Side Story 2: Stories of Russia (2)

In the corner of the greenhouse, behind a mysterious tree, I saw a woman holding an iron pipe.

As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened and she swung her iron pipe.

Grasp!

I grabbed the iron pipe flying toward my temples with my right hand, then grabbed the woman by the collar and pushed her down.

“Stop!” yelled Tommy urgently as he ran toward us. I looked back at him as I calmed myself down, and my eyes went back to normal.

“El… Elena?” Tommy stuttered, looking utterly surprised.

Elena shared his surprise. “Tommy?”

I took a closer look at her, and noticed that this woman named Elena had a coat on. Even though her gown was stained with coppery bloodstains from the zombies, I could tell that she was a researcher. I knew because Tommy and Alyosha had worn the same sort of coats when I first met them.

Tommy approached me cautiously.

“Calm down,” he said. “She’s not an enemy.”

"That's for me to judge."

“No, let me make the judgment. Please let go of her.”

“...?”

I frowned at Tommy, and he gulped.

“We have to at least give her a chance to explain,” he said. “Please, let go of her for now. Please.”

Instead of answering, I looked at the woman’s face. She was nervous and breathing heavily. For some reason, though, her human flesh smelled sweet to me. Perhaps it was because her heart was beating violently.

I frowned and let go of Elena. She crawled across the floor like a cockroach to the corner of the greenhouse and then looked warily back and forth between Tommy and me.

Tommy slowly moved toward her with both of his arms raised as he gestured to her to calm down as well. It seemed like Elena had an English background, since the two of them started talking in English. Unlike my complete ignorance of Russian, I could at least say a couple of things in English.

However, she babbled on and on because she was terrified, which made it hard for me to understand what she was saying. The only words I could hear clearly were all swear words. Tommy approached Elena in a non-threatening manner and spoke in a soft, calm voice, as if he was pacifying a crying child.

Suddenly, Elena’s eyes flew wide open, and she started swinging the iron pipe all over the place. She screamed vulgarities so fiercely that the veins in her neck seemed about to burst. She looked like a cornered animal letting out a final death cry, trying to fight back.

When I tried to intervene, Tommy shouted and stopped me from getting any closer.

Tommy spoke to Elena in a calm, subdued voice. “Calm down Elena. I'm here. You can calm down now.”

“What’s that zombie behind you? How are you with a zombie? Was your research successful? What about the vaccine? What about the cure? What’s going on outside?”

“Calm down. I’ll explain everything. So put down the pipe and listen to me.”

"No. Get rid of the zombie behind you.”

Tommy bit his lower lip and turned to me with a troubled look.

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, could you step outside for a moment?”

“No. I don’t know what she’s going to do, so I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”

“She’s just in shock. She’s been stuck here for two full months. By herself.”

“...”

I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Tommy alone. I had absolutely no clue what that mad woman would do to Tommy. However, as I looked at Tommy… I just couldn’t attack the woman. He was looking at Elena with eyes full of pity. I wondered if it was because of the camaraderie they’d developed by devoting their lives to vaccine research together. Or perhaps there was some kind of kinship that I didn’t understand.

I clicked my tongue.

“I’ll wait for you at the entrance,” I said. “If she happens to cause any trouble… Let her know that I’ll kill her without remorse. Make sure she knows.”

“Thank you…”

Tommy gave a small nod and started talking to Elena. I walked toward the entrance, eavesdropping on their conversation. The two of them began to discuss me. After he explained everything to her, I heard her crying. She seemed to have developed a habit of crying quietly, and hearing her crying made me feel sad and bitter.

I couldn’t tell if she was crying because she was relieved at the fact that she was alive, or because she missed human interaction.

She continued to cry for a long while, even after they were done talking.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Elena approached me as she wiped away her tears.

“My apologies for what happened earlier.”

“It’s alright.”

"So… You’re a person, right?”

“A human-like zombie.”

Although it wasn’t easy for me to speak in English after a long time, I felt proud of myself speaking in a foreign language.

Elena hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued.

“I heard what happened. You said you saved Tommy and Alyosha?”

"Now it's their turn to save me."

"Maybe our meeting was meant to be.”

When I tilted my head at her ambiguous words, Tommy spoke up.

“Elena was on the team in charge of developing a cure.”

“Isn’t that what a vaccine is?”

“The two are completely different. A vaccine is used for prevention, and a cure literally means healing someone who is already sick.”

“Then… In simple terms, are vaccines like flu shots?”

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“That would be a suitable example. You get flu shots to prevent the flu, right? You can think of the cure as medicine for someone who already has the flu.”

As Tommy explained this to me, Elena’s demeanor seemed to change. Just like she had said, rescuing her seemed like the hand of fate working. God was helping me to become human again, so that I could see So-Yeon as a human again. Even though we didn’t have any results yet, I couldn't help but feel excited for what was to come.

Tommy looked at me carefully, then forced a smile.

“It’s too early to be celebrating. The treatment hasn’t gone through clinical trials yet.”

“How long will it take?”

“Even with all the equipment and personnel perfectly prepared, we’re thinking at least two years. Given the current situation… I’m not sure if I can give you a definitive answer.”

“But still, the vaccine development was successful, wasn’t it? Doesn’t that make it more than possible for this to be successful as well?”

“Well, the vaccine wasn’t officially completed either. The virus did seem to grow weaker, but we’re not at the point of testing it on humans.”

So he was saying that the vaccine was effective, but incomplete. His words seemed a little ambiguous to me.

However, I had no other choice than to bet everything on them.

I got to my feet and looked at the two of them.

“How about we take this outside. We also have to introduce her to some new friends.”

“New friends?”

When Elena tilted her head, Tommy gave her a soft smile.

“They’re people who’ll help us with research,” he said. “They’re from Korea.”

"Korea! Are they Korean researchers?”

“No. Korean zombies.”

Elena stared blankly at Tommy, looking puzzled. Looking at her, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I will do my best to ensure that your research does not get delayed. Please place your trust in us, and immerse yourself in research.”

* * *

When I introduced Elena to the rest, they all welcomed her with joy. Kim Hyeong-Jun, Do Han-Sol, Kim Dae-Young, and Jeong Jin-Young were delighted that Elena was researching a cure, and Choi Kang-Hyun chuckled, joking that she was the token woman in our group.

Alyosha was overjoyed that Elena was alive. It seemed like Alyosha and Elena were on good terms. It seemed like she was one of the few researchers that did not give Alyosha a hard time by pointing fingers at him and calling him insane.

Tommy observed Elena and Alyosha with a smile on his face, then came over to me.

“Elena’s past is similar to Alyosha’s,” he said.

“Pardon?”

“Elena was also utterly consumed by her research, just like Alyosha. She’s one of the few people Alyosha gets along with.”

When she had spoken with everyone, Elena smiled brightly.

“Has everyone eaten?” she asked.

Tommy was the first to answer her question.

“Do you have any food stockpiled?”

“Hey, I was left alone in a lab that used to house hundreds of people. There’s enough food in the greenhouse, but shall we start with what we have in the cafeteria?”

We all followed Elena to the cafeteria. Fortunately, the food had yet to spoil. Perhaps it was because of the cold weather. Even if the food had rotted away, though, the existence of the greenhouse meant that the place was more than self-sufficient. Food didn’t seem like it would be a problem while we were here.

Elena filled up plates with food and placed a generous amount of food on the table. I looked at all the food in front of us and forced a smile.

“Regarding meals, only Tommy, Alyosha, you, and Mr. Choi Kang-Hyun will have to eat.”

"Why? Aren’t you guys eating?”

“We can’t.”

“Then what do you eat?”

“We eat brains…”

I was nervous that she would freak out again, just moments after regaining her stability. To my surprise, however, her eyes glowed with curiosity, and her voice took on a spark of enthusiasm.

“How is that possible?” she asked.

“I’m not sure myself.”

“If you don’t mind, could I cut open your abdomen?”

"Pardon?"

“I thought you said you’ll regenerate anyway? At least that’s what Tommy told me. Am I wrong?”

“He’s not wrong, but if you ask something like that out of the blue…”

“It was a joke, a joke. Haha!"

Elena wasn’t the one that was taken aback. It was me. I had a hard time understanding how asking to cut someone’s abdomen open in front of others could be a joke. I didn’t know what to say, because her behavior now was so different from the way she’d been acting at the greenhouse.

I stared stupidly at her, and Tommy smirked.

“I told you, didn’t I?” He said. “She’s just like Alyosha.”

“Oh…”

No wonder Tommy said that the two of them got along so well. I guess she wasn’t crazy, just totally into her research.

Still in shock, I shook my head, came back to my senses, and looked at Tommy.

“We’re going to head outside and check on the solar panels first. Let me know if you need anything after you’re done eating.”

"All right."

I asked Kim Dae-Young to stay and protect the others while I led the others out and headed to where the solar panels were installed. As soon as Jeong Jin-Yong left the lab, he said that he’d go check on the zombie camp, and headed to the dormitory. That left me, Kim Hyeong-Jun, and Do Han-Sol to examine the solar panels.

Countless solar panels had been erected across a small field. Kim Hyeong-Jun clicked his tongue as he looked at the solar panels.

“It’s going to take forever to check all of them.”

“We don’t sleep at night anyway. Let’s not rush it.”

Before leaving Jeju Island, we’d taken a month-long crash course on solar panels and batteries with Kwak Dong-Won, the leader of the facilities management team. Even though we weren’t professionals and probably couldn’t get the job as neatly done as one, we were at least able to identify any issues.

Do Han-Sol shrugged his sore shoulders.

“It’s rather nice to have something to do,” he said. “Shall we stop chatting and get to work?”

"Ugh… I’d rather beat up zombies,” grumbled Kim Hyeong-Jun as he followed Do Han-Sol. He always complained copiously about everything, but he also handled everything meticulously. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the two of them bickering as they examined the solar panels.

I took a deep breath and got myself together as well. I wanted to push away the regrets I had about what had happened in Korea and do something to prepare for the future. I knew there had to be something I could do here to help that wasn’t related to beating up zombies. I had to find something to help with, and not be a burden to the others.

After reminding myself of what I wanted to achieve while I was here, I walked over to Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol.

* * *

It took us a good two weeks to examine all the solar panels. It would’ve taken just a couple of hours to take care of thousands of zombies, but when it came to machines, it wasn’t as easy. Whenever we encountered a problem, we had to figure out why there was a problem, consider the problem carefully, and work through it until we figured it out.

We welded and repaired broken panels in the building that the Russian soldiers used to use as a garage. It was also difficult to make sure that we’d fixed them correctly. At one point, I really wished that we’d brought Kwak Dong-Won along.

Still, thanks to everyone's hard work, we repaired all the defective solar panels in a span of two weeks. The remaining solar panels that still had issues were not functioning properly due to the heavy snowfall. We were fortunate enough that we could easily take care of the issues, since they did not relate to either the energy conduction or the state of the batteries.

When we got back to the lab after finishing our work, I saw Kim Dae-Young looking somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed like he couldn't stand still. I titled my head and looked at him.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?" I asked.

“Please… please tie me up.”

“...?”

That was an unexpected request, and I looked him up and down. But then, one specific thought crossed my mind. I realized that Kim Dae-Young hadn’t consumed an enemy brain in a long time.

"Don't tell me that you’re…”

He was breathing heavily, and his pupils were constricted like a cat’s.

The zombie instinct inside him was taking over his mind.