Chapter 94 - The Girl Wants to Be M*rdered

〈 Chapter 94 〉 888. The Chapter of the Girl and the Zombie (6). * * * ** Day by day, that was how it went. The days printed on the calendar, once thought to be endless and unchanging, had passed, leading up to the point where tearing off the paper became inevitable. "─Teehee. Last night was fun, Hwa Min unnie! Your embrace was... really warm." "".........."" ".......I can guess what you're all thinking, but it's not like that. It's not like that, you brats!! Jeong Eun, don't look at me like that! Hey, Yeon Yi! The phone doesn't work anyway, so who are you even trying to call!?" Food, clothing, and shelter. Even the bare necessities needed to sustain a human life were either fully lacking or flawed in some way. "Why am I on the same team as you again? You guys planned this, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!?" "Hehehe.... Jeong Eun, I told you. You can never escape from me....!" "Ahhhhhh─!!" ─Thud. Despite that, we stubbornly continued to survive in these inadequate conditions. The friend who was once consumed by fear regained the composure to assess his surroundings. The junior who had once lost all sense of responsibility steeled herself to rise anew. And then. ".....Hahaha!" "Don't laugh! I'm being serious!!" I could genuinely smile, not as a result of madness or because I had given up on life, but from my core. Watching this young kid, much younger than me, strive so hard to live made me realize that, as her elder, I should at least set an example. Honestly, we fell short in so many ways to truly be considered adults, yet we clung to our pride because there was no way we could give up. As humans, it's crucial not to make a fool of oneself in front of children. "──Teehee! We're on the same team again today, Yeon Yi unnie!" "....Alright. Let's win again today, Hee Ah. If we finish too early, it won't be fun, so why don't we take it easy for a bit?" "....Hey? Are you challenging me right now?" Thus. Whether the world we lived in was gradually descending into ruin or the hope we clung to was nothing more than a candle in the wind. In this irrational world, we resolved to do our utmost in our respective roles. We reaffirmed our determination not to abandon life and to endure until the end. However, while the environment can influence a person's mindset, it's impossible for the opposite to change the environment. Even if we viewed the world from a new perspective, the law that living life carries a certain price couldn't be altered. Yes. And so, ultimately. ─Clatter. ".....It's all gone." That day was inevitable. 58 days since the zombie outbreak. That is, the fortieth day since we started living together in this house. The canned goods were nearly depleted. ** ─Tick, tick. "......Damn it." Words that I couldn’t utter in Hee Ah's presence slipped from my mouth. Staring at the empty cupboard, I found myself nervously gnawing on my thumbnail. It was a habit I thought I’d kicked upon entering high school, but there was no room to think about such things in this emergency situation. Well, no one would scold me for biting my nails now. "What do we do, Hwa Min? It was inevitable. I'm actually surprised the canned goods lasted this long." "....True." Strictly speaking, Jeong Eun was correct. The food supplies, which we thought would only last about a month, had stretched nearly to forty days, with only a few remaining. One or two more days, maybe we could stretch it to four if we rationed carefully. The canned goods had lasted ten days longer than expected, serving their purpose well enough. Perhaps because all we did around here was occasionally check to see if there were any breaches in the walls or if zombies had managed to sneak over the fence. Though there had been a couple of battles, for the most part, we didn’t move much, so we weren’t hungry. Additionally, the dire situation naturally dulled our appetites, contributing to our unexpectedly prolonged food supply. Yes, we had held out well. But─ "─We have to go outside, Jeong Eun." ".....Yeah." Ultimately, the moment of decision had arrived for us as well. Or rather, would it really be called a decision to choose between continuing to live or quietly accepting death here? In our previous mindset, we might have just held on until we were worn out and exhausted.... "─Well, then we should go." ".....I figured you’d say that. It’s nice to have it so easy." "What?" Now, though, we were different. 58 days. Nearly two months had passed since all this began. In that time, we hadn’t seen a single helicopter for a rescue operation, not even a crashing one engulfed in flames. Had the entire world perished except for us? Or was there still some place where people were barricaded behind barbed wires, on strike or something? We didn’t know anything. We couldn’t see anything. "──Alright! Everyone gather up! We have something important to discuss~!" "Yo~ Yeon Yi. Bring Hee Ah down slowly. Be careful on the stairs." "─Yes. Let’s go, Hee Ah." Nonetheless, one thing was certain in our routine. We had to leave this house. To survive, we had to open the door and step beyond the threshold. ** ─Clatter. "First of all, securing supplies is our top priority. Does everyone understand up to this point, seniors?" "Well, for now?" "....Not 'for now', seniors." The meeting began with us gather comfortably around Yeon Yi, who was illustrating on a central chalkboard, with me, Hee Ah, and Jeong Eun all sitting together. On the green chalkboard was a meticulous map of the surrounding area, including detailed routes leading to our intended destination, the supermarket. "...I'll continue." "Yes, ma’am, Teacher Yeon Yi!" "...Hwa Min unnie, if you keep that up, I'll get mad?" The drawing was so meticulous that, from a distance, one might mistake it for a photo. It was an impressive work by Yeon Yi, crafted purely from memory without any map or external help. "Considering the sensitivity of those creatures to scent and sound, driving a car, which naturally generates noise and smell, is a suicide mission. Furthermore, with so many wrecked cars and obstacles in that area, it's not a place for amateurs like us, who've never even driven before." "We're lucky the supermarket is close enough to walk to..." "Yes. It's a five-minute walk, more than manageable." Over the past two months, we hadn't been passive. By exploring the surroundings and observing the zombies around this house, we thoroughly understood what they reacted to and how they behaved. In a setting where the only visible beings were zombies, even if we didn’t want to see them, we had no choice but to encounter them. However, there were downsides. "Surprisingly, those creatures are pretty smart... or are they dumb?" "They seemed to have specific purposes, but unfortunately, for now, we have no way to know for sure." Contrary to the mindless monsters often depicted in films, these zombies possessed some intelligence. They knew how to push sliding doors sideways to open them and could even press elevator buttons to move between floors. I still couldn’t forget the sight of a zombie looking at me through a narrow gap as the elevator door slowly closed. Also, perhaps as an extension of their intelligence, they tended to attack seemingly weaker individuals first, rather than groups armed and clustered together. Given this, it wouldn't be too much to conclude that they indeed had some level of intelligence. The only saving grace was their low physical ability. Zombies were so weak that even someone like me or Yeon Yi could fend them off with effort. Of course, they surrounded us with sheer numbers, mocking our defenses, but the reason zombies couldn’t climb over the fence and break into our house, despite knowing we were inside, was their lack of strength to bypass the barrier. If they had slightly more strength, they might have overcome the fence already. Some of them, though few, did indeed trample over their clustered fellows to climb the wall. Despite this, there were still unexplained aspects. For instance, why did all the zombies target just one of two individuals fleeing separately, even though from appearances they seemed indistinguishable? I briefly wondered if zombies might have 'preferences,' but such considerations were too much for amateurs like us, lacking professional expertise. Indeed. Let's not dwell on trivial and complex things. We have one single task to focus on. "─Alright, unnie. That concludes everything." ".....Got it." Doing our utmost in every given moment. To eventually reunite with the family we currently couldn't see. To advance for the sake of friends we’ve parted with, friends whom we might never meet again. And above all. "Tomorrow, we hit the supermarket. That’s the plan." ""........"" To survive. That was all there was to it. ** * * *