Red Dot - 5

Chapter 5

If it hadn’t been a dream that he had dreamed ad nauseam, he would have spent a considerable amount of time just searching for his younger sister. Having persistently remembered her location in the dreams on the 5th and 6th days, he could have joined her relatively smoothly after the 7th day.

However, it was still not easy, even compared to the 5th and 6th days. Furthermore, there was a crucial difference in this, which was the concept of “reality.” Perhaps, no, definitely, if he got bitten by a zombie, he wouldn’t be safe either. The feeling of the blood on his whole body stiffening within seconds after being bitten, the sensation of blood rushing to his head, and the excruciating pain that felt like a scream was about to burst, unlike the dreams, he would experience all of these along with it.

Even thinking about it was horrifying, and it sent shivers down his spine.

There was a critical difference, although reality flowed the same way over and over like a game-like dream where he could start over several times. In reality, any minor mistake was intolerable, a slight miscalculation would lead to death, and even a small oversight would be the end.

Junseong pounded his chest, urging himself as if brainwashing, trying to drive out the cold fear that had been creeping up slowly. The acute pain in his chest helped the icy fear to recede.

“It can’t be delayed any longer.”

The timing to reunite with his sister was only once.

Already running late, he needed to move right now to make that timing.

After taking a deep breath, Junseong, who was still crouched, turned around.

Right behind the car he was hiding behind, there was a long flower bed with a low brick wall. It seemed that they had agreed to park the car there so that they could use the open space in front of the already existing long flower bed, rather than intentionally creating it.

Carefully, Junseong approached the flower bed to avoid making any noise, still crouched, to prevent the zombies from noticing him. He picked up one of the bricks, similar to what he had seen in his dream. The cement was nearly peeled off, so he could easily pull it out without using much force.

Holding the brick, Junseong examined the surroundings and then quickly stood up, throwing it as far as he could. As Junseong once again crouched to hide himself, a dull sound, like a distant thud, echoed loudly.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

Following that, a car parked not far away from him started sounding its alarm. There was a dent in the middle of the trunk from where Junseong’s brick had hit.

“Ugh, ugh… Huk….”

The young man, trembling violently, gasped heavily. His breath was uneven, like something large stuck in his throat, and his body shivered like a quaking tree.

The man, who had been sitting on the front desk in the classroom, watched him with curiosity, as if he were admiring him.

“Lift your head.”

The young man, who had struggled to breathe, slowly raised his head.

His face was smeared with blood. Even his eyes, surrounded by dark circles of exhaustion, had blood oozing out. The man gazed at the young man’s face, not reacting with shock or fear but appearing rather fascinated.

“Save me, please…”

The young man, tears of blood streaming from his eyes, begged with a hoarse voice.

“I’m not a zombie… yet.”

“Well, you will soon be.”

“No, I don’t want to turn into a zombie. Please… save me…”

Even speaking was so difficult that his breath was cut off. Clear tears mixed with the blood tears flowed from his eyes, but they were completely hidden by the red.

The man watched the young man silently and then stepped down from the desk.

“Save me, save me, save me.”

As if uninterested in the young man’s words, the man who had been reciting his words approached him closely. A black pen spun between the fingers of the man’s right hand.

“I have no interest in guys who beg for their lives.”

“Sob, h-huk… Kk, aaah…”

Struggling for breath and clutching his head, the young man begged in a voice that sounded like his last breath.

“Please… save me…”

“That’s what I’m saying—!”

The man raised his voice and tightly gripped the young man’s throat with his left hand. By then, the man’s head was trembling, and his shoulders were slouched. If the man hadn’t exerted his strength and pushed the young man’s throat, he would have leaned against the wall and collapsed lifelessly.

The man’s eyes, watching the trembling young man, took on a strange madness.

“Don’t ask others to save you, you should have fought to survive.”

The man’s lips formed an elegant curve. In response, the young man’s body twitched a few times.

Then…

Haak-!

The young man, who had lifted his head, let out a scream mixed with a screeching sound. From his mouth, he vomited a darker crimson blood than the blood that had been flowing from his eyes.

The man remained calm even in the face of a sight that would make most people scream.

The man’s black pen targeted the young man’s eye covered in the blood film. The thin tip of the pen lightly pierced through the blood film and the eyeball.

Crack!

The man thrust the pen diagonally into the young man’s left eye, aiming for the direction of the brain. To do so, he pressed the back end of the pen with his palm, pushing it in deeply. By the time the pen was almost entirely inside the young man’s eye, the man’s right hand was drenched with blood.

The violent young man no longer moved. When the man released his left hand, which had been gripping the young man’s throat, the young man’s body fell to the floor, collapsed to the side.

The man looked down at the lifeless “formerly” young man’s zombie corpse and pulled out a gray handkerchief. Wiping the blood from his right hand with great care, he casually dropped the nearly black handkerchief on the young man’s face.

The classroom fell silent.

The man, whose smile had disappeared, felt a sense of boredom creeping in.

“Maybe I should take a nap…”

In a classroom full of corpses, he was entertaining thoughts of taking a nap. The man, who had a laid-back attitude despite the bizarre scene, picked up his cell phone, which he had placed on the desk.

Originally, he had set an alarm for 2 o’clock to wake up from a nap. However, there were only five minutes left. There was no point in sleeping now.

The man looked out the window toward the hallway of the classroom. Several zombies were sprinting quickly outside the window.

“Shall we try a test?”

With a meaningful remark, the man held his cell phone and walked up to the platform. He even performed a microphone test to check if it was working properly, confirming the clear sound quality. Once he verified everything, he prepared to let his phone alarm ring at 2 o’clock.

Thinking about the approaching zombies who would rush towards this sound and surround him, he felt a pleasant tension that made his lower abdomen tingle.

Time was running out before the alarm went off.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

Suddenly, a car horn sounded from outside. The man, who had picked up his cell phone, put it down and approached the window, wondering if the zombies had accidentally tampered with an expensive car.

Kyaahh!

Kreeee!

From all around, the zombies let out screams without restraint. Every zombie, regardless of their previous meandering, turned and ran full speed in the direction of the sound.

Tadadadadadadadadada-!

Countless footsteps that were hard to gauge kept coming relentlessly. Junseong hid among the footsteps of the dead, hoping they would pass by quickly.

Sensing that most of the footsteps were reaching the car blaring the alarm, Junseong stayed crouched and moved in the direction of the building. At the same time, his right hand was directed towards the machete, which he had secured behind his belt.

Junseong pulled out the machete from its sheath as he emerged from between the cars.

Ckaak!

It was highly unlikely, but just as he had expected, a zombie suddenly revealed itself, lunging at him with both hands outstretched.

Judging by the still vivid blood flowing between the red membrane covering the eyes and the eyelids, it seemed like this zombie had been turned for less than an hour.

The zombie’s flesh had been torn away from the left side of its mouth all the way to the vicinity of the cheekbone, exposing the teeth and part of the facial bone that should never be visible. Its throat was deeply torn and gouged, and it was dripping thick, dark crimson blood in that spot.

Apart from that, protruding from its tattered shirt, there was a long portion of internal organs, and one of its legs was grotesquely bent and shattered, clearly indicating how terribly it had been mauled.

As he stared into the red-membraned eyes of the zombie, a sense of horror, unlike anything he had ever felt in his dream, washed over him.

Flesh, flesh, flesh.

Blood, blood, blood.

With its eyes covered in the red membrane, the zombie seemed to be pleading for these offerings. Just the thought of his flesh and blood being desired by it, and the chilling sound of teeth clacking together, was enough to send shivers down his spine.