Walking Daddy

Chapter 30

‘Are we in Haengdang-dong?’ it asked with a frown.

Again, I didn’t say anything.

It was holding a map of Seoul. The map was all tattered, with all sorts of markings on it.

‘What could zombies possibly mark on a map? The location of survivors? Or other zombie groups?’

That moment, My eyes were drawn to a rather unique marking on the map. Some places had scissor-like marks on them. And Haengdang-dong was one of them.

The zombie came right up to my face and repeated its question. ‘You bastard, I’m asking if we’re in Haengdang-dong.’

It was acting aggressively, but I saw its eyes shifting from side to side. I could tell that its eyes were full of fear. So I didn’t tell it where we were. Instead, I took small breaths.

It started gritting its teeth, and I caught a glimpse of them. I noticed that its teeth weren’t sharp like mine. It still had human teeth, with pieces of flesh stuck between them. It managed to contain its boiling rage just enough to speak again. ‘Ahjussi, you remember the rules I told you about earlier?’

Instead of answering, I looked it straight in the eye. The zombie shook its clenched fists violently before continuing. I could sense the cold fury in its voice. ‘First, you look people in the eye when you talk. Second, if someone breaks that rule, you can either eat or kill that person.’

Instead of answering, I replied with a question of my own. ‘Now who in the world made that rule?’

The zombie lost control and started screaming like a mad beast. With its mouth open wide, I could smell the stench of its breath. Its thick, murky spit splattered all over my face.

I knew no one liked receiving questions in response to their own. However, only the living cared about such things. I was already dead, so I had nothing to worry about.

It continued to grind its teeth, glaring at me with murderous eyes, ready to attack me any moment. Unexpectedly, it backed away from me a little, then howled at the top of its lungs.

GRRRRRRRR!

I heard the patter of hundreds of footsteps in response. The red creatures that had been hiding in the building all started to move. Their footsteps echoed in my eardrums, putting all my senses on alert. I couldn’t fathom how many there were. The ground shook with the constant drumbeat of their footsteps.

In moments, I saw a wave of red surging towards me from the lobby of a nearby building.

It was quite a sight.

This was probably how the Nile River looked when the water had been turned to blood. I tightened my grip on my spear as the red tsunami rolled toward me.

I knew this was bound to happen. Instead of fear, I felt a readiness to fight back, and a burst of adrenaline flowed through my body. I wasn’t fighting against my fears. Instead, my agitation drew me into a state of ecstasy.

“GRRRRR!!!”

I roared at them, revealing my sharp teeth. I thrust my spear into the first red creature that got close to me.

Crack!

My spear pierced it, breaking its ribs. As I stabbed the spear deeper into its body, my right hand, which was holding onto the spear, eventually made it through the creature’s body as well. I was shocked by how deep in my thrust went.

‘What in the world…? How much stronger did I get?’

With that, I let go of the spear. I realized that my bare hands would be more effective weapons than the spear I was holding.

Red creatures swarmed toward me from all directions. Without hesitation, I threw out a flurry of punches.

Crack!

My punch cracked a red creature’s skull, and the force of the blow recoiled up my arms. I didn’t have the time to think about it. I kept throwing punches.

‘Faster, faster!’

There was no time to rest. In this situation, any sort of rest meant death. I knew that if I hesitated, even for a split second, they would grab hold of my body and sink their rotten teeth into my flesh.

I threw punch after punch without flinching. The red creatures coming at me were obviously not rational beings. They only had one objective in mind—to get me. It didn’t matter if their comrades fell, died, were stomped on, or had their heads cracked.

GRR!!!

I heard a terrible throat-rending noise from behind. One of them was trying to attack me from behind. I realized I didn’t even have the time to turn around. So instead, I reached my hand out behind me. Luckily enough, I managed to grab its head.

I grit my teeth as hard as I could and crushed its head with all my might.

Pop!

It felt like squeezing a watermelon until it burst. I managed to find a firmer grip, the remnants of its head acting as a handle of sorts. I didn’t let go, but whirled it in front as hard as I could. A human body swung outward in front of me, still attached to my hand.

‘Now this is the sort of weapon I’m talking about.’

My moves were neither elegant nor delicate. They were movements born out of a last-ditch effort to keep myself alive. On the other hand, though, my enemies probably viewed me as the devil himself.

I swung the dead body like a mace. After a while, though, the ‘handle’ bent, unable to withstand the strength of my grip. I felt a horrible feeling travel through my body, from head to toe. But I couldn’t stop.

I had no time to think because of all the red creatures trying to grab me. I swung the dead body around for as long as I could. Moments later, the neck tore, unable to handle the centrifugal force. As I drew my hand back, the creature’s spine came out.

I reached the conclusion that the spine alone was a poor weapon. I hurled it toward the closest zombie that was charging at me, and followed swiftly behind it.

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I caught the creature in the face with my fist, and its jaw dented as though made of styrofoam. I quickly realized that there were more zombies coming at me, and taking them down at this rate wasn’t going to cut it. There was no end to them.

Finding an escape route seemed impossible. I knew I would’ve had a chance if I had a wall behind me, but I knew if this kept up, I would eventually fall. Just then, a thought struck me.

‘Is there really a reason for me to find an escape route?’

I didn’t need to find an escape route. In fact, I was a being capable of making one.

I kicked the closest one charging toward me as hard as I could, knocking it back and causing the others behind it to fall like dominos. That bought me a little time. I didn’t waste a second. I braced myself and jumped with all my strength.

Whoosh!

Wind raced past my eardrums. I made it to the fourth-floor windowsill of the building opposite. As I entered the building, the red creatures raced into the first floor of the building I was in.

I could hear the zombie tsunami making its way up the stairs. Dust was flying everywhere, as if the old building was about to collapse any second. I knew I had to make it to the fourth floor staircase before they did.

I hurried to the emergency stairwell and saw the red tsunami sweeping its way up.

‘Numerical advantage? That’s no longer relevant you fools.’

More numbers only worked in an open space without walls. Here, though, the space was blocked off by four walls. And there was only one way up and one way down.

I knew I had the high ground, so I no longer had to think about losing. I also knew that my physical abilities had surpassed any ordinary human. In fact, I wasn’t human anymore.

At that moment, I remembered the time the black creature had ripped apart my underlings in every possible way and had thrown their heads about like baseballs. My physical abilities were currently very close to that creature’s.

The red tsunami in front of me parted like the red sea. Without even realizing it, the red creatures that had made it to the fourth floor had been pushed back down to the first floor. I was crushing their skulls in the entryway to the stairwell on the first floor.

These creatures were merely executing orders. They did not know that they were ramming their heads against a brick wall. They were charging at me nonstop, even after seeing their comrades die. I easily handled the ones trying to squeeze themselves into the emergency stairwell. With the situation under control, I finally had a moment to think.

At that moment, I remembered a face that I had forgotten for a little while.

‘Where’s their leader?’

I no longer saw the creature with glowing red eyes. It seemed to have hidden itself after ordering its underlings to become shields.

‘Did it actually run away? Did it flee after seeing the manner in which its underlings were being wiped out?’

Grrr!!!!

That moment, a cry rippled through my mind. I knew it wasn’t coming from one of the red creatures in front of me. It was coming from those that were connected to me, like my alter egos. Their voices echoed as one, containing a single, unifying thought.

Enemy detected. Get rid of the enemy.

I realized that these thoughts were my underlings’. Obviously, they weren’t saying them out loud, but I could sense that this was what they were trying to communicate. Right then, I realized something.

‘The school.’

The leader was heading toward the school. It had distracted my attention with the red tsunami while it made its way to its real objective. It seemed like my underlings were following my exact orders, and having noticed the incoming enemies, were gearing up to fight.

They were acting on my orders and reporting back to me instantaneously. Without even realizing it, my underlings and I were moving as one.

I had to get back. I had to go back to the school somehow. However, the red tsunami of zombies was growing even more out of control, threatening to swirl into a tornado.

I began to wonder if I could make it past the massive tide of red zombies alive. I knew that there was no way for me to get away from them, and dragging them with me to the school would be absurd. I had no time to stand still and think. I had to do something right now.

I threw myself toward the emergency exit.

* * *

“Move to the right side!”

As the wood planks that were blocking the windows broke, Lee Jeong-Uk was the first one to pick up his spear and prepare to fight.

Lee Jeong-Hyuk hid the elders and male students underneath a desk and hurried next to Lee Jeong-Uk. In the meantime, Kang Eun-Jeong was stacking desks and chairs in front of the classroom doors. When the attacking zombies broke through the planks, the zombies painted in blue started moving.

GRR!!

The blue-colored zombies snapped and bit off the necks of the zombies that were coming in head first. It would be obvious to a living person that trying to get in through a small window was akin suicide. But there was no way that these zombies were aware of such logic.

The zombies kept on trying to get through the gap in the window. The ones in front were pushed by the ones behind. This was a treat for the blue-colored zombies as they hunted down the prey that were walking right into their trap.

Despite this, some managed to make it inside the classroom. However, they were no match to the blue-colored zombies. The attacking zombies that tackled the blue-colored ones head-on had their wrists and arms twisted instantly. Then, their necks were bitten and red blood spurted out, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked around, dumbfounded by what he was seeing. The zombies that managed to enter had fallen before he even had the chance to fight them.

The blue-colored zombies were a different breed compared to the ones trying to get in. At this point, they weren’t merely defending themselves. They were like fishermen who had prepared a large net to catch all the other zombies who were trying to enter..

Lee Jeong-Uk looked out into the hallway to see what was going on outside. The situation there was no different. The zombies that were coming from both ends had been pushed all the way back to the entrances.

There were no zombies in sight. Blue-colored zombies were blocking off the entrance to the classroom. The attacking zombies could only be observed by peeking out through the windows that opened into the hallway.

The blue-colored zombies were carrying out a massacre. Utter dominance was the perfect phrase to describe the current situation.

As Lee Jeong-Uk stared blankly at the scene before him, Lee Jeong-Hyuk appeared at his side.

“Big brother, I don’t think we have to worry about So-Yeon’s father.”

Lee Jeong-Uk nodded at what Lee Jeong-Hyuk said and swallowed. He realized he’d been worrying for nothing. “I thought he was just a strong cow… but he's actually a fierce bull.”

This was the perfect way to describe the current situation. There was a monster that munched on other monsters. And the people there were closely connected to that monster.

“GRRRR!!!”

A murderous scream ripped through the air, coming from the school entrance, causing everything in its vicinity to shake, and threatening to bulldoze everything in its path.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked toward the source of the scream through a window that was hanging off its hinges. He caught a glimpse of the creature leaping over the front gate. However, Lee Jeong-Uk felt no fear, nor did he fear the creature. Rather, he grinned and muttered calmly, “So-Yeon’s father is here.”