We all settled with a plan which consisted of the four of us going out to get the girl while Sana and Nayeon would stay inside the car. Kiro thought about saving the girl inside with Saeko while me and Mari would be the distraction.
And if anything bad happens, Nayeon would drive and get us out.
But looking at the horde which had blood everywhere, I felt sick. I'm glad Kiro noticed it and decided that I'll be the one to get the girl and go up the building, I couldn't tolerate blood.
Crouching slowly, we went behind a dumpster which was a few meters away. The horde was intact, numerous and was blocking off the entrance of the building. "You got this Y/n." Kiro looked at me with encouragement while crouching as I nodded.
I stood up and climbed the rusty ladder that was hanging down and went up the building. With every tread I made the ladder creak, so I made my pace much slower, Saeko then followed.
The girl still haven't saw us, she was still grasping on the bars but now was silent. A put my left arm on the ledge then the right and pulled myself up with ease, which made me wonder how I got stronger than before.
"Kyou got stronger," She chuckled from behind.
The rooftop was plain and empty except for the small door at the far left. I opened the door slowly and went inside, used the steps to descend down the floors.
The girl was on the fourth floor and we were on the seventh. It was a far way down but I eventually arrived. The hallway was poorly lit, it made it hard for me to see with the eye patch I had. Nausea suddenly hit me, the smell of the hallway was very foul.
I covered my nose while Saeko did the same.
Several doors were on the hallway, it was an apartment complex. Some lights were flickering and the hallway looked like a massacre had happen. Walls were vandalized by blood and scratches, it was worse.
Without the idea of what door to open, we checked them one by one, closed it after peeking. Most of them were locked.
We finally found a room to go into, it was clean and looked like nobody lived there. I closed the door behind and went to the window, Saeko was by the window, her head was out.
"She's three doors away from us." She turned to me, we mmediately went out with weapons in hand.
Once Saeko opened the door, the poor lit hallway welcomed me, with one eye open it was hard to be cautious but I tried my hardest.
Saeko opened the door, the room was more messy than the hallway and the street combined! With small treads, I turned on the light which showed the nasty walls of the room while closing the door behind. It was not a good decision.
Dizziness almost destroyed me, I felt like I would vomit any second. Not blood..
Ignoring the wall, I went to the window which showed the girl's feet on the ledge, the window had a padlock and was locked.
Saeko furiously banged the locked which fell on the sink of the kitchen. I slid window open, the grills also had a padlock which gave us hassle.
Once the lock was broken I opened the right bar-window, the girl was standing on the left. I heard a gasp, with my head out I saw her bewildered. "Come quick!"
She went towards me carefully, before her left leg slipped out making her fall, I bent forward so did Saeko and grabbed her left arm while Saeko grabbed the other, she looked terrified, "Hang on!"
With both of my hands and all strength I had, we pulled her inside of the house as we collided on the floor, "Alright?" I asked. She nodded, her pants was dirty as well as her camo shirt which had a name behind and a number.
Son
1
Saeko stood up, dusting herself, "We gotta go out." I stood up and helped the girl up.
I told her to follow us, while she thanked us immensely. The doorknob twisted open, another trip to the dark hallway.
I heard firecrackers go off outside, it wasn't part of the plan. "Yah!" Frightened, she held my left hand. I heard Saeko groan from annoyance, "What's with the firecrackers?"
"It's fine, we gotta go out." Looking left and right before stepping outside, we had to make sure no monsters were around or It'll be hard.
We were going to the staircase on a steady pace, the hallway was quiet until we heard a thud behind a door we went by. No one looked behind, our pace fastened.
Another firecracker went off outside, this time the hallway erupted with chasing footsteps. They're up! With a glance behind, twelve to fifteen monsters were chasing us from behind.
It was the worst case scenario, I wasn't feeling well and monsters were after us.
The girl shrieked in fear, I held her wrist and pulled her as I ran, Saeko was in front. I looked forward, and saw the same number of monsters chasing us in front.
We were trapped. Saeko stopped and hurriedly opened the door beside us, which was unlocked.
I closed and locked the door behind. Huffing for air so did they. It was the clean room from before.
More than a hundred bangs was heard from the door, the three of us immediately blocked off the entrance with a table and anything we could see in the room.
Sweat formed around my forehead, I wiped it off while walking towards the window. Saeko examined the area while I opened the window.
"This is our only way out," I said while looking down. It was high up, we were four stories above. There was no horde waiting below, the street was silent, no one can be seen except for the remains of the zombies.
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at my left, the car wasn't there. "They ditched us?"
"What?" Saeko approached and looked at the window before sighing. "There's no more horde out there- but inside. I'm sure this is a different horde than before."
"It's the residents," Son joined in the conversation. "How do you know Son?" I asked as she smiled light-heartedly, "My name is Chaeyoung. Just call me that, and thank you again."
"I'm Y/n and this is Saeko. You're welcome," I pointed at Saeko who nodded.
"A friend of mine live here.." Her voice trailed off. "I see, we better get moving." I avoided the topic which seemed hard for her. I still wonder how she got stuck on the ledge of the window. The monsters didn't stopped pounding the door.
"I'm going out first," Said by Saeko who went over the window. My head was out I looked around for an escape route, and found a ladder on my right, far from reach. Saeko held onto bars of the window while I went inside since I was on her way. She jumped onto the ladder with a clang, her left hand barely hanging on.
"Wait a minute," She said while she kicked down the ladder which went down with another clang.
I followed her lead she went down a little for room for me to jump on. The ledge was barely an inch it was a two arms away-reach, I gulped and jumped to the ladder and also barely hanged on. "Good, I'll get down now. I'll wait for you two." She said as she descended down the ladder.
"Chaeyoung! Come on now," She went out as soon as I called her. She held on the bars, while I moved down a bit. She jumped perfectly over, with her size I was impress. "You had a better landing than I did."
We descended down, Saeko was waiting for us. I looked around there was no sign of Nayeon and the car. "They really did ditched us huh?" I puffed annoyed.
"With or without them, we will get moving." Saeko pulled out her sword from her scabbard, she looked piss.
"You're coming with us," I looked at Chaeyoung who nodded. The street was silent, a few zombies laid on the ground headless, with blood splatters.
I looked straight ahead, smell was disgusting, just like inside. We walked back to where the car had parked, it wasn't there.
"You good?" Saeko asked while we walked on the pavement. "Had better days-"
A car's honked was heard from behind we immediately turn around and saw that Nayeon was driving the car. She halted beside us. "Get in losers," She smirked.
I didn't bother to go inside the car, Kiro was in the front seat, Sana was in the backseat which was followed by Saeko and Chaeyoung. I hopped on the trunk, Mari was sitting with her knees up to her chest.
She looked up with a half-smile. I sat down while the car started rolling away. The wind gushed through my face, Mari's hair was waving around with the wind.
It was silent. The car ride was a bit speedy, I don't doubt Nayeon is a wreckless driver. "You thought we ditched you?" She looked up.
"What happened?" It wasn't part of the plan to left, we all agreed to go out in one piece even if we didn't knew each other that well.
"We threw firecrackers which killed majority of the horde, Kiro switched plans. I only wanted to do a distraction but he wanted to kill them, sucks for him. He's now injured." She said nonchalantly.
"What?"
"He blew his left leg with a firecracker." She grinned shaking her head, almost giggling. My eyes widened. "Did he lost his leg?"
"No, luckily he didn't. I guess that happens when you don't stick to the plans." She shrugged. I never thought Kiro would be the type of guy to blew his own self with a firecracker.
"It was his first time using fire crackers," She scoffed.
"Where are we going?"
"Back to the field."
✖ ✖ ✖
It was a fifteen minute ride, the car rolled to a stop and we went out, it was a huge lawn. "The football stadium?" Chaeyoung asked, I looked around it was big, green, grass and had tents around.
Grass was everywhere.
"This is your hideout? How many people are here?" Nayeon asked.
"It was the government's order to evacuate. I'm sure some of your friends are here." Kiro smiled with one foot up.
"Government? Why haven't we heard about the government?" I let out, Kiro turned to me before limping off, accompanied by Mari into the field, which had people like a small town. "You gotta listen to the radio Y/n!"
We followed him, a lot of tents were around, some kids were playing and running while some were carrying boxes. "I don't like this." Saeko muttered while glancing at me.
"There's too many people around," She added as I smiled, "I feel you."
A huge campfire was in the middle, logs for seats was around, some people sat on it. The fire was out, it was only 11 in the morning.
Kiro talked to a man much taller than him, had a beard and was around his 50s. Me and Saeko sat on the logs, while the other girls roamed the area. My eyes never left Kiro, he was still talking to the man who looked stone cold. He left and was admitted to the so called clinic tent which had a cross sign on top.
"Arh!" I bit my lip in pain when a sudden vibration went through my right wrist, Saeko noticed. "You don't look alright."
I bit my lip harder, avoiding any reaction from the pain. I felt like my wrist was getting crushed by something, a tugging sensation. Saeko looked at me worried.
I held my wrist, tears went down my eyes. It was too painful to bear. "I'm going to check on it." With that excuse, I walked away ignoring Saeko who asked if I wanted company and onto the bleachers which didn't had anyone around.
I sat, pulled up my sleeve. Blood was leaking, I squinted my eyes. I opened the bandage without looking before glancing back at the wound. My mouth was agape, the wound was much opened than before, it looked like it was stretched out. Flesh from my inside could be seen, it grew deeper.
The teeth marks disappeared and some kind of lead – roots of something else appeared. It was from the inside which circled around my wrist. What the heavens is this?!
My mind began to drift off. This is not normal, I am truly turning into a monster. I saw the root twitched, I shifted in my seat repulsed.
Heart pounding, blood dripped down to the floor. The root twitched again and this time went inside my wound, I felt it running through my arm before it stopped.
Shocked, bewildered, stunned and dizzy, I couldn't move from what had happened. Heart still pounding, I quickly bandaged it up again the stinginess and pain was gone. A little bit worried about losing too much blood.
I looked down, and saw my blood slowly drying out. "This is weird."
"Hey! You aren't allowed there! Get over here!" A man waved at me to come back, it was the time for me to go.
Walking a little wobbly back into the campfire, Nayeon and the others were sitting around. "Are you alright?" Saeko asked as she saw me approach.
"I'm fine." I reassured while she gave me a lingering look, she knew me very well. "Did something happen to you?" Sana asked, I shook my head, "No, just hungry. I reckon you guys wanna eat too."
They all nodded and agreed. "Well hello, fancy seeing you here-" A girl with green highlights and a bob walked in front of us, eyes emotional.
"Momo!" Sana jumped and hugged the girl. Nayeon then followed then Chaeyoung, they shared a long lasting group-hug.
Saeko's lips turned upwards, it was a genuine one. She rarely smiles when it come to those things.
They introduced Momo to us while me and Saeko introduced ourselves. "Where are the others?" Nayeon asked.
"Is Dahyun okay?" Chaeyoung asked, eyebrows furrowed, lips waiting for an answer. Momo's eyes turned sentimental, "I-I don't know about the others, but me and Dahyun got seperated..." She trailed off.
Chaeyoung sighed in defeat. "How did you got here?" I asked a bit curious of her whereabouts.
"I was going out for a food trip after the photoshoot but then people acted wildly, good thing a sheriff was around. He gave us a ride to here."
"Us?"
"Yes, somehow IU-sunbaenim was also around. We both got here safely with other idols. Isn't it such a coincidence?" She smiled a bit, Nayeon's eye lightened.
"I'm g-glad she's safe," I heard Naeyon mumble.
Suddenly a bell rang, "Lunch time everyone!" A man using a megaphone said behind a table said. "Please go in line, if you're late you will be missed out!"
Our eyes adverted to the long table which had packed meals stacked on each other. "Come on," Momo said and jogged to the table which already had a long line.
It seemed that the are had more than 200 people, how can they afford to feed them all. They're the government afterall. We waited in line for long until it was our turn, they gave me a meal in a small styrofoam box.
I gingerly ate the meal while walking to the fire, "You!" A voice shouted from behind, I didn't bother to look around. "Hey you! Long sleeves!"
My body turned around and saw a girl wearing a baseball cap and a sleeveless shirt standing with hands on her hips. "You're new hear right? Here's your tent-" She approached and gave me a tent which made me almost dropped my food.
"Assemble it wherever you like it."
The girls tried to assemble the tent for half an hour, I only sat and enjoyed their frustration. "Y/n-ah! Come on help!" Sana yelled out.
"You lazy ass, get your quirky face here!" Saeko yelled which made stood up, "Alright!"
I went past them, "Thought you were a scout." I playfully glared at Saeko who looked pissed.
It only took 5 minutes before the tent was fully assembled it was a big tent! Big enough for ten people. "Yah! You could've help us, and saved time." Nayeon looked at me straight in the eye, I shrugged.
We went inside, we were also given blankets and pillows. I never thought this would be so comfy. Chose a spot at the back, so no one would disturb me, except for Sana who also chose to sleep beside me. There was plenty space around and she chose to sleep beside me.
They talked while inside the tent. Saeko was sharpening her sword, while I laid on my back, face up. "I wonder if I can contact my sister?"
My thoughts was interrupted when my phone vibrated on my pocket, I quickly took it out.
From 567-890-152
I'm glad you're fine hun. Me and your dad and your siblings are here in Seoul. Please take care I love you so much
3-04-22 | 3:25 PM
Who was this I figured to look through my previous messages.
To 567-890-152
Mom don't worry about me I'm still here. I love you and miss you. I hope I can see you soon. Take care I love you
03-03-22 | 2:10 PM
I remembered now. This was Nayeon's message when she borrowed my phone, I thought she didn't texted anyone.
Gat up and went to Nayeon who was chatting with her friends. "Hey, you got a message." I gave her my phone, she looked up a bit confused but read my phone anyways.
Her eyes completely went soft, she was about to cry. "Thank you," She gave me back me phone. "Wanna reply?" I asked but she said it was fine.
I went out and tried to contact my sister. Why was there no signal? I already roamed the entire field but still no signal. Without a choice, I climbed the bleachers and pressed the call.
It started ringing!
"Ana! You there?! How are you?! How's mom?!" I ecstatically asked.
"Y/n! Thank God your okay. Mom and I are doing okay, the mountain already barricaded everything."
"How many insulins are left?!"
"It would only last until next Monday.. I will find a way- Why haven't you answered my calls?"
"Reception is bad in the city. Monday is only 10 days from now.. Just stay put I'll be there soon."
"Alright, but please take care. I love you-" Her voice sounded like she was in a rush.
"I miss you and I love you too-"
"Who are you talking to?" A voice of a deep man asked. I certainly didn't know who it was.
I kept my mouth shut even if I wanted answers to my questions. Concern and worried immediately went to me.
"Nothing..." I stayed on the line.
"You better be.." I heard the door closed and she sighed heavily.
"Don't worry we'll be fine-" She whispered. What is she talking about?
"If another word comes out, you'll know what's coming next-" The man blurted and before I could say anything the line ended.
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