The city where the power outage has arrived. A van crawling along the dark road and the zombies following behind.

A cool night breeze blew in through the wide-open window. Nayeji stuck her phone out the window. Sometimes the flash went off a few times brightly, and she also filmed video.

Nayeji shook her phone and cheerfully shouted,

"Go a little slower! Let them film well!"

"What are you doing! Close the window quickly!"

"How can I not film this! Ah, ugh-"

Jeon Do-hyeong shouted angrily, and the other patients forcibly pulled Nayeji back and raised the window again, a noisy commotion.

I tightly closed my eyes.

Hope is easily extinguished. I keenly realized this fact as I watched the zombies following behind.

"...They can't keep up."

There are fewer zombies following. The zombies that had been chasing furiously like dogs chasing a thrown ball were now panting and stopping in their tracks, quickly changing their target to the surrounding buildings.

The horde of zombies I had been leading to the church spread out like waves, the dim sight of them breaking the glass windows and invading the buildings visible. Just like the ripples left behind by a passing ship.

Of course, there are still zombies chasing the car and new ones joining, but they are not as capable of outpacing the machine.

If they had the endurance to surpass the car, I might as well catch the zombies and have them pull a carriage.

'Ah, this way... I can only take a few zombies with me? This isn't a wave.'

Not a wave at all, maybe just the amount in a water cup. It seems like only one zombie with the stamina of a marathon runner and a few zombies around the church will be lured.

I counted the number of zombies one by one in the side mirror. The closer we got to the church, the fewer zombies there were.

It's over. This wasn't even a wave. The people in the van could win against this. With an enemy like this, how could the people unite?

"I'll park by the entrance!"

Bwoong-!

As soon as the van entered the church grounds, it accelerated. Screeching, it braked roughly and stopped diagonally next to the church entrance.

As if waiting, the glass door of the entrance was suddenly pulled open, and Elder Jeon hurriedly gestured.

"Come in quickly!"

As I slowly got out, I briefly looked back. I could only faintly feel the presence of a few zombies. Blurry figures. Muffled footsteps.

One zombie approaching with thudding steps was the first to draw near. Clearly a marathon zombie, wearing training clothes and showing the stamina to have chased from the beginning.

Did I vaguely check the entrance?

Like a track and field athlete nearing the finish line, I increase my speed. Tata-tak, the regular sound of footsteps draws closer, and the dark silhouette becomes clearer.

"Whoa!"

"Hurry!"

People hurriedly cross the entrance. I take a deep breath and enter last, then time it right and push the glass door with my whole body.

The marathon zombie rushed with full force, colliding with the weight-bearing door as it slammed shut.

The result was a collision.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

The zombie screamed and fell backwards. Even a few paving blocks from above came crashing down, completely crushing the zombie. They had been thrown from the rooftop.

It was so futile that I didn't even feel a sense of accomplishment from the carefully prepared defensive posture.

'Is this what a "wave" is?'

Click, the elder deacon shone his phone's light and lifted the lock on the top of the glass door. The elder spoke calmly.

"The first floor is cleared, the second-floor defense team and the rooftop siege team are ready. ...Disinfection first."

"Ah, disinfection. Please do it quickly."

Tick-tick-tick, the disinfectant sprays thoroughly soak our clothes. Even our hair and exposed skin are damp, like just stepping out of the shower.

I rub my gloved hands a few times while looking at the people. The patients have gaunt expressions, while the elder deacon and the evangelist seem calm. Nayeji even looks excited.

'It's really not enough...'

Suddenly, my thoughts turned to another person. The fellow looter who had left in a different car, whom I had completely forgotten.

I asked right away.

"The deacon, I mean, the looter, where is he?"

"He came back a while ago. But the situation in the city seems serious."

The elder deacon looked out into the dark entrance. During the disinfection, a couple of zombies had wandered around. Separated by a single pane of glass, their grunting sounds could be heard.

The elder deacon carefully blocked the entrance with desks and chairs, whispering softly.

"I tried to contact the local defense teams, but many places are unreachable, and many are already defending. It seems the zombies have swarmed out almost simultaneously..."

The atmosphere became as somber as his low voice.

Once again, a rain of paving blocks fell. The paving blocks finding their way back to the ground. The dull noise, the sound of bricks hitting the dirt floor, the sound of crushing zombie heads continued like a downpour.

It's a bit hard to see, and the hit rate is low, so it's a matter of throwing and seeing.

Anyway, everyone is working together to fend off the zombies. I tried to think positively.

'This is like a preventive vaccination and practical training. It's a bit lacking in terms of staging or scale, but it's not too bad.'

That thought flashed through my mind. Just as the elder deacon was leading the slightly deranged patients, a real crisis suddenly arrived.

"If the disinfection is done, let's go up now-"

Boom!

An alien collision sound was heard. The sound of hitting steel. And flashing headlights and loud honking.

The paving blocks had hit the car. Detecting the impact, the car mistakenly thought it was being stolen and blared the alarm loudly. Loud enough to echo in all directions.

I quickly raised my head. My fist clenched involuntarily.

'This is it!'

Now a horde of zombies will come rushing in. This is a real zombie wave. A crisis has been naturally staged. I don't know who did it, but they did a great job. To think of hitting the car from there.

"Ah, the car key, this is a key?"

The evangelist hurriedly checked the car key and tried to go outside to turn off the alarm, but I quickly grabbed his clothes and pointed upwards.

People looking for opportunities to kill zombies with paving blocks.

"If you go out now, you'll get hit by bricks."

"No, but if we leave that as is-"

"It's too late. They're coming."

I looked outside. A dark world due to the blackout. Footsteps and howls are getting closer through the gaps in the alarm sound.

The annoying car alarm is already blaring. It's echoing loudly, and there's no way the zombies won't come and we can hold out.

I quickly pointed to the people. The words came out quickly.

"You all, lock all the doors of the rooms on the 1st floor. They can break the windows and enter, so open the doors. Hurry! Elder deacon, please continue to contact the other self-defense teams. If the church becomes dangerous, please find people who can help us."

People started moving busily. I quickly went upstairs and checked my phone.

'Blackout, 30 minutes left?'

The zombies who had been crouching during the blackout. The moment the light of civilization returns, they'll go back. It was enough time to hold out.

Of course, if it seems like we can't hold out, I'll hide my body faster than anyone else.

***

I know the car alarm is set to go off for 2 to 5 minutes. Enough time to attract the zombies.

I climbed the stairs with the barricade prepared and shouted loudly.

"Assume the 1st floor is breached! We have to defend here at the barricade!"

"Yes, Deacon Kwon."

"Don't hesitate at all! They're not human, they're beasts we have to kill!"

At the landing of the stairs where the barricade was installed, people who could use some strength were on standby. High school boys and adult men.

Each of them had a flashlight in their mouth and was gripping a weapon, and the white light of the flashlight flickered in their strange, resolute eyes.

I know there are quite a few people who have never killed a single zombie, but it's unexpected. They don't seem too afraid.

The administrative elder waved the hand axe as if greeting.

"Deacon Kwon. Don't worry. The pastor himself showed us how to drive out the infected who are possessed by the devil."

"Ah."

The steps going up slowed down for a moment. The beloved pastor came to mind.

The performance of beating zombies to death with a cross. It seems that the people who witnessed it had enough indirect experience. It was a moving event.

'Pastor. The hope you left behind is continuing here.'

Perhaps the pastor had intended this as well. To gradually get used to killing zombies. To numb the mind.

After all, the technique of directing a movie is to manipulate people's minds, so the pastor's direction could be said to have served the same function. There might still be the faint power of religion.

I climbed up to the rooftop lightly.

The atmosphere on the rooftop was quite different. It was ominous.

The thief elder was subtly angry.

"What kind of person threw stones at the car? It's obvious the alarm will go off! Is there a traitor? Another person like the security elder?"

"There really is a bad person..."

"Ugh. That's why I said to throw them little by little."

The scene of the ajummas turning their heads in a flurry after turning on their phones, or suspecting each other as if wondering who did it. Somehow, this felt more familiar to me. A comfortable feeling?

At the same time, I realized something. An instinct or solidarity as a fellow predator.

'The person who threw the stone at the car is the thief elder.'

I'm confident he's telling lies. As expected of the main member. Covering himself in lies, and driving people into distrust and suspicion just by his presence.

And on top of that, triggering the zombie wave. Perfect.

Around that point, I revealed my presence.

"Elder. I'm here."

"Ah, Deacon Kwon. You weren't hurt? I'm relieved. I felt uneasy about sending you to the hospital for no reason."

How much truth is there in that statement? But distrust is the basic premise, isn't it? After all, we don't even know each other's real names.

"I'm fine. I'm glad you're well too, Elder. I was really worried."

I approached the railing, smiling. Due to the cloudy sky, even the moonlight was faint on the ground. Blinking headlights and repeated honking in the darkness.

The zombies had arrived.

Eeeek, kiiiek, ghastly cries. Countless footsteps marching. Writhing darkness.

'It's too dark to see well.'

I frowned deeply. I don't know how effective the ropes hanging on the streetlights or trees are. I planted awls, kitchen knives, and iron skewers in the ground at places where they might trip.

I couldn't even distinguish the sounds. The ghastly cries were too much like screams.

Instead, a sound came from behind. The thief elder, seemingly frightened, spoke in a trembling voice.

"Aren't there a lot? A lot of them?"

"Calm down. There are fewer than you imagine. It just looks like more because it's hard to see well...."

He couldn't continue his words.

The van was still blaring its alarm. The range of its headlights was filled with zombies. The wave of zombies was encroaching, as if eroding the blinking lights.

"...Deacon Kwon, there are really a lot."

"Ah, no, no. It's just that area with the lights... No! Throw stones!"

I hastily picked up paving blocks and threw them down with force. I don't know if they hit or missed. Anyway, the throwing was important.

People rushed over and started scattering bricks haphazardly.

"Die, die, die!"

"Damn Satan! You can't touch the church!"

Briefly, the sharp ferocity was etched on the faces of the ajummas in the phone light.

But the situation itself is not being grasped. Over time, the alarm went off and the headlights were naturally turned off. The darkness was a terrible obstacle.

In the midst of that unknown pressure, I listened carefully. Sound is the only clue to grasp the situation.

'The shrieks and shouts are too noisy. Is that a scream? Ah, the sound of glass breaking. And.'

Thud? Sounds like pulling out the barricade in the entrance? I broke out in a cold sweat for a moment. That's right. Zombies can use their hands a little.

We can break the glass with the bricks we threw, and move the furniture we set up as barricades.

'I should have nailed the furniture to the wall in the first place. At least I should have welded the furniture together.'

Somehow the situation is not good?

I quietly stepped back and looked for the thief elder. The thief elder was peering out over the railing, as if he could see something, and then came to me.

"Deacon Kwon, my night vision is a little better."

The elder, boasting of his thief skills, looked around cautiously and said in a small voice.

"The zombies have dispersed. No, they're breaking all the first-floor windows and moving down to the first floor. It's almost surrounded. And more seem to be coming."

"Ah, that's good. All the first-floor doors are locked. It's good that they're dispersed."

"Locked doors can be opened. And they're wooden doors, right? Those guys can probably break through that kind of door."

"..."

Is that so? Compared to steel doors, wooden doors do look very weak.

'If there are health zombies or zombies with axes, they'll probably break through.'

In the darkness, we made eye contact. Just like the day we plotted betrayal, I felt a sense of shared intent.

I admired the thief elder, who was the quickest to time the moment of betrayal, and said,

"Everyone is throwing stones well. We don't need to manage them. Shall we check the 3rd floor?"

"Right. There's no one at all on the 3rd floor. We should at least keep watch, shouldn't we?"