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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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“Is that really a person’s voice?”
I deliberately spoke to the two women. When your nerves are on edge, you become sensitive to even trivial sounds, and your perception tends to get distorted.
So this sound now might not be a person, but something else.
Help! Help me! Help me!
It seemed to be a person after all.
“It seems to be right.”
Camila, now fully awake, confirmed it. Cassandra also nodded. The warning on the whiteboard came to mind.
Whatever you hear in the fields, never go alone.
“What are you going to do?”
Cassandra asked, as if thoroughly frightened.
“Of course, we have to go.”
I answered.
“What are you talking about? We should stay quiet here and wait until morning. What do you think that is that you want to go?”
Camila immediately retorted.
“B-But they’re asking for help. They might be in trouble, right?”
Cassandra fidgeted with her fingers. Camila quickly shook her head.
“Don’t trust anyone but us. The people in the non-protection zones are absolutely not to be underestimated. Think about it. It’s been a long time since the non-protection zone blockade was put in place.
People who were weak in body or mind turned into zombies a long time ago. The people who are still alive, they must be pretty tough cookies.”
“But Johan said we should go.”
To Cassandra’s counter-rebuttal, Camila replied in a slightly reluctant voice.
“Um, I don’t think it’s for the reason you’re thinking.”
Somehow, it seemed both Camila and Cassandra were staring at me. What did they take me for?
“First reason, I’m sleepy. I want to check it out quickly and go back to sleep. Second reason, I don’t know what that is, but if it’s dangerous, it’s better to get away quickly.”
Cassandra seemed a little dumbfounded, but,
“I knew it.”
Camila, who quickly agreed, had already put on a tactical vest and a ballistic helmet. Cassandra just blinked her eyes as if stunned.
“You stay here. Camila and I will go and…”
Help meeeee!
“Hiiieeeek!”
Cassandra let out a choked gasp and grabbed my arm, shaking her head violently.
“N-No. No. I’ll go with you. I’m going with you! I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m scaaaaared!”
Long, black hair, green eyes, a large chest that even the darkness couldn’t hide. Cassandra looked more like a ghost herself.
“A-Alright. I get it, so just let go of this!”
In the end, all three of us put on our gear. We got dressed inside the truck to prevent unnecessary noise from leaking outside.
I checked the pockets of my pouch and found my cell phone.
I thought about leaving it in the truck, but since it could be used as a temporary flashbang or a decoy in an emergency, I decided to take it with me.
Help me!
We quietly pushed aside the furniture blocking the door. Thanks to having smashed the doorknob beforehand, there was no noise.
The moon was bright. The dead corn stalks, which came up to my chest, swayed helplessly. The sound of rustling, shhh, shhh, could be heard. The smell of rotting grain, which seemed to be coming from the silo, was also still there.
Help meee! Help meee! Help me!
“It’s a bit strange.”
Cassandra whispered. I also nodded. I felt a sense of unease that I couldn’t quite place.
Inside the garage, the sound was distorted, so I thought that could be it, but hearing it so vividly, it felt… like someone was imitating it.
“Could it be…”
“Could it be?”
“A g-ghost?”
Right. There’s no law that says a doctor can’t believe in ghosts. There are zombies, so why not ghosts, I thought.
“Hey, Camila.”
Camila was repeatedly rubbing her face with her palm. The signs of tension were evident.
“What’s wrong? Is there something?”
“…No. I just remembered a story I heard when I was young.”
“What story?”
“A monster that makes a human voice. It hides in wheat fields or cornfields with its mouth wide open, and when it catches its prey, it sucks them dry and throws them away.”
Help meeeee!
“Hiiieeeek.”
“Hmph!”
Cassandra is one thing, but why are you like that too, Camila?
“This won’t do. Camila, Cassandra. Can you two get in position behind the silo?”
Camila grabbed my arm before Cassandra could.
“Wh-What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to do something ghosts hate the most.”
“Wh-What?”
Cassandra trembled, as if thoroughly frightened. I guarantee, even a ghost would be scared and run away if it saw Cassandra right now. I took out my cell phone from my pouch.
“Imitating.”
I turned on the recorder. A moment later, that bizarre voice was heard.
Help meee!
“Good. Go quietly and quickly. I’m going to play it.”
Camila practically dragged Cassandra and moved quickly behind the silo. I selected repeat on the recording file and played only the part with the voice.
Help! Help! Help!
It was too quiet, so I turned the volume to the maximum and put it in my pouch.
Help! Help! Help!
“Grrr.”
The cornfield swayed. It was a little different from how it had been moving with the wind. Plop, a part of the dead stalks suddenly disappeared.
Rustle. Rustle. Even at a glance, about five stalks had disappeared. Something was trampling the dead corn stalks and coming this way. It probably wasn’t just one. I held my submachine gun firmly.
Help! Help! Help! Help!
Goddess, help meeeee!
Thwack, without a sound, something shot out from the cornfield. It was blackish, about the height of my knee, and fast. No need to think twice. I quickly fired the submachine gun.
“Yelp! Yelp!”
Even though the bullets pierced its back, it didn’t fall. It retreated, trailing blood, and took a stance.
A wild dog?
No. That wasn’t it. Its ears were short and round, but they stood up. Its face was a bit wide, but its snout was long. Its nose was also a bit large.
A wolf.
A zombie wolf.
Awooo – Rat-a-tat.
I shot it precisely in the head and brought it down. If the opponent wasn’t a human zombie but a wolf, this was a disadvantageous place.
I backed away, wary of my surroundings. I had thrown the corpse, so now I just had to wait for the others to tear it apart.
In that instant.
A black shadow shot up with a whoosh. Bang! A gunshot from behind that deafened my ears. The sound of an R-15 rifle.
“Johan! Down!”
Two wolves charged at me.
Calmly, three shots to the one on the left, two to the one on the right. Unable to withstand the momentum of their charge, they fell. I jumped back, regained my stance, and aimed for their eyes.
Thud, the bullet exited the back of the wolf’s head.
Goddess! Goddess! Help me! Help me!
The dead corn stalks fell even faster. Without a second thought, I ran into the garage.
I let Camila and Cassandra in first and blocked the door. As soon as I blocked it, thump! I heard the loud sound of claws scratching.
“Let’s get in! Undo the latch!”
Thanks to the rock wedged under the door, it wouldn’t suddenly fly open. Camila got into the truck.
“Cassandra, take the wheel of the pickup!”
While trembling, Cassandra ran to the driver’s seat. I also followed her and got into the passenger seat. I took out my cell phone and turned off the repeating voice. Cassandra started the engine.
“I’m opening the door!”
Camila shouted out the window. The 2.5-ton truck moved smoothly and pushed open the firmly closed garage door.
“Yelp! Yelp!”
The pack of wolves that had been gathered outside the door yelped and retreated. Camila charged the truck forward.
As the truck, overwhelmingly large compared to the animals, charged with its high beams on, even the zombie wolves seemed to lose their nerve and backed away.
Vrooom! The truck sped down the road. Cassandra followed close behind. The wolves, having come to their senses, closed in on us.
“Grrr! Grrr!”
A sinister sound of crunching. The things were biting the armored plates. Were they seriously thinking of biting the tires?
I rolled down the window and fired the pistol randomly. The things, stimulated by the flames and noise, charged even more fiercely. Even though one or two of them were clearly hit and fell, bleeding.
“Cassandra. Aren’t you hungry?”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“I’m asking if you’re hungry!”
“I’m hungry, kyaaak!”
Something red flapped outside the window and perched on the truck’s wiper.
Help! Help! Goddess, help me!
Red and yellow feathers, clearly visible even in the dark. A parrot. A parrot as long as my forearm, with half its feathers plucked out and ragged flesh welling up.
Help! Help! Goddess, help me!
“Kiyaaaak!”
Cassandra frantically turned on the wipers. The parrot flapped its wings, held onto the wiper, and repeatedly shouted, “Help! Help! Goddess!”
“Get it off! Get it off! Please get this thing off me! Please!”
“Faster!”
Cassandra overtook the truck and sped forward. She moved the wipers faster and even sprayed washer fluid. Thud, thud, thud! The zombie parrot pecked at the windshield like a woodpecker.
Help! Goddess! Help! Goddess!
“Slow down a little.”
Cassandra slowed down. After confirming that the zombie wolves had been completely left behind, I opened the door. I rested the pistol on the crack and fired. One shot. Two shots. I hit it on the third.
Goddess.
Leaving those words behind, the parrot flew off to the side of the truck.
Cassandra didn’t stop the truck. Neither did Camila.
Although they had fallen behind, the wolves were persistently following us. Not only the wolves, but I could also see human zombies who had been sitting on the roadside spotting us and starting to run.
Strange.
The pattern was a bit different.
In a city, maybe, but in a Human Non-Protection zone, zombies didn’t just leave a fallen one. Even if there was a stronger enemy, they were hell-bent on tearing at it. Filling their own hunger was the priority.
But the ones here weren’t like that. It was about half and half. The ones who couldn’t overcome their hunger were tearing at it, and the others were approaching us.
I suddenly remembered what happened at the safe house. Cassandra and Camila had had a small argument. When I stabbed a zombie in the gut, other zombies had jumped out from the surrounding bushes all at once.
Fortunately, those things had moved just as I had known them to. They lost interest in me and started tearing at their comrade.
But Camila had said they came out ‘seeing me,’ and Cassandra had said they came out ‘hearing a signal.’
If it was the former, not much would change from before. But if it was the latter?
Strategy. Maybe the zombies were also formulating strategies to survive. But how? How could that be? My mind became complicated.
The dawn was breaking.
The number of zombies chasing us neither increased nor decreased significantly.
Some of them broke off, but many new ones joined in. At least one thing seemed clear: there were no humans in this vicinity. Or they had passed through quickly like us.
If only the terrain had some curves, maybe, but since it was completely flat, I could clearly see the ones following from quite a distance. They were probably watching us too.
I felt like we had to stop them at least once.
The easiest method that came to mind was, of course, shooting.
The truck was loaded with a considerable amount of ammunition. We were also prepared with rifles, submachine guns, and pistols.
But we couldn’t waste ammunition. It wasn’t about firing randomly, but we also had to consider what we could gain by using a single bullet.
It wasn’t to secure the safety of a residence, nor to overcome an immediate threat. We couldn’t waste bullets and time just to shake off a pursuit that offered no gain.
In the midst of my deliberation, something caught my eye.
A bridge.
It wasn’t a very wide bridge. Wide enough for two trucks to pass, and about 30m long.
Abandoned vehicles were noticeable on the other side of the river. The windows were all broken and they looked old, but at least the tires seemed to be intact.
“Cassandra, let’s go to the bridge!”
I waved my hand out the window to give Camila a hand signal. Camila flashed her high beams on and off to signal that she understood.
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