Bailonz Street 13

To be precise, every sound from the beginning to the end of the phrase “Help me” was unnaturally uniform. Even the faint breath mixed in the speech seemed calculated. With the carriage wall between us, I foolishly failed to notice the sense of unease.

I don’t want to subject my brother to this kind of supernatural experience.

“How is this…”

There was something inside the carriage. Whether it was a monster, something ominous, or something mimicking a human, I didn’t know. I couldn’t see it from my position, but Jonathan must have seen it, as he stood there in a daze, utterly shocked. It seems he was quite traumatized.

“You idiot, what are you looking at!”

I grabbed Jonathan’s collar and yanked him towards me. Jonathan stumbled back.

And that was the right choice. If we hadn’t created distance, we would have been attacked immediately.

My mind became crystal clear, as if it couldn’t be any clearer. Now I could start to see the scene inside the carriage. Perhaps because my eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness.

Ah, why is that thing here?

Something was crawling out of the carriage with a scraping sound.

“…This is insane.”

There are a few experiences in life that make you think, ‘This is enough for a lifetime.’ Always thinking this will be the last time.

For me, that was the November morning when I opened my eyes in Bailonz Street. Crazy sights, crazy world, crazy people. How many insane things have I seen while encountering numerous incidents!

But this went far beyond that, completely trampling my sense of reality. In other words, it was an insane sight.

A blood-soaked person was crawling out on their elbows. Just looking at the crushed legs and head wounds, it was an injury that couldn’t possibly allow survival. Yet they were alive. No, is it right to call this alive? My mind is in chaos.

“This can’t be happening.”

No, really, this can’t be happening. Something that shouldn’t exist was in the middle of London.

The truth in my mind warns me. This is a ‘non-existent concept’. Neither 19th century London nor any god worshipped by the cultists could create such a thing.

‘Really, why is this coming out here?’

There was blood and flesh around its mouth, and it kept chewing as if it hadn’t fully swallowed something. While doing so, it shouted.

“Help me!”

It was around this time that I remembered I had seen quite a few movies like this.

A scene from a drama plays in my head. The protagonist wakes up after an ordinary day to face a world turned into a wasteland. Ridiculously, it felt like my surroundings had changed just like that. Like a scene from a movie.

In movies, survivors who enter empty houses typically encounter these things. These things tear people apart and infect them. A scene from a movie where they try to cut off a bitten area comes to mind. Some are very fast runners, some only move at night, and some are sensitive to sound.

They appear to be alive, but in reality, they are the dead.

An eerie footstep was heard. Something was slowly approaching us, dragging its feet. A chorus of ghastly sounds, whether sorrowful sobs, groans, or death throes, could be heard. From corners, streets, inside houses.

They flail about with arms stretched forward. Saliva constantly drips from their wide-open mouths. Their lifeless eyes, clouded and pale, stare at us (I’m not sure if they’re really seeing, but I assumed they were looking).

Just then, a window in the building right next to us shattered, something fell out, and started crawling towards us at high speed.

It felt unreal. Seeing that sight, I could only mutter:

“They’re zombies.”

─Wooooo.

It was an eerie howl.

What should we do? Can we get through this on our own?

The most immediate problem now was the one that looked ready to bite Jonathan, its mouth wide open.

“Jonathan!”

“Got it!”

Jonathan aimed his hunting rifle with a click and shot the zombie crawling out of the carriage. Seeing that it stopped moving when shot in the head, it seemed their hardness wasn’t much different from movie zombies.

Thanks to Liam quickly using his cloak to cover me, their blood didn’t splash on my face.

“Jane, over here.”

Liam and I stood back to back. Instead of a sword, he was holding a cane with a silver handle. It was the one I had used before to threaten a thug (or attempted kidnapper).

Jonathan immediately turned his gun and shot another zombie closest to us. However, they were closing in on us faster than he could shoot.

“Sis, what on earth is all this?”

“How would I know?”

“Don’t you know? You just called them by name.”

Plurititas said leisurely. He was calm despite the imminent danger.

Right. I did call them that. But that word was the only way I could explain it. I made an excuse.

“It’s something from voodoo rituals, I read a book… Well, anyway.”

He repeated my answer.

“Voodoo.”

“Ah, I just read it for case investigation!”

No. I enjoyed it on Over-The-Top media services. I even played games thoroughly.

Plurititas just smiled annoyingly with a ‘I see’ expression, and for a moment I wondered if this person really knew something. Liam mediated between me and Plurititas.

“Sorry, but now’s not the time for banter.”

While we were talking, we got surrounded. The zombies were approaching us in a circular formation.

I glared at them, gripping my sword tightly. They all seemed to be London citizens.

“Are they infected?” I asked.

Liam, examining them, muttered, “Can’t be sure yet.”

“They’re not ghouls.”

“Right. Those are… indeed dead people who’ve risen again, but they’re a bit different from ghouls.”

The sword in my hand vibrated slightly. It seemed to be indicating what needed to be cut.

Jonathan stood close to us too. Plurititas didn’t stand back to back with us, but he wasn’t completely defenseless either. He probably had at least one means to protect himself if attacked.

“Sis, you know how to use a sword?”

Jonathan asked me that.

I pulled out a sword from nowhere, and this guy is surprised not by that, but by ‘Sis with a sword?’ How should I deal with my overly naive brother? It’s also quite strange how he’s not very surprised to see monsters. I don’t know. I feel a sudden distance.

That’s when Liam muttered. In a tone of utter incomprehension.

“But this is strange. Why aren’t they attacking?”

Only then did I realize that they were standing still without moving. Corpses surrounding us, I moved my lips, looking at the silent corpses seemingly detached from the commotion. They surrounded us without moving. They might be waiting for something.

That’s when it happened. Someone walked out from the zombie crowd. Jonathan’s gun immediately pointed at it. It was also a dead man.

“What are you.”

An icy voice I had never heard before flowed from Jonathan’s mouth. It was a chilling bass several times lower than Jonathan’s usual speaking voice, and I learned for the first time that my brother could speak in such a way.

“What are you? Tell us what you want.”

And the corpse opened its mouth.

【Jane Osmond.】

“Me?”

I muttered, dumbfounded.

Me? It wants me? It’s absurd enough that a corpse is speaking, but of all things, the first thing it says is my name.

Jonathan shouted, “Don’t listen, sis! It’s all nonsense!”

【Jane Osmond.】

The voice addressed me again. Why does this voice sound so familiar? I definitely, definitely remember hearing it somewhere. I looked into its eyes.

It looks different from the other dead. Most of the dead’s eyes have lost their color, appearing blurry, as if covered by a pale film. However, the eyes of the corpse that spoke to us were very clear, and felt… yes, like those of a living person.

And decisively, those pupils. Clear yellow pupils resembling a goat’s eyes were looking at me. It’s what I had read in the shadows, in the darkness.

“No way,”

Could the one who committed all this be…

He seems to have realized my guess too.

It was him. The one also called Chaos, the King of the Dead. He’s smiling at me. His lips curl up smoothly and a cruel smile is revealed to all. This is how the king moves in secret. Wearing a human body, blending in with the crowd.

His voice gradually became more ominous. Something that human vocal cords could never produce. My whole body shook with shock, just like when I faced the entirety before. There was power in the voice.

It’s the king. The Faceless King, Chaos with a snake’s tongue, was treading on the earth.