𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝘽𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨

Chapter Four

Jennie

I have never had to sit through a more painfully uncomfortable trip than this one. The air is thick and humid, and the half-open windows in the front of the van do nothing for easing that. It only gets hotter as it gets further into the day.

The van has no discernible shocks or suspension, and after the first two hours, we all stop apologising for jostling into each other. Instead, an awkward, irritable quiet settles between us.

Until the sun sinks closer to the horizon, night is always the worst in the Dead Zone. It’s so difficult to see in the darkness, but that change doesn’t bother the Corpses.

They lurch at you out of the shadows, and they’ll have their teeth in you before you can do anything to stop them.

“Nearly there, folks,” the driver announces over his shoulder. “Get yourselves ready.”

I follow suit with everyone else and start double-checking my equipment. No time for being sentimental in the Dead Zone.

The driver pulls the van up behind a large, rectangular building with a broken red cross on the top floor, backing up so the rear doors face the hospital.

Once the van is shut off, Kai nods to the man closest to the doors. The man - a sweet little wall guard with a receding hairline and gentle eyes - nods back and carefully opens the doors, checking around in both directions.

After a tense moment, he motions for us with a quiet, "All clear."

I jumped down out of the back of the cargo hold and Jisoo followed me.

I adjust the strap of my pack, draw the 9mm from my hip holster, and follow the others into the derelict hospital.

The whole place has an eerie, horror movie vibe. Doors are broken off frames, furniture broken and upturned, cupboards ransacked. Medical machines lay on their sides, screens cracked and wires hanging loose. There are distinct signs of squatters having been there at some point, but there are no signs of life. At least none that’s survived.

Some of the rooms, pale and open, have beds stained with dark maroon and small remnants of bodies that were devoured by Corpses a long time ago.

“God, this place is creepy,” Jisoo murmurs as we walk through a ward where the beds are separated by blood-speckled, torn curtains that stir gently as our motion pushes air past them.

I can see on the other’s faces that they agree wholeheartedly, whether they want to admit it or not.

Kai and the others, following the placards still tacked on the dirty walls, led us to a medical storage room.

The first one is gutted, most everything of use taken or contaminated by blood and decay. We have to try three more of the storerooms before we find one on the second floor that is still fairly well stocked and apparently untouched.

“Alright, everyone, you know how this works,” Kai says and nods into the room. “We load up anything of necessity and leave the rest.”

Everyone spreads out to different corners of the room, examining the products on the shelves before tossing them aside or shoving them into our backpacks.

I walk over to a row of boxes, and a look inside shows they contain plasters and wraps and ointments, all items in high demand back home. Infected injuries can kill you quick as anything, and the last thing we need are undead inside the Compound as well as outside. It happened once before; a man lost a finger, and he died of the infection. He reanimated that night and killed three people before someone killed him for good.

They became a lot more meticulous about checking for injuries when coming back to the Compound after that.

“Mmm, look, guys: Vicodin,” Jisoo says enthusiastically. “Anybody want to split some with me?”

Kai gives her a stern look and opens his mouth, and Jisoo cuts across him quickly, “Oh relax, Mr Congeniality, I’m only kidding.” she tucks the bottles into her backpack, although out of the corner of my eye I see her slip one into her pocket.

Jisoo smirks in my direction, knowing I saw, and then goes back to work. I try not to smile as I start stowing away a layer of antiseptics.

I’ve just picked up a suture kit when a distant thunk reaches my ears and I tense. “Did anyone else hear that?”

Everyone freezes for a tense minute, straining our ears for any hint of noise, but there’s nothing apart from laboured breathing.

“It’s nothing, Jennie,” Kai says, walking over to stand behind me.

I frown, turning to face him. “We should get out of here,” I say decisively.

These scavenging missions don’t do any good if we don't survive to bring the supplies home.

“We can’t just leave,” Kai says and he fixes me with a patronising look. “You know how important these missions are. Haven needs this medicine and it’s our job to gather-”

I wave him off, stepping out from between him and the shelf to cross the room. I need to put some distance between us before I slap that look off his face. “Yeah, okay Hyun-suk,” I say sarcastically.

Kai snorts, following close behind me. “Flattery doesn’t win arguments.”

“I didn’t mean it as a compliment,” I reply shortly, picking up a box of syringes to avoid looking at him.

God, he can be so argumentative sometimes, I just want to -

Another crashing sound, louder this time, makes us all look up.

“Okay, I definitely heard it this time,” Jisoo chimes in. “Seriously, I think it’s time to split."

"It’s nothing,” Kai says but he doesn’t sound entirely convinced, walking toward the door and squinting through the dingy glass panel. “Probably just the wind knocking something over, it’s fine.” He turns around and starts walking back into the room, giving me a slightly annoyed look. As he does, my gaze slips past him and I feel my heart drop into my stomach at full speed.

“Kai!”