Chapter 4
Bang! Bang!
Immediately, two infected creatures standing behind the bushes collapsed. Startled, the children gasped and retreated, while I raised my gun again, aiming at the direction where the infected creatures were coming from. This time, I pointed the barrel towards our back, where the infected creatures were rushing towards us upon hearing the gunshots.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three infected creatures fell with their heads exploding, their knees buckling. No wasted shots. In a world where bullets were traded more dearly than water, wasting precious ammunition was out of the question.
“Whoa! That scared the hell out of me.”
Wiping his chest, Yongcheol raised his voice after blocking the view of the infected creatures’ corpses from the children.
“What if the zombie bastards came running at us after hearing the gunshots!”
“They won’t come. There’s no infected cluster around here.”
“Even so… Look at the kids. They were startled by the gunshots!”
“If they were startled by something like this, they would’ve died a long time ago. It’s noisy, let’s move before it gets dark. When it gets dark, it’ll become troublesome.”
Fortunately, the infected creatures were less active during the day when the sun was up. It seemed like they, too, rested like humans did at night. And during that time, their enhanced hearing was somewhat dulled compared to the night, giving us some relief. So, we boldly walked up the mountain path, dealing with the infected creatures along the way.
I frowned as I looked at the nearing sunset in the sky. And still, I asked the trembling boy.
“Do we go this way?”
“Y-yes! Just keep g-going up!”
The boy answered, avoiding my gaze suspiciously. It was clear that something was off about his behavior. Watching him closely, I lowered my gun and nodded.
“The infected creatures we saw on the way up were the only ones we encountered and they couldn’t even move properly during the day. So, why are you so scared of climbing mountains during the day that you even jump in front of a moving car?”
“That…”
The hesitant boy, holding the girl tightly behind me, finally spoke up.
“I-I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect my sister. I’m worried she might get hurt.”
It was a response I couldn’t argue with, so I hesitated slightly. Beside me, Yongcheol chuckled and nudged my arm.
“Hey, why have you been joking around since earlier?”
“Noisy.”
Once again, with the gun resting on my shoulder, I pointed towards the summit.
“Let’s go. Lead the way.”
I didn’t need to say it again. We had to reach the top before sunset.
If we didn’t want to become prey for the infected.
🕂
“It’s a cathedral.”
I muttered as soon as we crossed the hill and saw the silhouette of the cathedral, followed by the sight of the building itself. It looked intact, as if it had somehow escaped the apocalypse unscathed.
Seeing an undamaged cathedral like this was a rare sight indeed. Whether it was a church, cathedral, or temple, they had all been used as makeshift shelters ever since the appearance of the infected.
Especially the cathedral I used to attend. The priest had made great efforts to protect the people as soon as he learned about the impending apocalypse. However, we didn’t realize back then that the virus had an incubation period. People who thought they only needed to avoid the infected were caught off guard by the newly emerged infected, leading to a cycle of death and resurrection. In the end, I had no choice but to point my gun at my beloved priest’s head.
“It’s quite intriguing.”
So, my curiosity was piqued even further. I gestured to Yongcheol, calling him over.
“Yongcheol, what do you think?”
“It’s D.I… I don’t know. Forget it. Shit. What am I even saying.”
He scratched the back of his head, his expression embarrassed.
“What do I think about what? Huh? Is there a problem?”
He seemed confused, but I was too dumbfounded to see him as anything but pathetic.
“Yongcheol, why isn’t your head working as an intelligence officer? Don’t you think and act? Isn’t your brain more than just decoration?”
“Ah, seriously! Hey! I’m not an expert in this field!”
As the foolish Yongcheol protested, someone opened the door of the cathedral.
“Who’s there…?”
The man, neatly combed with a clean appearance, seemed completely out of place in this chaotic world. Ironically, however, his priestly robes somehow brought a sense of harmony to his overall look.
“My, my, is it you, Jun? And Yeon is with you too?”
He widened his eyes upon seeing the children.
“Oh, I can’t believe you were safe. Thank you, Lord!”
Upon seeing the children, he dropped to his knees, arms outstretched, and the children instinctively ran to him and embraced him.
“I thought you were gone for good… But here you are, alive and well. Oh, what a relief. Truly, what a relief!”
He embraced the children tightly, tears streaming down his face. However, I found Yongcheol, who was sniffing next to me, more annoying than the sight of the man. I slightly adjusted my stance and slung the gun over my opposite shoulder. Sensing our presence, the man suddenly looked up, startled.
“You must be the ones who saved Jun and Yeon! Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Surely, it’s by the grace of the Lord.”
He then crossed himself and began to offer words of blessing, but as he noticed the rosary in my hand, our eyes met.
“Oh, you’re a sister!”
He beamed.
“It seems the Lord has sent you to rescue Jun and Yeon. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, um, yes. Well…”
I asked with a slight squint.
“You, the Priest?”
Seemingly the first person to ask despite the obvious priestly attire, the man chuckled awkwardly and cleared his throat.
“Uh, yes. It may sound a bit awkward to discuss professions in a world like this, but yes, indeed. I am. Though humble, I offer prayers of repentance here.”
I unconsciously fiddled with the rosary, then glanced at the flesh beneath his Roman collar, then back at the pristine facade of the church, and finally up at the now fully reddened sky. The night was approaching. In this situation, there was no turning back.
“Ugh… It’s so frustrating. Every single day is just… awful…”
Though the decision was already made, the frustration of the situation was enough to bring on a headache. I clenched my jaw and bit my lip, pressing on my temples.
“Hey, hey. Why are you acting like that? Show some respect in front of the priest!”
“Yongcheol, you’re a disgrace as an intelligence officer.”
“What?”
Yongcheol asked, bewildered, but I paid him no mind, raising the gun and pointing it at the man.
“Answer me.”
Then, gesturing towards the neck inside the Roman collar of the priestly attire, I asked.
“Since when can priests have tattoos?”
The man’s face hardened instantly, then soon twisted into a grimace. And not long after, the gentle voice he had used earlier was replaced by a surprisingly harsh shout.
“Shit! We’re busted! Shoot!”
“Kill the man and spare the woman with the gun!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The futile bullets sliced through the air countless times, trampling over the darkness underfoot. But I immediately hid behind the statue of Mary, and the bullets only tore through the back of her innocent figure. Oh, I’m sorry.
‘They’re shooting like they’ve been waiting for this moment.’
I felt uneasy from the start.
In this turbulent world, it was unsettling to see only two children lingering on the streets, to ask for help climbing a mountain that obviously had no infected, and even more so to come across a pristine church, untouched four years into the disaster.
“They’re probably using this as a base and baiting people with the children.”
Having encountered such looters numerous times before, I wasn’t greatly surprised, just thinking the same way as usual today.
In this world, the scariest thing isn’t the infected—it’s human.
🕂
Thank you for reading! ♡
