Chapter 20. Patriot (8)
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A sweltering summer day, just like usual. .
Cult patrol leader Halleck prayed, ‘Goddess, I hope it rains.’ It is not because there is a lack of water. The water level in the water tank is adequate and thanks to the heavy rain a few days ago, it is sufficient.
Only on rainy days, you don’t have to recite this stupid prayer out loud.
“Feeling hunger means being alive. Goddess, we thank you today for helping us realize our own shortcomings….”
The sound of rain disturbs hearing. So much so that it erases the sound of zombie footsteps. So, on rainy days, the rule was to pray only inwardly. Patrolmen who finish their prayers quickly are allowed to scoop the spoon first.
However, on days like this, we must say a prayer of thanks and eat a meal under the guidance of the ‘chief person in charge of the meeting.’ The person in charge of the 41 patrol team is none other than Halleck himself. So Halleck desperately continued to pray, somehow swallowing the saliva that was accumulating in his mouth.
“I hope from the bottom of my heart that the will of the Goddess will be fulfilled.”
“Baranaida.”
“Baranaida.”
“Let’s eat!”
The ten patrolmen each ate a spoonful of hot canned beans. It is not the right food for a day when you feel like you might collapse from dehydration just by standing still, but you should be careful when cooking on such a hot and humid day.
“Look, Roman, I heard you’re hot. Are you okay?”
Moreover, in this situation where an epidemic disease is spreading. I couldn’t just dismiss it as a simple cold. Even the symptoms were the same: ‘high fever, muscle pain, decreased appetite, cold sweat, and lethargy.’
“This is the first time I learned that zombies also catch colds.”
Even zombies that passed by while patrolling showed such symptoms.
“Chief, did you hear that story?”
“What is it, Roman?”
“There is a patrol team of 64, right? “Why, they all caught a cold while patrolling the outskirts in the southern end of the country, so they were sent to the reserve team and returned this time.”
When I said that, I remembered. They were long-distance patrol friends who brought supplies to believers living on the outskirts of the city and conducted regular patrols.
“Why those kids?”
“I heard you missed work again?”
It was an unusual thing.
Even if they are sick, most of the crew members want to go to work. The denomination normally provides rations of supplies when taking breaks from shift work, but does not provide any support when taking vacation or sick leave for personal reasons.
It is not because the church lacks assets. Thanks to the quick action, the support materials themselves are plentiful. However, they are items that must be delivered to church members living inside and outside the city. Considering that some items are damaged or lost due to gang attacks or zombie attacks, it is actually a bit tight.
The denomination established ‘order’. ‘He who has not worked should not eat’ is a classic and understandable approach. Unless you are a critically ill patient or a short child who cannot raise their body above the height of the tire.
So, ‘missing work as a group’ was truly incomprehensible.
“Where does it hurt this time?”
Roman lowered his voice in response to the captain’s question.
“Because it’s a rumor, let’s hear it with one ear and let it go with the other. Well, I got sick, got better, came back, went out on patrol, and ran into some zombies, but they didn’t attack me.”
Halleck was just teasing the spoon diligently. It wasn’t until he munched on the cooked beans about five times that he understood what he had heard.
“What do you mean? “The zombie ‘didn’ attack.”
“Normally, when zombies see a human, they rush at them with all their might to eat them. But he just growled and ignored me and walked away. So I guess I went to visit the leader and assistant leader. “I thought the goddess had performed a miracle.”
Harleck made the sign of the cross while eating. If the goddess had heard what I said about the ‘foolish prayer’, lightning would have struck the dry sky.
‘Should we be thankful for feeling hungry? Those zombie bastards don’t seem to be grateful at all. Oh, thank you even if I’m starving. If you know how to do it, are you a human or a zombie?’
Sometimes, when I was drunk, I used to say things like this. This was because they thought that if the goddess really existed, there was no way such a terrible plague would occur. But if the goddess really exists and gives miracles….
‘I guess I’ll have to increase the offering this week.’
While Halleck was having strange thoughts, discussion continued among the group members. It was a story about whether miracles really exist on this earth.
One side put forward the argument, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if the goddess didn’t spread this disease?’, While the other side said, ‘No. ‘This is the time of judgment that will separate true descendants from those who are not,’ he claimed.
“It’s noisy. “Then what becomes of a zombie?”
Halleck threw up his hand.
“Zombies are poor guys who didn’t pass the test. Do those look like people?”
“I wish they didn’t ‘come back’ as people. Or blow away all your memories. Let’s say you were a zombie and then came back as a human. How can you remember and live with that terrible experience for the rest of your life? “I’d rather die.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Halleck glanced at his watch. He must have finished his lunch, and there were about 10 minutes left before he had to leave again.
“Make a lot of noise and come get an injection!”
My subordinate, a former nurse, prepared alcohol swabs and took out a syringe and a medicine bottle from a small metal box. It was a cloudy solution with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s mark clearly stamped on it.
“But is this effective?”
Even as he rolled up his sleeves, his subordinates could not help but look with suspicion. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s guidebook, the vaccine must be administered periodically once a week to be effective.
“I don’t really know the principle, but I heard that even if you happen to be infected with the Cro virus that turns you into a zombie, the speed of infection spread is slowed down as much as possible. Should we call it a symptom suppressor? “It’s role is to sustain the body until antibodies are created.”
This precious item was given to me by a ‘brother’ who works at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Boldly, he personally drove a truck belonging to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and left it at the border area, then returned in a car provided by the church.
Although the relationship between the cult leader and the vice president is extremely bad, the reason the cult can still operate is thanks to this suppressor. This was also the reason why gangs tried to attack and rob the church whenever they had the opportunity.
“There are more than one person who were captured by those guys. Dirty bastards….”
Hostage hunting was a favorite activity of gangsters.
Deviously, they took pictures of the missing people, made them into posters, and put them up on the streets. Of course, there wasn’t a single photo of him sitting calmly, but of him hanging upside down and about to fall into a puddle full of zombies.
“Damn you guys, someday we’ll get revenge on them…” .”
Thump.
A loud noise was heard from afar. This was followed by an impact so loud that all the dust around the building fell.
Thump. Thud.
“What is this? “Doesn’t that sound like an explosive?”
“It’s towards the overpass construction site!”
Halleck shouted while wearing a bulletproof hat. Each of his ten loyal men climbed into three trucks equipped with external machine guns and two police motorcycles.
“Drive out the zombies!”
Two police motorcycles glided forward simultaneously with their sirens blaring. The purpose was to draw out all the zombies hiding on the streets and in buildings.
It was a mission that required risking one’s life, but this area was one that Halleck’s 41st Patrol Unit knew very well. With the skills of those two, they would never be caught by zombies.
“Scatter away! See you later!”
The motorcycles that passed first scattered left and right. Three trucks followed behind them, speeding down the eight-lane road. Most of the zombies followed the motorcycle, and the ones that couldn’t keep up with the motorcycle walked slowly and couldn’t catch up with the truck.
‘Did he cause the building to collapse on his own?’
It was not an uncommon occurrence. Fires and collapses with unknown causes occurred quite frequently. However, when something like that happens, normal passageways are blocked, so it was also the patrol’s job to find such things.
But something was different this time.
Smell.
When a building collapses, there is usually a musty, earthy or sour smell. Cloudy stone dust is flying. But now this smell was stronger than the smell of dirt.
The smell of something burning, and even stronger than that of something raw.
It was an unpleasant smell unique to zombies.
“What is it?”
After scattering off the road and circling around, a motorcycle that should have joined behind the truck was coming back. The rider flipped open his helmet, revealing Bonnie’s face. Halleck shouted.
“What’s going on? Are the roads blocked? “Where is Roman?”
“Joe, Joe, they’re zombies!”
“Okay. Everyone here is a zombie….”
“That’s not it! There are thousands of zombies fighting each other out there! “The zombies that Roman and I were driving around also flocked there!”
“Roman!”
“He drives the zombies around, saying he will get out on his own because he is better at riding motorcycles! I escaped through that gap! He’s probably spinning around the roundabout right now, so I think he’ll be caught soon. “We don’t have time, we have to save it!”
Bonnie started the motorcycle right away, but Harlan was reluctant. Even if there are thousands of zombies fighting, it won’t be a problem. Unless you are harming church members.
“Chief, we have to go!”
Bonnie picked it up again. But the leader never gave an order. When Bonnie was about to get angry with an expression that was half angry and half embarrassed.
Chichijik. The radio rang.
– … Page? Hallek? Hallek?
“Roman! Where are you!”
Halleck received the radio signal.
– Lion!
Roman let out a strange sound. A lion. What kind of lion suddenly? Did he have some secret phrases that he didn’t know about? Halleck fell into extreme confusion.
– It’s a lion, Roman! Lions and tigers run around the streets. They’re killing zombies by biting them! Of course, it’s a zombie lion and a zombie tiger! Oh, you damn monkeys!
“What on earth is this… !”
Haleck remembered something terrible.
Lion. Tiger. Monkeys deserve to be in zoos. And the city’s zoo was located right in the ‘central district.’
The fact that they are wandering around this street.
“Oh, no.”
This means that the wall of the central district has collapsed.
Tata soup!
A loud gunshot was heard. A fight was taking place in front. Halleck made a decision.
“Bonnie! Notify the church. The rest go forward to find out the situation! Engagement is not the goal. I’m just going to check! “Use whatever weapons you have, but only shoot those who come close!”
Bonnie bit her lip as she looked in Roman’s direction, but then lowered the visor of her helmet and drove the motorcycle toward the church headquarters. The remaining vehicles rushed forward.
As a group that has been working together for a long time, the three vehicles formed a V-shape. The left and right vehicles widened the road by shooting at the approaching zombies, while the middle vehicle shot at the approaching zombies from the front.
When a zombie falls down, it becomes an obstacle that is difficult for a car to pass over. I fired at the approaching zombies with a machine gun, but I still couldn’t increase the speed beyond a certain speed.
“Oh my god.”
Rather, that is why they were able to stop at the right time.
“What on earth is that…?” !”
Zombies were grabbing as a group on a 12-lane road. Bang, bang! There was a deafening sound and the buildings shook. Every time, the zombies also cried.
Thump. Thud.
And it appeared.
A bridge the size of a pillar of a decent building. Bigger than a truck. I thought they were cool when they were inside the zoo enclosure, but now that they are outside, their tusks are vicious and vicious. A body full of wounds, fluid, and pus. Huge ears that were torn and tattered but strangely swollen. The eyes turned gray but turned red.
And, an elongated nose.
– Wooooo!
An angry elephant ran towards them, shaking its huge head. The zombies that were grabbing were trampled on without any help.
Harlan could understand the frenzy of a zombie elephant that escaped from the zoo. However, I couldn’t understand why the zombie elephant had a firecracker sticking into its butt.
– Kuuu!
The elephant that made eye contact with Harlan went berserk and ran towards him. The zombies that were standing foolishly were impaled on the elephant’s long tusks and collapsed helplessly.
『It’s a gang!』
A voice was heard shouting through a loudspeaker from somewhere. It was the voice of a young man. It was my first time hearing it, but the pronunciation was pretty good and I could hear it well.
『Gangsters destroyed the wall with explosives!』
‘The damned guys have finally crossed the line!’
Harlan gritted his teeth and ran away. A zombie elephant rushed after him.