Marauder of the Apocalypse
Chapter 147: Chaos

A stillness as if time had stopped.

The murmuring survivors looked at me with shadowed faces, and RiderZero on the platform seemed to recognize who I was, glaring at me with widely dilated pupils.

Even amid this chaos, gunshots continued to ring out in the distance. It was the sound of my companions attacking the alliance, but to these survivors, it would sound like the alliance attacking them.

"You!"

The moment RiderZero shouted in an agitated voice, the survivors began to react one by one. Especially those near me, where I had fired the gun.

"Die!"

A survivor right beside me suddenly pulled out a kitchen knife and thrust it at the gap between my helmet and suit. I immediately backed away, twisting my wrist to fire my pistol and drop him, but there wasn't just one survivor gathered here.

The survivors, whose lives were threatened, moved instinctively according to their survival instincts.

"A pistol at this range?"

Weapons were being swung from all directions. Some people pulled pistols from their chests, while others brandished knives or metal pipes.

These vicious people weren't running away at the sound of gunfire; they were trying to kill me first.

'As expected from people with survival experience equal to mine.'

They had no shortage of malice and venom. But they lacked proper armaments.

Bang, bang, bang—gunshots rang out in succession as the people attacking me fell. It was covering fire from my criminal companions. One bullet, perhaps from Sa Gi-hyeok, grazed my suit, but more bullets hit the survivors scattered around me.

In an instant, a pile of corpses formed around me, becoming obstacles that made it difficult to walk.

I hastily backed away while continuing to fire my pistol. When I ran out of bullets, I discarded the gun and pulled out a new, loaded one from my pocket.

Looking quickly around me, I could see the world was rapidly descending into chaos.

"Has the alliance gone mad? No, let's move first! Raid the restaurant!"

"Damn it. Let's run. There's no hope here."

"No, this is suspicious. You people on the platform there. What the hell is going on? We need a proper explanation..."

The crowd surged chaotically—survivors revealing their raiding instincts with wild eyes, others trying to escape quickly, and some demanding accurate information from the alliance.

Then the alliance members who had come out to control the crowd clashed with survivors trying to loot.

"Stop! That's not an alliance member! No, that's the arsonist! Get that person first!"

"Not my problem!"

"If you come any closer..."

"Even if we survive the fire, we'll just starve to death anyway! Let's raid the warehouse now!"

Screams and shouts rang out in confusion.

I had created enough chaos; it was time to escape.

"Everyone, now..."

I quickly turned to look for my criminal companions behind me but let my words trail off.

My criminal companions had turned to flee before me. But they weren't running away; they were frozen, staring at something down the street.

I, too, stopped speaking when I saw what lay beyond.

The road was hazy with smoke and red light as flames drew closer. From the corner of a building at the edge of the road, a head suddenly poked out, watching us.

As the flames flickered, its face was briefly revealed—a zombie without a mask. The zombie seemed to smile, baring its teeth, then suddenly opened its mouth wide and let out an eerie cry.

A sound that seemed like both laughing and crying, almost human-like, was followed by:

"Kraaaaaak!"

"Kraaak!"

Zombies poured out of the alley. A zombie wave. Zombies fleeing from the fire had seized their opportunity and were charging forward. Like a rushing tide, they filled the road, swarming toward us.

'Did the luring actually work?'

I stood dumbly for a moment. I hadn't expected it to work this effectively. And at this timing, no less.

Did the zombies follow the evacuating people? Did they think the survivors were fleeing to a safe place? And were they now attacking when everything turned to chaos?

But there was no time for such thoughts.

"Zombies behind us! Run!"

Jeon Do-hyung screamed as he rushed past me. Park Yang-gun moved even faster than Jeon Do-hyung, diving into the crowd. Sa Gi-hyeok came running clumsily but got trapped in the crowd.

Now the survivors also realized zombies were approaching from behind. Whether they were survivors trying to loot, those trying to leave the survival zone, or alliance members trying to control the crowd—they all realized there was only one path left.

Forward. The only option was to run ahead and escape.

"Run!"

"Don't block the way!"

People pushed, fell, and fought as they ran forward.

Meanwhile, from behind, countless footsteps and monstrous cries grew closer. Being at the very back of the crowd, I was closest to the zombies.

I needed to run quickly. Even if I had to die, it should be at human hands—dying by zombie would be a dog's death.

I fired my pistol at the legs of the people around me and shouted:

"Get out of my way!"

***

With my naturally large build, pushing through the crowd wasn't difficult. Once I overtook the people, those left behind would become zombie food and buy me time, so I wasn't short on time to escape.

Cutting across the chaotic survival zone, I looked around.

Screams, gunshots, and monstrous cries came from all directions. Survivors who had come in from the opposite direction in response to my companions' attack collided with those fleeing the zombies, creating a scene of utter chaos.

People looting meat shops, others brandishing weapons and demanding clear paths, alliance members desperately trying to maintain control despite everything.

To add to the chaos, I lit Molotov cocktails as I ran and threw them into buildings, but suddenly noticed something strange.

'Why are there so few alliance members?'

This was an emergency. Yet there weren't many alliance people in their main base, the survival zone. And it wasn't just that they were hard to spot among the flood of survivors.

"Police."

I scanned the area. There wasn't a single police officer. Even those controlling the crowd weren't police; they were Riders, Hope Community members, or scavengers.

The police, the most important military force, weren't at the main base? No, it seemed like there were fewer alliance members overall.

Just then, explosions began to go off in various places.

"Aaaagh! These bastards set booby traps in the warehouse!"

"My arm!"

That wasn't the end of it. Boom—suddenly, windows on the second floor of a building exploded, and flames shot up like mushrooms. Glass shards rained down, and a shockwave swept over my body.

It was as if an ammunition depot or gas had exploded...

That's when I realized.

'Have they abandoned the survival zone? No. They've split into two groups.'

One group, centered around RiderZero, trying to unite survivors to ward off the fire and attack. And another that abandoned the survival zone immediately after recognizing the attack.

Looking at the explosions going off everywhere, I wiped glass shards from my helmet and let out a hollow laugh.

"They used the entire survival zone as bait? How ruthless."

They hadn't simply abandoned it and fled. They had set numerous traps to kill any raiders who touched alliance assets during the chaos.

The thinking of the police or archers was clear.

It would be good if they could protect the survival zone, but if they couldn't, it would be just as good if the raiders who attacked them and the alliance members they didn't get along with died. Essentially, they had nothing to lose.

Frowning, I looked up at the rooftops and noticed that some of the many solar panels seemed to have disappeared.

'Have they prepared evacuation shelters somewhere?'

If they had prepared shelters in advance, they would lose even less. No matter how badly things went, their competitors would die, and that would be the end of it.

I shook my head and quickened my pace.

Even if most of the alliance survived, there was nothing more I could do. If they weren't going to die despite all this chaos and fire I'd created, I had no other way to kill them.

Suddenly remembering my criminal companions, I looked around, but they were nowhere to be seen. They had probably escaped on their own.

Left alone, I leisurely slipped into an alley and headed for the meeting point—the villa district. The place where I had killed someone for the first time.

***

When I returned to the villa district, those who hadn't participated in the battle were waiting. The elderly and children. As soon as they saw me, they asked about their companions.

"Where's Dad?"

"I don't know."

I removed my stifling helmet and sat on a car by the roadside.

"Am I the first to arrive?"

"Yeah. Was it dangerous out there? I'm worried about my son."

"Moderately dangerous."

After giving a perfunctory answer, I gazed at the distant city, which glowed with a sunset-like red light. The fire had steadily spread, illuminating the city brightly even at night.

The smell of burning seemed to penetrate my mask.

'It was fun, but the results aren't great.'

About half of the alliance had evacuated. Many of those in the survival zone had probably survived too. Since their plan to gather people for defense had failed, they would have fled immediately.

Their tenacity was truly incredible. Despite all the chaos I'd created, all I'd managed to do was force them to abandon the survival zone.

'Fire isn't ideal for surprise attacks.'

That was disappointing. Unlike weapons like missiles, fire was a disaster that could be seen from far away through smoke and light, allowing time to evacuate.

People might talk about burning firewood, but for the alliance with its solar panels, that wasn't a major loss. If they had prepared induction cookers and radiators, they wouldn't need firewood anyway.

All I could hope for was that the fire would spread widely...

As I sat there, people began to return one by one. Companions supporting bleeding family members, companions trudging back alone, family members of companions stumbling back in tears.

Everyone was too shell-shocked to properly greet each other.

The cup noodle mercenary simply hugged his son in relief, while the elderly paced anxiously, waiting for children who hadn't returned.

The thug mercenary, who seemed to have experienced little hardship, reported calmly.

"Since there were no police, none of the combat personnel were seriously injured. But the family members who went in first got hit by IEDs while trying to loot."

"I see."

Indeed, almost all the companions with rifles returned relatively unharmed. But many family members never made it back.

"I suppose we didn't get any resources."

"No. Upon observation, there were IEDs installed in every building. When someone opened a refrigerator storing meat, an explosive went off, and similar traps were set at every building entrance."

It couldn't be helped. The police had deliberately turned the survival zone into a trap to kill raiders.

"It seems they used the survival zone as bait. I didn't expect them to do that."

I looked around.

'If these companions have arrived, my criminal companions should be here too.'

Surprisingly, they still hadn't arrived. I checked the time on my wristwatch and waited for the criminal companions, who soon returned.

"Am I late?"

"You arrived before Mr. Sa Gi-hyeok."

"Of course I should arrive before that guy."

Park Yang-gun, who had removed his helmet, was the first to return, followed by Sa Gi-hyeok, who came running while trying to catch his breath. And only after much more time had passed, just as we had agreed to depart no matter what, Jeon Do-hyung walked up with his head bowed.

Jeon Do-hyung raised his head and looked at me with a gloomy expression.

"Am I the last one?"

"Yeah. Let's escape now."