The Infection
Infection — Kim Sehee —
A hand burst through the car window and grabbed my left arm. The sensation of cold, rotting flesh brushed against my skin, and the stench hit my nose instantly. "Agh!" I struggled, trying to pull away by reflex, but the grip was impossibly tight. Fingernails raked across my arm. Cold, mangled nails tore through my skin, and blood welled up in an instant.
"Ah...!" Startled, I tried to yank my arm free, but the hand dug in deeper, and a rotting mouth moved toward my limb. Those cold lips bit down on my arm. "Agh... Aaaagh!" The dull pressure of teeth sinking into my skin, the sensation of flesh being torn away. As I felt the warm flow of blood, my mind went blank. Pain. An indescribable agony radiated from my arm and spread throughout my entire body.
"Ah... No! No!"
In that moment, Jang Yeeun silently drew her knife. Thwack. Crunch. With a dull sound, the zombie's head was crushed. Blood and fluids splattered everywhere. I pressed my hand against the wound with trembling fingers. Blood was flowing. The area around the bite began to burn with an intense heat. A strange numbness and coldness crept up from my arm, followed by a faint wave of dizziness.
"Ah... Augh..." A strange sound leaked from my lips. My head hurts. My head hurts. A pain like my brain being shredded to pieces surged through me. My whole body went numb, and a cold tremor burrowed into my bones. My mind was slowly fading into a blur.
"Kim Sehee! Pull yourself together!"
Augh. Ugh. Ah. It’s loud. It’s too loud... My mind slowed down further. Words wouldn't surface. My thoughts were tangled. I couldn't tell what was real and what was fake. The person in front of me... Jang Yeeun... who is she? I couldn't remember what I was supposed to do. As the area around the wound burned with fire, my body grew colder and colder. A strange sensation, as if my heart were beating rapidly and then suddenly slowing, as if it were about to stop.
"Ah..." Another strange sound escaped me. My lips trembled against my will. "Sehee, please! You can still hold on!"
What does it mean to hold on? What is Sehee? Why is she standing in front of me? What is that? Is it edible? Ah... no... no...
"Grr... grrr..."
I shouted clearly in my mind, but my body wouldn't obey. My will was vanishing, and I felt as if someone else was taking over my body. Everything in front of me looked blurry. Everything started to look like food. The scent of flesh from Jang Yeeun's hands, the warmth radiating from her skin. And. It’s loud. I can hear it so clearly. It’s loud. I have to get rid of it right now.
"Kim Sehee...! Stop!"
— Jang Yeeun —
Immediately after Kim Sehee was bitten, she collapsed to the floor, her body trembling. Twisting as if in a seizure, she suddenly lunged at me. I raised my knife by instinct, but the moment I looked into her face, my hand stopped. I couldn't bring myself to strike her down. I couldn't end her like the infected I had just dealt with. We had fought together, however briefly. And above all... she had comforted me. In this hellish reality, she was the only person who had listened to my pain, even for a moment. That fact kept me from moving.
And yet... how could such immense strength erupt from her small, thin frame? No matter how hard I tried to push her away, her fingernails dug into my arms, and I was gradually losing the struggle. "Grr... grrr..."
"Sehee! Pull yourself together! Right now!"
I hoped my voice would reach her. But her eyes were no longer the eyes of a human. At that moment, infected in the distance began to lift their heads and peer around. They were reacting to the sound. Ah. Sehee had told me they were sensitive to sound. My defensive stance began to crumble. In that instant, Kim Sehee pushed me even harder.
"Ah..."
It was too late. Her teeth sank into my shoulder. "AAGH!!!" Agony engulfed my entire body. "NNNGGHHH!!!" The pain of skin being torn, the moment her cold mouth bit into my flesh—I tried desperately to push her away, but strength drained from my arms and legs. Blood flowed from the tooth marks, dripping down my arm. "Is this... the end?"
— Kim Sehee —
My mind was still hazy, everything as unclear as if I were in a fog. But at that moment, something warm and sticky entered my mouth. Blood. It was sweet. Something sweeter than anything else, more delicious than any food, spread across my tongue. Instinctively, I wanted to bite down again. But... something was strange. My dim mind began to clear, bit by bit. What I saw before me was... Jang Yeeun. Her blood-soaked shoulder. Her blood on my lips.
"Ah..."
I wiped my mouth, but my fingertips came away stained with vivid, red blood. What happened? I stared blankly at Jang Yeeun. She was looking at me with a pained expression. Sadness. I looked back and forth between my mouth, my teeth, and my blood-stained hands. Could it be... did I?
Fragmented memories finally began to surface in my mind. The moment I lunged at her, her hands trying to stop me, the sensation of my teeth sinking into her shoulder. "No... no... did I... did I do that?"
But I already knew the answer. The blood flowing from Jang Yeeun's shoulder told the truth. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Jang Yeeun looked at me, even as she seemed on the verge of collapsing. "Sehee... you..."
"I'm sorry..."
Tears streamed from my eyes. Even while writhing in pain, Jang Yeeun raised a trembling hand to point behind me. "...Behind... behind... infected..."
At that moment, I heard something running. Thump, thump, thump. Sharp enough to hurt my ears. I turned my head. An infected was rushing toward us from the darkness. Eyes that didn't reflect light, a twisted face, and abnormal speed. At that moment, something snapped in my brain. It felt like something that had been suppressed was finally released. Time slowed down. I reached out and grabbed the infected's head firmly. The moment my hand completely encased its skull, only one thought surfaced in my mind: Crush it.
The sensation of cold, hard bone beneath my hand. And in that instant, I focused all the strength in my body into my fingertips. "Crunch!" With the sound of a skull shattering, blood and hot fluids erupted from the infected's head, covering my hands and arms. The blood and fluids dripped from my hands, and I could still feel that sensation on my fingertips.
Ten minutes. It was such a short time, yet such a long one. The explosions were no longer audible. The noise of blasts and gunfire had ceased, and now silence had descended. The infected had been waiting for the end of that noise. My body reacted. I hoisted Jang Yeeun onto my back. She leaned against my shoulder, still trembling. Her breathing was heavy, and perhaps she felt it too.
Run! If the area I referenced when building the setting remains the same, there is a massive church right next to Euncheol Apartments. And the church is empty. A place where no one lives, a place no one approaches. I had to go there. I had to save Jang Yeeun.
I ran and ran. As I kept running in that direction with Jang Yeeun on my back, her body began to tremble on my shoulder. The cold shivers grew worse, and the minute vibrations of her body were transmitted to mine. I saw a trapezoidal building. The building with a cross engraved into its iron plate. The place we had to go. "Just a little further!"
As Jang Yeeun's body buried itself deeper into my arms, her trembling intensified, and my fingertips felt her cold skin. Then, the church's vacant lot appeared before me. Seeing the church doors, I ran straight into the parking lot under the piloti structure. I wondered if my body could even muster this much strength. And in the meantime, no infected were chasing us. It was chilling how no one was following. Only the sound of the wind and the silent stillness of the church building swirled around us. We had finally reached a moment where we could catch our breath.
At that moment, Jang Yeeun suddenly shuddered and vomited blood. The blood flowed between her lips, spreading visibly red in the cold air. "Blood..." The word swirled in my mind. In an instant, Jang Yeeun before my eyes—her blood looked so sweet. The thought of wanting to lick it... and my body began to move on its own. My fingertips trembled as I licked the blood. In that moment, sweetness filled my mouth, and it was so delicious, so savory, constantly stimulating my brain. My lips, my tongue, were licking Jang Yeeun's blood.
But then, my consciousness slowly began to return. "Uh... what am I doing?"
In a flash, I slammed my head against the floor to regain my senses. Gulp... ugh... Blood dripped from my lips, lingering on the tip of my tongue. Only then did I realize what I had done. I could clearly remember the act I had just committed. I was licking blood. And not just any blood—Jang Yeeun's blood...
It finally came back to me. Why Jang Yeeun was so important. Why she was the only significant existence in this miserable situation. In the novel I wrote, she is the only holder of the 'antibody.' The only person immune to this godforsaken virus. I felt my body tremble, my fingertips aching. The sensation of wanting to lick blood still swirled in my mind. I bit my lip. Blood dripped down. I had to endure the sensation. I had to save her.
Bandages. I took the bandages out of my bag and wrapped them around her shoulder. Jang Yeeun had fainted, and all I could do was save her. Save her. I have to save her. I must save her.