Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 83

Annoyingly, the zombies’ rotten brains seemed to function only for hunting. Once they had spotted the group, hiding was useless unless they could get out of the zombies’ line of sight. To shake off these persistent pursuers, they needed to escape their view, even if only for a moment.

“Don’t look back, move!”

“Y-yes!”

“O-okay!”

Since they had already been spotted, there was no need to flee cautiously anymore.

Seokjae tried to maximize the distance between them and the zombies by mercilessly trampling and jumping over any cars blocking their path. Even so, he never stopped scanning the surroundings, occasionally listening for the two distinct, energetic footsteps that were so different from the zombies’, making sure they hadn’t stopped.

It was difficult to find a hiding place relying only on the dim streetlights while their vision was obstructed by the heavy rain, but Seokjae finally found a way. He spotted a wall that stood out with a unique glow amidst the dark, damp alleyways.

‘A fence?’

It was a green fence built on top of a low stone wall. Befitting its role as security, there was no space to pass through in the middle of the long fence. Perhaps because of this, unlike the surrounding area, the space in front of it was uniquely devoid of zombies. There was just enough time for them to climb over the fence.

“Kyaaak-!”

“Geuok…”

Meanwhile, the fierce sounds from behind them kept increasing.

‘We’re running out of time.’

Seokjae decided on the destination without hesitation. He called out to the two people running behind him.

“Kids! Can you see the fence ahead?”

“Huff, y-yes!”

“I-I see it!”

The two, busy keeping up with Seokjae’s relentless pace, hastily wiped the moisture from their faces as they answered.

“Can you climb over it?”

His tone suggested he would throw them over if they said no, so the two responded even more promptly than before.

“Of course! We’ve got plenty of experience climbing walls to skip lunch duty.”

“Yes, I can do it too.”

As soon as he got the answer that they could manage on their own, Seokjae cut off his concern completely and increased his speed, widening the gap between him and the two. Then he ran straight towards the fence.

“Muyoung.”

Muyoung, who was holding on tightly with all his limbs to avoid falling off, feeling like he was on a plane hitting turbulence, tried not to bite his tongue as he answered.

“Y-yes?!”

“Hold this for me.”

Saying this, Seokjae released the arm holding Muyoung’s waist and raised it to his eye level.

“O-okay!”

There was no way Muyoung would refuse Seokjae’s request in such an urgent situation. Without even checking what Seokjae was trying to hand him, Muyoung answered and took the object.

‘What is this?’

Gripping it tightly to avoid dropping it due to the moisture, Muyoung wrapped his arms around Seokjae’s neck again before he could check what was in his hand.

‘Gasp, it’s hyung’s knife.’

What the pale, small hand held was the machete Seokjae often used. He had never even let Muyoung take a proper look at it before, saying unfamiliar blades were only dangerous, but now he was handing it over.

‘Why?’

Before Muyoung’s thoughts could continue, Seokjae’s arm tightened around his waist as if to break it.

“Hold on tight.”

The moment Seokjae finished speaking, Muyoung’s wet hair flew and slapped against his face. He felt a momentary sensation of speed as if being sucked somewhere… and then they were airborne. To be precise, Muyoung was still, and it was Seokjae who had leapt, but either way, Muyoung briefly flew through the air.

“Hup.”

Seokjae ran a short distance at maximum speed like a high jumper taking a run-up, then with a sound like a battle cry, he used the hood of a car parked in front of the fence as a springboard and leaped high.

Kwang!

Clang-

The sound was as loud as if a car collision had occurred. Then, Seokjae demonstrated an impressive jumping ability, reaching the top of the fence in one go.

“Heu, heuok…!”

And the moment he grasped the fence, it swayed as if it might collapse, despite being firmly bolted to the ground.

With the safety bar of Seokjae’s arms gone, Muyoung faced the risk of falling and unconsciously let out a sharp breath. Of course, even if he fell, he wouldn’t die or get hurt, but fear was still fear.

“Whew…”

After exhaling once, Seokjae pulled himself up using only his arm strength, like doing a chin-up, and straddled the fence. Then he checked the identity of the building beyond the wall.

A vast space engulfed in darkness. The only visible things were the silhouettes of a soccer goal post and a building full of windows.

“…It’s a school.”

“What?”

Muyoung asked, but Seokjae was busy assessing the surroundings. Trees lined up taller than the fence, making it impossible to be certain about the buildings inside. This was also why Seokjae, who would normally have held back until the two minors had safely moved, had rushed ahead.

“…Hmm. It should have been vacation, so no people, right?”

“Huh? I-I guess so?”

“Then there might be survivors who’ve made this their shelter…”

There wasn’t a single light in the vast school interior, and the combined information of two people who had graduated high school over 10 years ago wasn’t helpful.

‘Hmm… I can only hear the zombie sounds and rain from outside.’

Normally, Muyoung would have listened carefully to check the situation inside the building by sound. But even without the thunder, the rain was already filling the air with all sorts of noise, making it difficult to hear zombies or people far away.

“Well, we have no choice but to move this way anyway.”

“…I guess so.”

Looking down from the high point, they could see zombies crowding into the pathway. There seemed to be no gap to slip through between them.

Seokjae reached out to help the two who were struggling to climb up the slippery, rain-soaked fence. Only after confirming they had properly climbed up did he take back the weapon from Muyoung and immediately jump down to the other side of the fence.

Geueok-

Turning back at the sound of phlegmy groans, they saw zombies scratching at the wall, unable to approach due to the cars and the low stone wall with the fence. Staying here any longer wouldn’t do them any good.

Seokjae decided to head towards the nearest building.

“The zombies should all have come out because of the sound, so the inside of the building should be safe. I’m thinking we should try to enter the nearest building for now. What do you think?”

The three nodded without objection to Seokjae’s reasonable suggestion once again.

The group moved forward, hiding their bodies behind the trees that filled the area in front of the fence. The school was completely pitch black without even streetlights, and it would take time for their eyes to adjust to the perfect darkness. In other words, they had chosen the safest path possible, even if it was slower.

But the garden couldn’t go on forever. The dense trees gradually began to disappear.

Eventually, after not too long, they had to step onto a concrete-paved path.

“There was a building to the right of the goal post.”

To avoid losing their sense of direction by being deceived by the silhouettes of other buildings, Seokjae searched for the goal post, recalling the position he had seen from above earlier.

Shwaaaa-

As if the darkness wasn’t making it hard enough to see even a step ahead, whenever they tried to concentrate, the rain violently struck their faces, repeatedly blurring their vision.

‘Damn, I can’t see anything.’

Seokjae wiped his eyes on Muyoung’s nearby shoulder as he moved forward. Although Muyoung’s clothes had been soaked for a long time, it was better than nothing in many ways.

Tududuk- Keureuk…

Teong- Kkeuk…

Although he couldn’t be sure because of the fierce rain, there seemed to be eerie presences vaguely mixed in among the endlessly breaking raindrops.

‘Which direction is it…’

But perhaps because the sounds of those beyond the fence were added, the presences seemed to come from all directions as if echoing, making it impossible to gauge their location. This meant they were at a distance from them. However, it also meant that without being able to confirm the direction, they might accidentally get closer.

The risk had increased much more than usual.

Jieuk- Chulpuk…

Whether it was because they were so tense that even their own footsteps were confused with the zombies’ presence, or because they had been in the rain for so long, Seokjae frowned at the chilling sensation creeping up his back.

‘This feels really bad.’

Not long after muttering to himself, just as he found a white structure in a corner-

Flash-!

The lightning, which had been quiet for a while, made its presence known again.

The fortunate thing was that the bright light, which had been useless except for warning Muyoung before the thunder sound, now served to warn all three of them of danger.

The playground, briefly visible as if a light had been turned on and off, was evenly dotted with zombies like a market floor.

‘Damn it.’

The reason Seokjae hadn’t been able to pinpoint the zombies’ location wasn’t because of those unable to cross the fence. It was because the interior was so full of zombies in all directions that it seemed to echo.

The eerie feeling creeping up his back must have been a signal warning of this.

‘There’s an ungodly number of them.’

He had thought there might be some early arrivals inside, as some people would have fled when the outbreak occurred. But this was too many, even accounting for that.