Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 3

“Don’t cry! You’ll lose your strength!”

“Okay, I got it!”

Seeing Kyungho’s tearful face, Junwoo shouted in frustration, and Kyungho bit his lip to hold back his tears.

However, effort and stamina were two different things. The two did their best, but as time passed, they began to feel their strength waning.

“Ugh.”

In contrast, the zombies didn’t tire and remained clustered at the door, jamming their bodies here and there.

“Damn it…”

Junwoo, who was exhaling hot breaths, glanced at Kyungho, who was pushing against the door with a contorted face. Judging by the way his arms and legs were shaking, they had about five minutes left.

‘Can I hold out that long too?’

Sweat trickled down from his forehead, leaving a mark on his face. After a moment of contemplation, Junwoo quietly called out to Kyungho.

“Hey. Lee Kyungho.”

“……What?”

Kyungho, who was straining every muscle in his body, answered with great difficulty. After glancing at him once more, Junwoo opened his mouth with a determined look.

“When I say one, two, three, we run towards the emergency exit.”

“What?”

Kyungho, startled by the sudden suggestion, widened his eyes and looked at Junwoo.

“We can’t hold out much longer. Wouldn’t it be better to at least try to escape than to be eaten like this?”

“……That’s true.”

For Kyungho, who was easily frightened, it was a terrifying plan to execute, but it was undeniably true, so he quietly nodded.

It was a crisis where they could die at any moment. Fear rose on both their faces, but it was only for a moment. The thought that they couldn’t just die like dogs made Kyungho and Junwoo open their eyes wide.

“One. Two… Three!”

At Junwoo’s signal, the two dashed forward simultaneously, and as the force holding the door disappeared, the zombies lost their balance and tumbled out.

As they screamed and tangled with each other, Kyungho and Junwoo quickly headed towards the emergency exit.

“Ah!”

“Junwoo!”

How long had they been running? Junwoo, who had been focused on running straight ahead, staggered. He was cramping in his legs. Fortunately, thanks to Kyungho, who quickly grabbed his wrist, he didn’t fall, but the distance to the other zombies that had tripped over the fallen ones quickly closed in.

The two ran even harder.

However, after a moment of exertion, Junwoo’s legs continued to betray him. His whole body felt heavy as if weights were tied to him. His legs wouldn’t move as he wanted. Curses rose to the tip of his tongue.

“Damn…!”

Whoosh. A zombie’s hand swung past the back of Junwoo’s head. With a chilling sensation, Junwoo squeezed his eyes shut, thinking that if he was going to be caught, he would at least let Kyungho escape.

Bang-!

The emergency exit door was violently flung open.

“Duck!”

At the simultaneous command-like voice, the two instinctively reacted.

As their heads lowered, a weight far greater than the zombie’s earlier swing whooshed over their heads.

Crack.

The sound of a zombie’s head being crushed came from behind. A massive fire extinguisher, having smashed the head of a zombie that had greedily reached out, fell to the ground with a loud noise.

The zombie’s skull shattered, and its neck broke as it fell backward. The fire extinguisher rolling on the ground caused other zombies to trip and fall as well.

“Graaah!”

The fallen zombies writhed on the ground, trying to get back up.

“Ugh.”

At the horrifying screams, Kyungho turned pale and looked back. The zombies, trampling over each other, were still fixated on their prey in front of them.

“Crazy! Don’t look back, just run!”

As if to say he hadn’t tried to pull his wrist away earlier, Junwoo firmly held onto the terrified Kyungho’s wrist and ran.

Just then, a man standing by the emergency exit joined the two.

“Seokjae hyung!”

“Junwoo, you…”

Kyungho called out to him with relief, but Seokjae’s eyes were fixed on Junwoo’s trembling legs.

“I’m fine. I can run.”

Feeling Seokjae’s gaze, Junwoo tried to keep moving his legs by hitting his thigh with his fist. Seokjae checked Junwoo once, then glanced at the zombies that were getting up from the ground. He approached Junwoo and announced.

“Hold on tight.”

“Ugh!”

Then he lifted Junwoo effortlessly and slung him over his shoulders. Startled by being lifted into the air, Junwoo struggled, but Seokjae firmly held one of his legs with his arm.

“Stay still or you’ll fall. Put your arms out this way.”

“Hey, I can go on my own…”

Ignoring Junwoo’s words, Seokjae wrapped his hand around Junwoo’s wrist and secured it tightly on his shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait… no, no!”

“Y-Yes!”

Even though he was a man who would be an adult in a few months. In less than a second, Seokjae, who had lifted him effortlessly, pointed towards the emergency exit and immediately ran without wasting any more time.

Junwoo, who was about to voice his opinion again, had no choice but to close his mouth at the distinctly different speed from when he had been running earlier. Kyungho, who was looking at the two with a shocked expression, hurriedly followed behind.

Just after the three disappeared through the emergency stairs, the elevator announcement echoed inside the mart.

– Fourth floor. The door is opening.

As the door clanked open, the zombies that hadn’t been able to chase after the three rushed towards the elevator. Among them, a uniformed zombie was the first to arrive and poked its head into the elevator.

“Gyaaaah!”

“Looks like they finally opened it.”

Seeing the howling zombie, Muyoung muttered in a gloomy voice. He had boarded the elevator to draw the zombies’ attention, but he had hoped they wouldn’t open the door in the first place.

“Gasp!”

But it was already too late. To check what had happened to them, Muyoung grabbed the elevator handle. Then he lifted both legs off the ground and kicked the upper body of the zombie hard.

Thud!

With a strength several times greater than that of a human, three or four zombies were knocked out of the elevator and tumbled away. In the meantime, Muyoung, who exited the elevator, sniffed the air to search for the whereabouts of the two he had seen on the CCTV.

“Hmm?”

As Muyoung turned his head in various directions while sniffing, his face suddenly brightened. There was no smell of blood other than the black, rotting blood around.

“Thank goodness! They must have escaped safely!”

With a wide smile, Muyoung walked towards the center of the mart to search, but just then, he saw the emergency exit door wide open, with zombies foolishly pushing and struggling to get through.

The emergency exit door was wide open.

* * *

By the time they had descended halfway down the emergency stairs, Kyungho’s face turned pale.

“Hyung…”

“What’s wrong, Kyungho?”

“The door, we left it open.”

The emergency exit door on the first floor was practically useless as the handle was broken. In other words, the emergency exit door on the floor where the mart was located was their last line of defense until they could escape.

Seokjae was carrying Junwoo, and Junwoo was also holding onto Seokjae, so they had no way to close the door. On the other hand, Kyungho had both hands free and was the last to escape. So it made sense for Kyungho to close the door.

However, given the situation just moments ago, it was more accurate to say they couldn’t close the door because the distance between the three and the zombies was too close, rather than they didn’t want to. Nevertheless, for Kyungho, who had already caused a major accident once, this felt like another mistake on his part.

As Kyungho bit his lip in guilt, Seokjae, who had been quietly watching him, opened his mouth to say something. Just then, a horrifying sound echoed from above as if something was rolling down. It seemed the zombies, having rushed towards their prey, had finally managed to squeeze through the door.

“First, we need to get out. Let’s go.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, hyung…”

Kyungho bowed his head, looking as if he might cry. Seokjae, who had been running down the stairs in silence, removed one hand from Junwoo to lightly tap Kyungho’s head.

“Why are you apologizing? I have hands too, and I didn’t close the door either.”

“That’s… ugh, I’m the same, ugh.”

“Let’s be quiet so you don’t bite your tongue, Junwoo.”

“Okay, ugh!”

Junwoo, displeased with Kyungho’s drooping figure, grumbled. The impact of Seokjae descending the stairs made his voice tremble, and the intended sharpness didn’t come through at all.

Kyungho was simply moved by Junwoo’s kindness, who was comforting him in a situation where he could bite his tongue.