Infected - Chapter 517



Only Noblemtl

Side story episode 4

When I opened my eyes again.

Gaon felt a strange sensation of seeing everything in the world sideways, along with a nauseating feeling as if he was going to vomit.

“eww…….”

I groan and slowly look around.

The muzzle of the pistol that fell in front of my eyes gradually became clear.

Dimly leaking car lights, a half-bent rearview mirror, and unidentifiable parts dangling from it.

I don’t know about anything else, but I knew for sure that the car was lying on its side.

When I turned my head, Seonwoo had his eyes closed and blood was dripping from his head.

“hey…….”

Gaon suppressed the pain he felt all over his body and called out to him.

“Choi Seon-woo, wake up.”

But Seonwoo didn’t respond.

I looked closely at the wound on his head.

Judging by the blood drying up quickly, it didn’t seem to be a serious wound.

Looks like he passed out from the shock of the accident.

Gaon slapped Seonwoo on the cheek with his left hand, resting his hand on the asphalt beyond the broken window.

Knock knock!

“Hey, Choi Seon-woo. Wake up.”

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to beat him like this even if I kept hitting him all night.

Gritting my teeth.

Crack!

“Eww!”

As expected, it worked.

Seonwoo screamed and opened his eyes as soon as he was hit in the cheek.

“Huh! Huh! What is this? Where am I?”

He looked around like a madman, then realized that his body was leaning towards the driver’s seat.

Gaon said.

“Don’t unbuckle your seatbelt, just open the door.”

“Huh? Oh, just a moment.”

Seonwoo opened the passenger door attached to the ceiling with all his might.

But because of the length of the arms, it didn’t open all the way.

“With your feet, with your feet.”

“Kkeungcha!”

The door opened completely only after I pushed with all my might, as if I was kicking a sandbag.

Seonwoo unbuckles his seatbelt and goes out the door, reaching down.

“are you okay.”

Gaon shook his head and stepped on the driver’s seat and armrest in order, then climbed up in an instant.

So the two of them stood on top of the car that had flipped over on its side.

Pitch-black darkness where not even moonlight can enter due to the tall buildings blocking it.

The two were standing somewhere in the darkness.

“…Where on earth am I?”

Seonwoo sighed deeply and muttered while holding his aching head.

Instead of answering, Gaon jumped down and opened the trunk.

The interior was brightly lit thanks to the interior lights being turned on.

Inside was a hiking bag.

“When did you get this?”

“I put it in before I left. I always have to be prepared for emergencies when I go out.”

Gaon took out a flashlight from his bag and handed it to Seonwoo while clicking it.

Fortunately, there were no problems with the functionality.

“What are we going to do now?”

“First, let’s find a place to spend the night.”

Gaon crossed the road, shining his flashlight here and there.

I was thinking of going into the large building across the street.

Gaon, who had been scanning the surroundings, looks at the dark road.

“…No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

“What? Oh, my head hurts.”

“Why did they just leave us behind?”

“Huh? That’s right. Why did you just leave?”

“It seems like you intentionally caused the accident. That means you know the geography of this place well.”

Seonwoo turned the flashlight and looked around.

“I wonder if he’s hiding somewhere?”

“For that to happen, the car from before should be nearby. But it’s not there.”

That’s right.

As Gaon said, the cars on the road were so damaged or disassembled that it was difficult to even call them automobiles.

It was covered in vines and moss, suggesting that it had not been touched by human hands for years.

That was when.

Krrrrrr… … .

A strange sound was heard in the darkness.

It wasn’t a zombie.

It had been a while since I last saw them, but I could still distinguish their sounds quite well.

The circular light that had been scanning the surroundings found the owner of the growling sound.

It was a wild dog.

Wild dogs with such a unique appearance that it is difficult to find a similar species because they are mixed and mixed together.

Gaon slowly pulled out his dagger while shining a flashlight on it.

“There’s one more in the bag.”

“okay.”

When Seonwoo also held a dagger like that.

The once lone wild dog had now grown to ten.

A group of people appeared upon receiving the bastard’s signal and slowly surrounded the two people.

Gaon, with a sharp dagger in front of him, begins to back away from the building.

“…move slowly, move slowly.”

Stray dogs moving forward little by little, matching the pace of the climb up the stairs.

They seemed quite accustomed to hunting this way.

The drool running down his chin and the eyes reflecting the flashlight were reminiscent of a wolf.

Finally, we climbed all the stairs and arrived at the main entrance of the building.

Gaon whispered softly enough for only Seonwoo to hear.

“You run to the door in threes. Got it?”

“uh.”

The wild dogs formed a semicircle around the main gate and gradually closed in on each other.

It seemed as if they would bared their fangs and rush at us from all directions at any moment.

“one…….”

Gaon counted the numbers while locking eyes with the biggest one among them.

“two…….”

By the time the guy’s eyes passed Gaon’s face and reached the front gate.

“Jump!”

Kwaaak!

As soon as the two entered the building, they pulled open the wide door.

The snouts of wild dogs flying in from all directions slam into the transparent glass in no particular order.

Boom! Kookung! Boom!

Some of them even had their teeth broken.

Unlike Seonwoo, who took a step back, Gaon stared blankly through the glass door.

The leader of the pack of wild dogs catches the eye.

The bastard turned his head and looked at the broken window.

thud!

At that moment, Gaon stabbed the glass door with the sharp dagger he was holding.

That was a warning.

A warning that if they come any closer, it won’t end until one of them dies.

“… … .”

Seonwoo, who was watching the situation, felt uneasy.

We’ve been training a lot for situations like this.

As much as I learned how to read and write, I also learned how to use weapons and deal with my enemies.

But this was my first time in real life.

He had never experienced an urgent situation because he had been in the countryside from the beginning and had only lived in a bunker after being taken in by the group.

Gaon’s attitude was so unfamiliar to his eyes.

How many seconds passed?

Gulp!

When Seonwoo, holding the dagger, swallowed dry saliva once again.

The leader of the wild dogs, who had been wandering around the main gate alone, turned around and went down the stairs.

Only then did Gaon close his fiercely opened eyes.

As the adults said, the world outside the outer walls was not easy from the start.

It was a moment when everything except humans approached as an enemy.

After the wild dogs completely disappeared.

The two men walked through the lobby, shining flashlights.

The interior was completely different from what they remembered.

Bugs scattering in all directions whenever the light is turned on, and all kinds of plants growing while pushing away the lights attached to the ceiling.

Over the long ten years that have passed, the city center has changed hands.

Sssssss… … .

Beneath the bug-strewn wallpaper, an unknown snake crawls, its body moving in a creepy manner.

Seonwoo said with a blank expression.

“T, this doesn’t seem right… … .”

As he said, it wouldn’t have been strange if something popped out right away.

But Gaon’s reaction was different.

“I can’t help it.”

Then he went deeper into the darkness.

Seonwoo’s flashlight, following behind, illuminated the open space ahead.

“Huh? What is this? This is a mart.”

I turned the flashlight and shined it above my head, and a ceiling with no end in sight opened up.

The large mart had an open center, with circular passageways connecting the fountain in the center of the first floor.

Gaon said.

“Let’s go up.”

“Just like that?”

“If I remember correctly, there’s nothing you can’t find in a mart this big. There’s definitely a place to rest.”

Gaon stood in front of the escalator and banged his dagger on the stainless steel.

If there’s anything inside the building, it’ll definitely react to this sound.

Bang bang again!

Fortunately, there was no reaction to that.

“let’s go.”

The two headed upstairs along the escalator that had now become stairs.

The second floor, where all sorts of appliances and odds and ends were gathered, had nothing of use except batteries.

Even that was almost all gone, so all I could do was roll around on the floor.

The third floor we arrived at next was much better than the floor below.

Furniture and bedding gathered in one corner.

Next to it, there were tents and other camping supplies lined up.

Gaon’s smile of relief appeared.

“It’s okay here.”

It didn’t look very clean because there was a lot of dust, but it was enough to just brush it off with a towel or another blanket.

“Isn’t it a bit dangerous for you? I saw a few broken windows on the first floor. There might be an entrance we don’t know about.”

“That’s right. So from now on, we have to wrap this place up tightly.”

“how?”

Gaon gestured toward the furniture store.

I was thinking of surrounding the bedding store with those like a fortress.

It was like creating a small safe zone, so to speak.

It took that much time and labor.

For security purposes, they hung bells at emergency exits and escalator entrances to create sensors, and they did not forget to place weapons along the route.

Only after the two of them were drenched in sweat did they sit down on their respective beds.

I hung up yellow camping lights with batteries here and there, and the soft light they spread was quite pleasant.

Gaon opened his bag and took out some medicine.

Then he sat Seonwoo down on the floor under the bed.

“see…….”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. Aside from being a little swollen. Hey, it’s really torn. I guess I’ll get a patch after it heals.”

“Okay. Just do it roughly.”

“Let’s sew it up first.”

“…what?”

“I need to sew it up.”

“Can you do it?”

“Are you kidding me? Just stay still.”

Gaon took out a medical needle and thread and burned the end with a lighter.

Seonwoo, who was sitting quietly, wrinkled his nose every time the needle passed through his flesh.

“But, Gaon.”

“why?”

“Now that I think about it, I think it was a good idea to come straight here.”

“suddenly?”

“Uh. At first, I thought I had to figure out where this place was. So I thought I’d look for signs with a flashlight. If I had wandered around like that, I would have really gotten lost.”

“When you can’t be safe outside, it’s best to go inside. Even if you’re locked in, you’ll have time to think.”

“Ah! Why does it hurt so much there?”

“That’s because it’s on the forehead. Stay still.”

“Ugh… … . What do we do now? Even if we know where this is, how do we get back?”

That’s right.

They just chased the RV for dozens of minutes.

It was a distance that could not possibly be walked, even though it was a circular road with scrap cars pushed to the left and right.

“Can we not think about that tomorrow?”

Gaon muttered as he finished the last stitch and tied the thread.

“I’m sorry for bothering you so much, but we’ve come a long way. Do you know that?”

“know.”

“You never know when those kids might show up.”

“That car from earlier?”

“uh.”

“I wish you would do that. Just take the car and go back.”

Seonwoo burst out laughing.

“Okay, okay. What kind of constructive talk would I have with you?”

Since childhood, the two people’s personalities were polar opposites.

While Seonwoo was cautious and worried about everything, Gaon was a very generous girl.

The type of person who, when they have a question, doesn’t just ask, but takes action and learns.

Such personality differences become more evident in extreme situations.

Gulp!

Seonwoo, who was fiddling with the stitches, grabbed his stomach.

I had been starving for so long that I was not only hungry, but also sick.

“… Is there anything to eat in that bag?”

Instead of answering, Gaon took out two cans of food.

Then he stuck the dagger in, twisted it back and forth, and opened the lid in an instant.

“It may not be enough, but I have to get by with this.”

“Two is the end?”

“No. There’s more. I mean, let’s fill this up for dinner tonight.”

“But why only one?”

“I don’t know what will happen in the future, so I have to eat as frugally as possible.”

Seonwoo’s face became gloomy.

“Hey, but one for two is too much.”

“Shall we go down and catch a dog?”

“… No, I’ll eat.”

After a meal that didn’t even feel like a meal.

The two lay down on their respective beds, clutching their hungry stomachs.

When I looked at my watch, it was almost nine o’clock.

I was cold, hungry, and anxious about everything, but as if by magic, I felt sleepy.

It was because of the pattern that had been followed for the past 10 years.

In the safe zone, you had to wake up at dawn, and to do that, you had to go to sleep by nine o’clock.

“Gaon-ah.”

Seonwoo opened his mouth and looked at the cracked ceiling.

“why.”

“I didn’t know before… … .”

He continued speaking, his body tossing and turning.

“There’s a really nice atmosphere here.”

“… Go to sleep.”

“Can I go home?”

“of course.”

“I miss my little ones. How are they? It hasn’t even been a few hours, but it feels like I haven’t seen them in days.”

“Let’s worry about ourselves.”

The two people who had been chatting fell into a deep sleep before they knew it.

Infected people