds from a semi-automatic sniper rifle pierced their skulls. It was a clean shot.
In an instant, three men were killed, and Sergeant Ong, showing no emotion, picked up the radio.
“Clear.”
Watching the scene, Sweeper whistled. It was impressive, no matter how many times he saw it.
The sniper rifle, which Sergeant Ong referred to as his “girlfriend,” had been the greatest achievement of their long-range reconnaissance mission last week. It was obtained after a fight with a violent survivor group from the special forces and the Costco supplies.
Thanks to that battle, the Camp Alliance had acquired three submachine guns and one sniper rifle. The sniper rifle was now in Sergeant Ong’s hands, having earned the right after proving his precision shooting during several battles.
This was the first live firing since zeroing the rifle, but Sergeant Ong nailed it perfectly.
The same soldier who had once been unable to kill a zombie had now become a reliable member of the team.
“See? I told you he was amazing.”
Sweeper said in admiration as he descended from the building. They had to deal with the zombies the intruders had brought along. Although the car barrier was quite sturdy, there was still a risk of it collapsing if too many zombies gathered.
After dealing with the wave of zombies, smoke from burning corpses rose into the air. Sergeant Ong, brushing off his hands, muttered.
“After all, killing people feels… weird.”
“Yeah, it does.”
Even in this society, killing with sheer force was an unpleasant task. But the leader of their group was resolute and cold when it came to such matters.
Any survivors who approached without disarming and failing to follow the search procedure were immediately killed without exception, after two warnings.
This was a drastic measure that had been adopted after an encounter with an intruder group three weeks ago.
A border guard had approached some intruders to disarm them, only to be ambushed. One member of the search team had been killed, and another severely injured.
From that point on, it was mandatory to disarm before entering the border, and once inside, survivors had to cooperate with the search procedures.
Anyone who failed to comply was immediately shot after two warnings, regardless of the circumstances.
Recently, survivors had become rare, and even when they did appear, fewer than half of them made it past the border and became part of the camp.
Sweeper turned his head at the noise coming from behind. Seri and Jeonghwan were riding their bikes, approaching quickly. The two skidded to a stop, took off their helmets, and dismounted.
“Oppa, have you seen Yohan?”
“Huh? Isn’t he at the western border expansion project?”
“Why did you come this way? Why hasn’t he been answering his radio? Tell him not to be late, and meet us at the New Light Library by 2 PM.”
“Ah, right.”
Wasn’t today the day for the administrator meeting?
Sweeper realized he had forgotten and, in response, Seri pouted.
“Seriously, it’s always the two of you who forget. I always have to go looking for you during meetings. Don’t be late, okay?”
“Alright, I got it.”
“Let’s go, Jeonghwan.”
Seri and Jeonghwan turned their bikes around and sped off in the opposite direction.
Two months had passed since the battle with the mutated David. It felt like a short time, but many changes had taken place in the camp during that period.
There had been quite a few battles, and many new people had joined. Most of the battles were with unsuspecting raiders or other survivors they encountered during border patrols.
The Camp Alliance had gradually regained stability, and there had been very few casualties in recent battles, most of which were due to the recklessness of newly joined members.
The camp now had five bases, and the search team was operating in three squads. Sweeper had become the new leader of one of the squads.
It was almost a natural progression.
The most significant change was the construction of roads between camps.
With the discovery of a large forklift and a grappling forklift in the South-East construction zone, the Camp Alliance began using them to build roads and erect a massive barrier, marking the border.
Using a 10-ton forklift to move vehicles and a grapple forklift to stack the cars, they created a formidable defense. They built a double and triple layered wall of cars on the main road, and barbed wire fences were placed at every small alley. The border now looked more like a proper fortified line.
‘ ‘ ‘
Except for the occasional zombies crawling out, spotting zombies inside the border had become as rare as meeting a survivor.
Seri and Jeonghwan raced down the asphalt road, heat rising from the surface.
Anyway, it’s sweltering, but they always make us move.
Every Monday at 2 PM, the managers from each camp gathered for the alliance meeting at the New Light Library.
The other managers were all waiting at the central library, but none of the search team leaders were following orders.
It was understandable for Hyuk, who was out on a mission, but what was the point of a meeting if two people were missing?
After about five minutes of running, Yohan came into view. He had been out by the border, probably dealing with a zombie horde that appeared during the border expansion work.
On one side, a grapple-equipped forklift and a bulldozer were stopped, and zombies were slowly creeping through gaps that hadn’t been fully sealed yet.
Hearing the sound of motorcycles, Yohan turned around. Upon seeing Seri, he waved, and two of the search team members, who had been inside the construction equipment, got out to take their positions and stop the zombies.
“Oppa!”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’s up’? It’s two o’clock.”
“Has it already been that time?”
“And why do you keep turning off your radio?”
“I didn’t turn it off, it was too noisy to hear.”
Yohan wiped the dark red blood from his hunting knife and waved his hand. His eyes met Jeonghwan’s behind Seri. Jeonghwan gave a simple nod.
There was still a bit of awkwardness between them ever since the slight argument about squad assignments last week.
“Why are you with Seri? Where’s Sweeper?”
“Free time, bro.”
There was still some tension. Yohan murmured inwardly. He wasn’t sure what the issue was. Although Jeonghwan wasn’t one to express dissatisfaction, this time it was more evident than usual.
Was it because they weren’t in the same squad? Was it the fact that Sweeper became the leader? Or was it something else?
Time would likely resolve the issue.
“Alright, I’ll go see Hajin. You don’t need me, right?”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
“Behind us, zombies coming.”
At Yohan’s words, Hajin turned around and aimed his prosthetic forward.
The dome-shaped round prosthetic rose up to the zombies’ heads, and pulling the locking lever, a sharp blade shot out from the edge with a ‘ping’ sound, piercing the zombie’s skull.
He pressed the blade against the wall, and with a click, the blade retracted, locking back into place.
“Stop bothering with putting it in all the time and just keep it fixed like I told you.”
“It’s easier this way. I don’t have to swing it around, it just does the job itself.”
Despite the spring-lock button, he insisted on manually inserting the blade every time. It was clear that Hajin was still fascinated by the newly attached prosthetic, just like someone who can’t stop fiddling with a new smartphone.
Hajin had indeed made his prosthetic into a weapon. Initially, it was just a crude knife soldered to the prosthetic, but now, it was a fully functional tool for combat.
When he first attached the blade, Hajin had tested it out by slaughtering some zombies, eager to confirm its capabilities.
The prosthetic wasn’t just for combat; it also had an intimidating effect. With his muscular frame and the sharp blade attached to his arm, Hajin became a terrifying sight for most people.
When the Park Town camp members joined the group, Hajin was mistaken for a raider due to his appearance, almost ruining everything.
It was Hajin they feared, not the ones who begged to be put down.
He always claimed it wasn’t like that, though.
“It’s like a spring pen,” he said, pressing the spring-loaded weapon against the wall, making it pop in and out repeatedly, clearly satisfied.
Yohan shrugged.
“Well, as long as you’re happy with it.”
Yohan took a heavy step as he turned around. His position within the alliance was still absolute, but lately, the administrator meetings had become… a bit troublesome.
‘ ‘ ‘
At the New Light Library, it seemed like all the managers had gathered. Survivors escorting the managers were sitting in the hallway. As soon as they saw Yohan, they stood up and greeted him.
Yohan raised his hand, signaling them to sit, and only then did they settle back down with serious expressions.
From the hallway, before the office door even opened, noise from the ongoing conversation leaked out. Yohan could already feel a headache coming as he reached for the doorknob.
With a click, the door opened, and as soon as Yohan’s face appeared, a heavy silence descended in the office.
The attendees were Sweeper, the leader of search team 3; Seo Jun, from the Mart Camp; Lieutenant Ahn from the Teacher Camp; Gap-soo from the Hospital Camp; and Marco, the leader from the newly joined Park Town Camp. There were a total of six people.
Originally, Hyeok should have been there as well, but he was currently out on a long-range reconnaissance mission.
As soon as Yohan entered, all eyes were on him. The gaze was intense and uncomfortable.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“No, no. We know you’re the busiest.”
“Welcome.”
Everyone exchanged pleasantries as Yohan sat down. Seo Jun quickly asked the opening question.
“How’s the border expansion work going?”
“It’s almost done. It should be finished either today or tomorrow.”
“You’ve been working hard.”
After a few more brief situation reports from each camp, the meeting officially began under Yohan’s lead. He skimmed through the prepared reports before continuing.
“The first agenda item… is about the name of the alliance. Is this still unresolved? I thought we decided to leave it for now.”
“Hey, Yohan. The name of the alliance is important. After all, a sense of belonging comes from the name.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong. The issue, however, was the poor quality of the name suggestions the managers had come up with.
Names like “Bucheon Alliance” or “Survivor Alliance” made Yohan cringe.
He had no interest in grandiose or cheesy titles like “Saviors” either.
Skimming through the candidates, Yohan let out an exasperated sigh.
“Five Camps? What, are we forming a boy band? Ridiculous.”