The groans of the undead echoed through the shattered streets as Songwoo's team stood before the entrance of the massive mall. Behind the glass doors, dozens of zombies pressed against the surface—some missing jaws, some smeared in dried blood, all hungry.
Of course they were weak, it's night.
"Too many," muttered Minjae, gripping his bat tighter.
"We'll never break through head-on," Harin added, his eyes scanning the structure. "We'll be swarmed."
Songwoo kept calm. "Seal every entrance. Lock them in."
Harin and his people stood confusedly. He is new for them.
Others didn't questioned him anymore. Orders flowed and were executed. Chains pulled tight. Barricades pushed in. Glass cracked as the undead slammed themselves against the doors, but the chains held. Harin and group join them.
Then Songwoo looked up. "We climb."
Harin nodded, already working. He pulled a thick rope from his backpack, bent a rusted iron rod into a hook with his bare hands, and tied it to one end. With a heave, he tossed it upward. The metal clanged and caught against a railing on the second floor.
"Test it," he said, and Songwoo tugged hard. It held.
"I'll go first," he said, and began to climb.
One by one, the fighters followed, boots scraping against concrete and rope.
Minjae was last. He looked down, then up, and whispered, "Don't let go, rope."
At the top, Songwoo pulled him up. They were inside.
The mall was dark, still except for the distant moans from below. The smell of rot lingered. But there was space—so much space—and supplies that could sustain dozens if handled right.
They'd made it in.
As they reached the second floor, Songwoo raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop. Zombies rooming around aimlessly, so lying down, no movements...As they reached the second floor, the silence inside the mall was deceptive. Songwoo raised a hand, signaling everyone to freeze.
"We need to block off every entrance from the first floor," Songwoo said. "They can't be allowed up here."
He pointed toward the escalators and stairwells. "Block everything. Use the store shelves — the tall ones. And we also have to fight the one here."
The group moved quickly but quietly, splitting into teams. Harin and a few others rushed into a nearby home goods store, knocking over tall metal shelves. They cleared the products off and began hauling the empty racks toward the escalator. Songwoo and some others clear the zombies in that floor.
"Stack them!" Minjae hissed, breathing heavily.
They placed the shelves one on top of another, forming a solid wall at the top of the escalator. The taller barricade made it hard for zombies to climb over. Behind it, they braced more shelving horizontally to keep the wall from tipping under pressure.
Also at the stairwell. Heavy steel shelves were lined up, wedged tightly against the wall, reinforced by display cabinets and strapped together with belts and duct tape found in a nearby store.
"Make it dense, make it tight!" Hong [doctor] urged. "If one falls, they'll pour through."
Some of the fighters stayed alert near the escalator where a few stray zombies had wandered up from the side corridors. With quick precision, they eliminated them silently, piercing heads with spears and broken tools. and they spare most of them, Songwoo were planing to use them as guard dogs for their shelter.
Minutes passed. Sweat dripped. Everyone moved with urgency, knowing noise would draw a swarm.
"Hold it there!" Songwoo grunted, helping lift the last tall shelf into place. "Stack a few more behind to prevent a push."
Once every stair and escalator was blocked, they took a moment to breathe.
Zombies began to scratch and slam against the shelves from below — they knew now.
"They're testing it already," Minjae muttered.
"Will they'll break through?."
"We'll be ready," Songwoo said, his eyes fixed on the rattling barricade. "We just bought ourselves time — now we survive."
Hours passed. The shelves held for long.
The groans below had weakened. The zombies, though still clawing mindlessly at the shelves, lacked the aggression they'd shown in the sun. Songwoo stared down through a crack between the shelf units, watching their sluggish movement.
"The moon's high," he muttered. "They're slowing down."
Yuri nodded. "Just like before… they lose energy at night."
Harin returned with a few others, carrying small glass bottles. "We found a perfume shop. Broke a bunch of these near the shelves," he said.
The cloying scent of a dozen mixed fragrances now overwhelmed the air near the stairwells. Songwoo had ordered it in hopes the strong, foreign smells would erase their human scent — confuse the zombies, make them lose interest.
It seemed to work. Some of the undead wandered away from the blocked-off escalators, shambling back into the darkness of the first floor. but it won't last for too long.
Seo [scientist] stepped forward, holding up some shelving bars and rope. "We've have to make ladder with it. So we can climb between floors if needed." They made a ladder built from shelving bars and rope.
They secured it on one side of the floor where a broken wall exposed part of the outer structure. It dropped neatly down the building's side, concealed behind signage and shadows. It would serve both as an escape route and a silent access point to move without using the main entrances.
Minjae tested it first. He climbed halfway, looked down, then up. "It'll hold," he confirmed, and climbed back.
"Good," Songwoo said. "We'll use this. Get everyone from the roof. Avoid the main exits."
The group moved as silently as ghosts through the floor, claiming a secure furniture store as their temporary base. Beds, water dispensers, and even snacks from nearby shops gave them a sense of fleeting comfort.
"Get a team we have to transport food for others." Songwoo stay behind and others, Seo, Hong and some other people return to the rooftop where others were.
"We'll make this work," Songwoo said, looking around at the exhausted survivors settling in. "Just a little longer… until we take back everything that was stolen."
From the upper floor, the barricades below remained quiet. The mall, for now, belonged to them.