Joon Woo’s hands trembled around the steering wheel. He tried to keep his gaze steady on the road ahead but tears pricked the corner of his eyes. Lee was gone. He had seen the young boy squeeze off his last shots in the rearview mirror before he was devoured. But there was nothing he could do but drive. 

In the cart behind, he could hear Qiyu’s sobs. The hardened woman of twenty-eight years was crying for the first time since he had known her. He slammed his palm on the wheel and cursed in his native language.

Beside him, Shula squeezed his shoulder for comfort. She remained silent, knowing that no words were enough. She had been against them stopping to pick up the survivors near the gates, arguing that they would have to sacrifice more supplies in the cart - they were now left with virtually none - and that too many warm bodies would attract trouble and slow them down. 

But Joon Woo had felt a sense of duty keener than before after hearing his training buddy, Aqra, heroically demanding to rescue the survivors from the ambulance. Maybe he was stupid. Maybe he wanted to prove that he was not the same coward he had been before. And what had that amounted to?

Lee was dead. Ah Long’s fate was not known. Were his kids among the walking dead he had seen earlier? Perhaps. 

“Joon.”

He looked up, his senses on high alert. His eyes snapped from left to right, taking in the dense trees and shrubbery on either side of the road. A quick glance in his rearview mirror showed the deserted highway stretching toward the second causeway link to Malaysia, or rather, what was left of it after it had been bombed.

“What is it, Shu?” he asked, his body tense for another brush with the undead.

“It wasn’t your fault, you know.”

He slumped back down in the seat. “I know.”

“That guy who suggested to save the woman…he’s Aqra, right? The training buddy you told me about.”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

Shula scoffed. “He’s certainly the reckless one.”

“It’s not his fault either though.”

Shrugging, Shula made a noncommittal wave of her hand. “Debatable. But my point is we can’t be too reckless now. We have limited weapons, supplies, and a whole bunch of injured people in the back. We can’t afford to save anyone else.”

Joon Woo nodded in understanding. “I hear you.”

“Okay.” She sighed. Biting her bottom lip, she looked out the window at the monotonous view of desolate buildings. “Anyway, we just need to get to Zone 1.”

A sharp rap came from the glass dividing them from the cart behind. Shula swiveled around to see the woman that Aqra had rescued from the car trunk clutching her red duffel. She pulled the glass panel down. “Yes?”

“Where are we going?”

The woman’s accent was not local. Although it sounded American, there was a tinge of Asian in it as well. Joon Woo pegged her as either a Chinese or Taiwanese national. 

“We’re going to Zone 1,” Shula replied.

“Is that zone protected by Eden’s plasma shield?”

“Yes.”

The woman inhaled sharply. “Listen to me. Don’t go there. Eden’s plasma shield will not save you.”

Shula exchanged an incredulous glance with Joon Woo. “What are you talking about?”

“Believe me. You do not want to go there.”

“Give me one reason why I should believe you after that shit you pulled with your bag,” Shula sniped, her voice hard and unyielding.

The woman’s lips thinned into a line. “The less you know, the better.”

“Then, fuck off.”

Shula pushed the glass panel up until it hit the roof with a resounding thud. Cursing in both Malay and Cantonese, she swiveled to the front. “Who the hell does she think she is?”

“Beats me.”

Joon Woo glanced at the darkening sky outside. The weather in Singapore was as fickle as a woman’s words. It could be raining in one zone and clear skies in the next. Rain would be welcome though. It helped mask their movement.

Worry tore through his insides as he thought about the crazy woman’s words. What if she was right? He turned to look at Shula.

“What happened to our plasma shield anyway? Wasn’t backup power supposed to kick in?”

Shula’s brows creased in thought. She planted her elbow on the window ledge and rested her head in her palm. “I heard it was an explosion of the field generator. Someone sabotaged it. Backup power couldn’t kick in. That’s what I can’t wrap my head around. Everything seemed normal on the screens. I followed all the usual procedures. I redirected the power, turned the generators on, made sure they re-distributed the load, energized the shield…”

She trailed off. Joon Woo could see her fingers tapping on her arm in impatience. If there was anyone who could figure this out, he knew it would be her. She had always been the thinker in his group. Second only to his girlfriend, of course.

The thought of his old girlfriend made his chest constrict. He pushed the tendrils of grief away and focused on their situation.

“Could it be a bug or something? Like the stuff you see in movies when someone does something stupid and it causes a catastrophe?” he said.

“Maybe. But it makes no sense.” Shula exhaled. “We didn’t change anything in the control logic. The only ones who have access to that are Chun and Divya. Chun is a lazy asshole. He wouldn’t bother checking it. Divya is too afraid to even touch it.”

Her finger stopped its rhythmic tapping.

“Of course, there’s one possibility. Like you said. A bug. Something that Eden didn’t account for when they handed over their programs. But I find that hard to imagine. They’re very thorough. Divya looked through the code as well and she didn’t find anything wrong with it.”

“But it’s possible, right?” Joon Woo’s voice was hopeful. Because any other scenario would mean their troubles were even more complicated.

“Yes… it is.”

An uneasy silence settled in the car. Joon Woo gripped the wheel tightly, his nerves on fire. He loved thrills, excitement, and unpredictability. But when their entire livelihood and survival were on the edge of a thin line, adrenaline turned to fear. He wiped the sweat off his pale face with the back of his hand. God he wished he could have a smoke right about now.

“So if it’s a bug, maybe Zone 1 will have the same problem?” he asked.

Shula didn’t answer for a moment. “No. The field generator being destroyed was the main trigger. Zone 1 should be fine…theoretically.”

Joon Woo gave a nervous laugh. “I’ll take theoretically any time.”

Shula’s lips remained pursed. She reached for her bag on the car floor and took out a pen and a small notepad. As she scribbled in it, Joon Woo knew best to leave her alone with the problem in her head.

He directed his gaze out the windshield. The expressway was mostly clear after the cleanup crew had painstakingly salvaged or moved all the vehicles, or rather what was left of them, to the side of the road. It had taken them a couple of months and the sacrifice of many good men and women to do that. All for the sake of clearing a path to their backup zone. Setting up Zone 1 in and of itself had been a challenge. To even declare the zone zombie-free had taken ages. Perimeters were often breached, and dormant zombies were often found in the oddest places.

But all those hard work and sacrifices had been for the right goal. Their committee heads had planned far ahead for emergencies and it was paying off well now. Zone 1 had its own residents and served as the backup for Zone 0, and vice-versa. Now that Zone 0 was gone, all scout cars and survivors would be on their way to Zone 1. 

Joon Woo gritted his teeth. He hoped Zone 1 would be ready for the influx of people. Supplies would be a problem, he figured. Especially since they had lost all of theirs to make room for people. 

Meanwhile, he had been scouring the road for other survivors from Zone 0. So far he hadn’t seen any. He hoped they had either been picked up by the other supply runners or were already farther ahead of them. Either way, they couldn’t take on more survivors, as Shula had pointed out earlier.

He took the smaller road off the flyover and slowed out of habit. There were usually some zombies loitering around the area. His features pulled into a frown as he cruised down the two-lane road without obstruction. There wasn’t a single zombie in sight.

His gut coiled with unease. Leaning forward until his elbow hung over the steering wheel, he brought the car to a crawl. His sharp gaze scanned the horizon as he drifted down the road, taking a right towards the zone. On his left were more abandoned factories, on the other side an embankment lined with trees.

“What’s wrong?” Shula said.

“I’m not sure.” Careful not to let paranoia show, he kept his voice light. “It might be nothing.”

The transponder squawked. Joon Woo almost leaped out of his seat. A curse left his lips as he grabbed the device. He pressed the button to speak. “Runner 1 here.”

“This is Runner 2!” A female voice shouted down the line. Screams and gunfire echoed in the background. “Zone 1 is a no-go!”

Joon Woo’s heart sank. He clutched the transponder until his knuckles turned white. “Runner 2, can you repeat?”

“Can you hear me?! I said Zone 1 is a no-go! The shield is down-”

The radio cut off. Silence filled the car. Cold sweat broke out on Joon Woo’s forehead as he placed the transponder down with a click. He looked at Shula. Her features were pulled taut with tension, her eyes glistening with a terror that matched his own.

His voice shook. “What do we do now?”