Chapter 105 – Great Escape (2)

The container ship crew who had evacuated to Yeongdo were staying at an elementary school south of the district office.

When we arrived at the school with the district mayor, people lingering at the main gate rushed over.

They were all sturdy middle-aged men.

“Mayor! What’s going on? All the military rushed to the port! People are saying strange things too.”

“Is it true! That the front line was breached?”

“They’re saying all the military ran away!”

They surrounded the mayor and spoke chaotically.

The mayor raised both hands to stop their talking.

“Let me speak too.”

“Wait! The mayor’s trying to speak!”

At the mayor’s words, an elderly man with a deeply wrinkled face shouted loudly.

Surprisingly, everyone fell silent at the old man’s words.

“Thank you, Captain Yang.”

“Save the thanks for later and tell us what’s happening first. What’s going on, and who are these people behind you?”

At the word “captain,” I understood why everyone had quieted down.

Apparently the mayor knew these people well from before.

“There’s much to say, but simply put, all the rumors you’ve heard are true. The front line was breached, and government people and most of the military are fleeing to Jeju Island by ship.”

At the mayor’s words, people erupted in anger.

“Damn, I knew it!”

“Shouldn’t have trusted those bastards. Should’ve taken our families and sailed away from this country.”

“Damn, what happens to us then. We’re not all going to die, are we?”

As people raised their voices, the captain shouted again.

“Quiet! If we were just going to die, why would the mayor come!”

People quieted again, and the mayor wiped his sweat and started speaking again.

“So, we need your help for the remaining people to survive. Since there are no ships left on this island, we need the ships you can operate.”

People immediately objected to the mayor’s words.

“But our ships are docked at New Port. Even before the front line broke, only military could go there.”

“I heard they formed an organization to survive among the people left at the port.”

“Organization? They’re probably just dock workers banding together.”

“Anyway, how do we get there now? If the front line broke, the road there must be full of zombies.”

After raising his hands again to calm people, the mayor pointed to us with his other hand.

“These people will protect you on the way there. They’re U.S. military and people with supernatural powers who came from America. They made it here breaking through zombie armies.”

The mayor introduced us as people with supernatural powers instead of mentioning we came from another world.

These people must have known about awakened ones, as they looked at us with surprised eyes.

But the elderly man, the captain, looked at us with skeptical eyes.

“U.S. military and supernatural powers… Don’t know how you got such people, but it still seems extremely dangerous…”

At his words, the mayor shrugged.

“But we can’t just die.”

“That’s true.”

The captain had to nod at the mayor’s words.

However, not all crew members agreed with the mayor.

“But zombies could rush in anytime, can’t leave our families here.”

“I have a younger sibling here.”

“My wife ran away, but my kids are still here.”

As the mayor wore a troubled expression at people’s words, three vehicles arrived rattling in front of the elementary school.

Two were trucks like the ones we rode here in, and the remaining one was an old bus with wire mesh on its windows.

The passenger door of the front truck opened and Lieutenant Im, the Korean military lieutenant who brought us here, stepped out.

As soon as he got out, he spoke to the people:

“Don’t worry. We will protect your families.”

Strangely, he seemed to have heard people’s words. Along with his words, soldiers jumped down from the truck bed.

They were all the Korean soldiers who had come with us.

“Tough until the end.”

“What choice do we have?”

As the sergeant grumbled getting down, a private next to him comforted him.

“That’s why I’m moving without complaint.”

“You’re complaining right now, sir.”

The sergeant kept grumbling even at his junior’s words, until he got scolded by the private.

He snorted at his junior’s words, then shouted to the crew members:

“Where are your families? Tell them to come out quickly. We need to move before zombies rush in.”

“Where are you taking our families?”

Just as people questioned the sergeant’s words.

The street speakers that had been repeatedly playing when we entered Yeongdo spoke again.

It wasn’t the recorded voice we heard then.

Now the broadcast carried Lieutenant Colonel Park’s voice whom we had just met.

[Announcement to all citizens in Yeongdo. Those not in safe locations, please come to Jodo in the southeast of the island.

The military is setting up defense lines in Jodo. We’re also trying to get ships to Jeju Island, so please come at least to Jodo or nearby.

Please move quickly, hurry.]

When the desperate voice of the tired man came through, people who had been half-doubting started moving.

“Everyone go bring your families! You guys help too!”

The captain shouted to the crew members, and they ran to the school.

After the crew members ran to the school, the captain started talking with the mayor, and I asked the platoon leader who had rushed here:

“Did you come to take the crew members’ families?”

“That, and also to help you all.”

He pointed to the bus parked at the back.

“It’s a police bus. Fortunately, we found one old police bus with wire mesh on the windows and brought it. The crew members can ride in this.”

“Aren’t there any armored vehicles?”

The elderly captain who had been talking with the mayor cut in to the platoon leader’s words.

The platoon leader shook his head at the captain’s question.

“Nothing left in Yeongdo. We saw some outside the island, but those were unusable…”

I had seen those armored vehicles too.

The armored vehicles stationed at the checkpoint in front of Yeongdo Bridge.

When the drawbridge went up, the armored vehicles were buried under the rushing crowds.

By now, with undead arriving, they would be buried under undead instead of people.

“Well, can’t be helped then… Have to ride this at least.”

While the captain clicked his tongue looking at the police bus, the crew members who had gone to the school came running back with their families.

Though I thought it would take time, thanks to the broadcast, everyone came running without luggage.

“There’s no time. We’ll protect your families, so please move quickly.”

The platoon leader and soldiers loaded the crew members’ families into trucks and the crew members into the bus.

Some U.S. soldiers also got on the bus, while the rest climbed into the other trucks.

“Are you two going together too?”

To my question, the platoon leader answered while climbing into the passenger seat:

“We need to help you all escape the island.”

At the lieutenant’s words, the sergeant in the driver’s seat grumbled:

“I’m not even a driver, no need for me to go.”

“Should I drive and observe too? Or want to pass it to the juniors?”

“That’s just a saying. Damn.”

Listening to their informal conversation, I sat on the truck roof like before.

Though I thought it would take some time, people moved much faster than I expected.

After everyone got in the vehicles, the crew members’ families headed to Jodo where Korea Maritime University’s Arch Campus was located, riding in trucks driven by the mayor along with soldiers.

After the families left, we also departed.

We started heading back north, the opposite direction from the families, the way we had come.

Since the bridges were destroyed, to leave Yeongdo without taking ships we had to go back the way we came.

On our route back was Yeongdo Bridge, still intact thanks to the drawbridge.

The trucks and bus crossed through Yeongdo’s streets.

Unlike earlier, many people were out on the streets now.

Everyone was running south.

People carrying light luggage and people carrying nothing at all.

Holding family members’ hands, carrying children on their backs, pushing wheelchairs with elderly – people were running south to survive.

The trucks and bus passed these people heading north.

Sitting on the truck roof, I looked over the people sitting in the truck bed.

Fortunately the U.S. soldiers looked fine.

The civilian(?) David also seemed okay.

Our party members looked fine too.

As always, couldn’t tell what Zahina was thinking, and thanks to the expeditionary force crossing over, Hoffman looked much more relaxed.

Ye-rim crouching below my feet also looked okay.

But I apologized to her:

“…Sorry. We came out for reconnaissance but got caught up in this again.”

Come to think of it, none of what she experienced while I took her around as a party member was ordinary.

Originally, she was just doing office work under Seo-eun.

But now I was making her suffer daily… I felt I should give her proper compensation somehow.

Or at least try to smooth it over with words.

Just as I was about to apologize again, feeling like some evil employer:

Ye-rim spoke first:

“No, I’m fine. It’s hard but this is natural, right? Getting caught up in big adventures while facing difficulties during normal quests – that always happens in games and adventure stories.”

I couldn’t say anything to her words as her eyes sparkled.

I could only internally express gratitude at her willingness to be a voluntary slave.

‘I should find some way to repay her later.’

If she just did what the expeditionary force ordered, I wouldn’t need to worry about this, but I wanted to keep using this party personally too.

Not only did they listen well to me, but it wasn’t easy to form such a skilled party.

It would be a big loss if the party broke up due to lack of proper compensation.

‘I can give Hoffman a cut, but don’t know what to give Zahina and Ye-rim.’

This seemed like something to consider after finishing this reconnaissance(?).

Going against the flow of people like that, we arrived back at Yeongdo Bridge.

As expected, the north coast where the drawbridge had risen was full of undead instead of people.

Sadly, the original people hadn’t gone anywhere.

Among the zombies entering the sea were people we had seen at the checkpoint.

The people blocked by the drawbridge had either drowned or become zombies.

Dozens, hundreds of heads floated in the sea near the shore north of the bridge.

Not just heads of corpses that had fallen from the bridge.

They were all moving corpses – zombies.

David’s expression hardened seeing this sight from the moving truck on the bridge.

“Could zombies even swim?”

Seemed America hadn’t seen swimming zombies yet.

Well, in rivers and lakes, zombies walked along the bottom instead of swimming.

But in the sea.

“In seawater, even zombies float.”

“We should hurry.”

David spoke in a serious voice at Hoffman’s words.

The truck increased speed as if hearing David’s words.

In the distance, the drawbridge was visible.

The raised bridge – we needed to lower that bridge again.