Side Story 1: Stories of Russia (1)

The zombie cries hit my ears as we landed at Vladivostok International Airport at twilight.

“What’s the population here?” I asked Tommy as I opened the hatch to get out.

“Vladivostok’s population?”

"Yes."

“About six hundred thousand.”

Six hundred thousand. It had approximately the same number of people of Seongdong-gu and Gwangjin-gu combined, but the land area was about twice as large, which meant that the possibility of mutants wasn't that high.

“Where’s the lab?”

“There’s a city called Artyom, south of here. From there, head further south, and you’ll reach a mountainous area. The lab is located in that area.”

“Artyom? Aren’ we in Vladivostok?”

“Vladivostok Airport is located next to Artyom. The lab is between Vladivostok and Artyom.”

After hearing his explanation, I gave orders to Kim Hyeong-Jun, Do Han-Sol and Kim Dae-Young, who were behind me.

“Han-Sol and Dae-Young, split up and look around the airport. Hyeong-Jun, go to Artyom and looked for survivors and zombies. Jin-Young, stay here and protect Tommy and Alyosha.”

They all acknowledged my orders, and went about their assigned duties. I went up to the roof of the passenger terminal and looked around at the surroundings. Unlike Korea, the area wasn’t mountainous. It was mostly flat, and even the mountains seemed like hills to me. After taking a good look, I approached Tommy and Alyosha.

“Did you say that the research center suffered a zombie attack?”

"Yes."

“And were there mutants back then?”

"Hmm… I didn’t have a chance to take notice. I was busy running away then.”

“What about a black creature?”

“I didn’t see any of those black fellas, nor did I hear its unique cry.”

If there was no black creature, then nothing here would pose a particular threat to us. To be frank, I wanted to head to the lab right then, carrying Tommy and Alyosha on my back, but since the sun was already setting, I figured it would be better to stay put for the night, and head to the lab the next morning when the sun rose.

I knew if I tried to get too much done at once by heading straight to the lab, I might end up drawing the street zombies into the lab, and it would be more difficult to deal with the zombies inside the lab at night. While I was considering all of this, Jeong Jin-Young, who was next to me, asked me a question.

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, what if there’s a black creature in the lab? I mean, you never know.”

“It’ll be alright, since the sample from Daegu works on the black creature. However, if we go right now, it would be difficult to see the black creature. I think it’s better if we head out in the morning, when the sun rises.”

“Got it!” Jeong Jin-Young nodded as he answered enthusiastically.

Kim Hyeong-Jun and I could withstand a black creature’s surprise attack, but I wasn’t sure if the others could. There was nothing wrong with being extra careful.

We would only be staying put for one night, and once dawn broke, we’d head over to the lab.

* * *

As dawn broke over the eastern sky, we gathered at the airport and looked at the map we’d found in the airport. The Vladivostok travel brochures in the airport were pretty helpful.

Do Han-Sol, Kim Dae-Young, and Jeong Jin-Young carried Tommy, Alyosha, and Choi Kang-Hyun on their backs as we made our preparations to head out. Kim Hyeong-Jun and I determined the shortest route to the lab by consulting with the map, and came up with a plan.

“Hyeong-Jun, is this area safe?”

“The bridge that was supposed to be over there wasn’t there; it seemed someone destroyed it. But if we head east, we’ll come to a road that’ll lead us to the mountains.”

“Are there zombies on this side?”

“We didn’t come across any because it’s a mountainous area. But I'm not sure, since I didn't get to check out every part of Artyom."

It was possible for us to make it through this area if it was free of zombies. In Korea, it had been difficult to get from place to place since there were zombies everywhere we went. However, if there weren’t that many here, Kim Hyeong-Jun and I could take them down as we moved.

I let out a quick breath..

“Han-Sol, tag along with Hyeong-Jun,” I said. “Tommy, you’ll have to give us directions.”

"Of course."

“I won’t be with the group, but I’ll be a few steps away, monitoring for any zombie waves. Everyone else, look ahead and keep running.”

After finalizing our plan, we got going immediately. I had recruited enough underlings while cleaning up Jeju Island, so things would go as planned, as long as we didn’t encounter anything unexpected.

I currently had five stage-one mutants. Kim Hyeong-Jun also had five, and Do Han-Sol had three. And of course, we had Ji-Eun and Mood-Swinger. And since Kim Dae-Young and Jeong Jin-Young each had two hundred and fifty underlings, it would not be difficult to protect Tommy, Alyosha, and Choi Kang-Hyun.

We moved at Jeong Jin-Young’s pace, with Kim Hyeong-Jun in the lead. I followed behind, taking care of the street zombies.

We did not run into any difficulties along the way. Everything went smoothly, according to our plan. It was hard to believe that a lab guarded by soldiers would fall to a zombie wave that occurred in a neighborhood like this.

Once we got to the lab, however, I realized how wrong I had been.

GRRR… GWAAA!!

There were thousands of zombies swarming around the lab’s outer walls. Dozens of zombies even roamed around within the labs walls, making their throat-rending cries. Kim Hyeong-Jun smirked as he saw the zombies.

“Ahjussi, should we recruit all of those zombies?”

“There’s no need to get more underlings. Just kill them all.”

“Kill them all?. Don’t you think that’s a waste? At least I do.”

“Kill all the ones that are outside. We’ll use the ones inside as research samples.”

We no longer had to be obsessed with the number of underlings we had. Even if a black creature did appear, we could easily take care of it by using the samples we had brought from Daegu. And if we ever had to move between labs, we’d have to get rid of most of our underlings anyway, because we couldn’t fit all of them into the plane.

It was unnecessary to recruit more underlings. It was best to live with the bare minimum, since there could be a zombie with red eyes in Russia. If we recruited more underlings and got caught… That would only bring us more trouble. All we had to do was to create a safe environment as quietly as possible so that Tommy and Alyosha could concentrate on their research.

I briefly explained my reasoning as to why we shouldn’t get more underlings to Kim Hyeong-Jun, and he nodded, his blue eyes flashing. He led Mood-Swinger and his stage-one mutants into the laboratory.

I addressed Do Han-Sol, Kim Dae-Young, and Jeong Jin-Young, who were behind me.

“You guys stay put and protect everyone else. Hyeong-Jun and I will clean up the area.”

“Got it.”

“Tommy, how many zombies should I keep alive?”

“Just like you said earlier, I think the ones inside should be enough.”

With that, I headed to the laboratory with Ji-Eun and my stage-one mutants. I wasn’t a big fan of slaughter, but if I couldn’t recruit them or manage them somehow, it was best to kill them. This situation reminded me of the saying: to go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

Steam rose from my body as my blue eyes flashed. I breezed through the weak zombies and started cleaning up the lab.

* * *

After cleaning up the zombies, we set up a zombie prison in the building that was once the Russian soldiers' dormitory. We gathered up all the zombies that were inside the lab and locked them up in the zombie prison. I asked Jeong Jin-Young to keep an eye on them.

Tommy examined the condition of the lab, and he sounded rather positive.

“Fortunately enough, all the equipment is still intact. Did you happen to check the greenhouse in the basement as well?”

"A greenhouse? There’s a greenhouse in this facility?”

“We kept various animals and plants in the underground greenhouse. Did you miss it?”

“I don’t think I missed any rooms while cleaning up…”

“Oh, you should follow me.”

I nodded and followed Tommy.

“Ahjussi, what should I do in the meantime?” asked Kim Hyeong-Jun.

Kim Hyeong-Jun, Do Han-Sol, Kim Dae-Young, Choi Kang-Hyun, and Alyosha were sitting around a table in the lab, all looking at me blankly. The problem was, I didn’t have any orders to give them.

Tommy spoke into the silence.

“Mr. Choi Kang-Hyun, do you happen to be good with handling machines?”

"Machines? What sort of machines are we talking about? I’m pretty good with most machines.”

“Then could you check on the ground station with Alyosha? We have to get the satellite communications up and running again.”

“Satellite communications? Are you saying you’re going to use communication satellites to communicate with other countries?”

“Alyosha’s an expert on them. If you could please follow him and get whatever that’s broken working again, that’d be great.”

Choi Kang-Hyun gave Alyosha a bewildered look. Tommy explained the situation to Alyosha in Russian, and Alyosha stood up with a hearty smile. I looked at the two of them, then at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“Hyeong-Jun, can you go with them?”

"Okay."

“Han-Sol and Dae-Young, could you clean up while we’re gone? Collect all the dead zombie bodies outside and burn them. And could you wipe away the bloodstains in the lab?”

“On it.”

Once everyone had a task to complete, I headed down to the basement greenhouse with Tommy. As I followed him, I cautiously brought up the issue we’d discussed earlier.

“Tommy?”

"Go ahead."

“Satellite communication. Is that really possible?”

I was bad with electronics. I couldn’t even fix a radio by myself, so satellite communication seemed incredibly foreign to me.

I tilted my head, and Tommy offered me a small smile.

"It’s possible for sure. I observed that the cassegrain antenna was intact on our way here, and there weren’t any zombies around the ground station. Alyosha will have to check the status of the transponder and satellite repeater, but I assume they’ll be intact, since zombies aren’t interested in machines.”

“...”

“Satellite communications use microwaves above 1 gigahertz, since they have to pass through the ionosphere. And since the communication and GPS satellites are in mid-orbit, we use microwaves above 2.5 gigahertz, which is the S band, to tune the frequency. Once we can get all of this working, we can start communicating with the remaining laboratories on Earth.”

“Tommy.”

"Yes?"

“I can’t understand a single thing you’re saying. Can you explain it in a way that I can understand?”

“This was the easiest way of explaining it.”

I was left speechless. If what he’d just rattled off was the simple way of explaining it… I knew I wasn’t really a tech person at all.

I smacked my lips.

“I’m sorry for not understanding it,” I said.

“There’s no need for you to apologize…”

I cleared my throat and looked away, and he did the same. I realized that I had brought up something I shouldn’t have, and had just made things awkward between us, but I couldn’t help but wonder how Tommy knew all of this.

“By the way, how do you know all this?”

“I’ve been to several labs. The ones in England, France, Germany, and even Russia. I had to learn in order to make up for the lack of researchers as I moved labs.”

“And those labs… Are they all gone now?”

“Yes. Canada was the only place we were in contact with at the end.”

We made our way down, making some small talk along the way, and finally came upon an enormous iron door that I had missed earlier. I’d assumed that it was a wall when taking care of the zombies earlier on, but now that I took a closer look at it, I realized that it was a door.

“We’re here,” said Tommy, letting out a quick breath. “I’m not sure if there’s still power. I hope that the animals and plants are still alive.”

“Something else might be alive. Just swipe your keycard and stay behind me.”

Tommy nodded and fished out his keycard from his pocket. We exchanged glances, and he unlocked the door and stepped back.

Pshhh–

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

A blast of thick mist and warm heat welcomed us as the door opened. The warm air meant that the system was operating properly, which also meant that the solar panels and batteries were fine as well.

As we made our way through the thick mist, we stumbled upon another door. Tommy swiped his keycard again, and the tightly-sealed door opened.

When we finally entered the greenhouse, the strong smell of grass tickled my nose. The mist slowly cleared, revealing a wide open space. My mouth fell open as I took in the enormous room, which could easily have been larger than sixteen hundred square kilometers.

I was surprised by the fact that something this large could be underground, but I couldn't help but be amazed at the fact that there were this many animals and plants alive in here. Crops that could be cultivated were situated in the center of the greenhouse, and beyond the glass walls on the left and right, there were animals such as chickens and pigs, living in separate compartments.

Each of them were in pairs, male and female. They were still alive, despite the fact that it had been several months since anyone had set foot here.

But then Tommy spoke up.

“Something’s not right.”

“Hmm?”

“There aren’t any traces of animal feces.”

After hearing his words, my blue eyes flashed as I accelerated my blood flow. I heightened all my senses and quickly scanned the interior of the greenhouse. There were other beings in here besides us.

Tommy continued to peer into the pigpen right next to us.

“The livestock are fed at set times that are entered into the system, but there are no automatic processes to remove their waste. It has to be cleared by manually pressing a switch.”

"A switch? What switch?”

“There’s a pipe that takes care of the excrement. Someone has to be alert when they press the switch, so that the animals don’t get sucked in as well.”

Rustle–

Just then, I heard footsteps in front of us. I couldn’t locate where they were coming from exactly, but they were definitely coming from the end of the greenhouse.

“Wait here. Don’t move.”

Before the other being had the chance to react, I rushed toward the source of the footsteps.