A/N: Hello everyone! First of all, thank you so much for reading Kill the Infected! I'm happy that you've enjoyed the story and some of you have even left comments which have made my day. Then I want to apologize for the delay. I know I told you that I've already written the whole thing and it's only the matter of uploading the chapters for now yet still it took so many months. There are no excuses for this other than that I've been mentally tired and had a lot of work to do. Also, I'm kind of nervous of your opinions about the story. I'm scared that you're disappointed and bored with it but then I realized that even if some of you are, there might be some who like these kind of stories and enjoy reading them. So, without further ado, here's chapter 3. Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~
The following night Raphael slept on the couch again. It sucked and his back was getting sore, not to mention his neck because the couch was meant for two people to sit on it, not for a tall man to lay on his back. It fucking sucked. But there had been no infected that night so they'd both been able to sleep through it, even the guy, Min-jun, as he'd introduced himself again yesterday. He hadn't cried or moved around restlessly.
That day there was a new problem, though. When Raphael heard the loud growl for the umpteenth time that day he gave up, smashed some beans into a plate and threw the mess to Min's feet.
"Eat."
The man was blinking at the food and then looked up at Raphael like he was seeing someone with a brain damage. Maybe he had one, who knew. But Raphael kind of knew all this had to do with the fact that that guy's stomach with its fucking growling was getting on his nerves. He couldn't even joke about it anymore or smile victoriously at the sad face as he himself ate his breakfast, lunch, something little before bed...
If he wanted to sleep the next night he had to make sure the guy wasn't making loud noises and drawing all the infected wandering nearby to his camp.
"Thank you..." the voice was unsure and quiet. Raphael scoffed. "But I can't eat it."
Seriously? Was the guy acting coy now? With him? Raphael? After everything? Raphael kneeled down, not braking the eye contact and knowing how nervous it made the other man for some reason. "How polite. But, you know, I don't do polite. You either eat it or I'll feed you. Because I don't know about you but that growling..." just as he said it, Min's stomach made a loud grumble. The guy had at least some shame to blush and look away. "...makes me nuts. And I think you might already know that I'm not the most patient guy around."
Min snorted, his nose scrunching up. "You don't need to tell me that, man."
"Then?" Raphael picked the plate up. "Feedy feedy?"
His blush was just barely there under all the grime but there it still was. "That's not even a word," he muttered to Raphael's amusement. "And I didn't mean that when I said I can't eat it."
"Then what?" Raphael might have snapped that and he might have felt a little bad when the tied up man flinched because of it. He tried to roll his eyes with a huff. But when Min's eyes looked down to the ties Raphael gave up with all the pretending and literally hit himself.
The guy was fucking tied up. His hands weren't free. When the fuck had Raphael become so stupid? He could see it from Min's face just what he thought about Raphael claiming Min was the crazy infected one there.
"Humans do mistakes," he muttered and threw the plate to the floor once again. He observed the Asian with narrowed eyes, contemplating whether or not it was for the best for him to feed the guy instead of letting him free. Chocolate eyes looked calmly back at him. Raphael tried to ignore the hopeful gleam in them but his heart was the fucker who still seemed to think it had more authority than his brain. It was fucked up considering how hard Raphael had tried to nominate his brain the boss of his body.
"You know, it's a little messed up how you still believe that I'm infected when I've said no and it's been three days and I'm still this sane."
Raphael looked away, trying to find a decent argument.
All he got was, "You might be faking it."
"Seriously," Min groaned. "Like any infected could fake it. Get real man!"
"Listen. I'm still the one with the gun and food." Just to make sure the man got it, he took the rifle off of his shoulder. "Good. Now if you try anything, I'm gonna—"
"Shoot me, yeah, I know," Min whispered, looking down at the gun.
"What did you say?"
The man paled and shook his head. Raphael gave him a murderous look but finally fished out the same pocketknife Min had thrown at his feet at the first day. He tried not to twist his facial muscles into a mirth-like expression when he saw how the full lips parted, clearly shocked Raphael was just carrying it around.
Of course he was. Who knew when an opportunity like this showed up?
He snapped the tight robes in two. "Now be a good boy, will ya?"
He stayed down for a while, making sure Min began to eat and didn't try anything else. He did eat. Looking sour and childish and Raphael backed up. When he sat down to the couch, picking up his favourite book once again, he heard a quiet mutter of something like, "Still a fucking asshole" but ended up just shaking his head.
He tried to push the smile off.
~*~*~*~*~
After a quiet turn of a page and the rattling sound of a campfire Min-jun was shocked out of his thoughts,
"How's your little sister like?"
He tried to stutter out something between "what" and "why" when he realized he sounded just like the asshat. His eyes widened, trying to find signs of Raphael snapping at him, but only saw the man leisurely laying on the couch and reading. He seemed to read a lot. Actually that was all he seemed to do. Min-jun had spent three whole days in the camp and absolutely fucking nothing had happened if you excluded the couple of infected that decided it was a good idea to charge into the clearing with a crazy guy with a gun guarding it. To be honest it was god damn boring. All Min-jun had done was first look out for the guy if he just decided Min-jun was infected enough – when he fucking wasn't – and shoot him on the spot then try to talk about something because the silence was so deafening he swore he heard the leaves hit the moss in the forest and finally he'd given up on both of those when the guy turned out to be more in control of his hot temper than he'd thought.
He was bored out of his mind. Fucking freaked out! He didn't need the damn virus to turn him nuts when the lifestyle this Raphael guy seemed to lead alone was just enough.
And now he'd asked Min-jun a question like it wasn't a big deal. Min-jun let his body relax, cleared his throat since it seemed like he wasn't threatened with the gun to give a fast answer and said, "She's... she's positive. Nice. And only ten and alone." It wasn't a surprise Raphael didn't give a shit when Min-jun gave him a pointed look. "But she's strong..."
"Hopefully stronger than you. Or smarter. Otherwise she's dead pretty fast."
"You didn't have to say that." Black eyes left the book to give him a bored look. There was a carefree smile on his dark face that made Min-jun want to punch him in the face and he absolutely loathed violence. He tried to shake the feeling off but an asshole was an asshole and when Raphael just ignored him he thought he should do the same. Apparently asshole rules applied in this camp so be it.
His determination lasted for whole five minutes.
"Look, dude, I'm sorry I stole your food but don't you think this much of punishment is enough? Like, really. It's been fucking three days, I'm still hungry and I need to pee again. And my back is killing me because it's not easy to sleep in this position for many nights. Please, please, please!"
There was one more thing with the guy that kind of pissed Min-jun off – puppy eyes didn't work on him. Pleading did even less. When he just calmly rose his index finger to his lip and hushed him, he wanted to cry. He bit his lip hard, tasting the blood already. Fucking eyes started to sting too but he hadn't really slept much for days and it was getting to him too. And the constant fear. The guy on the broken couch wasn't surprisingly the source of it anymore – not so much at least – but that that he was sleeping right in the middle of the pitch black forest with all the beasts just right there. And he couldn't even run or fight back.
He gave the man a blurry glare, it was all his fault no matter how much he tried to be nice or whatever with him sleeping on the sofa instead of his tent but fuck that. He sniffed a big lump of snot back in.
Dick.
Min-jun hated him.
He hated when he turned his dark eyes to him and all kinds of shivers ran up his spine and he kind of wanted to run yet he wanted to see what the man would do next.
"Are you crying again?" The book was thrown down. "Jesus."
"Am not! Just... just got some... uh... dust in my eyes, you know."
"Sure."
"And I hate you."
Why the hell did he have to make it such a big show when he readied his gun? Min-jun gulped. "Yeah, kind of noticed that."
"Y-You're not going to shoot me for it, are you?"
They looked at each other for a moment. Min-jun almost winced when he bit down to his abused lip.
"No, I'm gonna shoot you once you've turned fully."
"But..." he took a shaky breath. "But I'm never gonna turn."
Raphael didn't answer.
"I'm not infected."
The other man looked down, trying to concentrate on reloading.
"What are you going to do with me then?"
"Look..." Raphael's voice was inpatient but it faded out like he wasn't sure what to say. Instead of continuing he put the gun down and went to put out the fire. Min-jun banged his head against the tree for the umpteenth time. Maybe he was starting to develop a bump there and then get a concussion and just be over with it.
Nah, he really couldn't. He still had his sister.
He just had to survive another night. Maybe one more after that if he couldn't come up with a good escape plan. He looked up to the sky and saw the Moon was almost full. At least he had a little bit of light out there. And not to forget how every time he looked up it felt like his breath was stolen away. He'd seen Raphael do that too; look up and then have that faraway look in his usually harsh eyes. Min-jun looked down and saw it once again. A silhouette of the long nose and the beard.
He couldn't tear his eyes away.
The man looked down and the moment was over. Their eyes met and then something changed. Raphael didn't go to the couch, instead he went to his backpack to fetch something. Then he walked next to Min-jun and he saw what the guy was holding; it was a rope. The man seemed to have a lot of that but it seemed like he was such a hog anyway.
And Min-jun shouldn't probably think that when it was him who did the stealing.
He didn't see it coming. He'd thought the rope was for double checking he was tight enough against the rough trunk. But instead the knots were opened and suddenly Min-jun was free. He felt the blood starting to circulate normally once again. He looked up but it was too dark to tell what was going to happen then.
He couldn't hold in a flinch when Raphael grabbed his shoulder, hesitating a little after the reaction but then started to tie a new set of ropes around him. They were thinner than the last ones, much more comfortable. Min-jun shivered when fingers roughened by hard work travelled down his body to his legs to tie another set of ropes there. The movement was innocent, probably done unconsciously but... Min-jun emptied his head and looked down.
He wasn't exactly free but at least he could move now.
"What's this?"
"You whined about how your back hurts so, congratulations, I'm in a generous mood today and you can sleep in other position tonight."
Min-jun's eyes widened. "Like... like on the couch?"
Raphael snorted. "Fuck no. You'd just run away. Don't pretend I didn't notice how your eyes just widened like I'd handed you a gift or shit."
Damn it.
"No, you're sleeping in the tent."
His eyes widened even more. "I-In the tent?" He choked a little. "Like, with you?"
"No," his voice was sharp. Min-jun almost fainted with relief. "Like I'd be so stupid to sleep next to the guy who could just bite me while I don't expect it."
His heart dropped a little. "But I'm not infected." Please.
"You want to sleep with me then?" Raphael had totally dodged the statement.
Min-jun shook his head violently.
"Then go to sleep in there and I'll sleep on the couch." He even went as far as to drag the furniture right in front of the entrance. "I'm a light sleeper..." Min-jun remembered all the snoring and was about to mention that but then remembered how the guy had woken up just when he'd tried to escape. He kept his mouth shut and let Raphael continue, "...so I'll know if you try to sneak out. And your legs are tied tight enough and you can't cut them without a knife. Which I have on me, by the way."
Min-jun could literally see how white teeth flashed in the dark. Dick.
"Now go the fuck to sleep. And I swear if I hear any unnecessary noises I'll kill you right away because fuck turning."
Min-jun rolled his eyes and hopped awkwardly, trying not to fall when he tried to get inside. The tent was small, just enough for one person so it was quite a task for him to hop in. Of course he couldn't do it. He fell face down and heard a light chuckle when he tried to worm his way in.
"Oh shut up, man!" he snapped, then froze. But there was no click of a gun or rude words. Instead the chuckle became louder and he was sure Raphael had this lazy, fucked-up smirk on his face. So when Min-jun kept on complaining, whining about how rude it was to first tie someone up and then not even help them and yelped even louder when Raphael finally got enough and pushed him forcefully inside zipping up the entrance, he felt surprisingly fearless.
When Min-jun laid down he wondered why. The man was still rude and hostile towards him, being stubborn about him being dangerous when it was actually the other way around but it had kind of toned down? He guessed. At least there wasn't a barrel of the gun against his head every two seconds now. The man kept ignoring him, though. But he'd answered some questions even thought he'd acted all snotty about it.
With an annoyed sigh Min-jun gave up and flopped down to the pillow. It was soft and his entire body screamed in relief. His sigh became much more blissful in the middle. His eyes started to droop, mind becoming hazy and he decided he was far too exhausted to escape that night.
Maybe tomorrow then.