Can't Live Like A Dog (When Born To Be A Tiger) Pt 1.

Prompt: Nature's Fury

The day the world ended, no one expected it.

When the apocalypse happened, there were no signs or symbols or anything that showed that it was coming.

All those apocalypse movies and television shows like Edge of Tomorrow, World War Z and the rest? They were all a lie.

A complete lie.

There wasn’t even anything significant happening on the day for Nature to even choose that particular day. It wasn’t election day. It wasn’t the President’s birthday. It wasn’t even the day that one of the many Kpop groups nowadays were putting up a concert.

It was just a simple Thursday afternoon in the middle of the summer break.

Jaebum had been in the middle of scratching his stomach lazily. He was inclining on the couch and flipping through ty game shows and dramas to find a tolerable show to watch when it happened.

No one knew what exactly started the apocalypse. It wasn’t a zombie apocalypse where people could point fingers at all those nuclear scientists and whatever dodgy they were doing. It wasn’t like Pacific Rim where the Earth was under attack from gigantic alien monsters. Nor was it like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes where they were overrun by some overly intelligent animal. It wasn't even anything like the Hunger Games where the government turned communist and started playing ed up games.

The sky just went dark at 2.47pm in the afternoon (again, an insignificant time), and acid rain started pouring down, destroying everything in its path. Granted it didn’t happen in South Korea, but in a small town in some Southern state of America that Jaebum had never even heard of. It was still such a shocking phenomenon that all major news stations were reporting about it.

The video captured the dark rain eroding everything there. The scene reminded the university student of that one scene in the Hunger Games where the tributes were fighting for their life, and blood rain poured down from the sky, or dome, or whatever it was. Only that instead of blood and people gagging on it, they were being dissolved by acid.

Not that that was a better way to go.

And this time, there was no screwed up government that was controlling the elements. Nothing the humans could take down by starting a rebellion.

It was just them against Nature’s Fury.

In some twisted way, Jaebum didn’t feel much sympathy towards the humans. Yes, he was really afraid, because what if it spreads to South Korea? Something told him that this wasn’t going to be a one-time thing at all.

Oh no. Not at all.

But, he felt that humans deserved it. They had been destroying the environment for their own selfish needs. It only made sense of Nature to finally get fed up of it all and fight back, and take revenge or avenge its fellow trees or whatever righteous thought that Nature was following.

Jaebum would probably react the same way. Just that he wouldn’t wait for thousands of years to pass. He wasn’t that patient.

He simply didn't understand why he had to be caught up in it all.

Im Jaebum was a good boy. He didn’t waste food or water or any natural resources. Or at least, he tried his best not to. He did his recycling properly. He always made sure to re-use his plastic bags and recycle whenever he could.

Except maybe that one time when he threw a plastic bottle into the paper recycling bin by accident. Yeah, that might be it.

But hey, he had been rushing for an exam on that day and had 2 papers due at the same time.

Man, Nature sure was petty.

Fortunately, for the sake of his own life, Jaebum was a lazy bastard and a college student.

Which meant that he didn’t do weekly grocery shopping and survived on takeaway, canned food, and the likes. Just not fresh ingredients because he was that bad at cooking and had no time for it, being a college student and all.

Which also kind of meant that he was stocked up and all good and ready for the apocalypse. Since canned food could last for years anyway. He did have to cut down a bit on his daily diet, though. This way, he could probably just hole himself in his apartment and wait it out. However long it would take.

Hopefully not centuries. Because he definitely wouldn’t be alive by then.

There was absolute nothing to worry about at all.

…

Maybe except for his currently absent roommate.

Then again, he never did like that guy much. His roommate, safe to say, was a freeloader. He didn’t pay rent, steals food (and money) from him, and leaves his clothes all over the floor.

Jaebum had over and over again pondered why he didn’t kick the guy out. Oh right, the guy had nowhere else to go to. Probably.

But he wasn’t a cold hearted bastard, even though he might appear to be.

So he still worried for the , even if he didn’t want to.

Though it did become quickly clear that after a few days with no sounds of knocking on his door, his roommate wasn’t coming back.

That meant he either found somewhere safe for a shelter or fled the country. Or died, but that was a bit unlikely since South Korea had yet to be hit. As much as Jaebum didn’t like him, he hoped that it wasn’t the last option.

In all honesty, he didn’t think anyone even took the acid rain seriously. The severity of the entire situation didn’t sink in until the first wave hit. Well, at least that was the situation for him.

The first wave? Was he actually using Hunger Games terminology at a time like this? Though it did seem fitting for this particular situation, he supposed. Well, it was technically the second wave since the first wave was the acid rain. But that was kinda like a warning shot instead, so whatever.

Anyway, the first wave came a few weeks later (to be exactly precise, 2 weeks and 4 days later), in the form of earthquakes. The ground split apart and left huge crevasses as evidence in the ground. This time, it happened in Canada. It became obvious quickly that whatever the apocalypse was, it started out first in the West. Before slowly spreading to the opposite side of the world.

Although two disasters weren’t exactly enough to pinpoint a trend (something about his secondary school teachers telling him that he needed 3 points for a trend,) no one was dumb enough to assume it was simply a coincidence. Their confirmation came exactly two weeks later when a heat wave hit the Northern parts of America and caused the lakes to dry up. A bit extreme, maybe, but it seemed like Nature was going all out.

Experts estimated that they had probably a few months (seven months, if they were lucky) before it finally hit South Korea. Usually, seven months would seem like a really long period of time, unless you’re talking about exams. But in this case, it was really really really short.

Seven months left until Doomsday.

Seven months left of his life.

Jaebum sincerely hoped that all those nuclear bombs that North Korea had been boasting of developing would work against the apocalypse.

Though he doubted so.

The first time he dared to peek out of the window to see what was actually happening outside his four walls was two months later, when the wave finally reached Germany.

Acid rain. Earthquakes. Heat waves. Volcanoes. Tsunamis.

Nature definitely wasn’t holding back at all.

There weren't any strict patterns on how and where the disasters were happening, unlike what experts had initially predicted. Nature had gone against exceptions and an avalanche happened in Osaka.

Though the general trend was that the disasters were still spreading from West to East. Other than the random unfortunate Asian city or town that happened to meet its doom earlier than expected. There would just be some small shockwaves like a small country or hailstorm or something little here or there. They were never as intense as major as the ones that would wipe out an entire country.

Somehow, Jaebum got the feeling that it was as if Nature was teasing them.

Almost like they were in a game instead of an actual life or death situation.

It wasn’t a particularly nice feeling.

Anyway, looking out of the window, the streets were bare. It wasn’t exactly hard to understand why. Most of the people were gone from the city since it happened during summer break. People would be all off on vacation, mainly in the western part of the world. Where the wave had first targeted. And they would be dead.

Those who were still alive were in hiding. Just like Jaebum.

The young male would have loved to hide away from reality for a while longer. Unfortunately, he had somehow underestimated his food stock and it was cutting short.

It wasn’t like a zombie apocalypse where people were scared of going out in fear of being bitten. It was more of the fear that a disaster would strike while they were out there.

Not that Jaebum thought that there would be any difference in hiding at home and being out in the streets when it actually happened. The entire country would still get wiped out anyway. As shown by all those disasters that had already happened, there were rarely any survivors.

He was being a hypocrite though, seeing how he himself was in hiding. There was something more comforting about the false illusion of being safe when surrounded by four concrete walls.

But food.

Food.

It was with slight trepidation (read: a lot of trepidation), that Jaebum drudged up the courage to walk up to the front door. He froze when he placed his hand on the doorknob. He stared at it for an infinitely long time before taking a deep breath, steeling himself and gingerly turned the doorknob. Carefully, he stuck his head out.

The corridors were empty. There was no sign of any life.

He took one step out of the apartment and froze, wary of his surroundings, poised to run back into his apartment the moment there was a sign of any moment.

There was none.

You couldn’t fault him for being so careful. After being locked in his room for two plus months, he had no idea of the situation out there.

He had on his back a big bag pack and a long wooden stick that he had found in his roommate’s room in his hand. It never hurt to be cautious. One never knew what was out there. After all, how did that saying go?

‘Better safe than sorry.’

With both feet finally out of the apartment, there was no turning back.

Jaebum smartly chose to lock the door. He did not want to take the chance of someone sneaking into his house and emptying his supplies. Just when he was out to get more.

True. He was being a hypocrite once again since he was doing the exact same thing, but in this world, it was one man for himself.

The streets, like the view from his window, were still empty. Not that he was expecting a major change between the few minutes it took for him to come down. It felt nice though, breathing in fresh air in two months.

He took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the air settling in his lungs. Free from pollution. It felt somewhat surreal. Strolling down the streets of Seoul without any noise or sound accompanying him. There used to be the sound of people talking, girls squealing, cars rushing by, music played by the shops.

But that was the past.

Now, it was silent. The occasional sound of the wind running through the blocks, rattling the windows that had been left open and dancing with the leaves on the ground.

And that was it.

It was a drastic change to experience.

Like what Jaebum had expected, the shops were all unmanned, given that half of Seoul’s population was already gone or mysteriously absent.

Well, most of them. There were a few small convenience shops that had their owners peering out of the glass windows at him suspiciously. That was probably where they had decided hole themselves in. Smart idea.

The first time it had happened, Jaebum had given himself a heart attack, not really expecting to see anyone other than himself. He had initially thought it was a ghost, before second guessing the entire situation. Maybe it was indeed a zombie attack?

He quickly learned to stroll past the shops without glancing at them, and by the time he passed the fourth one, he was used to it. The bigger supermarkets were generally emptier in human presence. But that applied to the food stock as well. It seemed as if he wasn’t the only who thought of coming out to loot for food. Just that, he was a lot later.

The seventh convenience store he passed was an empty one. And one that looked generally promising.

Jaebum entered the shop cautiously. Upon hearing nothing, he made his way to the closest aisle of canned food. Just as he was about to reach up to grab a can of tuna, something crashed to the ground behind him loudly.

He whirled around immediately. His fight or flight response kicked in, causing him to tense up, eyes alert.

He thought he was alone.

Evidently not.

Two boys around his age were staring at him with wide eyes. Jaebum was relatively sure that was what he looked like to them too. One of them was gripping onto a baseball bat tightly, while the other looked guilty at the pile of cans on the ground. Jaebum could somewhat remember the pile being a tower of cans when he came in. He had been careful to avoid knocking it down, but apparently, the boy in front of him didn’t have the same idea.

Jaebum’s eyes narrowed as he shifted into a defensive position himself when the boy’s hold on the bat tightened. Years of dancing B-boy had trained him into shape but weeks of not getting out of the house made him slightly rusty.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t hold his own against the two boys though. Hopefully.

He had no idea who the two boys were and whether they were friends or foe.

“Im Jaebum right?” The boy with the shockingly white blonde hair asked.

Oh. They knew who he was. Well. That changes things.

Jaebum’s guard was immediately up. “How do you know who I am?” He asked defensively.

“Mark Tuan. We’re in the same economics lecture, just opposite sides of the hall.” Mark replied, gesturing to himself.

Jaebum did have somewhat of a slight inkling of seeing the guy somewhere on the campus before. That felt like a really long time ago.

“Oh.” Well, that made enough sense. Since Jaebum had always sat in the front of the lecture hall, so as to make sure that he paid attention to the lecture.

“I’m Park Jinyoung. Sorry about scaring you.” Jaebum raised an eyebrow at the light brown-haired guy’s introduction. He glanced at him and the pile of cans scattered around on the ground. He was pretty sure that the male had knocked the cans over more from the shock of seeing another human being than the intent of scaring him.

Jinyoung blushed slightly when he saw Jaebum’s disbelieving gaze and kicked at the cans, sulking.

“Com on, let’s get our stuff first, in case the owner comes back,” Mark said, getting both of their attention as he glanced towards the store’s entrance nervously.

As much as Jaebum wanted to ask them questions and get answers, and he was sure that there was some stuff that the