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Chapter: 10
“Uh… h-how did you do that?”
Seeing the child’s eyes sparkle, forgetting even the pain in his leg, Jigu went hmm for a moment, then smiled slyly.
“Heh. Magic.”
“Huh! Th-then did you make it disappear? Then… I can’t eat it……”
“Nope.”
The marshmallow that had vanished suddenly pop appeared in his hand. Ryan burst into cheers, clapping loudly.
Clap clap clap!
Caught up in the excitement, Jigu handed Ryan the bag of marshmallows.
After a long time without sweets, Ryan stuffed his mouth full, chewing eagerly and smiling wide.
“Yummy! Amazing!”
“Hehe. Really? Then I’ll show you something even more amazing!”
Puffed up by the child’s pure praise, Jigu grinned and kept pulling random things in and out of her arms.
A small doll, a fake flower bouquet, toys. Junk kept appearing and disappearing endlessly, and Ryan burst into loud laughter.
Watching the two kids giggling and forgetting the situation entirely, Edwin sighed and pressed his temple.
How could they get along this well? He really needed to reconsider that woman’s mental age.
Turning his face away from Jigu, who had somehow even pulled out colorful juggling balls and was showing tricks, Edwin walked over to the two pale-faced women.
“Where did you come from?”
“We came from the Fencing Hill Shelter in Wisconsin.”
“Did Fencing Hill fall too?”
“…About two weeks ago.”
At Maya’s words, Edwin swallowed hard.
Across the regions, shelters of various sizes—and even smaller survivor camps—were scattered around.
Fencing Hill in Wisconsin had been a fairly large shelter. If even that had fallen…
“Because of a Sentinel?” Caliph asked.
“That’s right.”
Maya nodded.
She didn’t need to say more. It was easy to guess—the shelter’s Sentinel had mutated.
Humanity’s enemies weren’t just zombies outside. There was hunger, and raiders. But the most dangerous threat was the Sentinel inside.
A ticking time bomb people couldn’t cast out, even knowing the risk, because they needed it to survive.
Caliph’s face hardened.
“Survivors?”
“Probably fewer than thirty. Most of them died while fleeing… I don’t know about other survivor groups.”
“Let’s move.”
This wasn’t a place to talk calmly. One of the makeshift shelves finally gave in to the pressure of the zombie horde and crashed down with a bang.
Through the metal racks, unfocused, cloudy eyes stared at them relentlessly.
Crunch, squelch, crack!
The soft skull of a zombie trapped at the front couldn’t withstand the pressure from behind and burst open. Then a sweet smell spread through the mart…
…A sweet smell?
“Really tasty.”
“Munch munch.”
“…That’s enough. Get up.”
Seeing the two kids who couldn’t resist lighting a small portable stove and roasting marshmallows, Caliph ground his teeth.
Just what kind of brains did they have? If he could, he wanted to crack those little heads open and take a look.
“That was good, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s put them in hot chocolate next time.”
“Huh?! You have hot chocolate too?”
“Of course!”
Jigu and Ryan popped the last marshmallow into their mouths, whispering and giggling together.
“Haah…”
Caliph let out a low sigh.
Seeing how troubled he looked, Peggy quietly picked Ryan up. The child, who had forgotten his leg pain thanks to Jigu’s sweet magic show, immediately made a teary face.
“Uuugh, Mom… it hurts so much……”
“Huh? Does it hurt a lot? Caliph, hurry! Let’s get out of here!”
Flustered by the sight of tears in his eyes, Jigu tugged urgently at Caliph’s clothes.
Caliph gave Edwin a look. Edwin stepped toward Peggy and held out his hands.
“I’ll carry the child.”
“Ah, th-thank you……”
Peggy hesitated, her eyes darting nervously, then handed Ryan over.
Crash! Bang!
While they were talking, a couple more shelves collapsed, unable to withstand the pressure of the zombies.
Through the gaps, zombies crowded together, pushing their faces in like insects.
Crack, squish!
The soft bodies of those caught between shelves and dead zombies twisted with horrifying sounds before bursting apart.
The mart, once filled with a sweet smell, was instantly overwhelmed by a foul stench.
“Is there another exit?”
The main entrance was already packed with them, and the employee entrance they’d come through had been locked by those damn bastards.
As Maya hurriedly kicked away a zombie head that had rolled over, she asked. Jigu smiled softly and suddenly grabbed Maya’s hand.
“There is. Over there. Follow me.”
The small but warm hand pulled Maya forward with strength.
Really… there’s no such thing as absolute doom.
Watching Jigu’s short black hair flutter in the air, Maya smiled faintly and ran after her.
Thanks to Jigu’s flashy fire show, the zombies in the underground parking lot connected to the warehouse were reduced to ash. The group escaped the shopping mall with ease.
Treating Ryan’s wound came first, so they postponed heading to the Rangers and decided to go to Little Rock, where Jigu was staying.
They sprinted to Caliph’s military truck hidden in the outdoor parking lot, gasping for breath as they threw their belongings into the cargo bed.
Indeed, people who had survived this long in an apocalypse were impressive.
Even in that chaos, they’d managed to grab seven boxes of 1-liter bottled water, along with food and daily necessities.
But the one who grabbed the most was, without question, Jigu.
The warehouse had been a total gold mine.
Looking at the small icons filling her inventory, she couldn’t help humming.
She climbed into the back seat first, moving lightly, and even fastened her belt properly. The others followed.
Edwin sat in the driver’s seat, Caliph in the passenger seat. In the cramped back were Maya and Jigu, Peggy and Ryan. The capacity limit was five, but no one bothered with such small details.
“Seatbelts on, let’s go!”
Click. The sound of seatbelts came from both sides. Ryan, without a seat, was held in Peggy’s arms.
Is that okay? Jigu glanced over worriedly. Peggy, holding Ryan tightly with the belt secured over his back, gave Jigu a gentle smile to reassure her.
Relieved, Jigu turned back and tightly held Ryan’s hand.
“Just hold on a little longer, Ryan.”
“Sniff… okay……”
The wound was deep enough to hurt badly, but the child swallowed his sobs and instead smiled shyly at Jigu.
Feeling proud, Jigu gave a thumbs-up. Ryan buried his face into Peggy’s shoulder and giggled.
“When we get home, what should we roast next?”
“It’s grill, not roast.”
“What should we grill?”
“Hmm… jelly?”
“That’ll melt.”
“Then snowballs?”
“That’s… hmm. That’s actually a good idea.”
Thinking of soft bread dusted with coconut powder, Jigu smacked her lips.
“Anything else?”
“Anything’s fine.”
The two whispered like they were sharing secrets, their voices warmly filling the truck, which had been loud with engine noise alone.
Before they knew it, the truck had left the city and was crossing an open road.
A gentle breeze through the open window, the sun slowly setting over vast fields. Warmth, and children’s excited whispers.
In a moment so peaceful it was hard to believe the world had ended, faint smiles appeared on everyone’s lips.
Jigu’s humming drifted away with the passing wind. Then, as if she’d just remembered something, she broke into a wide grin.
“We should grill cheese balls too—!”
BAM!
Screeeech—!
Out of nowhere, an SUV slammed straight into the side of the moving military truck. Black skid marks stretched across the road as the truck slid.
Edwin clenched his teeth and slammed on the brakes, but the truck couldn’t fight the momentum and began rolling down a slope.
Boom!
Crash!
Thud!
The sky, the fields, then the sky again spun wildly in their vision. Shattered glass and small stones scraped violently across their faces.
After rolling for a long time, the truck slammed into a tree trunk and finally stopped.
A sharp ringing filled Jigu’s ears, like she’d been struck by something hard. Her vision swam, her stomach threatening to spill.
Gasping for breath, Jigu shakily reached out to the seat beside her.
She felt a child’s leg—cold.
“R-Rya……”
A sticky liquid ran down her trembling hand. Unlike the dead, it was terribly hot… and red.
Jigu’s head, which had been barely holding up, dropped limply to the side.
