THE VARIANT: ZERO HOUR

2. RAIN OF CORPSES AT THE EVACUATION ROUTE

 

"RUN, JIHOON! FUCKING RUN!"

Jaemin’s voice cracked, raw and filled with pure panic. Behind them, the howls from dozens of blood-caked mouths echoed off the corridor walls. The slap of bare feet and nursing shoes on the linoleum floor sounded like the relentless march of a meat grinder, closing in fast.

Jihoon, his brain still lagging from the shock of seeing the dead surgeon, tripped over a fallen IV pole. The boy would have gone down hard if Jaemin's right hand hadn't shot out and yanked the collar of his jacket.

"Get up, kid! Hold on tight!"

Without wasting a single second, Jaemin ducked, scooped Jihoon up by the waist, and hoisted the twelve-year-old onto his hip. Jihoon was heavy, but the adrenaline flooding Jaemin's system made him feel like he was lifting an empty sack of rice.

Jaemin pushed his legs into a desperate sprint down the VIP Corridor.

The scene on either side of him was like a haunted house attraction with an unlimited budget. The doors to the VIP inpatient rooms were flung wide open. In one room, Jaemin glanced over and saw an elderly patient having his stomach torn open by two nursing interns. The man's intestines were being pulled out like instant noodles.

"Shit … shit … shit …" Jaemin muttered to himself, his eyes wide with horror. "Turns out this fucking virus is an equal-opportunity killer. Eats the VIPs and the economy class patients all the same. What the fuck is happening?!"

"B-Bro … th-they?" Jihoon finally managed to speak from Jaemin’s arms. His teeth were chattering from the tremors racking his body. The boy buried his face in the crook of Jaemin’s neck, his hands clutching his brother's flannel shirt so tight his knuckles turned white.

"Don't look back, Jihoon! Close your eyes! Just pretend we're running from security for stealing mangoes. Focus on my shoulder!" Jaemin shot back, gasping for breath.

Jaemin’s lungs felt like they were about to explode. He used to jog, but running while carrying a kid through an obstacle course of blood spills and human organs was definitely not on his gym’s training menu. His sneakers slipped several times on the floor, which was slick with a thick, red fluid.

At the end of the VIP corridor, Jaemin saw a green neon sign that read: EMERGENCY STAIRS - MAIN LOBBY.

"Almost there, Ji! We're almost out of this hell!" Jaemin yelled.

He slammed his left shoulder into the emergency stairwell door. BAM! The steel door flew open. Jaemin scrambled inside, immediately shut it behind them, and slammed the panic bar lock into place. Three seconds later, the deafening sound of dozens of bodies crashing against the steel door echoed through the stairwell. THUD! THUD!

The steel door shuddered violently, but its hinges held strong.

Jaemin leaned against the door, sliding down to the landing as he set Jihoon down. His breathing was ragged, like a severe asthma attack. Cold sweat poured down his temples, mixing with the flecks of black blood from the doctor-monster.

"Bro?" Jihoon called out weakly, his voice barely a whisper. The boy stared at his own uncontrollably shaking hands. "Wh-what were those things? Crazy people? Wh-why were they eating … eating people?"

Jaemin wiped his face roughly. He desperately wanted to say this was all just some elaborate prank for a TV show, but the reality was too brutal.

"I don't know either, kid," Jaemin sighed, lowering his voice. "But I know one thing for sure: we have to get out of this loony bin, right now. If we can make it to the lobby downstairs, we just have to run to the parking lot, get the car, and go home. Okay?"

Jihoon just gave a stiff nod. The trauma in his eyes was too clear. He couldn't cry anymore; his tears had run dry, replaced by a hollow stare that made Jaemin’s chest ache.

"Ji, look at my eyes," Jaemin said, cupping his brother's cheeks. He forced a small smile, a dark, comedic smirk he often used when he was nervous. "You know I'm a badass, right? I made those street thugs cry the other day. You think I'm gonna lose to a bunch of people with a bad toothache? You're safe with me. I promise."

"B-but big bro … your hand is bleeding," Jihoon said, pointing to Jaemin's torn sleeve, which was steadily soaking up the red blood seeping from the scratch wounds.

"This? Pfft. Just a little scratch. It'll heal up with some antiseptic," Jaemin lied casually, even though the wound was stinging like hell. "C'mon, get up. We're going down, slow and easy. Don't make any noise. Watch your breathing."

They both started down the emergency stairs. The air in the concrete stairwell was damp and smelled like a musty old pharmacy. Through the walls, they could hear the faint echoes of screams and shattering glass from different floors. The scale of this chaos wasn't limited to the third floor. The plague had exploded throughout the entire building.

When they reached the ground floor landing, Jaemin stopped dead. He threw an arm out, stopping Jihoon.

"Shh. Quiet," Jaemin whispered.

At the bottom of the stairs, right in front of the exit door leading to the main lobby, a large shadow stood with its back to them. It was a hospital security guard. Judging by his massive frame and the way his blue uniform stretched tight across his shoulders, the guy must have been a former weightlifter.

The problem was, the guard's head was tilted at an unnaturally broken angle. He was chewing on something in his hand something that looked like a human arm, complete with a fake Rolex watch.

"Shit, the hospital's biggest rhino turned into a zombie doorman," Jaemin cursed internally.

He glanced at Jihoon and pressed a finger to his lips. Jihoon nodded slowly, his face growing even paler.

Jaemin scanned the stairwell landing. He couldn’t possibly win an arm-wrestling match with that giant. His eyes landed on a red fire extinguisher mounted on the concrete wall, about six feet to his right. It was big and heavy, at least ten pounds.

Okay, let's play some baseball, Jaemin thought.

He crept forward, the tips of his sneakers touching the concrete floor without a sound. He grabbed the extinguisher's handle and lifted it from its hook. Unfortunately, his hands were slick with blood and sweat. The metal canister slipped slightly, its base tapping against the concrete wall.

CLANG!

The metallic sound echoed loudly.

The giant guard at the bottom of the stairs immediately stopped chewing. Slowly, his broken neck twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees, his milky white, bloodshot eyes staring straight at Jaemin. A low growl rumbled from his mouth, which was full of torn flesh.

"Son of a bitch," Jaemin hissed reflexively.

"GRAAARRRGGGH!" The mutant guard threw the piece of arm aside and charged up the stairs with the speed of a raging bull.

"Jihoon, get back!" Jaemin yelled.

Jaemin didn't run. He knew if he ran back up, the guard would chase them down and slaughter them in the narrow space. He had to end this here.

Adopting a batter's stance, Jaemin lifted the red fire extinguisher high over his right shoulder. When the guard was just two steps away, leaping with its jaw wide open, Jaemin swung the canister with every last ounce of strength in his body.

"Your shift is over, you asshole!"

BAM!

The thick metal cylinder connected squarely with the left side of the guard's head. The impact was so hard, Jaemin felt the vibration travel all the way up his arm.

The guard’s head caved in. A spray of thick blood splattered against the wall. But, unbelievably, the monster didn't go down. Even with its head misshapen, the guard grabbed Jaemin’s shirt and slammed him against the stairwell wall.

"Ughk!" Jaemin choked out, pain crackling up his spine. The fire extinguisher slipped from his grasp and tumbled down the stairs.

The monster crawled on top of him, opening its jaw to bite his face off. The rotten stench of a corpse filled his nostrils. Jaemin pushed against the giant's neck with both hands, but he was hopelessly outmatched. The thing's teeth got closer, spattering bloody saliva into his eyes.

"Let go of my brother!"

Suddenly, Jihoon, who had been frozen in fear, ran forward and kicked the guard’s back with his small foot. A twelve-year-old’s kick did nothing to the monster, but it was enough to distract it for a single second. The monster turned its head, snarling at Jihoon.

"Don't you touch my brother, you pig!"

Seizing that one-second opening, Jaemin freed his right leg, bent his knee, and kicked the guard in the chest with all his might. The monster was thrown backward, tumbling to the bottom of the stairs.

Jaemin didn't waste a moment. He jumped down after the monster as it tried to get back up. Jaemin scooped up the fire extinguisher from the floor. Fueled by the pure rage of an older brother whose sibling had just been threatened, he raised the canister high and brought it down directly on top of the guard’s upturned head.

CRACK! SPLAT!

This time, its skull completely shattered, like a watermelon run over by a truck. The giant body convulsed once before finally going still.

Jaemin dropped the extinguisher. His breathing was a mess, his chest heaving. He spat to the side, wiping the enemy's blood from his lips.

"You okay, Ji?" Jaemin asked, quickly looking up. Jihoon was standing on the steps, trembling, his eyes glistening with tears.

"I-I thought you were going to be eaten, bro," Jihoon sobbed quietly.

"Told you, if I can beat street thugs, a hospital security guard is nothing," Jaemin forced a bitter laugh, trying to break the tension. He put an arm around his brother's shoulder. "Thanks, Ji. That was an awesome kick. You'd give Lionel Messi a run for his money."

They walked past the guard's corpse and pushed open the emergency door to the main lobby.

The moment the door swung open, however, all of Jaemin’s humor evaporated.

The scene before them was not the escape route they had hoped for. The vast, magnificent lobby of the Metropolitan Hospital had become a scene of mass slaughter. Hundreds of bodies lay strewn across the marble floor, now stained a deep, wet red. Some of the infected crawled on the ground, some feasted on corpses near the reception desk, and others just stood silently facing the walls, growling softly.

The chaos was blanketed by a horrifying drone the combined sound of chewing and a chorus of guttural groans.

"What the fuck! this can't be real." Jaemin murmured in horror. His hope shattered. There were too many of them. It was impossible to run through this lobby and survive.

Jihoon started to hyperventilate. His breaths came in short, sharp gasps, his eyes wide as he stared at the hellscape before him. The trauma he'd been holding back finally exploded. His legs gave out, and he would have collapsed if Jaemin hadn't caught him.

"Bro, th-the bones the blood, s-so much …" Jihoon stammered, the tremors in his hands getting worse as his brain refused to process the horror.

Jaemin realized he had to kill his own panic, right now. If he panicked, Jihoon would die. He slapped his own cheek lightly, a sharp sting to clear his head, then turned Jihoon around to face him, his back to the lobby.

"Look at me, Ji. Look at my eyes," Jaemin whispered firmly, gripping his brother's shoulders. "Don't look over there. Just look at me. Take a deep breath. Follow me. In … and out …"

Jihoon shook his head hysterically, tears finally spilling over. "Th-they're going to eat us, bro! We're going to die!"

"No! We are not going to die!" Jaemin gave Jihoon's shoulders a gentle shake, his voice rising an octave, forcing the boy to focus. "I'm your big brother, understand? As long as I'm breathing, not a single one of those bastards out there is going to touch you. Now, you shut your mouth. We're going to walk slowly, along the glass wall, to the exit. Got it?"

The sharp, absolute determination in Jaemin’s eyes slowly cut through Jihoon’s panic. The boy swallowed hard and nodded slowly, though tears still streamed down his face.

"Good. Smart kid," Jaemin said, ruffling Jihoon’s hair for a brief moment. "Let's go."

They began to creep forward. Luckily, most of the zombie horde in the lobby was busy feasting in the central area near the registration desks. Jaemin and Jihoon pressed their backs against the lobby's giant glass wall, moving slowly, one step at a time, toward the main revolving door, which was about sixty feet away.

Thirty feet passed with their hearts trying to beat their way out of their chests. The smell of blood was so strong it made their eyes water.

Fifteen feet left. The glass door was in clear sight. Outside, the afternoon sky was growing overcast, and the street seemed deserted. Hope began to burn in Jaemin’s chest again. Almost there. We're almost free.

But when they were just ten feet from the door.

BAM!

A large object hit the asphalt just outside the lobby's glass wall right in front of them with a sickening thud. A spray of dark red blood instantly splattered the glass from the outside.

Jaemin and Jihoon jumped in shock. Before their brains could process what had just fallen, a second thud followed.

BAM! BAM! THUD!

"What the hell was that?!" Jaemin stared through the glass.

Seven human bodies were falling from the sky. A rain of corpses. Desperate people, trapped on the upper floors, had chosen to commit suicide by jumping from the fifth or sixth stories, smashing onto the pavement below. Their bodies were broken, their bones jutting through their skin from the fatal impact.

Jaemin held his breath, his eyes fixed on the pile of suicides. "They… they chose to die rather than be eaten."

But the real horror was just beginning.

One of the bodies, a woman in a torn hospital gown who had landed right in front of the glass wall her neck broken at a ninety-degree angle, her head touching her shoulder suddenly twitched a finger.

Then, with the sickening crackle of snapping bone that seemed to penetrate the glass, the woman’s corpse pushed itself up. Her broken left leg dragged on the asphalt, the shin bone sticking out.

She hadn't died. The virus had brought her back, ignoring the fact that her entire body had been pulverized by the fall.

The woman with the broken neck slowly turned. Her cloudy white eyes locked directly onto Jaemin, who stood just on the other side of the glass.

"Oh, shit," Jaemin breathed.

The monster opened its bloody mouth, letting out a silent scream. Then, with a speed that was completely illogical for such a shattered body, it broke into a sprint and launched itself at the lobby.

The monster leaped, brutally slamming its face and hands against the glass wall, right in front of Jaemin.

CRAAAACK!

A massive spiderweb of cracks instantly appeared on the thick glass, ready to shatter and rain down upon them.