Episode 15
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15. Week 4 (2)
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Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
-Five on the left! In front of the lighthouse…… seven…… nine!
-Front! They’re vaulting over the roof!
The radio was in a frenzy. Gunshots rang out chaotically. The howling of the monsters made his ears ring with tinnitus. Staggering, Jae-hak leaned against the wall with one hand and peered out the community center window.
-Where were all these things hiding!
-The cliff! They’re crawling up from the cliff!
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
The sight of the village beyond the window was horrific. Between the walls of the collapsed fishing village and over the rooftops, blue monsters were surging in like a tide. The trainees’ muzzles spat desperate flames, and countless Bloodgills tumbled down. But it wasn't enough.
“There are too many!”
With only four, or even eight if the entry team joined in, the firepower was nowhere near enough to hold the line. For every one that died, two took its place; if they blocked the front, the rear was breached.
Woo-woo-woo…….
With bloodshot eyes from having their egg sacs attacked, the monsters shrieked. Like a burst torrent, like overflowing rainwater. Of course, if one were to be submerged in that water, a death far more terrible than drowning awaited them…….
“Get inside the center! Into the center!”
Jae-hak screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Instructor!”
Second Lieutenant Jo Yeong-hwan, who had been firing his gun while half out of his mind, finally snapped to his senses.
“Get inside! Inside! Inside!”
Team 6 scrambled into the village community center. Trainee No. 2 dragged a steel cabinet over to block the door.
“More! Bring more!”
But there was nothing else left in the abandoned community center. They threw cleaning supplies and chairs into a pile in their desperation. Bang! Bang! The Bloodgills swarming outside the door slammed their bodies against it.
“The windows! Watch the windows!”
Jae-hak shouted as he fired silver bullets into a Bloodgill that was squeezing its body through a window.
“The front door won’t hold for long!”
“They’re coming through the collapsed wall, too!”
Reports that sounded like screams rang out from all sides. The community center had one front door, five windows, and a hole where the wall had collapsed—seven entrances in total that needed to be blocked.
“One person to each spot, hold them!”
But Jae-hak sensed that the problem was ammunition. They must have exhausted their supply while holding back the initial wave. They had been issued four magazines per person when they arrived.
How many minutes could they hold out with this?
Jae-hak grabbed the shoulder of Jo Yeong-hwan, who was trembling in the middle of the room. His face was pale, and his eyes were unfocused; he clearly wasn't in his right mind.
“Instructor! Instructor!”
“This is strange…… it doesn’t make sense…… they shouldn’t be able to lay this many eggs in just two months…….”
“Support! Is there no support?!”
Was this the shell shock he had only heard about? Jo Yeong-hwan clutched his head with both hands, shivering.
“What were the Navy doing? Why didn’t they discover this?…… This is definitely strange…….”
“Instructor, pull yourself together! Please!”
“Marine species don’t usually come this close to humans…… they eat fish…… fish…….”
Just pull yourself together!
Jae-hak grabbed the collar of the rambling Jo Yeong-hwan, hauled him up, and forcibly ripped the radio from his chest. He pressed the transmit button and screamed, almost sobbing.
“Instructor! Command Headquarters! This is Team 6! We need support immediately!”
Having never been in the military, Jae-hak didn't know the proper radio protocol. And now was not the time to worry about such things.
“To the side! On the wall! They’re crawling on the ceiling!”
“Fire!”
“Reloading! I’m reloading!”
Bang! Rat-tat-tat! The team members gritted their teeth and pulled their triggers from all sides. The foul stench of fish, the smell of blood, and the acrid scent of gunpowder…… it was becoming difficult to even breathe inside the center. Jae-hak shouted again.
“Command Headquarters! Command Room! Control Room! Anyone!”
-Team 6, this is the Training Control Room. Please report the situation. Over.
“We are surrounded by a swarm of Bloodgills! Location: the village community center above the cliff in the operation zone! The number of enemies is 200…… 300…… anyway, there are a lot!”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the voice on the other end of the radio turned serious at once.
-Infantry won’t be enough…… I’ll send an exfil immediately. Call sign Sandpiper. ETA 7 minutes. Upon arrival…….
“Exfil? What is an exfil…….”
“No. 78! The front door! The front door!”
Bang!
Jae-hak turned at the thunderous crash. The front door had finally given way, and Bloodgills were pouring in like a flood…….
“……!!”
Jae-hak spun around, dropped to one knee, and pulled the trigger. The gun in his arms buckled and kicked as it spat fire. It took less than three seconds to empty a magazine and have the bolt lock back.
“7 minutes! We just have to hold for 7 minutes!”
Jae-hak shouted at the top of his lungs while swapping magazines. Hoping his own words were true, he pressed his cheek against the stock again and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Rat-tat-tat!
“Reloading! Reloading!”
“Die…… you f*cking bastards…….”
*Gurgle*…… A Bloodgill that had been digging through the doorway with a hole blown through its eye collapsed, spilling black blood. He shifted his aim and squeezed the trigger carefully. Two shots, then two more.
Fortunately, his mind was calm. His heartbeat and breathing were still manageable. Inhale, exhale, fire. He kept repeating that simple, simple cycle.
Bang!
Jae-hak emptied his second magazine and began chewing through his third. The silver bullets fired turned into an equal number of monster corpses, piling up like a mountain in front of the door. The same was true for the other windows; the hollow faces of monsters that had died while trying to climb through were strewn everywhere his eyes landed…….
“You…… f*ck…….”
But in that pile of corpses…… there was one Bloodgill still clinging to life. It had been pinned under the bodies of its own kind, trailing black blood. It desperately twisted its body and crawled out from the pile, and right in front of it were two legs that hadn't been watching the ground.
“Don’t spray! Save your ammo…….”
The creature naturally snatched the ankle with a wet, clammy grip.
“Aaaargh!!”
Trainee No. 97, who had been firing at the window, screamed and fell. The defensive line had been breached in an instant without warning. And these monsters wouldn't miss such an opportunity.
Woo-woo-woo-woo-
Bloodgills scrambled to shove their bodies through the breached window. They didn't care if their limbs snapped or their fins were torn in the process. Countless webbed hands latched onto the terrified, struggling No. 97.
“Help me! Help…….”
“Pull him off…….”
By the time the team members realized what was happening, it was already too late. No. 97 was dragged away helplessly and vanished into the swarm of monsters beyond the window.
“Help…… Aaaaaaaaargh!”
The horrific scream faded into the distance. The sound of something tough being dismantled and torn apart. Red blood began to mix into the center, which was already awash in black bodily fluids. The blood of a comrade who had been fighting right next to them just moments ago.
“Ah, ah…….”
“Pull yourself together! There’s nothing we can do! Nothing…….”
Someone shouted forcefully. But even the voice of the person saying it was trembling uncontrollably. The gruesome death that had just unfolded before their eyes had instantly and coldly extinguished the excitement of battle—that unrealistic sense of exhilaration—that had been sustaining the trainees. It chilled their blood and made room for fear to creep in.
A remote island they didn't even know the name of. A crumbling, abandoned building. The stench that stung their noses. And the smell of rot. Demons swarming from all sides…… and blue hands flailing densely through the windows.
All of this finally made them realize. It shoved the naked face of death—which they had tried to ignore with a surge of adrenaline—right in front of the trainees and shook it.
That they might actually die here.
*Squelch, squelch.*
Bloodgills continued to climb through the window that the late No. 97 had been guarding. There was no way to recover the defensive line now that the center had collapsed. They had to retreat and reform the line.
But where else could they go?
“Fall back! Back! To the inside!”
Someone screamed. Was it a good decision? He didn't know. Jae-hak abandoned the front door and turned to run. Backwards, to the deepest part of the community center. He smashed the head of a Bloodgill lunging from the side with his rifle butt, leaped over one trying to grab his ankle, and kept running.
But not everyone was keeping their composure like Jae-hak.
“Aargh…….”
The trainee who had been trembling with a pale face since earlier tripped while running after Jae-hak. Had she slipped on the fluids, or had her ankle been grabbed? Either way, she didn't get a second chance to stand up. Countless Bloodgills exploded onto her fallen back.
“The bathroom! There should be a window!”
Jae-hak ran to the bathroom, following the other team members. But the door wouldn't open. Bang! Bang! Bang! He kicked the locked door until it shattered and burst into the bathroom. The window was…….
“It’s too small…….”
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
F*ck, f*ck! The trainees backed against the wall and aimed at the entrance in unison. *Hah, hah, hah,* they panted as they waited. In front was the bathroom door. Behind was the wall.
A dead end.
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
And then, they swarmed in. Like a torrent gushing through a narrow gap.
“Fire!!”
But they were already firing. With every desire to live, they pulled their triggers until they felt like they would break. Exploding gunfire. Blinding flashes. The monsters couldn't break through the narrow bathroom entrance and fell away like chunks of meat thrown into a blender.
“Die! Die, you…….”
*Click.*
But the defense didn't last long. The gunfire of the trainee who had been firing the most desperately was the first to cease.
*Click.*
*Click.*
And then, one by one, the rifles that had run out of ammunition spat out their final casings and stopped working. Futile smoke rose from the muzzles.
Silence…… descended.
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo…….
The sound of Bloodgills trying to squeeze through the mountain of corpses piled up at the entrance. The yellow eyes of the monsters glared at them and roared. Some of them even had red blood smeared on their faces. What had they done to the two trainees who were dragged away?
“Mommy…….”
Someone sobbed in a dry, hollow voice. Someone else denied reality and kept searching for a new magazine. Jae-hak pulled out his tactical knife with a look of resignation.
-Team 6.
It was then that the radio crackled.
-This is Sandpiper. Please report the situation.
“Inside the center! We’re in the back of the center!”
Jae-hak hurriedly grabbed the radio and screamed. Finally, finally!
“We’re trapped in the bathroom! The monsters are inside the center…….”
"Transmission received. I’m firing at the front of the community center. Danger close. Get down!"
Jae-hak didn't know what "danger close" meant, but he understood the last part.
"Get down!"
Ignoring the wave of Bloodgills surging toward them, Jae-hak threw himself onto the floor.
"Fire."
Then, the world exploded.
"———."
Light. A deafening roar. No, his eardrums had burst the moment it hit, so he couldn't hear the blast. There was only a vibration that felt like it was shattering his body. Stone dust, concrete, and tiles rained down around him. Jae-hak instinctively curled into a ball, shielding his head. *Cough.* The stone dust in his lungs made every breath a searing pain.
*Boom, boom...* Two more shockwaves rolled through. He didn't know what they had fired, but it seemed one shot hadn't been enough. There were just that many Bloodgills.
*Thwack, thwack.* Someone was hitting his shoulder. He lifted his head with blurry eyes to see Trainee No. 2. Blood was streaming down her forehead. She was saying something, but he couldn't read her lips. She pointed at the sky.
The community center’s roof had been half-blown away. Two helicopters were hovering above.
"...et up! Get up...!"
His eardrums regenerated and sealed. Sound returned. Looking around, he saw the bathroom, now a scene of utter devastation, with humans and Bloodgills lying in a tangled heap.
"Team 6, this is Sandpiper. Are you alive?"
"We're ali... *cough*... we're alive!"
"As expected of Awakened, you're tough. I'm dropping the ladder. Can you run?"
Jae-hak gritted his teeth and pushed himself up onto his knees. He used his strength to haul his fallen teammates up and shoved them forward.
"Let's go! Move!"
Team 6 rose, their bodies battered and broken. And they ran. They ran desperately, stumbling as they went. With blood streaming from their ears, they pushed through the piles of Bloodgill carcasses filling the center... toward the helicopter hovering like a savior in the sky outside.
*Whir-whir-whir-whir...*
"Team 6, you’d better hurry. They’re swarming the entrance. I don’t think we can wait much longer."
Then, something strange happened.
*Crack... craaack...*
Suddenly, the floor of the community center began to collapse from the center outward. Was it the aftermath of the direct hit from the explosives? But something was wrong. What lay beneath the floor wasn't a basement.
A deep, bottomless hole was opening its maw, growing wider and wider...
"Argh..."
Trainee No. 2, who had been running behind Jae-hak, stepped on some Bloodgill slime and tumbled. She began to slide down the tilted floor toward the deep, dark abyss.
"You..."
Jae-hak reflexively grabbed her hand. It was a weight he could have easily pulled up under normal circumstances. But because of the steep angle of the collapsing floor, he couldn't find any leverage.
"Grab me!"
Jae-hak shouted to the trainee right in front of him, reaching out his hand. The trainee, who had been running, stopped and looked back.
Pinned to his chest was the number 11 and the name Kim Dong-hyeon.
"..."
Kim Dong-hyeon panted heavily, looking back and forth between Jae-hak and the Trainee No. 2 he was holding. His inner thoughts swirled in turmoil.
"Team 6, are you coming out? I can't see you because of the remaining roof."
But in this moment, the thing holding his reins was a desperate craving for survival.
"What are you doing! Grab us!"
And a fragment of an ugly emotion, liberated from reason...
*Cr-r-r-rack...*
The ground beneath their feet gave way. The last thing Jae-hak saw in his tilting field of vision was Kim Dong-hyeon turning his head and running away.
"Ah."
And then, Jae-hak fell. Into the bottomless hole. With one hand still clutching Trainee No. 2’s, he stared blankly at the light of the surface as it drifted further and further away.
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