Doctor Alice

"So what do we do now?"

Lee Jaemin asked, careful.

I sank into thought for a moment. The zombies were dangerous enough, but from here on we had to watch the living too. Call it a double bind.

Kang Hanna spoke first.

"How about we hit those bastards before they get here? A surprise attack, and we've got a real shot."

Resolve flashed in her eyes. Lee Jia, though, offered hers more carefully.

"But... if we attack first, won't that just put us in more danger? I don't think they even know where we are yet..."

I nodded, siding with Jia.

"Jia's right. We don't even know how many of them there are. And before the zombies hit, President Ma was running a pretty big outfit. If that organization's still intact, charging in now is suicide."

Kang Hanna let out a long sigh. The resolve in her eyes seemed to waver, just a little.

"Yeah... now that I think about it, I was rushing it."

Old Man Jang Sangcheol rubbed his chin, lost in thought, deep worry carved into the wrinkles of his face.

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just sitting here waiting to get jumped looks pretty dangerous too..."

Lee Jaemin asked, fidgeting anxiously with his fingers. A tremor clung to his voice.

I thought it over again. We didn't have many options. Even so, we had to find the best one we could.

"First, I think we need to harden this place's defenses."

"Defenses, defenses—and how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

Everyone put their heads together and started thinking.

That was when Old Man Jang rubbed his chin and spoke.

"Barbed wire. How about barbed wire? Bring me the materials and I'll make it for you."

My eyes lit up.

"That's a good idea. String it along the top of the wall and it'll stop zombies, and people won't climb over so easily either."

The wall had been nagging at me anyway. It was low enough that Jia and Jaemin, those two schoolkids, had scrambled over it without much trouble just by climbing onto a car. This was a good thought.

I nodded, agreeing with Jang Sangcheol's suggestion. Our fence had always sat too low for comfort, and this looked like the chance to shore the place up properly.

"What materials would you need? Nothing too hard to find, I hope."

"Nothing fancy. Steel cable or plain wire, and I can knock it together easy. The tools are already in this house."

"That much, a hardware store nearby ought to have."

I nodded along.

"But isn't it hard to make? Is there anything we can do to help?"

At Jia's question, Jang Sangcheol smiled and shook his head.

"Don't you fret. When I was young I worked at a plant that supplied barbed wire to the army. This is easier than eating porridge."

He said it like a man with nothing to prove.

"Then next time we go out for food, we'll stop by a hardware store and pick the materials up."

That settled the barbed wire. We kicked around whether there might be some other good move, but nothing worth much came of it.

Once the meeting broke up, I pulled the broken radio from my pocket and handed it to Old Man Jang. Curiosity crossed his face.

"This... I picked it up at a convenience store. Any chance you can fix it?"

He took the radio and turned it over in his hands, wrinkled fingers moving as if they were feeling the machine out.

"Hm... I'll have to look it over, but I reckon it's possible."

The corner of my mouth lifted before I could stop it. This old man really could do anything.

Kang Hanna peered at the radio, interested.

"If the radio works, what are we even going to hear? Is anybody still broadcasting?"

Lee Jaemin's eyes went round as he jumped in.

"Maybe we could pick up an emergency government broadcast? Safe zones, rescue teams, stuff like that!"

I shook my head.

"I don't know if we'll get anything that useful. But at least we'll have some idea what's going on out there."

Lee Jia said quietly, "We might hear other survivors too, don't you think? Someone could be sending an SOS."

While we talked, Old Man Jang fixed the radio. His fingers fiddled with the set a few last times, and then, all at once, a carrier signal hissed to life.

"Oh, I think it's working!"

Lee Jaemin shouted, voice bright with excitement.

All of us held our breath and leaned in toward the sound. Through the static, a faint voice came through.

The broadcast kept repeating. We looked at one another, startled.

"The army... they're still alive?"

Kang Hanna muttered, as if she couldn't believe it.

Hope lit Jia's eyes.

"Shouldn't we... go there?"

Dongwa General Hospital wasn't far from here at all. A military unit, stationed there?

I closed my eyes and fell into a long thought. An army still standing was hopeful. At the same time, something about it sat wrong.

Something was off. If there really was a unit out there, we should have heard them fighting the zombies. In all the time we'd been here, we hadn't heard a single gunshot.

"Something's wrong."

The moment I spoke, every eye turned to me.

"What is?"

Lee Jaemin couldn't hold the question in.

"It's too quiet."

Kang Hanna nodded.

"Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. If there were soldiers, we should've heard gunfire by now, right?"

"Now that you say it... then what is that broadcast?"

Lee Jia went on, fidgeting anxiously with her fingers.

"Could it be... a trap? Someone pretending to be the military and luring people in..."

At that, Lee Jaemin's face went pale.

"Come on, no way. Something that vicious..."

Old Man Jang rubbed a hand over his deeply lined brow.

"World's come to this... I'd say just about anything's possible."

Lee Jia bit her lip.

"Then what do we do? Shouldn't we at least go and see for ourselves?"

I shook my head.

"No. It's dangerous. Where we are now is safer. Better to keep holding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out here."

Old Man Jang nodded.

"Right. Dohyun's got it. Running headlong into a danger we don't understand isn't wise."

In the end we decided not to go. Instead, we would make our shelter that much harder to break.

Cold fluorescent light filled an underground laboratory. The air stabbed at the nose, disinfectant tangled with the stink of rotting meat. Inside a glass isolation room, a zombie's last convulsion shuddered and went still.

The air in the lab hung heavy and bleak. Under the fluorescents, a woman doctor's blonde hair caught the light more than anything else, and exhaustion was written plain across her face. Deep dark circles sat beneath her blue eyes.

Kieeeek!

"Test subject 158, deceased... experiment failed."

There was no feeling in her voice. A small tear gathered at the corner of her eye all the same, and it said plenty about the pain underneath.

"Haa..."

The woman doctor let out a deep sigh, shoulders slumping. She lifted the coffee cup from the lab bench and took a sip. The coffee had already gone cold, and its bitterness lingered on her tongue.

"Doctor. Another failure?"

The door opened and a middle-aged soldier came in. A zombie had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just died in front of him, and still his voice carried nothing but indifference.

"General, as I've already told you, this has gone past anything we can call a virus. It's evolving in real time. Further experiments are meaningless. All they do is add innocent deaths."

Weariness soaked her voice. Her hands were shaking.

The general's eyes flashed. A crooked smile hooked the corner of his mouth.

"Dr. Alice, I understand your concerns. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we don't have a choice."

His voice was soft, and the threat buried in it was perfectly clear. Alice trembled.

This lunatic. What the hell does he even want?

"General, this is an ethical problem too. I'm not fool enough anymore to believe they volunteered to be test subjects."

Alice's voice rose. Anger stirred in those tired blue eyes.

The general came toward her slowly. His footsteps rang through the silent lab.

His hand clamped down on Dr. Alice's shoulder. She clenched her teeth and bore the pain.

"General, let go of me..."

"I've heard enough. It's time you made your choice, Dr. Alice. You continue the experiments, or..."

His words trailed off. The meaning didn't. If she stopped, that psychopath would tear this hospital apart the moment he had no more use for it. And the patients still sheltering here would...

Alice's face went white.

She drew a deep breath, and in the end she nodded.

"...Understood, General. I'll continue the experiments."

A satisfied smile spread over the general's face.

"A wise choice, Dr. Alice. Now then. Let's bring in the next subject."

Somebody kill that goddamn bastard and get me out of here...

Alice screamed it where no one would ever hear—inside her own head.