“Taeyong, wake up.”
Yuta shook the man awake who was sweating profusely in his sleep, whimpers leaving his lips and words that made no sense. Taeyong woke up with a scream, and Yuta immediately covered his mouth, a finger over his lips. Slowly, he removed his hand, and tried to calm his shaking figure.
“Was it a dream?”
Yuta sighed, his head turning to the boarded windows with nails stuck into the wall through the wood. Taeyong's eyes followed to where he was staring, and he looked down in disappointment. It wasn’t a dream.
“Yong, I understand it’s hard to comprehend, but you have to get used to it soon. It’s been months since the virus spread out all over the globe.”
Yes. Taeyong remembered the news channel. The date it occurred was October 23rd, 2021 where a woman was speaking of strange events happening not so far from his apartment building. He remembered what he was eating, a tub of vanilla ice cream laid between his legs and a metal spoon in his mouth, he never watched the news until that day when nothing interesting was on. The video evidence was frightening, he thought since it was October it was a cruel prank teenagers decided to pull, but couldn’t see the flaws in the ‘fake’ organs, the ‘artificial’ blood and the disgusting, incredibly realistic ‘makeup’ printed onto their skin. Taeyong was beginning to actually freak out about it, and shut off the TV. Then he heard his phone buzz, he recognized the familiar sound and it was a red alert. He looked from the TV screen to his phone, taking it into his hand and reading what the alarm was for.
VIOLENT CRIMINALS IN YOUR AREA. REMAIN INDOORS. IF LOCATED NEARBY, DO NOT ENGAGE. DO NOT ENGAGE.
What was going on? Why had do not engage been repeated? He had not know at the time, until he looked out his window. The sun shined in his eyes and it took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness then he looked down at the roads stories down. It was calm, people walked down the sidewalks and cars driving at the regular speed. Then he heard a screech. His eyes frantically searched for the source, then a white car drove widely down the road, cars driving out of the way and people screaming, running away. The white car crashed into a convenience store nearby. A woman was crushed beneath the car, screaming and crying for help. The man driving the car opened their door, blood covered his face, he stepped on her hand and continued to walk slowly but turned around. He saw the woman on the ground, she held her hand out for him to take, he staggered closer and dropped to his knee before.. he bit into her hand. Taeyong shut the curtains quickly. Yet, her scream reverberated in his head like a broken record. Then he heard running footsteps outside of his apartment door, when he walked towards the sound and opened his door. People were leaving their rooms, bags or suitcases in their hands as they desperately tried to scramble out into the hallway like rats leaving a sinking ship. The door across from him was also evacuated, the view of the TV in their living room had on the news.
Taeyong grabbed at a man, pulling him almost inside of his apartment.
“What the hell is going on?”
“It’s– it’s like a horror movie come to life, you don’t understand it, nobody does. People are eating each other. Right outside this apartment building people are eating each other alive and the news is saying a virus, an epidemic has spread and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop man. So, I suggest you leave too before they come inside and you got nowhere else to go.”
Taeyong really didn’t understand a word the man was saying. A virus? Epidemic? People eating each other? His hand remained clutching his arm, until it was aggressively pulled away and he was snapped back to reality.
“I’m not dying here when I got family!!”
Then he escaped like the rest of them. If what he said was true, this was no epidemic, it was more than that, it could be like that right now but if the virus doesn’t stop like the man said, this could take over the world. Taeyong watched as families or random people who lived lonesome, ran down the hallway, squeezing into the elevator, running down the staircase and the sounds of screams. From the amount of people and the panic, there was no doubt people would be trampled. Taeyong slammed his door and locked it, the wise thing to do was to leave, but it was also a huge risk. There was already one of those things outside, too close to his apartment and if he leaves, there is a large chance he won’t make it out alive. So, he isolated himself in his room, the padding of feet didn’t stop until around half an hour later. Then three hours passed when the chaos had become quiet outside. It was dead silent. Taeyong tried to turn on the TV, but it wouldn’t open up to the news channel, or any channel. The screen remained black. Taeyong thought about that man’s words.
I’m not dying here when I got family!!
Family. A familiar word that yet seemed so far from home. Where was his family now? Would they care, considering they kicked him out. Do they wonder what’s going on outside? Do they ever think about him? About his current state? Taeyong wasn’t born into a normal family, it seemed all they cared about was having fun which included sex and alcohol. If only they knew that by abusing it, they would have something they never wanted. Like a child. Like Taeyong. They fed him scraps of their leftovers, never full water bottles and never gave him any toys to play with. By living a life of staying in his room, he became accustomed to the silence and his ‘family’. It was until he was five years old, he began to go outside without his parents consent, not like they cared. It would be fine if he left and didn’t come back. To their dismay, he always came back. Eventually. He would usually not come back until a few days later. Due to he had found someone, someone he thought was worthy of the name friend. Taeyong couldn’t remember his name even if he tried, but he would stay at his real family’s house, they would feed him real food and drinks filled to the top. Let him sleep on an actual bed with a sheet and multiple blankets and pillows. Taeyong also thought he found people he thought was worth of the name family. A father who was worth calling Dad. A mother who was worth calling Mom.
Soon, he moved into their house. His biological parents didn’t realize it, and if they did, they wouldn’t care. Why couldn’t he remember their faces? As he thought of the memories, he saw them but their faces were blurred out. Above all, what happened once he moved out? No, why was he thinking of this now? Perhaps, he wanted them back, to feel warmth again.
Taeyong woke up from his nap to nothing more than the quiet, and when he opened the door, he knew that the world truly has gone mad.
The walls and carpet floors were blood-stained, in the corner of his eye he saw a hand, he was afraid of stepping out of his apartment to investigate. Once he did though, there was more than he had expected to see and could never prepare himself in life to a view like this. There were dead bodies laid on the ground, as he could see there were four on the left down the hall. They either laid on their stomach or back, or were pushed against the wall. Their throats scratched open along with chunks of flesh missing from their arms or legs, pools of blood around them, dying the blue carpet a shade of purple or brown. Taeyong stared, until he felt liquid rushing up his throat and vomit left his mouth. He bent over with his arms hugging his stomach, then coughed and spat the rest remaining in the corner of his mouth. He wiped spit with his shirt, breathing in and out eagerly and the nasty taste in his mouth was difficult to endure. Brushing his teeth would be the best to do, but if the TV wasn’t operating then the best guess was the water wasn't running either.
Taeyong didn’t care and couldn’t bear it, so quickly brushed his teeth with no water available to him and wiped his mouth with a towel. When he walked out of the restroom, there was a looming figure standing near his bed.
“Hello?”
A gargle was the response, and it slowly turned to face him. Taeyong immediately regretted speaking. It was the same man, the man who he questioned earlier and pushed him away so he could leave to his family.
“I.. I thought you were going to see your family?”
His words began to stumble over each other and his lips were trembling.
“Did you miss your ride?”
Taeyong reached for the convenient baseball bat behind his bed, pulling it out with it hitting against the wall and headboard.
“I’m sorry, I can’t give you one.”
At that moment, the man charged towards him and his features came into the light. His eyes were milky white, his previously slicked back hair was messy and a few chunks had been ripped out leaving bald spots. Blisters decorated the sides of his face, his skin almost seemed like it was cracking like a porcelain doll that fell from the shelf. Taeyong rose the bat, until he froze in that stance. What was he doing? Was he about to kill a man? Then his eyes widened when he noticed his mouth was torn open, the sight of his bottom row of teeth revealed. Taeyong lost the strength in his arms and retreated back into the bathroom. Why didn’t he do it? It was clear by now, the thing outside the bathroom door was no human. Not anymore. He couldn’t do it though, it was strange, it was murder, he couldn’t. He shut his eyes tight, his hands holding onto the bat tighter when he heard the man begin to bang its arms against the door, trying to get in. If he managed to break through, would he be eaten? Would he be bit, and turn into one of those things?
If he had decided to kill it, he would have to wait until it forgot he was there.
Time was passing too slow, the clock in the bathroom read it had only been fifteen minutes. He laid against the wall, he assumed it could smell him and stuffed the mat to the door, blocking it off. It seemed to have been effective, ten minutes later he couldn’t hear grunting or banging. Taeyong slowly moved from the floor to onto his feet, holding the bat and his other hand reaching for the doorknob. The sight of the man was already a horrible thing to look at, he didn’t want to be hindered by throwing up. With a deep breath in, he moved the mat with his foot and pulled open the door. The thing was on the other side of the bed, while Taeyong stood at the opposite, its head twitched when a new scent invaded the room, then his gaze lifted to Taeyong's. In its view, it was a tinted green as if he was color blind, when he moved his view was all over the place but managed to catch his prey by being unpredictable. As he walked slowly, it walked faster and followed around the bed, it was faster than Taeyong expected and he was shook up. He yelled the moment he swung the bat, knocking it in the head and onto the ground. Taeyong kept his eyes shut, then opened them when he heard a noise erupt from it. It reached for his leg and grabbed his ankle, so when he tried to walk back he fell to the ground along with it. He continued to yell as he tried to crawl back.
Was he going to die? Will this be the way he goes out? To be eaten by another, only to come back as one of those things? He didn’t want that.
Taeyong let out a cry in desperation, kicking him away in the face then hitting his fist against the hand on his ankle. As he was set free, he tried to back up into the bathroom, but it stood up and loomed over him. The bat was too far, he wouldn’t be able to grab it in time. He panted, staring up at it as he walked towards him until it was near his feet and he closed his eyes and covered his ears. Then screamed when he heard a gunshot. Taeyong opened his eyes, sweat slipping down his forehead and tears leaving his eyes, he saw the corpse on the ground and lifted his head shakily to see a person. A real person, a human.
“Wh.. Who are you?”