SWY 26

The two who had been fighting turned slowly to look at the gate.

Thud!

Another heavy, muffled impact came from beyond the tightly shut gate.

“C-could it be a person?”

Derry, who had been hovering nervously while Sharhan and Lestel grabbed each other’s collars, crept up beside them and asked.

“Who knows.”

Sharhan replied anxiously and stepped closer to the gate. If it was a survivor trying to signal after clearing out the monsters nearby, they had to open the gate.

Thud, thud-thud!

The dull pounding continued. The three exchanged serious looks. They couldn’t open the gate on a whim. If it wasn’t a person, the moving corpses would pour through.

“If you’re human, say something! Make some kind of sound!”

Derry, pressing his ear to the gate in a desperate attempt to hear something, finally mustered the courage to call out.

Thud, thud-thud, thud-thud-thud!

The banging grew faster and more violent. Derry jumped back in fright, legs giving out as he landed on his butt. Embarrassed, he grimaced. Sharhan let out a brief laugh and held out a hand to help him up, only for Lestel to slap the hand away and lift Derry by the shoulder instead.

Sharhan stared at his reddening hand, then glared at Lestel. Lestel just smirked, as if to say, What are you gonna do about it?

‘Forget it.’

Now wasn’t the time to bicker over pride. Still, unwilling to let it slide completely, Sharhan gave an audible hmph and turned his ear back to the gate.

“It sounds like something round and solid is being slammed against the gate. Like…”

He trailed off. Lestel finished the thought.

“A skull, maybe? That’s what you were going to say, right?”

The more they listened, the less it sounded like a distress signal from a survivor. It was closer to the frenzy of creatures desperate to break through the sturdy gate and devour the fresh meat on the other side.

“They’re smashing the gate with their heads?!”

Derry asked, horrified. Sharhan nodded.

“Skull bones are surprisingly hard. When they hit walls, it makes that kind of dull sound. If it were a person, they’d be pounding with fists. That wouldn’t make a sound like this.”

Realizing it wasn’t human, they could now guess where the thuds were coming from.

The pounding grew louder and more intense. It seemed that more of the creatures, drawn by the noise, were ramming their heads against the gate on instinct. There were so many that the gate the three of them had worked so hard to close began to creak open.

“T-the gate…!”

Derry pointed at it, pale as a sheet. Dozens of hands thrust through a gap no wider than a finger. Red hands clawed at the air with twitching fingers, it was grotesque. The creatures kept reaching, and the gate creaked as it began to open wider.

“Shit!”

Something grabbed Sharhan’s foot. He flinched and looked down. It was the mangled hand of a corpse, several fingers already missing. Sharhan stomped down hard on it. Crunch, the bones shattered. But even with only two fingers left, the thing still tried to grab him. No matter how many times he saw it, it was disgusting.

“I-it’s going to open!”

Derry stomped his feet in fear as the gap widened. Sharhan raised his sword high and brought it down hard at the base of the gate. Dozens of wrists fell with a thud. At the same time, Lestel kicked the gate. It slammed shut again.

“Give me that.”

“Huh?”

“The thing in your hand.”

Sharhan held out a hand toward Derry, who flinched, then passed him the stick he was holding. Sharhan jammed it through the gate handle. It was only wood, and wouldn’t hold under serious force, but it would do as a temporary measure. Seeing Derry exhale in relief as the gate closed, Sharhan chuckled.

“Why were you holding a stick? Planning to stab with it?”

“I just… felt like I had to hold something.”

“Wood won’t cut it. It’s too weak. If you find a metal rod, put all your weight into striking their heads.”

Given his scrawny arms, it was questionable how much damage he could do, even with full force, but it was still better than being unarmed.

Derry, unaware of Sharhan’s inner thoughts, nodded earnestly like a student in class and even practiced a two-handed swing. Sharhan, watching him, thought maybe he should start teaching Derry some basic self-defense when time allowed. Then he moved over to Lestel, who was staring down at the pile of severed hands.

“What are you staring at that nasty mess for?”

“They were still twitching even after coming off, so I wondered if they’d keep moving. Guess not.”

The hands were gradually going still, one by one.

“Let’s go before that thing gets forced open again.”

At Sharhan’s words, Lestel stuck two fingers into his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. The piercing sound echoed, and chaos erupted again behind the gate. The wooden stick jammed in the handle rattled violently under pressure from the monsters.

“Thunder and Lightning should be okay, right?”

Sharhan bit his lip, growing anxious as he heard no sound of hooves. Their supplies were all strapped to the saddles, and without the horses, their pace would slow down drastically.

“They’ll be fine. I trained them myself after getting them from a top bloodline.”

“Yeah, I figured. They’re pretty smart.”

“Of course. They’re Andalien breed.”

Lestel puffed out his chest proudly.

Andaliens were strong and intelligent, commonly used as warhorses. Their numbers were low due to how hard they were to breed, making them rare and extremely expensive. As annoying as Lestel’s smugness was, Sharhan had to admit, this time, he had a point.

“Looks like they really are safe.”

In the distance, the powerful sound of hooves pounding the ground rang out. Thunder and Lightning. The two horses galloped toward them, whinnying excitedly as they reared up in front of Sharhan and Lestel. It had only been a night apart, but they were clearly thrilled to reunite with their riders.

Sharhan gently stroked Lightning’s side to calm her down, then checked her over for injuries and inspected their gear. Everything seemed just as they’d left it. Lestel, doing the same with Thunder, had a look of relief on his face too. Both of them mounted up at the same time.

Sharhan was about to reach out and offer to let Derry ride behind him, but–

“Get on behind me.”

Lestel moved his horse forward and nodded for Derry to climb up. Derry glanced nervously between the two, then instinctively chose Lestel, something deep down told him he absolutely shouldn’t ride behind Sharhan. Embarrassed, Sharhan withdrew his outstretched hand and looked behind him. The pounding noise had quieted down. With no scent of prey nearby, the creatures seemed to have gone still.

‘If anyone survived that hellish chaos… I hope their luck holds all the way through.’

The gate was only braced with a wooden stick, easy enough to break through. If there were survivors, Sharhan silently wished they would make it out alive.

He nudged his horse and galloped after Lestel.

The hope that the outside world might still be intact didn’t last long. As they rode, the number of creatures they encountered was far from few. The moving corpses stumbled around alone, sometimes in pairs or small groups, and often they were seen feeding on people collapsed on the ground. Some of them heard the sound of hooves and came running, drooling blood and saliva, but the horses were too fast, and they quickly fell behind.

The farther they got from Luhas, the heavier the mood became. Even in sparsely populated areas, the corpses were everywhere. What would it be like in the cities? The thought alone was terrifying.

“P-please! Help me!”

The three had been riding in silence when a shrill scream cut through the air. Sharhan pulled back on the reins and looked at Lestel, silently asking what to do. Lestel gave a nod.

They turned toward the sound and found a woman being grabbed by a moving corpse. It sank its teeth into her arm, tearing into her flesh. She screamed as a chunk of skin was ripped away.

Sharhan jumped from his horse and ran forward, slicing through the monster’s neck. The creature collapsed limply, it looked vaguely familiar.

“Ah…”

Sharhan let out a low sigh. It was the same man who had fled the day before, unaware his ear had been bitten. As expected, he’d turned and attacked someone.

“Honey! Sammy!”

The woman screamed, clutching a child’s limp body to her chest. Then, the child’s eyes snapped open, flashing red, and its small mouth bared sharp teeth. Black veins bulged beneath the pale skin. It had already died and turned into a moving corpse.

The man – her husband, presumably – also began to stir and rise.

“Get away–!”

Derry tried to warn her, but it was too late. The child bit into the woman’s shoulder. She moaned in pain but refused to let go. The child continued to gnaw on her flesh, chewing through it even as she trembled and swayed under the agony.

The child, who once clung to his mother for comfort, was now mindlessly devouring her. It was unbearable to witness. Derry turned away, eyes welling with tears. Sharhan swallowed a sigh and beheaded the husband first.

“If you want…”

He couldn’t finish the sentence, but the woman nodded.

‘May death bring you peace.’

Sharhan swung his sword. The woman collapsed. Even in death, she held the child tightly in her arms.