Hiding a House in the Apocalypse

As they had not revealed my name, I decided to categorize the siblings as Defender and Defender's younger sibling for convenience.

"Skeleton."

Defender's younger sibling called out to me with a small voice and gestured towards me.

When I looked to see what she was doing, it was none other than a community.

She was writing a new post.

Defender: (Breaking news from Defender) Skeleton has arrived at our house!

• Skeleton is so sweet. I thought a celebrity had come. It's just like a walking sculpture. It's 2 meters tall, wearing a formal tuxedo, and even a Bentley! I'm a guy too, but I was captivated at first sight.

The mouse cursor was in front of the "Send" button.

"No, no, no! Don't do it. Don't post it."

"Why?"

"Come on, what's the point of posting such nonsense?"

She pursed her lips and suddenly turned on the notepad, typing excitedly.

• You're not popular, you know. So...

"But why?"

• To make you popular.

"But I am already famous, aren't I?

• Skeleton, you're infamous.

"..."

• And everyone else is making friends, so why shouldn't we?

"Can't we just talk about it?"

• Some things can't be expressed in words.

"But can't you express them through writing?"

I never thought there were humans who communicated with notepads in front of people.

"That's just how she is, my sister."

Defender said as he loaded a magazine full of bullets into his pocket.

I thought there might be some dark backstory, so I looked at him curiously, and he continued with a smirk.

"No, nothing like that. She's liked typing more than talking since she was a child."

Click

As he skilfully locked the bolt back and checked the chamber, I asked, "There are a lot of them on the other side. Are you going to kill them all?"

About twenty people in red pants.

They were better armed than the previous intruders.

Everyone was armed with automatic rifles, and there was even an armoured vehicle.

While we would need to assess the individual abilities of the soldiers, in terms of scale alone, it was a threatening force.

I wondered how we would deal with such a difficult fight.

"First, we should kill the kids, right?"

Defender said without raising an eyebrow.

"If we kill the kids, won't one or two of them come looking for them?"

I was serious.

I really meant it.

"One by one, we kill them to reduce their numbers. And if they start to gather, we ambush them and clear out the camp."

"What about the armoured vehicle?"

"My younger sibling is good with drones. Especially at dropping things with drones. She's even killed people by dropping bricks instead of bombs."

His younger sibling showed herself with two thumbs.

"I've thought about that much. What do you think?"

"It's an impressive plan, but it lacks a backup."

"Isn't that how fights go? Especially against such small-time opponents, plans don't mean much. The situation might change anytime and the plan might crumble at any moment."

"Do we really have to kill the kids?"

"Should we let them live then?"

Defender chuckled.

His younger sibling, who had been looking at the monitor, turned her chair around and stared at me intently.

Feeling an unspoken pressure, I spoke up.

"Isn't it better to let them live?"

"Why? They're not my kids."

When Defender looked at his younger sibling, she nodded with a mysterious smile.

Defender looked at me again.

"Or Skeleton are you planning to take them and raise them?"

"..."

"What does your younger sibling think?"

In a tone that seemed to imply she had been waiting, the younger sibling spoke with her distinctive murmur-like voice.

"At this point, those kids have already lost their parents. They have an unlucky fate. This era isn't on their side."

I instantly understood.

Defender was indeed not just one, but two people.

It wasn't a solo act.

The two siblings had joined forces to create a horror movie called "Human Hunter."

After a moment of silence, Defender offered a different opinion.

"Actually, there's a way to ignore them. Anyway, this place is steep, and there's no proper road for them to come up. They move along the road."

"Then, do we really need to fight?"

Avoiding unnecessary fights was my principle.

"That might be true. But won't we eventually have to fight? You can't hide forever. Besides, it might happen before that."

Defender stared at the monitor.

"Our friends will die."

His younger sibling added, pointing at the screen.

"Our forum friends."

"It's a community..."

It was a reasonable point. Even if we posted a warning about the danger on the forum, how many people there actually had the heart of a snake like Defender? Even I had little confidence in such a situation.

"Do you have combat experience?"

I asked Defender.

He understood my intention and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want to fight together?"

He nodded.

"We need to protect the community."

That was the biggest reason, if not the only one. Red Pants' tactics were devious, and judging by Defender's condition and equipment, the battle might be easier than expected. Besides, if we were going to fight, it was better to have several people than just one.

Of course, I couldn't deny the part of me seeking to satisfy my shallow hypocrisy. Yes, I must be getting old.

*

A drone rose into the dark night sky.

Defender's younger sibling was operating it.

"My younger sister will destroy the armoured vehicle. Those guys always leave the hatch open."

Defender was a meticulous killer. I had known since the Damian04 incident that he wasn't just an average soldier. He didn't say it, but he might be from a Hunter background. The habits and actions that subconsciously came out were not significantly different from what I had been taught at school. He was probably from the 17th or 18th batch. If he was a cursed recruit who lost his future during his studies, that might explain his twisted personality to some extent.

"Over there is where they've locked up the women. So, that building is the weakest point. There are guards inside, not outside."

Defender was a cunning murderer. He already had the enemy's positions, weaknesses, and even their small habits figured out. Just before the battle, Defender shivered lightly. I could hear his younger sister's ragged breath through the earphones. She seemed to be feeling significant tension and excitement as well, even though she didn't say anything.

"Well, shall we begin?" Defender signalled.

Seeing the familiar signs of battle for the first time in a long while, I was transported to a battlefield in China, across time and oceans. Countless mutilated bodies, comrades shooting in the ruins with expressionless faces, Chinese soldiers shouting in an unknown language as they set fire to the corpses, and the large-sized creatures revealing their outlines in the smoky ruins. Most of all, I felt a slight headache and weariness. It wasn't just the danger of the battlefield that caused many comrades to fall into eternal slumber. We were in a loose hell. I yawned.

"..."

Many comrades fell into eternal slumber for reasons other than the dangers of the battlefield.

We were in a loose hell.

Defender's voice brought me back to reality.

"Let's go."

The operation outline was simple. Two trained assassins with specific information and a plan would launch a surprise attack on the disorganized enemy at night. It was a fight where the outcome was decided from the beginning. As with everything else, chance could change destiny, but I wouldn't just leave it to chance.

The base of the explorers in red pants was an abandoned theme park. There might be no amusement rides operating, but there were many empty buildings, roads, and abundant dedicated resources.

What we approached was the staff accommodation building where they were holding captive women. We could hear the sobbing of women and the shouts of men as we approached the outer wall guarded by soldiers.

Defender aimed his gun.

I took two axes from my waist and approached the guard without crouching or excessively reducing my footsteps. Soon, one of the men detected a presence and turned his head.

Thunk!

My axe struck the man's throat.

As the man tried to fall, another guard turned his head.

"What's going on?"

Thunk!

Two corpses lay on the ground.

I removed the axes from their throats, wiped the blood on their clothes, and continued. Defender approached, giving me a thumbs-up.

"Double kill for Skeleton."

Before I could respond, his younger sister's excited voice came through the earphones.

"Skeleton killed them? Huh? He killed two of them?"

Her voice was much louder and livelier than when she reported in person.

"I'll take care of the inside."

Defender drew a dagger.

"Is one person enough?"

"With the fun they are having, I think one person is enough. Keep an eye on the outside."

I nodded and looked around.

Under the pale streetlight, I could see an armoured vehicle.

Soon, the screams of women echoed, and Defender's murmuring voice came through.

Then, Defender walked out.

"Hey, guys. They were there. But there were five of them, right?"

"..."

"There are two ways to handle this."

"Two ways?"

"One way is to create chaos by letting the women escape."

"And the other one?"

"The other way is to quietly eliminate them."

"Let's go with the latter."

"Aren't you pretending to be too nice?"

Defender frowned slightly.

"Since we decided to pretend to be nice, why not go halfway?"

"You're already going halfway, aren't you?"

In terms of the outcome, my approach seemed wiser. They had gathered in one place without proper defences or dispersion, either drinking or sleeping in a single lodge. The old armoured vehicle parked in front of the lodge seemed to be the source of their confidence. After subduing the guards, we prepared for the operation. As the faint sound of the drone flying in the night sky reached us, we began the operation. Simultaneously, Defender planted a grenade and smashed the window, firing in a crossfire from both directions.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tang!

As gunshots signalled, the drone approached the armoured vehicle and precisely dropped the grenade into the open hatch with a loud explosion. The armoured vehicle started speeding away, probably with the accelerator pressed down by the driver who had been killed.

Tang!

Several Red Pants inside tried to retaliate, using a table as cover, but the building was already on fire, and smoke was filling up quickly.

All variables were eliminated. What remained was a tedious massacre, accompanied by yawning and boredom.

"Hey, Skeleton!"

Seeing Red Pants running out of the burning building, Defender laughed heartily.

"Aren't you being too kind?"

With a cheerful face, he aimed and shot, and the screaming man, already on fire, collapsed and didn't get up again.

"Skeleton, earlier, I underestimated you, right? Yeah, I get it. I can see everything."

His younger sister was also excited.

Using a Chinese-made drone, she shot down the Red Pants as if playing a game.

"Surrender! Surrender!"

A few Red Pants raised their hands and came out of the smoking building.

Defender laughed as he cocked his gun, and his sister's laughter faded.

Thud!

An explosion occurred in the distance. The armoured vehicle that had been speeding seemed to have crashed into something in the theme park facilities. It was a fleeting moment when I wanted to dismiss it as a minor coincidence and ignore it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With the sound of explosions, various coloured objects flew into the sky and exploded, creating a beautiful radial pattern in the night sky.

Fireworks.

A large number of fireworks set up in a pre-war launcher were launched into the sky in a colorful display, breaking the long silence with their brilliance.

"Wow! Look at this! Hey!"

"Waaah!!!"

Watching the siblings enjoy themselves like children, I suddenly thought. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for these guys to get rid of the Red Pants' atrocities. They just wanted to kill the Red Pants and seemed to have achieved their goal with excitement. In that sense, this theme park had certainly done its job.

Why not, people had come for enjoyment, and they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

With that thought, I silently gazed at the miracle that chance had brought me, which had not overwhelmed me.

The game was over, and it was time to settle accounts.

"What are you going to do with these people?"

The remaining children and women.

The price of shallow hypocrisy.

"I already told you, I won't take them. No, I can't take them."

Defender stared at me as if trying to pierce through me.

"...I won't either."

Multiple thoughts raced through my mind, but in reality, I knew.

My gaze had been fixed on one outcome from the beginning.

I silently watched as people walked into the darkness, fumbling awkwardly with firearms.

One child turned and looked at me, puzzled.

Their fate was not something I wanted to think about.

Click, click.

Behind me, Defender was taking authentication photos.

"Skeleton."

He approached me and handed something to me.

"What's this?"

As I took it, I realized it was a drawing.

It depicted a handsome young man who seemed overly idealized, the kind you would expect to see in a women's romance manga.

"My sister drew this."

Indeed, under the picture, there was some pretty writing that said, "To Skeleton."

Come to think of it, he does look a bit like me...?

"Anyway, it's not like you are going to come back home, right?" Defender relayed his sister's message.

Definitely, Defender had a knack for seeing into people's hearts. That was true for both his sister and himself.

"Why are you suddenly doing some self-reflection?"

"It's a psychopath's thoughts, I know."

Defender smiled strangely as he bit on a cigarette.

His pupils were following the last flicker of the flames.

"This park... I came here with my sister when I was young. Holding hands with our father and mother."

He released a white puff of smoke into the night sky.

"Our father was a terrible man."

"..."

Then, I heard his sister's voice through the earphones.

"Let's talk more next time after we get to know each other better."

This time, Defender handed me a piece of paper.

Unlike the carefully crafted drawing by his sister, what Defender gave me was a crude note.

<Defender's Summons>

"What's this?"

"If you need help, send a DM."

Defender shook hands and walked into the darkness with brisk steps.

"I'll go now."

Then, his sister's voice came again.

"Skeleton, let's be friends from now on?"

Holding the drawing and the note they left behind, I stood there for a while, gazing at the silent mountains, park, and the sky.

Many things had happened, but in the end, all I felt was exhaustion.

It was a kind of fatigue you'd feel after playing to your heart's content in an amusement park and returning home.

That night, Defender spammed the forum.

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

Defender: (Defender's Confession) Skeleton, I really like you!

...

...

Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't witness that horrendous confession in real-time.

"What the hell...!!"

I was being chased by those damn zombies!

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