𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 || 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐜𝐤/𝐍𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧

7

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go? You know I wouldn’t mind going again. We already know what’s around here, so me and Jeno could just go tomorrow.” Donghyuck offered, frowning as Mark got into the driver’s seat. “If you’re not okay…” he added, lower, looking at Mark meaningfully.

Chenle was already waiting, attention taken by Jisung who was chattering to him from the other side of the car.

“I’m all better now, don’t worry. It’s already been almost two weeks, you know. I can’t stay cooped up forever. It’s too uncool.” Mark said with a laugh, patting his arm. He really did look like normal, but Donghyuck knew that he must still be shaken up.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Donghyuck said.

“If I promised that I would hardly be able to do anything.” Mark replied, with his smile. “We’ll be fine. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“We’ll see you later then.” Jeno said, walking up to Donghyuck with a backpack thrown over his shoulder. Jaemin was beside him, stuffing an extra bottle of water into the side.

“Be back in a few hours.” Mark said with a salute to Jeno, turning to look at Donghyuck with a warm smile that had heat prickling at his neck. “Take care of the others while I’m gone.”

“Be safe you guys!” Donghyuck called as the car pulled away, waving when he saw Chenle's arm stick out of the window.

“You ready?” Jeno asked when the car disappeared, patting Jaemin on the head before pushing him in Renjun and Jisung's direction.

“Yeah, let’s go before it gets too hot out here.” Donghyuck said, turning away from the dirt road.

Jeno passed him a gun, the cold and heavy weight uncomfortable to him. He quickly made sure the safety was on and shoved it in his back pocket. Today the two of them were checking the area for walkers again. Even though they hadn’t seen any for a long time, walkers moved too frequently for them to let their guard down. Their last semi-permanent home was destroyed that way.

Donghyuck was relieved to see that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, save for a car they hadn’t noticed all this time. Nature was already starting to take over it, hiding it from view for the most part. There was still some gas in it, as well as a pocket knife.

“We should tell one of the others to come back and get the gas out.” Jeno had said, too tired to continue on anymore.

Donghyuck agreed, eyes squinting against the heat as he gave one last look around. The heat had them finishing every last bottle of water Jaemin had stuffed in the backpack on the way home. Donghyuck made a mental reminder to thank him because he’s sure Jeno complained that they had more than enough.

By the time they got home they saw Jisung, Renjun and Jaemin playing outside with a ball they must have found around. The sun setting left an orange-pink glow, the cool air ticking Donghyuck's cheeks.

“Chenle and hyung aren’t back yet?” Donghyuck asked when the three of them were close enough, surprised when he didn't see Mark sitting at the side watching them fondly, or Chenle playing along with the three of them for that matter.

“Not yet.” Renjun said, frowning. “We were just talking about how strange it is. They should have been back an over an hour ago.”

Donghyuck's blood ran cold. He had to force himself to remain calm. If he freaked out everyone else would too, he knew that.

“Let’s wait a little bit longer. If they aren’t back in an hour we’ll go looking for them. Who knows, maybe they found something interesting.” Donghyuck said, hoping his voice sounded as confident as he wished he could feel.