Chapter 12: Chapter 12. Safety is Relative
Normally, it shouldn't be too hard for ordinary folks to walk for a couple hours. However, the situation now wasn't normal. It was so eery and dreadful, such that it built onto people's anxiety. It affected everyone, the fighters and me included. It was more of mental fatigue than physical. We had to stop for a break. We found a stationary store and used it to hide and rest for a while.
The couple that joined us the latest didn't seem to have eaten anything for a day. I took my energy bars and water. I handed them to the couple. They received them with gratitude and devoured them in an instant.
The store was not big so when more than fifty people suddenly flooded in it was immediatelly full. Since everybody needed a rest, it was pretty quiet.
I took this chance to introduce myself to the fighter group. With the exception of a single translator, they weren't Korean. Unfortunately, only a few of them could speak English. Davi was the best English speaker while Traikun only spoke a bit of English. Language problem aside, they were actually quite friendly.
There was one proverb I learned in the past, it went 'be like the bamboo, the higher you grow the deeper you bow'. It taught us to be humble the further we grow. Traikun and Davi were an example of this kind of men. They're strong yet modest at the same time.
I took out my energy bars and crackers and then shared them with anyone who wanted. Practically, I took out every single piece of food I had. They were finished in no time.
Ten minutes after we entered the store, there was an argument between the Korean. Some people were talking in angry tones to each other. I noticed that on one group there were people like that handsome masculine-looking man and the short haired pretty while the others were some ordinary looking people. Jeong Yewon was in the middle of the argument as well.
Seo Daho left the argument area and sat beside me. I pointed to the handsome man and the pretty woman because I thought I saw them somewhere and asked Seo Daho about their identity.
"Oh him? That's Choi Doowon. Big shot actor. Have you never seen his movie? Anyway, he has a lot of backing so he used to having it his way. He said we're in this situation because we kept picking up people. Like we did to you," Seo Daho explained, "Don't mind him though. He's always been a prick."
"The girl is Min Songhee. Well, long story short, she's the female version of Choi Doowon. Only difference is that Choi bullies people with his backing, Min uses her... assets."
I watched as the argument just went back and forth without getting escalated from mere argument. At least they were still sane enough to try to keep their voices down.
We rested for another ten minutes before getting ready to go. When we exited the store we took the same formation as before. Because of the arguments I could feel a bit of tension between the Korean. I felt lucky that I didn't know enough of the language to understand the detail of their quarrel.
One of the bus driver was leading the group through the roads. He knew the way like it's the back of his hand. Traikun and Davi were on point as before. Every time they suspected something up ahead, we changed direction.
Just because we had many people who knew how to fight didn't mean we were able to go blindly. To be safe, it took several men to fight one purger, but what if we encountered a dozen purgers at the same time? That was why we need to exercise caution.
Just like that, we traveled closer and closer to our destination. If my calculation was correct, we should soon be arriving near one of the two bridges that I saw on the GPS earlier.
I never thought we would be so lucky as to not encounter any obstacle at all. This kind of luck should be considered comparable to winning a lottery. It was rare and almost inconceivable. And I was right. About half an hour passed when trouble finally found us. And it was not little trouble like earlier encounters.
Three purgers appeared from the road in front of us. We didn't get the chance to hide. When they saw us they immediately ran after us. They were making high-pitched sound while running. Its noise was loud and heart-wrenching. Were they announcing our existence? Was it like 'lunch is here' or 'food spotted' or something similar because right away two more purgers broke through glass doors from the opposite end of road.
Being pinned down by five purgers from the front and back was terrible news for this group. I could see the faces of Traikun and Davi were really ugly. The other fighters' expressions were even worse. I fully believed this group could actually fight them. But the worst thing happened, panic had spreaded out among the non fighters.
"Run!" somebody shouted.
The civilians immediately fled to another road intersecting with our current one. Some people were screaming in terror. This, to me, was something really foolish to do while running away. Everyone should just run as fast as they can, focused on surviving, why would there be any need of screaming?
The fighters had no choice but to run along. They couldn't just stay and fight here while the people they're protecting ran far away. I would've help them fight but It didn't matter much now.
Choi Doowon was among the fastest to run away, leaving the rest behind. The way he ran show that he was a physically fit person. Davi sprinted ahead, catching up with people in the front. I was amazed, this guy could really be fast if he wanted to. He surveyed and then directed the people on the front to one of the buildings on the road. They entered the building which had only one door and metal barred windows.
At this time, I didn't know about Davy's choice of escape route but later when I did know I praised him in my mind. He had the same idea I had yesterday. Davi wasn't easily panicked and was quite fast to assess the surrounding.
Because the building was located after another turn of the street, the monsters that were running at our back could not see it. Several tens of people managed to get inside the building. However, not everyone was fast runners. More than ten people got left behind.
I could run much faster than anyone here but I stopped after I saw some people were falling behind. Jeong Yewon also stopped and encouraged people to run faster. Instead of running faster, two girls tripped and fell. Jeong Yewon and me both ran back. So was Traikun and another fighter.
The purgers were getting nearer. The distance between those monsters and the girls were probably only twenty meters. I reached them before anyone and immediately picked up one of the fallen girls. It was easy for me to lift her up. All of us were now very near with the purgers, about ten meters or so. Traikun lifted the other girl while the other fighter threw his weapon at the incoming purger. The purger wasn't hurt but it was slightly delayed.
We ran, carrying the girls to the building. Choi Doowon saw us coming and immediately closed the door. I was shocked to see his action. Fortunately when I reached the door, it was opened again. One of the fighter who were already inside opened it and let us in. Jeong Yewon, Traikun and Davi, with all the rest of our group finally arrived.
Because of the short delay due to the shuting door incident our distance was too near and the purger saw the last of us getting into the building. The purgers were now banging on the door. It was a thick wooden door, but I didn't think it would hold for long. Some of the purgers were now also attacking the barred windows.
Bang! Bang!
Davi, Traikun and all the fighters were standing at the front line, holding their weapons. I could see that even they felt various degree of fear. Their hands were slightly trembling, after all we're trapped.
Compared to the fighters at the front the others were even worse. Some began sobbing and knelt down limply. Jeong Yewon was holding hands with one of the female celebrity. Seo Daho was looking at the door intensely. Choi Doowon, stood at the far end, was cursing ceaselessly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Everyone, get back!" Davi instructed to the non fighters. Nobody wanted to fight the monsters but if it really got down to it, then the fighters stood the best chance of repelling them.
The civilians didn't tarry. With some of them still screaming foolishly everytime a banging sound was heard, they moved to the back until they reached the wall. I already put down the girl I carried so she could join the civilian group. I crept my way to near the front after this.
Bang! Skreeeeee!
The door was finally broken and a purger forced itself in. Davi and Traikun both held the monsters at bay by attacking it from both sides. Their action kept the purger from rushing in and, therefore, blocked the entrance from the others.
The purger was struggling to get free but didn't succeed. Both Davi and Traikun were very good at their blocks. They were both physically strong and they weren't trying to take the purger down. They're focusing on stopping the purger's advance.
I frowned on this. They should have killed it immediately. Just like they did before. I understood that the fighting area was limited and it wasn't easy for a third person to join but this tactic would only make Traikun and Davi tired while the monster could keep going with its better stamina.
The metal bars were finally creaking and breaking. The glass of the windows was already broken too. This cause the softhearted people inside to scream louder in fear. The ones with stronger mentality were preparing by grabbing anything that could be use as weapon.
'Looks like I have to jump in', I thought. So I reached inside my backpack to take my police knife.
Rattattattatta!
Suddenly sounds of gunfire were heard.
The purgers that were originally trying to break in now shifted their focus to outside. They left the windows and door. Loud firing sounds were mixed now with screeching and long growling voices of the purgers.
Seeing that no other purger was at the door, Davi and Traikun used this chance to lure the one they were fighting deeper into the room. Two other fighters managed to sneak in from behind the monster and delivered their sword into its back. The purger screamed and swung its arms around causing the four people surrounding it taking a step back to dodge the powerful swing. Immediately after dodging they attacked it at the same time.
How could an injured monster stood against the onslaught of four fighters? It went down.
Shouts were heard from outside. Judging from the faces of the Korean, I guessed the shouts meant something good. Choi Doowon suddenly emerged from behind and shouted back. He went outside the door, the other people were following behind.
There, on the road in front of the building, were two armored vehicles and several soldiers. The purgers were laying dead on the street. They were talking to the people from our groups.
"We're saved," Jeong Yewon told me with a smile.
"I guess we are," I replied.
But how were they gonna fit everyone into the armored cars? The answer to my question came right away as one the soldiers motioned to someone around the corner. An army truck appeared.
We were all brought onto the truck and immediately departed.
The sound of the vehicles were attracting several monsters on the way, but they were taken care of by the guns. One or a couple purgers every single attack meant nothing to the soldiers with superior weapons.
Compared to the bus, the military vehicles were more robust and able to handle more situations. The soldiers were coordinated and good. They were fast and efficient when clearing the road whenever there were obstacles.
Soon, we saw the bridge. Murmurs of relieve were heard among us. We crossed the bridge and arrived at what I'd guess a temporary and hastily built military outpost. It also served as refugee camp.
They were setting up blockades started right at the end of the bridge straight until further to the front. I guessed they did the same thing on the other bridge too. This felt strangely similar to the one bridge I crossed alone this morning, the one that failed.
They brought us to a place near the front line. There were many buildings here. I couldn't tell what every single buildings were before yesterday since the building or store's names were written in Korean. That being said, it's easy to guess what building I was in now. It was a small transit hotel. We were registered and given medical care should we need one.
I got a pretty good glimpse of the military status here. There were really not many soldiers. My rough count was that they were about a thousand, give or take. I later learned that they lost a good amount of soldiers back at the bridge where I found those hundreds of free marbles. They also lost their tanks. Based on what I saw here, the best weaponry they had here were probably those big machine guns at the end of the bridge. My grandfather would know the types and names of these guns, not me though.
We were informed that this wasn't the only military outpost built. They managed to built several defense lines and refugee camps. This was good, I thought. The purgers weren't bulletproof. As long as we kept at it, we might push them back.
On top of that, the American managed to get a satellite picture of our world with the new lands and, I assumed, shared it to many countries. I hoped they had time to fight back. A full military assembly would be different from what we had here and now.
Well, I was thinking too simple, I knew that, but I could hope right? This hope would carry me through the tough time. The doom that the god started would not be as simple as some mindless strong monsters going around eating people. It would be more than that.
After the registration, we were brought further deep near the airport area. This was where we saw ocean of people. There were probably thousands if not tens of thousands of people here. As far as my eyes see, were people.
Their faces were that of confusion and uncertainty. Despair was a common theme here. They were safe for the time being but their homes, loved ones, their very lives were destroyed. None of us knew what was in store for us in the future.
Admittedly, some people were still under the illusion that everything would be alright soon. Though, judging from the atmosphere here, most were feeling that their future were pretty bleak. I should say it's our future because everyone was affected directly, me included.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone