( CHAPTER TEN ; AS HIGH AS A KITE )
You were all gathered inside someone's apartment. "Old man, your son could've gotten us killed!" The cleaner guy complained and pointed at him. "How dare you look at me like that? You little brat!" Dong-Hyun's dad shouted angrily.
"Aren't you infected?" He shouted loudly and pointed at the cleaner guy while accusing him. "Does it look like I'm infected?" The cleaner guy asked while pointing at his own eyes, angry about the old man's assumption.
"Stop it already!" Jung-Kook said while trying to stop the two from fighting anymore. "You rude brat.." The old man scolded and the representative spoke up. "Who did this?" She shouted and everyone stopped talking.
"Who told you to gather without the representative's permission?" She asked while looking around, feeling mad that she might've lost the respect people had for her. "I heard someone came in from the outside. Has anyone seen that person?" She asked and you turned to Andrew who raised his hand.
"Have you? Who is it?" She asked while waiting for an answer. You looked down on the floor because you misinterpreted the question and thought you were gonna get snitched on. "He's a military man." Andrew informed and you raised your head and mentally sighed.
"Are you sure you saw it right? You look like you can't see well." Lawyer Kook said disrespectfully. "Are you kidding?" Dr. Oh asked him and you saw Sae-bom and Yi-Hyun behind. "Can you please get out of the way?" Sae-bom requested and Dr. Oh turned to her and stepped aside.
Another man came in, he was dressed in military clothes and someone spoke up about how he was on TV. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Han Tae-Seok from the Crisis Management Center." He introduced himself and looked around the room.
You recognized his name from when you took a peek at who Sae-bom was calling last time. "Sir, is the lockdown over?" The representative asked with hope. More people curiously asked if that was the truth, hopeful that they'll be able to leave this place.
The Lieutenant raised his hand to silence everyone and he began to talk again. "The whole city will be in lockdown.. and the electricity will be cut off tonight." He informed and you spoke up. "Why would you cut off the electricity? We're already struggling with being stuck in here." You complained and he turned to you.
"Are you trying to get us all killed or what?" The lawyer asked and the Lieutenant turned to him this time. "We're planning to fix it as soon as possible." He explained and the representative raised her voice. "Then you should lift the lockdown at least!"
"You should let healthy people out, at least! This is a violation of human rights!" Lawyer Kook complained. "We don't even live here! You should let us go home at least!" The cleaner guy said. "Lieutenant Colonel." Jung-Kook called for him and the Lieutenant turned to him. "People are exhausted. Locking us up in here won't do anything." He told him with a concerned look on his face.
"I have a friend who's a one-star rank. Give me your phone. Let me make a call." The old man went up to him and demanded. "Sir.." Jung-Kook tried to stop the old man from making more fuss by holding him in his shoulder. "It'll be over when I call him." The old man finished.
The Lieutenant looked at the time on his watch and you looked at him curiously.
Suddenly, you heard sirens outside and everyone turned silent. "What?" The old man asked confusedly. You leaned on the window to see what was happening outside.
"Citizens, this is not a drill. As of now, Martial Law has been declared all over Seyang." The announcement said. "Martial Law?" Someone asked bewildered. "This is not a drill. Citizens, this is not a drill." The announcement repeated.
"As you heard, it is also dangerous outside." The Lieutenant said and everyone turned to him. He raised four of his fingers. "Just four days. In four days, the Martial Law will be lifted and the lockdown level of the apartments will be lowered." He explained and put down his hand.
"Why cut the electricity, though?" The lawyer asked annoyed. "Some people in the power plant got infected also. Except for a few necessary places, it'll be cut off everywhere else." He explained.
"What?" The representative asked shocked. "And the entire city will have restrictions on going out of the house, like this place." The Lieutenant explained to all of you. "Is the situation outside that bad right now?" The cleaner guy asked him.
"There's an overall shortage of necessities and drinking water and violence is breaking out around the city as well." He informed and people sighed in annoyance. "Well then, it might be safer inside." The lawyer said.
"Come on, we've been enduring it quite well until now. Four days? That can actually be pretty short, don't you think? Trust me, let's endure it just a bit longer." The representative said while trying to lighten up the mood.
"About Mad Human Disease.. I heard there's a drug that causes it if you take it." Dr. Oh said and the Lieutenant turned to him. You remembered the question Yi-Hyun asked you earlier in the morning.
"Is that all you heard? Nothing about any pills?" He asked and you looked at him confused. "Pills?" You asked and he avoided your question.
You looked at Yi-Hyun with a confused and suspicious gaze and you quickly looked away before he can see you.
"Is that true?" Dr. Oh asked him while waiting for an answer. "We're still checking on its relations to the disease." The Lieutenant told him.
Dr. Oh put on his shoes and left the room and then he whispered something to Yi-Hyun. "Now you go home and charge what you need to charge, and fill your sinks and bathtubs with water. Once the electricity is off.. the water will be off too." He said and the meeting ended.
You left the meeting and went into your apartment. You entered your bathroom and filled your bathtub and sink with water. You also cleaned and refilled lots of the used empty water bottles from before so you can have extra water in small portions.
You decided to visit Sae-bom to tell her the things she missed when she left the meeting earlier. You knocked on the door and it was opened by Seo-Yoon who was alone inside. "Seo-Yoon, where's Sae-bom?" You asked and went inside while closing the door behind you.
"The military man offered me to go outside so I could be with my parents, but I declined and wrote a letter instead.." Seo-Yoon told you sadly. "She's at the rooftop to deliver my letter, I'm a little worried because the military man was a bit weird." She told you with concern and you kneeled down in front of her.
"I'm sure she's fine, I'll go after her." You assured Seo-Yoon and went into Sae-bom's kitchen and looked around. Your eyes landed into a dull knife and you took it with you, just in case.
"Stay here, I'll be back." You smiled at her and walked to the stairs that lead to the rooftop. You were near the doors when you heard a gunshot and you quickly ran fast. You reached the doors to the rooftop and opened it to find Sae-bom lying on the ground with an infected trying to bite her, and the military man standing near and watching her struggle.
"Sae-bom!" You shouted for her and the two looked at you. "Don't come near her!" The military man shouted and pointed his gun at you. You stopped on your tracks and contemplated on what to do, Sae-bom was struggling more and more on trying to pry the infected off of her.
The military man turned to the infected and pointed his gun away from you to it. You took this as your chance and ran to the military man and pointed his gun upwards. The loud noise rang again, but no one was harmed and the bullet was shot in the air.
You dropped your dull knife and kicked it backwards for Sae-bom to get it, but she wasn't doing anything. "What are you doing? Get it!" You looked at her and shouted, but that was a bad choice because the military man apprehended you to the ground skillfully and stuck a long needle through your neck.
Your vision was getting blurry and you reached for your pained neck. The last thing you heard was Sae-bom shouting at the military man to not shoot the infected, you felt another needle pierce your skin and everything turned dark.
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Yi-Hyun ran at the stairs as fast as he can and was startled when the door beside him opened. "Seo-Yoon, why are you outside?" He asked her and walked to her. "It's dangerous. Stay inside." He ordered her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I heard the sound of a gun. Is big sister Sae-bom and (Y/n) okay?" She asked him while her voice was shaking with concern.
"She went outside with scissors in her hand to deliver my letter, big sister (Y/n) went after her with a kitchen knife." She told Yi-Hyun and he opened the door behind the kid more. "Let's go inside first." He said and kneeled in front of her on one knee. "Sae-bom's a better fighter than I am, and (Y/n) will be there for her. You know that, right?" He asked and Seo-Yoon nodded.
"So you don't need to worry. Go inside and lock the door. I'll be right back, okay?" He assured her and when she was gone, he continued his search.
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You woke up alone on the ground and sat up while holding your head that was aching. "Oh gosh." You held back a scream when the guard who was infected earlier beside you twitched and he held his shoulder in pain.
You quickly picked up the dull knife beside you and pointed it at him threateningly. "Go." You ordered him and made sure your tone was scary. The guard ran away terrified while leaving a blood trail because of the hole in his shoulder.
"Shit." You cursed and stood up because you didn't know why you were even in here. For some reason, you became light-headed and you tripped on air. You held your aching head and everything around you began to spin.
"What.." You asked no one and tried to focus on your surroundings more. You couldn't exactly remember what happened earlier and half of your memory was fuzzy.
You tried to get up properly this time, and you walked to the door of the stairs and leaned on it. Your vision was getting blurry and you felt like you just drank a whole bottle of alcohol. You were trying your best to control your hand and open the door, when it opened and you backed away startled and fell to the ground.
"Hey.. It's you." You said and the person in front of you looked at you confused at what you just said, not being able to understand you. Your speech came out as something no one would be able to understand, but in your perspective, you were speaking totally fine.
"Are you okay?" The person who you recognized as Andrew asked you and you looked around the rooftop while your head was still slightly spinning. "No." You straight up told him, and he was able to understand you because it was just a short and simple word.
You reached for your neck in irritation and kept on scratching it until it turned red. Andrew reached for your hand and stopped you from scratching it any more. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He asked you and kneeled in front of you.
"What?" You asked and tried to look at what he was doing, you somehow understood it and you were trying to focus. "Three." You told him confidently and laughed. He shook his head and put his hand down. "It was Four." He told you and you stopped laughing.
"Come here." He told you, but you didn't move because you didn't understand what he said. He stood up and you did the same too. You leaned on the wall for support and you tried to walk straight. Andrew looked at you struggling and turned the other way and called for you.
"Are you drunk or are you drugged?" He asked you a bit annoyed, not expecting to be looking after a high woman who could barely form understandable words. "I'm great." You told him and he shook his head, he kneeled down and you were looking at him curiously.
He turned his head to you and your vision was getting a little better. "Can you walk straight?" He asked and you nodded, even if you literally looked like a drunk guy when you walked. At this point, Andrew was gonna give up and he was about to stand up.
You realized what he meant and you quickly got on his back. Andrew stumbled a bit surprised, but he went on with it and carried you downstairs. You've basically fallen asleep and Andrew knocked on unit #201, where he was currently staying.
The wife of the cleaner opened the door and she gasped in shock. "Oh dear!" She shouted in surprise and her husband quickly went beside her. "Hey, isn't that the girl next door?" He asked.
"I found her on the rooftop, she was acting drunk." Andrew explained, half a truth and half a lie. The wife motioned for the both of you to come inside and Andrew put you down on a floor mattress. "Is she okay?" The wife asked with concern.
You've always helped the three before, so they were fine with having you inside. "Honey, go get water quickly!" The wife shouted at her husband and she shook your shoulders to wake you up.
You groaned in annoyance because you've just been woken up, but you looked at your surroundings and became even more confused. "Here." The wife said as she gave you water from her husband.
You looked at her confused and you took the water. "Thank you?" You said unsurely and the married couple looked at you confusedly, not understanding. You drank all the water in the glass and smiled at them before putting the glass down.
"Andrew, is she drunk or high?" The husband asked and his wife hit his head. You continued to smile at them and the wife sets you down to sleep again. "Go get some rest, dear." She told you and put a blanket over your body.
I guess you were gonna be spending the rest of the day and night sleeping in someone else's apartment.