Zombie Apocalypse Whiteout

Zombie Apocalypse Whiteout - 1

EP.1 White Christmas (1)

Winter had come early, and it was bitterly cold—unusually so. Whenever the cold, dry wind blew, carrying that distinct stench of zombies, the survivors would tremble with fear and gaze up at the dim, gray sky.

They weren’t ready yet... Not for the long, unforgiving winter, but the temperature dropped sharply day by day and the days grew shorter and shorter. As the bleak atmosphere unique to the season of extinction deepened, the survivors felt as if heavy weights were being added to their hearts one by one.

The four soldiers racing down the Sangju-Yeongcheon Expressway in a Santa Fe SUV on the night of December 24th felt the same way.

"The fucking weather is just terrible, really..."

The lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat cursed while covering his face with his hands.

Skreech—thunk! Skreech—thunk!

The wipers scraped loudly against the windshield, an irritating, repetitive noise. But visibility wasn’t improving. Thick, heavy snow was falling relentlessly, driven by fierce winds.

“Crank the wipers up. I can’t see a damn thing out there.”

Grumbling, the lieutenant squinted out the window.

“Increasing wiper speed now!”

The driver responded quickly and adjusted the switch.

Skreek-thunk! Skreek-thunk! Skreek-thunk! Skreek-thunk!

The tempo of the rubber blades scraping the wet glass sped up, sounding more frantic. But it didn’t help much. Visibility was still limited to barely 50 meters ahead. Even with the fog lights and high beams on, the pitch-black road—completely void of streetlights—felt suffocating.

The headlights illuminated nothing but a road blanketed in white and a storm of snowflakes whirling down. Everything outside looked the same—just white. It was nearly impossible to tell where the road ended or if there were cars stopped ahead.

“Check if the others are still following us.”

At the lieutenant’s order, the tense soldiers in the back seats immediately leaned toward the windows.

“They’re... still with us.”

One of them replied after peering out into the storm. He wasn’t exactly sure. All he could see were some distant headlights keeping pace behind them, so he said what the lieutenant wanted to hear. In weather like this, if you could count the cars following you with the naked eye, you’d have to be a machine, not a man.

“Yeah?”

The lieutenant nodded. Just knowing the support convoy was still behind them was enough to offer some relief. At least for now... he could keep up the appearance of calm in front of his men.

Click—

Glancing at the driver, the lieutenant slowly reached his left hand down and pressed against his right wrist, which was twitching uncontrollably. It’s nothing, he told himself. We’ll drop the supplies off and head right back. But no matter how many times he repeated it, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking from the tension.

Since the outbreak last summer, most of their time had been spent around Busan and Ulsan. This was one of the few times they’d been deployed directly into the field. They’d barely even engaged with zombies—just a handful of encounters. Which only made this mission feel more dangerous. Even if this area hadn’t shown any signs of zombie movement lately, that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.

Whoooosh—!

A freezing gust of wind blasted through the small crack in the window left open to prevent fogging. The lieutenant’s forehead had been cold as ice for a while now, and his temples were throbbing. By the time they finished and returned to base, he’d probably be coming down with a full-blown fever.

“Damn it... Why the hell does it have to be a blizzard all week? Choppers can’t even take off—what a pain in the ass. Yeongcheon’s not usually like this…”

Trying to mask his anxiety with bravado, the lieutenant cursed the weather. Delivering supplies to the Yeongcheon outpost, known as “The Factory,” wasn’t supposed to be the job of a ground transport unit—especially not his job.

Normally, helicopters handled it. The roads were too narrow for armored vehicles, so a chopper from Gyeongju would just drop off the supplies and head back. A simple mission. But five straight days of high winds and heavy snowfall had dragged everyone into this mess.

Clunk—! Skid—! Screeeeech—!

As they exited the interchange, the convoy of vehicles skidded dangerously on the icy road, struggling to make the turn. Even with snow chains, maneuvering on this snow-covered sheet of ice was nearly impossible.

“Ugh!”

The driver winced as he barely avoided crashing into the guardrail, his face drenched in cold sweat despite the freezing air. Once they entered the downtown of Yeongcheon, the snowbanks and abandoned cars pushed to the side of the road narrowed the usable path to less than two meters wide. A single lapse in focus and the side mirrors could easily get torn off.

“Hold up… Slow down a bit.”

Just as their vehicle passed the Yeongcheon Fire Station along the deserted road, the lieutenant raised his left hand and leaned forward.

“…What the hell is that?”

He squinted and stared out the window. Down at the Sinmangjeong intersection—where the road split toward Hoguk-ro and Yeonghwa-ro—a bright yellow minivan was stopped across the street, blocking the way. Judging by the snow piled on its roof and around the wheels, it hadn’t been moved recently.

“Looks like a daycare bus, sir.”

The driver’s response made the lieutenant scoff.

“You idiot, I can tell it’s a daycare bus. I’m asking why the hell it’s blocking the road. Pull over and check the map. Is there any note about this on the reference sheet?”

Screech—!

The lead Santa Fe braked to a stop, and the four SUVs following behind also halted one by one.

“There’s no indication of it on the reference sheet, sir.”

The driver reported back after shining a flashlight onto the map. The lieutenant clicked his tongue in irritation and stepped out of the car.

“What the hell… ‘NO ENTRY’? …What kind of bullshit is this! Who the hell is this for?!”

Staring at the minivan, the lieutenant spat out a string of curses. Scrawled across the side of the vehicle in large, black spray-painted letters were the words “NO ENTRY.” The letters were so sloppily written that it only added to his growing frustration.

And it wasn’t just the one van parked sideways, it had been roped together with nearby abandoned cars to form a makeshift barricade.

No doubt the work of the forward base troops who wanted to make perimeter duty easier for themselves. Enraged by the sight of the blocked road—especially since there wasn’t even space to turn the car around—the lieutenant kicked the side of the minivan with his heavy boots.

“Fucking hell. ‘No entry,’ my ass! If you’re going to block a road someone else worked their ass off to clear, at least notify command! That way we could reroute or come up with a goddamn plan! Christ, it’s like everyone’s a fucking idiot these days…”

He shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, but his voice trailed off. The ones who set this up probably never imagined anyone would come via land route. And to be fair, who would drive all the way out here under current conditions?

“God, this is a pain in the ass. Hey! Everyone, out of the vehicles and move that shit! Keep your guard up!”

He waved his hand toward the cars behind and pulled out a cigarette, frowning as he lit up.

Whooosh—!

A strong wind slammed into his face, flinging snowflakes into his eyes and making it nearly impossible to get the Zippo lighter to catch. This weather was absolute hell.

“…Disembark! Move, move!”

The howling wind forced soldiers to shout at the top of their lungs just to communicate. And even then, anything over 20 meters away was hard to make out.

“There’s no signal out here at all…”

Hoping to get in touch with someone in charge of this area, the lieutenant checked his phone again—but his 2G phone was completely dead. No matter how many times he tried, the signal icon remained crossed out with an X.

“Goddammit… this snow better let up soon. How long’s it gonna keep falling, shit.”

He muttered quietly to himself as he exhaled cigarette smoke. The brutal snowstorm had turned all communication equipment—phones and radios alike—into worthless junk, forcing countless people into unnecessary hardship.

Woof—!

A distant dog barked. For the sound to carry through such a loud storm, it had to be a pretty big one.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re having a rough time too, huh? Damn stray mutts—this is the perfect weather to freeze to death.”

Shaking his head, the lieutenant slipped back into the front passenger seat. The blizzard was just too cold to lead operations from outside.

I want to go home…

A childish thought crossed his mind. He didn’t want to be stuck out here in this miserable snowfield. He wanted to be back in the safety and comfort of the officers’ quarters. But once orders were given, he had no choice. No commander would forgive a junior officer who turned back just because he had a bad feeling.

“Everyone back in your vehicles!”

After much struggling, the soldiers finally managed to cut all the ropes tying down the minivan and pushed it aside toward Yeonghwa-ro. When they returned to their vehicles, the thick layer of snow on their heads and shoulders made one thing painfully clear—today’s weather was absolute hell.

Vroooom—!

The five vehicles began moving slowly again along the snow-covered road. Visibility remained poor, and all they could see was snow. As they pushed through the darkness for another 500 meters, something caught their eye.

“Did there used to be a fire there or something? That place is totally wrecked.”

The lieutenant frowned as he glanced over at the SK gas station on the right. It looked like there had been an explosion—the building had been ripped apart and was charred black. Even the vehicles pushed to the roadside using heavy equipment were reduced to husks. Judging by the state of things, it must have happened sometime after autumn at the earliest.

“What the hell were those bastards doing while they were holed up here? Who the hell blows up a perfectly good gas station for no reason?”

As the lieutenant muttered irritably, the left tire of the lead Santa Fe suddenly jolted, and the vehicle gave a slight shudder.

Thump—crunch!

A sickening sensation traveled up through the seat. Startled, the lieutenant instinctively turned around with a shaky voice.

“W-What was that? What did we just run over?”

“I-I’m not sure, sir! I thought it was just snow…”

The driver, clearly rattled, shook his head. But he already knew from the way it felt—the soft squish followed by a brittle crunch—that they’d run over something terrible.

“…It’s a human body.”

One of the soldiers in the back seat leaned out the window and looked behind them, then reported in a grim voice. The lieutenant’s brow furrowed deeply.

“A person? You mean… a zombie?”

“That’s… not clear, sir.”

The soldier couldn’t answer properly. Too many thoughts had raced through his mind the moment he saw the body.

The corpse—its lower back completely crushed—was disappearing behind them in the snow. It was wearing an undamaged military helmet. The head wasn’t destroyed, so it probably wasn’t a zombie… but that didn’t even matter. Zombie or not, what the hell was a friendly soldier’s corpse doing out here?

Thud! Crunch!

As the soldier stood stunned, trying to make sense of it, the vehicles behind them also drove over the body one by one. The road was too narrow to swerve around it.

“What the hell, you little shit? I asked you a question—why aren’t you answering me? Was that a zombie or not?!”

The lieutenant turned back in frustration, ready to explode—when the driver shouted urgently.

“S-Sir! At twelve o’clock… look!”

“What now? You assholes keep jumping at—ugh!”

Cursing as he turned his eyes forward, the lieutenant let out a choked groan. Just 30 meters ahead, at the City Hall five-way intersection… an unspeakably horrific scene awaited them—unlike anything he’d ever seen.

Screeeech—!

The driver slammed the brakes. The vehicle came to a halt, and silence filled the cabin.

Huff… Huff…

The lieutenant panted for a long moment before finally managing to speak, his voice barely above a whisper.

“…What the hell is this…”

No one answered. They were all too overwhelmed by the nightmarish sight before them.

Bodies hung in a line from the horizontal traffic light bar stretched across the two-lane road—seven in total, all wearing military uniforms.

That alone would have been horrifying enough. But what made it worse was how they were displayed. Every single one was hanging upside down, their ankles tied to the bar. Which meant… they hadn’t just been executed—they’d been slowly and agonizingly killed.

“…Those bastards! They tortured them! Who the hell does that to people…?!”

The lieutenant’s voice trembled as he stared at the body in the center, whose uniform jacket had been ripped open, nearly stripped bare. Several deep stab wounds riddled the abdomen. The blood had flowed down, drying and caking the face completely. What was left of the face, anyway—crows had already taken half of it.

And just below them lay a heap of bodies—at least dozens—covered in snow like a small hill. Burned, mutilated, soaked in blood… It was the kind of grotesque sight you’d expect to see in some ancient painting depicting hell itself.

Whooooosh—!

A gust of wind swept in from the northwest, and the seven bodies hanging in a row began to sway in unison like pendulums.

“...Ugh! Blleeaaugh!”

One of the soldiers in the back, who had recognized the military patch, was the first to throw open the door and stumble outside to vomit. Following his lead, soldiers from the vehicles behind also began getting out one by one to retch on the side of the road.

“Urgh! Hrrkkk! Aaagh!”

Several soldiers, leaning on car roofs to support themselves while vomiting, suddenly recoiled and fell backward in horror. The thick snow had hidden them, but now they saw it clearly—corpses littered the ground between the cars, even on the sidewalk.

“A-A-All friendlies… They're our guys… Our division… They're all from our division…”

The driver who had seen the patches on the bodies kept clattering his teeth and muttering the same words over and over like someone who had lost his mind.

“Get a grip, you bastard! What the hell are you doing?!”

Smack—! The lieutenant slapped the driver hard across the face and screamed.

“Move the damn vehicle! Reverse! Now, you son of a bitch!”

The intersection was blocked by the massive pile of bodies. They had to get out of there—even if they had to back out the way they came. It might have been possible to slowly push through and collapse the mound to move forward, but the lieutenant had no intention of doing that.

Everyone in the forward base was already dead. And even if there were survivors, it was no longer his concern. His mission had been to deliver supplies—not to engage in combat or mount a rescue.

“We—we have to report this! Get back to base and inform them! Only then can Command come up with a proper response. Move it! Go!”

The lieutenant shouted in desperation, pounding the dashboard, trying to justify his cowardly decision with urgent words. But their vehicle couldn’t move until the four cars behind had all backed out first.

“All vehicles, reverse! Pull back! Retreat!”

One of the backseat soldiers jumped out and waved his arms, yelling to the cars behind them to reverse. The lieutenant, his mind blank with fear, didn’t even realize the mistake he was making as he continued to scream.

“Tell them to move faster! Damn it, are these assholes screwing around?!”

Vroooom—! Vreeee—!

As the tires spun, snowflakes kicked up and whirled chaotically, blinding their view. And at that moment—just as Vehicle 5 at the rear had backed up maybe 10 meters—a human figure lunged at it with a terrifying roar.

GROAAAAAR-!