Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 71: Rainy Season

The world was hot and humid. The weather made tempers flare even sitting still. When things didn't go as planned, anger surged up instantly.

Whoosh!

I sprayed the fire extinguisher at the car irritably. We'd finally found a car that would start and were using the AC while charging phones when flames suddenly erupted.

White powder like flour covered the flames, completely suppressing the fire.

"This is driving me crazy."

Bang, I threw the extinguisher to the ground as Do-hyung crawled into the car to retrieve the power bank. He checked its charge level then reached out to brush the ruined car hood.

"Looks like water in the engine room caused a short and started the fire."

"Can't we fix it?"

"How could we fix this? Need an expert."

If even our electricity thief gave up on repairs, it must be truly impossible.

I took off my baseball cap and used it as a fan. Useless. The hot, humid air hitting my face only made my mood worse.

"...Should we kidnap someone?"

"Who? A car expert?"

"Yeah."

Do-hyung scratched his head. He looked down at his phone that barely turned on and sighed. Though he showed no conscience or goodwill, his answer was negative.

"I really want to kidnap someone for electricity too. But even if we found someone, they probably couldn't fix this."

Like a proper electricity thief, crime seemed more important when electricity was involved, but the situation wasn't good.

Sa Gi-hyeok came over waving away the hazy fire extinguisher powder in the air and shook his head.

"I don't know much, but I've had cars repaired before. Without replacement parts the repair time gets really long, and finding good parts in this world would be hard."

Saying it would be hard to fix even with people. I put my baseball cap back on and kicked the fire extinguisher for no reason. The blood-red extinguisher rolled away.

Summer, a season good for murder. I forced down the impulse.

'If we don't have electricity, we'll have to live without it.'

Very inconvenient but no choice. Had to accept it like surviving in the wild rather than the city, nothing else to do.

Or move to an area with working electricity or buildings with solar panels.

Electricity was completely gone. Life changed too. Without phones to fill leisure time reliably, we started spending time in other ways.

Finding intact notebooks to write screenplays by hand, gathering with fellow marauders for pointless chatter, swinging hammers like shadow boxing while imagining people we'd seen.

The others seemed similar.

Do-hyung visited Hope Community when bored, Park Yang-gun exercised by climbing gas pipes, Sa Gi-hyeok came to talk endlessly at random times.

Alcohol and cigarette consumption increased too. Though I forced myself to resist, even Sa Gi-hyeok who'd never smoked started smoking. Park Yang-gun drank soju every evening like a lonely bachelor.

Just one phone disappearing and people visibly broke down.

I frowned while waving away the cigarette smoke filling Sa Gi-hyeok's house.

"Hey, you said let's eat dinner together. Why's there so much smoke?"

"Haha. The stress went down a bit."

Sa Gi-hyeok laughed while tapping ash, sitting at a distance. It was a weak laugh. Hard to criticize this.

I sat in the remaining spot. Afraid of virus infection, food and side dishes were served separately at adequately spaced seats.

Usually we'd eat separately in our own homes, but starting doing meals together to avoid daily dishwashing hassles and pass time with conversation. Today was Sa Gi-hyeok's turn to wash dishes.

Sa Gi-hyeok muttered:

"Smoking's bad for you. I never understood people who did this, but now I get it. Isn't waste the most fun? Wasting time, wasting money. Wasting health reduces stress."

"Hey idiot, smoke when you're alone. Don't you know how bad secondhand smoke is?"

Park Yang-gun, drinking soju straight from the bottle in the corner, nagged with a red face. No, not nagging - adult guidance.

I quickly added:

"Do it secretly and quietly. Marauders might raid us if they see cigarette lights or smoke."

"That's scary."

Sa Gi-hyeok put his cigarette butt in an ashtray with water. Then he looked around.

"When's Do-hyung coming?"

"Seems he went to Hope Community again. Let's eat first without him."

So we started eating. Meaningless conversation flowed.

What are people doing these days, anything fun with nothing to do, not stealing anymore, time really doesn't pass, what's the point of living like this...

Effects of losing phones too. When washing machines broke we could wash by hand, when vacuum cleaners died we could use brooms, but without phones accessing internet we were stranded in reality.

Pseudo-social relationships through SNS collapsed. Contact through texts and calls was cut off. Mobile games, videos, communities, everything unusable.

I fell into thought while eating rice and kimchi.

'Feels like we can't handle excess time from having abundant resources and comfortable bodies.'

Need tasks that leave no room for useless thoughts. Or electricity. Or both.

"I'm back!"

Just then, as we finished eating, Do-hyung burst in through the door. He set down his bag and spoke cheerfully:

"I got power banks charged!"

"How? Hope Community lost power too."

The monsoon had washed away even Hope Community's electricity. Finding places with power was hard now, and no one would charge devices just from simple friendship.

As we looked at Do-hyung curiously, he pulled power banks from his bag.

"You know those electricity nomads? They did something."

I listened quietly to his story.

The city had done some project before. Something about eco-friendly solar-powered street lights installed as a test.

The electricity nomads had occupied that street and somehow modified the solar street lights into phone chargers. They were doing business charging phones for payment.

"Got them charged for some old kimchi."

"Well done."

Kimchi was honestly an easy resource. Most apartments had a kimchi fridge or two, and its long shelf life made it common for trading.

I quickly grabbed a power bank and searched my pockets, but had left my phone at home so had nothing to charge.

Looking around, Sa Gi-hyeok and Park Yang-gun were connecting batteries to their phones with shaking hands like drug addicts.

Do-hyung showed clear satisfaction.

"Did good, right?"

"Haha. You did great! It's been so boring and dull lately."

For once a warm atmosphere flowed through the marauders' den. I smiled and gestured:

"Good work. Eat first. How are things on the streets?"

"Ah, that."

Sitting down heavily and picking up chopsticks, Do-hyung lowered his mask with an uncertain expression.

"It's unsettled. Seems lots of people went out during the rain. Some trying to salvage floating things. But those people..."

After a bite of rice, Do-hyung looked at his hands.

"Skin disease? Skin inflammation? They're looking for doctors and antibiotics because of that."

"Any signs of epidemics?"

"Not sure about that. Everyone's wearing masks and washing hands, but will disease spread?"

I drummed my knee with my fingers.

The rainwater flowing through the city wasn't clean. Could be full of bacteria and viruses. Especially with corpses, garbage and animal waste scattered everywhere.

That's why Professor Kim had warned about rain. In a world with collapsed infrastructure and hygiene, rain could become poison. Waterborne diseases, typhoid, cholera - humanity could no longer stop diseases we'd already conquered.

'Could this mean all the zombies might die from disease?'

Though zombies seemed able to use taps, they'd probably get infected stupidly drinking contaminated water or swimming in rain.

I suddenly thought of our Chairman. Lord of plagues. The one who spread the I-virus. The zombies he created must be like apostles of disease. Then...

'Do zombies become disease vectors?'

Not just the I-virus, but perhaps spreading salmonella or cholera bacteria everywhere after getting infected.

I suddenly raised my head. Since Park Yang-gun, the former Supplies Elder, roughly managed our stockpiled resources, I asked him:

"How much hand sanitizer do we have left?"

"Almost out I think."

"What about soap and shampoo?"

"Those are still good. But masks are almost gone."

Even our resources we'd thought abundant were depleting. I drummed my rice bowl with my fingers then spoke slowly:

"Professor Kim's materials say we need to watch out for waterborne diseases. From now on we boil water at least 30 minutes before drinking. And we must get masks. You know why without me saying."

"Time for theft?"

Park Yang-gun met my gaze with gleaming eyes, drunk.

"What target? Most people won't have proper masks."

"The target."

I considered. The rich of this era. People who could earn resources continuously without starving.

Electricity nomads provided power. Doctors and pharmacists provided antibiotics, steroids and treatment. Maybe there were people who repaired cars and machines too. People still doing business like RiderZero.

Had to choose one of those people. Someone or group with weak defenses and force.

'Electricity nomads?'

Wouldn't it be good to steal masks and maybe kidnap - no, acquire an electricity expert if possible?