Side Story 14: Stories of Russia (14)
Instead of getting the results they expected, the research process threw up several mutated viruses, and as a result, many of the clinical trial subjects suffered mutations.
Ruin shared that the mutants showed similar symptoms to people who contracted rabies, and they grew more violent by the day. The most violent ones ended up attacking the researchers, and those who were bitten began to exhibit similar behaviors as the original infected.
Do Han-Sol tilted his head as he listened to her explanation.
“Then why did the virus spread when the military units tried to take them down?”
"That…”
Ruin bit her lower lip and didn’t finish her sentence. It seemed like she was hesitant to mention the reason in front of me. After a moment, though, she brushed her bangs back and continued.
"It was because of the people that supported Jack. His followers.”
"Followers?”
“There was an order to scrap the research data on Project Z. But Jack didn’t follow it.”
Do Han-Sol frowned. “He did that even after seeing zombies with his own eyes?” He seemed to want to pick a fight with Ruin.
I felt the exact same way as Do Han-Sol. The way Jack had handled things was beyond my understanding.
“Jack was not interested in the zombies,” Ruin said with a sigh. “He was only interested in their ability to regenerate.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Did he think that the zombie virus was a necessary step to take in order to find the treatment for chronic diseases?”
Ruin nodded.
“Yes, exactly. Jack fled to Canada with his research materials, and continued his research in a sealed-off laboratory.”
“It’s impossible for him to have done all that alone. Ruin, did you help Jack as well?”
Ruin swallowed, knowing that all eyes were on her.
“Yes, I helped as well,” she answered, her expression growing complicated.
"Ha!"
“Why would you even…”
“Crazy bastards.”
The Russian survivors growled and gnashed their teeth furiously. The world had turned upside down all because of one researcher’s greed. I calmed the Russian survivors and continued to question Ruin.
“But the zombie virus popped up all over the world at the same time. How did that happen?”
“Well, there was another way to get funding for R&D.”
“Who the hell was funding this kind of research?”
“There were a lot of people interested in Jack’s research. Terrorist groups, the Bio Association, rich crackpots, and families who had members that were chronically ill.”
“...”
“The virus spread simultaneously all over the world because of his followers. They wanted to attract public attention. Of course, they didn’t know that it would cause a pandemic.”
Tommy, who had been listening to her explanation with a look of disapproval, leaped up from his seat.
"You’re lying!” he yelled, raising his voice and pointing fingers. “You had to have predicted that a pandemic would occur. If you knew about the cases in the military research institute, there’s no way you could be oblivious to its ability to be transmitted!”
Alyosha grabbed his arms and tried to calm him down repeatedly. Elena covered her face with her hands while listening to this unbelievable story.
Where did things start going wrong?
Was this the price for trying to imitate God?
Or was this simply a result of human greed?
I brought order back into the chaotic room and asked Ruin, “So, what happened after that? Did Jack get what he wanted?”
"No. The strength of the virus exceeded Jack’s predictions, and even the United States was destroyed. Zombies even began to appear in Canada.”
“Didn’t he say that there are survivors in Canada?”
Ruin frowned. “You actually believe that?” she said, looking incredulous.
I facepalmed myself. “The organs that you tried to transplant in me. Were those from the Canadian survivors?”
“There were no survivors from the beginning. The people who fled to the Canadian research institute were all used in human experiments to develop the cure.”
When we heard Ruin’s explanation, even Do Han-Sol, who had been barely holding on to his anger, got to his feet, his fists trembling.
“These fucking bastards,” he said to me. “I’m going to go kill every single one of them.”
“Han-Sol, calm down.”
“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, this isn’t even about them crossing the line. Even after they did that, they went way past it.”
The rest got to their feet as well in support of Do Han-Sol.
"Everybody, sit down!!” I shouted so forcefully that the veins in my neck bulged.
When my blue eyes flashed, everyone in the room held their breath and looked back and forth between me and Do Han-Sol. His blue eyes were flashing as well.
I wondered if he was going to attack me now that he had become stronger.
“What’s holding you back?” Han-Sol asked through gritted teeth. “You heard everything she said. I don’t see a reason to hold back anymore. Am I wrong?”
“We're not done talking yet."
“What else could we possibly hear!?”
“Are you going against me now?”
I frowned and glared at him, and he met my gaze without flinching. However, a moment later, he swallowed and looked away, then went back to his seat. When Do Han-Sol sat down again, the others took their seats as well.
I then let out a deep sigh and looked at Ruin. “I’ll ask you one more question.”
“Go ahead…”
“Are there any other Canadian researchers like you? And who are the soldiers that have been traveling back and forth between here and Canada with the military transport plane?”
“They’re terrorists. They were originally from Iraq. Regarding your question about any other Canadian researchers like me… How am I supposed to interpret that question?”
“I know you know the answer to that,” I said, looking at her calmly.
Ruin frowned and tilted her head, then snorted. "I hope you’re not trying to ask if there’s someone with a conscience or something like that, are you? Do I look like someone with a conscience to you?”
"Conscience? I want to know what else you're hiding, and I want to know if there are more traitors like you that Jack is controlling.”
“...”
“Did you really think that I wouldn’t know? You were acting like an outlier from the start, acting all nervous and suspicious. I know you’re hiding something from me. Am I wrong?”
I glared at her, and Ruin swallowed, unable to even look at me. Her lips were trembling. “Okay, I’ll be really honest with you.”
I stashed my hands in my pockets and observed her carefully. She took a deep breath.
“I have a son,” she said.
“Are you saying your son is a hostage?”
“No, in fact… My son is like you.”
At her words, I couldn’t help but twitch my eyebrows. She was saying that her son was a zombie with red eyes, and that she was helping Jack in order to turn her son back into a human. The secret behind the anesthesia started to make sense now.
I tilted my head and asked, "Is your son related to why you didn't tell the Canadian researchers about the effects of the anesthesia?”
“I needed a reason to save my son and live on as well.”
“A zombie with red eyes could be well worth saving. Why did you go through all of this?”
“My son was infected at the very beginning. When the zombie virus started to spread around the world, the zombies with red eyes were no different from the ordinary zombies.”
“...”
“I went around and told everyone that the zombies with red eyes still had the ability to think. But no matter how many times I told them, they wouldn’t listen.”
It made sense that people would act in that manner at the beginning of the outbreak. They probably pointed their guns at any zombie without thinking twice back then. And even if she had pleaded with them to convince them of the fact that her son still had the ability to think, the military and Canadian researchers wouldn’t have cared. If her son hadn’t eaten a human brain, it would’ve been even more difficult to defend her stance because of his inability to properly communicate.
“So tell me what you did,” I asked Ruin.
“I came up with a plan. I told my son to obey my words while ignoring others.”
“Are you saying you made him act as though you were controlling him?”
“Yes, and because he’s my son, I came up with a hypothesis that communication between zombies and humans was possible, depending on their relationship. And Jack went right along with it.”
I listened to her story with my arms crossed.
Ruin let out a sigh and continued, “I told my son to make a fuss whenever someone else tried to sedate him. So that I could show everyone else that I had to be by his side in order to control him, because he was my son.”
Ruin slouched in her chair and put her right hand on her forehead. However, there was something in her story that was still unclear.
"I'm sure you folks did experiments on normal zombies,” I asked her. “What did you do to them?”
“We captured them by force and anesthetized them.”
“I’m assuming anesthesia works on those zombies, am I right?”
“Yes, the ordinary ones are affected by anesthetics, but the effects don’t last very long.”
Tommy tilted his head. “Anesthetics work on ordinary zombies?”
“If you administer a lethal amount, an amount that would be enough to kill an elephant. But zombies with red eyes are immune to anesthesia.”
Tommy gently rubbed his chin and began to mumble to himself. I wondered if he had thought of some other theory regarding the effects of sleep on zombies that he wanted to research into. Since his mind was occupied with developing the cure, I could just tell by looking at his face that all manner of thoughts were running through his mind.
After a moment, Ruin continued, “It was research that was supposed to save people. It was a study that began with good intentions… But it eventually killed too many.”
“Don’t forget that you were part of the project as well.”
Ruin looked at me straight in the eyes and said in a serious tone, “I know. That’s why I’m leaking all this information to you.”
I couldn’t help but frown. “Leak? What exactly are you leaking?”
“The researchers from Canada, those fucking bastards… Once the cure is developed, I want you to punish them.”
I didn’t know what to say to her request. Ruin had joined hands with Jack and his people and taken part in human experiments in order to survive. She probably hated herself for doing what she was doing, and Jack as well. But she needed Jack to cure her son, and the only way for her to do so was to hope that his research was successful.
She harbored two emotions toward Jack: hope and hatred. She probably lived every day with the two emotions in her mind, not realizing it as her mentality grew weaker and weaker. At that moment, I remembered what she’d said to me before.
- I just want to die.
The reason she couldn’t die of her own will. The reason she couldn’t die or let anyone kill her.
It was her son.
I took a deep breath to clear the tension that had built up within me.
“Why did Canadian researchers come to Russia?”
“We didn’t lie about that. The Canadian lab was having trouble dealing with the zombies, just like we told you. We were also running low on food.”
"What's on the fourth transport?"
“My son. He’s only nine years old.”
I nodded.
"Let’s begin when your son arrives."
"Begin what? What do you mean by begin?”
“What do you mean? The day of judgment, of course.”
* * *
Tommy was confident that he could hasten the development of the cure if he got his hands on the research material that the Canadian researchers had hidden away. Elena also chimed in, saying that there wouldn’t be any problems with the research even if the Canadian researchers weren’t around. Alyosha merely shrugged, happy to follow their lead.
We wrapped things up and let Ruin return to her dorm before it got too late.
As Do Han-Sol watched Ruin walking away, he said with a puzzled look, “I’m sorry about earlier. I got emotional…”
"It’s alright. I know how hard it is to control your emotions when the color of your eyes changes.”
Do Han-Sol bowed to me.
“How far are we in regards to the cleanup of South Korea?” I asked him after a quick breath.
“Mr. Kim Dae-Young is in Jeonbuk, and Mr. Jeong Jin-Young is in Gyeongbuk.”
“Are they moving separately? They’re not together?”
“The zombies tend to escape our siege if we give them time. We had no other choice but to do so, in order to speed things up.”
I nodded slowly. “In that case, Han-Sol, go and help Jin-Young. There will be some drugged-up zombies once you get to Daegu. Jin-Young might have a hard time dealing with them alone.”
“Got it.”
“Are you going to go right now?”
"Yes."
“Then take Hyeong-Jun with you.”
Do Han-Sol tilted his head and looked at me, and I offered him a small smile.
“Tell Hyeong-Jun to check up on the underlings that are stationed along the border of Mt. Baekdu. We can’t have any underlings leave their position.”
“Will you be okay by yourself?”
"What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you’ll be okay here alone. I just thought that it might be overwhelming for you to handle the Canadian researchers alone...”
Do Han-Sol trailed off with a grimace. I slapped him lightly on the forearm.
"I’ll be alright,” I said. “Besides, the ending is already written.”
“Pardon?”
“Hyeong-Jun told me that things can’t get any worse than they are right now.”
“What…?”
“Let’s get through this with smiles on our faces.”
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