SRW | Chapter 09

“L-Lower your head, Kim Jaeyoung.”

“…Huh?”

“I said, lower your head!”

I lunged at him without warning, and Kim Jaeyoung pulled me down to the floor. I crouched low to avoid being seen through the window and signaled for him to stay quiet. Sharp as ever, he held his breath. I braced myself for the despair that was about to come.

Somewhere, the sound of windows shattering one after another echoed. Unidentifiable screams followed. Thank goodness I hadn’t turned on the lights when we entered the infirmary. Then, Kim Jaeyoung whispered in my ear.

“There’s something outside our window.”

“Be quiet.”

I covered his mouth and looked up. A dark shadow passed by the window. My body trembled like a leaf, terrified that it might shatter the glass and invade at any moment. Kim Jaeyoung wrapped his arms around my shoulders to calm me down, but it didn’t help at all. I needed the awakened Kim Jaeyoung, not the ordinary one. I roughly pushed his arm away and stared at the bag lying on the bed. I had to get that bag down. I needed a weapon. Whether to attack or escape… I could do anything with it.

Bang!

Something slammed hard into the hallway. The creature outside the window reacted.

Crash!

The disgusting creature broke through the window and started forcing its way in. I felt like I was about to wet myself. I thought I’d experienced terror in my dreams, but facing reality, the feeling of death looming right in front of me was overwhelming.

Luckily, since the infirmary lights were off, not many monsters had gathered here. Only one had come through the window. But even if I managed to escape through the infirmary door, who knew how many more monsters were in the hallway? The hallway lights were on, after all.

I signaled Kim Jaeyoung to stay quiet and still, then crawled on the floor. I needed to get the weapon from the bag. Kim Jaeyoung grabbed my ankle to stop me, but I shook him off and crawled under the bed, reaching for the bag.

Ssshhhk.

I grabbed the bag and pulled it down. Just a little more, just a little more… Dragging the heavy bag silently required a lot of caution.

“Ahhh!”

Then, someone screamed and ran down the hallway outside. Thud, thud, thud—or maybe tap, tap, tap. The bizarre footsteps of something chasing them followed.

Screech!

Bang! Bang!

The monster reacted to the noise, its body swelling grotesquely before it started smashing the hallway wall like crazy. Cement chunks fell. The wall was about to break. I panicked and yanked the bag harder than I meant to.

“Ah, damn it…!”

The heavy bag hit the floor with a loud thud, and the monster’s flailing arms came crashing toward me. I swung the bag with one hand. Something sticky clung to it, but I managed to knock the monster’s arms away. I shouted urgently at Kim Jaeyoung.

“Open the window and jump out!”

It was only the first floor, so we wouldn’t die from the fall. If we opened the window and ran, we’d definitely be attacked by monsters… but I unzipped the bag and threw the box of signal flares at Kim Jaeyoung. I was about to pull out the collapsible baton, but the monster was faster. Three or four of its arms lunged at me.

“Damn it!”

I twisted my body to dodge. The force was strong enough to break through cement, and the pain was excruciating, but bearable. I pulled the collapsible baton from the bag and extended it.

Kim Jaeyoung, watching me get attacked, froze in place, his eyes wide. What was he doing? I told him to jump out the window! Frustrated as I was, seeing his expression finally made him seem more human.

Screech!

The monster’s eerie cry pierced my ears. I had to deal with it before more monsters showed up. I swung the baton at the monster, but its sticky flesh made it hard to inflict damage. Its body seemed to harden just before attacking.

Thud, thud… Sizzle…

Then, a signal flare flew past and hit the monster. The flare burned at a high temperature, and the monster’s body began to sizzle and melt.

Thud, thud… Sizzle…

The sound of igniting signal flares followed. Without hesitation, Kim Jaeyoung threw them one after another, calm but swift. The monster’s body swelled grotesquely, growing larger with each hit.

Smoke from the flares obscured my vision. Thud, thud… Sizzle… How many was he planning to throw? I twisted my body and snatched a flare from Kim Jaeyoung. I then hurled it at the monster before rushing to open the window. We had to escape in this chaos. Who knew how many more monsters were lurking in the darkness outside…

“Go!”

I shoved Kim Jaeyoung out the window. Unable to resist the force, he tumbled out.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Behind me, the grotesquely swollen monster slammed its arm into my back. A searing heat shot up my spine. I could feel hot blood streaming down. This wasn’t just a scratch… I bit my lower lip and jumped out the window after Kim Jaeyoung.

Bang! Bang! Crash!

After I got out, the monster went on a rampage. All the infirmary windows shattered. Glass and cement fragments rained down. If I’d been even a second slower, my body would’ve been torn to pieces. Just then, Kim Jaeyoung grabbed my arm and pulled.

“Eunsoo, there’s more.”

His words sent a chill down my spine as he stared into the darkness.

“Where do we go?”

He looked at me as if he was certain I knew the answer. Had I been too obvious? Or did it seem strange that I’d survived such a powerful attack? Unable to hide my conflicted thoughts, I barely managed to speak.

“…The gym.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Kim Jaeyoung grabbed my wrist and started running toward the gym.

*

The world was really ending.

The sound of explosions, buildings collapsing, and countless screams filled my ears. As I ran toward the gym, I used the baton to fend off whatever lunged at me from the darkness. I couldn’t tell if they were monsters or people. My priority was staying alive.

The infirmary and gym were relatively close. The gym had thick curtains covering the windows to block the summer sun, and only faint light seeped through. That’s why the monsters had attacked the main building first. I could see silhouettes of people fleeing the main building and entering the gym through the iron doors. We had to get in before someone locked the doors.

Kim Jaeyoung, who couldn’t possibly have as much stamina as me, fell behind. This time, I grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Thud, sizzle— What was that noise now? Kim Jaeyoung, being dragged along, threw a signal flare as far as he could in the opposite direction of the gym. The flare landed with a thud, and a swarm of dark, monstrous shapes rushed toward it. The thick smoke soon obscured them, but their numbers were staggering. In the meantime, we sprinted like mad and slipped through the gym’s iron doors.

“Pant, pant…”

I closed the door and quickly locked it. Outside, someone pounded on the door, screaming to be let in, but I ignored them and scanned the gym. A large number of students were huddled in the corners, trembling. …There were so many. Had there been this many in my dream?

I spotted the gym’s light switch and ran to turn it off. Darkness instantly engulfed the gym. Outside, the desperate cries to be let in continued.

I had no intention of opening the door, but I saw someone approaching it. What was that idiot doing? Before I could yell, Kim Jaeyoung stepped in to stop them.

“There are people still alive out there!”

That voice… It was Hyunwoo. Wow, Hyunwoo was really alive? Hyunwoo and Kim Jaeyoung briefly struggled. Hyunwoo was righteous and wanting to save others. He clashed with Kim Jaeyoung, who had no intention of taking risks. The standoff ended quickly when something slammed into the door with a loud bang! The cries outside abruptly stopped. Everyone froze and held their breath.

How much time passed? In the tension, a second felt like a minute, making it hard to gauge.

Oh, Happy day~ oh, Beautiful day~ Like today is the last~ Happy! Happy! Beautiful day~!

Then, the latest girl group’s song blared through the gym. To make matters worse, the panicked owner dropped their phone while trying to pull it out of their pocket. As they bent down to pick it up, something darted through the gap in the red moonlight-drenched curtains. Only a few people on the opposite side witnessed it. We had to swallow our screams as we watched the shadow of death approach.