Apocalypse Tyrant

Unlock (2)

It’s common sense that a motorcycle is safer than an electric scooter, and a car is safer than a motorcycle.

Especially compared to an electric scooter that could eject me at any moment due to a small stone or obstacle, a car would have an incomparably higher survival probability.

And in this situation, it was nonsense to think I was the only one having such thoughts.

A 4-lane road divided by a small garden in the middle and lane regulation posts.

Two black dots advancing, parting the crowd fleeing back to the university as if being chased.

The distance to the abandoned car on the road was closer for him, but my speed was superior.

Whirrr—

The man’s eyes distorted fiercely as he looked at me, instantly arriving at the garden dividing the road.

I didn’t avoid his gaze as I hurriedly threw away the electric scooter that had reached just before the small curb of the garden.

There was no time to hesitate even for a moment.

A very short distance from the sidewalk to the road to get in the car.

For a distance that wouldn’t even take 10 seconds, it’s no exaggeration to say there’s virtually no difference between an electric scooter and a full sprint.

The only fortunate thing was that the distance to run to the wide-open driver’s seat door was much closer for me.

At that moment—

Honk— Honkhonkhonk—

It was a strange feeling.

As if in slow motion, the horn sound clearly reaching me as I ran towards the abandoned car.

My gaze watching the man on the opposite side reaching for the passenger door moved to the left.

Hooooonk—!

There was a white vehicle approaching, driving against traffic through the long line.

The tire wheels and small garden curb kept colliding, spewing orange sparks.

The already broken side mirror and heavily crumpled front bumper, as if not caring about the consequences.

The vehicle squeezing through the small gap between the garden and road blared its horn aggressively as if saying move if you don’t want to die.

With the intention of perfectly intersecting the distance I had to run to the abandoned vehicle.

This time there wasn’t even time to swear.

Bang—!

The white vehicle instantly crossed in front of me as I hurriedly stopped without a moment’s hesitation.

My nostrils stung thanks to the vehicle roughly hitting the driver’s side door of the abandoned car as it passed.

As my wind-tousled bangs touched my forehead again, I saw him through the opened view after the vehicle passed.

The man opening the passenger door with a faint smile.

There was a sense of victory in his eyes as he looked at me, stopped at the garden due to the unexpected obstacle.

…Certainly.

Even if I started running at full speed again now, I couldn’t beat that man who was already opening the passenger door.

Should I raise my voice now and shout to ride together?

…Ha.

That was nonsensical bullshit.

In such a dangerous and sudden situation, hardly anyone would take unnecessary risks.

Just as no captain would yield the helm to a complete stranger in rough seas.

Just as I hadn’t thought about escaping with that man,

He would have no reason to escape with me either.

Keeeeeek—!

I could feel the wave of zombies that had been somewhat distant gradually getting closer.

If I failed to seize the abandoned vehicle, then back to the electric scooter—

Vrooom—!

Just as I was about to hurriedly stand up the electric scooter, another loud collision sound rang out.

At the end of my gaze following the collision sound, the man who had reached the passenger seat before me was gone.

…No, he was in a slightly higher place.

A vehicle rushing diagonally across the sidewalk and road, and the passenger door it had broken through.

And that man spinning violently in the air like a top.

Splat—!

It sounded like a rotten egg shattering on asphalt.

The man who had finished his brief levitation began convulsing as he fell straight onto the asphalt.

Like a deer hit by a car.

Screech—!

I quickly opened the slightly dented driver’s side door thanks to the car that had just passed.

I hurriedly sat in the driver’s seat, closed the door, and turned the steering wheel all the way to the left.

Vrooom—!

As soon as I stepped on the accelerator, the car began turning left with a faint vibration.

It was natural since I had rushed to the abandoned car as soon as I saw it, but I was confident in driving.

After all, unfortunate family circumstances and part-time designated driver jobs are an inseparable duo of the soul.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The living voices of zombies reached me as I started driving against traffic, just like the vehicle that had almost hit me earlier.

The dangling passenger door, too damaged to close again, was conveying the roars of the approaching zombies.

Vrooom—!

I glanced at the rearview mirror while pressing the accelerator harder.

Zombies already surrounding the man who had been convulsing like a deer.

Red blood was staining the zombies’ faces with tick-tick sounds like syringes as they tore at him with their hands.

…That’s the second time.

Already twice people have died.

I wasn’t being sentimental in this fucked up zombie outbreak.

Crashing head-first into a roadside tree, being hit by a hit-and-run vehicle.

In normal society, these would have been accidents that could be easily overcome with hospital treatment.

But the end of the two accidents that happened today is death.

The first accident was not much different from being almost half induced by me, but if there had been no zombies, the probability of death would have been very low.

I’m not trying to talk about guilt, sympathy, or regret or any of that bullshit.

‘…It’s dangerous.’

What would normally end as a minor accident could lead to the end of one’s life.

Even now, my mouth automatically dried up at the chase between zombies and humans clearly reflected through the windshield.

You never know when you might hit a person or zombie.

You never know when someone crying for help might block the path of my car.

You never know when a zombie or human corpse might get caught in the tires.

A car that loses speed is just a slightly larger lunchbox for zombies, especially this car with two doors, driver’s and passenger’s, rattling from collisions.

Vrooom—!

I turned the steering wheel this way and that, more alert than ever before.

Somehow avoiding the zombies and humans already scattered across the road and sidewalk, I re-entered the university.

I need to find a safe place as quickly as possible.

Library, Student Union Building, Humanities Building…

Familiar places quickly flashed through my mind.

‘…The library is absolutely out. Didn’t they say High Queens was coming to film a reality show today?’

Lunchtime.

The library I had stopped by thinking I might see the top idols I’d only seen on YouTube in person naturally came to mind again.

Students who came to the library with the same thought as me, and fansites rushing in armed with cannon-like cameras to shoot High Queens.

And the student council and broadcasting station people controlling the surroundings with voices too loud for a library, trying to control all those people.

It was a vivid recent past, not even a few hours since I had left, disgusted by the population density more crowded than a packed market.

‘…The Student Union Building isn’t such a good idea either.’

Students coming to eat at the cafeteria and students stopping by club rooms.

The Student Union Building was probably the place with the second highest population density after the library.

‘…Fuck.’

Naturally, by process of elimination, only one familiar place remained for me.

The Humanities Building.

To think I have to crawl back into the place I had frantically escaped from…

I still can’t forget the fierce-eyed female student being devoured right next to me.

Her flailing hand movements and the iPad and smartphone falling to the floor with those movements.

And me fleeing without looking back after seeing that scene.

But even if I tried to go somewhere else, there was no more familiar space for me within the university.

Even if I tried to think of a safe place to escape to, I naturally had no hiding places that came to mind since I didn’t know the structure.

But with the Humanities Building, a hiding place came to mind as soon as I thought about it.

‘…The rooftop.’

28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, The Walking Dead, etc—

The hiding place that always appears like a cliché in zombie movies I’ve watched to death.

‘…The Humanities Building rooftop.’

I had to go there.

That was the safest hiding place I could think of right now.

‘Let’s get to the rooftop first, block the door, and then think about what’s next.’

Once I decided where to move, my course of action was naturally determined.

Screech—!

A long skid mark following the sharp right turn.

Of course, every part of the university was bound to be a zombie paradise.

Then, I move to the place most familiar to me so there’s no hesitation in my actions.

Moreover, since the Humanities Building is the closest in the current situation, it also aligned with my desire to hide in a safe place as quickly as possible.

“Keeeeeek—!”

The Humanities Building full of zombies, not much different from before I left.

Honk—! Hooooonk—!

I stepped on the accelerator and pressed the horn all the way.

Zombies running towards the sudden roar piercing their ears.

I kept honking while turning the steering wheel towards the central lawn of the Humanities Building.

“Keeeeeek—!”

Zombies running from the main entrance of the Humanities Building and the half-wrecked car starting to circle the lawn.

I kept trying to lure the zombies while glancing at the rooftop.

If I honk the horn this crazily, there’s bound to be a reaction.

If there are zombies on the rooftop, they’ll somehow move following this horn, and if there are humans, they’ll poke their heads out to check what’s happening.

Honk honk— Hooooonk—

After circling the lawn exactly about 3 times,

I checked the rooftop one last time while checking the numerous zombies interfering with my path to the point where I could no longer draw a circle.

“…”

Not a single person visible on the rooftop poking their head out to check this situation.

“Haaaa—”

I took a long deep breath and stepped on the accelerator towards the main entrance one last time.

Vrooooom—!

The car starting to sprint with an exhaust sound louder than ever before.

And zombies were running towards that car, spreading both arms as if welcoming it.

“Hoo— Hooo— Hooo—”

No matter how much I tried to regulate my breathing, it wasn’t easy.

Even taking big breaths in and out, my heart was pounding as if tearing my chest apart, not calming down at all.

“Hooo— Hoooo—”

The plan that had been in my mind since I decided to enter the Humanities Building again.

I don’t know if it will succeed, but knowing it’s dangerous, I kept regulating my breathing and grabbed the varsity jacket sprawled on the passenger seat.

Vrooom—!

Stepping on the accelerator harder one last time, I put my hands on the steering wheel and hurriedly put on the ownerless varsity jacket.

“Keeeeeek—!”
“Try to nerf this, you sons of bitches—!”

Numerous zombies reflecting in the windows, getting closer and closer.

I shouted any words as if throwing away my fear towards them and threw my body.

Vrooom—!

[You have acquired points.]
[You have acquired points.]
[You have acquired points.]
[You have acquired points.]

Messages instantly filling my pupils and a ringing in my head going beeeep—.

I don’t know how many times I rolled on the lawn, but in my constantly shaking vision, the car crashed into the main entrance flickered.

Honk— Honk— Honk— Honk—

The vehicle noisily blaring its car alarm despite being so crushed, and the zombies trapped underneath it.

The grotesque sight of them flailing their arms, trying to somehow stand up, and far more zombies than those trapped still running towards me.

“Keeeeeek—!”

[Dexterity: 2 -> 6]

There was no time to hesitate.

I desperately shook my violently swaying head and bit my lip hard.

The threat wasn’t over yet.