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Chapter: 2
“Supplies are starting to run low…”
After finishing a brief meal, Jigu stepped outside and pulled a map from her inventory. It was a map of Little Rock Village she’d taken from Ronnie, the real estate agent who lived across the street.
The map was densely marked with lines, indicating areas that had already been searched. Since the village was so small, it hadn’t taken long to comb through everything.
“There’s nothing left to search in Little Rock.”
Bottled water 500 ml ×35, bottled water 1 L ×5, canned peaches ×6, half-eaten canned peaches ×1, clam chowder soup cans ×5, crackers ×20, energy bars ×12, chocolate ×8, and various other odds and ends.
With a serious expression, Jigu reviewed her inventory, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
Little Rock, true to its name, was a tiny village. Its “mart” was barely more than a corner store, so there hadn’t been much left from the start.
There was only one place nearby that she hadn’t searched yet—Rickford Town, about five miles from Little Rock.
Unlike Little Rock’s quaint cluster of small houses, Rickford was a commercial district packed with facilities like a shopping mall with a large underground supermarket and numerous restaurants.
Which meant one thing.
It was crawling with zombies.
After wandering in cluelessly once and barely escaping after a nightmare of an ordeal, Jigu had avoided even looking in Rickford’s direction.
“Ugh… can’t be helped. Then today—!”
Just as she finally made up her mind and snapped her head up, her vision suddenly flooded with red.
It was the effect of her danger-detection skill warning her of a threat.
Jigu barely managed to suppress a gasp and hurriedly scanned her surroundings.
Cold sweat slid down her stiffened back.
“Hhh… hhh…”
Thunk. Thunk. Someone was banging on the fence.
Through the iron bars, tangled strands of dirty blond hair came into view against her reddened vision.
Recognizing the familiar head, the tension drained instantly from her body.
“Whew… What the heck. It’s just Emily.”
The small girl, whose head didn’t even reach over the fence, was Emily—the neighbor next door.
She looked so harmless that Jigu almost felt silly for being startled.
“Hi, Emily. Heading to school?”
“Hhh… hhh!”
“I see. Got it.”
As usual, when Jigu greeted her, Emily flailed her thin arms excitedly through the bars. When Jigu waved back lightly, Emily started bouncing in place. Each hop made the tiny pink backpack on her back bob along with her.
Watching the unbearably cute sight, Jigu smiled softly.
“Looks like the school bus is running late again. Have a good day at school, Emily. See you later.”
“Hhh… hhh…”
Once Jigu disappeared from view beyond the fence, Emily lingered for a moment before wobbling toward the front gate. As always, she began pacing in front of it.
Hidden nearby, Jigu watched for a bit before turning away.
Zombies repeat the actions they performed in life.
Whether it’s what they loved most or simply what they were doing right before infection, she didn’t know. She had never met a living human since the world ended.
Emily waited in front of a gate that would never open, waiting for the school bus. Ronnie across the street wandered around his swimming pool with a cleaning brush wedged between his legs instead of one. And Beryl, who lived next to Ronnie, always stared out the window as if lost in thought.
When Jigu appeared, the starving neighbors of Little Rock would lose all reason and charge at her. But if she hid and waited long enough, they would soon return to their spots and repeat their old routines—endlessly, endlessly.
Five blocks across, four blocks down. Over a hundred houses stood within that grid, each frozen in its own scene.
Like a diligent sheriff of Little Rock, Jigu watched over her neighbors’ daily lives without missing a single day. It wasn’t difficult. They were always in the same place.
Yes. They were always in the same place.
They should have been.
So why was Colin here?
Rattle, rattle—the sound of wheels echoing through the silent street suddenly stopped.
“…Colin?”
Bright red ginger hair, a colorful striped uniform, high-top basketball shoes with Jordans printed on them.
Collapsed in front of the shopping mall was unmistakably Colin.
Gulp. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed dryly.
Colin was a part-timer at a small donut shop in Rickford. The shop’s windows were intact, and the doors were always locked—there was no way he should be on this street.
Thump. Thump. Her heart began pounding with anxiety—and a strange excitement.
Her tightly clenched fist trembled.
Was she afraid?
No. That wasn’t it.
This was…
Anticipation.
Behind Colin’s vivid ginger hair, a dark, black-red liquid had burst out, soaking the pavement.
Someone had killed him.
Someone who was alive.
Her trembling gaze lifted toward the darkened shopping mall.
Rickford’s shopping mall was massive, with two basement levels and three floors above ground.
The upper floors housed clothing, accessory, and outdoor gear stores. The first basement level contained a large discount mart selling not only food but also cosmetics, electronics, toys, and daily necessities.
There was even a pharmacy inside that sold prescription medication.
Which meant that survivors who had come for supplies had gathered here in droves.
More accurately—people who had been survivors.
In other words, zombies.
The last time she visited, the outside of the mall had seemed quiet, so she’d entered without much caution—only to be unable to take even one step into the mart.
She had barely escaped after a brutal struggle.
And now she was walking in here again of her own free will.
‘But why is it so quiet?’
Crunch.
Broken glass shattered softly beneath her foot. Startled by the noise she’d made herself, Jigu froze in place and held her breath.
Normally, even such a small sound would have drawn zombies in droves. But the mall remained silent.
Her vision was only faintly darkened around the edges, offering no urgent danger warning.
After staring into the pitch-black darkness for a while, Jigu moved again.
If a survivor really had entered this place, where would they have gone?
‘Obviously, the mart.’
Even she, fully aware of how dangerous this place was, had come for food.
Her gaze fixed on the escalator in the center of the mall leading down underground.
The first floor still had light thanks to the glass windows, but the basement was different. Beneath the stopped escalator lay pure darkness.
Just like my reality. No dreams, no hope. Haha.
“Fuu…”
Magazine—okay. Helmet—okay. Pads—okay. Mental preparation…
Not okay.
After checking her gear, Jigu took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.
A bite was fatal. Even a scratch from a fingernail meant infection. That was the rule of the zombie world. Protective gear was essential.
She had wrapped magazines around a hiking jacket and pants she’d taken from an outdoor store, binding them tightly with tape. Even zombies still had human teeth—they couldn’t easily bite through thick layers of magazines.
She wore protective pads over exposed joints, taken from a bike shop, and topped it off with a construction helmet she’d scavenged. A neck warmer covered her throat, leather boots protected half her shins, and a handgun rested at her waist.
But her main weapon wasn’t the gun.
“From experience, a fire poker is the best.”
She’d removed the hook from the end and sharpened the tip. That fire poker was her weapon.
Guns were too loud and attracted zombies. Kitchen knives had too little reach. She couldn’t use a bow, and an axe was too heavy.
It might look crude, but the fire poker was light and had just the right range—perfect for her.
Screeeech.
The moment she stepped onto the escalator, a chilling sound echoed through the mall. It wasn’t actually that loud, but to Jigu’s taut nerves, it sounded like thunder.
And the further down she went, the worse the stench became. Naturally—bodies that hadn’t made it out of the mall lay scattered across the escalator.
The fortunate thing was that most of them were truly dead.
But she couldn’t relax.
“Khraak! Grrk!”
One of them was still alive.
‘If you can even call it alive.’
Sensing her presence, the zombie clattered its teeth and flailed its arms wildly. But its lower body was caught in the escalator’s step rail, leaving it stuck in place.
‘Last time, I nearly passed out.’
She’d come down carelessly before and gotten grabbed by the ankle.
To make things worse, the noise had drawn zombies from both the first floor and the basement, forcing her into a hellish escape.
‘Yeah. Just like now.’
From the darkness below came shuffling, scraping footsteps. Fortunately, the first floor remained quiet—for now.
Moistening her dry lips with her tongue, Jigu gripped the fire poker tightly.
One… two… three… seven.
Seven zombies were approaching her from below.
That was manageable.
Zombies were slow, and their movement was limited. In the narrow space of the escalator, she had a fighting chance.
Sure enough, the zombies from below tangled up at the narrow entrance of the escalator.
“Grrh! GRAAAH!”
“Grrrr…”
The one in front creaked its rusted joints as it climbed up, but when the zombie trapped in the rail flailed its arms, it lost its balance and tumbled back down.
The ridiculous scene looked straight out of The Truman Show.
Jigu let out a brief chuckle—then her expression hardened as she tightened her grip on the fire poker.
