Walking Daddy

Chapter 28

After the first group of survivors to be evacuated were selected, I assembled the thirty underlings I’d first brought to the school, and we made our way out through the back entrance of the school.

I order the twenty-seven new underlings to stand guard on the field and protect the school. The eight children in the group were all in their early teens or younger. Some cried, and all were full of fear when they saw the blue-colored zombies.

“Hey! The principal said we shouldn’t cry. Have you forgotten?”

“But still, I’m scared…”

“He said the blue zombies here are on our side. There’s no reason to be scared.”

The oldest child amongst them calmed the other children down. However, I could tell that the oldest child was also nervous, despite his reassuring words. Nevertheless, he resisted his fear and trusted what the adults had said. I was proud of the young fella.

The first group of evacuees had no trouble getting to the apartment complex thanks to this child. I didn’t see any red creatures along the way. I sent the children up to unit 505 where my people were waiting.

After seeing the eight children, the others in the apartment asked about the whereabouts of the rest. Choi Da-Hye looked extremely anxious. I raised both of my index fingers and waved them back and forth, trying to explain to them that we would be making multiple trips.

Choi Da-Hye nodded at me, and asked me to make sure we got back safely. I replied with a slight nod of my own, then stepped outside again.

I knew we had to move faster. The sun was already falling below the horizon. In an hour, or even less than that, the sun would completely set.

I took a look at my underlings around me and headed back to the school with an additional twenty of them. The journey to the apartment had taken a long time because of the children, but we were now sprinting back.

Well, to be precise, it wasn’t exactly sprinting. My underlings were, at best, jogging behind me. I was glad that they were at least jogging. After a while, my underlings even began to run a little. It was an improvement compared to the trotting they had managed earlier in the day.

‘So, my underlings get stronger if I get stronger, huh?’

Ever since I had eaten the black creature’s brain, I realized that the physical abilities of my underlings had changed as well. It was nice to know that I had learned another thing about zombies.

‘But hey, enough with the idle thoughts.’

I continued toward the school, at a pace faster than that of my underlings.

* * *

In the first-floor hallway, the teens who were older than the children from the first group of evacuees were waiting for me. Most of them seemed to be in their mid- to late teens. Each of them carried a backpack. I assumed that they had packed the remaining food or essentials.

I saw Lee Jeong-Uk rushing somewhere. He noticed me and halted, then came over to speak to me.

“Did you get the children back okay?”

“Grr.”

“Good work man.”

Lee Jeong-Uk gave me a pat on the shoulder while wiping off the sweat trickling down his forehead. It seemed like he could sense the subtle difference between my growls now. I guess he wasn’t lying when he claimed he could tell from my growls whether I was saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

He bade me farewell and was just about to run off again when I grabbed onto his sleeve. He turned around and asked, “Hmm? Do you need anything?”

I raised four of my fingers to indicate the number ‘four’. He stood there, looking at me, then said hesitantly, “You want to reduce the number of people in the group to four?”

I growled out a negative.

“Then you want four more?”

This time, I growled in approval.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked over the underlings behind me one by one. He could tell at a glance that there were more underlings than before. He nodded, then ran toward the classroom. He returned with four more kids and made them join the others who were already in the hallway.

“Take care, and make it back safely.”

I nodded back, then ordered my underlings to form a tight circle around the kids. Just as what had happened with the first group of evacuees, we made our way to the back entrance. This trip being the second trip, I had already mapped out in my mind the path with the least zombies.

Thanks to this, we were able to make much better time as compared to the first group. The fact that the children were a bit older on average also made things go much more smoothly. During our journey, four zombies with vision tried to attack the children. At my touch, however, they all turned green.

I knew that, in the situation we were in, yelling and threatening zombies was a waste of time. I got the twelve children safely to unit 505 and headed back to the school right away. The sun was almost below the horizon, and darkness was slowly creeping up from the east.

Because of this, my underlings and I were able to move faster. It took me ten minutes to get to the school from the apartment. I knew I would be able to save more time once the sun had set completely.

Once I made it past the walls of the school and into the main compound, I saw my people with the rest of the survivors in the first-floor hallway. This third group of evacuees seemed to be the last, as Lee Jeong-Uk was also in the hallway.

‘I’m glad that I brought more underlings.’

If it weren’t for the extra underlings, we would have required a fourth trip. This third team comprised the Lee brothers, Kang Eun-Jeong, Byeon Hyeok-Jin, four elders, and the principal.

As I stepped into the hallway, Lee Jeong-Uk came up to me.

“Let’s get going right away.”

I agreed with him. There was no time to lose. I gave him a firm nod and led my underlings and the survivors to the back entrance.

The moment I went through the back entrance, I felt a tingling sensation. Immediately after that, I felt as though something was looking at me with murderous eyes. My eyes went wide with surprise, and I quickly turned around.

However, I couldn’t see anything with my naked eye. The sensation, of all things, was coming from the direction of the sunset, which made it even harder to open my eyes. All I could see was the glaring sunset and the surprisingly quiet school.

The tingling feeling grew stronger. I felt as if every part of my body was being dragged down into a swamp. Byeon Hyeok-Jin noticed my sudden caution and decided to speak up. “Why, what’s going on? Is there something out there?”

It was none other than Lee Jeong-Uk who covered Byeon Hyeok-Jin’s mouth. Lee Jeong-Uk looked at me anxiously, still covering Byeon Hyeok-Jin’s mouth with one hand.

I had reacted in a similar manner when we’d run into the black creature. Lee Jeong-Uk had probably sensed something subconsciously, thanks to his memories of what had happened back then. I gave up on returning to the apartment and led everyone back to the school.

I couldn’t risk the trip back to the apartment knowing that there was something out there eyeing us. It was clear to me that, if we tried to make the trip, the consequences would be dire. I couldn’t endanger So-Yeon’s safety. My underlings and everyone who was with me followed me without saying a word.

We entered the first floor of the school, and I caught Lee Jeong-Uk’s eye. Even without saying a word, Lee Jeong-Uk realized how serious the situation had become, and led the survivors to an empty classroom.

All the windows in there were covered with planks. I assumed that he had been busy putting these up earlier on. I was surprised at what Lee Jeong-Uk had done while I’d been busy. It seemed he had prepared this place ahead of time, just in case enemies attacked while I was gone.

I ordered my underlings to keep a lookout in the hallway while I followed the survivors into the empty classroom. Only then did Lee Jeong-Uk whisper, “There’s something out there huh?”

I nodded in reply. I peered outside through the cracks between the planks to assess the situation. The sun was barely visible. During our short journey, darkness had swept across the sky. Only then did I notice the zombies looking our way with my own eyes.

I saw the red beings peeking their heads out of the window of a building three hundred meters away. I hadn’t been able to visually confirm their existence earlier on because of the sunset. Now that the sun had set, though, there was no way they could hide their red-colored heads in the darkness.

‘Five? Six? No.’

There were more red faces in the building next to them. And more in the building next to that one. There were at least thirty of them. And they all had vision.

For zombies in the streets, it would be surprising to find one zombie out of ten who could see. In that case, it meant that there were at least three hundred red creatures occupying the area. I assumed that there had to be a leader amongst them that was targeting us. Their overwhelming numbers caused fear to swell within me, and I broke into cold sweat.

Three hundred zombies. It was an absurd number.

‘Can I protect everyone from them?’

As I stared blankly into space, Lee Jeong-Uk shook me to get my attention. “Can you hear me?”

I looked at him quizzically.

I didn’t even notice he’d been calling me. All my attention had been trained on what I’d been seeing outside. I had no clue that he’d been trying to grab my attention. He grew a little agitated and asked forcefully, “What the hell are you looking at?”

They were three hundred meters away. And they were just peeking their heads out through the buildings’ windows. With the sun down, it was impossible for a human being to see them with their naked eye. Without the ability to sense their presence the way I could, or recognize the red glow, it was impossible.

I mimed holding a pencil with my right hand, indicating that I wanted a pen. Lee Jeong-Uk handed me the pen he had inside his pocket. I took the pen and wrote down letters on the plank.

- Many

After reading what I had written down, all the survivors looked at me open-mouthed, but not in a good way. Lee Jeong-Uk seemed like he was about to lose his mind. In a stuttering voice, he asked, “Then, then… Are they after us?”

I nodded, my expression rather calm. My gesture caused the survivors to fall into despair. Sighs and groans filled the room. Lee Jeong-Uk smacked his lips. “How many? How many do they have? Are there more of them than your underlings?”

I put down the pen in my hand and spread my arms out wide. I then made a big circle. With that, everyone sank to the ground, their mouths open like goldfish.

Many parents often asked their children how much they loved them. I, too, had asked So-Yeon this question multiple times when she went to daycare. Most children answered by spreading their arms as wide as they could while making a big circle.

This much.

When children made this gesture, it brought indescribable happiness and inspiration. Now, however, the same circle only brought despair and death.

Lee Jeong-Uk stared at me blankly. He was completely spaced out. I didn’t know what to do. Time was ticking away. Every minute felt like ten years.

One of the elders began hyperventilating, as though suffering from claustrophobia. The principal went up to the elder with a plastic bag as if he knew he was going to vomit. At the moment, we were all in a classroom. However, to the elder, the spacious classroom must’ve felt like a tiny cell with no way out.

I looked across the room, looking into the eyes of the survivors. Everyone seemed to have unfocused gazes. They were either staring blankly at the ceiling, or sighing while looking down at the floor. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to improve this horrid atmosphere.

At that moment, I caught a glimpse of the full length mirror in the corner of the classroom. I saw myself standing among the other people with my glowing red eyes.

‘What the heck are you doing, man? You really think you’re human just because you’re in a group of other humans? Get your shit together, man.’

I couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous I looked. I got up and headed out into the hallway.