Magic on the Dead Chapter 12

“Don’t open your eyes.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

The child nodded quickly. Tap, tap…. Matching Eden’s footsteps, everyone followed him, silencing their own sounds. They went around the back door and headed toward the entrance where the lobby was.

The raindrops, cruelly, began to grow heavier. Stung by the fierce rain hitting his forehead, Byul, who was cradled in Eden’s arms, cautiously opened his eyes.

“Uh….”

“Shh.”

The moment Byul opened his mouth, a large hand clamped over it. Byul was staring at the shadows of people standing stock-still in the dark lobby. The human figures, standing motionless like mannequins, were so bizarre that goosebumps prickled on his arms.

Are they monsters…? The child blinked rapidly, looking back at the receding small theater. The rain blurred his vision.

Just then, someone cautiously emerged from the path they had just come from. A flash of recognition flickered in Byul’s moist eyes. Even through the dim view, Byul could instantly tell who they were.

“Hajin-ma—”

“Quiet.”

Giving another warning, Eden ran across the wide four-lane road without hesitation. Tatadak, tadak…. Byul released the hand that was tightly clutching Eden’s neck and slowly reached it out into the air.

‘Bye.’

Then he waved his hand with all his might. Hajin and Miso, spotting Byul belatedly, waved back. After the brief farewell, they turned and moved away with cautious steps. Hajin and Miso ran to the right and disappeared under a large, well-manicured fir tree.

“Hah, we’re here.”

Park Chunbeom, who had at some point overtaken Eden, stopped at the hospital entrance, panting for breath. It was a short distance, but everyone’s body was quickly soaked. If it weren’t for the transport’s scheduled time, they would never have done something as crazy as running on a road in the pouring rain.

‘Shit.’

Eden felt a surge of anxious irritation at the situation, which was vexing from start to finish. Dampness was one of the factors that had a huge impact on hygiene and body temperature, and it was no exaggeration to say it could determine the outcome of a war. And to think they were completely drenched in such a situation…. Now that it had come to this, they had to get on that transport no matter what.

Jeffry whispered softly.

【This place must’ve been a mess too, but it’s strangely quiet, huh?】

The hospital’s automatic doors were broken and wide open. Gripping the weapon in his hand tightly, Eden carefully stepped into the first-floor lobby. A pitch-black darkness that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead greeted them.

“…Can I turn on my phone fla…shlight? I can’t see a thing in front of me….”

When Park Chunbeom whispered, Eden shook his head. Although their brains may have been mush, the zombies’ sight and hearing were definitely still active. It hadn’t been confirmed whether they reacted to light or not, so it was best not to do anything rash.

“If you wait a little, your eyes will adjust.”

Just as he said, it wasn’t long before their eyes gradually began to adjust to the darkness. As their vision cleared, a scene they hadn’t been able to see unfolded.

A man in a nurse’s uniform was slumped over the reception desk in front of them as if dead, and on the navy-blue lobby sofa, several corpses with their heads torn and smashed were strewn about.

【Fuck, I think I’m scared shitless. I’m about to piss myself.】

Jeffry, who had cursed, belatedly glanced at Jungbyul and shut his mouth again. Eden pulled Jungbyul’s head deeper into his embrace to keep him from seeing the bodies and said, “The power’s out, so it’ll be difficult to use the elevator. Let’s take the emergency stairs.”

“I think it’s over there.”

Pointing to the left of the reception desk, at the end of the hallway, Park Chunbeom stepped forward first. A sense of urgency was evident in his steps as he walked toward the gray steel door.

“Haa, I’m shaking like a leaf.”

He could feel a dampness on his hands, unsure if it was rainwater or sweat.

Finally, they arrived in front of the emergency door. The hand of Park Chunbeom, who had grabbed the round metal handle, was trembling. He felt as if his heart was being brutally squeezed.

While he paused to catch his breath, Eden set down the child he had been holding.

“I’ll just open it, so could you please hold Byul’s hand?”

Eden took the sword he had entrusted to Jeffry into his own hand and opened the door. Fortunately, the space inside the smoothly opened steel door was empty. Eden checked his wristwatch, then turned back and nodded as if to say it was okay.

This time, relying on the light from a cell phone, they began to slowly make their way through the darkness where they couldn’t see an inch ahead.

They encountered a total of six bodies while dragging their drenched, damp bodies upward. On closer inspection, all of them had sustained massive head wounds. It seemed unlikely that they were zombies in a dormant state.

“Ugh…!”

Unlike Eden, who had experienced more corpses than people on the battlefield, the ordinary citizen Park Chunbeom had to swallow down the nausea that kept rising. Even as his hands trembled, he used one to cover the child’s eyes so he wouldn’t see the bodies.

Reaching the rooftop, Eden stopped in front of the door to catch his breath.

“I’ll go out first, so everyone wait here for just ten seconds.”

“Hngh, yes, yes.”

【Be careful, Eden.】

Eden slowly opened the rooftop door. The first thing that came into view was an extra-large helipad where helicopters could land and take off, and next to it, a small, landscaped rooftop garden.

The rain that had been pouring down had also vanished at some point. He looked up at the grayish-brown sky where the sun was beginning to break through after the rain, his chest, stiff with tension, heaving. His blood-stained dress shirt and suit pants clung damply to his entire body.

As the promised time passed, Jeffry appeared.

【What the. Are you sure there are no zombies?】

“Are there no mon-monsters? Here too?”

Park Chunbeom, who was the last to close the rooftop door, looked around.

【I think we should check the back too.】

As if he couldn’t believe the situation was going so smoothly, Jeffry scratched his head and acted uncharacteristically thorough. Behind the rooftop were a machine room, the main building’s water tank, and an exchange room.

【I’ll just go check the back….】

Dudududu— Dududu—

Just then, the heavy sound of a propeller came from far away. As if on cue, the four of them all raised their heads to the sky.

“Uncle!! A helicopter!!”

Jungbyul clapped his hands and stomped his feet.

【Right on time.】

Jeffry swallowed the emotion welling up in his voice and let out a sigh. Hoo— Four propeller blades spun rapidly as it approached the rooftop. They were spinning so fast that the blades looked as if they were frozen in place.

“Ugh!”

A violent wind blew, strong enough to sweep them off their feet. Pushing the staggering Byul behind him, Eden secured a safe distance, putting space between them and the helicopter.

Dudududu— Dudududu—

Soon, a dark green Surion helicopter landed on the helipad.

“Will we be able to go far?!”

Park Chunbeom asked Eden, his voice somewhat excited.

“Even so, the flight time is two hours at most. We won’t be able to go very far.”

The propellers were still spinning fiercely. The side door of the helicopter opened.

A man in a US Forces Korea uniform with a US flag patch leaned out halfway and shouted in English.

【Are you CTO Eden Jeong?!】

Eden placed the longsword on the ground and raised both hands.

【Yes, I’m Eden! I received the rescue code 4321!】

After contacting someone to get final confirmation, the soldier nodded. The man who had been leaning halfway out got completely out of the helicopter.

Dududu—

A sense of tension hung on everyone’s faces from the noise of the propeller, which made even their hearts pound.

【We will conduct a check for infection and then you can board!】

Holding a rifle, he gestured for them to come over. Hearing the signal, everyone was about to approach the helicopter.

Tadadadadak… Grrr…. Amid the loud propeller noise, a faint, extraneous sound suddenly mixed in. It vaguely resembled the cry of a beast lying in ambush for its prey. Instinctively stopping his steps, Byul blocked Eden.

“Uncle.”

Eden looked down at Byul, who was desperately clutching his trouser leg.

“Monster… sound…”

Before he could even process the child’s words, the sound of a gunshot rang out first.

BANG—!!

At the sudden gunshot, everyone reflexively covered their ears and crouched down.

BANG, BANG—!!!

Headache-inducing gunshots followed one after another. Eden raised his head. He caught sight of zombies in hospital gowns rushing toward the soldier.

“Gyaaaaaaah—!!”

The roaring propeller, the gunshots, and the soldier’s scream echoed deafeningly in his eardrums. It was instantaneous.

Jeffry, having grasped the situation, cursed under his breath and took care of the panicked Park Chunbeom and Byul. Jeffry shouted at Eden, who was staring straight ahead.

【Eden!! There are too many of them! We have to go back!!】

The soldier, whose neck had been bitten, collapsed after spewing blood and firing his gun wildly into the air. Another soldier, who had been leaning out of the helicopter with only his upper body, was seen signaling to the cockpit.

Noticing that the transport was about to leave, Eden ran forward to stop them. A few zombies that spotted him tore their mouths open and were on him in an instant.