Outbreak || LOONA

19

It's morning, but not the usually happy morning they used to have. 

Everybody is up except for one. They're sitting on the ground silently while staring at the grave that they dug using their bare hands. 

"Wake Yerim up, we need to keep going," Haseul said, and she stood up. 

She looked at the map and then at the compass in her hand. 

"Yerim" Hyeju called her sister. 

"Yerim" she repeated. 

"Yerim, wake up, we need to go." Hyeju shakes Yerim's shoulder, but the girl doesn't budge. 

"Kim Yerim, get up, we need to find the lab," Hyeju said, but still Yerim didn't respond. 

"Yerim" Hyeju called her for the fifth time. 

"What's wrong?" Chaewon asked, looking down at the two. 

"Yerim," Hyeju says again, her gaze fixed on her twin.

"Hey, Yerim, dude, wake up." Hyeju chuckled nervously, and everyone looked at them. 

"Why is she not waking up?" Hyeju asked, looking up at her friends. 

"Check her pulse." Haseul's hands went cold when the thought entered her mind.

Hyeju tried pressing her forefinger and middle finger on Yerim's neck, but she couldn't find the girl's pulse. 

"Y-yerim" Hyeju called her as she moved her fingers on the girl's wrist, hoping to find her pulse. 

"No no no" Yeojin went on her knees as quickly as she could and placed her palm in front of Yerim's nose. 

Everything seemed to stop for Yeojin when she couldn't feel any air coming out of Yerim's nose. 

"W-why can't I find her pulse?" Hyeju looked at the older girls, her eyes starting to water again. 

Her tears begin to fall, one by one. "Unnie, I can't find her pulse."

Chaewon went to check too, while Yeojin was still not moving from her place. 

"Yerim, come on, wake up," Hyeju said in a shaky voice. 

"Unnie, why is she not waking up?" Hyeju looked at Jinsol. 

"Please, answer me," Hyeju begged. 

"Yerim, please wake up." 

Why is Yerim not responding at all? 

"I... I can't find anything," Chaewon said, plopping herself down beside Hyeju. 

"Yerim..." Yeojin mumbled her lover's name. 

"Yerim, why?" she asked, going to hug her soul mate and cry. 

"What's happening?" Kahei asked, her voice almost inaudible. 

"She's not breathing anymore," Yeojin said, and cried on Yerim's chest. 

"No! Don't say that!" Hyeju crawls back towards Yerim. 

"Yerim, wake up, we're going to find the cure for Heejin and Jiwoo-unnie." Hyeju holds Yerim's cold hand. 

"Yeojin, help me wake Yerim up and don't just cry there," she said, and shake Yerim off again. 

"Please, wake up." 

"You can't leave me too, Yerim."

"Yerim! Wake up!"

They watch as Hyeju desperately tries to wake Yerim up. 

Jungeun covered her mouth and turned away as she sobbed for the nth time.

"Yerim, no..." Haseul drops to her knees and cries as well. 

"Yerim! Please, respond to me!" Hyeju is out of control. She's shaking and shaking Yerim, doing everything to wake her up. 

"Hyeju-unnie, please stop," Yeojin pleaded, gently holding Hyeju's hands that were on Yerim. 

"Yeojin, no. Yerim is still gonna wake up" Hyeju shakes her head, denying the fact that Yerim is not breathing. 

"She's not breathing anymore, unnie" Yeojin's tears flowed down to her cheeks. 

"Her body is cold already," Yeojin said, bringing her hands to her face. 

She should've tried to wake up Yerim when it was their turn to guard the sleeping ones.

"Yeojin, wake up, it's you and Yerim's turn," Kahei softly said to Yeojin.

"Alright, I'm up," the youngest said, and she got up.

She looked over at Yerim who was in Hyeju's embrace. She reasoned that it was best not to wake the girl up because she knew Yerim was exhausted, so she let the peacefully sleeping girl sleep longer.

"I'm sorry," Yeojin apologized, and pulled Hyeju into a hug.

"No, she's still going to wake up." Hyeju tried to get out of Yeojin's arms.

Hyeju cupped Yerim's face; her skin felt cold against her palm. "Please don't leave me too, Yerim."

"We promised... We promised to stay together." Hyeju cried and cried.

She doesn't think she can handle another loss. Hyunjin just left, and now Yerim?

"I won't make fun of you anymore. Just please wake up, Yerim."

"Hyeju" Sooyoung hugged Hyeju tightly.

"She can't leave me after Hyunjin just..." Hyeju broke down in Sooyoung's embrace.

How can they even do this to me? This is so unfair. We promised to survive together."

All of them cried more because of Hyeju's cries.

"She promised me we would survive..." Yeojin mumbled, holding her dead lover's face.

"I love you so much." she hugged the cold body and cried on Yerim's chest. She cried on her chest like she used to do when they were still in their dorm, but this time, Yerim wasn't able to hug her and lock her in her embrace. Yerim can't kiss her head anymore. Yerim can't tell her comforting words anymore. Yerim can't be with her anymore. 

She never imagined that she'd lose Yerim. Never. 

Yeojin's hand traveled to Yerim's, and the girl was holding her inhaler tightly. Yeojin shut her eyes and let her tears fall again. Yerim probably suffered alone while they were all asleep. She probably fought alone. 

"Yerim," Yeojin called out her name. 

"Yerim, wake up, my love."

"Please..."

Haseul couldn't take it and went to Yeojin, hugging the younger girl. 

The world is so cruel. 

They just lost a friend and then another friend. Their number is slowly decreasing. Who's going to be next? 

They wish that no one would follow the two. They wished to stay together and survive all together, even if it's just the eight of them. They wished to find the lab as soon as possible and go back to Jiwoo and Heejin so they'd be ten again. 

They wished to survive. Is that too much to ask?