Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 48: Preparation

Inside the dimly lit mart. With broken lights leaving only faint sunlight filtering in, the silence hanging over the store made even the smallest sounds feel intense.

Thud, the sound of someone taking a step. Coming from behind us.

"Who-"

As we spun around raising our hammer, hatchet, and steel pipe, our mouths snapped shut.

Had they sensed us first and played dead among the corpses? The person behind us was pointing a gun at us. A police gun.

Wearing a black mask, tough jeans and a jean jacket, they waved the gun slightly.

"Don't move. Hands up, on your knees."

"A gun? Wow. You're brave. The police go crazy when they see those."

Gi-hyeok tried threatening them casually, but chose the wrong words. Not brave - insane. The police tried to kill anyone carrying guns.

The stranger spoke:

"The police? Why should I care? Would've died long ago without this. See? Still useful now."

Click, the gun aimed at my head. Annoyingly, it had to be my head. With both Gi-hyeok and Do-hyung here, why me...

I quietly hid behind Do-hyung. While narrowing my eyes to stare intently at their gun.

"Got any bullets left?"

"Who knows? Want to check with your head?"

Taking another step closer, shortening the distance to the muzzle. Even a hard-to-aim pistol could hit at close range.

Just the gun's presence was a powerful threat. Gambling with life as the price of judgment.

"I don't like gambling."

Gi-hyeok quickly dropped to his knees. He set his steel pipe down on a zombie corpse's chest. Do-hyung also trembled hesitantly before turning to ask me:

"What should we do?"

What else could we do? I couldn't lose either. I immediately wrapped one arm around Do-hyung's neck in a choke hold, using him as a shield.

"What the-"

At the same time I quickly drew my gun with my other hand. An eye for an eye, gun for gun. The stranger froze briefly.

Conversely, Do-hyung struggled to break free, but I tightened my grip on his neck and spoke quietly:

"Get ready to throw the hatchet."

"What if I get shot!"

"It's fine."

"Not for me!"

"They don't have bullets."

Probably didn't. If they did, they would've shot us from hiding. They clearly planned to just threaten us and take our gear.

Do-hyung tilted his head, then started struggling again.

"Then there's no reason to use me as a shield!"

"Never know... Just kidding."

I kept my vision wide, carefully observing them. That's how I knew. They didn't really want to fight either.

From the moment I drew my gun they seemed flustered, swaying before carefully stepping back. The bag in their hand swung slowly and keys jingled.

"A gun? You got bullets left?"

Too far to hit reliably. I released Do-hyung and stepped back. While checking my pockets, I handed the taser to Do-hyung and tossed the virus water gun to Gi-hyeok.

"Enough that I'd hate to waste them. You're probably the same, so let's not waste precious bullets. Neither of us has enough worth shooting over. Not like there's much left in the mart either."

"...Let's mind our own business."

The stranger slowly backed away.

We watched until they disappeared, then let out deep sighs.

They weren't an easy opponent. Maybe because everyone had adapted to the apocalypse, a wild aggressiveness seemed to be gradually awakening.

Their desperate struggle to survive couldn't be ignored either.

"Seems scavengers have already been through."

Resources left after the military's harvest. Even those appeared stripped already. Looking around again, the mart had no carts. They'd taken those first.

Gi-hyeok gripped his steel pipe tightly.

"There really are a lot of dangerous people out there."

"The most dangerous one is right here."

Do-hyung glared at me while grumbling. He loaded a cartridge into the taser grip and kicked a corpse.

The corpse's arm splayed out as if pointing at me.

"What were you thinking doing that? I could've been shot!"

"Just didn't want to lose the psychological battle. If we look crazy enough they won't fight."

Trying belatedly to soothe my marauder companion, but Do-hyung just sighed deeply.

"Not look crazy - you are crazy."

That wasn't true, but I let it slide. Instead I looked around. The quiet, desolate mart interior. We might be too late - not much left.

Still, returning empty-handed would waste time so we carefully explored the corpse-filled mart.

There really wasn't much left in the mart.

No food of course, and tools and electronics had been stripped clean. Even tape, batteries, car maintenance tools and kitchen utensils were gone. Detergent, shampoo, soap, socks and underwear, cosmetics...

All that remained were school supplies like pens and books.

Like corpses rotting to bare bones, only skeletal shelves remained. We searched even the corpses hoping to find something, but the results were disappointing.

"Even the corpses have been fully looted?"

Car keys, house keys, IDs, cigarettes and lighters, bags - anything useful was already gone. Only worthless things like wallets, cash and credit cards remained.

I opened a light bag.

We'd managed to gather some pesticides, planters and plant nutrients, but far from enough. Maybe we'd misjudged from the start.

A mart already picked over by zombies, military, and scavengers. This was like a mine - everyone had extracted resources until nothing remained.

'Guess we need to raid people instead.'

People were the real treasure goblins. Stockpiling resources to survive was instinct, and we needed to target those stockpiles.

I pulled my hat down tight.

"Let's hit the pharmacy then head back."

So we turned toward the mart entrance, carefully stepping between corpses, sometimes trampling right over them.

That's when we saw the scavenger from earlier again. They also seemed to be heading back after gathering supplies.

"..."

"..."

We briefly looked at each other before ignoring each other and continuing on. Subtle tension flowed. Though not looking directly, we kept our arms ready to shoot at any moment.

'Should I just shoot now and save the trouble? No, bullets are too precious.'

The world grew brighter with each step. The sunlit entrance drew closer.

Our pace unconsciously quickened until we reached the entrance. Then we stopped. The situation had changed since we'd entered.

Gi-hyeok exclaimed:

"Dogs! Aren't they cute- Oh. Oh?"

What's cute about them? They were eating corpses.

A pack of feral dogs was devouring human corpses, blood covering their muzzles. Their presence was menacing. Different from humans or zombies.

The sense of beasts that could attack and kill humans.

A Doberman that had been burying its face in the corpse suddenly raised its head. It growled, baring its teeth. Its tail stood straight up.

The dogs focused on their meal all raised their heads and showed their teeth at us.

"Slowly back up-"

This was really bad. Better to fight zombies or humans than a pack of dogs that had tasted human flesh. Just one bite could be fatal.

That's when it happened.

The gun-wielding scavenger suddenly turned and started running. At that sudden flight, the dog pack rushed forward. Their barking echoed loudly.

I spun and ran too, shouting:

"Run!"

"Where to?"

Where? Direction didn't matter. You can't outrun dogs. Gritting my teeth, I pointed at the scavenger running ahead of us. We'd sacrifice them.

Do-hyung caught my meaning. Do-hyung, master of inducing death, aimed the taser at the scavenger and fired.

Pop-!

Like a balloon bursting. Zzzzt, electricity crackling.

But it didn't work. Their tough zombie-proof clothing prevented the electrodes from penetrating properly.

'The gun? While running, can I hit without proper aim? Would gunshots make the dogs run?'

Might as well throw my hammer. Using my running momentum, I swung hard. The hammer spun through the air and struck the scavenger's back.

"Ugh!"

That was it. They didn't fall or even slow down.

The pattering of dog paws and echoing barks chased right behind us.

"Oh come on!"

I was seriously considering tripping Gi-hyeok or Do-hyung when Do-hyung quickly detached the taser cartridge and threw it with all his strength.

Far from the scavenger's position. The light cartridge spun through the air, its wires wrapping around the scavenger's legs.

Their legs were bound, if only briefly. Enough time for us to catch up and a chance to make them fall.

"I'll hit them!"

Gi-hyeok swung his steel pipe hard. Though he stumbled and the arc went wide, the scavenger twisted to dodge and put their head right in its path.

A sharp impact rang out and they staggered before falling.

"Nice!"

"Why did that hit?"

Ignoring the nonsense, I quickly snatched up the bag they'd been carrying. It contained keys, IDs, and lighters.

Now just one thing remained - escape.

"Emergency exit!"

Behind us came chilling barks and the sounds of tearing flesh. Though fewer, we could still hear some pursuing us.

We ran without looking back until we finally made it through the emergency exit.

Bang, we closed and locked the door before hunching over to catch our breath. It was deathly hot. Sweat had soaked through our tough defensive jackets. Stuffy, sticky, feverish. The masks made it hard to breathe too.

Scattered across the emergency stairs, we stared at the closed door.

Scratch scratch scratch, clawing at the door and barking. We'd nearly died.

"Dogs are really scary."

"Guess only the scariest ones survived."

The difficulty seemed to increase with time. Everything was becoming a powerful enemy. Nature, animals, people. As spring's plague faded and summer approached, the apocalypse had taken root, sprouted, and was growing vigorously.

This world was truly hard to survive in.

After catching our breath for a while, we slowly left the mart. Afraid of the dogs, we hurried down the road after reaching the parking lot.

Fortunately we'd managed to grab lots of mosquito repellent and vitamins from a pharmacy on the way, making the risk somewhat worthwhile.

On the way back to the villa.

The hot sun chased us like approaching summer, and wild flowers had started blooming on the untended roads.