VI. Escaped

Ferdinand couldn’t believe what he saw when he came back to the laboratory. On a huge cylindrical glass tube was a zombie, based on its appearance. She was a girl probably around 12-14 years old when she was still alive. There’s a rotting wound on her shoulder, smeared with black blood, and her eyeballs turned white all over. Her skin was bluish-pale, while a sticky dark liquid continuously sliding down to her chin. She was groaning, growling, banging on the thick glass and glaring at all the researchers in pure greed. 

Ferdinand felt so disturbed even though he has seen kids turning to zombies before. It was probably because he was staying inside the base for a long time that he had an illusion of peace—forgetting that beyond these tall walls were monsters capable of turning a young innocent girl into what she was now.

Looking at his superior, Ferdinand couldn't help feeling confused. His superior was a man named Ymir. He was in his 60s, yet his majestic and dignified aura was still prominent. Even Ferdinand, who’s been arrogant and confident of his skills for a long time, was in awe of Ymir. He respected him so much and working with him for a long time made Ferdinand discover a lot of things about Ymir.

According to some gossips, Ymir’s wife and kid died and became zombies three days after the outbreak. Ymir was still inside the airplane at that time, coming back from a business trip abroad. When he saw his family, both of them had already turned into a brainless, flesh-eating monster. 

It was very unlikely for Ymir to bring this kid as a test-subject, it must be other people.

Ymir seems to notice Ferdinand’s inquiring glances and chortled. “That fat scumbag. Blame him.”

Hearing it, Ferdinand immediately understood. If it was Mayor Hilton, then everything can be explained. Sitting down in his own swivel chair, Ferdinand sneered. “He’s so desperate for the antidote to be produced, it’s making me suspicious whether he had done something behind our back concerning the antidote and now he’s in trouble.” 

Ymir pursed his mouth and leaned on his chair.

“Perhaps yes, perhaps no. I don’t really care about him. All I wanted was to create an antidote and stop the dark days of Earth...Tsk, forget it. Since it’s here, just study it.” 

Ferdinand frowned, but never spoke of any complaint. For now, the resources they had were scarce. The level-3 zombie they had captured hid in a tight cell and they only had few chances of conducting a study on the Zombie because of its strength and the danger it might bring once it escape during the study. This zombie girl with no power or abilities will definitely help them in their study.

Ferdinand hoped that when the time comes where antidote was no longer something impossible, no more cases like this girl would appear.

For now, they could only do their best to make this possible.

*

Farrah didn’t know what happened at the gate. She also habitually ignored the strange incoming phone calls every midnight. She knew that paying attention to it would just make it more hard for Farrah to move forward. 

Since there are a lot of patients coming and going, Farrah thought it was time for her to come back to the hospital and resumed her work. She also took David. Eden just texted her, saying that she missed her godson a bit and wanted to see him. 

It was also a coincidence that Ferdinand was summoned by his superior and there’s no one to watch over David, so the kid can only accompany Farrah at the hospital this time.

Walking inside the hospital with David, some of her colleagues greeted her with a smile. Farrah greeted back politely and went straight to her office, but before she could enter, a slender and white hand stopped her from opening the door.

Farrah's eyes narrowed as she smelled the familiar perfume of the person shielding the door. Blinking, Farrah turned around to face the owner of the hand. Looking at Dr. Cherry's familiar sneering face, Farrah couldn't but to sigh inwardly. What is she doing? Making trouble? 

“Excuse me, do you need something?” Farrah inquired. Her calm and unaffected look fell on Dr. Cherry's eyes, making the latter more irritated. She didn't expect that Farrah was calm, like always, a huge contrast to what she was looking forward to.

When Dr. Cherry heard Dior Lee's death, she was a bit dazed and at a loss. The young woman liked him so much after all, but then, remembering how that ruthless guy humiliated her in front of everyone, she felt elated. She thought Farrah would look so bad now that she had lost her backer. Perhaps she would be so haggard and pitiful, and it was enough for Dr. Cherry to fantasize. She then began looking forward to Farrah coming back to the hospital.

It was only at this moment she realized how wrong she was. Instead of the red-rimmed eyes, hallow cheeks and depressed look, Farrah did not differ from before. Calm, collected, and still looking gentle. 

Thinking like this, Dr. Cherry felt more angry as her beautiful face became distorted. She can't go back without a single win—she must humiliate Farrah no matter what happens!

“I'm here to express my condolences to you, Dr. Lee. I heard you weren't doing well. Don't worry, I understand. You look so pitiful, it must be hard. Now that you don't have a husband you can lean on, maybe you want some empty bed to crawl on?” Jealousy and ill-feelings filled her words, and Farrah heard what Dr. Cherry meant with her words.

Instead of feeling angry and humiliated, Farrah felt like laughing instead. Looking at the fellow-doctor who's desperately trying to bully her, Farrah almost burst out laughing. 

As fas as she could remember, Farrah knew she had never wronged Cherry. It was only when Cherry tried to seduce Dior that Farrah got pissed at this woman. What made her hate Farrah so much?

What made her looked so desperate to bring Farrah down to where she had to resort to this kind of 'kicking a person while they're down' tactics. 

Facing Dr. Cherry, Farrah smiled. “I don't know where, when or how did I offend you because as far as I remember, it was you had wronged me by trying to climb my husband's bed—It should be me who's offended, so why are barking like a dog here?”

Dr. Cherry's gloating expression froze and burning fury appeared. Her eyes dilated and her ferocious expression made Farrah think of a certain animal. 

“You! What did you just call me?! Dog?! You b*tch!” 

Farrah's eyes narrowed as she avoided Dr. Cherry's incoming hands. As the woman was about to pull Farrah's hair, the latter didn't hesitate to send a powerful kick, sending the mad woman several meters away. Without waiting for Dr. Cherry to say anything, Farrah yelled for guards.

“Take Dr. Cherry away. She's trying to harm me and my son. All I did was self defense. You can check the CCTV for verification.” She explained calmly to the guards, who nodded in understanding. They knew Dr. Cherry's bad temper, and compared to the gentle Dr. Lee, they would never believe that Dr. Lee would start troubles. 

When Dr. Cherry saw the guards coming her way, she screamed. “Don't touch me! I'm going by myself! Don't you ever touch me!” She glared at the guards with pure rage, then turned towards Farrah, her words dripping with anger and resentment. “...This is not the end, Farrah! I'll make you pay!” 

Without waiting for Farrah's answer, she walked away under the eyes of other people. It should be Farrah's being humiliated, but why it ended with her being kicked while being watched by other people?!

Dr. Cherry almost died in anger.

Farrah watched her walked away and shook her head in disappointment. In her opinion, a doctor should never act like this, especially inside the hospital. She honestly looked stupid and uneducated. All this woman did was to make trouble. It made Farrah curious about the reason for her resentment. She also needs to investigate about this matter.

There's a lot of stuff that needed to be arranged at the hospital. Farrah quickly forgot what just happened and immersed herself in her job. Thankfully, Eden came not long after and took Dior to play with several nurses. Farrah also talked to the director and successfully came back to her duty. 

Hours passed, David had his dinner and soon fell asleep. When Farrah finished with her work, it was already midnight. As expected, her phone also buzzed. The ghost call appeared once again. Farrah's eyes showed helplessness. In the end, she picked up the call and mumbled tiredly, “Still not speaking? Well, it doesn't matter. I'm not expecting you to talk, anyway. Sigh...” 

Farrah closed her eyes, gently caressing David's soft hair. “...What is your purpose? Can't you just outright say it? Do you know I've been losing sleep because of you? Tell me what do you want?”

The person on the other side of the call, “...” Silence. 

Farrah rolled her eyes, she shouldn't have expected them to reply. Sighing again, she spoke her farewell. “Good night to you too, stranger. I hope you wouldn't call me next time. Goodbye.”

She hung up the call, turned the phone off, and took David to her arms. One of the guards accompanied her to her way home despite her refusal. In the end, Farrah compromised. 

“Condolence, Dr. Lee.” The guard suddenly spoke. 

Farrah blinked, “Huh?” She didn't expect that the guard would suddenly speak so she was shocked. Looking at the guard, she saw him smiling, abashed.

“I also knew about Mr. Lee. Back then, I had a chance of working with him for a certain mission. I liked him and confessed to him before, but when I discovered that he had a wife and a child, I accepted it very happily. Now hearing his passing, I hope that I can help you somehow...”

Farrah suddenly don't know what to say. With the tremendous information she just received, no words came out of her mouth. “...Liked him?”

“Yes, is there something wrong?” The guard asked nervously. He looks afraid that Farrah would be angry with what he just said, he now regrets it a bit. 

But contrary to his fears, Farrah shook her head with a smile. “Of course not, you're fine the way you are. I was just shock that Dior was so popular even with the same-sex. When I think about it, it looks like he was indeed very popular even before the apocalypse. Thanks for remembering him, even if he's now gone.” 

The soldier blushed, nodding with a small smile. Seeing that he's no longer speaking, Farrah didn't look at him anymore and focused on walking. It was also this moment that they passed near the laboratory. Thinking of her father, Farrah glanced at the gate. She vaguely saw a civilian man talking with a soldier, handing him something that seems to be a cup. 

She felt that there's something wrong in this picture but didn't paid any attention. It was probably her paranoid self making things up in her head. 

When she arrived at their doorway, the soldier bid his farewell. Farrah expressed her thanks and smiled as she watched the soldier walking away. 

'What a brave young man, in more ways than one.' Farrah thought with a smile. 

She first carefully tucked David in the bed before having a nice bath, chilling on her bathtub. Because of tiredness, it wasn't long before Farrah dozed off.

She didn't know how many hours passed before a loud emergency alarm awakened her. The sharp whistle of the alarm was enough to wake the slumbering David, making the disturbed boy cry out in alarm. Even after 1 minute, the emergency alarm didn't stop, and it dawned into Farrah at once.

The base was being attacked!

Farrah's heartbeat gradually speed up, confusion dominated her but she didn't dare to waste time thinking of what's happening and immediately wore clothes. David was still crying so hard, yet Farrah ignored him. Running towards the cabinet and opening the last compartment, she took her gun and and her stash of bullets. As she was about to close the compartment, she saw a necklace beside where the gun was placed. Confusion and surprise flashed on Farrah's eyes, seeing something that she didn't expect to see. Farrah took the necklace and put it on her neck. She placed the gun on the gun holster on her thigh. 

Glancing at the red light flashing from afar through the window, she heard occasional gunshots along with the wailing alarm. 

Farrah then walked towards David and hugged him tightly. She patted David's back and whispered, “Baby, don't cry. Don't cry, mama's here... Don't cry, dear baby...”

David slowly fell back to slumber amidst with the chaotic sounds, only focusing on her mother’s gentle voice. When Farrah saw him asleep, she tried to calm down herself and whispered to the necklace tied around her neck. “...Open.”

Seconds later, the room disappeared and a small paradise-like space appeared. There're trees, green grasses, and a small waterfall on the right side. 

This is the function of the necklace, a storage space, and the owner of this was Dior. Farrah didn’t know why Dior left this item behind, but this would definitely help Farrah right now. Placing David on the grass, Farrah whispered in the trees. “Help me watch over him, will you? I’ll come back after a while.”

Wind blew, and the leaves fluttered as if to give Farrah an affirmation. Seeing this, Farrah whispered to the necklace. “...Close.”

The next second, she was back inside the room, but this time, she was all alone. She took all her and her father’s valuables that she could take, then left the house. She walked outside, feeling nervous, and saw soldiers running in her direction.

“What’s happening, sir?” Farrah approached one soldier. Her voice trembled because of anxiety. She was praying deep inside that it’s not what she thought.

The soldiers pushed her forward, speaking in fast manner, “Ma’am, leave this place in 10 minutes! There’s two zombies that escaped the laboratory. A level-3 zombie and a level-1 zombie. Please escape as soon as possible!”