victim // gwi-nam

four

I sat as comfortably as I could with my head leaning upwards in silence for several moments. He stayed still as I watched him through my peripheral vision.

But only a few moments later, we were bombarded by the strident sound of the speakers. I had never heard something so awful-sounding and physically painful in my life. It felt like nails across a chalkboard, but worse, and it was like my head was forced up as close as possible. The man whose name I still was unaware of also sucked in a breath of air, showing his teeth slightly as he brought his hands to his ears in pain.

The noise slowly rang out and returned back to normal. I sighed thankfully and the guy removed his hands from his ears.

A voice started to speak over the loud-speaker. "Hey--if anyone is still alive here--a group of survivors are going to the roof - now. It is the safest place and it will be more likely we get saved up there. Please come if you can. We are about to head up there now, so hopefully we should be there in no more than thirty minutes. If you manage to get to the roof -- knock on the door five times."

I glanced over at him. He was looking up at the speaker with his eye and not his head. His lips were incredibly chapped, and matched color with the rest of his face. "Cheong-San."

He stood up subtly and zipped up his jacket, getting ready to turn around. "I guess this means that I don't need you just yet."

I looked up at him and felt my heart drop.

Before I could even form a response, he had turned his back to me and opened the door, leaving. I could now hear the screams of people running through the halls, uninfected, trying to dodge the monsters.

I couldn't understand why he was doing this to me. I was infuriated. I wanted to kill him. And if that wasn't possible, I'd make his life hell. No matter what it took.

I tried to tug at my hands again with my new-found strength, and groaned loudly at the pain. Still no use.

All of a sudden, I heard the large slam of the door to the classroom outside me followed by a heavy swear through an exhale.

I heard a bunch of cluttering, like whoever had came in was searching for something. I could tell they weren't a zombie, but by the level of stress I wondered if they locked themselves in here to protect others because they were about to turn. I couldn't tell.

I gasped dramatically as I heard the harsh rattle of the doorknob to the supply closet I was in. The person shook it intensely and dramatically, and next thing I know I heard a click of the lock.

The door opened quickly, and the man I met eyes with jumped out of his skin.

"Shib.... Nam-Hana," Su-Hyeok breathed heavily as he spoke.

"Su-Hyeok," I never felt so relieved in my life. "Please, untie my hands."

I didn't even notices that my head was locking to the side and loudly cracking until Su-Hyeok looked at me nervously.

"Um--were you bitten?" He asked.

As I returned to normal, my heart rate went up. I'm sure by now, just as I had been before I was killed, he was very cautious towards people who he wasn't 100% sure weren't bitten.

"I was days ago," I told him, not bothering to lie because the truth would come out eventually which would lead to further distrust.

He backed up and grabbed the handle to the door.

"Su-Hyeok, please," I pleaded. "I was bitten days ago, I already turned. I don't know what happened and why I'm not like the others, but I'm still me. I won't hurt you. Please, Su-Hyeok, just come and untie my hands. I've been here for days."