By Zephyria 
Eyes filled with animosity, fear, and the pangs of hunger. The group pressed on towards their destination, the Maintenance Depot, enduring the countless gazes that fell upon them.
From somewhere, a rumbling engine noise vibrated through the ground. Before they could move, a red motorcycle sped towards them. Startled, Ha-jin froze, only to be yanked back roughly.
“Ugh!”
It was a close call. Just before a helmeted assailant could snatch the bag slung loosely over Ha-jin’s shoulder, Eden pulled Ha-jin into his arms.
“Are you alright?”
[Ha-jin, are you okay?!]
Eden and Jeffrey raised their weapons, turning to face the unidentified assailant, who circled them like a reckless biker instead of fleeing.
[What the hell, you bastard! You wanna try something?]
As Jeffrey shouted, motorcycles of various colors appeared behind the assailant. Each rider, wearing a black helmet, wielded a thin, long pipe. The scraping sound against the concrete was menacing.
They circled, tormenting their prey, as if they had no intention of killing it with one bite. Like vile predators dominating the savanna.
Jeffrey, who had been ready to fight, soon realized the gravity of the situation and fell silent. The group stood frozen, unable to move forward.
“Haa… Fucking hell, this is just great.”
Ha-jin flinched at the harsh curse from Eden, glancing at him. His eyes were cold, filled with murderous intent towards the lawless individuals blocking their path.
It was a far cry from the time he had willingly given up food to the looters on the road. The scorching sun, the constant threats, and the looming Maintenance Depot seemed to have made him extremely sensitive.
‘Something’s not right.’
Just as Ha-jin, sensing danger, turned back to the bikers, one of them, amused by Eden’s aggressive expression, revved his engine and charged.
Without hesitation, Eden swung his hand. The hammer flew from his grip, striking the man’s head and shattering his helmet. Thwack! With a sickening sound, the man was launched into the air and crashed to the ground.
The motorcycle, now out of control, fell over, followed by a deafening crash that echoed across the road.
“Everyone, under the truck.”
With those words, Eden charged towards the fallen motorcycle. While he grabbed a pipe from the road and mounted the bike, Ha-jin was forcibly dragged under a dump truck by Jeffrey.
Soon after, the sounds of pipes clattering and bones breaking filled the air.
“Ugh!”
“Agh!!”
The men’s screams echoed in Ha-jin’s ears, and he couldn’t resist peeking out from under the truck.
The first thing he saw was three motorcycles lying on the road and three men bleeding on the ground. The other two bikes were speeding away, their engines roaring.
Ha-jin, stunned by the sudden turn of events, stood up.
“Jeong Tae-geon, are you alright?!”
“I’m fine.”
Eden casually wiped the sweat from his temple and called out to Jeffrey. Jeffrey, crawling out from under the truck, asked Eden cheerfully.
[We got a motorcycle. Wanna ride?]
[No way. Who knows what those bastards were doing with it.]
[I guess… Besides, it’s hard to carry Pie on it anyway. Let’s just walk.]
Before they could fully recover from the shock, the group slung their bags over their shoulders and continued on their way.
The survivors they encountered here were all devoid of hope, driven only by a primal desire to survive. Constantly facing people devoid of humanity, Ha-jin grew increasingly weary.
It was physically easier than constantly running from zombies, but his mental state was deteriorating rapidly. He wanted to grab someone and ask what was happening here.
Ha-jin turned to a woman and a boy, presumably her son, walking ahead of him.
“Excuse me, I’d like to ask you somethi—”
But before he could finish, the woman screamed in terror and stumbled backward. When Ha-jin reached out to help her up, she burst into tears and begged for mercy.
“No, I, I didn’t mean to—”
Eden quietly pulled Ha-jin away, who was frozen in embarrassment.
“It’s no use. Let’s go.”
The group left the woman and child, who seemed to have lost their minds, and continued on their way. Ha-jin didn’t try to talk to anyone else.
Soon after, they found two helmeted corpses lying in the bushes by the road. Judging by the absence of motorcycles, they had probably been attacked by other thugs looking for bikes.
A villain eliminated by another villain. Here, such a repetition of history was not at all unusual.
Around that point, Ha-jin felt his mind starting to fray. He had a premonition that a nightmare of a different dimension was about to unfold before him.
What had driven them all mad? The question that had been nagging at him was answered only when they reached their destination, the Maintenance Depot.
❖ ❖ ❖
Unlike general Maintenance Depots that handle various military weapons, Yongun Maintenance Depot was newly built solely for Blue Works’ aircraft *overhaul, with a building area of over 3,000 pyeong and a runway of 4km. It was large enough to accommodate large passenger planes.
A tall, sturdy wire fence surrounded the military base jointly created by Blue Works and the Republic of Korea Air Force. Beyond it lay a vast runway that was breathtaking to behold.
“Take us too! Why can’t we go!!!”
“Let us in!! Save us!! Please save us!!”
And on the black road shimmering with heat haze, a national flag carrier with the Taegeuk mark was parked. A staircase called a ‘step car’ was installed on the left side of the plane, and soldiers in military uniforms and men in suits were going up and down.
“Isn’t that the leader of the opposition party?! It is, President Lee Jang-shin!!”
“Please, just take my child, please!!!”
“The government has abandoned its people!”
A man with a business bag walked up the plane’s stairs, looking as neat as someone going on a business trip. A woman with sunglasses covering her face and a child in a floral dress hurriedly followed him. They were in stark contrast to the refugees, who looked no different from homeless people.
The people boarding the passenger plane were the political and business figures of South Korea who casually graced the news, along with their families.
“You cowardly bastards!! You sons of bitches!!!”
“Die! Just die!”
Hundreds of people clung to the Maintenance Depot fence, forming a siege. They looked no different from a horde of zombies. As the people’s cries grew louder, the pillars of the fence, firmly embedded in the concrete, began to shake.
And Jeffrey, who had been watching the whole scene from afar, muttered with a dazed expression.
[F…ucking… This is beyond anything I imagined.]
Ha-jin, too, was speechless at the horrific sight before him, standing there blankly.
It was the first time since the zombie outbreak that he had seen such a huge number of survivors. There had been times when he thought that everyone except them had either turned into zombies or died. But he had been sorely mistaken.
“Open it! Open it!! Open it!!!”
“Open the door! Open the door!”
The soldiers guarding the entrance to the Maintenance Depot pointed their guns at the survivors with a menacing air, as if they were about to open fire at any moment. Some of the survivors tried to climb the fence, only to fall to the ground in a miserable heap.
Eden led the group away from the violent survivors and armed soldiers, taking refuge behind a nearby public restroom. They sat in a circle, listening to the barrage of cries.
“So that’s why….”
Eden muttered blankly.
The countless vehicles that had gathered near the Yongun Tollgate, the tall artillery Firewall built at the entrance to the tunnel, the tanks. The memories of the retreating soldiers and the countless survivors who had lost hope and turned on each other flashed through his mind.
And if his guess was correct, that passenger plane was the last Transport plane from the Maintenance Depot.
*Overhaul: The highest level of aircraft maintenance, involving complete restoration.