Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

On the stairs leading to the fourth floor, the students commented on the broken floor-to-ceiling windows next to them and the ones they had passed on the lower floors.

"Boss Jin-woo said he shot them out to gather the zombies."

"Yeah, at first when he suggested the plan to trap those things, I didn't think he could pull it off, but he actually did."

"That's boss Jin-woo for you, he's not like us mere mortals."

"Guys, focus, you don't want to get distracted and fall four-stores down."

Jin-woo said from above the steps, and the boys who were talking looked at the broken window next to them and shivered. They no longer held up the line and quickly made their way up the steps.

With familiarity, the students then split into two groups and walked along the hallways while Jin-woo stood in the middle, gun in hand.

On the way, they had only seen a zombie once or twice, a testament to how effective Jin-woo's plan was, but even then, those zombies were trapped in classrooms. They had to crawl under the windows to get past those zombies, but the students welcomed such inconvenience rather than facing a zombie head-on.

Now that they were on the fourth floor, they only had to look out for the open doors along the hallway. They watched more than enough zombie horror flicks to become careless when passing those doors.

With that said, most of the students were somewhat relaxed compared to before. Some were even chatting amongst themselves in hush whispers as they followed the still-calm Jin-woo up ahead.

However, perhaps they had relaxed a bit too early.

"Stop!"

Jin-woo yelled while holding up his hand. The students all stiffen in place, some not even daring to breathe loudly.

Up ahead, Jin-woo watched as Seong motioned to a left turn in the hallway and a serious expression appeared on his face.

Time passed by slowly, with the students behind Jin-woo getting more and more nervous. Just when someone was about to speak up to ask Jin-woo what was wrong, his words got stuck in his throat as a figure suddenly turned the corner up ahead.

A few girls quickly covered their mouths out of fear while a few of the boys gripped the bats in their hands. But despite the nervousness they were all feeling, seeing Jin-woo's back gave them a sense of assurance.

Everyone tacitly remained silent while watching the zombie slowly make its way before them.

It seemed it hadn't yet noticed them. However, a faint thud suddenly echoed out in the hall. Even though it was faint, in this silent space it was extremely deafening.

All eyes couldn't help but doubtfully glance in the direction the noise came from.

A boy who was looking down at his bat that accidentally hit the wall had his face go pale before he turned to see everyone giving him disbelieving looks.

Jin-woo also turned to look at the youth, who was directly behind him. However, before anyone could react, the zombie's head suddenly snapped in this direction.

With a loud screech that bounced off the walls of the hallway, it charged forward, passing through Seong and rushing at everyone.

The students couldn't help but panic slightly, but Jin-woo kept calm and raised his gun. However, he paused and then suddenly decided not to waste his bullets.

With an air of composure, Jin-woo fitted the gun back into his utility belt then turned to the youth who had made the noise and motioned for the bat in his hand.

The youth didn't hesitate to throw the bat towards Jin-woo, who caught it just as the zombie came within ten steps.

Gripping the bat, Jin-woo forcefully twisted his waist and swung forward. With a sickening crack, the bat hit the zombie's neck breaking it. The zombie staggered to the right before its momentum carried it forward, where Jin-woo dodged and allowed it to fall to the ground.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Jin-woo was then about to step forward and hit the zombie again, but he realized it was unmoving.

Upon seeing this, the students all cheered silently, but Jin-woo frowned.

Up until this point, he had only ever killed a zombie with a gun, and it was straight to the head, so he thought as long as the zombie's head was destroyed then it would die.

At least, that's what the movies said.

However, what he was seeing now was completely different. His hit was strong, but it had only broken its neck, its head was still intact.

As the students silently shifted away from the zombie, Jin-woo approached to examine it.

Seong appeared next to Jin-woo and seeing his expression, he asked.

"What's wrong, Jin?"

With his back facing the students, Jin-woo whispered under his breath.

"Why did it die? I barely hit it."

Seong paused and then his brows furrowed as well, before he glanced down at the zombie.

"Strange."

Seong muttered and started walking around the zombie. He realized he and Jin-woo might have overlooked something about these zombies.

As Seong was examining the zombie, his brows suddenly furrowed even deeper, and he pointed at its face before calling Jin-woo over.

"Jin, look at this."

Jin-woo got up and walked around to see what Seong was pointing at.

"It's eyes, look at its eyes."

Jin-woo's gaze shifted to the zombie's eyes, and immediately his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"It's not dead?"

Jin-woo muttered as he observed the zombie's eyelids fluttered rapidly.

"Jin, something is wrong about this."

Jin-woo looked away from the zombie to see that Seong's expression was one of distress.

"This zombie's neck is broken, severing the spinal cord and nerves. It makes sense if this happened to someone and it permanently paralyzes them, but… but this is a zombie, regardless of the injury to its body the virus in its brain should allow it to move."

Suddenly, Jin-woo's face turned pale as the meaning of Seong's words slowly sunk in.

Glancing at the zombie in front of him, Jin-woo said hoarsely.

"If… If human-like injuries have the same effect on them, then does that mean the virus hasn't changed their biology beyond repair? If that's the case then... then it means a cure could return them to normal, right?"

Jin-woo looked at the zombie on the ground, who was a youth around the same age as him. He was wearing the school uniform with splatters of blood covering it. Perhaps if it were not for his extremely pale skin and the black veins snaking across his face, the youth might have looked like he was cosplaying as a zombie.

No, the obvious protrusion of his spine at the back of his neck was too eye-catching.

Seong remained silent at Jin-woo's questions, but his silence was already an answer itself.

Jin-woo suddenly felt extreme heartache, if a cure can return these people to normal then wouldn't killing them be akin to murdering innocent people?

After a moment, Jin-woo stood up and opened one of the doors nearby. He then dragged the youth's paralyzed body as gently as he could into the room and then exited.

Most of the students were observing Jin-woo, and his quiet mutters to himself did not go unnoticed. After he exited the room and closed the door, they all gave him hesitant looks.

"Freak."

A voice was heard among the crowd, and more than a few people heard it.

A few glares were sent in Ye-jun's direction, but he merely fixed his glasses and ignored them.

However, it was at this moment that the students remembered that Jin-woo was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But, given his actions up until now, he should be fine... right?