Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 60: Elimination

Do-hyung blinked stupidly before his face turned red and his hands trembled. Like the vicious electricity thief he was, he seemed excited at the thought of committing crimes.

"K-kill everyone? Without leaving anyone?"

"No. You, Park Yang-gun, and Sa Gi-hyeok if possible should live."

How could I think of killing my criminal companions? That would be too cruel. I quickly waved my hands to stop him.

Do-hyung clasped his trembling hands as if praying. His rough breathing could be heard through his mask.

"The children too, we have to kill them."

"Of course. Can't discriminate."

They weren't children. They were workers, survivors with experience equal to mine. Shouldn't treat them specially, shouldn't underestimate them. They were enemies to face with full force.

Flash, lightning struck, followed by rumble, thunder.

Do-hyung squeezed his eyes shut. Deep breaths followed. His trembling had stopped. He calmly picked up his hand axe.

"I'll do it."

"Then I'll tell you the plan. It's simple."

The street people would know something happened from the man's shouting. We'd enter houses saying we'd explain the situation, then attack.

Trust was our weapon. Trust that made them show their vulnerabilities. We'd use that trust to attack.

Plus most people lived separately, so we wouldn't be outnumbered.

So we armed ourselves with hammer, gun, hand axe, and shoelaces before heading out into the pouring rain.

"Hello. Someone tried selling lettuce to marauders. Because of that person's problem."

"Oh my. Someone was thoughtless."

"But your lifespans are short."

An elderly couple. As I struck the grandmother's head with my hammer, Do-hyung silently went behind the grandfather and strangled him with a string so he couldn't even scream.

"We need to discuss how to punish them... Ah, could I borrow a towel? I'm soaked from the rain."

"Not sure if we have dry towels. Haven't done laundry, just a moment."

"I'll find one. Stay there."

When they dared turn their back to me heading for the bathroom, I hit their head with the hammer while the hand axe cut their throat.

"The lettuce buyer was a marauder. We almost all died."

"Th-that, that person. What are we going to do? Can't just leave them!"

"Of course not. We'll do this."

Kill the person who got angry, kill the person who wouldn't join the meeting, kill the person who thought about selling lettuce, kill.

Of course not everything went smoothly.

Sometimes I had Do-hyung take the lead when people were strangely wary of me, sometimes we had to knock long after people had gone to bed early, sometimes people even dodged my hammer strikes by reflex.

"Hah..."

I collapsed in the entrance gasping for breath. The hammer rolled across the floor with a clang.

A man soaked in blood lay face down before me. With a hand axe stuck in his back, he coughed up blood while gasping for air.

He was a difficult opponent. Someone who dodged my hammer and threw punches while clinging to me. I might have died without Do-hyung.

Suddenly fatigue hit and my eyelids grew heavy. How many hammer strikes? How many people killed? A chill crept up eerily. The rain stole my body heat. Might catch a cold.

'Can't get sick.'

My strength had dropped too much.

"Ah, ahhhhh! Run away!"

A sudden shout. I forced my eyes open. The man with the axe in his back desperately screamed, warning the neighbors.

I smirked.

"No one to hear."

Everyone in this villa was already dead. Other villas? Only one left, and the heavy rain drowned out sound anyway.

The man coughed up blood while painfully raising his head to look at me, then shifted his gaze to Do-hyung.

"Why, why. You, you..."

"..."

Why ask Do-hyung that? It subtly annoyed me that he felt no need to ask me.

Looking up at Do-hyung, he calmly looked down at the soon-to-be corpse. He even bent down to retrieve his hand axe. Crack, he muttered while bringing the axe down on the neck:

"I'm doing what I can do."

A proper confirmation kill. Do-hyung stepped in the pool of blood with a splash and spoke to me:

"I'll handle the remaining people. Take a break."

"Ah... No. The children are left. Mother, two kids. How can you handle three people alone."

Even for Do-hyung, three was too much. Children? Just them running at me with an awl would be terrifying.

I picked up my dropped hammer but it felt tremendously heavy. My arms hurt too, maybe from a cold or muscle pain.

The hammer trembled. Do-hyung shook his head.

"You'll just get in the way. Let me borrow the hammer. I threw the hand axe, need something to swing."

"Let's rest a bit then go together."

Should at least avoid overwhelming disadvantages. Face everyone with full force without underestimating them. Would shoot the gun if needed.

I forced myself up using the wall for support but could barely muster any strength. More exhausted than I thought. Mental strength had dropped a lot too. Though I killed easily, couldn't help being tense.

Do-hyung took the hammer from my hand.

"No, really. Why are you so stubborn? Don't worry and leave it to me."

I handed over the hammer obediently. No way I could swing it in this condition. I'll use the gun instead. Two bullets left.

"Still, let's go together."

"Ah..."

I staggered forward while Do-hyung slowly followed.

The street was bright with streetlights as the blackout ended. Raindrops poured down hitting corpses and roads, washing away blood splattered on clothes.

We headed to the last remaining house.

Leaving the sound of rain behind, we climbed the stairs step by step. The villa was quiet. Our wet footsteps echoed up the stairs.

When we knocked on the entrance we'd arrived at, a careful voice responded. The children's mother.

"Who is it?"

"Yes, it's me. Someone just tried selling lettuce to marauders. The man sent me to hear what you think about it."

After a brief silence, the door slowly opened. A brightly lit entrance. The children's mother gripped a kitchen knife while looking us over and stepped back.

"Blood?"

"From escaping after facing some marauders... The lettuce buyer turned out to be a marauder."

I signaled Do-hyung with my eyes. Quickly swing the hammer or axe. But Do-hyung stood frozen still, so I had no choice but to continue speaking:

"He wanted to discuss what punishment to give the lettuce leaker. Do you have any thoughts?"

"...Could we perhaps share that person's food?"

The mother's eyes flashed. Having contributed much food to the school, seems she wanted food first.

I naturally put my hand in my pocket. Found the gun hidden under my jacket to keep it dry from rain.

That's when the children suddenly showed their faces behind their mother. They looked up at me and Do-hyung with curious eyes.

"It's the cross mister. Why are you here?"

"Came to make you into crosses."

"Hey, don't lie."

I laughed. It was a lie. Scarecrows like crosses were meaningless now. Time to abandon the strategy of threatening to drive them away.

Thump, I hit Do-hyung. He just turned his head to look at me with a squeak.

"This doesn't seem right. This really isn't right."

"..."

Was he serious? After coming this far? Had he still not adapted enough?

"Let's just go back. We don't have to do this. We can return to Hope Community, or just take the remaining resources-"

"Ah, fine."

I sighed deeply as if tired and stepped back. As if agreeing with Do-hyung's opinion. Do-hyung's stiff expression relaxed, while the children's mother gripped her kitchen knife tightly sensing danger.

Then I drew my gun and shot.

Bang, bang. Two gunshots. Sparks flew. I then snatched the hammer from Do-hyung's hand and swung.

"Uh. Ah."

Do-hyung only made incomprehensible sounds. Though he seemed to have lost his mind, I was already too disappointed to care.

I left just a few words before heading down the stairs.

"Let's move the resources slowly."

They'd get wet if we moved them in the rain.

When I went out to the street, the world suddenly lit up brightly. Almost simultaneously came thunder like the sky was falling, and all the streetlights went out.

A real blackout. Lightning must have hit something, bringing darkness to the area.

Though I'd cleanly cleaned up the villa district, my heart sank heavily. Summer. The season of disaster had come. The season when infrastructure breaks down and people break down.

Good thing we'd stockpiled enough resources at least.

'Eat the lettuce quickly, store the villa people's resources well, avoid getting hurt. Charge phones by starting the car. Anyway, we should be able to endure summer.'

I returned home imagining a survivable future.

Damn. 5/week from here on guys!