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Chapter: 38
When had it grown so dark? The garden was already cloaked in the deep, pervasive hues of night. Only the sound of urgent footsteps, trailing the perilously flickering garden lights, broke the silence.
“Does the whole grid go down if the panels catch fire?”
“The main facilities should keep running. There’s an emergency power system.”
But Damian’s voice, usually so steady, carried a faint undercurrent of anxiety.
Walking swiftly behind Calix and Damian, Jiwoo turned her head towards the mansion. Most of it was submerged in darkness, but one second-floor window blazed with light—the window of the infirmary.
Edwin, still unwell, and the others had decided to remain in the mansion, leaving the three of them to venture into the garden and assess the situation. She prayed it was a simple fire, but a knot of unease tightened in her stomach.
At that moment, a sharp pop sounded, and every garden light died at once, plunging them into an absolute, crushing darkness. The mansion, too, was swallowed whole, not a single glimmer of light escaping its walls. Simultaneously, a low, rumbling kaboom echoed from the distance, followed by a shallow tremor that vibrated through the ground beneath their feet.
“What was that?”
“For now… we need to go and see what’s happened.” Damian’s reply was grim, his face set in hard lines as Jiwoo, glancing around, voiced her confusion.
I hope the infirmary is okay…
Jiwoo cast one last look at the darkened mansion before quickening her pace. The deeper they ventured into the garden, the sharper the acrid smell of smoke became, stinging their nostrils.
“Oh no.”
The scene that greeted them was worse than anticipated. Damian let out a soft groan of dismay.
The sprinklers had managed to douse most of the flames, but barely a single solar panel remained intact.
“Looks like this bastard is the cause.” Calix pointed to a charred corpse, its form barely recognizable, fused to the wreckage of the panels. It was a zombie they must have missed.
With a grunt, Calix lifted a piece of debris and drove it through the creature’s skull, then clicked his tongue in annoyance.
It seemed the old, worn-out inverter had somehow become entangled with the zombie, sparking an uncontrollable fire. A streak of incredibly bad luck.
“How long will the emergency power last?”
“At best… two days.”
“Lasts longer than I thought.” Jiwoo nodded, not overly concerned. But Damian’s face only grew darker. Realization dawned on her, and she bit her lip in guilt.
If they hadn’t taken shelter here, the zombies would never have breached the high-voltage fence surrounding the estate. The power would still be on.
The mansion’s inhabitants had lived without want since the virus broke out. Losing everything now, because of them… it must be a devastating blow. The others in their group were used to harsher conditions, but Damian and his people weren’t.
“Hey, Damian. I’m sorry…”
“Huh? No. No, it’s not that. That’s not what I’m worried about…”
“It’s not?”
Damian faltered, his jaw tight as he struggled to find the words.
“…Jiwoo. I think it would be best if you and your group left the mansion. Now.”
He’s angry after all. Jiwoo’s shoulders stiffened.
If the owner of the house asked them to leave, they would have to. They couldn’t repay their kindness with this kind of trouble. She wouldn’t want to, even if they could.
But Edwin had only just regained consciousness. Though he was sitting up and grumbling, his pallid face and hollowed eyes were a stark reminder that he had barely clawed his way back from death’s door. With his injured leg, moving was a struggle. To force him to leave the mansion now, with no vehicle, would be a death sentence.
“But Edwin…”
“Ah.” Damian let out a soft exclamation, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. “That’s right. Edwin. There’s a camper van in the parking garage. That should work for Edwin, too. We should head back to the mansion right now and… No, first we need to secure the vehicle…”
“Damian? What’s wrong?”
Confused by his rambling, as if his mind was elsewhere, Jiwoo questioned him. Damian froze, then, as if coming to a decision, his face hardened and he began to speak hesitantly.
“Listen to me carefully, Jiwoo. Beneath this mansion, there’s…”
Rumble. Crash.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion from deep underground cut him off. The ground shook violently, making it almost impossible to keep their footing.
BOOM!
CRASH!
BOOOOOOM!
The explosions weren’t just one. A chain of terrifying blasts followed, accompanied by ominous tremors. Then, with a final, deep grumbling roar, the ground beneath a section of the wall collapsed. A powerful gust of wind, thick with pale dust, slammed into them.
Calix pulled Jiwoo, who was stumbling, into his arms, hunching his back to shield her from the blast.
“Ugh, what the hell is going on?”
As the acrid dust cloud began to clear, they could see, beyond the ruined solar panels, that a whole corner of the perimeter wall had completely crumbled. Jiwoo’s mouth fell open in shock, unable to hide her dismay.
How could one zombie cause this much damage?
At this rate, being kicked out would be the least of their problems.
Attracted by the thunderous noise of the collapsing wall, zombies from outside were now flooding into the garden. There were dozens of them, and Jiwoo’s face paled at the sight.
“Damn it! Get to the mansion!”
Kyaaaah!
Groooan!
The horde was growing by the second. At Calix’s shout, the three of them started sprinting towards the mansion.
“Jiwoo, look out!”
Bang! Bang!
Grrrr…
Jiwoo threw herself aside at Damian’s warning, gasping for breath as she fumbled for her gun.
Damian’s bullet, fired from behind, caught the zombie lunging for her right in the forehead, but the terrifying presence still loomed above her.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
“Get up!”
She shoved the gun barrel into its foul, reeking mouth and pulled the trigger. With a wet thud, its head exploded, showering her with putrid fluids and chunks of rotting flesh.
Rolling away from the mess, Jiwoo scrambled up and aimed at another zombie lurching towards her, but Calix was faster, obliterating its head. He grabbed the scruff of her neck and hauled her to her feet.
“We’re cut off!” Damian yelled.
When had so many of them gathered? Jiwoo, clutching her gun, panted heavily, biting her lip.
Between the dense trees, shadowy figures writhed in the darkness, staggering forward, reaching out with rotting hands. The sounds of snapping twigs and gurgling, rasping breaths echoed from all sides.
They were completely surrounded.
A cold dread pooled in her stomach.
“I’ll clear a path. Don’t look back, just run.”
THWACK!
Caliphe drove the steel pipe he wielded through the eye socket of a nearby zombie, kicking the limp corpse away as he spoke. Protecting the two of them while fighting off this many was too much of a constraint.
“But…!”
“This is nothing to me. So just go.”
Jiwoo, about to argue, clamped her mouth shut.
She knew Calix was stronger than all of them combined, incomparably so. But that knowledge did nothing to ease the fear clawing at her heart.
“Run!”
Calix punched through the skull of the lead zombie with one blow and plunged into the mass of them.
WHAM! CRACK!
THUD!
The sounds were horrifying, unbelievable as coming from a human body. The tightly packed horde of zombies crumbled before him.
“Go, Jiwoo!”
Bang, bang, bang!
Damian, pulling Jiwoo along by the hand, ran, firing shots to cover Calix’s rear.
Trust Calix.
Jiwoo clenched her teeth and ran for the mansion with all her might.
Trust him. He was strong. He’d deal with them and be back at the mansion in no time. Until then, her only job was to stay alive and rejoin the others.
“Get inside!”
Damian held the front door open and pushed Jiwoo through. An impenetrable darkness, devoid of any light, met her eyes, and a profound silence descended.
Jiwoo, leaning on her trembling knees, suddenly stopped breathing.
…Something’s wrong.
The zombies outside were dealt with, and beyond the firmly closed door, there was no sound at all. The mansion should be safe.
Then why…
Why was her vision tinged with red?
She slowly straightened up, her face tense. The moment she turned around, a sudden, violent impact slammed into her.
WHAM!
“Ugh!”
Before she could even cry out, her body was sent skidding across the marble floor. The blow, caught completely off guard, knocked the wind out of her, making it impossible to breathe.
Gasping, wheezing for air, Jiwoo struggled to lift her head. Someone was on top of her, pinning her down.
“Ghk… huuuh… ugh… Da… Damian…?”
Staring down at her through the darkness, his face was unmistakably Damian’s.
