By Zephyria 
“Zombies are coming.”
It was a statement that felt utterly detached from reality. Ha-jin, who had been standing there with his mouth agape, tried to ignore the goosebumps gradually spreading across his skin as he rose from his spot.
“Zo-Zombies are coming? At this hour?”
Eden didn’t answer, instead moving to shake the others awake, who were already sound asleep. Byeol, who had been whining about being sleepy, quickly shut his mouth at Eden’s heavy atmosphere. Without even bothering to brush off the dry leaves stuck to their backs, everyone, gripped by panic, efficiently packed their belongings.
A disconcerting silence fell after Eden finished speaking, saying that there seemed to be at least 100 zombies crossing over. The situation was more serious than they had thought. If they hadn’t gone on patrol before the night deepened, they would have been attacked by the horde of zombies while they were asleep, defenseless.
“Kkeureu, kyagagak─!”
The subtle vibrations shaking the ground and the zombies’ roars tightened his heart. It seemed he had let his guard down for a while, as sweat pooled in Ha-jin’s groin from the onrushing fear.
“Th-Then where do we go?”
“We’re going to get to the road. Split up into pairs and hide under the vehicles.”
The group hurriedly left the stream. Using the half-moonlight and three flashlights, they frantically navigated through the pitch-black darkness, sometimes tripping over thorny bushes or piles of trash discarded on the ground, causing them to tumble.
The zombies’ movement speed increased even more as they sensed the sounds. Howling that vibrated the air began to be heard from nearby.
Ha-jin’s breathing, who was at the very back with Eden, also gradually grew rougher in response. Jeffrey and Jeong Byeol, Park Chun-beom and Mi-so paired up and jumped over the guardrail next to the highway first. Eden, who followed after them, reached out his hand towards Ha-jin, who was trying to climb up.
“Grab on.”
Ha-jin, who barely managed to steady his legs that kept slipping on the slope, extended his right hand. Just as their fingertips were about to touch, a fishy scent of blood brushed past his nose, and the sound of bizarrely paced running, tak, tatak, was heard.
“Be careful!!”
Ha-jin shouted just before their fingertips met. Something unidentified slammed into Eden’s body from the left. In an instant, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The Aberrant’s strength in the darkness, which had attacked without even making a sound, was tremendous.
“Keueut─!”
Eden quickly kicked out, striking the Aberrant’s chest roughly, as he clutched at his neck. The smell of rotting flesh and blood, enough to make him nauseous, clung to the mucous membranes of his nose. He barely managed to get up just before the hard, sharp teeth were about to bite into his neck again.
Eden picked up the hatchet he had dropped on the road. As he hammered the dulled blade of the hatchet like a hammer into the head of a charging zombie, a desperate warning faintly echoed in his ears.
“Jeong Tae-geon! Behind you!!”
He bit back a curse and threw off the backpack he was carrying. Something else charged from directly behind him. Unlike the existing zombies, these Aberrants were attacking without even making a sound, forcing Eden to move solely based on his senses. A fierce battle unfolded in the darkness.
After inflicting a sharp wound on the chest of the second zombie that attacked and driving his fingernails into its neck, he pushed it forcefully against the guardrail, causing a sickening sound of snapping neck bones to echo through the space.
“Heoeok, heoeok….”
Eden, shaking off his sweat-soaked hair, stared intently at the flickering air. Hot heat rose from his entire body, which had suddenly expended a burst of energy. His heart, pounding as if it would explode at any moment, was eating away at his breath.
The two Aberrants that had attacked this time felt quite different from the existing zombies. They showed a significant difference in speed, strength, and reflexes, and they didn’t even make sounds like beasts.
He felt his elbow, which had been scraped on the road, and instinctively checked his body. Fortunately, there were no bites. Eden, who was approaching to check the corpses while holding his breath, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Do Ha-jin.”
He couldn’t sense Do Ha-jin, who should have already climbed up, holding onto the guardrail. He looked down under the road, but saw nothing but crushed grass. If he shouted Ha-jin’s name, it was obvious that the horde of zombies would swarm.
“What is it? Where’s Ha-jin?”
Mi-so, who had only poked her face out from under the vehicle right next to him, shouted softly.
“Stay put here. I’ll go find Do Ha-jin.”
“Huh? No, you’re going back down? It’s dangerous, no, Jeong Tae-geon!”
Eden jumped down below the guardrail, leaving Mi-so, who was spitting out curses, behind.
Far away, beyond the stream, a horde of zombies like black storm clouds was rushing over through the bushes. He ran back to the stream and examined the waterway as he crossed the makeshift stepping stones. The water was calm, and no screams for help were heard from anywhere.
Eden was seized by an eerily anxious feeling. Even the half-moon that had been illuminating the path disappeared into the storm clouds, and the flashlight he had tucked into his pocket had its lens broken in the process of fighting the zombies. No matter how skilled he was in searching as a special forces operative, there was nothing he could do if he couldn’t see.
“Shit.”
Eden, who was ruthlessly pushing aside the foxtails tickling his ankles, listened to the sound of the horde of zombies rushing from the opposite side. He changed direction according to his intuition and began to run, turning his back to the horde of zombies.
Had he been running for about a minute? Somewhere, he heard a faint groan that caught at his ears. He stopped dead in his tracks, gripping the hatchet tightly.
“Kueeeeek!”
As he turned his head to the right where the sound came from, a white, foggy light flashed and disappeared. It was flashlight light. Eden relentlessly pushed aside the grass that had grown lushly, blocking his vision, and turned his body towards the light.
He had arrived at the lower reaches of the stream, but all he could still see was pitch-black darkness. But Eden felt the changed energy of the air. He felt a gaze from somewhere. Instinctively holding his breath, he raised his head upwards, and at that moment, his collar was grabbed from the front.
His back, sucked into somewhere, collided with a thick wall. The hatchet he had been holding fell to the ground with a clang.
Eden reflexively pushed away the back of the neck of someone who was blocking his body with force.
“Ugh! It’s me, it’s me!”
A familiar voice pierced his ears.
“Do Ha-jin?”
“Keuk, get this off!”
Ha-jin pounded fiercely on Eden’s chest as the pulled-back collar was still choking him. Eden let out a gasp and released the strength in his hand.
“Kollok, keuheup….”
Ha-jin, who desperately held back a dry cough, bent over. However, before he could even catch his breath, the cry of a beast that stimulated his nerves was heard from nearby.
“Keureureureu!”
The zombie that had tried to attack Eden from above had followed him inside. Ha-jin steeled himself and swung the hatchet greatly towards the zombie.
Eden also began to grasp the situation again. He felt the rough texture of cement on his back, which was in contact with the wall, and the angle of the ground his feet were touching was strange.
‘Is it a cylindrical culvert…?’
All that unfolded inside was endless darkness. It seemed the exit was blocked.
Ha-jin, who had dealt with the zombie, staggered and re-entered the culvert. He approached Eden, who was still leaning against the wall, catching his rough breath.
“Jeong Tae-geon, hoo…. Are you crazy? Why did you follow me here?”
Ha-jin urged, as if whispering, unable to make a loud noise.
“Then, are you saying I should have left you to die?”
“It’s not daytime, it’s night! It could have been dangerous…”
Kururung… Gureung…!!
At that moment, the majestic footsteps of zombies began to be heard above the culvert and towards the entrance. If they weren’t careful, they would really be completely surrounded and die. Eden and Ha-jin’s eyes, which had been glaring at each other in the darkness as if blaming each other, shook simultaneously.
“Let’s go further inside first.”
Eden grabbed Ha-jin’s arm and pulled him. They moved little by little, matching their pace, into the depths of the culvert, into the endless darkness. The sour, nauseating smell made his head throb.
The further they hid inside, the more sticky and dirty filth stuck to the soles of their shoes. The amount of filth increased more and more, making it impossible to go any deeper.
“Shit….”
Eden, who bit back a curse, found a relatively clean spot and pushed Ha-jin against the wall. The two stood facing each other, their eyes fierce. As Eden leaned in, their body heat pressed close.
“Ugh, it’s hot….”
“Just bear with it.”
The voice giving the rebuke was somehow chilly. Ha-jin didn’t like the rough texture of the cement he felt behind his back, so he chewed on his lip for no reason. The fact that he seemed to be trapped in Jeong Tae-geon’s arms was also quite bothersome.
After contemplating, he spun his body around and switched places with Eden.
“I’ll stand here, ugh!”
His foot slipped on the round ground at the same time as he moved places. Eden reflexively grabbed Ha-jin’s elbow tightly and pulled him into his arms.
“Ah.”
Ha-jin took his nose, which had been pressed against Eden’s neck, away and turned his head to the left. He consciously regulated his breathing and stared at the innocent entrance, but his surprised heart was not easily calmed.