Re: Survival Chapter 31

"Yohan, could you find some dirt and fertilizer the next time you go outside?"

"Dirt?"

"I'm going to make a vegetable garden on the roof."

'Elder Park's talent is farming.' Yohan's heart rejoiced. Elder Park was an experienced farmer. He had spent his teenage years in the countryside before moving to Seoul with his family. He told Yohan that he made a rooftop garden on the apartment building he used to live in.

The mall had a fairly large roof. If they converted all that s.p.a.ce into a garden, they would be able to reap a tremendous amount of food. That is, of course, if they were able to grow edible produce, such as potatoes or corn. Yohan had a happy look on his face. Jung Hwan, who was standing next to him, shared his excitement and spoke out.

"I'm sure we'll be able to find gardening soil with fertilizer mixed in. The company I worked for had a club and we grew sweet potatoes. We bought dirt from a place that's near here." 

"Can you tell me the exact location?" Yohan pulled out a map. Jung Hwan pointed at a spot, saying that it was around there. It wasn't far. The recon team decided to visit the location on their way back from their next outing.

"Please make sure to bring the dirt and fertilizer separately. The ratio is different for every crop."

"Got it."

"At this rate, we might need to turn the parking lot into a farm." Elder Park said jokingly. However, the idea struck a chord with Yohan. There was a lot of unused s.p.a.ce in the parking lot that was unsuitable for accommodations.

Even though it was the parking lot, it was above the ground and received a good amount of sunlight. If they gathered livestock and found a way to get rid of all the cars, then maybe Elder Park's comment wouldn't just be a joke. Finding livestock was its own problem, but they should focus on getting rid of all the cars first. If they broke the windows and released the parking brakes, they would be able to move it. However, the problem was that the steering wheel would still be locked.

Yohan thought longingly about Ki Moon, the automotive engineering major. Automotive maintenance was such a rare talent. His loss was unfortunate.

"There's a forklift in the loading dock. Could we use that to make some s.p.a.ce? We should be able to use it to move the lighter cars." Jung Hwan chimed in his own thoughts.

"Let's think about that later. We're short-handed right now, could you help Elder Park convert the rooftop?" Yohan asked. Jung Hwan nodded his head confidently. Yohan thought he looked particularly trustworthy at this moment.

Before departing with the recon team, Yohan looked back at the camp and saw the combat team standing there, as if they were seeing them off. Aside from Jung Hwan, most of them were cleaning up the mall. It wasn't the most appealing task force.

Unfortunately, they didn't have an opportunity to train anyone in the past few days. Eventually they had to get these people to be at least as competent as Jung Hwan at fighting zombies. This was because Yohan wanted the mall to be the center of his organization. They were going to find supplies faster and in higher quant.i.ty than any other survivors and create a supply camp that would be the lifeline of a united organization.

However, in order to do that, their camp would need to have the best fighters and skilled workers. They would be the core of the supply warehouse, as well as the entire united organization, so they couldn't be amateurs. If they didn't improve, they would be sent to another camp, whether they wanted to or not.

The recon team decided to head towards the hospital. It was a lot further than the H-mall and the convenience stores, so they needed to really prepare for the trip. Even though he was experienced at long journeys, this was the first time for some members of the recon team. Of the four walkie-talkies, Yohan gave two to Jung Hwan.

"Give one to the parking lot guard and keep the other one on you at all times. If something happens, let me know."

"Okay, but Saeri…"

"Hm?"

"How about leaving Saeri behind?"

"I would like to, but she's adamant about going."

"I know, but…"

"Don't worry too much. She does a third of a person's work anyways." Yohan joked. Jung Hwan didn't look satisfied.

'Have they gotten that close?' Yohan rea.s.sured Jung Hwan again and then radioed Sweeper.

"Sweeper, come down if you're all prepared."

— "Roger that."

Soon, the other three members of the recon team joined them. Sweeper and Ha Jin were wearing black leather jackets that they found in the mall. With the armor padding on one arm, their outfit was similar to Yohan's. Saeri was wearing a tight leather outfit, baseball cap, sungla.s.ses, a mask, and her own armor padding. Yohan was stunned by Saeri's appearance. It stood out too much. On top of that, he didn't understand why she was dressed so provocatively.

"Are you a celebrity or something?"

"Heh heh, I got excited because it's been a while since I've gone out. Do I look good?" Saeri lifted her sungla.s.ses up a bit and gave Yohan a sly smile. Yohan could feel his headache returning.

"Get rid of the shades or we'll get rid of you."

"Awwww." Saeri whined as she tossed the sungla.s.ses aside. Yohan turned to the rest of the recon team.

"How's the equipment?"

"I brought the B kit."

"I brought C. You said at least one person should have C."

"Good."

Ha Jin and Sweeper had B while Saeri had C. The hospital was around 800m away. It would take them 15 minutes on foot. If they encountered zombies along the way, it could take as long as 30 minutes. The A kit had heavy combat gear and was ideal for long term survival while the light weight B kit was ideal for fighters and search parties. The C kit was filled with food and was good for helping any survivors they might meet along the way, so at least one person should have it.

Yohan looked over the various ammunitions he had gathered. There were two guns, a revolver and a rifle. He had prioritized carrying more rifle ammo. He stared at the slingshot that Seo Jun made for a long moment before deciding to stuff it into his bag. Before leaving, Yohan explained his plan from the top of a truck in the parking lot. Jung Hwan was also there, representing the camp.

"As I've explained, our primary goal is to obtain supplies. Second is looking for survivors and creating an alliance."

"Do you think forming an alliance will be that easy? Survivors will be distrustful." Sweeper commented. He had a point.

"Before we can deepen the relationship and build trust, we have to make a sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?"

"I'm going to distribute supplies periodically."

"Huh?" Everyone frowned. As they expressed their discontent, Yohan nodded his head.

"In exchange for supplies and protection, I'm going to bring talented survivors to our camp. Either fighters or skilled workers." Yohan gave a detailed explanation of his long-term strategy. "My goal is to create at least 10 camps in this area. Each camp will have around 20 people. This mall will be the supplies warehouse for all the survivors in all ten camps. I'm going to expand the recon team with talented people from each camp. The recon team won't be a part of any specific camp. They will go around and maintain the camps by finding supplies or distributing supplies. They'll also provide support during emergencies."

"I thought I would have an easy life, I didn't sign up for all this hard work." Sweeper mumbled to himself. Ha Jin, who was listening quietly, summarized Yohan's plan.

"So our group is going to provide supplies and safety and we get talented individuals and their cooperation in return."

"Exactly. The camps will unite and become one big organization."

"The connection is too weak."

"People will mix between the camps. As time pa.s.ses, their bonds will deepen."

"Oh…"

The recon team was going to be central to the organization. The mall wasn't going to be the team's base camp, because it always needed to be at the max capacity of 20 survivors. Yohan contemplated using his apartment home at Kkachiul Station as the recon team's base camp, since it was optimally set up, but he didn't want to mention it just yet. His home base was the last bastion and it was too early to reveal it.

After sharing his overarching goal, Yohan continued with a more detailed briefing. The path to the hospital, what to do if they encountered survivors, what to do if they didn't encounter survivors, how to handle dangerous situations, hand signals, etc.

"I'm surprised by how elaborate this is." Ha Jin said, honestly. It was difficult to believe that Yohan had planned this all out in such a short period of time. In his eyes, Yohan was like a well-trained soldier from the special forces.

"Memorize the hand signals as soon as possible. If you struggle with them during a fight, you'll be ejected from the recon team."

Saeri didn't think much about it, but Ha Jin and Sweeper had a suspicion that, if they did succeed in unifying the camps as Yohan stated, the recon team would gain a lot of power as the central force of the organization. Even though they were in the early stages of the plan, the whole concept made them gulp.

The start of the recon mission was smooth. The group slowly advanced as they killed zombies. It was slow, but steady progress. Zombies kept appearing, but, even though some leapt at them with salivating mouths, no one was ever in danger. Saeri, who was responsible for the left side, utilized her light footwork to crush a zombie's head. For some reason, she looked excited.

"Don't let your guard down." Yohan criticized her not too long after.

"Oh, sorry Yohan. It's been so long since I've been out. I'm just excited." Saeri replied happily as she moved to intercept a zombie. Her quick feet blocked her vision and she didn't notice the oil on the ground. With a suppressed scream, Saeri slipped.

The zombie jumped on top of her. It screamed like a spectre and started snapping its teeth at her. Saeri quickly moved to put her padded arm between them, but the zombie was heavy on her arm.

Suddenly, a knife flew through the air and penetrated the zombie's head. The zombie didn't even realize that its head had been stabbed and it continued to snap its jaws until it died, it's dark red blood spilling onto Saeri's face. Sweeper retrieved his knife and helped Saeri stand up. She gave him a stiff thank you.

"If you cause trouble one more time, I'm going to remove you from the recon team and send you back to the camp. Don't let your guard down." Yohan scolded with a dull voice. Saeri bit her lip and nodded. Even if she wasn't much help, she should at least not be a burden. She knew that she had totally dropped the ball.

"Wait." Yohan said suddenly. The group was about to start moving again, but stopped. Saeri had slipped near a gas station. It was about 50m away. Yohan examined the oil stains carefully while Sweeper took the opportunity to light a cigarette.

"Can you stop smoking?" Saeri said with a frown. "Second hand smoke. You should respect non-smoker's health."

"If you don't like second hand smoke, then start smoking Miss."

"Wow, such a lame joke. Respect the rights of a person that dislikes dad jokes."

As the two exchanged jabs, Ha Jin stepped up next to Yohan.

"Something wrong?"

"This gas. It's not a natural leak."

The gasoline on the ground didn't leak naturally from a car. There was an unreasonable amount. It looked like something was placed on top of the puddle and then more spilled out to the side.

"Someone must have taken the gas from that tank and spilled some while trying to refuel manually."

"What about it?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think it's been that long since this was spilled."

This meant that someone was nearby. Ha Jin's expression instantly changed and he started looking around, but saw no one. Sweeper joined them after overhearing Yohan's comment and looked around with a pair of binoculars.

"There's nothing here."

"There's no need to be nervous. They probably filled up with gas because they were going to drive somewhere far away."

However, there was still something lingering on Yohan's mind.

The roads were probably blocked. Only a motorcycle would be able to drive on these roads. There was a chance that two survivors were roaming around, but he couldn't discount the possibility that it was a group.

Yohan considered all the possibilities in his head before moving. No one knew what variables and dangers might appear when travelling outside the camp. Yohan focused his senses until they were as sharp as a blade.

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