Nowhere Left To Run

Soo-Young's blood ran cold.

They weren't just running from zombies.

They were running from something far worse.

Then, with a loud guttural growl, the infected lady lunged swiftly at the nearest passenger.

She tore into the screaming woman beside her, shaking and fixed to a spot with fright, and feed on her neck. Red blood ripping out from the deep bites.

The train turned into chaos.

More passengers began convulsing, their bodies twisting unnaturally as the infection spread.

*****

Escape to the Next Car

Soo-Young pushed forward, forcing her way through the panicked, screaming and running, and disorganized crowd. The train jolted as passengers slammed against seats, trampling over fallen bodies in their desperate attempt to escape.

The infected swarmed the car like rabid animals, their twisted bodies twisting more in ways that defied nature. One of them, a businessman in a blood-soaked suit, twitched uncontrollably before lunging at a mother holding a crying toddler.

The woman screamed, clutching her child close—

A gunshot rang out.

The businessman's head snapped backward, a bullet hole between his eyes. His body swayed for a second before crumpling to the floor.

Soo-Young turned sharply—

Sergeant Park stood at the opposite end of the car, pistol raised, face grim.

"Move your ass, Captain!" he barked. "We're locking down the next car before they overrun us!"

Soo-Young didn't hesitate. She grabbed Ji-Hyun's hand, and ran.

Dr. Lee was already at the next car's door, frantically trying to pull it open. His face was drenched in sweat, hands shaking as he fumbled with the lock.

"Hurry!" he gasped. A man beside him—one of the train staff—screamed as an infected latched onto his back, teeth sinking into his shoulder. The conductor wailed, his fingers clawing at the glass door as blood spewed from his wound.

Soo-Young grabbed the emergency axe from the wall, and swung hard.

The infected's head split open, blood and brain matter splattering against the window. It collapsed instantly, but the damage was done—the conductor was already convulsing, his veins darkening, body twisting.

His mouth opened to scream—Sergeant Park didn't let him.

Another gunshot rang out, and the conductor's body hit the floor.

Dr. Lee finally wrenched the door open. "Inside, NOW!"

Soo-Young shoved Ji-Hyun through first, then followed, Park covering their backs as they slammed the door shut behind them.

The moment the lock clicked into place, the glass shattered— The infected slammed against the door, their bloodied, mangled faces pressed against the glass, jaws snapping hungrily.

Ji-Hyun clung to Soo-Young, trembling. "Mom… what's happening?"

Then the middle aged man with long black hair with a name tag Dr. Lee, looking pale and shaking, exhaled shakily. "It's a virus," he whispered. "A bioweapon… and it's spreading." He clutched his briefcase tighter, his face getting paler. "It's in the water," he whispered, his voice barely audible over the screams. "It's already inside them."

Soo-Young's blood ran cold.

They were trapped.

The infection was spreading. And there was no way off the train.

*****

No Safe Haven

The train car was eerily silent, save for the frantic breathing of those who had managed to escape. Outside the reinforced glass door, the infected slammed their bodies against it, their distorted faces pressed hungrily against the surface. Their fingers—if they could even be called that anymore—scraped at the barrier, leaving streaks of blood and something darker smeared across the glass.

Ji-Hyun clung to Soo-Young's arm, trembling. "Mom… are they still human?"

Soo-Young didn't have an answer.

Dr. Lee swallowed hard, wiping the sweat from his brow. "No," he murmured. "They're… something else now. The virus—it's mutating them too fast. It shouldn't be like this."

Sergeant Park reloaded his pistol with sharp, practiced movements. "Well, whatever they are, they're trying to rip our throats out. And we've got a bigger problem."

Soo-Young turned to him. "What now?"

Park motioned toward the door leading to the next train car. A red emergency lockdown light was flashing above it.

"Automatic containment protocol," Dr. Lee muttered. "It must have detected the outbreak, and sealed the doors."

"Meaning?" Ji-Hyun asked, her voice small.

"Meaning we're trapped in here," Park said grimly. "If we don't get that door open, we'll be sitting ducks when those freaks break through."

Soo-Young moved toward the control panel beside the sealed door, pressing the release button—nothing. A sharp error beep echoed in response.

Dr. Lee checked the interface, his fingers moving across the screen. "The system has overridden manual access… we'd need the conductor's keycard to unlock it."

Soo-Young glanced at the lifeless body of the conductor they had just put down. Blood pooled around him, his empty eyes staring at the ceiling.

"We need to search him," she said, voice devoid of emotion.

Ji-Hyun shuddered. "Mom—"

"We don't have time," Soo-Young cut in sharply.

She knelt down, swallowing back her fear as she rifled through the conductor's pockets. Blood soaked through her black military glove as she searched—keys, a wallet, a folded family photo, and there it was. A keycard, smeared in clotting blood.

Soo-Young stood and swiped it against the reader. A tense second passed before the lock disengaged with a loud hiss.

Park moved first, gun raised, stepping into the next car cautiously. "Clear," he called back.

One by one, they slipped through, shutting the door behind them.

---

The Truth Behind the Virus

The next train car was nearly empty. Only a few surviving passengers were huddled together, wide-eyed, and whispering among themselves. Most flinched backwards in fear when Soo-Young, and her group entered.

A young man—probably a college student—stood up shakily. "What the hell is going on?" His voice was high-pitched with fear. "People are—turning into monsters!"

Dr. Lee inhaled deeply. "It's a virus."

A middle-aged woman, clutching a crying child, whimpered. "A virus? Like… like a disease?"

Dr. Lee hesitated before answering. "More than that. This—" he gestured toward the previous car, where the infected continued to claw at the glass, "—wasn't natural. This is a bioweapon."

The air grew heavy.

Soo-Young narrowed her eyes. "You knew about this."

Dr. Lee nodded, shame flickering across his face. "I was part of the research team working on it."

Ji-Hyun gasped softly. "You—You helped make this?"

Dr. Lee raised his hands. "No, no—I was working on a cure. This virus was never meant to be deployed, but something went wrong. It was supposed to be contained."

Sergeant Park scoffed. "Yeah? Looks real contained to me."

Dr. Lee exhaled, rubbing his temples. "The virus spreads through fluids—saliva, blood, and most dangerously—water." He turned to Soo-Young. "You saw it, didn't you? The bottled water."

Soo-Young's mind flashed back to the moment the first infected had collapsed after drinking from a bottle. Her stomach churned.

"You're saying someone deliberately poisoned the water supply?" she asked.

Dr. Lee's lips pressed into a thin line. "Not just someone," he said darkly. "The military."

Silence.

Park's expression turned stony. "You'd better start explaining, Doc."

Dr. Lee swallowed hard. "The military had been experimenting with biological warfare. They wanted a weaponized virus that could be controlled. The goal was to infect enemy populations while keeping their own troops immune. But something went wrong in the latest trials."

"You mean this happened," Soo-Young said coldly.

Dr. Lee nodded. "They knew it was unstable. They tried to bury the project… but somehow, the contaminated water supply ended up on this train."

Ji-Hyun gripped her mother's arm. "Mom… we need to stop this."

Soo-Young clenched her fists. "First, we survive."

A sudden thud against the glass made them all jump.

One of the infected had stopped twitching. It stood eerily still, its blank eyes fixated on them. Then, it opened its mouth wider than humanly possible—and screeched.

Soo-Young's stomach dropped.

More thudding. More screeches. The others were responding.

Then—

CRACK.

The glass began to splinter.

---

Nowhere Left To Run

"Everyone, MOVE!" Soo-Young shouted.

Passengers screamed as the first infected slammed against the breaking glass, its ugly face stretching into something inhuman. Bones popped audibly, its jaw widening in a sickening, unnatural way.

"That glass won't hold!" Dr. Lee yelled.

Park grabbed his rifle. "Then we don't wait for it to break."

BANG!

The infected's head snapped back from the gunshot, but it didn't fall.

Instead, it twitched violently—then lunged forward with even more ferocity.

"They're adapting," Dr. Lee gasped.

The infected crashed against the door again.

CRACK.

"GO!" Soo-Young pushed Ji-Hyun forward, leading the passengers into the next car.

The infected let out an ear-piercing shriek—and the glass exploded.

Soo-Young risked one last glance back—

The infected poured through the broken barrier, their strange looking ugly limbs bending at unnatural angles, their empty eyes locked onto their prey. And they charged forward towards them, thirsty for blood.