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"Is this gonna work? We have been doing this for months." Minji blankly looked at the campfire, reddish orange flames burning in the dark. It was the only light source around, Hyosan city was completely abandoned for a while already.
"Yes, I am sure it will work. When someone light a fire, we promised to gather around, right?" Namra smiled, looking back at Minji who was sitting on the edge of the wall of their high school's rooftop.
"I don't know, are they all doing well? I hope they sleep well." Minji swung her legs back and forth as she responded.
She met Namra very soon after she turned, they also met the others who had same condition as them. They became another squad, but both of them could not forget the group of buddies they had been surviving with.
Namra told Minji everything that happened after Minji and Jungkook were separated from the group. About Joonyeong, Wujin, and Cheongsan... All Minji could do was bitting her lips and grief. She had no idea would she ever see them again because they dropped a bomb exactly at Hyosan high.
"Have you slept well then?" Namra asked with a smile.
"Hmm, I went to sleep in the Hyosan hotel last night, that was awesome. Finally understand why it costed so much." Minji responded with a chuckle.
"Hyosan hotel?? The five star one right?? You should have invited me together!!!"
"Next time!! But you know, I am no longer sleep deprived after becoming a zombie, so... ugh!!Should have come here once when I was still a human."
"Still, resting in a five star hotel for free, this is so awesome!! I have never thought of this!" Namra sat on the edge with Minji. They looked at each other before bursting into laughters together.
"So..." Namra switched her position to face Minji.
"Tell me what happened after we got separated."
Minji snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Like I said, that archer guy just exposed us when we could have avoided a fight with Yoon Gwinam, I still don't know what his name is but his was such a dick."
"You know I am not asking about this, you have said this a thousand times." Namra smiled and gazed at Minji. Indeed, Minji completely understood, just pretended she do not.
Minji broke away the eye contact and sighed while palming her face. She did not want to talk about it. Namra tilted her head in confusion, she did not understand why Minji did not want to talk about it.
"It's just...aish, my mood went up and down crazier than a roller coaster that day, I literally thought I went mad. As I recall now, I don't wanna talk about it at all."
***
"Look." Hari pointed at a light source not far away from the hill they were at.
"Yes, it's definitely a fire, right??" Onjo said calmly, but her voice did not hide her excitement.
"Is there anyone still alive?"
"Why do you think it must be Namra?"
"I don't know. I just feel like it must be her." Onjo stated with a tone of certainty.
"Let's go to have a look?" Suhyeok asked.
"Yeah, that's what I am thinking, let's go."
After a couple minutes of walk, the squad finally arrived at the rooftop. They witnessed the mess and ash that filled in their school, which was once full of noises and now lifeless.
"Wah, who sets a campfire here...?" Daesu gasped in surprise. The squad gathered around, staring at the fire but could not find a trace of anybody. However, we already saw them from behind.
"You guys are here?" Namra approached them, I followed behind her.
"Oh my god, Class prez! Minji!!" Daesu gasped with widened eyes.
"Wah, am I still your class prez?" Namra chuckled.
Onjo immediately ran to us and gave us a hug.
"Are you guys doing well??" She looked worried.
Namra glanced around the squad before smiling.
"I missed you guys, all of you."
"Me too." I added.
Onjo turned to me.
"Thank god we could see you again." She smiled with watery eyes, I gave her a tiny nod while chuckling.
"Where is Jungkook?" Suhyeok bursted his question, desperately looking for his friend without having another thought.
"Hmm... he is—"
"I am here!!!!!" Jungkook hopped out from the steel door, carrying a certain black bag on his shoulder.
"JEON JUNGKOOK!!!!!!" Daesu yelled in excitement, the boys immediately ran towards each other and hugged their best friend tightly.
I looked at them with a smile.
After they caught up on each other, Jungkook jogged to us and gave me the backpack.
"Yah, you didn't tell me where you go because you were finding this?? Why are you so determined about my bag??" I looked at the familiar bag with some pins on it and then glared at the boy who just gave me a bunny smile.
"Cause we are only coming back here once in a while and I have not been able to find this, I cannot tell you if I didn't find anything. Plus, this means a lot to you, right?" He shrugged.
"So where did you find it?"
"Lying somewhere in the woods on the slope to auditorium."
"Oh gosh." I dusted it a few times, frowning.
"So, Namra, Minji, Jungkook ah, come with us." Onjo held onto Namra's hands and looked at us.
We turned to her and had our attention on the girl.
"We still have things to do here." Namra responded with a smile. Jungkook came to hold my hand.
"What things?"
"Hmm... there are others like us." I stated.
"Yeah, they ran out of school and there were still a few of them left..." Jungkook continued.
"You guys are not zombies. Don't say something like this."
"You know how we are not really kids, but not adults quite yet at the same time either...?" Namra said.
"That's like us... We aren't humans...nor monsters." She looked at the ground.
"You're not." Onjo squeezed her hands, and also grabbed mine.
"Let's go with us, it will be okay."
Namra looked at Onjo for a while before putting down her hand, so did I. We all knew that this is not possible. We could not go with them, because we deeply understood how different we were.
We were now from different worlds, of different species, that were not meant to live together.
We had different paths to go, and we never knew how long it took until our paths would finally meet each other. We never knew whether we were able to turn back to humans, or there would be a world accepting creatures like us.
The world was full of unknowns, and we fully understood that. It was a zombie apocalypse, that ruined everyone's live, that killed half a city's population, that completely changed the world.
But it was not necessarily a hazard for me. It changed my life. I found true friendship, true love of my life, and reasons to survive.
I found happiness. To be honest, I could not imagine how I would live my life if this all did not happen and was just a dramatic dream.
I selfishly was glad that it happened.
"We are friends even if we are apart, right?" Namra asked.
I was so thankful for finding people I could trust, ironically until an apocalypse. It was quite late, but at least I could find them. It was more than enough.
I turned to look at the distant as soft sounds coming into my ears. Jungkook followed me and stared at the origin of the sound.
"Aren't we??" She raised her voice and asked the crowd.
"Yes, we are, no matter being apart or not, we are friends." Suhyeok answered with an understanding smile.
"Yeah. Then it's enough." Namra smiled before turning to look at the same direction with us.
"They are here." She whispered.
We gave her a small nod.
"See you next time, okay?" She beamed at Onjo.
"We will meet again!!" Jungkook and I waved at them.
Namra zipped her jacket up and ran towards the edge of the wall before she jumped over it and off the rooftop.
Everyone looked at her in shock.
"What the hell." I cursed before turning towards the stairs. "Let's go, Jeon Jungkook!!"
Jungkook stood there and turned to me in excitement.
"That's so cool!! I wanna try!!" His smile grew wider.
"Nope, thanks!" I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the stairs.
Suddenly, my feet were not touching the ground. I was lifted up on Jungkook's shoulder when he started running towards the wall.
"NO!!! Yah!! Jeon Jungkook!!!!" I struggled but was locked in his arm.
"Here we go!!!"
"Ahhhhhhhhh FUCK YOU JEON JUNGKOOK!!!!"
"LOVE YOU TOO!!"
***
A/N: one chapter left;( but 21k?!!! Seriously this is crazy!! Thank you everyone I love you all!!!