Notes:
Now there's a bit of info on guns here -- I have no idea about them so lol take anything you read here with a grain of salt + this is a crack au so no seriousness. I abhor guns but when you're in a zombie apocalypse I guess it's a necessity? So yeah, safe gun practices here...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.
I take one look at the smoking vault door and couldn't help but let out a stream of expletives. Could you blame me???
"Are you insane?! Do you know how loud that was? They're probably running off towards us by now?! What were you thinking?!"
Now, I love Jennie -- no doubt about it. Love her from the tips of my nose to the ends of my feet, from my fingertips to my ears. That was a weird way of coming up with ways to prove I love her but it sounds cute, so roll with it?
Now… where was I?
Ahh yes, I love Jennie… so much, but that doesn't mean I can't call her out when she's being stupid too. It's supposed to work that way, call each other out for the better. Right? Or… am I not right? … or… whatever. Anyways… back to me screaming at the top of my lungs.
"Jen-Jen what were you thinking?!"
I can see Chaeyoung and Jisoo becoming more and more agitated, and I was too. No shit.
My lovely girlfriend took one look at me and nodded…….
She nodded…
Didn't even reason out, didn't even scream at me…
Should I… should I be worried?
"Hey, uh… baby? You, uh … you okay?"
"Uhmm… guys? Maybe we could get to the silent treatment or the possibility of an argument after we get out of here?" Chaeyoung whispered, now … not to sound like a total douche, but I could hear the building panic in her voice and I took another look at Jennie who calmly walked right past us towards the opened vault door.
"Jen Jen?"
No answer.
Great.
"Look, I'm sorry for shouting at you but it's really a very stupid thing to go around shooting stuff just because you can and just beca--"
"Will you three just stand there or do you guys want to come with me and get supplies here so we can go? Or… better yet, do you guys want to stand there and wait for the things? Cause be my guest. "
Jennie had an annoyed look, a nervous tick made her smirk and gesture towards the door with her head.
"So? What'll it be?"
"Yeah, yeah we're coming." Jisoo walked past me and went with Jennie inside the room.
"Come on Lisa…" Chaeyoung went off for Jisoo and I stood there like the dumbass that I was, all confused and mad, and… well… sort of in awe too.
Well, when you're up against things and you're in this end of the world predicament -- you do what you gotta do and roll with whatever it is you have.
Time to learn more about guns and make up with my stewing girlfriend…
_
__________
"You don’t suppose they've got a blowtorch around here?" I barged into the metal room and saw all three whip their heads over at me. What? Can't I have a fancy, badass entrance?
"What? You don't like blowtorches? They're cool?" I said good heartedly, trying to make things light -- the only thing I'm good at, it seems.
"You and fire just don't mix Lisa… now can you shut up?"
Jisoo gave me the side eye, oh ...how she shows her affection. Love ya too bestie.
"We've got to breeze through this as fast as we can." Jennie started "We don't have the luxury to go through this in detail so please… please… listen well, okay?" She looks straight (not so straight -- heh) at me, wanting to make sure I heard thatparticular message clearly and that the message drives home…
Am I really that much of a liability here?
"Okay, first off… handguns, this store probably supplies the local police cause we have every standard police issued handgun here. We don't want these though, too much recoil and it'll take more than one bullet to bring one of those hideous things down given we can't have target practice now. Plus these aren't too good for far off targets -- but… and I can't stress this enough right now, we need all the help we can get out of these bad boys… so take two. Each. Now. Quickly."
I look to my left and pick up the first thing I see. It's matte black, the usual ones you see on TV, and woah boy… does it weigh more than it looks. It's kinda funny having to hold one and… not really knowing what to do with it. I'm clumsy, very, so… do you think it'll be such a wise choice to let me carry one? Not one, but two?
"Sig Sauer P226, not bad babe." Jennie slides beside me and runs a finger across down the barrel. "You hold it in front of you, like this…"
She takes it from me, holding it in front of her.
I take a deep breath here, cause damn…
"Are you listening?!"
"Yeah… yeah I am… go on."
Stuttering isn't good, but can you blame me?
"Now, pull back the slide to load-- love, it's extremely important you keep it pointed downwards okay? Keep the safety on… remove it when you're about to shoot"
I nod along. Oh God… this looked easier… take note: looked.
"This is exactly why we use these for back up only… it's slower, and it's not good for long range targets."
"What do we do then? I mean… we can't keep fighting them off with crowbars and screwdrivers." Chaeyoung added, holding on to her gun with a wariness that was evident in her taut voice.
"We need…" Jennie walks further down the room, picking up a longer gun. "These."
I've seen those before… in games… ri..rifles?!
"Is it even legal to carry one?" Jisoo whispered.
"I don't think we should really worry about that right now…" I whispered back.
"This is a semi automatic assault rifle. It's heavier so not much recoil which is better. Hella better right now. It's also easier to aim, more rounds and…"
"Cooler." I added. More like butted in. But. You get the point.
"Yes, way way cooler. Here." She hands one to Jisoo who looked like she'd been given a lifetime supply of her favorite milktea.
Don't tell anyone but I'm going to be nicer to Jisoo, from now on… much much nicer… just until she runs out of bullets… of course.
"Grab as much magazine as you can carry, just follow the steps I've mentioned and we should be fine… and I mean it. Every, single instruction, please… and let's try not to shoot each other?"
Wait-- she… she mentioned instructions… was it the same for the handgun? Where was I? What was I doing? Was I here? But I've been here the whole goddamn time … I --
" Lisa?" Chaeng was looking at me with a worried look "you okay?"
"Dandy." I muttered. Oh… was I dandy.
"Alright we should probably head o--"
By now… you already know what that means right? The sudden cut in conversation… no? Well… it can only mean one thing; bad fucking news. Yeah. Fuck, right?
The lights went out and a screech can be heard over the mall speakers -- high frequency, the kind that makes you wince real bad. The bad kind of white noise.
Zzzt zzzt…
"Area… if anyone…. Alive… come to…. 17"
The announcement sputtered, like morse code. Cut off in most places you'd have to be a professional cryptologist to even understand half of that message.
"What the fuck was that?!" Jennie flared up, all red in the cheeks, her hands over her ears to block off the annoying sound.
"Uh… a public announcement?" Damn, I finally understand what my friends are dealing with… with me…
"17? What's 17?!" Chaeyoung was speaking in her high pitched voice.
Great… now everyone's nervous and panicky.
"Uhh… guys… we can't see 2 feet in front of us, I think that's the bigger issue here?"
At least one of us was still making sense.
"We know Jisoo, stop pointing out the obvious. It's not helping." Jennie said through gritted teeth, throwing her a glare, or what looked like a glare cause let's be frank I can't see shit.
Zzzt zzzt.
We all froze.
"If anyone's still out there… Area… 17 … people… sanctuary… we…safety…"
It's making sense.
"It's a sanctuary guys!" I jumped up and down.
"We heard poopoo…"
"But guys? Safety?"
"Yes Lisa… we know…" Chaeyoung was closer and patted me on the back.
"Only… where the hell is Area 17?"
"We don't know." Jisoo breathed out a loud, heavy, tired to the bones sigh. "We don't fucking know."
Zzzt zzzt.
I'm beginning to loooove that sound, not being biased and all. It's beginning to rub off on me in a very good way. Cause… good news? Duh.
"Anyone listening to …. Broadcast… 17… down… Gangnam… we… safety"
"I'm beginning to be weirded out how that damn helpful announcement knows just what we need… it's creepy."
"It's helpful Jisoo." I laughed.
"Still creepy."
"Gangnam… That's a 4-5 hour drive from here…" Jennie walked closer, close enough I could see her frowning. Eyes adjusted to the darkness around us.
"Yeah. So?" Chaeyoung answered back, transferring her weight to her other foot.
"We could make it Jen-Jen" I whispered. Thoughts of marshmallow hot choco mornings making me relax.
"I know… except … we have to get outta here first." She muttered back.
"We can walk out the same way we walked in?"
"Can you please go be stupid somewhere that's away from me?" Jisoo retorted
What? Did I stutter? Am I wrong?
"Hey! I'm right though! We go out the same way we walked in, cause the car is parked outside?!"
"Can we just go?" Chaeyoung rummaged around and picked up another handgun, playing with it until it bathed the room with light.
"Baby you're a genius!"
"More like lucky…" Chaeyoung chuckled and handed each one of us with the same gun.
Now… how does one turn on the -- oh… okay… that easy…
"Come on…" Jennie was already by the door and signaled for us to follow. Chaeyoung trailed after her, leaving me and Jisoo to flank the back.
We walked cautiously… or as cautious as we can be… which isn't much .
We spilled out into the front of the gunshop and looked around. It was eerily empty, which was odd. Weren't malls supposed to be filled with people? I know now wasn't the time to question that but… it didn't quite add up.
"So? What now?"
"We take the stairs… the power's out so elevators and escalators just won't do." Jisoo walked slowly, Chaeyoung looked at me and nodded.
Don't know what that nod was for, but yeah we're rolling.
We haven't covered much distance when we heard frantic running coming towards us from the front. I see Jennie tense up and hold up her rifle, Jisoo doing the same and I could feel the adrenaline pumping making me all jittery, my own rifle shaking as I try my best to steady the damn thing.
I pick up frantic chatter, no groaning… none of the usual zombie sounds… just pieces of hurried, normal? Human conversation?
"Jen Jen, wait! Don't shoot!" She eyes me curiously but lowers her gun
"What now Manoban?!" Jisoo said through clenched teeth.
"Those aren't zom--"
Just as I was about to explain and be the nice gal for once (the nice gal that I always am *cough cough). Five women carrying a variety of garden tools, bloody, garden tools almost run up towards us.
"Who are you?!" Jennie and a pretty looking woman asked in unison.
"I asked first!" Jennie glowered, her hands tightly around the gun.
"No, we did" a blonde haired woman who kinda reminded me of Chaeyoung spoke up.
"Technically you both asked at the same time but--" Jennie gave me THE look and i shut my mouth.
"I'm Jennie, this is Jisoo, my girlfriend Lisa and that's Chaeyoung. Now. Your turn or we shoot."
The tallest of them gave her companion, a cautious look.
"Irene, these are my friends… Joy, Seulgi, Wendy and Yeri…"
Notes:
I hope everyone and their family is safe. I know these are very trying times... Please, take time to breathe when everything feels so heavy and suffocating okay? It's okay to be feeling all these weird confusing emotions right now, so please do what you feel is best -- take a nap, call friends, pick up a new hobby, even taking in a quick breather by opening the window is fine.
Everyone stay safe.