Marauder of the Apocalypse
Chapter 140: Flames

Ambush and attack is easy work. Especially when you know exactly when and where the enemy will arrive, making the overall situation extremely favorable for us.

That's why I became suspicious.

"Is this real?"

I stared at the note left by the flies until it might burn a hole, tapping my finger.

Could this information be bait? Might the alliance be setting up an ambush targeting us as we attacked, or might the flies have set traps?

The alliance had reason to attack us, and the flies had benefits to gain by killing us. Military equipment. Not just guns, but helmets and bulletproof vests were gear that increased survival probability.

As I glared silently at the note, the fly tied up in front of me spoke in a trembling voice.

"You said you'd give me work. When are you going to set me free?"

"Ah. Work."

I shifted my gaze to look at the fly we'd kept as a prisoner. Since there was no longer any reason to keep him confined, I'd removed the coverings from the windows, and the sunlight streaming in clearly illuminated the fly.

Pale complexion, cold sweat running down his face, dark circles under his eyes. The knee wound was likely infected inside; even at a glance, his condition looked bad.

"Thanks to the information you provided last time, things are progressing well. So I'd like to reward you."

"Just set me free. My knee... I'll have to live as a cripple."

A knee once broken can't be restored. He would have to live with pain and disability for the rest of his life. His lifespan would be shortened, but he meant he could still survive for the time being.

The fly seemed to have accepted that future, but I smiled mercifully.

"I'll relieve your pain."

"You have painkillers? ...Ha. You're planning to kill me."

I silently took out my hammer. The fly looked at the hammer with hollow eyes, then met my gaze.

"I expected this. But I still hoped, just in case."

"No need to thank me."

"Wait!"

The fly shouted loudly. I paused with my hammer raised, blinking as I looked him over with interest.

He's stopping me here? Does he have some hidden technique or suicide method? A survivor's desperate struggle to live is always entertaining and dangerous.

"Do you have something to say?"

"I should at least be allowed some last words."

Just giving up? That's no fun. I wore a bored expression as I raised the hammer high. My gaze fixed precisely on the fly's crown.

"Just die."

Konk. As the hammer gently stroked his crown, the fly couldn't control his body from joy and collapsed. The noose connected to his neck tightened, strangling him.

After wiping my dirty hammer on the fly's clothes, I left the room.

Either way, I had only one job to do. Murder. Whether the alliance had set up an ambush, the flies had laid traps, or this was serious provocation without any games, killing them all would end it.

***

The time for the next provocation arrived. Lunchtime, when the sun hung in the middle of the sky.

I led my criminal companions toward the commercial building below the townhouse mentioned in the memo. More precisely, to the building next to the one the provocateurs would enter.

"They'll come to provoke us soon. Two people, armed with pistols."

"Two people? Then don't we all need to be here?"

Park Yang-gun fiddled with his rifle and spoke as if annoyed. He seemed so convinced the flies were spineless double agents that he appeared merely bored.

"No. We don't know what accidents might happen. We need at least four people to handle any incidents."

I tapped my rifle lightly. Guns were powerful, but they became even more powerful with numbers. Of course, I couldn't trust Sa Gi-hyeok, but headcount itself was strength.

Jeon Do-hyung checked his magazine, inspected his gun, examined the front sight, then sighed deeply.

"I wonder if this is right. It feels like we're sinking in a swamp."

"Oh. You've been in a swamp before?"

"No, it's just a saying. The feeling of sinking slowly no matter how much you struggle."

"Are you talking about something like scuba diving? You have a lot of experience."

Sa Gi-hyeok, who'd been spouting nonsense, let out a sound of pure amazement and hugged his rifle.

"I just took pictures at fancy hotel pools and showed off, I never actually got in the water."

"This is driving me crazy. You'd sink and die if you got in water, wouldn't you? No, forget it. Don't answer."

After exchanging such pointless conversation for a while.

I was watching through the window and shouldered my rifle.

"They're here. They went inside through the window. I don't see any alliance people."

Two skinny people nimbly climbed through a window. There were no drones in the sky, and not even any presence of people in the surroundings.

"So we aim and shoot when they come out? That'll be tough, no? How will we know which way they'll exit?"

Park Yang-gun was right. Maybe because society had collapsed, people didn't use doors anymore. Instead of using doors meant for people to pass through, they came and went through first-floor windows. Naturally, since there were more windows than doors, it was difficult to predict where someone would come out.

I glanced at Sa Gi-hyeok.

"Mr. Sa Gi-hyeok. Please provide suppressing fire from here. Mr. Jeon Do-hyung, Mr. Park Yang-gun, and I will go around to the opposite side and kill those trying to escape."

"Suppressing fire? A marksman like me?"

"No time. Please."

As I said that and hurried away, I could hear Sa Gi-hyeok boasting confidently.

"Then I'll guard this place. If they come out this way, I'll kill them."

Suddenly I felt anxious. What if these survivors were quick-witted enough to realize our hunting strategy? If they fled toward Sa Gi-hyeok, wouldn't they escape?

"No, Jeon Do-hyung. You stay here too. If they escape this way, shoot them."

In the end, I left even Jeon Do-hyung, my murder supporter, there and went out to the street.

***

Bang! As soon as I reached the street, I heard gunfire. It wasn't from my companions but from the sacrifices recruited by the flies.

Soon after, I heard gunshots from either Sa Gi-hyeok or Jeon Do-hyung as well.

"I'll run to that yellow compact car."

"Why tire your legs needlessly? We already have their escape route in our sights."

"Still, it's better to shoot them as they climb through windows. It's easier to kill them when they're doing other actions."

Pistols were still guns after all. Even wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, getting hit in the face or limbs would be dangerous.

I dashed to a car that gave me a clear shot at the back of the building, while Park Yang-gun followed me, grumbling.

A few seconds later, two survivors appeared. Their lips tightly sealed, making no sound with their feet, ghost-like heads rising up at a first-floor window.

Having suddenly come under suppressing fire, they should have been cursing, but like skilled survivors, they focused on concealing their presence.

'There really are no easy humans.'

These were street survivors. People who calmly handled most attacks. No wonder we couldn't find them when they moved using dense concrete buildings as cover.

A survivor who was about to climb through the window suddenly spotted me.

Our eyes met precisely, despite my attempt to hide behind an abandoned car.

"..."

"..."

In that instant, several thoughts flashed through my mind. How did they find me? Would they be fooled if I pretended to be a zombie? No, that wouldn't work. I was wearing military gear. It would be better to fire immediately.

A decision made in an instant. Just as I pulled the trigger, those two survivors moved at a similar speed. Heads ducking below the window.

The bullet I fired grazed the survivor's head by a hair's breadth.

"Ah."

Things went wrong from the start. The drive hunt had turned into an indoor battle. The difficulty had increased several times.

I couldn't even determine the enemy's position. Were they crouching quietly below the window, or crawling to move?

Park Yang-gun clicked his tongue.

"This has become troublesome. Those guys don't look easy to deal with."

"It seems the weak ones have all died, and only the tenacious ones have survived."

I kept my field of vision wide, taking in the entire building. My finger was on the trigger, ready to shoot at any movement.

But those enemies didn't easily reveal their presence.

'Are they waiting for us to leave? Planning to counterattack from inside? Or looking for another escape route?'

One thing was certain—there would be no dialogue or negotiation.

"We can't set it on fire either."

"No fire. It's too close to the townhouse."

"I know."

I couldn't waste such a powerful weapon as fire on just those two guys.

While I couldn't think of an easy way to kill the enemies inside, wasn't the process of solving such problems enjoyable in itself?

'The enemy consists of wary survivors. Their suspicion is so deep that it's difficult to deceive them by pretending to talk. But knowing the difference in armament, they probably don't want to fight either.'

In my mind, those two survivors transformed. They became herbivores fleeing from predators.

They probably wanted to escape, depending on the situation. Then my approach should be tracking and hunting.

I grinned and raised my voice.

"Hide and seek is boring. How about tag?"

No answer came. But they were surely listening.

"I'll open up a path on the left. You run, and I kill you. How about it? I'll give you one minute to escape. If you don't run after a minute..."

I took a lighter from my pocket and lit it.

"I'll set fire to the building. Run before that. Through the path we've opened."

It was a lie. I wouldn't set a fire. I wouldn't wait a minute either. If they came out, I'd shoot immediately. But what mattered was how they interpreted it.

"Now, start!"

I looked at my wristwatch and counted down. 59, 58, 57.... Ten seconds passed without movement. I wondered if they thought I wouldn't really set a fire, or if they were seriously considering their options.

One second passed, then another. Park Yang-gun spoke.

"Left end window."

Rolling my eyes to check, I saw the ghostly figures of two survivors. They were silently and smoothly climbing over the windowsill.

Their position was quite strategic. Cars and streetlights served as cover between us.

I shouldered my rifle and rushed forward. At the same time, the two survivors who came out to the street moved quickly, using cover, and a warning cry erupted.

"We set the fire first!"

Looking at the window they'd emerged from, I glimpsed flickering red light. They had apparently gathered trash inside the building and set it on fire to hinder our pursuit.

A move forcing us to choose between chasing them or containing the fire.

I grinned and pulled the trigger.

"Thanks! I was wanting to burn everything down anyway!"

Automatic fire. Gunshots exploding in succession like fireworks. Near random shooting. The barrage of bullets punctured holes in cars, embedded in streetlights and building exteriors, and flew into the bodies of the two survivors.

"Argh!"

"Damn it. We shouldn't have listened to those people. In that case—"

Venom flashed in the eyes of the cornered prey. Abandoning escape, they turned their bleeding bodies to face us. Pistols were in their hands.

A malicious intent to die together. A determination to use all their bullets so we would gain nothing.

At that moment, bang, bang, two gunshots rang out at intervals. Park Yang-gun's shooting. Those two bullets lodged precisely in the heads of the two survivors. They fell backward.

When I turned around, Park Yang-gun was lowering his rifle from a distance.

"Kim Da-in. I told you there's no need to run so fast."

"What if I got hit when you fired from behind? What then?"

Had I almost died just now? No, if Sa Gi-hyeok had been there instead of Park Yang-gun, I would have been hit. The same if Park Yang-gun had harbored thoughts of betrayal.