THE VARIANT: ZERO HOUR

17. The Third-Floor Corridor of Death

The mutilated face of the nurse lunged directly at Jinwoo. Her dislocated lower jaw swung sickeningly in the air, aiming for the officer's neck. Jinwoo had no time to pull the trigger of his revolver. They were simply too close. By reflex, the young cop raised his right arm high to shield his face from the fatal attack.

Crunch. Tear.

The zombie nurse's blackened teeth sank hard into Jinwoo's forearm. But instead of tearing flesh and injecting the lethal virus, the monster's bite only scraped the surface of the thick brown packing tape. The stack of Healthy Diet Tips magazines wrapped around Jinwoo's arm absorbed the pressure of the jaw perfectly. Jaemin's paper armor worked flawlessly.

"Eat this diet magazine, you pig," Jinwoo cursed, his breathing heavy. He shoved the monster's body away using his left arm. "Your teeth are not sharp enough to pierce my cardboard armor, what the fuck."

Min-Ji did not stand by and watch. The former fixer stepped forward from her blind spot on the right. She gripped her aluminum broom handle tightly. The tip of the surgical scissors, bound securely to the staff, glinted under the red glow of the emergency lights.

"Out of the way, Officer," Min-Ji commanded coldly.

Thrust.

Min-Ji plunged her makeshift spear directly into the zombie nurse's temple with a single, lethal thrust. The double blades of the sterile scissors punctured the skull, instantly liquefying the monster's brain. Black fluid sprayed across the corridor wall. Min-Ji yanked her weapon back with a violent jerk, and the nurse's body collapsed with a dull thud onto the linoleum floor.

"One down, damn it," Jinwoo panted. He wiped the monster's leftover saliva off the packing tape on his arm, a look of pure disgust on his face. "Your idea was absolutely brilliant, Jaem. If I were not wearing this, my arm would have been shredded by that crazy nurse."

"What did I tell you, what the fuck. Focus on what is ahead," Jaemin replied from the very back. His dull silver eyes swept across the darkened corridor before them.

But their relief only lasted for three seconds.

The sound of the nurse's body hitting the floor and Jinwoo's shouting echoed loudly down the entire length of the third-floor east wing corridor. The darkness at the far end of the hallway began to churn violently. Over a dozen human figures, their postures unnaturally hunched, slowly emerged from the shadows of the patient rooms.

Their milky-white eyes locked in unison onto the small group that had just exited the archive room.

"Graaaarrggh."

"Damn it. The grand hospital reunion has officially begun," Jinwoo cursed. The cop raised his revolver with both hands, preparing to fire. "There are easily over a dozen of them. This hallway is pretty narrow. We have to force our way through right now."

"Do not waste your bullets on the front-row grunts, Jinwoo," Min-Ji scolded sharply. The woman spun her broom spear, bracing for the first wave of attacks. "Save your ammo for a real emergency. Just use your folding knife. Let me clear the path with the reach of this spear."

"Right away, General," Jinwoo replied sarcastically. The cop holstered his gun and drew his tactical combat knife.

The horde of zombies began to sprint toward them. Their footsteps were disorganized but incredibly fast. The foul stench of rotting flesh instantly filled the corridor, making their stomachs churn.

"Move now. Do not stop for anything, what the fuck," Jaemin shouted. He gripped his wooden stick tightly. "Minseok. Walk in the middle. If you stop moving for even a single second, I will personally shove you forward so they can eat you first, you bastard."

"Y-yes. Mercy. I am moving," Minseok sobbed in panic. The old doctor walked tremblingly behind Min-Ji, with Jihoon following closely behind him. Jihoon's small hand tightly clutched the hem of Jaemin's jacket.

The bloody battle in the narrow corridor began.

Min-Ji displayed her incredibly brutal combat skills. As two male zombies in lab coats lunged forward, she dropped into a low stance. She swung the scissor tip of her spear horizontally, tearing through the first zombie's neck. Blood sprayed violently, painting the walls. Jinwoo followed up from the left side, kicking the knee of the second zombie before plunging his tactical knife straight into the monster's eye.

"Watch out, Min-Ji. There is one jumping from your right, what the fuck," Jinwoo warned as he violently ripped his knife free.

"I see it, you bastard," Min-Ji shot back. She spun her staff to deflect the claws of a female patient zombie, then kicked the monster hard in the chest, sending her tumbling backward.

They continued to push forward, slicing through the zombie ranks like a bloody lawnmower. Severed limbs and black fluid littered the length of the hallway. However, the sheer number of enemies was too great to be held back by just two people on the front line.

Two skeletal, emaciated zombies managed to slip through a gap in Jinwoo's defenses. They crawled rapidly along the corridor walls, targeting the middle of the formation which appeared to be the weakest link. Their target was obvious. They were gunning for the small, young Jihoon.

"Jaemin. Above you," Jihoon shrieked. The boy took a step back, raising the sterile scalpel in his hand as his body trembled violently.

"Do not touch my brother, you son of a bitch," Jaemin roared, his fury exploding.

Jaemin did not hide in the back. He leaped to Jihoon's right side. Unleashing the raw, hidden strength coiled in his arms, Jaemin swung his wooden stick like a professional baseball player. He aimed directly at the head of the first zombie, which was sailing through the air ready to pounce.

Slam. Crack.

The heavy impact produced the deafening sound of fracturing bone. The zombie's skull shattered to pieces under the force of the solid wooden stick. The monster's head caved inward, turning its face into a black pulp of flesh. The lifeless body was thrown upward, slamming against the corridor ceiling before crashing onto the floor.

But the force of Jaemin's swing was too powerful. The awkward angle of impact against the monster's hard skull caused Jaemin's right wrist to twist violently.

"Argh. Damn it, my wrist is sprained, what the fuck," Jaemin cursed, holding back immense pain. He could feel the tendons in his wrist shifting. His grip on the wooden stick weakened instantly, and the weapon nearly slipped from his hand.

Seeing Jaemin off guard, the second zombie lunged from below. The monster's hands managed to grab the cuff of Jaemin's jeans, ready to sink its teeth into the young man's calf.

"Die, you ugly monster," Jihoon screamed.

The twelve-year-old boy refused to stand idly by and be dead weight. He stepped forward bravely and plunged his sterile scalpel straight into the back of the zombie's hand holding his brother's leg. The stab was incredibly precise and deep, pinning the monster's palm directly to the floor.

The zombie growled in pain and released its grip. Jaemin seized the golden opportunity. He kicked the monster squarely in the face with his heavy boot, completely shattering its jaw.

"Great job, Ji. Grab my jacket again," Jaemin praised, panting heavily as he forced his right hand back around the wooden stick. He ignored the throbbing pain in his wrist. In this apocalyptic world, pain was a survivor's best friend.

"Front line is clear. The hallway is starting to empty out, damn it," Jinwoo reported from the front. The cop's uniform was now drenched in sweat and black blood. "Only a few more meters to the end of the east wing corridor."

"Old man. Where is the emergency stairwell, what the fuck," Min-Ji barked, roughly yanking the back of Minseok's collar.

"At the far end. Turn right slightly and there is a double steel door. It is the staff staircase leading to the basement," Minseok stammered. The creator of the virus wept continuously as he stared at the piles of corpses surrounding him, horrified by the fruits of his own creation.

"Let us run. We only have seventy minutes left before the military bombs this place to ashes," Jaemin commanded firmly.

The five of them sprinted down the remainder of the corridor, which was now clear of obstacles. The heavy thudding of their shoes echoed loudly against the slippery linoleum floor. Behind them, over a dozen more zombies began to emerge from the main lobby area, but they were still far too distant to catch up.

Jinwoo and Min-Ji arrived first in front of a massive set of double steel doors. Above the doorway hung a red neon sign that read Staff Emergency Stairs. Its light flickered weakly, like a broken disco lamp.

"This is the door, Jaem. We successfully broke through the first barricade, what the fuck," Jinwoo said, a relieved smile spreading across his face. He grabbed the handle of the steel door. "I am opening it now. Everyone get ready to go down."

Jinwoo pressed the handle down and pulled hard.

Click.

The door did not budge. The handle moved, but the door itself was held shut by something incredibly dense from the inside.

"Damn it, it is jammed, what the fuck," Jinwoo cursed in panic. He tried pulling and pushing the door repeatedly with brute force. The loud clanging of metal echoed through the space. "It is not locked, but something is blocking it from the inside, bastard. Something extremely heavy. This door will only open about a foot wide."

Min-Ji grabbed the door handle as well. The former fixer planted one foot against the wall to brace herself for a maximum shove. "Help me push, Officer. Use your shoulder. On my count of three, we slam it together."

Jaemin caught up to them, gasping for breath. He gestured for Jihoon and Minseok to take a few steps back so they wouldn't be struck by the door if it recoiled.

But as the narrow gap in the door opened slightly, a freezing draft immediately blew out from the emergency stairwell. The wind carried not only a deep chill but also an odor so foul it made their stomachs violently turn.

An incredibly dense stench of rot hit their nostrils. The smell was a million times more rancid than the zombies in the hallway. It smelled like a massive pile of rotting flesh left to fester for days in a sealed room, mixed with the sharp tang of rusted iron and human waste.

Jinwoo immediately buried his nose in his sleeve. The cop's face turned green as he fought back an intense wave of nausea. "Ugh. What the hell is this smell. It smells like a rotting corpse, what the fuck."

"This is the smell of fresh blood mixed with fermented rotting meat," Min-Ji whispered, her eyes narrowing sharply. She peered through the narrow crack in the steel door. Complete darkness enveloped the inside of the stairwell. "Something massive died behind this door. Or perhaps it is more than just one corpse."

Jaemin swallowed hard. A terrible premonition choked his throat once again. He knew they had no other choice. If they turned back to the corridor behind them, hundreds of zombies were waiting to turn them into dinner. They had to go through this door that smelled of hell itself.

Despair was no longer an option. They had to dismantle the disgusting barricade inside.