Episode 2: Fever Pitch

Seoul, South Korea – 14 Hours After Outbreak

The subway tunnel’s exit spat them into a nightmare. Dawn painted the sky blood-orange, smoke coiling from the skeletal remains of high-rises. Lee Ji-eun limped behind Min-jun, her sprained ankle screaming with every step. The streets were eerily quiet, save for the distant wail of sirens and the crunch of broken glass underfoot.

“We need water,” Ji-eun said, eyeing a gutted convenience store. The shelves were stripped bare, but a single bottle rolled in the corner. She lunged for it—

Crack.

A sniper shot shattered the bottle. Min-jun yanked her behind a car as another bullet pinged off the hood.

“*Don’t shoot!*” Min-jun barked, peering over the trunk. On the roof of a nearby pharmacy, a figure in tactical gear lowered his rifle.

“Identify yourselves!” the soldier shouted.

“Officer Kim Min-jun, Seoul Metro Police! This is Dr. Lee Ji-eun—she’s a virologist!”

The soldier hesitated, then gestured sharply. “Move. Now.”

The Church

The soldier—Private Park Hyun-kyu—led them to a makeshift stronghold in a Gothic church. Stained-glass saints watched as refugees huddled under pews. Hyun-kyu tossed Ji-eun a medkit. “Patch yourself up. You’re coming to Incheon.”

Min-jun frowned. “The military’s evacuating civilians?”

Hyun-kyu’s jaw tightened. “*Selectively.” He nodded at Ji-eun. “Her research notes got broadcasted on emergency channels. Command thinks she’s the key to a cure.”

Ji-eun froze. “Broadcasted? By who?”

“Does it matter?” Hyun-kyu checked his watch. “We move at sundown.”

Flashback: 48 Hours Before Outbreak

Ji-eun sat alone in her lab, staring at the petri dish. The prion sample glowed faintly under UV light. Airborne transmission confirmed. Her hands shook as she typed the email to the CDC: URGENT: GLOBAL OUTBREAK IMMINENT.

The reply came instantly: Report to quarantine. Do not disseminate unverified claims.

She’d hit “forward” anyway.

Now

Min-jun found Ji-eun in the church bell tower, scribbling equations on a hymn sheet. “You think you can reverse this?”

“The prion reprograms brain cells into replication factories,” she muttered. “But if I can isolate the original protein structure—”

“Ji-eun.” He gripped her shoulders. “What happens if you’re wrong?”

She avoided his gaze. Her forehead burned, but she blamed exhaustion.

Betrayal

At dusk, Hyun-kyu herded them into an armored truck. Ji-eun counted seven refugees—a teen clutching a baseball bat, a mother with a silent toddler, others too shell-shocked to speak. The engine roared to life.

Then the toddler sneezed.

Hyun-kyu spun, gun raised. “Who’s infected?!”

Chaos erupted. The mother screamed as Hyun-kyu yanked the child from her arms. “No fever, see?” she pleaded.

Ji-eun lunged. “Stop! He’s just scared—”

Hyun-kyu backhanded her. Min-jun tackled him, but two more soldiers burst in, pinning him down.

“You think we’re evacuating you to save people?” Hyun-kyu wiped blood from his lip. “The base isn’t a safe zone. It’s a lab. And you’re the rats.” He tossed Ji-eun’s notes at her. “Your ‘prion theory’ is cute, but Command wants live trials. Starting with you.”

The mother wailed as Hyun-kyu jabbed a syringe into the toddler’s arm. The child’s veins blackened instantly.

“Monster!” Ji-eun scrambled for the syringe.

Hyun-kyu smirked. “Wait till you see Phase Two.”

Escape

Min-jun headbutted the soldier restraining him, grabbing his sidearm. Shots rang out. The teen swung his bat, shattering a soldier’s kneecap. In the chaos, Ji-eun stabbed Hyun-kyu’s thigh with the infected toddler’s syringe.

“What did you do?!” Hyun-kyu clawed at his leg.

“Adaptation testing,” Ji-eun hissed.

They fled into the night, the truck exploding behind them. Hyun-kyu’s screams followed.

The Safe House

An hour later, they regrouped in an abandoned hanok. The teen, Jin, bandaged Min-jun’s bullet-grazed arm. “My little brother… he was in that truck,” he whispered.

Ji-eun vomited in the courtyard. Her fever spiked.

Min-jun found her shivering by a koi pond. “You’re burning up.”

“It’s just stress,” she lied.

He pulled her close. “Don’t you dare turn on me.”

She laughed weakly. “Wouldn’t you shoot me?”

“Never.”

Their lips brushed—a hesitant, desperate promise.

THUD.

A mangled hand burst through the hanok’s paper door. The infected toddler crawled inside, eyes milky, mouth gnashing. Behind him stood dozens more… but they moved differently. Organized.

Leading them was Hyun-kyu—his right arm a twisted claw, eyes glowing faintly blue.

“Found you,” he rasped.

End of Episode 2

Next episode teaser: As Ji-eun’s condition worsens, Min-jun discovers her blood may hold a cure. But Hyun-kyu’s new hive-mind army is closing in—and the virus is mutating faster than anyone imagined.

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