Scene 1. Counterfeit
Lee Kang's foot landed on top of the barricade.
The sandbags collapsed. His weight and Yeonhwa's weight had come down together. A uniform wedged between the sandbags was crushed beneath the landing. The sound of ribs breaking traveled up through his sole.
The uniform on the left swung his rifle around. Lee Kang's hand caught the barrel and twisted. The uniform's wrist twisted with it. Two snapping sounds. The barrel and the wrist. The uniform screamed. Lee Kang's elbow lashed across the man's temple.
Boots came running from the right. Lee Kang's foot kicked a sandbag. The sandbag struck the uniform's knee. The knee buckled. Lee Kang's knee caught the falling uniform's chin.
While three lay on the ground, a fourth drove a bayonet at Lee Kang's back.
His body twisted on reflex. The bayonet went wide. Wide was not the word. It had nearly grazed Yeonhwa's arm. Fire caught in Lee Kang's eyes. He turned and seized the fourth's throat. With one hand. Lifted. The fourth's feet left the ground.
Snapped.
Pop.
He flung the fourth to the dirt. As he was about to turn—
A fist came.
It struck Lee Kang's left temple. His vision flipped once. The world rotated ninety degrees to the left. His body staggered back one step.
It had connected.
Not the fourth whose neck he had just snapped. Something else. Something that had come out from behind the barricade. It wore a uniform. But the body beneath the uniform was different. Shoulders too broad. Neck too thick. And—
The eyes were empty.
No focus. Looking at Lee Kang yet not looking at Lee Kang. The pupils fixed like glass beads. No fear, no rage, nothing in those eyes.
An Ookami.
A defective. Not the finished kind. The joint angles were wrong. The left elbow opened outward past the normal direction. The walk was mechanical. Still it moved. Fist clenched. Toward Lee Kang.
Something hot ran down from Lee Kang's temple.
His eyes caught the Ookami.
It came walking again. No sound. No scream, no shout. Not even breathing. Only boots striking dirt. At a steady rhythm.
A sound climbed from Lee Kang's mouth.
Grrr.
Scene 2. The Bite
The Ookami's fist came again.
Toward Lee Kang's head. He ducked. The fist passed above his head. Wind brushed the crown of his skull. His right fist struck the Ookami's side. A blow driven into the ribs.
The Ookami did not react.
He had hit it. He had clearly hit it. The sensation of his fist meeting rib traveled up through the back of his hand. He felt the vibration of bone fracturing. And yet the Ookami did not take a single step back. Its body did not sway. It did not clutch the place it had been hit.
The Ookami's arm reached toward Lee Kang's throat.
His body bent backward. The Ookami's fingers grazed beneath his jaw. Fingernails scraped skin. A thin line drew itself.
Lee Kang's foot kicked the Ookami's knee. The knee folded inward. The sound of bone slipping out of place. With the buckled knee, the Ookami tilted to one side.
It did not fall.
It stood right back up on the broken knee. Bone jutted at an impossible angle beneath the flesh. Still it stood. On that knee, it walked toward Lee Kang.
Lee Kang's eyes narrowed.
It doesn't feel pain.
He took one step back. On his back, Yeonhwa swayed. Her arms swayed before his chest. Cold fingers grazed his collarbone.
The Ookami's hand reached out. Toward Lee Kang's shoulder. Not Lee Kang's shoulder. Toward what was behind Lee Kang. Toward Yeonhwa.
Lee Kang's body moved forward on reflex.
Not retreating—advancing. He drove inside the Ookami's reach. His shoulder met the Ookami's armpit. Both his arms wrapped the Ookami's waist. Lifted. The body left the ground.
Drove it down.
The Ookami's back struck the dirt. Earth sprayed in every direction. Lee Kang mounted it. His left hand caught its jaw. The left hand the bayonet had split. The wound in his palm gaped, and blood ran down across the Ookami's jaw.
The Ookami caught Lee Kang's left hand. Caught it and twisted. Dug into the wound. The Ookami's fingers pushed into the split flesh of Lee Kang's palm. Between the meat. Between the exposed tendons inside the split meat.
Lee Kang's vision whited out.
A scream rose in his mouth. Not a scream. A growl. The sound of a beast leaking between teeth. His right hand drove down toward the Ookami's face. Not a fist. Palm open, fingers spread. The tips of his fingers gouged beneath the Ookami's eye. Flesh tore. A strip peeled away from the cheek.
The Ookami did not react.
Blood ran. From cheek to jaw. The Ookami's mouth opened. Teeth showed. The teeth came down toward Lee Kang's arm.
Lee Kang's left forearm was caught in the Ookami's mouth.
The teeth pierced the flesh of the forearm. Between elbow and wrist. The Ookami's teeth burrowed into the meat. Not hot. Cold. The first sensation when flesh tears is cold. Then the heat rushed in.
Lee Kang's mouth opened.
His teeth met the Ookami's throat.
He bit.
Where the carotid runs. The side of the neck. His teeth pierced through skin. Blood rose onto his tongue. Hot. Iron. The taste of iron flooded his mouth. Force entered his jaw. His teeth burrowed deeper. The sound of flesh tearing rang inside his skull.
The Ookami's teeth released his arm.
The Ookami's hand tried to push his head away. Lee Kang's teeth did not let go. Still clamped down, he twisted his head. Flesh tore loose. Blood erupted from the Ookami's throat. Like a fountain.
The Ookami's body spasmed once.
A second spasm.
There was no third.
Lee Kang spat the strip of flesh from his mouth. Onto the dirt. Blood ran down his jaw. To his chest. The iron taste did not leave his mouth.
His breathing was rough.
With each exhale, red steam bloomed from his mouth. Stained dark red in the firelight.
On his back, Yeonhwa hung limp.
She had not slipped. Her chin still caught on his shoulder. Her breath grazed the back of his neck.
There.
Breath.
Lee Kang stood.
Scene 3. The Exit
The barricade was in ruins.
Sandbags scattered, wooden stakes broken. Uniforms sprawled across the ground. The Ookami lay face-down. Blood from its throat pooled on the dirt. Lee Kang's foot crossed the pool. Something slick met his sole.
Past the broken barricade, a road came into view. Fire burned on the left. The right was dark. The side the fire had not yet reached.
Lee Kang turned right.
On the third step, his legs gave out.
The left knee buckled. His knee struck the ground. The impact climbed up his ribs. Yeonhwa swayed on his back. Both his hands gripped her thighs again.
He stood.
As he rose, something burst from his mouth. A cough. A cough mixed with blood. Red specks scattered across the dirt.
"This way."
Doctor Jang's voice came from the right. Out of the darkness. Lee Kang's eyes followed the sound. Doctor Jang was waving from behind the wreckage of a building. The bag clutched to his chest.
Lee Kang moved toward him.
His stride slowed. The legs that had been running like a beast moments ago would not obey. Blood kept running from his left hand. The wound where the Ookami's fingers had dug in still gaped. Blood dripped from his fingertips onto the dirt. One drop with each step.
Blood ran from his forearm too. Where the Ookami's teeth had torn open. Skin had been stripped, exposing the red beneath. The iron taste lingered in his mouth. Whether someone else's blood or his own, he could not tell.
Doctor Jang slipped behind the wreckage. Lee Kang followed. Behind the rubble, a hole. In the ground. A drain. The cover had been torn away. Wide enough for a person to crawl through.
A smell rose. Stagnant water. Sewer.
"Go down."
Lee Kang said to Doctor Jang.
Doctor Jang looked at him. At his face. At the dried blood at the corner of his mouth. At the teeth that had held another's flesh. Something passed through Doctor Jang's eyes. Passed, vanished.
Doctor Jang cradled the bag and descended through the hole. The splash of feet meeting water rose up.
Lee Kang lowered Yeonhwa from his back. As he did, strength drained from his arms and her body slipped. He caught her against his chest. Her shoulder pressed into the burn. The sensation of flesh splitting punched through his chest.
He bit down.
Yeonhwa in his arms, he descended into the hole. The water reached his ankles. Cold. The cold bit into the wounds on his soles.
Down.
The darkness closed.
Scene 4. The Rat Hole
The bottom of the drain was clay.
Water to the ankles. Lee Kang leaned his back against the wall and slid down. Sitting in the water. The water rose to his waist. Cold. The cold seeped into the laceration on his side.
He set Yeonhwa on his lap. Let her lean against his chest. So the water would not reach her. Above his waist. He became her chair.
Doctor Jang leaned against the wall opposite, sat down. Set the bag on his knees. Drew the broken half of the pipe from it. The half that remained. He set it between his fingers. Turned it. Click. Click.
Lee Kang's eyes began to adjust to the dark.
He could see nothing. From the hole above the drain, a faint light came down. Firelight. The light of the burning slum outside seeped through the opening in a thin thread.
His left hand was submerged. The wound where the Ookami's fingers had dug into him met the cold water. No pain. Nothing hurt. Every pain his body had been raging with moments ago had switched off all at once.
The bite on his forearm. The laceration on his side. The place on his back where the sutures had ruptured. All of it switched off. Like flipping down a breaker.
The iron taste still lingered at the corner of his mouth.
Yeonhwa's head rested against his chest. Her weight pressed his knees. Light. A feather's weight.
His eyes found Doctor Jang.
In the dark. Only the hand turning the pipe shard was visible.
"Make the medicine."
Lee Kang said.
Sitting in the water. Blood dried at the corner of his mouth. Flesh torn from his forearm. The Ookami's blood still wedged between his teeth.
"Tell me what materials you need. I'll bring all of them."
The sound of the pipe stopped.
Stopped, then started again.
Click.
No answer.
Lee Kang's amber eyes burned in the dark.
On the water. On the black surface of the drain, the amber reflected and trembled. Two amber lights. One was Lee Kang's eyes, and one was the shadow on the water.
Both of them mad.