The drone returned and settled onto the ground. I put it in my backpack and picked up my bow.
The sun was still high in the sky. If I was going to move, I had to move now, in advance.
The village I’d confirmed with the drone was roughly three kilometers away. At a brisk pace, it would take a little over thirty minutes.
Driving the camper would be faster, but the engine noise might draw the zombies’ attention. For now, I decided to leave the camper here and go on foot.
I prepared before setting out. I took my bow and quiver, and tucked the hammer into my belt.
After thinking for a moment, I took a thick coat from inside the camper. It belonged to Brother Bak Sangman.
I hesitated briefly, then wrapped the coat around my left arm and tied it firmly in place. My thickly wrapped forearm looked like protective gear used to fend off a vicious dog.
With this much, it should hold up to some extent even if a zombie bit down on it.
When I stepped out of the camper, the sunlight was scorching, and the sky was clear without a single cloud. The peaceful weather, as if nothing had happened at all, felt bizarre instead.
I walked along the quiet country road. I moved quickly, but carefully, so my footsteps wouldn’t be too loud.
I kept watch, turning my gaze in every direction. Aside from the sound of insects in the grass and the wind, I heard nothing.
How long had I walked? In the distance, I saw something standing in the road.
It was a zombie. It stood without the slightest movement, both arms spread wide, head tilted up toward the sun. It was exactly the same posture I’d seen through the drone.
I judged the distance. Roughly seventy meters. Similar to the range I used to shoot at in archery. A familiar distance. But while an archery target had a diameter of 122 centimeters, a zombie’s head was much smaller than that.
To kill it for certain, I had to aim for the head, and that was a much harder shot.
I raised the bow and nocked an arrow. I drew the string and steadied my breathing. There was almost no wind. The conditions weren’t bad.
— Ping!
The arrow brushed past the bastard’s shoulder. I’d missed. Damn it...
It moved. Its outstretched arms lowered, and its head turned toward me. My eyes met its madness-filled gaze.
“Kraaaagh!”
With a monstrous scream, it began to run.
I quickly pulled out an arrow and nocked it. This time, my hands didn’t tremble. I tracked the charging thing with my eyes and took aim.
Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters.
Release.
— Thunk.
The arrow pierced straight through the center of its forehead. The zombie pitched forward and slid across the ground with all the momentum of its charge.
I exhaled. My heart was pounding fast, but it was better than before.
I retrieved the arrow and started walking again.
Not long after, I saw two more.
They were standing side by side, photosynthesizing. The distance was about sixty meters.
This time, I focused from the very first shot. I drew the string, held my breath, and let go.
The arrow embedded itself in the head of the one on the left. The one beside it reacted.
After looking at its fallen companion, it let out a shriek and charged toward me.
— Kraaaaagh!
I nocked another arrow in a hurry. Strangely, the closer it got, the calmer I became.
Forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters. When it was close enough, I fired.
The arrow punched through the zombie’s eye socket, and it collapsed without even a scream.
Good. At this rate, zombies aren’t a problem either. As expected, a quiet long-range weapon is the best.
I retrieved the arrows and walked again. Three down.
And then I saw three more on the far side of the road. This time, they were clustered together. They stood side by side, one or two meters apart from each other.
I trembled slightly. If I shot one, the other two would come running at the same time.
After hesitating for a moment, I lifted my bow. If I couldn’t avoid it, I had no choice but to break through head-on.
I drew the string, aimed at the one farthest to the left, and fired.
The arrow lodged in its head, and as expected, the remaining two reacted simultaneously.
They screamed and charged like mad.
I quickly nocked and fired another arrow. It hit another one in the head. It sprawled across the ground. But the last one was too fast. I had no time to nock another arrow.
I thrust my left arm toward the direction the thing was leaping with its mouth open. Its nails raked across my shoulder, and its teeth bit into my left arm.
Through the coat I’d wrapped around it, I felt the pressure of its teeth digging in. It hurt a little from the strength of its bite, but it didn’t break through.
With my right hand, I pulled the hammer from my belt and brought it down on the thing’s head.
— Thud!
One blow. Its head snapped to the side. Two blows. Its skull caved in. Three blows. Blood sprayed, and its body went limp.
I shoved it away and stepped back. My breathing came in ragged gasps, and sweat ran over my entire body.
I checked my left arm. The coat was slightly torn and bore tooth marks, but it didn’t seem to have pierced my skin.
The protection worked.
I continued moving along the road I’d scouted with the drone. My target was the convenience store in the center of the village.
On the way, I encountered three more zombies.
By now, I’d gotten the hang of it to some extent. If I spotted them from a distance, I aimed first, and even if I didn’t land the first shot, I just had to nock a second arrow without panicking.
I was able to deal with all three without much danger.
I entered the downtown area of the small township.
Besides the convenience store, small restaurants, a hardware store, a laundry, and other shops lined the street.
Normally, it would have been a street bustling with residents coming and going, but now it was empty.
There were almost no people visible along the road. Instead, I saw several bodies sprawled on the ground.
Judging by the fact that they weren’t moving, they were either zombies that were completely dead, or corpses that had been attacked by zombies but hadn’t turned yet.
Either way, I didn’t want to go near them, so I walked around.
I saw the convenience store. It was the one I’d seen through the drone. The glass door was cracked, and the inside was dark.
Then I heard a woman scream.
It came from inside the convenience store. I ran over and looked through the glass door.
A young woman was awkwardly holding off a lunging zombie with a small stick.
The stick looked like a mop handle, and the woman was staggering backward, being pushed by the zombie’s strength.
There was no time to hesitate. I raised my bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the zombie.
Over the woman’s shoulder, I could see the zombie’s head. I held my breath and fired.
— Thunk.
The arrow pierced the zombie’s temple, and it collapsed sideways just like that.
I entered the convenience store. The woman was sitting on the floor, breathing hard.
She looked to be in her twenties. Her face had gone deathly pale, and the broom handle in her hand was trembling.
With her pretty face and clothes, she didn’t look like someone who belonged in the countryside. Did she come here to have fun like me and end up stranded?
“Are you all right?”
I said, holding out my hand. The woman lifted her head and looked at me. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Th-thank you...”
The woman spoke in a trembling voice, took my hand, and stood up.
Just then, I heard a sound from the entrance of the convenience store. I turned around and saw zombies swarming in.
There were at least three of them.
They seemed to have been drawn by the woman’s scream just now.
“Go to the back door, hurry!”
At my shout, the woman staggered and ran toward the back of the store. I raised my bow toward the entrance.
The first one shoved the door open and came in.
I fired an arrow. It struck precisely in the head, and the thing fell.
I immediately nocked the next arrow.
The second one stepped over the first one’s corpse and came in.
This one, too, was hit in the head! The zombie toppled as if its strings had been cut and smashed into a display rack in the convenience store.
The third one rushed in. I nocked an arrow and fired, but this time it hit the shoulder. The thing lost its balance, collided with a display rack, and fell.
With the fallen zombie hidden behind the rack, it was awkward to shoot again.
‘D-damn it...’
I ran toward the back door. I saw a door leading to the storage room, and beyond it was a glass door leading outside.
The woman must have already gone that way.
I reached the glass door and stopped.
There was a desk placed outside the door. The desk was blocking the back door.
Through the glass door, I saw the woman. Our eyes met.
Her eyes were filled with fear. Her lips were trembling. I’m sorry, I’m sorry... It almost looked like she was saying that silently. Then she turned and ran off somewhere.
She must have thought I wouldn’t be able to stop all the zombies charging in... So she blocked the door and ran away.
‘You fucking bitch...’
There was no time to resent her. Footsteps were approaching from behind.
When I turned around, three zombies had entered the convenience store.
The one that had been shot in the shoulder earlier, and two newly arrived ones. All three were rushing toward me.
I threw away the bow and thrust my left arm forward.
The one in front leapt at me, and its teeth bit into my left arm. Through the coat I’d wrapped around it, I felt the pressure of its teeth digging in.
With my right hand, I pulled out the hammer and smashed it down on its head. One blow, two blows. It collapsed, but then the second one pounced on me.
My body was shoved backward. My back slammed into a shelf, and bags of snacks came pouring down.
It clawed at my shoulder, and its teeth drew close to my face.
I twisted my head aside to avoid it and swung the hammer, hitting it in the jaw. While it staggered, I struck it once more. I felt its skull cave in, and the thing collapsed.
The third one charged. With no room to dodge, our bodies tangled, and I fell to the floor.
It climbed on top of me and tried to bite into me. I pushed against its neck with my left arm and swung the hammer with my right.
The angle was bad. Its teeth sank into my left arm again. This time, along with the sensation of the coat tearing, I felt a sharp pain.
Gritting my teeth, I raised the hammer again and brought it down. One blow, two blows... Its head was crushed, and its movements stopped.
I shoved it off and got to my feet. My whole body was trembling, and my breathing came in ragged gasps. The convenience store was a mess of blood and corpses.
I had to move before more zombies came in. I found the storage room door, went inside, and closed it. I sank down in the dark storage room as if collapsing.
I looked down at my left arm. The pieces of coat wrapped around it had been completely reduced to rags. Torn, soaked in blood, and shredded.
I carefully unwound them. My hands were shaking.
‘Please, please let it not be...’
As the pieces of coat came away, my left arm was exposed.
There were clear tooth marks. The skin was torn, and blood was flowing out. Red blood ran down my wrist and dripped onto the floor.
‘Was I bitten? Am I... infected?’
My heart pounded like mad. My mind went blank.
The sight of Brother Bak as a zombie came to mind. The way he had been fine, then suddenly changed.
Am I going to become like that soon, too? When? Now? In one minute? In an hour?
In the dark storage room, I sat there blankly, clutching my bleeding arm.
After a while, I tore off a strip of my clothing and wrapped it around the bitten left arm. Blood seeped through and quickly dyed the cloth red, but for now, it seemed to be stopping the bleeding.
My hands were trembling so badly that even tying the knot wasn’t easy.
The storage room was dark. The only light was the faint glow coming through a small ventilation window, and boxes of instant noodles and drinks were stacked all around. It seemed to be the convenience store’s stockroom.
I decided to rest for a moment. I sat with my back against the boxes. The strength left my legs, and my whole body felt as heavy as lead.
‘Is there even any point in doing anything now...’
I was going to turn into a zombie anyway. Like Brother Bak, I’d be fine, then my eyes would suddenly change, and I’d become a monster that screamed and lunged at people.
Who would I bite then? Or would I become a zombie alone in this storage room with no one around, wandering forever?
Fear and regret mingled together and filled my mind.
Why had I gone in to save that woman? If I’d just passed by, this wouldn’t have happened.
No, why had I left the camper in the first place? If I’d just hidden there, I could have held out a little longer...
Even though I knew regret was useless, one thought led to another.
Strangely, my body began to tremble. I felt hot, so I touched my forehead, and it really did seem like I was developing a fever.
‘Ha... am I really becoming a zombie now...’
My eyes closed. It felt like I was losing consciousness. I couldn’t tell whether it was sleep or fainting, and all I could feel was myself sinking into the darkness.