Sunny was greeted by loud shuffling noise and rushed murmur the next morning. It was one rare moment when she fell into deep sleep, so she was rather annoyed that she had to wake up involuntarily.

Struggling to open her eyes, she peeked at the window. It was still dark outside, no morning light penetrating her white curtain. She squinted, trying to focus her eyes across the room to make out the time on her clock, but to no avail. She liked her room dark at night so she could appreciate moonshine, and she kept it dark anyhow. So, dropping the idea of knowing the time was the best choice.

Why is it so noisy? She asked to herself.

Getting out of her bed, she took her kimono and slung the white garment over her shoulders. The room was engraved in her head like forever, so she knew where to get what. She walked feebly to the door, her joints felt stiffer than ever.

"Don't go over to that wing! That's Ms. Sunny's quarter!"

She heard Mrs. Na hissed from the other end of her corridor. Sunny opened her bedroom door carefully, stuck out her head, and calling out Mrs. Na in hushed tone.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?!" Mrs. Na hissed once she stood in front of the young miss. The middle age caretaker was still in her old fashioned nightgown and her hair rolled.

"What are you doing at this hour?!" Sunny hissed back, emphasizing on the word 'you'. "And what are those people doing here?"

"I mean to tell you and ask for your permission in the morning," Mrs. Na started while leading the young miss inside her room again by her hand. "But since you had woken up, I might as well ask you right now.

"The fishermen down there found those people on the shore. They think storm destroyed their boat and brought those people here. There are remnants of their boat as well, they said. They are in bad shape. Some catch hypothermia, one is in critical condition.

"Since our house is the biggest, and your father is literally the owner of this island, they thought bringing them here is the best decision. Plus, they know we can look after the sick here. Just until the survivors are better, they said. They could live in the vacant houses by the forest border once they get better and decide to stay in the island. With your and your father's permission, of course. What do you think?"

Sunny was trying to absorb all the information Mrs. Na gave her. It was just dawn, and yet her brain had to do extra thinking and calculating.

"Any idea where they are from?" asked Sunny.

"Nope," Mrs. Na answered. "The fishermen reported that their boat has no sign of any country. Or not that they can find."

"Can I see them?" asked Sunny.

"Not now. I don't want you catch their virus or whatnot," answered Mrs. Na sternly.

"But you said they are suffering from hypothermia only. Hypothermia doesn't spread," Sunny argued.

"Not now. I will let you see them once they had taken a full examination from Dr. Han. I had notified him to come to this island soon. That means, you should never go out of your room today or even several days ahead. We can't let Dr. Han see you. I'm arranging the right wing for them as they current lodging though, but still, don't come out often, especially to that part of house. We can't have you bumped into him," There was a finality in her tone, so Sunny knew she would better not whine further.

"Just make sure you check on their background completely. I personally don't want any criminals on our island," instructed the petite young lady.

"Will do. And as we are talking right now, Harry is on his way back here. He should be investigating their background based on the picture I sent him earlier. Hopefully he is able to get something from government file," Mrs. Na explained.

Harry Kim and his father were not only Lee's family bodyguard. They were also the family's important agents.

Having been trained in Middle East wars some decades earlier, Mr. Kim, Sr. personally trained his only son and send him to spy on the Federation of Russia as a acclaiming test. A test which earned Kim, Jr. not only his status as highly acclaimed agent, but also a lead on current massive war that was happening between some major countries and its alliances.

The war which led both the father and son to work under the most brilliant biological scientist in half century. Not to mention that top military strategist from some leading countries had been trying to approach him for their biological warfare division. Yet the said scientist aka Sunny's father seemed not to favor any sides.

However, unknown to those countries, he actually had made the decision of whom he pledge his loyalty to. It was a highly confidential cooperation that even he did not confide to his precious daughter. All the more that his daughter was the inspiration.

The father's secret alliance was not the only thing he hid from his daughter. The fact that there was an ongoing war, with one after another genocide happening was another one.

Sunny was completely clueless, and his father's top priority was to exclude her from bad world update. He wanted his only child, the only daughter he had, the daughter whom life thread he tried to spin longer, lived a happy unburdened life. So there she was, living in a secluded island; an island which time had stopped, an island which was not even on the map, ever since her mother passed away seventeen years ago.

"You'd better go back to sleep or whatnot," suggested Mrs. Na. "Leave everything to me. I'll handle it well."

"And don't forget to update me as well," reminded Sunny.

"Will do, sweetheart. I'll go now," Mrs. Na turned the petite body in front of her, and gave it a little push to urge the young lady to hurry retreat into her room.

***

The day after the incident, Harry came to his protege with information he gathered on the refugees. He reported that the refugees' records were clean. They were just innocent civilians from Busan. Two ordinary families trying to escape from bad fate.

When he was asked further what was happening in Busan that those people had to flee, Harry just mentioned that they were so poor so they decided to try their luck in a new place. Sunny simply bought it although there was something inexplicable which made her doubt Harry's story. She did not know that the famous harbor city she twice visited for holiday with her Dad in her childhood had mostly flattened due to continuous raids and bombings.

Two weeks passed without any more incident on the island. The refugees who were down with hypothermia got better each day. They could get off of their beds now, helping Mrs. Na with whatever they could do for the house little by little as their token of gratitude.

The interaction between the house owner and the refugees were down to zero. The only thing they did were bowing to each other - nodding in Sunny's case - from afar. It was apparent that Mrs. Na had told them to keep some distance from the house owner for respect.

Sunny was watching her reflection in the mirror in only her undergarment, when a series of gentle knocks came from her door. She quickly picked up her white bathroom kimono which was pooling around her feet, and brushed aside the nagging thought.

"Come in," she shouted while tying the kimono sash and stepping out of her bathroom.

"Your breakfast, dear," Mrs. Na carried in a tray of cold cubed fresh raw meat and a bit of what looked like a neatly cut fresh intestines.

"Thanks." answered Sunny. "I'll eat later."

"You should better eat now. If you eat later, the meat will go bad, and you will only eat a little. That's my observation,though."

"Nothing go past you, eh?" Sunny just smiled in returned.

She sat in the small and round dinner table in her room which fit only for two person. she then picked up her fork to show respect for the middle age lady who had prepared her food. Disgusting, if she could add. Even with her current condition, her conscious mind was still working so well.

"Now tell me how do you prepare this ... um, meat if the Lees and the Sungs are around?"

She had initiated calling them by their family name when she was discussing about them now. Before, people around her addressed the Lees and the Sungs only as The Refugees, so she just follow suit. But now she thought it was pointless since they were going to live in the island, anyway. Sunny had granted them permission to stay and the heads of the families had decided so.

"I send the males to renovate their new houses in the morning. Then, when it's your meal time, I would order the females out of the house, be it delivering meals to their husbands and sons, or the garden work," explained Mrs. Na. "Why did you ask?"

"Nothing. I was just curious," answer Sunny.

"If you are feeling uncomfortable with their presence, just tell me. I could ask them to speed up with the renovation process, and they can move out sooner," suggested the middle age lady.

"No, that's not it. Really. By the way, how's Lees eldest son?" asked Sunny, trying to shift their topic.

"The icy water and wind during the storm and hypothermia added to his already weakened body. But he's doing better each day. His mother mentioned to me earlier that he could get out of the bed for a while this morning. I think fresh air does him good," Mrs. Na reported.

"Good. When is the next appointment with Dr. Han?"

"He will be visiting in two days," answered Mrs. Na. "Why do you care about him anyway?"

When the latter did not responded the middle age lady continued, "Is it because he has the same illness as you had?"

Sunny was silent for a couple of seconds, but she found her voice anyway. She put down her fork and said, "Only he seems to have a better luck."

Mrs. Na approached the petite figured young lady and embraced the tiny shoulder. "Hey, you are also lucky. You have your brilliant dad, don't you?"

"Do you think so?" She rhetorically asked. "I think it would be better for me to be with the ... dead. At least I won't make it hard for anyone. You shouldn't have moved to this isolated island with us, cutting your ties to your family. Dad would have been working for the government and has brilliant career. I know his research here is funded although I don't know what he is researching about, but I don't think it will excel his career in anyway."

"Don't say that. I move with your family because I feel I need to. That's my decision, not your father's command. I am forever indebted to your mother who saved me from my abusive husband. Besides, I got my heart taken by a little girl who smiles the brightest, even in the darkest time of her life. So don't you dare take that little girl's spirit away from me, Missy!"

"How can I be that happy little girl again, I don't even know," uttered Sunny in a whisper. Her finger unconsciously pushed her white kimono sleeve up, and touch the little gangrene on her left lower arm.

"You will find your happiness again, dear, once you had a total acceptance of yourself now," Mrs. Na advised.

The latter did not say anything in return afterwards. Not even when then lady pulled her into a gentle squeezing embrace. Not even when she excused herself out of her young lady's room to continue her work around the house.

***

"Good afternoon Professor Lee," greeted Colonel Murphy as he entered the neat laboratory intended solely for Sunny's old man. The man who was at his early fifties clad in uniform was striding in with an unyielding charisma.

The latter raised his head up from his work. When he saw who greeted him, he stood up to greet him in return, "Good afternoon. Please sit down, Colonel."

"Thanks, Professor," he said while sliding the chair and took a seat. "I'm sorry for being able to greet you only now. My mission was extended."

"No worries, Colonel. It is understandable," replied Prof. Lee. "How's the situation now?"

"For now the Middle East is still in our hands. Our troops managed to push the enemy and its allies to the boundaries. They were pretty much beaten, so it will take some time for them to gain power there. Now our team are focusing on the battle in your home country."

"Oh? How is it going?" asked Prof. Lee. He seemed interested once the Colonel mentioned his motherland.

"Busan is pretty much done. Mokpo is none the better. They targeted port cities, so people won't be able to escape easily."

"Busan? They targeted on the civilians?" asked Prof. Lee in disbelief.

"They had played dirty since the war broke out, though. Don't you have regular update on the situation, by the way? Well, don't feel offended, I am just curious that you doesn't seem to be updated."

"I intend to keep the information exposure minimum in my house. I have an unhealthy daughter, so I want her to focus on her treatment," answered Prof. Lee carefully.

"As I thought." Colonel Murphy nodded his head slightly. "So, how is the progress? Dr. Lim had updated me earlier on the unfortunate progress so far."

"Well, this is my analysis report on the experiment conducted by your team, and some suggestion on why it was failed." Turning to his left side a little, he produced a thin bundle of paper, bounded by metallic staples.

"Just skip to the summary should you want a quick answer," he told the Colonel while handing over the printed document, knowing his personality after working together for some time.

The fit looking middle age man quickly flipped the bundle to its last page, and scanned the neatly typed words. Although seemingly impatient, the high ranked official was unexpectedly quick and thorough. Nodding as the sign of having understood the flaw as written, Colonel Murphy put the document in his hand onto the desk and looked up to meet Prof. Lee's serious gaze.

"So, what is your suggestion then?" he asked.

"As I think that I am responsible for not personally supervise it, I had, with the help of Dr. Lim and his team, conducted a new experiment on BHXO335, BHXO363, BHXO375, BHXO126, BHXO407, and BHXO740 last week. I take two samplings from three different time of death to see if the result will vary according to its variables, and which genotype is the better host for the mutated pathogen.

"One is already a failure since its DNA rejected the pathogen completely right from the start. The failed experiment are BHXO335, which had the longest time of death, and BHXO4027, which was injected when he was still alive, but dying. I am still conducting a deeper investigation if it was really the case though. The other five experiments had awakened after their ampule injections. All of them are doing great even after three years into their changing. We are now observing their actions, which are mostly hostile if there is a stimulus, in example, hen and goat which they feed on currently.

"We could go to the experimental ward if you are interested to see how they are doing. But mind you, despite being reanimated, they are just dead body after all. Only the nerves are taken over by combined mutated viruses and fungi. They are not really alive. In addition that they are disgusting carrion by now, I'd suggest you, Colonel, to prepare your stomach."

The latter grimaced, "I have encountered many gruesome and repulsive things and or moments during my duties. I don't think it will surprise me much."

"Perhaps they won't, but don't say that I don't warn you before," answered Prof. Lee with a glint of proud mischievousness in his eyes.

The two left the brilliant scientist's assigned laboratory to visit the experimental ward, two level under. The low rank army assigned to guard that ward were rotated every week, and that day was the altering day.

Prof. Lee nodded at the two unknown Privates in the corridor before he walked over to cornea scanner to open the pass code of the ward. The heavy door was opened after a beep, revealing a glass-confinement-contained room with machines and clever looking storing vaults. The room was as dim as before.

"The experiment objects are a lot calmer if they are least exposed to light," explained Prof. Lee.

Colonel Murphy looked around. The room was sure dim, but he could still make out the diabolical figures wandering slowly around their highly secured glass confinements of 9 meters squared each. Each figures has different level of horridness.

"This is the successful subject with the longest time of death," informed Prof. Lee, pointing at glass confinement number BHXO335 as they got closer to the subject.

The movement inside the said confinement was slow and very rigid. It seemed as if an invisible puppet master was controlling the horrid looking wooden puppet. Gangrene, cheesy looking skin tissue, rotting flesh adorned most part of the body. A chunk of flesh in the jaw area was already missing due to the putrefying bacteria, so the blackened teeth were showing, flashing a blood curling sneer.

"I've warned you, Colonel," noted Prof. Lee with a smile when he saw Colonel Murphy shook his shoulder at the sight.

"How long after the time of death is that one?" asked Colonel Murphy. He couldn't wipe his grimace off his face yet.

"20 days old before the ampule was injected. 5 days after the ampule," explained Prof. Lee.

"I don't know that we will look that bad."

"Nobody is interested to know how ugly we will become, alive or death. Right?" commented Prof. Lee. "Especially women."

"Most women. Especially my wife," Colonel Murphy commented. Prof. Lee merely smiled at the unintentional joke.

"As you could see, and probably would have guessed, their appearance could be worse than what you are seeing right now. After the injection of ampule, the decaying process slows down rapidly. Safely say, it is halted at some point," he explained.

Walking deeper into the ward, the ghastly appearances were better, yet it was more terrifying.

"The less decayed are the stronger and the more vicious one," Prof. Lee noted as they walked pass four more figures which definitely were moving faster than the previous, and stopped in front of the fresh looking one.

"This is BHXO740. The ampule was injected 10 minutes after its heart stops beating. The most agile and the most dangerous one," mentioned Prof. Lee.

The infernal figure stood behind the thick glass right in front of the scientist and the high ranked military official. Its eyes were empty, yet it didn't diminish the malignant atmosphere about the figure, emphasizing it instead.

"Drop in the feed," ordered Prof. Lee to his assigned laboratory assistant who was standing behind a heavy computer, not far from them.

The latter typed in a series of code on the into the computer, to let the trapdoor above the glass cell open. A bleating goat was dropped in.

Sensing a movement and feeling the heat, the bacteria and fungi overtaking the figure's motor movement gave response. It turns the object of study's body towards the goat. It was so sudden, it was so quick. The reanimated human corpse sprang onto the goat, tearing it, crushing it, ripping the flesh and intestine and gobbling on everything it could bite. Soon enough, the thick red liquid from the goat bathed the glass surface.

Colonel Murphy raised his right hand to cover his mouth. The sight in front of him was so repulsive. He was used seeing living person taking others' live, but seeing a dead person doing it was completely different thing. It was unfamiliar. It was frightening. It was revolting.

"It responds instinctively to movement and heat," Prof. Lee explained. "The intent is simple, which is to feed and only feed."

"Which makes a good horde for ambush attack and spreading terror to the opponent side. Besides, the living and war-ready army are getting limited these days. Massive genocide, this war is," added Colonel Murphy after clearing his throat.

"That I agree, but I am still observing the behavior. As you can see, this one is very hostile and dangerous. We need to make sure that releasing this kind of unconventional weapon will not backfire on us," answered Prof. Lee, which was followed by the Colonel's nod.

"Let's get out of here. I've seen enough," said Colonel Murphy.

Prof. Lee chuckled. "I swear you haven't."

"Then I don't want to. Not today," he retorted.

The ringing of Prof. Lee's laughter accompanying them as they exited the room.

"By the way, I've been here for two weeks already. I need to go home to check my daughter, then we can arrange my next visit," Sunny's old man proposed.

"Let's discuss it in my office, then."

The two then took an elevator to go to some level above the underground experimental ward, where the Colonel's office was.

=====================================

Update!

To be honest, this story gave me a headache. I don't even know how can I decide to give this idea of story a go. If only I know it will be this complicated. Lol. It is still fun nonetheless.

I remember when I wrote Stillness, I had to research on the stillborn and see the dead babies.
And when I wrote Silver Lining, I had to research on severed hand because I was curious on should knowing what it looked like if one cut one's wrist would reflect on my writing.
Now I had to research on gangrene because it is a new vocab for me, I don't know how bad it looks like on human. I had to close my eyes and peeked on my desktop screen for a start, mind you. Lol. Try googling it by yourself, and you'll understand :D

On the other hand, I've ever told you, dear readers (especially the one in my wordpress account since I have a page dedicated for it), that I take notes while writing; to keep my ideas and the details. Note on The Wanderers, by far is the thickest! :D

So, how do you find this chapter? I know it is confusing still somehow, as I am, honestly admitting, still having difficulties delivering a rounded smooth story. I need to upgrade my writing skills, but going on hiatus for so long makes me even dull instead. That's why I feel sorry that you have to keep up with my lack of writing skill. But I still hope that you, dear readers, still find this story interesting.

Please don't forget to leave comments, constructive criticism, or just criticism. Any kind of feedback is gladly accepted.

Until my next update then!

xoxo,
thesilverstrands