Informed Consent Form (2)
Getting consent from the men was no easy task, but the girls were different. They didn't have a choice. I had two of them captured right here. Leaving the two men tied up and unable to move, I swapped out the cartridge in my taser and headed toward the entrance of the church. I briefly pulled off my gas mask and shouted toward the inside at the top of my lungs, "If you don't come out right now, I'm going to shoot the two men I have here!"
After that, I put my mask back on and returned to where the men were. I pulled out my pistol, aimed it at one of them, and stood still. The two women inside were probably watching. They must have looked outside when they heard the gunshot earlier. So, I waited patiently. Those women had no choice but to come out. I didn't know what kind of relationship they had, but if the girls inside were still naive and hadn't been hardened by the world, they would definitely come out. Faith, connection, loyalty, love, betrayal—all those things. Plus, there was the naive assumption that surely he wouldn't actually kill them, combined with the ignorance of not knowing what might happen. The answer was already decided. Time would provide the result on its own.
"Don't come out! Run away! You absolutely must not come out!" one of the men shouted with all his might while I was waiting. Then, he looked at me and screamed fiercely, "You fucking bastard! You'd better kill us right now! Guys like you always get backstabbed because you're careless! Fuck you! So kill us! Go on, kill us, you coward! You piece of shit! You motherfucking son of a whore! You fucker!"
Watching him scream like that, I felt a little moved. This guy was trying to get himself killed right now. He knew that if he did, the girls wouldn't come out. He wanted them to be able to run away without hesitation, without the burden of betrayal or guilt. They were admirable, these guys. It was fascinating, too. I could never make a choice like that. I wouldn't even create a situation where such a choice was necessary, and I didn't have anyone worth doing that for. That’s why I felt this guy was extraordinary. Giving up one's own life so easily is difficult. Perhaps, you could call this sacrifice. Sacrifice isn't something grand, is it? This could certainly be called that.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh."
So, I shot him with the taser one more time. Then I shot the guy next to him, who still hadn't fully regained his senses. After that, I rummaged through my bag, pulled out some tape, and gagged them both. I hate noise. If I’d known, I would have gagged them sooner. I swapped the cartridge again and looked toward the church. It was a large building. It would take some time to search the whole thing. So, the best method was for the girls to come out on their own. I took off my gas mask again and shouted toward the church, "I'm going to taser these guys once every minute! And after the third time, I'm using the pistol!"
I shouted that, put my mask back on, pulled out my phone, and started a timer while aiming the taser. If I were betting with someone, I’d bet that the two women would come out before the minute was up and I had to taser them again. Unfortunately, there was no one to bet with. Well, I don't think there ever will be, either.
About forty seconds later, a church window swung open, and a woman's voice cried out, "We're coming out! So don't shoot!"
What a shame. I really could have used someone to bet with. Anyway, not long after that voice, two women emerged from the church. Their faces were full of terror. Then, when they saw me, their expressions turned to contempt. The two women were a bit subtle. They were like those "goddesses" on social media, but looking at them without the filters. They were kind of pretty, but something was lacking? Better than average, but not quite? If I had to rate them on a scale of ten, they were both about an 8.3. But considering they weren't wearing makeup and looked a bit grimy, they were actually quite excellent. Anyway, the two women cautiously approached me. I glanced at the floor and saw the guy who had been shouting earlier shaking his head violently with a devastated expression. Still, he was the smartest one of the bunch. He had situational awareness. I briefly thought about how it might have been if I had just negotiated nicely and sent them to Elder Choi's place. But it was already too late. There was no turning back. So, I immediately tasered one of the girls. She collapsed, unable to move. The other woman sat down on the spot, shocked. Good thing she didn't run away.
Thinking that, I tasered the remaining woman with another device. I handcuffed and tied up the two women who had fainted. Now, I had all the consent forms I needed, right? Time to head to the lab.
Leaving the four men and women for a moment, I went to where my car was parked. The zombies I had herded were close, so I pulled out a lymph node. The zombies ignored me. I walked leisurely through them and reached the car. I drove back to where the four were, plowing through the zombies blocking the road. I think I hit about seven. Maybe eight. Anyway, it didn't matter. Zombies were a dime a dozen. I arrived at the spot where I had tied up the four of them and loaded them into the back of the truck. I drove back the way I came, hitting about six more zombies along the way. Actually, I didn't need to hit them this time, but I did it on purpose. It felt like a decent way to relieve some stress.
I returned to my base and went through the usual initiation: thorough disinfection, stripping, moving to the lab, and restraint. Their reactions were similar to the gangsters from before. The living zombie in the fish tank made it clear what kind of place this was without needing a long explanation. And it made their own situation clear, too. Despair filled the eyes of the two men. The two women just closed their eyes. Were they ostriches? Did they think the situation would resolve itself if they closed their eyes? I don't know. Well, it was probably just a form of frustration. They were doing it because there was nothing else they could do. Now then, since the test subjects had arrived, it was time to experiment. But first, I had to run some tests. I extracted samples and blood from the two women and put them in an incubator. The two men gritted their teeth as they watched me. I didn't know what that feeling was like. I’d never had anyone like that.
I checked the spore concentrations of all four. They were quite high. It wouldn't be strange if they turned at any moment. So, I put gas masks on all four of them. I couldn't have them turning into zombies during the experiment. I’d gone to such lengths to get these subjects. Anyway, the experiment was simple. Can you erase the scent of a human? If so, with what? That was the question. The lymph nodes of zombies, which were concentrated with spores, erased the human scent. That meant the human scent wasn't impossible to erase. Of course, the lymph nodes might just be making them ignore the subjects by mistaking them for fellow zombies. But if it were possible to mask or cover it up, it wouldn't be impossible to erase the human scent entirely so that zombies would ignore them. So, I experimented one by one.
First, I put the other man and woman in a room on one side of the lab and poured acetone over one of the men. Industrial acetone. Usually, you shouldn't spray this directly on a body. As I poured it, he twitched as if in pain. I didn't care; I took a zombie out of the tank, put it on a cart, and moved it close to him. Surprisingly, the zombie didn't recognize him at first. But it was short-lived. About ten seconds? After that, the zombie reacted violently to him. If it hadn't been for the restraints on his arms and legs, it would have lunged at him immediately. Ten seconds, huh? Then this only meant the acetone provided a temporary distraction. But this also proved my hypothesis was somewhat correct. The zombie clearly hadn't reacted. Even though he was a living human. Then...
I’d have to be more certain this time. It meant something was coming out of the body, right? Then I just had to block it, right? I cleared the zombie away and put the acetone-soaked guy back in the room. This time, I brought out the other man, but I felt it was a bit much to experiment on him, so I put him back and brought out one of the women. A woman tied to the lab table, completely naked. So, it was a bit erotic. She was bound, completely defenseless. Any man would naturally get excited looking at this. I untied her from the lab table. Her hands were handcuffed anyway, so it didn't matter. She couldn't overpower me with her strength. I wrapped her body tightly in plastic wrap. If something was coming out of her body, I just had to stop it from coming out. Simple. I started wrapping from her legs. Pelvis, waist, chest, and neck. I wrapped the plastic up to her head, leaving only the air holes for the gas mask. The woman, wrapped in plastic like a mummy, kept trembling in terror, but I ignored her and finished wrapping.
Now, that should do it, right? Then, what would the result be? I brought the zombie out again and placed it close to the woman. The zombie showed no reaction. It just stared into the air as if there was nothing there. Just as I expected. It was true that something was coming out of the body. The zombie was perceiving it. But did it not react to the breath coming through the gas mask? The gas mask couldn't be invincible, could it? I moved the zombie closer to the woman's head. Only then did the zombie detect the woman and start going crazy. This was a bit of a breakthrough. So, zombies feel something in the breath, too? I unwrapped the plastic from the woman. I shoved her back into the room. Then, I brought out the other man and wrapped him in plastic just like the woman. Instead, I took off the gas mask. I wrapped him perfectly, leaving only his nose, and brought the zombie back. The zombie started having a seizure as soon as it got close. When I brought it close to the woman earlier, there was no reaction. But when I took off the gas mask, it reacted this time. Good. The breath is confirmed. These zombies are surprisingly romantic, aren't they? To feel a human's breath and run toward it. Anyway, I was glad the experiment was working. At least I was finding things out. Well, there was still a lot to do. It meant I might be able to walk among zombies without lymph nodes. So, there was no time to rest. Above all, I found this too much fun. Maybe that's why I was doing it with such enthusiasm.