1.35pm         On the road

Explosions. Running. Faint screams. Yookyung ran as hard as she could. The infected were chasing her, countless of them, they were on fire, and their skin raw and red. She got goosebumps just looking at them. One snarled at her, spit flying, and reached out to Yookyung, clawing at her shirt. 

Yookyung spun around wildly and hacked it hand off. She continued running, but somehow her footsteps were so slow. So terribly slow. She ran into a building and bumped into Yuto. Yuto, reliable Yuto who always helped her when she needed him.

"Oh, thank god," She started but he cut her off. No time to talk, he had said. They had to make haste and run, get to somewhere safe. They went in further, the building starting to look like some sort of facility. It was so blindingly white. In there, Yuto signalled. A laboratory of some sort. Minimalistic and filled with equipment.

"Why aren’t you coming in?" Yookyung asked. They had lost the horde of infected already. Yuto had stopped in his tracks suddenly. He simply went to a button beside the glass door, a hint of a smile on his face. A sense of dread comes over Yookyung. "Wait. What are you doing?"

It was too late. The door slammed shut. Yookyung slammed her hands against the door, but it was no use. "Let me out!" She screamed. Yuto pointed behind her. Trembling, she turned around to see Dr Abrams with a syringe in hand, looking absolutely sinister. 

"Listen to me well and everything will be just fine." His words echoed in her mind as she slumped to the ground and put her hands to her head. No way this is happening, no way–

"Yookyung, Yookyung!" A jolt made Yookyung open her eyes. So it was only just a dream. Albeit a terrifying one. "Are you alright?" Chorong came into view. 

Yookyung blinked slowly, shaking off the fatigue. She hadn’t had a dream in ages. "Yeah I’m fine. Just had a dream,"

"Seemed like a scary one," Chorong commented. "Anyway, we’ll be there in an hour or so."

Just then, the bus stopped abruptly, making Chorong almost lose her balance. 

"What’s going on?" Bomi asked from behind them. 

Yookyung stalked to the front of the bus quickly. Jae was resting his arms on the steering wheel, idly gesturing to scene in front of him. A boy was in front of the bus, wildly waving his arms and shouting for them to let him in.

“Look, we’re out of fuel! And there’s no petrol station or anything near here, so please, please help us!” Yookyung could sense the desperation in the black haired boy’s voice. Still, there wasn’t much space left on the bus. 

“How many of you are there?” Xiao asked.

“Seven!” The bus could definitely hold seven more people. According to Yookyung’s estimation, the boy must be around 17 or 18 years old. He was also in what appeared to be a school uniform, only that it was torn and so dirty it was hard to tell.

Yuri scrutinised the boy. "We’ll let them in, but first we have to check whether or not they are infected."

Yookyung nodded. "And we will try to recruit them to join us, yes?"

"Of course," Xiao affirmed. At this point, the more people they had, the better. "I will do it."

Xiao picked up one of his guns and ventured out of the bus to negotiate with the boy. The two were a meter apart, having a serious conversation. Everyone peeked outside the bus, curious. The boy then raised his arms and turned around slowly. Xiao lifted his sleeves to make sure he was not bitten. After awhile, the check stopped, meaning that he was clear.

They continued talking for awhile, and then the boy ran to the opposite side of the road, where an rv stood idly. Yookyung realised that the rest of his friends were in there. The group of teenage boys made their way over to the bus and got checked one by one for bites or any possible infection wounds.

"High school students, huh." someone muttered from behind. "They look like troublemakers."

After they were all cleared, they piled onto the bus awkwardly, some looking much too young to be fighting the infected. They were quite a weird bunch, and Yookyung presumed that they weren’t all friends before this.

The bus took off again. Xiao took the time to explain the situation to their leader, a tall guy with fox like features. "So, you can join us and fight, or we can drop you off wherever you want along the way. You can hijack a new car or something."

The group of boys exchanged apprehensive glances. Clearly they were having a hard time taking in all the new information. Yookyung couldn’t blame them. She’d have a hard time believing that such thing as ELITE exists too.

"Please give us some time to think about this," their leader said politely.

It was quiet after that, except for their hushed whispers. The road ahead, however, would prove to be more challenging than ever.

T/N: This was a short one, please let me know what you think! Also, happy new year!