By Zephyria 
In an instant, Ha-jin lost his balance from a violent dizzy spell and collapsed. Beyond his flickering vision, he saw Eden’s back as he held up Park Chun-beom’s upper body. Having thrown off his backpack, he was desperately trying to stop the blood that was gushing hotly through Park Chun-beom’s skin.
In Ha-jin’s frozen mind, a fear comparable to when he first experienced the zombie outbreak struck.
“Park Chun-beom! Damn it…!”
Eden’s urgent voice echoed in his ears. Barely managing to pull himself together, Ha-jin looked over the fence. The man in the black raincoat, who had been mercilessly firing his gun, was limping and hurrying down below.
“Ugh…!”
He didn’t even think about catching the murderer. Ha-jin covered his mouth with the back of his hand to stop the retching, and crawled towards Park Chun-beom.
When he grabbed Chun-beom’s shoulder, he felt a cold chill under his palm. Even though he was soaked in the rain, a person’s body temperature couldn’t be this low.
“Do Ha-jin. Take out the suit pants from the backpack.”
Eden commanded, glaring fiercely at the man running away over the fence.
“Hngh….”
Ha-jin, answering with a foolish groan, found the pants with trembling hands and handed them over. Eden took the clothes and wrapped them around Park Chun-beom’s upper body, sealing the gunshot wound that had pierced his side. Chun-beom, who had lost consciousness, rolled his eyes back and trembled.
After finishing the first aid, Eden shook off his blood-dripping hands and asked.
“The others?”
“Th-they left. I think they went down. We should hurry with Chun-beom…”
“Do Ha-jin, you go down too.”
Ha-jin shook his head in horror at the firm command.
“N-no, I don’t want to.”
“Go down.”
While the two were arguing, Chun-beom coughed and vomited blood, breathing heavily.
“Do Ha-jin, didn’t you hear me telling you to go down?”
“I can’t. I can’t go alone…”
Ha-jin couldn’t continue. Chun-beom, who had half-opened his eyes, was looking up at him.
“Ah…”
He tried to calm his pale expression and wiped the blood from Chun-beom’s mouth with his hand. His bright voice, hiding his fear, spoke calmly.
“Chun-beom, does it hurt a lot? Just hang in there a little longer, I’ll get you treatment soon.”
Miso’s messenger bag contained various medicines. Since Eden had ordered them to return the way they came, it was obvious that she and the rest of the group had headed to the cave. All he had to do was lay Park Chun-beom down in a safe place and quickly find Mi-so.
Yes, how simple was that? Move him, treat the wound, and calmly soothe the startled Park Chun-beom. It was a perfectly feasible story.
“…….”
But why wasn’t Chun-beom reacting at all? He didn’t narrow his brow, didn’t groan in pain, didn’t even blink.
The corners of his lips, which he had tried so hard to lift, drooped down. No matter how desperately he tried to hold it back, he couldn’t stop the tingling in his nose.
Ha-jin trembled and carefully placed his fingers above Chun-beom’s philtrum. He couldn’t feel even the slightest breath.
“…Ugh.”
A painful groan burst out as a pain suddenly constricted his chest.
Without even a complaint, a common last word, or a farewell, Chun-beom ended his arduous battle with the ruined world.
He… was dead.
“Haa….”
Ha-jin didn’t know what to do with the sudden tragedy and groaned.
While he was pouring out painful groans, Park Chun-beom’s upper body shook. He raised his head with a puzzled expression, and saw Eden untying the suit pants that had been wrapped around Chun-beom’s side.
He spread the trouser legs wider and blocked the unsealed wound together. He muttered about how to remove the bullet, and the way he rattled off the medicines that Mi-so had packed felt foreign.
“…Jeong Tae-geon?”
Even when he called out in a damp voice, he didn’t look back at Ha-jin. He was just re-sealing the wound with busy hands, as if he was being chased by something.
Eden was ignoring the death of his comrade.
“Jeong Tae-geon.”
Just as Ha-jin was about to move his lips again to announce Chun-beom’s death, a faint noise was heard from below the pasture in the distance.
Turning his head, he saw a white car with a blue stripe slowly coming up. It was a police car. Sensing the ominousness, Ha-jin shook off his tears and grabbed Eden’s shoulder.
“We have to go.”
Despite the urging, he put his arms under Park Chun-beom’s armpits. Ha-jin desperately shook his head, trying to stop the hands that were about to lift him up.
“We have to go. Leave him.”
It was unfortunate, but Chun-beom had to be left here. The blood that kept pouring out of his body flowed over Eden’s body and soaked the floor.
If he dragged him into the forest like this, there would be bloodstains everywhere they went. It was the same as leaving clues for the pursuers.
“Chun-beom is already… already dead.”
“We can still try to treat him.”
“No, it’s too late.”
Even as he shed thick tears, Ha-jin stubbornly grabbed Eden’s arm.
Jeong Tae-geon, who was more rational than anyone else, was denying the death of his comrade. His heart grew impatient at his unusual appearance.
The car scratched against the fence and slowly approached. The tension reached its peak to the point where his solar plexus ached.
“Stop it, Jeong Tae-geon!”
Ha-jin grabbed Eden’s collar tightly. His gaze, which had been blankly staring at Chun-beom, turned to Ha-jin this time. The moment their eyes met, a strange light flashed in his bloodshot eyes.
Eden picked up the stone axe lying on the floor. He straightened his lowered upper body and swung his hand towards Ha-jin! Ha-jin’s face was filled with shock as he faced the Yaksha-like eyes.
“……!”
Surprised by the axe coming down over his crown, he instinctively covered his head with both hands. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.
Thwack!!
The sound of a skull breaking loudly rang out. Ha-jin’s eyelids fluttered. His whole body heated up again due to extreme tension. But he didn’t feel the pain of his forehead or crown being broken.
“Heok…!”
Only then did the breath he had been holding burst out. When he lifted his trembling eyelids, he saw a figure collapsed at his feet. The area under the nose of the sprawled woman was completely red. It was a zombie.
“Wh-when…”
“Let’s go.”
Eden, who had dealt with the zombie that had attacked Ha-jin from behind, picked up the backpack that had fallen on the floor. Ha-jin barely managed to lift his weakened legs.
He hadn’t heard the sound of the zombie approaching.
No, did it even make a sound?
Park Chun-beom’s sudden death, the gunman, the police car crossing the pasture, Eden denying the death of his comrade, the stone axe flying over his head….
He couldn’t quite come to his senses from all the events that had happened in a short moment. It felt as if he was wandering the streets in a semi-sleep state.
“Kaaack!”
Just as he was barely following behind Eden with a dazed face, this time the zombie’s howl was clearly heard.
“Jeong Tae-geon, we’re this way…!”
Ha-jin couldn’t continue speaking. A sudden, rough shout covered him from behind.
“Hey— teachers! The rain’s stopped, so you gotta be careful—!”
In an instant, his chest felt cold, and cold sweat ran down his forehead.
Ha-jin, who had stopped walking, slowly turned around.
Bang—!!
At the same time, a familiar gunshot rang out. He squeezed his eyes shut, following the trajectory of the flying bullet.
❖ ❖ ❖
Waking up from a light sleep, Ha-jin frowned at the smell of dry grass that stimulated his nasal cavity. The stuffy scent of hay enveloped his body.
When he nervously shook off the eye patch that had flowed down to his philtrum, the black eye patch caught on the tip of his chin.
“Are you awake?”
A dry voice, no different from usual, spoke to him. The owner of the voice was sitting on the floor about five steps away.
Ha-jin relied on the light seeping through the cracks in the crude wooden warehouse to barely trace his figure with his eyes. Unlike himself, who was tightly bound with ropes all over his body, Eden’s hands were neatly handcuffed.
Ha-jin blinked slowly and couldn’t speak for a while. Even after waking up from his sleep, the reality that he had been kidnapped remained unchanged.
After Chun-beom’s death, while fleeing from the zombies that had attacked them from behind, he was helplessly caught by a gunman who appeared with a gun. Then he was thrown into the feed warehouse and an eye patch was placed over his eyes.
The current situation was that he had rolled around on the soft pile of hay, shouting at the top of his lungs until he was exhausted and passed out.
Quite some time had passed, and the surroundings were dark.
Ha-jin, reminding himself of his situation once again, bit his lower lip with a dazed expression.