The power went out first.
In the late evening around 19:37 ( 7:37 pm ), the TV that was playing one of the most important basketball games of the season, the semi-finals to see if their university would make it into the next round, turned off. Seonghwa and his roommate, along with a few other of their friends yelled in a chorus, clearly angry because there were only fifteen seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter and the game was tied.
Popcorn was thrown at the black screen as one of them desperately tried to see if one of the cables behind the flatscreen was disconnected.
"Couldn't have been a worse time," one of them grumbled, eyebrows furrowed together in frustration as he tried to pull up the game on his phone.
"I told you to switch internet providers," his roommate was the next to criticize him, throwing popcorn this time at Seonghwa who could only hold his hands up in defense to shield himself from the pelting kernels.
"Like this is my fault, I don't control the TV," Seonghwa shot back, clearly irritated about the whole situation too. He got up from his comfy position on the couch and ducked behind the flatscreen and settled beside his other friend who was still looking at the wires and cables. "What's wrong with it?"
"I have no idea, the wires aren't fried and they are all plugged in."
Seonghwa's nose scrunched a little in confusion.
"Hey Seonghwa, none of your clocks are working," one of their other friends called to him, pointing at the offending clock on the microwave that seemed to have gone dead as well.
Seonghwa stood up, protesting a little at his sore legs for having sat down for so long, and made his way over into the small open kitchen and started pressing at random numbers on the microwave. No matter what he did or pressed, even trying the reset button, nothing happened.
"Is the power out?" He asked, turning back to his three other friends who were standing in a circle around the small coffee table that was covered in empty beer cans, popcorn, and pretzels.
"My phone isn't charging," his roommate held up his phone, the charging cable plugged in snuggly to both the phone and the wall, but still the said phone was indeed not charging. "So, I guess the power is out after all."
Seonghwa's hands went into his hair, pushing it back as he sighed heavily in frustration. The worst time for that to happen.
"I bet it's the seniors pulling an April Fool's prank," one of them said, an accusing tone laced in with his words. "We all know those pieces of shit would do something like that, they're still butt hurt that they didn't make the team and aren't playing right now. Not our class's fault for being on a god-level for basketball."
All of them laughed at that, not a single feeling of pity in the room for any of the seniors that lost their spots on the team, rightfully so of course. Had they not been so prideful and acted as if they sat on a throne above everyone else, then maybe Seonghwa would've felt a little more empathy for them when they lost their spots, but that wasn't the case.
And now here they were, so immature that they were ruining the experience for everyone, not that any of them were surprised.
"I don't know about you, but I love seeing athletes get kicked off a team when they think their position can never be threatened, serves them right."
"Yeah, well now they are pulling this shit, I just wanted to watch the fucking game."
"Do you think the power is out everywhere?"
"I doubt it, this is a giant campus, there is no way they cut the whole power grid. Someone has to have a generator."
Seonghwa's roommate grabbed a Pepsi off of the table and opened it. Humming as he drank, nearly chugged, the carbonated drink with little difficulty, he nodded. "The other side of campus should be fine."
"I know someone over there, an old friend of mine since freshman year," one of their friends spoke up, pulling out his phone to what Seonghwa presumed was to text this said friend. But his face scrunched up a bit, appearing irritated. "Dude, the wifi is down."
"Seriously?" Seonghwa asked, pulling out his own phone from his jeans. Sure enough, he had no wifi and only had two bars of cell service.
"They really have taken this prank too far, once I figure out who was behind this, I'll bash their face in."
"You'll have to get in line."
The friend who still had his phone out just sighed heavily, putting it back in his front pocket, and grabbed a can of beer from the cooler they had set up at the end of the table, "Well, I don't have data because my parents cut me off. But I know the way to her apartment, we can go there to see if the game went into overtime."
"Oh? A girl?" Seonghwa's roommate playfully jabbed at his friend, even throwing some popcorn at him. If Seonghwa hadn't been ever so slightly buzzed, the clutter of the room around them would've had his skin crawling.
"Shut your mouth, you coming or not?"
"Does she have a roommate?" Their other friend asked, his eyes wide with interest at the answer. "A cute one?"
"She does."
"You should've said that sooner then!"
Seonghwa could only shake his head. What simple-minded creatures they were.
The two of them turned to Seonghwa's roommate, who politely declined. Out of the four of them, he was the least interested in knowing the outcome of the game, and Seonghwa knew he would rather play some sort of game on his phone than walk all the way across campus. They then turned to Seonghwa himself, eyebrows raised in a silent question.
"I have to study, I have a huge exam tomorrow," he regretfully answered, almost upset with himself for passing up the opportunity. If he hadn't spent so much time partying lately, then maybe his grades would've been a little better and this exam wouldn't be so crucial to if he passed or not, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"Boo hoo, boring," one of them answered, poking his tongue out teasingly. "But suit yourself, once they turn the wifi on I'll text you the results."
"You're so considerate," Seonghwa smiled at them, a fake sense of gratitude, as he crossed his arms over his chest.
They left shortly after that, each of them grabbing another beer and a handful of popcorn before the apartment door clicked shut. Seonghwa's roommate had already settled onto the couch that was littered with the buttery food and Seonghwa tried not to focus too much on that. As he expected, the man was playing some game on his phone, his fingers tapping away at crazy speeds and his eyes extremely focused.
"Is your wifi working?" Seonghwa asked, feeling slightly jealous at that idea.
"No," his roommate didn't even look up from his phone, his eyes darting across the screen to keep up with the fast-paced game. "I have data, unlike the rest of you."
"Lucky ass," Seonghwa muttered under his breath, pulling out his phone to see that he still had no wifi, and tossed his phone onto the cushions of the couch.
He moved to the kitchen, his eyes briefly scanning the microwave clock and even to the small coffee machine to see that neither of them were working. Seonghwa wasn't really worried, as long as the power was back by the morning because he couldn't last without his morning coffee. There was a pile of dishes in the sink, and Seonghwa couldn't deny his instincts to clean any longer. He could put up with the living room being a mess, there was no hope for that because there were people constantly over, but the kitchen was his domain, and God help anyone who messed with it.
But as soon as he took a step towards the sink, his fingers twitching as he reached for the gloves hanging over the edge, the lights cut out.
"You're fucking kidding me!" He heard his roommate nearly yell, the only source of light in the room coming from his phone.
Seonghwa couldn't see anything, feeling around the room until he found the wall and where the light switches were. He flicked the switches a few times, but nothing happened. He carefully made his way over to his roommate who looked less than pleased, almost finding it funny how he looked so irritated in the soft glow of his phone light.
"The generators must've stopped," Seonghwa said, reaching for his phone, deciding to use the last bit of data he had to call his parents to ask for advice.
"The hell they did, the generators don't just stop, Hwa," his roommate grumbled and threw his phone across the room. "And now I don't even have cell service, I can't do anything. Fuck this."
Seonghwa didn't say anything, and instead just listened to the endless rings with his phone pressed against his ear.
"No use in calling, the cell towers are probably overloaded right now. Those idiots really went too far this time."
The phone kept ringing and ringing, and after two minutes of the endless sound, Seonghwa decided to hang up and try again maybe when things died down a little bit.
"We have candles don't we?" He asked, already making his way over to the kitchen, using the flashlight on his phone for light. "Open up the curtains, let the light in from the city."
"We should, probably not big ones. But you can use them to study since you seemed to need to do that," came the response. It was followed by a deep groan and then the sound of the curtains from the window being drawn back.
"Oh fuck."
"What's wrong?" Seonghwa asked wanting to look for himself, but his head was buried in the cabinet trying to reach the few candles they had from last Halloween.
"The city is black, must be a blackout. I guess the seniors didn't do it- or if they did, they fucked up big time."
"Are you kidding?" Seonghwa managed to grab two candles but bumped his head on the shelf when he tried to exit. "Fucking- I will burn down these cabinets if it's the last thing I ever fucking do."
"Easy there, you hit the cabinets with your big ass head. Don't go blaming the wood that can't move."
"Open your mouth one more time and I won't ever cook you food again," Seonghwa threatened, rummaging through the drawers to find some matches. He could vaguely see his roommate place his hand over his chest with a gasp. Clearly a rehearsed act they both knew well.
"You would never-"
"Try me."
He found some matches, finally lighting the candles, and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of light it created in the room. Both of them seemed a little happier at that, turning their phone flashlights off and looking out the window. Just like his roommate had said, the city was just as dark as they were in their room. The street lights were out, along with the other buildings around them. The streets were completely vacant, which was a very rare sighting. They were in the middle of the city, so not seeing anyone or even cars on the street, was very weird.
It made Seonghwa shift, a not-so-pleasant feeling bubble inside him.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a parade tonight?" He asked, looking over at his roommate who did not appear as worried as he was.
"Yeah, but it was probably canceled because of the power outage."
"When do you think we'll get the power back?"
"Why the hell are you asking me that?"
"You're an engineer-"
"As soon as the generators start working," his roommate supplied almost instantly. "Why? Are you scared of the dark?"
No, he was not scared of the dark. He actually preferred it to the blinding light of the day most times, but it was the eerie feeling he was getting that left him uneasy.
"Of course not," he answered easily, not missing the way his roommate gave him a sly look. "I just thought it was weird the generators stopped working is all."
"It seemed the campus ones did, but the city has their own."
"Then why aren't they working-"
"It takes an insane amount of power to light up this city, give it another ten or fifteen minutes, it'll light up."
Seonghwa sighed, not entirely satisfied with the answer but decided it was the best he was going to get for the time being. Until then, he brought his study material out to the living room and brought the candles around him so he could start reviewing for his exam.
Maybe he would be lucky and the exam would be moved to a later date because of the circumstances, but he knew how cruel his professor was, so he wasn't going to take that chance.
Sure enough, his roommate was right. Only ten minutes later, some of the lights turned back on. They flickered every now and then, and the light wasn't as strong as it usually was, though it was enough for Seonghwa to see and read the words on the papers.
There still was no cell service, and the lines were still overloaded even an hour later.
"Do you have-" Seonghwa tried to ask but his roommate cut him off immediately.
"No, my phone is not working for the hundredth time. Stop asking, my answer will still be the same the next time you do."
He clenched his jaw shut, and let out a little bit of a huff of air. His roommate had brought his own homework out too, finding nothing better to do, and when he heard Seonghwa's little huff of air, he looked up from his readings with a blank look.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, I just think this is weird," he answered.
"It's just a power outage, it happens all the time in big cities."
Seonghwa just nodded his head, pushing his nose back into the book. It was getting harder to read, the light seemed to be dimming every second, but at least they seemed to have some sort of power. It wasn't enough to have him worried or panicked yet, just feeling a little uneasy.
But it got to a point where his eyes started to ache, the light being barely a soft glow. He chose to close his book, knowing that there was no point in trying to study if it was only going to give him a headache.
"God fucking damn it," his roommate spoke out loud causing Seonghwa to turn to look at him. "The phones aren't charging anymore. I swear I will send a long and lovely email to the city's power company as soon as my phone will fucking work."
Seonghwa couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the way his roommate was easily angered. It was entertaining most days, he really couldn't complain.
"Do you think the coffee machine working?" Seonghwa asked a joke, light-hearted in his intentions.
But he only received a glare from the man, "What do you fucking think?"
Seonghwa said nothing after that, doing his best to hide his smile from his roommate as he walked past him and into the kitchen. He found himself in front of the sink once more, pulling the gloves over his hands with minimal difficulty. It wasn't his fault they were too small. His roommate bought them when they first moved in, but of course, his hands were smaller than Seonghwa's as he had the intention he would actually do the dishes. But here they were, nearly two years later and Seonghwa was the only one to clean the dishes... with gloves too small for his hands.
He reached for the faucet, intending to turn it on... the only problem was, no water came out.
Seonghwa probably stared at it for three minutes, not blinking or moving at all.
"The water's broke," he managed to say after it had processed with his brain.
"What?"
"It won't come out," Seonghwa showed his roommate, turning the faucet on and off multiple times. "It's broke."
"The pumps aren't working," his roommate rubbed his temples, clearly getting more annoyed with each passing second. "You're fucking kidding me. I was just about to say we might wanna fill some pots and pans with water just in case this happens ... but fuck that now."
Seonghwa peeled off his gloves, setting them on the counter, and went to their shared bathroom, trying the faucets there and the shower. Still nothing.
When he came back into the living room, he shook his head to the other man to let him know he had no luck.
"How long has it been since the power went out?" His roommate asked.
"Almost two hours now," Seonghwa checked his phone, expecting that he wouldn't find he had gotten wifi again, but still felt the disappointment when it wasn't there. "Same with the cell towers too."
"Well," the man started, resting both of his hands on his hips as he sighed heavily once more. "If this was something worse than just a power outage then we would've heard something by now. But it's the quietest I have ever heard it be in this apartment - and I am not willing to jinx that. I want to sleep well for once."
Amen to that, Seonghwa thought.
Just as they mutually agreed that it would probably be best to turn in for the night, to sleep off whatever was happening, a blaring horn sounded outside. It spooked the both of them, jumping as the horn only stopped momentarily to send out a message. Both Seonghwa and his roommate ran over to the window, spotting a helicopter flying over them with a spotlight shining down in the street. There were more of them farther in the distance, about three others.
The blaring horns were loud, Seonghwa wanted to cover his ears from the noise, but didn't want to miss the message. It was hard to hear what was being said, the megaphone on the helicopter was nearly too quiet and drowned out.
"Can you understand what they are saying?" His roommate asked, his eyebrows furrowed together.
"Something about," Seonghwa strained his ears, the blaring horns not helping at all. "... emergency system ... station 17? What the hell does that mean?"
The message was repeated once more before the helicopter moved on, the loudness of the horns barely getting any better.
His roommate pulled away from the window, something that Seonghwa was not able to do yet because the sight before him was so shocking. He didn't notice his roommate's presence missing until he came back, setting an object on a table and turning it on. The loud static was what brought Seonghwa out of his trance, feeling the way his heartbeat was starting to race.
"What's that?" He asked, turning around to look at the man and his new device.
"What does it look like? It's a radio. I'm guessing they want us to tune into station 17. If everything else is down, that might be the only way to reach people."
God bless his roommate's beautiful brain.
"What would I do without you?" Seonghwa praised him, patting his back happily and momentarily forgetting about the odd situation that was taking place.
"You'd be dead."
They tuned into station 17, but it was mainly static, as they expected. They could tell that something was being said, and they could make certain words out or even phrases from time to time, but nothing was making sense.
They kept saying things like, the power was out for the whole city. Something about the power plants, but they couldn't make out what was the problem with them.
They didn't mention the water issue, or not that they could tell.
But when they kept repeating words and sentences like: unidentifiable, creatures, seventeen deaths confirmed, evacuate as soon as possible... Seonghwa couldn't deny that now he was starting to worry. His heart was beating against his chest, feeling rather gullible to the information he was being provided with.
He looked over to his roommate and was surprised to see that he seemed indifferent about it.
"Aren't you... isn't this something to worry about?" He couldn't help but ask, pointing down to the portable radio with wide eyes.
"No, it's not."
"Do you hear what they are saying? Seventeen deaths already... to evacuate," Seonghwa countered, his voice coming out a little strained.
"I hear it, but none of it makes sense. No one is outside, no one is dying."
"You don't know that, we might not be able to see it."
"Let me tell you something Hwa," his roommate scooted closer to him, throwing an arm over his shoulder so their bodies were close together. "This is all just a prank."
"A what--?" Seonghwa asked in disbelief.
"This message that they are sending out is just a recording, it loops over and over. Someone probably has a looped tape next to a microphone or something. Today is April 1st too, you know our school goes crazy with pranks. This is just a very well thought out one."
"But- but I can hear people outside our door- they don't seem to think it's a prank and neither do I-"
It was no lie, about five minutes after the message from the helicopter, they started to hear people running up and down the halls, doors slamming shut with people talking and whispering.
"That's because they are falling for the prank, and guess what? When the administration and seniors come out and announce that it was a prank and got the whole city involved, we'll be one of the very few people that were smart enough not to fall for it."
"I am not a smart person-"
"You are studying astronomy, that has to account for something."
Seonghwa closed his mouth, his hands twitching beside him as one of his feet bounced up and down nervously. His mouth felt rather dry, suddenly regretting drinking all the beers he had before.
He must've been pale and silent for too long, staring off at the radio that was indeed only saying the same things over and over and mainly spewing out only static, because his roommate let out a soft sigh, his eyes softening just a little.
"Listen Hwa, let's just wait this out for another hour. If it doesn't clear up then, we can go ask the people down in the lobby what's going on. How does that sound?"
It was a genuine comprise, but Seonghwa wanted to go now. Something was telling him, his instincts, that something was definitely wrong and it would do them best to listen to the radio. But, at the same time, he didn't want to end up falling for it if it was actually a prank. His pride and ego would never recover from such a thing. Plus, his roommate and best friend was very smart, both academically and street-wise, he always seemed to know what to do and where to go.
So if he didn't think this was actually something to worry about, then Seonghwa would try and find a way to trust him.
He could wait one hour.
Except he couldn't wait an hour. By the time the half-hour mark came along, Seonghwa could not sit still any longer. He refused to look out the window, he even locked the doors and was pacing around the room the entire time. His instincts were only screaming at him as the clock ticked on more and more, his stomach was twisting into a desperate need to just get out.
It got to the point where forty minutes in, he didn't care about his ego or falling for the possible prank, he just needed to know for sure. He could live for falling for a prank like this, and who could blame him? The power was out once more, the room dark and the candles almost melted through did not help calm his heart that was nearly in his throat. The blaring horns did not help either, it was the horns they used whenever a tornado was close or some sort of national emergency.
The static from the radio cleared up somewhat, and now Seonghwa couldn't leave the little table where it was sitting. Crouched by it, he listened to the person on the other end relay the same information they had been getting for the past hour.
"State of emergency .... unidentifiable beings spreading throughout the city of ... seventeen deaths confirmed ... national guard issuing a city-wide evacuation to ...." that was all he could understand, but it was enough to really get his skin crawling.
"They got the national guard in on this, there is no way it's a prank," Seonghwa looked up at his friend who was doing something on his phone.
His roommate did not respond, most likely not even hearing him.
Seonghwa picked up his phone, trying to call his parents again but this time, the phone didn't even ring. It just beeped once, and then the keypad showed up on the screen, signaling the call had been immediately ended.
"The line's dead..." Seonghwa whispered, shaking his phone like that would help matters. "You can't fake the line being dead!"
That seemed to grab the other man's attention, pulling his eyes away from Seonghwa in surprise. "It's dead?"
"I can't even call my parents, the line is literally dead!"
Seonghwa immediately stood up after that, going over to the window that he had not allowed himself to look out of since nearly forty minutes ago. The helicopters seemed to have moved on, except for one that was maybe a few blocks down, the spotlight still shining down onto the street, moving very slowly. The only other difference was the amount of people that were in the streets now, suitcases packed or small handbags. The streets weren't packed, but there were definitely enough people to know that something was wrong. They seemed panicked.
"This isn't a prank..." Seonghwa whispered, his hands felt clammy as they clamped down onto the windowsill.
He felt his roommate behind him, the man also looking over the sight he was seeing as well. He was silent for a minute, his eyes darting over the scene and how it was playing out. Seonghwa realized that he wasn't convinced still, and it only made him raise his eyebrows with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"What?" His roommate asked. "Do you think this is some sort of alien invasion?"
"No- I, no. But something is definitely wrong. It could be those big protests that keep getting way out of hand, they've been getting really dangerous lately," Seonghwa answered, tearing his eyes away from the window to watch his roommate sit back down. "But you can't deny that something is wrong. It's not just the campus students down there, there are people from all over."
"Seonghwa -"
"No, you listen now! The power doesn't just go out along with the generators for three hours. The water doesn't just disappear. Helicopters and the horns don't just show up and tell us to tune into a radio station of all things for information," Seonghwa said, his voice becoming a little louder than it normally was, clearly filled with a sense of urgency. "This isn't normal, none of it! I'm not saying that aliens are invading us, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
His instincts seemed to only grow antsier seeing how sluggish his roommate seemed. He felt the same way he did when he had a nightmare, one of those dreams where you couldn't run away fast enough from your killer.
When he surveyed his roommate more because he just couldn't understand his behavior, he noticed the pile of crushed beer cans that had accumulated by the chair he was sitting on. That most definitely wasn't there before.
"How- how much have you been drinking?" Seonghwa asked in a state of disbelief.
His roommate squinted at him, clearly not understanding why it mattered. "Uh... I've probably had about a full case now?"
"A full-- fucking hell, no wonder you aren't thinking straight," Seonghwa immediately turned on his heel, the adrenaline in his body finally spiking as he stuffed his phone into his pocket and grabbed his keys from the small table by the door. "I am going downstairs to get some answers, you stay here and start packing some things up just in case!"
He didn't even wait for his roommate's reply, which he knew would probably be cursing at him and saying he was making a big deal out of nothing, before walking out the door, not even bothering to close it all the way.
The lights were flickering in the hall, and Seonghwa knew that it was technically safe, but he felt the opposite walking down them. The elevators wouldn't be working, but that didn't matter because he was lucky and was already on the first floor. How they had gotten that room, Seonghwa would never know, but he also wouldn't dare to question it.
However, once he had exited the hallway, the lights were not on in the hobby, so he had to pull out his phone to use the flashlight to navigate the area. It was quiet, and he could not see the street from where he was, but he imagined that the people had started to move along so it wouldn't be all that busy anymore.
The apartment seemed empty, vacant. No one was behind the front desk from what he could tell. He could try the other entrance on the other end of the building, but his legs felt rather like jello, and didn't want to move. The hair on the back of his neck was sticking up, and he knew that he was just scaring himself more than he needed to, but he couldn't help it.
He decided it would be best to call out, see if anyone could hear him instead of him having to move about more. "Hello! Is there anyone here?"
Silence.
"Does anyone know what's going on?! Is this because of the protests at the capital?! Hello!"
His voice echoed throughout the room thanks to the tall ceiling of the room, repeating his words back to him twice.
But still, it was silent.
Until it wasn't.
It sounded like glass breaking, and Seonghwa whipped his head around, shining the light around, and let out a breath of relief seeing that all the windows and doors were still intact. The worst-case scenario was that someone had just broken in somewhere else, taking advantage of the situation going on.
But more sounds followed after he had remained silent and still for ten minutes making sure the coast was clear. It sounded like pounding. Fists or feet against walls, piping, doors, or anything of the sort. It seemed to be all around him and he couldn't pinpoint a direct location where it was coming from.
Even though the sound wasn't loud, it was deafening in his ears. The banging was constant, a rhymic pounding that synced up with his heart.
But it stopped, and then it was quiet again.
Seonghwa swallowed thickly, his feet frozen in place. He had half the mind to turn off the light on his phone, but he couldn't bear the thought of being in complete darkness at that moment.
"What is going on...?" He whispered to himself, wiping away the stress sweat along his hairline. He had recently just dyed his hair an ashy gray and could only imagine that his sweat was slightly gray and had just gotten the color onto his sleeve.
He walked around some more, going to the other side of the room to see if anyone was hiding in a corner, scared out of their mind just like he was. He didn't know what was going on, and even if it was just protesting that had gotten seriously out of hand, he knew just how dangerous they could be. He wasn't looking to die prematurely, so he nearly tiptoed around, trying to be as quiet as he could.
On the other side of the lobby where a giant flatscreen TV and sofas were set up around it, the door and the windows had an opaque covering over them. It let the light in but no one could see inside or out. Seonghwa quite liked that, he hated the idea of being spied on and liked the overall privacy it brought.
As he was looking around, his eyes briefly caught sight of the empty vending machine and pouted once he realized his favorite Snickers bars were all gone.
A cruel world it was.
But once again, his attention was taken away from the offense of the lack of Snickers bar and was directed to the door.
There was a shadow. It was a human-shaped shadow standing close to the glass.
That was about as relieving as it got. Seeing another human when they had all disappeared so quickly. Seonghwa couldn't see who it was or what they looked like, he could only tell that they were slightly shorter than him and had fluffy hair.
It reminded him of one of his friends that had left a few hours ago.
His mind flashed quickly to them, hoping that they had reached a safe point or wondered if they were drunk like his roommate and were taking the situation with a grain of salt. But the slight swaying of the human on the other side of the glass caught his attention again, confirming his worries.
The person was clearly drunk, not able to stand up straight or even balance themself well enough.
"Foolish for getting this drunk when this is happening, but I can't blame you," Seonghwa muttered to himself, finally putting his phone away in his back pocket and reached for the handles on the door to open them to let the person in and help them sober up a little before they all left like Seonghwa had wanted to hours before.
Except the only problem was the doors were chained shut. His fingers twitched at the cold and very thick metal chains that were wrapped around the handles and locked into place. Seonghwa had only seen this sort of thing in those horror movies he was addicted to when they wanted to keep something in or out.
That thought had the hair on the back of his neck spike again.
Keeping something out was one thing, but keeping something in was another. Because 'in' was where he was.
"I'm sorry-" he called out, placing his hand against the glass so hopefully the person could see him. "The door is chained shut- I can't open it! Go around to the front door, I'll let you in that way!"
He still had hoped to help this person, but it seemed they did not respond to him. So he tried again, increasing the volume of his voice, but then regretting it when the banging on the walls started up again. It sounded like something was in the walls, banging from the inside out.
He got as close to the glass as he could, feeling his hope increase when the person on the other side placed their hand on the glass. "I can't speak loudly, but please, just come to the other side."
He was always a kind and gentle person by nature, choosing to help others out of the kindness in his own heart. Seonghwa was just glad to know that in the face of the unknown danger, he still thought that way.
He really hoped his roommate was done packing already, he didn't want to waste time any longer. His instincts were really starting to scream at him (as if they weren't already before), feeling like eyes were burning holes into his back. He felt vulnerable, and his heart was beating so fast that he was struggling to breathe.
He looked briefly behind him, his soul nearly leaping out of his body, but relaxed a little when he saw nothing. Seonghwa turned back around to look at the person behind the glass, but it looked like they had leaned their head and upper body away from the door until just a split second later, they were ramming their head into the glass.
Seonghwa jumped back, his legs failing him and crumbling to the ground, a silent scream left his throat sore and kept his mouth open from the sight in front of him.
The person pulled away, only to do it again, hands pressed up against the glass and then ramming the front of their head into the door again. That time, the glass cracked a little and when the person pulled back, they left behind a dark stain that Seonghwa refused to accept as what it was.
He could only watch in pure shock as the person did it again, the crunching sound that followed left Seonghwa tasting the beer and popcorn he had eaten earlier on his tongue. Each time the person pulled away, the dark stain grew bigger, dripping down the opaque window.
"What are you...?" he stuttered out, his voice so hoarse he could barely even hear it. He couldn't even finish, his body feeling frozen down to each of his toes and fingers. Seonghwa couldn't tell if his heart had stopped beating or if it was beating so fast he couldn't recognize it at all.
It wasn't until the person on the other side started breaking the glass even more, the cracks big enough to present a risk, that Seonghwa managed to collect himself enough to stand up, his legs shaking as he focused on taking one step at a time away from the horrid sight. His brain was functioning just enough to help him move, but not enough to process or think about what was happening.
It was like an out-of-body experience, and he barely registered a noise that sounded like a gunshot, followed by two more from outside.
That's when the screams started.
He couldn't tell which screams were outside and which were inside. His hearing was fuzzy and his head was swirling with so much adrenaline that he was almost seeing spots. Seonghwa's mouth was open, attempting to breathe that way to intake more oxygen as he slowly made his way back to his room. He tried to convince himself that what he saw was a figment of his imagination, and so were the gunshots and the screaming.
It was a fake. A dream.
A prank.
He had no idea what was going on, and honestly, he had no intentions of sticking around to find out what it was. If he had to throw his roommate over his shoulder to get the stubborn man to safety, then he would.
It took Seonghwa longer than it should've for him to get back to his room, leaning against the walls for support when he remembered the crunching sound of the person's head against the glass. But when he got back, he clenched his jaw together when he noticed the door was fully open.
Not how he left it.
Had his roommate really left without him?
Carefully, he peeked around the corner, the flickering lights in the hall only made the twisting in his stomach worse. He could see one of the candles was still lit, but the other had burned out. Seonghwa called out his friend's name in what was barely a whisper, one he couldn't even hear.
It was silent in the room but that didn't supply any sort of comfort to him.
Some of the other doors in the hallway were open, and some were closed. It looked exactly like a scene out of a horror movie, and as much as Seonghwa loved them, he did not want to be starring in one.
He called out his friend's name again, louder this time as he jumped into the room, a scream from somewhere in the apartment spooking him. There came no reply, and Seonghwa swallowed thickly.
Seonghwa had seen a lot of gruesome things in life. He liked to watch a bunch of investigation documentaries and forensic files, and then of course his beloved horror and gore movies that left nothing to the imagination when it came to blood and wounds. He would've easily said he was prepared to witness anything and that he had seen it all before. He would even go as far as to say that it wouldn't bother him to see gore in real life.
But that all flew out the window the second he stepped into the living room, high up on his toes, the floorboards creaking under his weight.
Nothing, no amount of gore or horror movies, would have ever prepared him to see such a thing.
It looked weird at first, and Seonghwa couldn't exactly tell what he was looking at for a few moments before a helicopter had flown by and the light it provided flashed into the room and lit up exactly what Seonghwa needed to see.
His roommate was sitting up against the wall, his legs twitching every now and then with his eyes wide in shock and his mouth dropped open. There was someone, or something, on top of him. They had their head buried in his neck, weird sounds resulting from the close contact.
"Seonghwa..." his roommate's voice barely caught his attention, his heart nearly stopping completely. It was then that he noticed the blood that drenched the front of his roommate's shirt, the soft white shirt was now a deep red and brown color all down the front.
Seonghwa could only stare, his knees locked in place.
"Seonghwa," he tried again, the arm that wasn't pinned under the mass on top of him reaching out to his friend shakily. "Pl-Please help me."
He sounded even worse than he looked, and when the thing on top of him moved down a little, Seonghwa could see why. Part of his throat looked to be missing, blood dripping everywhere.
Seonghwa took a step back, he was sure his own face was void of all blood, as white as a ghost would be. All brain function seemed to stop and his body felt numb once more.
"Please-" he stuttered out, voice cracking as he involuntarily coughed up blood, spilling down his chin and neck. "Seon..."
He couldn't finish what he was saying, before the person on top of him latched onto his shoulder with its teeth, ripping the flesh and muscle away like it was nothing. Seonghwa had never heard of such a guttural scream before, his roommate's eyes flashing in pure terror and pain.
Seonghwa saw spots, his stomach twisting violently in so many different emotions that he couldn't pinpoint. His instincts were screaming so loud, fear taking over his entire body that he couldn't even think properly. A hand shot up to cover his own mouth, somehow managing to stop himself from getting sick and shutting down the noise that was about to scream out from his throat.
He could barely hear the radio that was still turned on just to his left, the voice speaking no longer seemed to be on a loop. His racing heart didn't allow him to hear much, but he could hear just a few words as he watched the creature take another bite of his roommate that laid limp against the wall, fingers twitching by his bloodied sides, his jaw hanging open, pale cheeks stained with tears.
"Two hundred confirmed dead .... stay inside ... don't open doors..."
Seonghwa couldn't tear his eyes away from his friend, watching the life leave his body as he just stood there.
The last thing he remembered before he blacked out, was his friend's pleading eyes that grew glazed and lifeless.
When Seonghwa came too, he found himself sitting on top of the apartment complex, on the roof with the only entrance being chained up with those thick chains from earlier. He gripped a bloodied crowbar in his hand so tight that it grew white from the lack of circulation. The sounds around him were muffled, his ears still ringing painfully.
He could feel liquid run down his face, subconsciously wiping at the sweat and blood that covered his forehead and cheeks.
His feet were torn up, shoes long gone and the shirt he had worn, suffered terrible staining from various amounts of bodily fluids.
Seonghwa sat on the ledge, his legs dangling over the edge as he watched the city burn before his eyes. He was in shock, body completely numb as he couldn't register anything. Even the sun that was rising in the East did not warm his cold skin, only drying the wetness on it. He watched the building in front of him start to crumble, a small local supermarket that had been set on fire many hours ago. Much unlike the last thing he remembered, the streets were barren for the most part. Some cars had smashed together, horns blaring into the morning. There were people down there, just not live ones. His eyes twitched, his brain still trying to wake up and process what had happened in the past seven hours.
But all he could think about was the blood that covered his entire body, burning his eyes every time he blinked.
The sun only brought it more to his attention, the light illuminating the street below and the chaos that had unfolded during the night. Seonghwa finally brought his attention up towards the sun, his bloodshot eyes stinging from the offending light. Only God knows how torn up he looked, his bare skin sticky and it was then that the strength seemed to return to his limbs and the dull pain in his muscles settled. He dropped the offending crowbar, not even knowing he was holding onto the bloodied tool, and once his eyes laid upon it in all its glory, the shriek of fear that left his mouth only joined the other's that echoes throughout the city.
Seonghwa raised both of his hands in front of his face, carefully examining his bloody hands in the sunlight. His fingers were shaking, twitching almost painfully as he moved them around. He couldn't feel how tears streamed down his face, mixing with the other fluids. He had already cried so much, it only burned his eyes more, irritating them beyond belief. But instead of crying out louder, the only sound that left his mouth was a loud laugh, one of disbelief, sounding borderline psychotic.
The blood on his body wasn't his, but it still burned like it was.
With one last look up at the city, the sunrise colors in the sky were a beautiful contrast to the smoke and destruction just along the horizon. The sun was red with the smoke, burning bright as Seonghwa couldn't see a single live soul in sight.
It was finally dawn of the first day. The first sunrise when humanity finally met its match.
He remembered it perfectly.
Doom's day.