The Abandoned Hospital
Han Jaejeong opened his eyes to the tickle of sunlight on his eyelids.
It was hard to tell if it was a dream or reality.
But the suffocating pressure on his mouth, like someone was clamping it shut, felt all too vivid.
The pattern on the ceiling tiles sharpened and blurred several times.
He barely managed to pull himself together, but an inexplicable lethargy swept through his body, pinning him down.
When he tried to move his arms slowly, something kept getting in the way.
He instinctively glanced down.
A hose connecting his face to an oxygen tank was wrapped around his arm.
Above it hung an IV bag, crumpled like drought-withered crops.
His chest tightened in an instant.
He forced saliva down his parched, cracked throat.
Pfuh—
Jaejeong roughly yanked off the oxygen mask.
The mask had been blocking his breath more than helping, leaving his limbs tingling and numb.
How long had he been lying there?
Just that one movement sent pain surging to his fingertips.
He reached for the call button to summon a nurse but paused at an odd sense of wrongness, scanning the room.
He was the only one in the two-bed room.
The opposite bed was spotlessly empty.
Chairs stacked haphazardly by the door and cracked glass windows only deepened his confusion.
He peeled off the blackened, grimy tape covering the IV needle.
The ragged needle looked ready to slip out at the slightest touch.
Jaejeong mustered his strength again and sat up.
Dizziness forced his head down for a moment, but the bloodstains smeared across the hallway jolted his half-awake mind like cold water.
Splat!
“Ugh!”
He barely made it off the bed but collapsed the instant his feet hit the floor.
His legs refused to hold him.
Like a man paralyzed all over, he writhed on the bare floor.
Only after several minutes could Jaejeong stand steadily.
No time to slip on slippers.
With a dazed expression, he shuffled toward the glass overlooking the hallway.
The corridor looked like a war zone.
As his gaze traveled to the nurses' station midway down the long hall, nothing stood or stuck properly.
Blood spatters crusted the walls and floor, and even the electricity seemed spotty.
He scanned the surroundings calmly once more.
The empty IV bag and the oxygen mask no longer flowing convinced him of the situation.
But it wasn't that simple.
“Ah……”
His words caught in his bone-dry throat; he swallowed hard first.
A raspy, grinding sound like rusted metal echoed through the silent room.
“Is anyone there?”
He'd put some force into it, but it was still too quiet for anyone in the hall to hear.
The words bounced back as an echo off the walls.
A twinge of unease crept in.
“If anyone's there, open the door, please!”
Now more alert, his voice rang out much louder.
He strained to listen, just in case.
Nothing.
No one on this floor to hear him, that much was clear.
He turned back, perched on the edge of the bed, and chugged the room-temperature bottled water from atop the fridge.
Lukewarm, but as the liquid hit his stomach, his mind cleared gradually.
How many minutes passed?
Sunlight tickled his eyes again; he glanced at the window.
Through half-open blinds, he caught a sliver of the outside world.
Staring blankly, Jaejeong suddenly bolted up as if seizing.
Like a man entranced, he stepped to the window.
As the blinds rolled up bit by bit, the scene outside filled his view.
Jaejeong's jaw hung slack.
This was the source of the disorientation since waking.
The landscape sprawled before him.
The unfamiliar yet familiar sight triggered a pounding headache.
Black smoke billowed from spots everywhere, buildings blazed fiercely.
Cars lay wrecked in chaos, streets utterly deserted.
Pain worsening, he clutched his forehead.
Forcing ragged breaths, he looked around.
After several checks, he realized it wasn't a dream. Memories from before sleep flooded in, jumbled.
They came too fast, too tangled.
But why am I alone?
Jaejeong frantically searched for his belongings.
Nothing in the room: no clothes, phone, shoes, watch.
Think, think.
What was happening? Why was he alone? He repeated it, but everything after falling asleep was blank.
Slowly recall.
Met Minyoung, dealt with selfish bastards, met Anna on the rooftop.
Youngman, who knew radios, contacted the army base.
Then washed up, lay in the warehouse listening to Minyoung's story, fell asleep.
Felt like he'd slept forever, yet exhaustion lingered oddly.
Why a hospital room?
Then it happened.
Gazing at fiery pillars outside, something flashed by.
Reflected in the glass: someone in the hallway.
Strange wrongness made him whip around.
Yes.
Someone in the corridor.
An elderly man with gentle white hair and wrinkles, and a young man in a crisp suit, staring at Jaejeong.
They stood utterly still, faces bluish, unsettling.
Oddly, their unfamiliar faces felt familiar.
Who? Definitely strangers.
As Jaejeong tilted his head, urgent footsteps echoed from the hall.
A woman in a white coat appeared, face terrified, trying to drag the two away.
But the men didn't budge.
Even as she wailed and yanked their arms, they stood like statues.
Right then.
The still elder suddenly called out.
“You……”
A deafening ring exploded.
The old man's voice boomed like a bell in his ear, churning his brain.
Jaejeong clutched his head in agony, staggered, collapsed.
“Hey……”
The voice echoed again, rippling into his ears.
Unbearable pain tore a mad scream from him.
“Stop! Stop it!”
Screaming, Jaejeong's eyes snapped open.
“You okay?”
Panting, Youngman's palm waved before his face.
Youngman stood there, face worried.
Jaejeong let out a long sigh, rubbed his face.
Damn nightmare.
“…Yeah, I'm fine. Or something like that.”
“Must've been a nightmare. Though weirder if you didn't have one. Here, take this.”
Youngman handed him a cup of water.
Jaejeong took it silently, massaging his throbbing head.
“Feel better, come out. Got good news.”
He nodded in response.
Wanted to say okay, but no mood, no energy.
Too vivid a dream.
Not just from a hectic day—hard to believe what they'd been through.
Jaejeong downed the water, sat up.
Sleep had refreshed him, for sure.
Dawn breaking outside meant he'd slept through to next morning.
“Hoo……”
Rotating stiff shoulders, another sigh.
Jaejeong rose slowly.
Steps out of the warehouse felt lighter.
People scattered on the third floor paid him no mind now.
From hostility to wariness to indifference.
Sighing softly, shaking his head at them, Jaejeong headed up to the rooftop.
Clank—
The rooftop felt different from yesterday afternoon.
Cool wind, heavy clouds promising rain.
Not bad, anyway.
Breeze seeped through his still-damp T-shirt.
Not just the weather had changed.
Whatever Youngman's unexpected skill, Anna and the group seemed on better terms.
Youngman tinkered with gear, talking; Beom-sik, Minyoung, Anna clustered around.
Her massive bow slung over her shoulder looked alien.
Spotting Jaejeong at the entrance, they turned as one.
“What's the good news?”
Jaejeong brushed back wind-tossed hair.
Minyoung answered.
“Seems like contact's made. They say maybe helicopters day after tomorrow, once rescue teams return.”
“How many?”
“Told 'em our numbers, no refusal. Means they can accommodate.”
“Won't fly in this weather anyway, even if they've got people.”
Jaejeong muttered, eyeing the dark clouds.
Beom-sik snorted at him.
“How do you sleep so long in times like these? Snoring like a beast.”
“What kind of times? Gotta sleep well, eat well to fight. You get any?”
“I don't need much, unlike some.”
Jaejeong laughed derisively; Beom-sik smirked back.
“Rescue day after tomorrow… So what do we do till then?”
The group just exchanged blank looks, no answer.
They'd fought tooth and nail to reach here, endured chaos, finally crashed for two solid days.
No time to plan ahead.
Pointless with Minyoung's survival uncertain anyway.
Hadn't even believed she'd make it, honestly.
But four heads together should've come up with something.
Jaejeong pushed the thoughts aside, stepped forward.
“What, just listening to radio this whole time? What if soldiers don't come? Starve?”
“Got a better idea?”
Youngman asked; Jaejeong nodded, pacing.
“Listen up. From experience, aid comes when it comes, gotta make it visible. Till then, we survive. Second and third floors, rooftop safe, right? Check food, water stocks. Rescue promised, so ration based on inventory. Yeah?”
All nodded slowly.
“Like I said, aid might not come. Ration minimal, food and water. Me and Lee Beom-sik take second floor; you three do third. You, Anna? Note anyone uncooperative, bitchy, hot-headed with you, old man, Minyoung. Tell me later.”
“Don't like snitching. And I suck at handling people. Send someone else to third. Rather fight zombies.”
Anna grumbled irritably.
“Then just stand back quiet. That works.”
“Act pissy, who knows what I'll do. Fine by you? No bitching later.”
“Hold up, didn't say go yet. Wait.”
Jaejeong stopped Anna heading for the stairs.
Infected People