My Strange Savior - Chapter 133

Chapter 133

Squeak.

As the ID card was lifted, a skull rolled down below.

Crunch.

Upon hitting the ground, the skull shattered into pieces. Looking at the corpse of someone who lost their head, Gia rolled her eyes in remorse.

“David… Brian.”

As if in response to her calling out his name, the bones of his wrist fell straight down and shattered. Unintentionally damaging his body, Gia recoiled backward.

In front of the control room, there was a large glass window with bloodstains inside. The old blood had turned black. What kind of experiment had been conducted here? Gia cautiously turned on the control system.

Thanks to the solar power, the system operated normally. The system, which had been in power-saving mode, lit up, and English text filled the black screen.

Soon after, as the booting was completed, the screen changed.

“Where… Let’s see.”

Touching the screen familiarly, Gia noticed a file named “David Brian.” What experiment did he want to conduct until the end? Gia pressed the file with his name using her finger.

Beep.

A video played on the screen.

– 2XXX. XX. XX. I am David Brian, the chief researcher of this shelter.

The face of the former owner of the skeletal remains filled the screen. His tired eyes were yellowed, and blood vessels were visible. His face, covered in exhaustion, was full of contemplation.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his scruffy beard.

– The tenth experiment also failed. Finding a way… is not easy.

As he exhaled, his thin face sagged. The man’s mustache filled the screen.

The tenth experiment… Gia’s eyebrows raised. What did he experiment on? It was natural to experiment to find vaccines and cures throughout the shelter. He couldn’t have done just ten experiments.

Calculating the date he mentioned, it hadn’t even been a year since she left.

Gia touched the screen and played the first video of the experimental journal.

Then, a much cleaner David appeared on the screen, talking about a month ago.

– Six years since the Zombie Enhancement Project was launched. People have confirmed the stability of the enhancement project. Since regular members of the shelter had already seen enhanced humans, unlike the zombie virus, they were not infected by saliva and blood.

His face, swept clean, contorted with a lot of pain. But he didn’t stop explaining.

– Humans who participated in the enhancement project were not infected even if bitten by zombies, and they transformed into life forms with overwhelming power different from when they were ordinary humans.

His blue eyes paused for a moment, filled with fear.

– Instead of finding a cure and vaccine, we started safely mass distributing the enhancement virus. The surviving humanity, regardless of age or gender, began receiving injections of enhanced human serum.

David’s thick eyelids trembled.

– The previous Enhanced Human Virus was administered by extracting all of the human’s blood and then injecting the virus. Dr. Helene and I simplified the virus, and its effects persisted even with just one injection.

David found it difficult to continue, pausing to take a breath. Whatever was so terrifying, David pressed his temple tightly with his palm, as if to block his mouth.

– Thanks to that project, people started fighting zombies with confidence, and as a result, zombies, which had threatened humanity, almost disappeared from the world. People who had been hiding due to zombies started going out, and the shelters were empty. With the birth of a new humanity, people cheered for the medicine that made them neither sick nor old, as if the zombie virus had never spread.

The explanation continued about how many lives the Enhanced Human Project had saved.

– However, our experimental direction was wrong. It took quite a long time to realize that.

Soon after his sigh, static followed.

– The first subject of the experiment, Korean Yu Gia, who chased after Dr. Morrison, the one who spread the virus, went missing after six years of becoming an enhanced human. However, the second subject, American John Breen, went berserk after six years of becoming an enhanced human, killing everyone around him.

Gia’s mouth gaped wide at the unexpected information.

“Be… berserk?”

Staring at the screen with no chance of a response, Gia asked.

– The third subject also went berserk after participating in the Enhanced Human Project for exactly six years. The symptoms were the same as John Breen’s.

“No… way.”

With wide eyes blinking, when she stepped back, Kalion’s solid body bumped into her. As Gia’s body trembled like a willow in the wind, Kalion reached out and pulled her.

“Gia, breathe.”

“No… It can’t be. Hah.”

Suddenly, a drowsiness in the throat and a feeling of rejecting air intake arose. Gia gasped as if in pain. Kalion, holding Gia tightly from behind, made a soothing sound through his lips.

“It’s okay.”

“Berserk…”

Her head turned white, and only the word ‘berserk’ echoed madly in her mind. Did becoming an enhanced human after six years of receiving the virus mean losing reason and killing people around her?

Did she understand what he was saying correctly? Even though she heard it clearly, Gia’s brain refused to accept it. 

Despite Gia’s struggles and questions, his explanation continued.

– The prelude symptoms of berserk were all the same. Once bleeding started, within a short time—ten minutes at the shortest, thirty minutes at the longest—the blood vessels rose reddishly, the pupils became cloudy, and reason was lost. If conventional zombies lost their minds and ate people with organs and skin rotting as their cells ceased activity, berserk-enhanced humans manifested in a state perfectly adapted to such zombie cells. 

David’s unfocused pupils stared blankly at the screen. It felt as if he was saying, ‘It’s your turn next,’ and Gia shuddered at the horror. 

Kalion, who had embraced Gia’s trembling body from behind, pulled her face towards his chest. Gia collapsed in Kalion’s arms, trembling.

“Hu… Ah.”

She thought finding the cure would be enough. She never imagined a more desperate outcome. 

The unfolding conclusion was darker than anticipated, draining all strength from Gia’s body, and emptiness filled her dilated pupils.

– It was as if, gradually… the cells, containing the genes of enhanced humans, were being taken over, transforming into those of zombies. They were more powerful than conventional zombies, healing wounds and regenerating even if injured. Those who lost reason continuously slaughtered and consumed people.

Slaughter… She knew she had the potential to become a zombie, but… This was more, way more than Gia expected. She never chose to participate in the project, so why does she have to bear such an ending? Resentment grew incessantly within.

– To stop it, many people were involved, but it led to a situation where an entire squad was annihilated just to kill one person.

A squad equipped with enhanced humans was annihilated to capture the berserk. It was like walking time bombs, nothing less.

Even if she strained to hold back tears, her cheeks only reddened. Tears falling mercilessly painted Kalion’s armor.

Six years, six years. How long has it been since Gia became an enhanced human? Terrified eyes wandered around, trying to count the days.

Was it that time when spring turned into early summer at the age of twenty? The old memory was fuzzy, but the temperature of that day lingered at the tip of her nose.

Unlike the warm weather, Gia’s hands and feet were forcibly tied to a cold operating table. She became an enhanced human by Morrison and his followers.

By that day, it was almost six years, considering it from the moment she became what he mentioned. Even if she searched for the half-cure, Gia didn’t have much time left.

– I tried to hide the truth from people with lies, but fear spread rapidly. Even I… was afraid.

Her head was confused. Clutching the frayed edge peeking out between Kalion’s armor, Gia trembled. Kalion, who embraced Gia, caressed her delicate frame with his large hands.

– More chaos came than when zombies first emerged. Moreover, everyone remaining had the potential berserk factor since they all received the enhanced human serum. Unable to distinguish friend from foe, the world soon became chaotic.

Berserk factor. Gia found it hard to believe that it was in her body too. 

She hated the idea of turning into a zombie, but when faced with a situation worse than that, only the solution of suicide came to mind. The fleeting hope that had supported Gia until now seemed to crumble in an instant.

– Despite attempts to hide the truth, scientists regained their senses and hastily resumed cure research. It was a result of trusting only the enhanced human virus and becoming complacent.

Dreaming of a future with Kalion had long been abandoned. However, despair kept pushing her to the cliff. As if saying, ‘Your place to die is here,’ the stone caught under Gia’s foot fell below the cliff.

Turning her head to look below, an endless abyss spread out. A black mass seized Gia’s leg and pulled her down.

Her father died because of her, and she will die with him. 

The unjust wishes of the wronged people echoed, grabbing Gia’s ankle and hanging her.

As Gia bit down on it, tears fell with a hooded thud. The end turned out to be miserable.

David contorted his face in agony.

– The one who ultimately approved the Enhanced Human Project was…

He buried his face in his hands, shaking his shoulders.

– It was me.

It seemed unbearable for him to accept that fact. Holding his trembling hands tightly, he struggled to speak.

– So, I have to take responsibility and reverse it. Starting today, I plan to proceed with a project to return enhanced humans to their original state. Whether I should be grateful or consider it the only remaining hope, I discovered a serum along with the journal of Dr. Yu Myung-seok, the famous researcher who invented the virus, which can fix the virus.

Upon hearing her father’s name, Gia’s heavy head lifted.

– Did he anticipate that this situation would happen?

His bitter expression was transmitted directly on the screen.

– If only we had looked for it from the beginning, if we had found it before starting the Enhanced Human Project… If we had, we might not have ended up in this situation.

His self-reproachful words caused the corners of his mouth to droop.