Prototype. (3)
―Ksshh… kzzt… S, Sang-goo? Are you there?
―Sang-goo! Is the transmission coming through?! Colonel Oh! Are you all right?
Static crackled across the channel, and then a clear voice broke through. It was Team Leader Baek, calling in over the radio from outside with Colonel Oh.
"This is Boo Sang-goo. Are you all right, sir? What's your current position?"
At the news that someone had come to rescue him — and not just anyone, but the strongest man in the camp — Colonel Oh felt hot tears surge up without warning.
"Colonel Oh?"
Having cleared one hurdle, Team Leader Baek spared his words for the two men's sake.
Colonel Oh, silent for a moment as he wept with relief, finally answered a few beats late.
―Damn it all… I'm alone now. My current position… do you hear that noise right now? Haah… I'm trapped inside Hangar 2. You could say I've become the protagonist of some goddamn zombie defense game.
A defense game?
The booming, rhythmic pounding had started the moment Sang-goo destroyed the jammer. It sounded like it was coming from within fifty meters or so, and it was growing louder and faster by the second. He needed to hurry — because it wasn't just Sang-goo who could hear that sound. Every zombie scattered in all directions could hear it too.
An ugly picture assembled itself in his mind unbidden. No further explanation was necessary.
"On my way now. Just hold on a little longer."
Sang-goo picked up the pace. Big Cow and Little Dog pressed forward as they had the entire time, holding their spacing between front and rear. As they passed the cargo warehouses, the wide corridor gradually began to narrow.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
―Graaaaagh!
As the noise drew closer, the sound of footsteps erupted from every direction. Zombies were surely bursting out of the honeycombed cells on either side. One wrong move, and he could lose Colonel Oh right at the finish line.
Did I smash those jammers for nothing?
The thought flickered briefly through his mind, but what good was regret now? Shoving the useless musing aside, Sang-goo ran until his thighs screamed.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
Of course, he didn't forget to blow out the back of every zombie's skull as he overtook them.
How long had he been running? Beepbeepbeep— Little Dog, several meters ahead, sounded its alarm. They rounded a curve.
"Lights!"
The searchlight swept the area ahead.
"Well, son of a bitch."
Sang-goo's laughter deflated out of him as he ran. Beyond the narrow corridor stretched a wide open ground, and past it he could see Hangars 1 and 2 — specifically, the horde of zombies swarming in front of Hangar 2. Who knew where they'd been hiding before they poured out, but even a rough count put them well past five hundred.
And what was even more mind-boggling was—
―Gwaaaaagh!
Kwajak! Thud! Perbuk!
A massacre was underway at the side door of the infamous Hangar 2. Next to the massive bi-fold shutter wide enough for equipment to pass through stood a square sliding steel door, roughly two point two meters across, built for personnel only. And that door was opening and slamming shut over and over like something possessed — like a demon-possessed guillotine straight out of a Hollywood B-movie.
The zombies, driven mad by the first noise they'd heard in ages and sprinting toward it, were being chopped into pieces by that possessed guillotine. They had come to devour Colonel Oh on the other side of it, of all things.
And the speed — it was cycling open and shut at least one and a half to two times per second. The kind of material that belonged in a bargain-bin AI-gone-rogue movie was unfolding right before Sang-goo's eyes, and even watching it happen, the sheer absurdity of it made his shoulders sag.
―Ksshh… Sang-goo. You're coming, right? Because this is so f—ing… what's happening in front of my eyes right now is absolutely f—ed. It's so close I could piss myself!
For Colonel Oh inside, it was nothing short of a living hell. Severed limbs and headless torsos kept getting diced and rolling in through the gap. Face and dignity had been abandoned long ago in the face of the impossible.
"Uh… let's get organized first. There could be stray rounds flying, so take cover as far from the door as you can."
How to stop that door could wait. First, he had to deal with the seething mass of zombies.
Kwjik! Kwajak! Jjeok!
Up front, the sliding steel door diced the incoming horde. Tatatak! Tatatak! Tatatak! From behind, Sang-goo's rifle rounds blasted their heads apart.
Kwjik! Tak! Pbeok! Tak! Jjeok! Tak!
A nightmarish harmony of bursting, piercing, and slicing carried on for several minutes.
"Whew… whew…"
Only after emptying four and a half magazines did the mad impromptu (?) joint operation finally end. All that remained now was stopping that insane door that had lent him a hand.
In front of the steel door, dismembered bodies were piled as high as Sang-goo's chest.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Despite having pulverized all that bone and flesh, the mad door showed no sign whatsoever of stopping. If anything, it seemed faster than it had been at the start… or was that just his imagination?
Is something like that even possible in the first place?
Up close, it felt more sinister than any variant he'd seen today — as though the cursed ship itself was ensuring that no one escaped easily.
Kiing— Giiing—
Little Dog and Big Cow glanced back and forth between the possessed steel door and Sang-goo.
Giiing—
Big Cow took two steps forward.
"No."
It seemed Big Cow was offering itself up as a sacrifice. It would certainly be sturdier than a human-based zombie's bone and flesh, but the power behind that steel door was nothing to scoff at either. He might need to load Colonel Oh onto Big Cow's back — the machine could not be allowed to break. He wasn't even sure there was a spare Big Cow inside the hangar.
Better to radio Team Leader Baek and have him open the big equipment door of the hangar. Sang-goo was just raising his radio when—
Ppeok—
Geegigeek—
A flash of light, and the frantic door stopped dead.
Giiiing—
Totototot—
Little Dog sped across the slick, gore-soaked floor and stopped in front of the door, wiggling its rear. Maybe the wiggle was a substitute for the tail it didn't have. Even in a moment like this, laughter bubbled up.
"That was you? Don't tell me — an EMP?"
Little Dog bobbed its head.
"Good work."
Even good equipment was only as useful as the person who knew how to use it. They'd met today for the first time and had been forced to coordinate on the fly — all things considered, that was a solid showing.
Kiing— Kiiing—
Now it was Little Dog turning its head side to side at Big Cow. Presumably a reaction to failing to pull the axe out earlier. Sang-goo snorted a laugh, but a sigh escaped him all the same.
"This isn't going to be easy."
The blood had flowed enormously. Stepping through it meant wading past corpses stacked chest-high — the stench he'd never gotten used to even after months, the slippery underfoot feeling, the horrific scenery besides. A sight that would drop an ordinary person into a dead faint from the mere glimpse of it, and yet Sang-goo methodically began clearing it away.
Giiiing—
Big Cow extended its pincer claw to help. Little Dog hung back a short distance, watching the rear.
From the radio came an unbroken stream of thanks, of we're almost there, of you've done well.
Before long, every corpse blocking the door had been cleared away.
"…Hoo."
Sang-goo's heart was pounding to move, but he had no choice but to pause for a beat. That sliding door — the one that had just butchered what must have been over a hundred kilos of flesh. Was it really safe to simply walk past the thing, still half-closed? Because he'd never seen anything like it in his life, honestly, even Sang-goo felt uneasy about this.
"It'll be fine, right?"
As Sang-goo muttered to himself, Big Cow rolled up beside him.
"Oh — you could just cut it, couldn't you?"
As if to say it was no problem at all, Big Cow retracted its pincer and drew out a long pipe instead. Fwaaaah— A fierce blue flame erupted from the pipe's tip. Chwaaaak— Chwaak—!
The machine sliced the half-closed steel door clean off.
"Nicely done."
Giiiing—
Through the hazy smoke, Big Cow's head seemed to glow with pride.
"Little Dog, hold the perimeter. You, with me."
At last, they entered the hangar.
"Colonel Oh?!"
A maintenance hangar filled with aircraft and helicopter parts. Sang-goo's shout rang through the vast interior. Following the blood spattered across the floor, he found Colonel Oh slumped beside a mountain of crates.
"Colonel Oh!"
"Haah… haah… Sang-goo. Th-thank you."
He'd expected as much, but Colonel Oh's condition was not good. On the floor lay his left arm, severed in one clean cut. He'd applied a coagulant and injected a painkiller, but the bleeding had already progressed considerably. His face was ghost-pale and his lips had gone blue.
"I-it bit me. My left hand. So I… cut it off with the laser cutter. Heh heh heh…"
He'd amputated his own arm on the spot rather than become a zombie. For a man of Colonel Oh's rank, a standard antigen dose should have been enough — had he simply not trusted the vaccine? If it had been a variant that bit him, maybe he couldn't afford to.
But saving his life came first.
"Just hold on a little longer."
Sang-goo immediately pulled down the medic box strapped to Big Cow's back. He drew out a blood pack and started a transfusion into the right arm, then administered a powerful analgesic. Next was the left arm, bleeding only temporarily staunched — for that, he took out a bio-seal pouch.
It had been sent a while back by old man Hwang Sang-chul from the island — a special pouch-type device developed for emergency treatment of amputation wounds. Its true source was no doubt House Lion's side, but regardless: it was designed to instantly seal a severed arm or leg, stop the bleeding, and preserve the tissue for a set period of time. Of course, that was only what the manual said; this was Sang-goo's first time actually using one.
Chiiik—
A cast-shaped device made of ultra-light synthetic metallic fiber. Once inserted around the wound and powered on, it adjusted itself to fit the body, while inside, a gel took hold to stabilize the severed tissue. Maximum of twelve hours. Until then it would suppress the bleeding and promote cell regeneration, raising the odds of a successful future reattachment — whether to a real arm or an android prosthetic.
"Uuuugh…"
The full course of treatment took about five minutes. With the bleeding stopped and the transfusion complete, he finally allowed himself a breath of relief.
Colonel Oh, riding on Big Cow's back, drifted off under the painkiller. He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but his eyes fluttered shut and he fell asleep as though collapsing into it. Only then did Sang-goo swallow a mouthful of water and steady his breathing.
With the urgent business done, his surroundings finally registered.
"…"
Two bodies in military uniforms, and roughly ten more that looked to be a mix of normal zombies and variants. He couldn't take them all, but he should at least see to the two squad members who'd met their end beside Colonel Oh. Once he'd handled just those two, he'd radio Team Leader Baek to open the terminal-side door — and then today's mission would truly be over.
Sang-goo moved to tend to the two bodies. Soldiers who had died with their arms and legs bent at grotesque angles, their heads burst open. Toward their gruesome ends, he offered a brief moment of silent tribute. After paying his respects to the fallen, he collected their rifles and equipment and straightened their twisted limbs as best he could, then laid them one by one into body bags.
Now he just needed to radio Team Leader Baek and wrap things up. Sang-goo had just finished reporting the situation inside when—
Beeeeeeeeep—!!
Little Dog's alarm shrieked from its watch outside.
And then—
―KUOOOOOOWAAAAAAGH!!
The loudest roar yet thundered through the air.
"…And here I thought it'd be easy. So this is the final boss."
A carrier like this was bound to have at least one Zombie Lord aboard. Sang-goo picked up his rifle.