Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 65: Letter

During a boring afternoon with nothing to do, the heat slowly cooked us even indoors.

We gathered in one house to split the tolls we'd collected. Cigarettes, lighters, wet wipes, batteries and such - small items with considerable value.

But there wasn't much. Not enough to really help with living, just pocket money level. I muttered emptily:

"Now I see why bandits are poor."

Maybe tolls were just side income? Weren't raids a bandit's main income? Seemed impossible to maintain a living without one big raid for lots of profit.

Couldn't compare to the resources gained from clearing Peace Villa and taking over the villa district.

Park Yang-gun tapped a cigarette pack and picked up the menu RiderZero had given us.

"None of us smoke anyway. Should we order some meat from them?"

"Dog meat? That's..."

"I heard old folks used to eat it as health food, haha. I'll pass. Not into pigeon either."

Meat. Been a while since we'd eaten any meat besides Spam. Forget grilled meat - we hadn't even had bacon or sausage.

But I was put off by dog meat too. We weren't starving that badly yet, and something felt functionally wrong about it.

Dogs had been bred for pets or hunting. If there were dogs bred for food they might taste good, but these would probably smell bad and taste awful.

'Easy to say when we're not hungry though.'

If we were starving to death, who'd care if it was dog? We'd eat rats, pigeons, sparrows, cats, anything.

As the mood soured, Park Yang-gun grumbled complaints while waving the menu. He seemed quite disappointed.

"It's summer! Need health food to survive! Let's at least eat pigeon instead of chicken."

"Uh, you eat that yourself."

I quickly backed out. Food cooked by strangers we barely knew. How would we know if they'd contaminated it with zombie saliva? We had to be suspicious of why the delivery vigilantes ran such restaurants.

They might build trust with normal food, then launch attacks once that trust was sufficient.

Do-hyung and Sa Gi-hyeok also shook their heads as they stood up. Do-hyung jangled his car keys.

"Let's go sit in the car with the AC? It's unbearably hot today."

The car still worked and had fuel left. Should we waste fuel just for cooling? We could save it for heating fires in winter.

After brief thought, I stood up. Why save it? We were dying from heat right now.

"Let's go."

So we gathered up our dead phones and power banks and went to huddle in the car enjoying the cool air.

Was this proof of modern society's collapse? People's active hours changed flexibly with conditions.

They avoided daylight when zombies were numerous, and carefully went out only when zombies slept during the still-bright summer evenings at 8PM when planned blackouts hit. Or they operated in areas that had lost power.

We also sprawled in the cool car until sunset, then headed out as darkness fell.

Hot air hit our skin the moment we opened the car doors and got out. Though cooler than daytime, it was still terribly hot and humid.

"This is driving me crazy. Wonder if we can even sleep properly."

"Isn't this tropical nights?"

Complaints and grumbling poured from everyone's mouths. All we could do was curse in the face of weather - an unbeatable enemy.

Park Yang-gun, sulking because we wouldn't order delivery, sat stubbornly in the car.

"I'll stay a bit longer."

"You brought weapons right? Support us if any fighting breaks out."

I looked him over. Making sure he hadn't left his gun. We planned to keep collecting tolls. Park Yang-gun needed to provide gun support if needed.

Just as Park Yang-gun waved his hand dismissively, we heard commotion. Beyond the alley where we'd hidden the car, on the villa district's main road.

The sound of many people walking and voices chattering. And two female voices calling Park Yang-gun's name loudly.

"Dad!"

"Park Yang-gun, where are you!"

I held up my palm signaling them to wait, then carefully peeked my head around the alley corner.

Many people were there. Dirty people wearing hiking clothes and carrying lots of bags. They wore headlamps like hats, and their free hands held spears made from sticks of decent thickness with nails, awls or kitchen knives tied to them.

Eavesdropping on their conversation wasn't good. Their moving headlamp beams swept across rooftops and streets.

"This place looks good to stay? There's water tanks on the roofs. High ground means less worry about monsoons. If the gas lines are intact we could probably use gas too."

"Electricity's a shame but better than living in the mountains. And no people around."

...Unwelcome guests. Foreign species invading my territory. Especially those leaders. A woman around Park Yang-gun's age and a girl who could be high school or college age. People who kept shouting for Park Yang-gun.

Probably his ex-wife and daughter.

I quickly returned to the alley and whispered to Do-hyung:

"Get ready to ram them with the car. Looks like they want to settle in the villa district. We have to stop this. Sneak around behind the villas."

"Got it."

"Sa Gi-hyeok, go through the first floor villa backs to the roof. If fighting breaks out, throw bricks or ladders from up there. No Molotovs, no fire. Take a pot of water up or something."

The two marauders disappeared skillfully into the darkness behind the alleys. They glanced at Park Yang-gun.

Being perceptive, they must have realized his family had come. The man himself would know even better.

He hung his head low and sighed.

"Why'd they come here. Why."

"What do you want to do?"

I wanted to kill them all, but the numbers were too different. Fighting directly would be disadvantageous. If we were ready to kill...

Several scenarios wrote themselves in my mind, but no time to review them. I pressed Park Yang-gun for his choice.

"I don't plan to have those people as neighbors. Save your family or kill them. Choose quickly."

Park Yang-gun clasped his hands as if finding faith again. Quick muttering leaked through his mask. He slowly raised his head.

"I want them saved."

"Then let's go out together. I have one plan. First give them one villa building, then trap and kill them. Extract just your family later when we see how things go."

I quickly suppressed the murderous intent rising from deep in my mind. I adjusted my baseball cap, checked my gun, and raised my hammer.

The feeling of survivors who couldn't be ignored but weren't too threatening. Park Yang-gun and I trudged out of the alley making footsteps.

It was quite a scene. They'd put their bags down on the road like they already owned the villa district, looking around the buildings to pick their homes.

I couldn't help laughing at the absurdity. So I immediately raised my gun toward the sky and pulled the trigger.

Bang, a loud gunshot. People's conversations stopped. They all turned to look at me. Headlamp beams gathered on me like spotlights.

I aimed my gun.

"What are you doing in someone else's territory?"

"Someone lived here?"

A person in black hiking clothes drew a gun too. They said they sold herbs and meat to the delivery vigilantes - must have gotten a gun somehow with those resources.

Couldn't back down here. Had to at least make them give up thoughts of fighting. I shouted loudly:

"Start the engine! Get ready on the roof!"

As if answering my booming voice, lights came on in a car at the end of the street. Noisy engine sounds carried too.

It was essentially an encirclement. Car from behind, me from the front.

Silence stretched for a moment. The hiking group watched me while whispering uncertainly. They turned to look at the car, tapped the ground with their spears.

'Never fought people before? Well, they were living wild in the mountains.'

Seemed we could gain the upper hand.

Park Yang-gun wiped his face like washing it, then stepped forward.

"Why show up now after no contact all this time?"

"Dad?"

His daughter spoke while blinking like at a stranger. Then his ex-wife hesitated before slowly taking a step forward.

"Sorry. Didn't expect to meet like this."

"This isn't right. Should've just brought the kid. Why bring all these people?"

An awkward reunion. The man in black who looked like the hiking club's leader quietly cleared his throat while slowly lowering his gun.

"We know each other through connections. Let's handle this nicely. Looking around, not many people here. We'll just use empty buildings."

I glanced at Park Yang-gun and lowered my gun like I had no choice. Murderous intent was most lethal when hidden.

I spoke bitterly as if this was the best goodwill possible:

"...You can only use one building."

"Why? There's so many of us."

"We put zombie corpses in the water tanks as traps."

He trembled his hands like he was shocked.

"Has the city gotten that dangerous?"

"Been living in the mountains? So many marauders, scavengers, criminals, crazy people."

I spoke while shivering like I was really scared, and the hiking club leader closed his mouth before slowly taking out a plastic bag.

"You're supposed to give rice cakes to neighbors when moving in. These are herbs from the mountains, they're healthy. Take them."

"Leave them on the ground. You can use that villa over there. The key, I'll get it for you right away."

So we exchanged keys and herbs. The tension awkwardly eased and the hiking group lowered their guard a bit.

I went to open the villa door myself, using the excuse of finding the right key, while measuring the distance between the door and wall. To block the door with appropriate wooden beams or furniture.