Chapter 2: Signs
Chapter 2: Signs
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I joined Seon-yeong and made it to the parking lot.
I glanced back along the way. The athletic field was still utter chaos.
The coworkers who had initially tried to restrain the violent people were now scattering in every direction.
"Huff... huff..."
From the parking lot entrance, I looked back toward the athletic field.
No one was coming this way.
"Phew... what the hell is going on?"
We decided to hole up in a company vehicle for now and figure out the situation.
A few of the employees I'd seen inside the tent on the field had clearly not been normal.
"I couldn't see clearly. What happened? It looked like you knocked Min-hee down..."
"Min-hee and the people from Team 2 were acting strange. They were biting people hard enough to leave their mouths smeared with blood. Their unfocused eyes had rolled white too..."
I thought back to the chaos moments earlier.
"What was even stranger was that they kept moving as if nothing was wrong, even with their arms twisted at impossible angles. It was almost like..."
"Exactly. I saw it too. They looked like zombies from a movie."
Jin-su looked terrified.
His face was pale.
What were we supposed to do now?
If these really were zombies out of a movie or novel, wouldn't that mean they could infect others?
Was the rest of the area in the same state?
Why had this happened?
My thoughts refused to settle, scattering in every direction.
Question after question surfaced.
"I've been calling everyone I can, but nothing's going through. What do we do?"
Seon-yeong's voice was anxious. She kept biting her nails.
At this rate, she was going to chew them to shreds.
I needed to calm them both down first. Then I could think about our next move.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bang!
"Ah, shit. You scared me."
A sudden string of explosions made all of us jump.
I'd just opened my mouth to calm them down and nearly bit my tongue.
What the hell was that sound?
It sounded like explosions.
Was a war starting?
I was already struggling to process everything, and the loud concussive sounds kept coming without pause.
'Should we evacuate?'
I remembered hearing that there were bunkers where people could shelter if war broke out without warning.
I couldn't remember any of the locations at all.
Only now did I regret not paying attention during reserve training.
I also knew that deep underground subway stations were probably designated shelters.
Coincidentally, the grass field we'd rented was near an Airport Railroad station.
The problem was that the situation outside made it hard to simply rush out and evacuate.
The commotion had sapped my strength.
"Jin-su. What does this sound like to you? It's just like bombs falling. If it's war, we need to evacuate."
"I dunno. But hey, Tae-sik... something's wrong with me. I'm too cold and sleepy."
When I turned, Jin-su's eyes were darting wildly.
Worse, he said he couldn't hear the deafening explosions.
Even speaking seemed difficult as his body shook.
"What? What's wrong with you? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"Eek! Director, you're bleeding from your arm! Oh no..."
I hurriedly grabbed the shoulder of Jin-su's hiking jacket and tried to rip it open.
I was frantic, but the jacket was absurdly tough.
'Why won't this thing tear? It's tough as hell. Was it some high-end jacket?'
In the end, I struggled to peel off his upper layers one by one.
Jin-su had been wearing three layers in spring.
"Ah, fuck."
The curse burst out before I could stop it.
When I got his top off, a clear set of human teeth marks was visible on his shoulder.
A chunk of flesh hung half-detached from his shoulder as blood flowed from the wound.
Was he losing too much blood?
"Jin-su. Don't fall asleep. I think you're losing blood. Let's stop the bleeding and get you to the ER. Keep it together."
"Tae-sik... I have a favor. Think you can do it."
Jin-su's trembling voice suddenly grew clear.
He seemed to regain a little clarity while I stripped off his clothes and examined the wound.
But something felt ominous.
I was afraid it might be terminal lucidity, like the phenomenon described in books.
"Yeah, man. Hospital first. I'll personally escort our director. Don't worry."
Jin-su looked at me with steady eyes, but he also seemed resigned to something.
The look on his face made me more and more uneasy.
"Tae-sik, listen carefully. If I got infected from that employee biting me earlier, I could turn into one of them too. I'm okay for now, but those employees were lying on the ground and only got up suddenly after a bit of time had passed. Khluk khluk."
Though quiet, Jin-su's voice was taut with effort as he continued.
"You're the only one I can ask right now. Consider these my last words if I turn. Please do this for me. I'm asking you."
I could hear phlegm rattling in Jin-su's voice.
Frustrated and helpless, I glanced aside. Seon-yeong was crying openly, at a loss.
"Tae-sik. Get a grip and listen."
When I averted my eyes, Jin-su grabbed my forearm.
Despite his condition, his grip was surprisingly strong.
"You know where my parents are, right? Check on them if you get the chance. Tell them what happened to me. And tie me up. Hurry. If I turn, that means it really is contagious... so finish me off with your own hands. I'm sorry... for asking this of you. Cough... cough..."
"You bastard, don't suddenly dump an impossible favor on me. What are you talking about? You should check on them yourself!"
I'd thought he was doing a little better.
I was sure of it, but Jin-su's condition began to deteriorate rapidly.
"Khluk. Khluk. Tie me up. Quick..."
"Hey! Snap out of it! Fuck, I said get it together!"
Jin-su started coughing up blood.
He had no wound besides the one on his shoulder, but he was coughing up so much blood that the front of his shirt turned red.
"Fuck..."
Even so, he struggled to grip the seat belt with one hand.
His hand was trembling.
Jin-su met my eyes and urged me on.
'Fine... I could at least tie him up.'
I forced the ominous thought aside and did as Jin-su asked.
I could always untie him afterward.
I wound the stripped hiking jacket tightly around Jin-su's arms and shoulders.
I figured the pressure from doing it this way might help stop the bleeding too.
It would be uncomfortable, since he couldn't move, but...
"Cough... cough... Tae-sik, in the movies I've seen, a zombie's weak point is usually the head. You have to smash the brain or sever the neck to stop it. And... cough, cough..."
"Man! Get a hold of yourself. You aren't dying. It's just a shoulder injury. What are you talking about? Fuck, why are you suddenly coughing up so much blood. You little shit, I said get it together!!!"
Jin-su's eyes were turning white.
He was becoming more and more like the employees who'd been acting strange under the grass field tent earlier.
I shook Jin-su's drooping head hard.
"Tae-sik, one last thing... It's practically a rule to shout 'Status Window' at least once. Cough..."
Grrrrrrrr
Jin-su convulsed, left those strange words behind, and turned.
Now it was certain.
I had to accept it.
If he hadn't become some kind of zombie, there was no reason he'd be screeching, thrashing, and trying to lunge at Seon-yeong beside him.
Rattle, rattle.
Jin-su thrashed violently but couldn't break free of the hiking jacket I'd wrapped around him or the seat belt.
All he could do was writhe in place. His intelligence seemed diminished, and his memories gone.
"Sob... Team Leader, what do we do about the director? I really think he's become a zombie."
"It's dangerous. Let's get out of the car for now."
Maybe it was Jin-su's final request.
Before long, both Seon-yeong and I were using the word "zombie" as if it were natural.
"Watch the parking lot entrance. Let me know if anyone who's turned comes this way, or if you notice anything else."
"Okay..."
I had to accept that Jin-su had turned.
I had to honor his final request.
I got out and asked Seon-yeong to watch the other direction.
I spoke and moved with an eerie calm.
Back on the athletic field, my heart had been pounding so fast I thought it would burst. Why was I so composed now?
Trrrremble.
'No... that wasn't it.'
I looked down and found my fists clenched so tightly they'd gone white.
I had been trembling before I even realized it.
'Pull yourself together. I had to carry out Jin-su's final request.'
I couldn't leave my closest friend of more than twenty years as a monster.
I took a deep breath and steadied my heart.
The trembling subsided a little.
I remembered the wooden baseball bat in the trunk of the company car we'd loaded the gear into.
I hated to pick it up again, but wouldn't something familiar be better?
After baseball left me injured in both body and spirit, I'd sworn never to hold a bat again.
Jin-su had been the one to steady me and pull me forward when I drifted after quitting the sport.
When I first started working and had no idea what I was doing, Jin-su helped me through it.
He'd helped me settle in and begin again, and I was grateful.
Clunk. Thunk.
I took the baseball bat out of the trunk.
I steeled myself and opened the back door.
"Jin-su, I'll find your parents. I promise. Don't worry. Rest easy. I won't live like the pathetic mess I used to be. I'll survive somehow and find your parents. So don't worry. Now..."
I didn't know if I was talking to myself or to Jin-su.
I couldn't finish the sentence.
I rambled on aloud and in my head as I said goodbye to Jin-su.
If his spirit was out there, I hoped my words gave him some comfort. I hoped he could leave in peace.
Grrrrrrrr
Monster. Zombie. Right. This thing was a zombie.
We had already said our goodbyes. I told myself Jin-su was gone.
'All that was left was a zombie.'
Seon-yeong's sobs behind me mingled with the rain like background noise.
Jin-su was... no.
The zombie was stretching its neck out, trying to bite me.
I raised the baseball bat over the crown of its head.
Whoosh. Crack.
One clean swing shattered the zombie's skull.
Thankfully, it didn't move again.
'Thankfully? Did I really just think that?'
"Uuurgh! Bleeergh!"
Nausea surged up uncontrollably.
No.
I was relieved because Jin-su had been freed from that monstrous state. That was all.
'He could rest in peace now. Enough pointless brooding. I needed to think about what came next.'
Suddenly, I felt dizzy.
My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground.
Jin-su's face as he turned kept coming back to me.
The impact of bringing the bat down on his head still lingered in my hands.
'Ah...'
I tried to pull myself together, tried to keep from sinking into grief, but I realized I was already crying.
I covered my mouth with both hands, desperately forcing down the sounds trying to escape.
It had all begun when the rain started.
The hateful sound of rain drove home the agony of how brutally reality had changed.
I'd fled in a daze, but only now did the horror of it all truly sink in.
This was reality.
Peaceful everyday life was gone.