Human Again

A chime rang out as a system window materialized — the sound of a quest being updated.

I dismissed it without reading so much as the first line. There was no time to waste on a system window that wouldn't help us.

The emergency power shouldn't have run out already.

Something was wrong. I was worried about Lee Ga-on, but going back up to check on her wasn't an option. If we failed to repair the emergency generator within the next fifteen minutes, it was game over. I had to trust she was all right and start with the repair.

"We're fucking screwed right now, aren't we?"

"I think we can still pull it off somehow."

And then I just took off running, shouting over my shoulder.

"We run first!"

We tore through the cafeteria, weaving between overturned tables and toppled chairs. Our footsteps rang out loud enough, but the zombies only flicked a glance our way and left it at that — every last one of them reaching toward the ceiling speakers, howling at the broadcast pouring down. It was a blessing we'd all turned. Without that, wrapping up a repair in fifteen minutes would have been next to impossible.

I sprinted at full tilt, running the numbers in my head. Five minutes minimum for the repair. Six minutes from here to reach the emergency generator facility on B2. If there was a boss-fight event scene, add another minute on top of that. That left us roughly two minutes of slack — and that was only if everything meshed together like clockwork. Gwak Han-muk's role against the boss was going to matter more than anything.

I glanced back at Gwak Han-muk keeping pace behind me. He vaulted a fallen chair with those long legs of his, caught my eye, and cocked an eyebrow. I shoved open the cafeteria door, spilled into the corridor, and shouted.

"Captain Gwak! How's your condition right now?"

"Better than usual, actually! Maybe 'cause I'm turning into a zombie?"

"Copy that."

We tore down the long corridor, checking the signs as we went. The layout matched the game exactly, so we wouldn't have to waste time exploring. Then the sign for the sleeping quarters caught my eye, and a sour feeling settled in my gut.

The sleeping quarters were a temporary rest area for researchers who couldn't go home during round-the-clock experiments. A worn diary hidden in there mentioned the cure. I remembered every word.

Being the journal of a delusional researcher, it was packed with a lot of nonsense — but it did mention the cure, at least. I'd been hoping to check around the diary for items the game had never shown us, the way we'd found that portable cassette player... but once the emergency generator was repaired, parts of the underground sector would be sealed off. This was our last chance, and I had no choice but to turn away.

We covered the long corridor in no time, cut left, and arrived in front of the freight elevator. The silver stainless-steel doors gleamed with a sullen light.

The elevator ran on emergency power and could only be ridden once. After that, it wouldn't move again until the emergency generator was repaired.

I pressed the down button. Moments later a ding sounded, and the heavy doors split apart.

"Ugh..."

"Fuck."

Mo Hae-in let out a low groan at the sight that greeted us. Gwak Han-muk immediately clamped a hand over his nose and spat a curse.

The elevator was already packed to capacity. Researchers in bloodstained, tattered lab coats and ordinary office staff stood motionless in grotesquely twisted postures. Unfocused eyes swiveled toward the open doors in unison.

"Can't we lure 'em out? Make some kinda noise or something?" Gwak Han-muk asked, his voice nasal from pinching his nose.

"They probably won't react."

In the game, these zombies had been placed specifically to keep the player from using the freight elevator. No matter what you did, they wouldn't be drawn outside. You had no choice but to ride with them. Unless the player had already become a zombie, the freight elevator was unusable.

Sure enough, Gwak Han-muk picked up a sizable rock and threw it to make noise, but the zombies only twitched. None of them stepped out. Watching him work at it, Mo Hae-in asked,

"Other route?"

"If we don't take the elevator, we'd have to go through the ventilation ducts. We don't have the time, and I don't think Captain Gwak would fit."

Given Gwak Han-muk's build, he'd get stuck at the shoulders. He squeezed his eyes shut and accepted reality.

"Let's go..."

I stepped into the elevator first.

Squelch.

Instead of the ring of cold metal underfoot, a wet, pulpy sound rose from beneath my shoe as I crushed fallen scraps of flesh and pooled blood. I squeezed into a narrow gap between the zombies, and the sagging flesh of the one standing right beside me smeared stickily across my shoulder. The stench rolling off the rotting corpses was unbearable.

I wedged myself as far back as I could and nodded to Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in. They followed me in.

Mo Hae-in was just about to press the B2 button when a siren went off.

The ear-splitting wail made the zombies — who'd been standing still until that very moment — snap their eyes open, gleaming.

The siren bled into a pre-recorded announcement, and the zombies, whipped into a frenzy by the noise, began to lose it in earnest.

"GRAAAAH—!"

Petite as she was, Mo Hae-in was swallowed by the press of zombies in an instant. The doors closed before she could hit the button.

The cramped space became a slaughterhouse. The lights inside the freight elevator were out; it was as good as pitch-black. Only the faint glow of the floor buttons lit the space around us.

The thrashing, frenzied corpses crushed me against the wall.

"Nngh..."

A groan slipped out of me under a pain like being pressed by a blunt weapon. The zombie pinning me from the front gurgled and shoved its face into mine. Its teeth were stained red with something I didn't want to imagine.

I wanted to shove it away that instant, but I couldn't. Being a zombie wasn't a free pass. It only meant they wouldn't attack first. The moment the system registered me as attacking them, they'd start attacking me back. A fight in this cramped box would be a massacre.

Cold arms reached from every direction, crushing my chest. For a moment my vision swam.

"KRAAAH!"

Fortunately the zombies shoved against each other, and the ones pinning me were knocked away. I'd nearly blacked out. I barely held onto consciousness — and in the middle of it, I felt a flash of body heat.

"Captain Mo...!"

I grabbed Mo Hae-in, who was a second from being crushed to death, and pulled. As I drew her against me, Gwak Han-muk clenched his jaw and shoved his arm through the zombies. His fingertips skimmed just past the button. Two, three misses. Then a last stretch, and the button caught under his fingers. The letters B2 lit up.

A jolt, a shudder, and the freight elevator began to descend.

I fought for whatever space I could and held my breathing to a minimum. Every inhale felt like the corpse-stink was crushing my lungs flat. Inside that sealed metal box, we did everything we could not to so much as graze the zombies. The time it took to drop a single floor felt endless. It actually was slower — freight elevators always are.

Ding!

At last the arrival chime sounded. The elevator doors eased open, and the howling zombies ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spilled out in a rush.

"Hah—!"

Mo Hae-in and I gasped in the air we'd been holding. Gwak Han-muk, who'd somehow kept his feet against the collapsing tide of zombies, frantically checked on us. Once he confirmed we were in one piece, he shoved Mo Hae-in out first. Then all three of us collapsed in front of the elevator, gasping.

I really thought I was going to die...

Being crushed had been awful, but the rotting flesh clinging to us and the corpse-stink had been worse. It occurred to me that anyone with a cleanliness compulsion would have a truly miserable time as a zombie.

Mo Hae-in had a hand to her head, looking a little dizzy. I would have liked to lie there a while longer myself, but we couldn't spare a second. A system window started to bloom — Zombification is— — and I killed it and pushed myself to my feet.

"Moving out again."

B2 was a mechanical plant floor, home to the Power Distribution Room and the generator room. A constant engine hum underlaid everything, which meant the zombies down here never slept — they were always active. The only way into the generator room was through the Power Distribution Room, so that was our first stop.

The narrow corridor still held the desperate traces of people who'd tried to escape. Debris of every kind lay overturned and scattered, with zombies lurking among it, so we had to run it like an obstacle course. A zombie with its lower half gone gurgled and crawled across the floor, reaching out a hand. It wasn't trying to attack — just reacting to the noise — but I still had to watch my footing so I wouldn't trip, which made it a pain.

Zombies lunged out of blind spots or burst through side doors, blocking the path. Down here, I just had to do my part. Mo Hae-in and Gwak Han-muk's physical abilities weren't something I needed to worry about, so I focused hard on dodging. Luckily I knew exactly where and when each one would appear, so I slipped past them without trouble. System windows kept popping up mid-run to report the progress of our zombification, an unexpected obstruction of my vision, but I dismissed them as fast as they appeared.

"Hold up!"

Mo Hae-in and Gwak Han-muk stopped on a dime. A TV that had been perched on a failed barricade of piled furniture came crashing down right in front of us. The screen crackled to life.

"WAAAAAH!"

Cheers and applause blasted out. We took off running again, dodging the zombies that flocked toward the noise. After a stretch of running, a sign finally came into view.

The moment we were inside, I shut the door — to keep the zombies from following us in. We hadn't even had a few seconds before a thud hit the other side. Then a rolling, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rumbling crash. The zombies that had chased the noise were piling into the door, one after another. On the other side, a zombie hill was probably stacking up.

Gwak Han-muk offered a brief review.

"Damn. Getting out of here's gonna be a bitch."

"Seems that way..."

I kicked the removable panel beneath the massive control boards that covered the Power Distribution Room's walls — the access for the cable run. It popped loose with a clunk. Nestled on a dusty bundle of thick cables sat a small key. I picked it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up and stood in front of the soundproof door leading off to the right.

The engine noise that had been grinding at our ears since we'd entered B2 was much louder beyond that door. Mixed in with it was an irregular slamming — something being struck, over and over. Bang. Bang.

"Seven minutes left. The second this door opens, the boss fight starts. Same as we briefed — Captain Gwak takes the boss. Captain Mo and I handle the repair."

I'd already briefed them on the boss fight and the repair procedure before we entered the underground sector.

"Okay. Here, take these."

Gwak Han-muk pulled three pairs of cotton work gloves and a rust-remover spray from his sling bag. Some of the items I'd asked him to grab from the Green Zone.

Mo Hae-in took the spray, and we each pulled on a pair of gloves. I slid the key into the locked door.

"Opening it."

The moment I opened the Power Distribution Room's thick soundproof door, an overwhelming roar hammered every inch of us. In the deepest part of B2, a massive diesel generator loomed. A tangle of hydraulic hoses and fuel lines snaked along the engine housing — a look that didn't quite belong in a cutting-edge research institute. It was the same uncanny feeling I'd gotten from the old jeep and the portable cassette player.

I looked at the figure staggering in front of the engine.

The underground sector's boss. The Cook Zombie.

It wore a cafeteria cook's uniform — an apron and a chef's hat. The Cook Zombie swayed, then slammed a fist into the generator. Then it convulsed, tearing through the generator room, rummaging and ransacking, before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slamming the generator again. Over and over. Every blow sent an uneasy noise rattling through the machine.

A chime. A system window appeared. It looked like it was about the Cook Zombie, so I started to read it this time — and something was wrong.

Another window stacked on top of it.

"Grrrk..."

My eyes met the Cook Zombie's.