Marauder of the Apocalypse
Chapter 134: Flames

Time passed quickly, and November arrived. The air grew cold, heralding winter, and our stockpiled resources gradually began to dwindle.

Even with the crops prepared by the townhouse people, the amount was insufficient for complete self-sufficiency. Yet there weren't enough survivors nearby to continue raiding.

Of course, there were flies that bothered us, but like most flies, they weren't easy to catch and kill.

"Couldn't catch them. They run away really fast."

A companion wiped his sweat-soaked forehead as he reported to me. I'd sent them out as a hunting party for tracking and killing, but he shook his head while pointing to the bicycle beside him.

"Bicycles alone aren't enough. Those people know the local terrain well, and they've set up simple traps in buildings and escape routes."

"They escape that well?"

When I asked skeptically, the hunting party companions all burst out speaking almost simultaneously.

"Once we lose sight of them, we can't tell where they went."

"It's impossible to predict which way they'll go inside buildings. Whether they exit from the opposite side, or hide inside before escaping... to catch them, we'd need to deploy all our companions."

Tracking seemed difficult. Concrete buildings were excellent fortresses in themselves, and a dense city of concrete buildings was a chaotic maze.

Perfect terrain for provocation and escape.

To counter this, we'd need to form a surrounding net with far more people than the opponent, receive drone support, or use valuable oil to operate motorcycles.

I frowned while adjusting my mask.

"Can't exactly spray insecticide..."

Flies buzzing annoyingly around us. Mobilizing combat personnel on a large scale presented problems with guard duty fatigue and townhouse defense.

At times like this, we needed to use human ingenuity. Like a farmer's snail trap, or a machine that lures and kills pests.

Or just burn everything. A thought that had been circling my mind suddenly resurfaced.

'Maybe I should just set fires and escape before it rains.'

Once it rained, we couldn't use forest fires as a weapon. Wouldn't it be better to strike first with forest fires before the rain came?

But doing such a thing without external pressure would shock even my most boundary-crossing companions...

There was a difference between setting fires to overcome the pressure of a powerful enemy and unnecessarily starting fires when we could simply escape.

"We'll head back then."

The hunting party companions bowed their heads one by one. Their legs trembling from exhaustion after running so hard, they returned to their houses.

Watching their retreating figures, I sighed deeply out of frustration.

"Why not just fight properly? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Because I'd revealed my intention to use forest fires as a weapon, the alliance was careful not to give us any pretexts. Indeed, it was better to hide the most vicious and evil methods. Keep them thoroughly concealed, then strike when the opponent least expects it.

***

The flies' provocations came at all hours.

During the day, they fired shots from the mountains or commercial buildings near the townhouse. At night, they approached under cover of darkness, set off alarm systems, and fled.

At first, the guards responded nervously and stayed focused, but as time passed, they began to shrug it off. They'd grown accustomed to the stimulation.

In the dead of night, I climbed up to the rooftop of the watchtower-like house for no particular reason. A companion leaning against the railing spoke casually:

"Who is it?"

"A townhouse survivor. I've come for revenge."

"What? ...Oh, Captain. You scared me. I almost shot you."

The companion who had jumped in the darkness and aimed his rifle at me muttered weakly. I went beside him and surveyed the surroundings.

A world without electricity. The faint light leaking from the solar-powered house couldn't illuminate the entrance. Roads that would normally be lit by streetlights were filled with darkness where you couldn't see an inch ahead.

"Have those people come again?"

"Hard to tell. Can't see much."

The guard rambled on about various things.

"Cans or paper rustle in the wind, and wild animals pass through too. It's hard to tell if they're shaking things from a distance and running away."

That was true. In the darkness, it was hard to even distinguish between zombies and humans.

"So you only get alarmed if the warning sounds ring consecutively or from nearby?"

"Yes. I generally start being cautious just beyond pistol range."

Should we charge and use electric lanterns? Or phones? We could manage to arrange some lighting.

While wondering if we had enough spare electricity, I pulled out my pistol and hammer from my chest out of boredom.

"I'll do some ambushing for a while."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Can't sleep anyway."

The reason animals are difficult to hunt is that they're hard to find in the first place and good at escaping.

But after experiencing the flies' provocations for several days, I'd roughly grasped their behavioral patterns. The locations they visited to provoke us. At night, they came close to the townhouse.

"I'll be down there, so don't shoot carelessly."

"Yes, sir. Oh, you should also tell the friend at the opposite watchtower."

"Of course."

After leaving instructions with both guards, I went down to the road by the entrance, casually touching the alarm devices, making bell sounds as I hid.

***

It was November. The chirping of crickets had subsided. A few crickets that had mistaken the season still chirped occasionally, but they were rarely heard now.

So as I crouched in the darkness near the farthest alarm device, all I could hear was the ding-ding sound of alarm devices swaying in the wind.

Looking up at the sky, stars filled the heavens as if they might pour down any moment.

'It's cold.'

Winter was approaching with rapid strides. The season of death. Wouldn't the world covered in pristine white snow become a silent city of death?

The city's depleted resources, the unbearable cold, people slowly withering and freezing to death. In the stillness, people would suffer from famine before meeting a cold death.

I smiled faintly, staring not at the stars but at the dark void between them.

'Even if spring comes after winter's end, the world won't change much.'

To reverse the world our chairman had changed would require the development of a vaccine or cure, but vaccines existed only in rumors passed from mouth to mouth.

There's a vaccine in Immortal Company's secret laboratory hidden somewhere in the world, a secret organization is hiding the vaccine to control the population, key government figures have been vaccinated and stay in quarantine safe zones...

Stories to be heard for amusement and nothing more.

After following my train of thought for a while, I soon regained focus and concentrated on keeping watch.

'It would be good if flies came while I'm out here.'

Ding-ding, the sound of cans and bells tied to strings. It seemed to ring regularly due to the wind, but sometimes bells would suddenly ring.

If I listened carefully, I could sense phantom presences.

It was like wild animals moving in the underbrush, or the sound of weeds rubbing their leaves in the wind, or sometimes like people moving in the darkness.

'I really can't tell.'

I quietly held my pistol and blinked.

The darkness where nothing was visible was just like a blank canvas—if I imagined something, it created the illusion that something was really there.

Simple presences were colored by imagination, becoming all kinds of entities.

It was a moment when I realized why equipment like night vision goggles was important. Then I heard a particularly distinctive presence.

Ding-ding-ding, bells ringing in succession. It was the alarm device where I was hiding.

'Have they come?'

I aimed my pistol in the approximate direction, but waited momentarily since it could be an illusion.

After brief consideration, I gently reached out and grabbed the string. Then I shook my hand vigorously, ringing the bells. The alarm device spewed noise as if possessed.

Amid that noise, I heard someone's breathing. A brief voice expelled in surprise.

"Oh."

So it was a person. Then they must die.

I opened my mouth wide and released a grotesque cry drawn from deep in my stomach.

"KREEEAAK!"

The other person revealed their presence clearly, startled by my zombie-like cry. The sound of shoe soles scraping the ground, hurriedly drawing a weapon, exhaling a Ah.

The opponent's weapon was definitely a pistol. I hid behind the streetlight where the string was tied and fired my pistol repeatedly.

Not knowing the exact location, I shot as widely as possible, spraying bullets.

"Kugh."

A voice suppressing a scream. Footsteps hurrying away, growing distant.

"Did I miss?"

I peeked my head out from behind the streetlight.

It was too dark to track. If it had been brighter, I could have followed the blood trail. Feeling disappointed, I idly swung my pistol as I slowly returned to the watchtower.

The guard, who had risen to his feet, was looking down at the road before turning to me.

"Did a zombie approach? Did you fight off a zombie, Captain?"

"What? No, that wasn't it. I made the zombie sound, and I was the one shooting. One of the flies got shot and ran away."

"Ah."

The companion let out a short sound as if bewildered, then released his grip on the machine gun.

"Do you think they'll stop approaching now?"

"I don't know about that. As long as they're taking orders from the police, they'll keep moving. Anyway, I've thought of a rough way to deal with them, so I'll handle it myself from now on."

I'd formulated a basic strategy. Since they were trying to provoke us, they would continue to approach. By ambushing and setting traps in likely locations, we could catch them without much difficulty.

I waved to the guard and returned home.