The next morning, when I opened my eyes, the first thought that came to mind was that I was still alive.
I raised my hand and touched my face.
My skin was normal, and my consciousness was clear. I checked my bitten left arm.
The wound still hurt, but the swelling seemed to have gone down compared to last night. The area around the bite marks was hardening into scabs.
There were no signs of infection. No fever, no clouding of consciousness, no urge to bite people. It seemed I had truly become immune.
When I opened the camper van door, chilly morning air rushed in.
The unique freshness of early morning filled my lungs, and dewdrops glistened in the sunlight on the grass.
I heard birdsong. Somewhere, birds were chirping. It was a peaceful morning. So peaceful it was hard to believe the world had ended yesterday.
First, I launched the drone. Zombies might have approached during the night.
As the drone rose into the air, the surrounding scenery unfolded on the controller screen. The area around the camper van was clear.
No zombies were visible, and nothing was moving. In the distance, I could see the corpses of the zombies I'd killed yesterday sprawled across the road. Relieved, I recalled the drone.
I prepared breakfast. One instant rice and one can of food. I heated the rice in the microwave inside the camper van, opened a can of tuna, and put it on top.
It was a simple breakfast, but warm rice was pure bliss. In this world, there must be countless people who couldn't even eat food like this.
I ate while bathing in the sunlight streaming through the window.
Eating breakfast inside a camper van in the middle of nature, it still felt like I was out on a leisurely trip.
In that small happiness, I was suddenly overcome with bitterness at the thought that this camper van belonged to Sangman.
Solar panels, water tanks, shower facilities, a wide bed. All the things he had boasted about were right here.
He had said he planned to travel the country camping in this van. I had asked to go with him back then... but he was gone now. He was lying as a corpse in a thicket not far from here.
If I died right now, there would be no parents to come looking for me, but it wouldn't be the same for Sangman.
The parents who lived in Busan, the younger sister he'd said he called sometimes. Would they know he was dead? No, perhaps they had already passed away too.
I washed the dishes and sat blankly for a while. I turned on the radio, but the same message as last night was repeating. Stay home, the government will resolve this. It was the same thing, over and over.
*Will waiting really solve anything... What the hell is the army doing? No, has the army collapsed too?*
After killing some time, I made up my mind. I would go zombie hunting.
Kill twenty zombies. The voice I'd heard in my dream came to mind. It had said that once I fulfilled that condition, it would grant me a new ability. Since the infection immunity had been real, the next ability was highly likely to be real too.
And I couldn't survive by avoiding zombies forever anyway. To secure food, I had to go outside, and going outside meant inevitably encountering zombies. In that case, it was better to strike first.
I picked up the 40-pound bow. A 60-pound bow offered more accurate and powerful shots, but considering rapid-fire capability at close range, the 40-pound bow was more versatile.
There were 22 arrows in the quiver.
I opened the camper van door and stepped outside. The morning sun was blinding. Today's hunt begins.
Before leaving the camper van, I launched the drone first.
Drone reconnaissance was becoming a habit now. I had to avoid blindly walking around and running into a horde of zombies.
The surrounding scenery unfolded on the controller screen.
Slowly expanding the range outward from the clearing where the camper van was parked.
For safe hunting, I had to catch zombies in the most secluded places possible.
Two on the eastern road, three near the northern farmhouse, one in the western field. All of them were in that familiar posture, arms spread wide toward the sun.
The sight of them standing motionless, photosynthesizing, was still chilling.
I decided to start with the closest ones. The two on the eastern road.
I approached quietly and stopped at a distance of 70 meters. I raised my bow and aimed at the first one.
Steadying my breath, feeling the wind direction, I released the bowstring.
It grazed past the head by a hair's breadth. As expected, a headshot at this distance was too much?
They reacted, turning their heads this way, and charged with shrieks. Calmly, I nocked a second arrow and fired.
A headshot at 30 meters. The creature collapsed as if sliding.
I quickly nocked another arrow and hit the head when it had closed to within almost 5 meters.
—*Thud!*
Along with the sound of the arrow shattering the skull, blood and brains splattered and scattered across the ground.
I was trembling, but I seemed definitely calmer than yesterday.
I approached the fallen creatures, pulled the arrows lodged in their heads, and moved to the next target.
There were three near the northern farmhouse. They were standing side by side in front of a run-down cowshed, spaced 2–3 meters apart from each other.
If I shot one, the rest would charge simultaneously. I recalled the experience at the convenience store. Back then, I had nearly died. But now was different from then. Now it was open space, and there were plenty of places to run.
I fired the first shot. Headshot. One went down, and the other two charged simultaneously. I quickly nocked an arrow and shot the second. It collapsed with a headshot. The third one drew near.
I didn't have time to nock an arrow. But without panicking, I dodged sideways.
—*Kwaaak!!*
The creature passed me and tumbled to the ground as it charged past, and I quickly nocked an arrow, turned, and fired.
Through the head. The creature trembled briefly, then stopped moving.
I exhaled. My hands shook slightly, but less than before. Was I getting used to this?
I recovered the arrows and headed toward the western field. One was standing alone there. It was the easiest prey.
Sneaking as close as possible, I aimed and finished it with one shot.
Taking a brief rest, I launched the drone again to scout for zombies in the surroundings.
About 1 kilometer from the camper van, there was a small orchard, and four were gathered around it.
Standing between the fruit trees photosynthesizing, the sight was grotesque. Like scarecrows guarding the orchard.
I approached and took them down one by one. The first and second went smoothly. But the moment I shot the third, an unexpected creature leaped out from behind a tree. It was a fifth zombie that hadn't been visible on the drone. It must have been hidden by the trees.
Two charged simultaneously. I nocked an arrow and shot the front one.
A headshot hit. But the one behind was too close.
I discarded the bow and thrust my left arm forward. The creature leaped and bit my left arm. I still had the coat wrapped around it, but I could feel the pressure of its teeth.
I drew the hammer with my right hand and struck down. Once, twice. The creature's head caved in and its strength gave out.
I pushed the creature away and caught my breath. The coat on my left arm was torn again. I had plenty of cloth to use as protective gear.
I just had to strip leather or clothes made of tough material from the zombies or corpses strewn along the road.
I stripped the coat from the zombie before me. It had been a well-built young man. Swallowing my bitter feelings, I wrapped the coat tightly around my left arm.
Then, noise came from the surroundings.
Sounds of fighting came from the yard of a small rural house.
I quickly ran toward the place and surveyed inside from beyond the yard gate.
Four zombies were clustered in one spot, and something was moving at their center.
A middle-aged man was swinging something and fighting the zombies. He swung a shovel to push them back, and swung again. But it wasn't enough. The creatures were rushing at him from all sides, and the man's movements were gradually slowing.
I aimed at the outermost one. They were moving, but if I shot from behind, I could safely take them down.
Hiding behind the gate, I rapidly fired arrows at them.
I dropped two with headshots right away, and killed the rest with a few more arrows.
With someone drawing their attention from the front, I could pick them off freely.
The yard grew quiet, and the middle-aged man sat down on the ground, gasping for breath. The hand holding the shovel was trembling, and his whole body was drenched in blood.
But his condition was already critical. Several bite marks were visible on his arm, and it looked like the side of his neck had been bitten too. Blood was trickling down. There was a wound on his leg as well, and his clothes were torn, revealing flesh near his ribs torn away. At this point, even if he didn't turn, it seemed he would die from excessive bleeding.
"Are you alright?"
I asked even though I knew he wasn't alright. It was just something that came out because I felt I had to say something.
The man raised his head and looked at me. He appeared to be in his fifties. There were tear stains at the corners of his wrinkled eyes, and the will to live had already vanished from his pupils.
"Thank you... for helping..."
The man opened his mouth with difficulty. A sound mixed with blood came from his throat.
"My family... they all turned..."
The man turned his head toward the inside of the house. Through the open front door, a dark interior was visible. There seemed to be corpses there too. Had they been family members who turned into zombies? Or had the man killed them himself?
"My wife too... my daughter too... they all became zombies... I... I personally..."
The man's voice broke. Tears flowed from his eyes. Blood and tears mixed together, streaming down his cheek.
I couldn't say anything. I didn't know how to comfort him. The sensation of killing my brother came to mind.
That moment of bringing the wrench down. This man must have done the same. He had to kill his family with his own hands.
"I'm done for too..."
The man said, looking at the wounds on his arm.
"If I've been bitten this much... I'll turn soon..."
The man looked at me again. His gaze was desperate.
"I'm asking you... finish me..."
"..."
"I don't want to wander around... after turning into a zombie... please..."
The man bowed his head. A trembling voice came out.
"I'm begging you..."
I stood there for a moment. The hand holding the bow was heavy.
The man was right. With this many bites, he would turn before long. When that happened, this man would wander around as a zombie. This man who had tried to survive even after killing his family with his own hands would end up biting someone else. He had said he didn't want that.
I raised my bow, nocked an arrow, aimed at the back of the bowed man's head, and fired.
The man's body, with the arrow lodged in the back of his head, slumped down.
I bowed my head slightly to him, then went inside the house.
I searched the man's house. There were some usable preserved foods, so I packed them in my backpack.
As I was about to leave, I found an electric kick scooter in the yard.
It was a small, quiet means of transportation. Fully charged, it could probably cover several tens of kilometers. For charging, solar power would be sufficient.
I packed the charger too and got on the kick scooter.
I rode the kick scooter back to the camper van. The battery was still more than half full.
With a quiet and fast means of transportation, my range of action seemed like it would expand significantly.
I took out the preserved foods I had packed and organized them.
A few cans, instant rice, snacks. It was enough to last a few more days. But this alone wasn't enough. To survive long-term, I needed more supplies.
Since the camper van was built on a minibus platform, it had plenty of storage space, so keeping things wouldn't be difficult.
Come to think of it, many people had become zombies. That also meant many houses were empty. Houses where the owners had died or turned. Food and daily necessities would still remain there.
I launched the drone and scouted the surroundings. Within a 1–2 kilometer radius of the camper van, there was one more small village. It was a place with about a dozen or so houses clustered together. A few zombies were standing on the street, but most of the houses looked quiet.
I rode the kick scooter to the outskirts of the village. To minimize noise, I got off at the entrance and walked in.