It took them almost an hour to reach that section of land jutting out of Ganghwado. They slowed down as they traveled alongside the land, partly in an effort to rest their arms, partly because they wanted to be careful. But they didn’t see any zombies. All they could see was a road alongside the shore, and beyond that, just trees; however, when they neared the marina, that treeline ended and the land opened up.

When they had traveled past in Hyun Suk’s boat earlier, they had seen the long marina building there, but from that distance, they hadn’t seen any of the details they were now seeing from the canoe – like how there were market stands out front lining the length of that long building, all of which were stocked with what were now dead, decaying fish. Jong Kook knew that the people of that island would not have left their hard-earned supply behind, not unless they had to run suddenly from that market.

“We need to be careful,” Jong Kook now said. “There are zombies here.”

“Where?” CL asked. “I don’t see any.”

They rowed past the boat slips and around the side of the boat launch where, up ahead on the dock, they saw the fuel pumps. They pushed the canoe right up to the pump, but all of them realized at that moment that they didn’t have any sort of container to carry the fuel.

Jong Kook looked at Thunder. “How’s your shoulder? You think you’d be a good shot from here?”

Thunder nodded. Luckily, he hadn’t dislocated the shoulder of the arm he used to draw the bow.

“You see those tubs over there by the fish stands?” Jong Kook asked. “I’m going to make a run for one of those. You keep that bow ready.” He now looked at CL and T.O.P. “You both have guns, right? Only use them if something goes wrong. We don’t want that noise drawing attention to us.”

“I’ll go with you,” T.O.P. said. “No sense in you going alone.”

Jong Kook shook his head. “No, it’ll be faster this way. I need you to just be ready to row in case of trouble.” Jong Kook climbed out of the canoe now and stepped onto the platform. He didn’t hear anything other than the water lightly lapping against the docks and didn’t see anything other than the deserted stands outside that building. Still, he crept slowly, not wanting to take any chances.

As he got closer, the stench of the fish hit him hard. He could see the flat market tables ahead, the fish that was layered atop them now dried out and crusty from the sun. There were several pink and blue tubs at the base of the tables, but none yet with lids. He tried peering inside the open marina building, but it was dark in there and he didn’t dare venture into those shadows. Just up ahead near a toppled wheelbarrow was not only a tub with a lid, but also what appeared to be rubber tubing. He hurried there now, grabbed both, and then ran back to the canoe.

CL, Thunder, and T.O.P. breathed out sighs of relief when he returned. Jong Kook threw the rubber tubing in the canoe and then finagled with the pump, trying to figure out how it worked, as the others kept their eye on the marina building, watching for any zombies. He managed to get the nozzle free and then pulled the lever to release the fuel. While the fuel poured out and sloshed around inside the tub, Jong Kook now watched the building, too.

The tub was already half full, but Jong Kook knew that if things didn’t work out at Sido, they needed enough gas to get somewhere else. Better to fill this container completely, he thought.

“Zombies!” CL yelled.

Jong Kook looked over and saw the dead come walking out of the dark interior of the marina building.

Thunder drew his bow and began aiming at them. Although he had dropped five arrows on the bridge, Dara had only grabbed a few of them – three, to be exact. But there were more than three zombies on that dock now. He aimed at the closest one, sending that first arrow right between the eyes of that zombie.

“Hurry!” T.O.P. yelled to Jong Kook. “That’s enough gas. Come on!”

But Jong Kook didn’t stop. He wanted that tub full.

Thunder shot off his second arrow, and then his third, taking down two more zombies. But still, more were coming.

Now that the tub was full, Jong Kook quickly sealed it with the lid, jumped in the canoe, and then reached back for the tub, yelling out as he picked up that now heavy container from the dock and swung it over into their boat. T.O.P. began rowing, but with that extra weight from the fuel tub, they couldn’t get away fast enough and one of the zombies ended up falling over from the dock right into their canoe.

CL grabbed Jong Kook’s trekking pole, began jabbing it into the zombie’s head until it stopped moving, and then kicked that corpse out of their canoe, its body falling into the water beside them.

Jong Kook now began rowing, too, and as the boat headed backward away from that marina, the four of them watched the zombies that remained on the dock, all of whom stared right back at them with their yellowish, oozing eyes.

They had all known how likely it was for the outbreak to reach Ganghwado because of the bridges that connected it to the mainland, but each of them had held out hope that the zombies had been stopped somehow, that maybe the people had heard about the outbreak in time to blockade the bridges. But they knew now that this wasn’t the case.

They hadn’t talked since leaving the marina. All were now wondering about Sido.

“Our island isn’t connected to the mainland,” Jong Kook said, glancing back at them in the canoe.

They all knew this already, but they were scared to have hope. And so no one responded. They just continued rowing and staring out over the water in that hour-long return trip to the cabin cruiser.

The sun was lower in the sky now, nearly setting, by the time they reached the others.

G-Dragon had let down the anchor so that they didn’t float out to sea while they waited for the fuel crew to return. They had waited there rather impatiently, their fears voiced more and more as time went on. But now, when they saw the canoe approaching, they all cheered and began making room on deck for them to board.

Jae Suk had been reading the owner’s manual and, once everyone was back on board, now provided instructions for how to fill the boat with gas. “It says here to keep the nozzle in contact with the fill neck.”

“What does that mean?” Daesung asked.

“That’s assuming we’re at the pump, not stranded in the middle of the sea,” Jong Kook said. He pulled out the rubber tubing he had grabbed off the dock. “But we have this to siphon it,” he said.  

“Cabin boy!” G-Dragon yelled, looking at Seungri.

“Oh, come on,” Seungri whined.

“Well, someone has to do it,” G-Dragon said.

“Why don’t you do it?” Seungri asked. “You’re the captain.”

“Exactly. And captains don’t do this kind of work.”

Seungri grabbed the rubber hose from Jong Kook, the end of which led to the gas container they had pulled onto the deck floor. “Where’s the, uh… fill neck?”

After consulting the manual again, they found a circular cap on the ledge of the boat, right where the handrail ended. They opened that cap now.

“Just that hose, Seungri-yah,” G-Dragon said. “And then stick that hose in the hole.” He started laughing now.

Daesung started chuckling, too.

“Aish, you boys are so immature,” CL said, smiling.

Seungri didn’t seem to get the joke. “How do I know when to stop ?”

G-Dragon started cracking up. “When you… when you feel it come…” But G-Dragon was laughing too hard and couldn’t finish the sentence.

“When the fluid comes out,” Jong Kook said, sternly.

The others now all burst out laughing.

Jong Kook’s cheeks grew red. He cleared his throat and earnestly tried to help Seungri. “Just try not to drink it. As soon as you feel it coming, stick it in the hole quickly.”

G-Dragon collapsed on the deck floor, dying of laughter.

Seungri put his mouth on the hose, wincing as he tried to the gas from the container. He kept but nothing was coming out, and so he harder, but he ended up getting a mouthful of gas and now spit it out all over the deck floor. The dog was hit by some of the spray and let out a yelp before pattering over to Gary’s feet.

“Hurry! In the hole, Seungri!” G-Dragon yelled.

Seungri took that rubber end, now leaking gas, and jammed it in the boat.

The fumes were strong. Some covered their noses.

“Ai, it says here that we shouldn’t even be in the boat during this process,” Jae Suk said.

“Well, it’s not like we have a choice,” Dara said.

“We should clean up the gas that spilled,” Kyung Eun said. She set little Ji Ho down on the deck seating and began looking around for a rag, eventually finding one in a compartment up front.

After the boat was full of gas and clean of spillage, G-Dragon the ignition and the engine roared to life. Everyone cheered and G-Dragon then pushed the throttle full speed ahead, steering the boat to the islands in the distance.