“Ugh!”
Each time the tennis racket cut through the air, blood and unknown fluids splattered from the zombies’ mouths, heads, necks, and arms. And crack, there was the sound of bones breaking. Taewoong grimaced at the explicit sounds while hitting zombies in sight with his racket and kicking them with his feet.
“So many damn… Huh?!”
As he was striking down the next zombie with his racket, suddenly his ankle was grabbed. Shocked, he looked down just as the captured ankle was pulled.
“What, ugh!”
His body lurched heavily. Taewoong hurriedly swallowed his scream and tried to steady himself against the wall, but the zombies were faster. The zombies that had fallen after being hit by Taewoong all rushed at him, following the scent. Taewoong couldn’t hold on any longer and fell.
Hands missing several fingers, festering hands, hands with exposed white bone. Several zombie hands grabbed Taewoong’s head and arms. Not enough with that, a mouth dripping with sticky black blood and saliva approached right before his eyes. In the moment just before being bitten, Taewoong’s face contorted. Gritting his teeth, he swung the racket wildly and twisted his body.
“Taewoong!”
He couldn’t be bitten by a zombie. As he tried to escape somehow, he heard Yeoul’s voice from a distance. He wanted to answer, but there were too many zombies around him. Instead of answering, he struck the zombies as violently as possible.
“Shit, get off!! Nam Taewoong!!”
While he was barely avoiding their teeth, Hyunwoo, who was slower than Taewoong, arrived. He kicked randomly at the zombies covering Taewoong. Following the thud-thud sounds, the zombies were pushed away, then rose again with screams and lunged once more. Hyunwoo panted and looked back.
“Damn it, hey! Can’t we kill these things?!”
Yeoul, who was weak at running, barely managed to follow. He tried to pull zombies off Taewoong and Hyunwoo while sighing.
Though they were clearly zombies now, they were actually humans once, students from the same school. It was impossible to know what kind of trauma killing them might cause.
“Ah, no, uh, front!”
Unable to explain at length in the urgent situation, he kept moving busily when he saw a zombie targeting Hyunwoo. He shouted urgently and pointed with his fingertip. Just as Hyunwoo turned his head following the fingertip, a mop handle struck the zombie.
“Shit, there really are too many of these.”
Jaeseong, who approached after striking down the zombie, cursed as he hit the neck of another zombie that kept coming closer. Yeoul and Hyunwoo sighed with relief.
Though the crisis had passed, it was still dangerous. The soccer team members struggled to pull off the zombies targeting Taewoong, who was still busy fending them off. When Taewoong was revealed, Yeoul grabbed his wrist with both hands and pulled. Taewoong pushed away a zombie’s face with one hand and stood up.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Are, are you hurt or bitten anywhere?”
“I don’t know.”
Having been tense at the thought of being bitten by zombies, various parts of his body felt uncomfortable. Taewoong clicked his tongue and was about to swing the racket again when the zombies, seemingly feeling no pain like in movies, kept lunging at him.
“This is crazy…”
“Duck!!”
As Taewoong, Yeoul, Hyunwoo, Seongyong, and Jaeseong were panting and fending off zombies, Yechan, who arrived a bit later than the soccer team due to his slower pace, shouted loudly. Then he swung the bat he was gripping with both hands widely. Everyone, startled by the loud sound, ducked in unison. The bat whooshed right above them.
“Kaaak!!”
“Kakak!!”
Yechan was a large man over 190cm tall and weighing more than 100kg. With the bat that he swung with all his might, the zombies collapsed like bowling pins with a sound like a bomb exploding. Taewoong, who was crouched awkwardly protecting Yeoul’s head, softly exclaimed “Oh” before adjusting his racket. He sprang up and struck a zombie targeting Yechan’s back. Gritting his teeth, he took the lead again.
“Wow… it’s opening up.”
After the danger, the half-awakened Taewoong and the soccer team began to clear the way. Yeoul stopped momentarily and admired them. Beside him, Yechan had been picking up baseballs that were flying from a distance, hitting zombie heads, and throwing them back.
Plop, thwack! Bang! With rough sounds, they clearly advanced forward. Soon Taewoong reached the broadcasting station. He hurriedly pushed the doorknob.
“Ah, it won’t open!”
They finally reached the broadcasting station. With joy and relief, he pushed the door, but for some reason, it wouldn’t budge. Taewoong cursed and kicked the door. Yeoul hurriedly approached and knocked on the door with both hands.
“Pl-please open the door!”
There was no lock on the door. That meant someone inside had locked it to escape the zombies, but they weren’t opening it! It was too difficult to come all this way just to give up and go back. They couldn’t just turn around.
“It’s okay, just open it for a moment, just a moment!”
“Fuck! Quickly!!”
No matter how much Taewoong pulled the door or Yeoul desperately pleaded, there was no response.
Just as Seongyong, who was fending off zombies targeting Taewoong, couldn’t hold back his curses, there was a clattering sound from inside. Soon the broadcasting room door slid open.
“…Huh?”
“Yeoul!”
While knocking on the door with all his might, the door opened. Yeoul lost his balance and tilted toward the broadcasting station. Taewoong was startled but quickly hugged Yeoul and they rolled together. After looking at the frozen, surprised Yeoul, he got up and looked at his friends who were still fighting zombies while holding the door.
“See you in an hour!”
Leaving his friends who were telling them to hurry inside, he closed the broadcasting room door with a bang.
“…Phew, Yeoul?”
“…I’m, fine.”
“Are, a-are you okay?”
Finally free from the zombies. As Taewoong and Yeoul caught their breath in relief, a trembling voice was heard. They immediately stood up when they saw the student who approached.
“Are you alone?”
“Ah, thanks for opening the door.”
Taewoong nodded at the nodding student and then began to search the broadcast room interior for anything useful, partly out of habit. Yeoul awkwardly smiled at the broadcasting club member who seemed shocked to suddenly meet people, with a face that seemed on the verge of tears.
“Um… sorry for startling you. It’s nothing else, but could you help us broadcast to the survivors in the school?”
“…Broadcast?”
He was alone, perhaps having stayed for the graduation ceremony broadcast. Yeoul explained why they came to the broadcasting station to the broadcasting club member who had been hiding from zombies. Meanwhile, Taewoong rummaged through the items in the broadcasting station.
“There’s quite a bit to collect here.”
Wet wipes, 500ml water bottles, toilet paper rolls, a plastic duster, small cup noodles, an electric fly swatter, wooden chopsticks. The broadcasting station had a lot of things. Taewoong neatly packed them into an empty ramen box. After listening to Yeoul’s explanation and the zombie characteristics they had discovered so far, the broadcasting club member glanced at Taewoong several times before nodding and going to the booth.
“So, so I just need to broadcast?”
“Yes. Thank you so much.”
While the broadcasting club member prepared the broadcast, Yeoul quickly wrote a script on visible paper.
“I’m, I’m all ready.”
The broadcasting club member, who had been pressing and turning various buttons filling the booth, informed Yeoul. Yeoul quickly handed over the script.
“Just read this!”
The broadcasting club member took the paper. He immediately sat in the chair, took a deep breath, and pressed the red button.
Ding-dong-dang-dong-
A familiar sound rang out. The broadcasting club member turned up the volume to maximum with trembling hands and grabbed the microphone.
“An, announcement from the broadcasting station. Once again, an announcement from the broadcasting station.”
The broadcast had begun. Yeoul quickly opened the window to check if the broadcast was working well and if the zombies were responding.
“…They’re responding!”
The zombies spread across the playground screamed and flinched, and banged on the bars where the speakers were installed! Yeoul brightened and gave a thumbs-up to the broadcasting club member. The broadcasting club member awkwardly brightened in response before looking forward again.
“Zombies respond to sound. Shortly, the emergency bell will ring for about an hour. Please don’t be alarmed and move to a safe place while the zombies are focused on the emergency bell sound. Once again, zombies respond to sound.”
“Haaa…”
The broadcasting club member’s trembling voice spread throughout the school. As the tension eased with the thought that they had successfully broadcast, Yeoul’s legs gave way. He collapsed into a chair.
Hopefully, this would save at least one more survivor. In the midst of sighing deeply, he noticed Taewoong gathering items. Yeoul quickly approached and sat down next to Taewoong.
“Are, are you okay?”
Just then, Taewoong, who was sitting on the floor gathering supplies, looked at Yeoul with a puzzled expression and handed him a water bottle.
“I think I’m fine? What about you, Yeoul? Are you bitten or injured anywhere?”
“Mm, I think I’m okay!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
