Chapter 361 – Exile (3)
Peter’s joint investigation team could not easily fall asleep even though they spent the night at the village hall.
The place where I had lived for five years suddenly felt unfamiliar.
The taste of the air, the weight of the air, the presence of wild animals, the depth of darkness, the shadows swaying between them.
It feels like everything has changed except the terrain.
As if the family that greeted me at home after going to work as usual was replaced by people I had never met before.
“Not a single wolf is crying.”
“I usually hate being woken up so much.”
“I did. But now it sounds like a lullaby.”
The crew wearing sleeping bags whispered in anxious voices.
The only thing that remains the same is the sound of burning firewood. That insignificant sound brought comfort to everyone.
How many hours did he sleep like that?
“Weather.”
A few sleepy people were awakened by a soft but sharply penetrating voice.
They reflexively grabbed the guns they had placed next to them and at the same time shook their colleagues who were not yet awake.
The colleagues who woke up like that also raised their guns and woke up the other colleagues.
Thanks to this, the vigil was able to change everyone into a combat stance with a single whisper. This is possible because all of them are veterans.
The watch showed that the time was 5:50 am. The world was still dark, but I got at least enough sleep to relieve my fatigue.
As Alexei was putting out the bonfire, a sentry looking out through a small hole sent a hand signal.
‘Armed person. Decimal. ‘We couldn’t find it.’
While everyone was aiming at the entrance to the hall building and preparing for battle, Pyotr looked through the observation hole on the other side with a telescope.
The dolls coming into the sawmill village in the dark are revealed.
The number is approximately five. He was completely cowering, and when he saw the muzzle moving dizzyingly, he was looking everywhere in fear.
“It looks like a remnant of a defeated military unit.”
Peter said.
Just by looking at the silhouette, traces of regular military equipment were visible, and it was obvious that only 5 people were wandering around at night, shivering.
The crew breathed a sigh of relief.
“What should I do? Do you ignore it?”
“I accept it. If you leave it alone and start panic firing, it will be a pain in the ass.”
As always, the captain’s decision was quick.
When the door to the village hall opened, those approaching reflexively stopped and pointed their guns. Their quick response proved that they were elite.
However, I couldn’t help but feel the fear revealed by the trembling muzzle of the gun.
As a white flag appeared through a crack in the door and waved on both sides, the strangers lowered their guns and approached quickly.
It is a signal between Siberians to come in as there is no intention to harm.
As soon as the strangers entered, Isaac quickly but quietly closed the door.
“Huh… Huh…”
The five soldiers knelt down and prostrated themselves.
I’m breathing hard, probably due to mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue.
“Drink.”
When Pyotr and the other members handed him a bucket of water, he accepted it with trembling hands.
“Thank you.”
An officer with the rank of captain accepted the canteen and took a gulp.
The five soldiers’ canteens were empty. This is because I was afraid that the sound of the water shaking might make a sound, so I poured it all out.
“I’m Pyotr. He serves as the leader of the village association’s militia. “What is his name?”
“Mikhail. Huh… Thank you so much.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing to help, Captain Mikhail?”
Pyotr said as he looked at Mikhail’s rank insignia.
“Just Michael is enough. “What a rank to a lifesaver.”
Mikhail returned the canteen.
He probably didn’t drink much, so the canteen he took had almost no weight.
Because the thirst Mikhail felt was not for water but for humans themselves.
His troops, who set out majestically, were brutally slaughtered by monsters they had never seen before.
Fifteen militiamen I met while wandering in the dark, filled with fear, where each minute felt like an hour!
They were all black guys, but they looked prettier than any girls Mikhail had ever seen.
Even one of his young subordinates is crying in the arms of a furry militiaman.
Normally, he would have kicked his ass with his military uniform, saying, ‘Are you still a soldier?!’, But right now, Mikhail is extremely lenient.
“Were you attacked by an unidentified monster?”
Mikhail nodded his head.
“It was buried in the dirt and snow, and then suddenly it popped out on both sides of the road. Five people died in an instant. Torn, split…”
He spat out phlegm, perhaps remembering a nightmare.
But I didn’t make a sound like ‘Kuhhh!’ He quietly cried and spat out phlegm.
“We somehow repulsed the first attack, but we lost all our vehicles and were killed one after another as if we were being hunted by additional guys who appeared. Fuck, when I hit it with my body, the armored car and the truck all fell off like bowling pins.”
“Maybe he came with a tail?”
Pyotr said that and looked at Alexei. He was observing outside with a telescope.
“I can’t see any movement.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. “I think I got rid of them, but they are so cunning.”
Mikhail lowered his head as if he was being ignored.
“A waitra who sells traps.”
“They are not wights or anything! It’s completely different… I’m sorry.”
Mikhail, who became very emotional, lowered his voice when he saw Pyotr putting his index finger to his lips.
“How many members were there in total?”
“35 people.”
“Maybe it was a group coming from behind in a military truck?”
“In the back?”
“The road towards the watermill village.”
Pyotr took Mikhail to another observation hole in the corner of the hall.
Through it, he pointed to the plain below the hill, to the place where about 20 people were wiped out on the road last night.
“No. We come from the other side. From what I heard, it looks like other military units were also wiped out?”
Pyotr nodded his head instead of answering.
“Damn it.”
“Can you tell me about them? “We only saw traces, but we haven’t seen the real thing yet.”
“As much as you want! Everyone needs to know about these evil things. “It’s on a different level from something like a wight.”
Peter increased the number of people for external surveillance to four and gathered the rest.
“It walks on four legs, but the way it runs is closer to that of a lizard. No, would bat walking on the ground be more accurate? But the speed was ridiculously fast. Even if I ride a horse, I’ll probably catch up.”
Mikhail looked at the horses sleeping in the corner.
“So, if you get caught, you can’t escape.”
The investigation team member frowned.
One of the reasons they volunteered for this dangerous mission was because they believed they could escape on horseback.
Among the wights of Siberia, none are faster than horses. But the insurance collapsed.
“His stance was low, but he was as fast as a horse, so it was difficult to hit him. Besides, they seem to know the concept of magazine swapping.”
“What?”
Even Pyotr, who was always calm, could not hide his surprise.
“During the battle, I turned the two guys who attacked me into a beehive.”
Mikhail said, holding up the PKP machine gun.
It is a luxury product that fires more than 600 rounds of 7.62×54 mm machine gun bullets per minute. Such great weapons cannot be found in civilian camps.
“Then the guy who was following right behind me jumped up and hid behind a big tree. As I was about to use up all the ammo and pull it out to replace it, it popped out right away. “If it weren’t for that annoying guy, I would have died.”
Mikhail pointed to a young soldier who was crying in the arms of a militiaman. He seemed to have calmed down a bit now and wiped the corners of his eyes with a despondent look.
“Isn’t it a coincidence?”
Peter asked.
In battlefields where lives are at stake, it was common to overinterpret insignificant coincidences.
“Well, maybe. But I can still see the head peeking out from the tree. Those cunning eyes.”
Mikhail seems to be confident in his intuition.
“You can think of it as being roughly the size of a saltwater crocodile. The weight will be lighter. Unlike the fat crocodile, he was slim and fit well. I’m definitely not saying I’m skinny. “His limbs are as big as the torso of a decent man.”
“It would be natural to hit a military truck and blow it away.”
Pyotr pointed behind him with his thumb.
“It seems like those who were wiped out over there were similar to us. “If a human touches their hands, he or she will die.”
Mikhail thought about the end of his men, who died in one hit no matter where they were hit.
“What is your skin color? Was it black? “If you look at the fighting on the road over there, you can barely see it even at night.”
“That’s right… It changed.”
“Like a chameleon?”
The investigation team members who were listening made faces that asked them to please deny it.
The characteristics that have been revealed so far are terrible, but if you even disguise it, it will turn people away. Fortunately, Mikhail shook his head.
“Not to that extent. It was after noon when we were attacked and it was definitely white. Hiding in the snow felt very comfortable. As they were chased like that, their skin gradually darkened in the late afternoon.”
“Is it affected by sunlight?”
Peter asked.
“That also makes sense. As night fell, it turned completely black. Because of that, additional men died.”
“We thought these guys were a variant of the wight.”
“Absolutely not.”
Mikhail shook his head with a confident look.
“My family has been hunters for generations. Before enlisting, I followed my father and caught rabbits, reindeer, wolves, bears, and even tigers.”
As if recalling the good times, eyes filled with nostalgia return to reality.
“I can tell by looking into the eyes of these unknown monsters. It definitely belongs to a wild beast. “The wight’s murderous intent was different from his soulless eyes.”
“Mikhail. “I respect your intuition, but I want more realistic evidence.”
“I’m sorry. “I also ran away without any hesitation.”
Without asking any further questions, Pyotr handed over the warmed mushroom tea.
Now that it’s hard to find coffee or proper tea, I drink anything that can be brewed as tea.
“They say they are a militia, but they are wearing active military uniform?”
Like a soldier, Mikhail’s gaze instinctively rested on Pyotr’s shoulder. He has the rank of major, one level higher than himself.
“It wasn’t taken from a corpse. “I deserted.”
Pyotr answered immediately, fearing that he might be mistaken for a soldier’s murderer.
“I understand. “If the country doesn’t protect my family, wouldn’t I have no choice but to take action myself?”
Mikhail shrugged his shoulders.
During the Infection War, the Russian government invested everything in defending the West.
Thanks to this, soldiers with families in the central and eastern regions deserted in large numbers, and this was not considered particularly dishonorable.
Bang bang!
At that moment, a gunshot was heard from afar.
Everyone’s eyes turn to Daewon, who is guarding the village. He made an X with both arms.
It immediately turned 180 degrees and headed toward the soldier guarding the plain below the hill. He makes a circle with his hands.
By the time people removed the membrane that covered the hole and closed their eyes, the situation was hopeless.
The side of a mountain far away from the road where a military unit was wiped out last night.
There were people desperately running downward. Judging by the muzzle flames with yellow flowers blooming here and there, the number appears to be less than 10.
The yellow flowers decreased one by one as we went down the mountain.
Wow!
It became quiet after one person screamed so loudly that it could be heard up here.
“Fuck.”
“Aren’t we screwed? How do I get to the village?”
“Is now the time to worry about us? The family I left behind in the village…”
The crew members who plugged the hole covered their heads.
“What are you going to do next?”
Pyotr asked Mikhail.
“Our mission was to find the cause of the village disappearances. I was told to rescue missing people if possible, but I guess they were already in their stomachs. “Right now, I just want to go back to the base.”
“We are similar too. I plan to notify the village of the danger, issue an emergency alert, and request protection from the military. Would you like to join us?”
Mikhail nodded.
“There’s no way we can walk to the base with just the five of us. And if it’s the headquarters, they’ll be able to survive somehow even if they don’t tell us right away. But the villages outside are different.”
“What a great soldier’s spirit.”
“The military spirit is a mess. “He’s worried about being abandoned, so he’s very proud of it.”
Mikhail drank the remaining mushroom tea.
“I have one more thing to tell you about monsters. It’s important.”
As everyone listened, Mikhail opened his mouth. By the time the story ended, dawn had begun to break.
* * *
“Is everyone ready?”
In response to Pyotr’s question, 19 people gave the OK sign.
After finishing their morning meal of steamed potatoes and squirrel jerky, they planned to return straight to the village association.
It won’t be safe because there are unidentified monsters roaming everywhere, but we can’t hold out here forever.
The problem is that an uninvited guest came to the village.
“… It certainly seemed like the tail wasn’t caught.”
Mikhail, who received everyone’s attention, had a very distorted face.
“Keheeeeek-!”
A monster I had never seen before was wandering around the village.
It has a pure white body and is smaller than a horse. The skin had no hair and had the texture of an arthropod.
“Didn’t you say it’s the size of a saltwater crocodile?”
“Obviously…”
Mikhail was speechless in response to Pyotr’s question.
The bastard is licking his blood-soaked hands. The teeth sticking out like icicles from between the mouths are absolutely brutal.
The face was so malicious that it could not be considered an Earth creature. Would you say it’s a deep-sea fish version of a meat-eating dinosaur?
“It seems there is another reason why the captains are chasing us.”
When I looked at the direction Alexei pointed to, I saw another small monster. The bloody torso of a wolf is in its mouth.
“It seems like you ended up here while chasing a wolf?”
The first monster discovered approached and bit the wolf’s lower body as if trying to steal it.
While the two were shaking their heads as if fighting over food, the wolf was torn in half. It looks like it has just died, with steaming intestines pouring out noisily.
“Oh my god.”
Fights over food often appear in animal documentaries, but they usually end with one side losing the food.
A lion, a tiger, or even a crocodile would not be able to tear apart a prey the size of a wolf in one go.
“Shall we shoot?”
In response to a question from a member holding a sniper rifle, Pyotr ordered to wait for a moment.
And after a while.
“Krrrr-!”
With a much more ferocious howl, a creature as big as the previous two combined appeared. There was a wolf in its mouth too.
Pyotr took his eyes off the telescope.
“The first two were subadults. Everyone ready for battle. Those with machine guns, stand still and aim for the head of the Eucharist.”
“I understand.”
Not only the investigation team but also the soldiers who joined followed Peter’s instructions. As soldiers, they knew well the importance of unifying the command system.
“Do you see that? That’s what I said.”
Mikhail pointed to the adult monster’s back.
Two thick tentacles emerged from the area corresponding to the human shoulder blade. It was about 2 m long and as thick as a boa constrictor.
At the end of the tentacle was a chunk of carapace slightly larger than a human torso, and although it was square, it looked very thick and solid.
“That must have happened…”
One of the crew members chanted as if possessed.
“It looks like a shield.”
Commander Alexei said.
“How hard is it? “Can it be drilled with 5.45 mm?”
“Mo, I don’t know. What we encountered had a hook instead of something like that.”
Mikhail seemed taken aback by Pyotr’s question.
“… Everyone, aim for the head, preferably the eyes.”
Everyone aimed their guns at Pyotr’s words.
Using hand signals, 5 people each aimed at the subadults while the remaining 10 aimed.
As the signal for Peter’s first shot, all aimed shots were fired.
Ta-ta-tang!
They did not fire indiscriminately, but only fired 2–3 shots at a time to save ammunition.
Poop!
Puck!
Two subadult monsters that were eating wolf meat fell down with their faces shattered by rifle bullets.
At the same time, the saint was hit in the face with several times more machine gun bullets and fell down as well.
The white eye juice glowed brilliantly in the morning sunlight, as if there had been a sharpshooter who had really made eye contact.
A loud roar is heard beyond the three fallen bodies.
About 10 monsters are running at incredible speed across the pure white snow field.
“Shoot!”
At Peter’s command, they started firing all at once.
Unlike other units that were ambushed while climbing mountains or moving on the road, they were building a fire net from an advantageous position from the beginning.
“Krararrrr!”
“Keeeeek-!”
Moreover, luckily, the monsters were almost subadults.
Unlike when he was biting a wolf, he lowered his posture significantly, but his back was so strong that he didn’t fall down easily when he was shot there.
“Prepare for the top! “They are good at climbing trees!”
Mikhail shouted.
“There are no trees here?!”
“Hey you idiot! “You can burn a tree, but you can’t burn a house?”
The sight of Mikhail yelling at a member who was being rude was that of a colleague who had already become a lump.
One subadult climbed onto the roof of the log cabin in one leap. He had incredible jumping ability.
“Damn it!”
A soldier with an assault rifle took aim at the roof, but was out of luck.
Ujikkeun!
The house may have been severely damaged during the village attack, but the roof collapsed when a heavy monster suddenly climbed on top of it.
The monster screamed and crashed.
“Haha! This disease…”
Kwaang!
Before the soldier could utter a single curse, the door of the house broke down, and a monster jumped out.
Ta-ta-tang!
However, he collapsed immediately with blood pouring from his neck and face due to a barrage of rifle bullets.
“They are taking a detour!”
Peter shouted.
One adult and one subadult were turning to the left and right, respectively, trying to target the rear.
It was difficult to hit him because he was moving with incredible speed from the side instead of charging from the front.
The subadult that turned to the right was somehow able to be shot down, but the adult that diverted to the left managed to reach the defense line.
He swings his huge hand towards the member on the outermost edge.
“Aaaaah!”
A broken submachine gun and severed fingers appeared in the air.
The monster grabbed his hand and passed by without even looking at the screaming crew.
However, he didn’t ignore it at all and kicked it with his back foot at the end.
Kwasik!
The crew member flew in a straight line with the sound of ribs breaking and died after hitting the building.
The adult monster was hit in the face by a barrage of bullets flying from close range and was sprayed with blood.
“Karrurururu-!”
Although the face was not pierced by a small iron ball, it was enough to blind both eyes.
He flails his arms and tentacles as if struggling to become blind. The biggest difference between the subadult and the adult was the tentacles on the back of the shoulder.
This guy has something like a hook on the end.
“Aaaaah!”
The crew whose stomach was pierced by it screams.
The skin of the belly, which was extremely fragile, was pierced, and the body shook back and forth, and it was torn open at once, and the intestines spilled out.
By then, the remaining personnel had fallen away from the monster, and the monster’s head was crushed by the machine gunner who turned his gun.
Of the five soldiers who joined, three were holding machine guns, so the firepower in defense of the base was incredible.
A little over 10 mixed adult and subadult monsters were all defeated.
“There are no additional enemies.”
“I guess it’s not there yet. “You must leave here immediately.”
Pyotr responded to Alexei’s comment about looking through the telescope.
“Ahhh…”
The crew member, whose stomach skin was completely torn apart, lay down and moaned. His eyes are full of despair as he looks down at his abdomen.
As the winter wind blew into my empty stomach after pouring out most of my intestines, I felt that death was certain.
By the time I could pick it up, it was already broken and cut, and was lying about 10 meters away.
Blood foam was flowing from his nostrils and mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Pyotr aimed the gun at the agent’s forehead.
The operator seemed to have given up and closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.
In a heavy atmosphere, Pyotr gave instructions again.
“I’m leaving here right now. Pack up your horses and throw away all the unimportant baggage. “I need to keep my body as light as possible.”
The mixed team, now reduced to 18 people, has left the village.
They prayed that they would not encounter them on their way.
And I hoped that even one person would be able to join with survivors from other units.
* * *
The top of the rocky mountain that covers the shelter.
I looked at the helicopter unit leaving for Siberia.
They are all heavily armed with stalkers, and some of them have purifiers attached to the bottom.
There are large transport planes that carry only supplies such as batteries and ammunition without troops.
There are many restrictions as you have to travel all the way to northern Siberia only by air, but there is nothing you can do.
The distance is too far to use the land route, and the road conditions are terrible due to the infection war, 5 years of neglect, and accumulated snow.
– Fortunately or unfortunately, the seriousness of the situation was widely known. The investigation teams that had even been sent to military units lost contact one after another. Even the heavy commanders were very upset.
According to Nikolai, a large unit is being prepared for an all-out war, rather than a survey corps.
There were warlords who declared national isolation and tried to stay away, but they were a minority.
In addition, Russian refugees began moving south.
There are people who want to take a boat to Japan or cross the North Korean border and settle on the Korean Peninsula.
Most people are just packing their bags, but it seems like they need to make some preparations.
[The temporary camp will be built within 3 weeks.]
Artemis also entered a wartime mode and focused on support.
Fence-type detention centers, which were used to temporarily house prisoners from maritime prisons in the past, are being built in the Pyongyang area.
It is an excellent residence comparable to a large camp, and a watchtower has been installed for self-defense.
[I finished setting up the command VR machine.]
“Thank you. “What did I ask for?”
[Processed. Through improvements, it is now possible to sleep and urinate inside. Still, I recommend taking a break outside…]
“I will try to be lenient.”
I plan to lead the field again this time.
The experience of fighting against Exile is an experience, but it seems like there will be many conversations with fellow humans.
It is a situation where their habitat and people’s living space are intertwined.
It was not a simple annihilation war, but there was a high possibility of collaborating with the camp or rescuing people in danger.
“But I feel at ease because I’m not fighting the same person this time. All you have to do is aim your gun at the monster.”
Finally, I came down from the rooftop while watching the drone carriers take off at once.
