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The grass field used to be one of Seojin's favorite places at school.
With her lack of friends over the years, she had grown to appreciate solitude and enjoy her own company. Whenever she had free time or whenever the classroom got too loud for her liking, she would come to the field to sit while listening to music alone.
It was quiet and peaceful, watching the soft grass dance to the wind in a synchronized manner while she hummed along to the melodious tune from her phone. Nobody was there to bother her, just mother nature and her favorite songs to keep her company.
Yet when she looked at the grass field from her classroom window, the peacefulness and tranquility there were long gone. The green plane was now occupied with numerous flesh-eating, brutal, merciless monsters that would do anything for a taste of human flesh.
"Do you think help is on their way?" Seojin spoke when she saw Suhyeok appear beside her in her peripheral vision. "It's hard to tell, but we can only hope, right?" he sighed with a bitter smile on his face, and Seojin could tell he was desperately trying to remain optimistic.
Unable to stand staying in this hellhole any longer, Nayeon stood up from her seat and suggested calling the cops again. "I'm trying, but they're not picking up," Onjo pointed out with a frown, the panic on her face growing more prominent with each call that failed to go through.
"Hey, you. Do something." Nayeon walked over to Namra's seat and called out to the black-haired girl, her tone harsh and unfriendly. "Tell Miss Park to come or whatever. Just do something!" she scolded, her eyes shooting daggers at Namra while her lips twisted with distaste.
Nayeon's request was utterly ridiculous, and Seojin could feel a sense of incredulity and annoyance bubbling at the pit of her stomach. They were all stranded in the classroom, essentially powerless against the zombies roaming outside the door. There was nothing they could do other than to stay out and wait.
A scowl tugged at Seojin's face when she asked, "What can Namra do?" and Nayeon quickly retorted with a roll of her eyes, "Anything! Anything would be better than sitting on her ass." She crossed her arms over her chest bitterly, her narrowed eyes glaring straight ahead at Namra.
A humorless scoff escaped Seojin's lips as she spoke, "What exactly do you want her to do, Nayeon? To run outside and fight off all the zombies for us? Cause in case you haven't noticed, we're all stuck here."
"Stay out of it, you bitch!" warned Nayeon, and Seojin was about to tackle the pretentious hypocrite to the ground when she felt a hand tugging on her arm. Suhyeok's fingers wrapped around her wrist while he pulled her towards him, telling her with his eyes that starting a fight with Nayeon wasn't worth it.
"What? You're gonna hit me? Like the way you used to get into fights?" Nayeon's lips pulled up into a wicked smirk, well aware that she was testing Seojin's limits by using her past against her. "Nayeon, stop it," Jimin approached the girl and tugged on her arm for her to stop, but Nayeon simply shoved her away.
Seojin exhaled in a ragged breath, clenching her fists together with so much strength that her fingers could break. It took everything within her not to attack Nayeon right then and there, but then she reminded herself that she wasn't that type of person anymore.
Despite the rage burning within her, she forced herself to swallow down the urge to swing her fist. Clenching her jaw together, she muttered quietly through gritted teeth, "I don't do that shit anymore."
The girl in the pink sweater snickered victoriously with Seojin's answer, and her eyes trailed back to her previous target. "Choi Namra, what exactly have you done as our class president?" she snarled furiously, ignoring her friend behind her who had repeatedly asked her to stop.
With a stoic expression, Namra stood up from her seat and placed herself right in front of Nayeon. The girl visibly tensed up at her sudden bold movement, her stomach squeezing with uneasiness while the stare-off continued.
"Should I go out? Should I go to the teachers' office? Will that be good enough for you?"
Nayeon was taken aback by the strings of questions Namra just threw at her, still processing the fact that the quiet girl sitting at the back of the classroom was capable of speaking more than 5 words.
"Wh—why are you asking me?" "Isn't that what you meant?"
An uncomfortable silence fell upon them, the tension in the room so thick you cut it with a knife. "Stop it, the both of you." Onjo was the first to break the silence, her stern voice catching the attention of everyone in the room.
Her eyes lingered on the back of Namra's head when she spoke, "She's saying that because you're our class president."
Daesu and Wujin standing nearby also joined in as they tried to ease the palpable tension in the room, "Yeah, you're the class president. " But their smiles quickly faded away when Namra glanced at them with her piercing gaze.
Namra didn't say anything for a few seconds, silently studying the faces of her classmates and eyeing them one by one. "You guys are funny..." said Namra with a calm smile, her voice void of any emotions.
"What's so funny?" Onjo raised her brows at her remark, a hint of confusion and impatience displayed on her face while she awaited her to continue her words.
"Now that we're in this mess, you all suddenly acknowledge me as your class president?" Namra stated indifferently, glancing at the people around her with a pointed look.
Everybody in the room immediately grew quiet as they shamefully averted their gaze, slight remorse tugging at their hearts as they remembered the way they treated her.
An agonizing silence fell upon the classroom again, the only sounds heard were their heavy breathing and the faint groans of the zombies roaming outside. There was no arguing, no shouting, no fighting, yet somehow the tension in the room was worse than before.
The apocalypse had just begun minutes ago, but they were already ripping one another apart by throwing demeaning insults, digging up people's pasts, and getting at each other's throats.
Seojin quietly glanced around, a feeling of realization washed over her.
Perhaps the scariest thing about a zombie apocalypse isn't the zombies, but the people who are blinded by their desires to survive.
