“Because I love you, god-ing-d*mnit!”

Chanyeol screamed at the top of his lungs. Haneul’s anger had seemed to diminish right away as she stared at Chanyeol, wide-eyed. Only then did he realize what he just admitted. He groaned, rubbing his face. “God d*mnit, Haneul, I love you.” He met her stunned face with a serious one of his own. “I’ve been in love with you for years now,” he admitted. “That’s why I don’t want to see you like this! He’s dead. We can’t do anything about that. We can’t bring Jongin back. We can’t bring Minseok back. We can’t bring back Baekhyun, either. We lost them, but I really don’t want to lose you. I couldn’t stand it. Please, Haneul, just listen to me. We need you.”

Chanyeol stepped forward to grab Haneul’s hands. Haneul was too shocked to say or do anything. A few moments ago they had been screaming at each other because Haneul had shut herself out for three months now. She couldn’t take it that she had lost her best friend. That she had to shoot him. These past months, she had wondered how Jongin had managed to take it all in when he had to shoot Baekhyun for her not to get bitten by him.

It was tearing her apart on the inside.

She barely slept.

She barely ate.

She hadn’t left her room for the past three months.

She had holed herself up in it, completely shutting herself out from the others.

She wouldn’t talk to them and Chanyeol hadn’t been able to take it anymore after all the times he had tried to pull her back in; to bring her out of that stupor. “Chanyeol…” Haneul tried to say something but her voice cracked. Wordlessly, Chanyeol pulled her into his chest, holding tightly onto her. “I know… Just… try to talk to us, yeah?” Haneul nodded into his chest as she cried once again. In front of someone after a long while.

A few days later, she was down in the living room again, communicating with the rest again. She felt it to be ironic that only Chanyeol’s confession was able to make her snap out of it. She still felt distant but it was a beginning.

Time would heal the wound. Even if nobody knew how long that would take.

Irene tried not to show it, but she was blaming Haneul for Jongin’s death. Haneul felt it, too.

The worst part about it was that Haneul had never even realized Jongin’s feelings for her – that was the hardest part to cope with, right after having to kill him. The second worst thing for her probably was that she started to grow feelings for Chanyeol, too, as the year went on.

Everything only seemed to get worse.

Minseok.

Baekhyun.

Jongin.

Now Kyungsoo.

And Seulgi.

A herd of Walkers came through. In the middle of the night. They didn’t even see it coming. They only knew once they heard Seulgi’s screams – who was down in the kitchen at that time of night – but before anyone could do anything, the Walkers had already towered over her, eating away at her body. While Kyungsoo tried to get everyone away safely, he died, too. He got cornered by the zombies, being able to kill most of them but he still got bitten in the end. Once he knew that everyone was safe, he blasted away his skull with his shotgun, already knowing that that was his end.

He died a badass, at least.

That was all he could’ve ever wished for.

Only months after that incident did the now very small group consistent of only four people realize how good life was when they had that big house. It was hard to still find good places they could stay at. At least for a while. Their car had run out of fuel some weeks ago and they didn’t have any with them, having used up all of it. Now they had to go by foot again. At night – when they didn’t have any shelter – they slept up at some trees. They were constantly alerted while being awake, walking through fields, forests and open roads, reacting to the smallest noise. They felt like they were going crazy with their paranoia. The only good thing that happened during that time was when once they had found a new shelter they decided to stay in for a few days, Haneul finally also confessed her feelings for Chanyeol.

He felt like the happiest person on the planet. Jongdae being Jongdae, he made inappropriate jokes, telling them to go up to one of the rooms to have their y time or that Chanyeol would finally stop being ually frustrated. It earned him a lot of punches from the two. None of them admitted to it, but it made them all feel better. Irene mostly just stayed silent during the whole ordeal. She was envious. Maybe she could’ve had something like that with Jongin, too – if she had just spoken up about her feelings. But it was way too late for her. She still tried to be happy for the two, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to be happy for them. She really wanted to, though. But it just made her feel bitter.

After another year, she didn’t have a lot of problems with that anymore. She genuinely was able to feel a little bit happy for the two. She also stopped blaming Haneul for Jongin’s death. She felt less bitter.

Not everyone was nice.

Not everyone.

And definitely not this group.

They traveled through the country a little more until they ended up in a small town towards the south of the country. “If you don’t want to join us, give us everything you have,” the man holding the shotgun up to Haneul’s head demanded. “As if I would say yes to joining someone who held up a gun at my head…” Haneul mumbled under her breath, nobody hearing her because of the guy’s loud demands behind her. “Show me everything! Show me your guns! Your supplies! Take everything, guys!” he laughed out loud, pressing the barrel of the shotgun even harder against Haneul’s head. Haneul clenched her jaw. Chanyeol threw a hopeless look into her direction as he handed all their bags over. “Let me join you,” Irene suddenly piped up, making Jongdae, Chanyeol and Haneul look at her like she just kicked an abandoned puppy. They wouldn’t have expected such a betrayal. Irene just gave them an apologizing look with a shrug of her shoulders as she strode to the side of one of the guys, waving her over. “Very good decision, darling,” he drawled as he put an arm around her shoulders, making her stiffen a little.

She tried to smile at him.

She wasn’t part of that group anymore.

She felt like she wasn’t for quite some time now.

It just wasn’t the same with everyone dying.

They most likely would die right here on the spot, too. Irene just didn’t want to die yet. Even if she felt like she didn’t really have anything left to live for. She wanted to find a new reason. And she felt like that wasn’t going to happen if she stayed with the small group. She hoped they would forgive her. “Sorry, guys.” Haneul exhaled loudly, not understanding Irene’s reason to do that. Maybe she didn’t even need to. “Do you have everything?” the guy behind Haneul screamed to one of his group members who only nodded after checking the backpacks contents. “They were really good on supplies,” he whistled. Haneul took in an angry breath. They lost so many people. She wouldn’t let them steal the last bit of supplies they had. They would have practically no chance of surviving without at least their weapons. So she did something that she would regret later. She smashed her elbow into the guy’s face as hard as she could. He pulled the trigger while stumbling back. It hit Jongdae right in the stomach. Chanyeol was able to fend off the guy close to him. Without their weapons, they couldn’t do anything else but run and hide once they started shooting. Jongdae didn’t even get the chance to run as one of the men blew away his skull, the blood spilling all over Haneul’s face as she had to watch that. Chanyeol had saved her from a blow that would’ve blown her face away, too.

No supplies.

No weapons.

No bandages.

No food.

And only Chanyeol and Haneul were left.

It only got worse as time went by. Haneul couldn’t believe it.

One after another. They would all fall.

quote prompt #4: Show me the money! - Jerry Maguire (1996)

Yay, I was able to use all fours quotes! :3