When the river split, they stayed left, and soon, they saw what appeared to be the inlet that Hyun Suk had drawn between Ganghwado and the mainland. Ganghwado was a rather large island just off the northwesternmost tip of South Korea, and was connected to the mainland by two bridges. They traveled south through that narrow inlet now and passed underneath that first bridge, the land on both sides scenic and calm. There were no sign of zombies at Ganghwado’s shoreline, but everyone knew that it was not immune to the outbreak because of those bridges and the possibility of zombies – or those bitten and soon to turn into zombies – crossing them.

Sido, their destination, was part of the Bukdo chain, which consisted of three islands: Sindo on the eastern side, Sido in the middle, and Modo on the western side. While everyone hoped that the outbreak hadn’t spread there, they knew that even if it had, they would only be faced with a small number of zombies due to the low population, but more importantly, that number would be finite – meaning, it would be limited only to those zombies already there because although the islands were connected to each other, they were not connected to the mainland.

CL and Ji Hyo had been talking about the possibility for survival on Sido for a few minutes now. Ji Hyo was looking forward to a permanent home, especially now that she was caring for a six-month-old. “I can’t go around fighting with Dream in this sling,” she said, gesturing down to the baby resting against her chest.

CL nodded. “It will work out,” she said. “We’ll make it work.”

Minzy asked if she could hold the baby again. Earlier, when Ji Hyo and Jong Kook were preparing to jump from the boat and help Gary, Ji Hyo had given the baby to Minzy to watch. When Minzy had held the baby, she had felt this immediate need to protect it, as if it represented all that was good in the world, as if it represented hope.

As Ji Hyo now carefully passed the baby to her again, Minzy smiled and made sure to cradle him correctly, with her arm supporting Dream’s head.

Ji Hyo smiled. “You’d make a good mother,” she said.

Minzy smiled but her joy quickly faded, not because she doubted her capabilities as a mother, but because she doubted the possibility of a future in which having kids would be seen as a blessing rather than a hindrance. After all, Ji Hyo had just talked about how difficult it would be to continue the way they have been now that she had Dream. She was relying on the hope that Sido would work out, that they could stay and make a life there.

They passed underneath the second bridge now and saw a section of land at their right jutting out of Ganghwado, with a small marina at its tip. Everyone stared at the marina as they passed by, the harrowing memories of that morning returning to them. It had been several hours – maybe four, maybe five… no one was able to keep track of the time anymore – but their experience at the Seoul Marina came flooding back at that moment as if it had happened just a moment ago.

Gary reached down and pet Caesar, remembering how that loyal dog never left his side. And then he looked at his friends, knowing that they had all sacrificed everything to help him. “Thank you,” he said now. “I never said thank you.”

“We didn’t do anything, Gary-ah,” Ji Hyo said. “You got out of that yourself.”

“I got out because I saw all of you,” Gary said. “Just knowing you were there, that you cared.”

Jae Suk, sitting beside Gary, patted him on his leg. “I should be the one thanking you,” he said. “You saved my family.”

Gary shook his head and waved Jae Suk off. He wasn’t a hero. He had diverted the zombies away from Jae Suk to save them, but not because he was brave; he did it because he had given up on himself. But he didn’t share this with them. He didn’t think that they would understand. They hadn’t been all alone out there like he had been, feeling like the last soul in a dying and desolate world. 

After emerging from the inlet and passing around a smaller island just off the southernmost tip of Ganghwado, they saw the water open out to the Yellow Sea. There was a land mass straight ahead on the horizon, which, according to Hyun Suk’s map, was Yeongjongdo, where the Incheon International Airport was located. To their right, just north of Yeongjongdo, they saw other islands, but they were too far away to ascertain whether that was or was not the Bukdo chain.

“Let me see that map,” G-Dragon said, as he shifted into neutral, the roar of the engine now just a purr as the boat idled atop the waves.

Jong Kook passed him the paper and then looked around at the quiet world surrounding them. It was strange to think that they could be the only ones alive out here amongst these scattered land masses. He hoped that wasn’t the case. He hoped that these islands would be full of strong Koreans whom had defended their land from the outbreak. To think that this boat carried the only survivors was too depressing a thought.

“Is everything okay up there?” Seungri asked.

G-Dragon scoffed. “Be quiet, cabin boy!”

“Yah, I’m not your cabin boy!” Seungri yelled.

CL laughed and nudged Seungri. “You know he only jokes that way with you because he loves you,” she said.

Seungri shrugged. “He’s not that way with the others, though,” he said.

CL smiled and leaned close to him. “Because they’re not as fun as you,” she whispered.

“I heard that,” T.O.P. said. He tried to wear a stern expression and hide his smile as he glanced toward CL and Seungri, but the corners of his lips kept creeping up. “You don’t think I’m fun, Chae Rinnie?” he asked.

Bom, who had only heard half of the conversation and didn’t know that T.O.P. was joking, looked at CL confused. “What do you mean, CL-roo?” she asked.  

CL smiled and shook her head. “All I was trying to say was that…” but her attention was cut short, as was everyone else’s, by the fact that the engine had just sputtered out and died.

“Ji Yong-ah!” T.O.P. called out. “Why’d you turn off the ignition?”

G-Dragon looked back at the worried passengers behind him and then stared at the navigation console in front of him. He hadn’t touched the ignition. He hadn’t touched anything. He and Jong Kook had just been sitting there, trying to make sense out of Hyun Suk’s crude drawing.

At that moment, Jong Kook pointed to the gas gauge on the console and looked at G-Dragon, his expression deplete of all hope.

G-Dragon shook his head and turned away, rubbing his eyes. He wanted to yell… at anyone. But he realized that if anyone was to blame, it was him – he should’ve been paying attention to the gauges. And so instead of getting mad, he tried to control his frustration and take charge. He stood up and turned to those crowded on the deck behind him. “Okay, don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll, erm, we’ll take that canoe and…” He looked back at the sea behind him, the islands just faded blue sketches in the distance. “And we’ll row there in groups.”

Jong Kook stood up now and pulled G-Dragon aside, trying to whisper so as not to alarm the others. “That’s not a good plan,” he said. “We don’t know which island is Sido yet, and we also don’t know what’s waiting there for us.”

G-Dragon breathed in deeply and looked away for a moment. “We have no choice,” he said.

“It could take hours to row there,” Jong Kook said. He looked up at the sky now, searching for the sun in the clouds. “It’s going to be evening soon. We’d be leaving people there alone in the dark.”

“Like I said,” G-Dragon whispered, “we have no choice.”

“We passed that marina back there,” Jong Kook said, pointing back to the inlet from which they had emerged. “They should have fuel back there. And that’s a much shorter distance to row.”

Because it was so quiet without the engine running, everyone had heard the debate between G-Dragon and Jong Kook.

“Aish,” Jae Suk said. He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses against his shirt as he thought about what Jong Kook proposed. After putting his glasses back on, he looked at Kyung Eun beside him. Traveling to another marina was not something he would look forward to, but the thought of being left alone on a potentially zombie-filled island seemed worse.

“How long will it take to get to the island?” Bom asked.

But G-Dragon and Jong Kook had no answer.

“There’s no choice here,” Gary said. “The way forward is unknown. The way back is certain.”

“You sound like Confucius,” Ji Hyo said, smiling.

“I don’t think the way back is certain,” CL said. “We saw a marina, but did anyone actually see gas pumps?”

Everyone sat there in silence, searching each other’s faces. No one had been looking at the marina that closely.

“We have to try,” Thunder said. He grabbed his bow and stood up. “I’ll volunteer to go,” he said.

Dara stood up now, too. “You can’t go,” she said. “What about your shoulder?”

But Thunder wasn’t listening. He was searching the deck floor for his arrows.

Dara now grabbed her brother’s hand. “Listen to me, you almost died once today! Please, just please don’t go.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, picking up the last of the arrows.

“I’ll go, too,” Jong Kook said, grabbing his trekking pole.

In addition to Jong Kook and Thunder, two others volunteered to go. CL had her gun, which she hoped would work now that it had dried, and Jae Suk’s shovel, which he had given to her in case her gun failed. T.O.P. also volunteered. Because he didn’t have a weapon, Gary had given him his gun, telling him that he thought it might have one more bullet left, and Ji Hyo had given him her trekking pole as a backup.

The four reined in the canoe and then hopped inside. There were only two oars and so Jong Kook sat in front with one and T.O.P. in the back with the other. CL and Thunder squeezed between them in the middle.

“We can take over the rowing if either of you get tired,” CL said.

“He shouldn’t be rowing with that shoulder,” Jong Kook said. “We’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

They rowed away from the boat, hearing Bom yell out after them, her sweet voice cutting through the air. “Be careful,” she said.

T.O.P. looked back at her, smiled, and then continued rowing ahead. He and Jong Kook began a chant to keep their movements aligned. “Hana dul, hana dul…” they said, bringing the oars out of the water on the first count and then dragging them through the waters on the second count. They were two strong men and that canoe was moving fast, but Jong Kook had noticed earlier how low in the sky the sun was and knew that they would have to return with gas soon so that they could get to Sido before dark.