A sharp pain onto her head startled her awake. Rubbing her head a few times, Winnie looked around at her surroundings. She was buried in a pile of warm clothes.  Oh, right. The incident of the day before washed back into her mind. After those things, whatever they were, left, she continued to stay inside her closet, too afraid to leave the safety of its confines. Feeling exhausted after the nerve-wrecking incident, she must have dozed off.

Getting rid of the clothes atop her, she threw the door open and welcomed the cool air that enveloped her. As she looked around the room, she sighed. It looks as though a tornado has flown through her room, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. Those creatures, more like zombies, she corrected herself, had completely destroyed her room. Torn papers were strewn all over, books and make up lay wasted on the floor, windows were shattered and furniture was toppled over.

As the thought of her Unnie and Oppa crossed her mind, she thought about calling them, to see if they are fine and telling them what had happened. Avoiding the splinters and shattered glass, she made her way over the side of the room where her phone was. Realising it was out of battery, she plugged it to her charger, turning it on. What came as a shock when her phone came to life, is that there were hundreds of missed calls and messages. Turns out, they were all from Unnie. Scrolling through the messages, Winnie a wave of panic washed over her. Most of it were asking Winnie to call her back, but there were several more worrying ones:

Winnie. Are you okay? How are things back in Seoul?

Winnie! Are you there? Please say something! Please!

Winnie! Are things ok? It’s crazy here in Incheon. There’s something very, very bad happening. I feel it.

Winnie, are you safe? Please tell me you are safe.

*sob* We are stuck in here. The traffic is jam and there is no way of the apartment. We can’t go anywhere.

Winnie, baby, if you can see this, please get out of Korea as soon as you can. I beg you. Head for the airport, or the harbour. Whatever, just leave. Don’t pack a lot of stuff, just some clothes, money and your phone so we can contact you. We will find a way out as well. Please.

But the last one was the most worrying out them all.

They are coming. We have no where to run. Winnie, stay safe, ok? Unnie and Oppa loves you.

Winnie did not want to believe it. She could not. Unnie and Oppa had to be ok. After several attempts of calling back Unnie, she was repeatedly greeted by he same annoying female voice. The number you are dialing is unavailable. Please try again later. Wherever she is, she either had no signal, or her battery was dead. Unbelievable. Winnie felt a pang of guilt in her chest. This all happened while she was asleep in that damn closet, while her phone is dead. If she had not fallen asleep, if she came out of the closet, if she had bothered to charge her phone, if she had followed Unnie to visit Oppa…

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she began to sob hysterically. No, this can’t be it. She had to find out what happened to them, and if they were okay. She had to travel to Incheon. While heading to the storeroom to grab her duffel bag, she barely took notice that the rest of the house was left in ruins. She grabbed whatever essentials she could. Her phone, charger, clothes, toiletries and some spare food left in the kitchen. Just as she packed all her stuff and was about to leave the house, a sound coming from right behind her stopped her right in her tracks.

As she turned around, the very sight she did not want to see greeted her. One of those… things… loomed over her small figure. It was a sight nightmares are made of. Life was drained out of the once human being, now its complexion is pale, like a ghost. Its eyes were whitish-grey, without any sockets. Half of its jaw was missing, and the other half hang limply from its skull. The stench of death ebbed from it, threatening to choke her. It let out what seemed to be half and groan and a growl as it reached for Winnie. She let out a piercing scream, and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. However, she did not make it far before another came out of the blue and grabbed her ankle, causing her to fall flat on the ground. A loud buzz rang in her head as she landed head first. The intense pain was immediately forgotten when one of it was barely inches away from her. With all her might, she struggled and screamed, trying to keep it away from her. The creatures have surprisingly a lot of strength, and as Winnie tried to get away, she wrestled with the duo all over the floor, sustaining many injuries. Whether they had bitten her, she could not tell at all.

By some of luck, Winnie managed to get away. As she pried herself away from the creatures, she grabbed her duffel bag and ran out of the house. She ran and ran, not stopping until her home was no longer in sight. Out of breath, she halted, panting vigorously. Looking around, the streets were empty. Not a single soul in sight. She took this opportunity to assess her situation. Her head was still throbbing from the fall earlier on. She briefly touched the part of the head that hurt and stared at palm. It was stained red from the dried blood, but a little blood still oozed from the injury. She inspected the rest of the body, only to find fresh wounds she did not notice earlier. When did that happen? Pieces of glass were stuck to her arm, and fresh blood, red and shiny, was dripping out. As she attempted to remove the glass, she immediately regretted her decision. A sensation of a sharp sting coursed through her entire body, and she clamped down on her teeth and let out a muffled scream. The pain was unbearable, paralyzing her every nerves. Hands shaking, she let of the glass shard as it fell onto the pavement, bright red liquid pouring from the now open wound. Scrambling to find something to stop the hemorrhage, she whipped out first thing she could get her hands on from the duffel bag, a stripped black-and-white sweater. It was her favourite but the thought of running it was put at the back of her mind. She held the sweater onto her wound, pressing down on it firmly. But even that was not enough; soon the fabric was soaked in her own blood and blood loss was taking a toll on her.

Help. She needed help and she needed it quickly. That wound was not the only injury that she had sustained. Multiple bruises were sustained on her entire body, and she was sure to have fractured her left leg. She did not notice it during the adrenaline rush of escaping, but the pain was definitely creeping up on her now. She looked around her – endless streets and rows of buildings lay in all directions. As far as her eyes could see, there was nothing but a desolate wasteland, save for a few dead bodies littering the road that she dared not approach. Not a single living soul in sight. Then a thought flashed in her mind. Maybe she was lost. Lost in the very city that she grew up in with no one to guide her. Maybe this is all pointless. Maybe she was destined to be left to die on the streets, just like many of the victims before her.

Tears threatened to roll down her cheeks, but she willed herself not to. Sulking now would do her no good. Instead, she decided to do something. Take a step towards something. Stop being a coward in your life for once and actually stand up for yourself, Winnie mentally chided herself. Looking around, she considered all her options, all directions will prove to perilous. But heading in one direction was better than having no direction at all. So, Winnie started walking in down one of the streets which seemed to have the less debris. Less debris equals less chaos, and less chaos equals less danger, right?

She treaded for miles upon miles, till her two feet grew weary and her heart pounding in her chest, desperately calling out for air. Her injury was still bleeding, and her jacket once black and white was a sickly shade of red now. Fatigue was setting upon her as she barely had the strength to continue on. What made things worse was that the sun was not setting on her horizon, and those so-called creatures or zombies will swarm the area by nightfall. Winnie had her luck encountering a few, too far away to ever be a threat to her; she had managed to outrun them every time. But now, considering she is so weak to barely even walk, she highly doubted she would stand a chance against them. She whipped out her phone, but it was just as expected, no signal, and her battery was running low. She had considered maybe using her phone’s flash as torchlight, but now that was out of the question. Just then, she heard the familiar growl. However, it was a little higher-pitched this time. Turning around, it was a little girl, or at least it once was, crawling towards her. She was around 12 when she was alive, maybe, and she was probably rather cute as well, considering the two ponytails her hair was tied into. But now, she had the face no mother would love, severely deformed with the left side of her cheek completely gone. She had no legs either, and was dragging her torso with her two rotting arms, which had surprising super human strength. Though she had some distance from Winnie, it would not be long before she caught up with her. Mustering up what energy she had, Winnie ran.

Winnie tried to keep up her pace, but she was already way too exhausted and the sharp pain in her chest told her that she lacked way too much oxygen. Coming to a halt, Winnie panted heavily, trying to catch her breath before pressing on. Looking to her back, her eyes widened. Not too far from her was the little girl again, slowly but surely inching her way towards her. Stumbling, Winnie fell to the floor in defeat, knowing there is no way to outrun her. If she could not do it just now, she definitely could not do it now. There was no other option left but to fight. Looking around, Winnie searched for some sort of weapon that could fend her off against her aggressor. She something that caught her eye; a golf bat, held in the arms of a dead man, squashed under a turned-over cab. Without hesitating, she reached for it. How convenient, that something like that would come at the right time, and the right place. Also, why is that said man was not a zombie, like the others? But she could not care less at this point, grabbing the gold bat from the other end and prying it from his hands.

Something that grabbed her foot caused Winnie to jumped at the contact and scream. Looking down, the little has caught up to her, and her vice grip on her leg was unrelenting. Thrashing around, Winnie tried to shake her off, but to no avail. Instead, she grabbed her newfound weapon, and repeatedly beat at her over and over again, aiming for the head. After several rounds of repeated assaulted, Winnie stopped for air, panting. Looking down, she saw the figure, lifeless but still holding onto her tight. Flailing her leg wildly, she managed to get throw the thing off her, onto the road some distance away. This episode has done it for Winnie. She could not carry on anymore, too tired to fight or even walk anymore. This was it. The sky was darkening, and even if she pressed on, it would be too dangerous. She stood there blankly, not caring even if the world ended right then and there. But what she saw in the corner of her eye caused her head to snap up. In the distance, there some human voices. Male ones, she could figure. Squinting, she could make out about three of them. They seemed to be in the middle of discussion, making gestures. Hope, this might be, Help, she might finally get. Maybe it’s not all over just yet. Mustering up whatever energy she had left in her failing body, she yelled, “Hey! Over here! Help!”

When that did not seem to work, she tried again, but gathering no response from those guys. Limping towards the group, she hollered over and over again, strength leaving her body, shouts turning into pants, and into whimpers.

“Help… Please…”

Her vision blurred, the world swirled around her. As she took one final step, she fell to the ground, and welcomed the darkness that overtook her.

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Sorry I that EXO is taking forever to appear. I promise they will in the chapter. I promise!

Love, author-nim <3