Chapter 148
Part 4 – Survival Side Story
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16. Zombicide Squad
Among the survivors in Auckland, New Zealand, there are those known as the “Zombicide Squad.”
The name was given because they move inhumanly, wear bizarre suits impervious to bullets, and sweep through zombies and Mutants indiscriminately.
They burst onto the scene in Auckland, where humanity’s defeat seemed certain, and hunted zombies and Mutants of all kinds.
At first, they wiped out everything in their path, humans and zombies alike, but after devouring several hostile violent groups, the four survivors continued to focus mainly on zombies—and especially Mutants.
Their other name was the vanguard of Camp Yohan: Squad 1.
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Ratatatat—!
A helicopter roared overhead and then landed on the helipad.
“Boss, we’ve arrived at Cuisine.”
Jae-ho notified Yohan of their arrival. Yohan lifted the leather mask that covered his face up to his eyebrows.
“All right.”
Yohan nodded and stepped out of the helicopter.
The way he stepped out looked downright bizarre. Strange weapons of unknown purpose were strapped all over his back, and his entire body was covered in unidentifiable leather. At the top, on Yohan’s head, was the head of a Mutant.
To a stranger, he would look almost like a Mutant himself.
Just like a tribal chief draped in animal skins in prehistoric times, Yohan wore the corpse of a Mutant.
He pulled back the Mutant-head hood, revealing his neatly cropped hair.
“Good job, Yohan.”
Sweeper, who came to greet him, smiled, and Yohan raised his hand as if it was nothing.
He’d just returned after several days, having finished a few errands on the nearby islands.
Cuisine, the artificial island where the four search parties were based, was as busy as ever defending the waterborne base. Yohan asked out of habit,
“Anything happen?”
“Not really. It’s been peaceful. There was a zombie wave, but there were no casualties.”
“I got the report. Hydra?”
“Yeah.”
Listening to the two of them treat Mutant appearances and zombie waves like nothing, Jae-ho could only let out a hollow laugh from the side.
It had been eleven months since settling in New Zealand.
Camp Yohan was stable and strong. Some called it overpowered; some called it munchkin-level.
It was, in reality, less a camp and more a giant organization by this point.
“The islanders?”
“Everyone’s doing well.”
“It’s been too long since I saw them. I should take a vacation sometime.”
Yohan just nodded at Sweeper’s words without responding.
Camp Yohan’s residents survived by splitting up among the islands near Auckland Harbor. Yohan and the four search parties were based on Cuisine, the artificial island built right in front of the harbor.
Each island’s population was under twenty, but Cuisine housed nearly a hundred combatants.
After realizing that zombie waves always targeted the largest concentration of survivors, Yohan stopped avoiding them.
Instead, they lured the waves by gathering many people in one place, then focused their power there.
Cuisine was under constant 24-hour vigilance. All available alarm systems and power were mobilized to confront the zombie waves head-on, eliminating the Mutants.
While Cuisine’s fighters held off the Mutants and zombies, the island residents were able to carry on production activities with much less difficulty.
Occasionally, zombies washed ashore, but for the residents—faithful to their basic military training—it was just more practical combat experience.
Humanity was, adapting.
‘Though it’s an adaptation built atop many sacrifices.’
It was a pity in many ways.
Immunity was part of what made it possible, but with perfect information and the superiority of the species, humanity could have won this fight.
But the apocalypse came suddenly, unfamiliar and fast.
And beyond fighting other species, humans had much else to battle—each other, hunger, disease, and so on.
If only he’d had more solid military authority for preparation, would things have been different? The stronger the Auckland base became, the more those regrets grew.
“The meeting?”
“As planned. I’ll stop by the office and go right in.”
“Roger.”
After taking down the third Piccolo, even zombie waves became rare events. Mutants, already infrequent, were now almost nonexistent.
Around the last Piccolo he’d killed, there were many Mutants “born” from it—small, basketball-sized Mutants that hadn’t yet grown by eating humans.
Yohan had watched the birth of Mutants right before his eyes, and added a new rule to his own personal playbook.
And now, he was certain there were no more Mutants being created in Auckland. The ones appearing now were probably mostly from other regions.
Thunk, Yohan took off the leather suit and hung it in the corner of the office. It was heavy. Even though he disinfected it every time, the thick smell of sweat and blood was deeply embedded in the suit.
Since the research team was founded, the greatest discovery was the Mutant Suit.
When Yohan took down the Mutant known as Graves, an armored Mutant, he had the corpse delivered to the lab.
The lab’s results were astonishing. Yohan recalled his conversation with the head researcher, Jack Lee.
‘This is an amazing thing. There’s no mineral or leather on Earth that could explain it. It’s made of a unique tissue structure.’
‘A unique tissue structure?’
‘The outer layer is incredibly shock-resistant. The inside, though, is a little weaker. Now I understand how Mutants can move so freely despite such tough skin. Normally, hardness goes with mass and weight—if you had a shell this tough, you couldn’t move at all.’
Jack Lee spoke passionately.
‘When insects with exoskeletons grow to the size of a human, the joints break under the weight of their shells. That’s why exoskeletal insects stay small. But this creature ignores that rule entirely. The mass is low, but the strength is tremendous. The only thing is, the difference in toughness between the inside and outside means repeated internal shocks will gradually weaken the exterior. That’s why the digestive organs are their weakness.’
‘Hmm. Can it be cut or processed?’
‘Well… let me put it this way. The shell itself is incredibly tightly bonded, cell to cell, tissue to tissue. It’s a biological structure I swear I’ve never seen before on Earth. Even shooting it at point-blank range or burning it whole, the shell won’t burn. Only the internal organs burn away; if you keep applying shock from the inside, the double-layered skin structure eventually comes apart. But then, it loses its shock-absorbing function and becomes useless.’
Yohan was starting to get tired of the conversation.
‘So, the conclusion?’
‘With our current facilities, cutting or processing is impossible. Unless there’s a much better-equipped laboratory, there’s no way. For now, if you want to use this, you have to burn out all the internal organs and then just wear the empty shell like a blanket. At the very least, you can use it as a suit.’
In other words, he was told to just wear the corpse as it was. At first, Yohan was against it, but at Jack Lee’s strong urging, he was the first to put on the zombie suit. The results were truly astonishing—surprisingly light and safe.
After taking off the suit and completing some safety checks, Yohan put it on himself and tested it against gunfire.
Everyone tried to stop him, but he needed to feel how much impact it could withstand himself.
The first safety test. He was shot with a rifle from a distance of 100 meters, and the bullet hit his back, but it neither penetrated nor lodged—it simply bounced off the suit.
‘Amazing.’
Tests at 50 and 30 meters had the same results. For safety reasons, they didn’t try within 10 meters, but the suit provided complete protection from small arms fire, which was an incredible achievement.
From that day, Yohan wore the Mutant suit.
It dragged on the ground and looked like a ragged cloak, as if he were carrying a Mutant on his back, but he didn’t care at all. Only those around him kept getting startled.
Yohan’s eyes gleamed with renewed desire.
‘Even if I have to go outside Auckland, I’m going to hunt down every last Mutant. Squad 1, get ready.’
That was just half a month ago.
After Ji-hye’s death, contrary to his belief that all Mutants had been eliminated, many Mutants were still being produced in Auckland until recently.
Squad 1, with Yohan at the lead, dragged out every last hiding Mutant.
The power of the four immune survivors and their supporting search teams was tremendous.
Of course, there were crises.
Many joined, and many died.
But the survival skills of the core members who had been building up Camp Yohan’s strength from early on only improved day by day.
Except for the battle with the Mutant Shark that attacked the island and the fight against the Mutant Graves that had troubled them until recently, life in Auckland was not dangerous.
So eleven months passed, and Camp Yohan was fully stabilized.
Step, step.
Heavy footsteps echoed steadily down the hallway.
When Yohan slowly opened the door to Cuisine’s executive meeting room, ten others were already seated inside.
An eleven-member meeting.
To properly manage the now-enormous Camp Yohan, Yohan had appointed ten highly capable and trustworthy managers.
It was a far cry from the days in Bucheon with four camps and four managers.
Their fields were clearly divided, and while roles were assigned, authority was kept to a minimum in this strict, centralized organization.
Yohan greeted each person with his eyes.
“Hello, everyone.”
The managers returned his greeting as if they’d been waiting. Hajin, Sweeper, and Noah entered behind Yohan, and Elder Yong, who had arrived first, frowned.
“Oh, come on. I told you kids to take those off. Sometimes I get so startled thinking you’re Mutants that I want to shoot you.”
Elder Yong pretended to rake the three—Hajin, Sweeper, and Noah, all wearing Mutant suits—with his gun. Sweeper snickered at him.
“What, old man? No point being jealous.”
“Damn it. Then don’t say anything.”
Yohan had obtained four Mutant suits and handed them to Sweeper, Hajin, and Noah in that order. There was no hidden reason—just distribution based on contribution.
If you went by turn, Elder Yong was next, but since Mutants had barely appeared lately, he was left grumbling.
“Or you could just go out and catch one yourself, grandpa. You’re still spry.”
“Why not just put me in the columbarium now, huh?”
“Quit whining.”
“Be quiet, kid. I’m going to live until I’m wiping shit on the walls.”
At Sweeper’s teasing, the old man grinned back. Watching the exchange, Jae-ho asked Yohan,
“Boss, shall we start?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Then, reports in order: Strategy Research Division, Combat Search Division, Production Management Division. First, the strategy team—no major issues. The lab finished developing the NGH-2 model. It’s a type that can restrain and track after detonation.”
Jae-ho took out a stick-shaped grenade and explained its uses. Afterward, Elder Park, Seo-jun, and Dr. Park Jae-beom each reported on their own areas, noting any issues or difficulties. Then the four search squad leaders each gave their search results.
Yohan put off one troublesome issue for last and turned to Rina.
“Rina, anything to report?”
“No, Yohan.”
Rina replied with a clear smile. That was her only role at the eleven-member meeting—to share any sensed dangers. Normally, she went around the islands holding services, Mass, and confessions as a substitute priest.
“The biggest headache is left.”
Mm, the search squad leaders groaned and held their heads. The problem was none other than the food shortage.
