Siyeon tosses and turns for the umpteenth time on the cold, uncomfortable hardwood floor, groaning in frustration as she feel the deep ache growing on her left shoulder. Her head is throbbing uncontrollably, and her feet are freezing. The other members – oblivious to her struggle – are somehow soundly asleep, their light snores echoing through the four walls of the room. As Siyeon squints, she barely manages to make out the silhouette of a sleeping Nayoung, despite the absence of light, and she fights a foolish grin threatening to form on her face.

Her ears perk up at the sound of Eunwoo and Jieqiong’s light whispers, coming from just outside the door. She slips out of her pathetic piece of woven fabric, and tries to walk on tiptoes as soundlessly as possible. She scrambles past Eunwoo and Jieqiong without any of them noticing – Siyeon mentally chastises their terrible performance at keeping watch – and makes her way to the bathroom, locking the door behind her successfully. Settling her rear on the ceramic floor tiles, she fishes out her phone from the pockets of her pajama pants, desperately trying her luck with the on button.

After a few tries, her phone successfully lights up, but Siyeon makes sure to keep note of the five percent battery it has left. Her thumb taps the safari icon instantly, and she promptly googles ‘living undead’. Clicking on the first link that pops up, her eyes scan the text, her fingers busily swiping up as she reads.

…and although researchers are still unable to scientifically prove and explain the cause of this outbreak, the government has confirmed that is it safe to describe this phenomenon as an outbreak of the living undead. As cures to this disease have yet to be found, the flesh-eating humans can only multiply in amount. However, reports have only shown presence of such animals near the area of Seoul, while areas like Gwangju, Busan, and Jeju have yet, and hopefully will not, experience this pandemic. Thus, the government has advised uninfected citizens on the run to make their way towards areas where transport to Gwangju, Busan and Jeju are provided. These citizens, however, will be required to be quarantined for a certain period of time, until they have been proven clean. The transport services are available at…

“,”

The screen fades to black, shutting its system completely. “Oh no no no,” Siyeon pleads as her fingers repeatedly rake the buttons on her phone, but the system doesn’t budge. After several desperate attempts, she eventually gives up, slotting it back into her pocket, just in case. Releasing an exasperated sigh, she gets on her feet, heading straight back to her room.

As she lies on the cold, hard floor, her mind is filled with nothing but the information she’s gathered from before. We’ll be okay, she assures herself, we’ll be able to find the escape route and put an end to all this panic and chaos. I mean, there is always a way out. And when she thinks about the few incidents that almost caused their deaths, she scoffs to herself, and hugs her legs closer, feeling the weird, bruised skin at the area just above her ankle.

Easier said than done, a voice rings in her head. Siyeon spends the night listening to Eunwoo and Jieqiong’s conversations without digesting the words.

//

Nayoung watches fondly as Siyeon appears from her front door. She slips her feet into her shoes clumsily and hastily adjusts her bag straps before she jogs towards Nayoung, her hair uncombed and her eyes barely open, but she wears her goofy grin like any other day, and Nayoung’s morning is easily made.

“Did you wait long?” Siyeon asks in between pants.

“Not really,” Nayoung lies, kicking the stones on the pavement. She keeps her face expressionless as she watches Siyeon comb her own hair through her fingers, expertly tying it up into a ponytail.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“You have a bread crumb on your uniform, silly,” Nayoung says as she brushes Siyeon’s uniform clean, earning a click of the tongue from the other girl.

“Hey, you can’t just brush it off like that, that’s littering!” Siyeon snaps back, with her hands on her hips, “And for that, you have to carry my bag to school as punishment.”

As quick as lightning, she dumps her bag into Nayoung’s hands, and sprints off to school. Shaking her head with a small smile growing on her face, Nayoung can only make her way to school with an extra weight in her hands.

//

“Good morning.”

Nayoung wakes up to Jieqiong peering over her body, her raven black hair tickling the jawline of Nayoung’s face as she giggles softly.

“Where’s Eunwoo?” Nayoung asks as she props herself up on her elbows, cracking her neck as she stretches.

“Sleeping, she was beat after overreacting to false alarms yesterday night.”

Nayoung laughs, visualizing Eunwoo jumping to her feet defensively whenever she hears the slightest movements – typical Eunwoo.

“And you?” Nayoung asks, making her way towards the kitchen with Jieqiong trailing after her like a lost puppy.

“I’m fine, as energetic as ever. I could stay up for another night!”

Nayoung places a hand on the kitchen counter, swiveling around to face Jieqiong. She spots the gray circles under her eyes, the droopiness of her eyelids as she tries to crack them open. Nayoung is aware of Jieqiong’s intention – it’s her shift tonight after all – but she refuses to grant the permission.

“Go rest,” she says, gently but sternly.

“But–“

“No buts,” she crosses her arms and shakes her head, “You heard me.”

Whining with a slight pout, Jieqiong slacks her shoulders and makes her way back to the room they came from, and the barest hint of a smile graces Nayoung’s face.

//

Yebin pops a potato chip into , squinting her eyes as she observes the group of volleyball girls.

“Quit being such a stalker!” Eunwoo delivers a slap to her forehead, earning a scowl.

“I’m not, okay?” Yebin counter argues, shoving more chips into , “It’s called an eye candy, everyone has at least one person they go heart eyes for!”

Eunwoo clicks her tongue, clapping her hands dramatically. “Way to go, Kang Yebin.” She leans in, closing the gap between the both of them. “So which one is she?”

“That’s my best friend,” Yebin smirks, before turning her head back towards the direction of the volleyball court. She lifts her index finger, whispering, “You see that spiker with long skinny legs and long wavy hair? Yup, that’s her.”

Eunwoo’s eyes trace the direction of Yebin’s finger, making oohs and ahhs that are completely unnecessary. “Kim Minkyung, right?”

“Shhh!”

Yebin nervously checks their surrounding, making sure that no one is eavesdropping their conversation, before she shoots a glare at Eunwoo.

“Chill,” the latter says, holding both her hands up defensively, “I’d never betray my best friend.”

“You said that with your own big mouth,” Yebin frowns, feeling uncertain.

“I promise,” Eunwoo holds out her pinky, to which Yebin locks with her own. At the exact time, the school bell rings, signaling the end of their lunch break, and the promise was made. As they get on their feet, Yebin sees a ball roll past her side, and instinctively, she bends down to pick it up. Turning around to return it, she blushes when she sees Kim Minkyung jogging towards her.

“Over here!”

With clammy hands and a racing heart, Yebin clumsily tosses the ball back to its owner, who professionally catches it with one hand.

“Thanks!”

She sees Minkyung running back to her team, and manages to croak out a “you’re welcome,” although she’s pretty sure the other girl didn’t hear her.

Yebin turns around to see Eunwoo smirking at her, so with whatever energy that’s left inside of her, she kicks the other girl at the shin.

//

Yebin wakes up to a growling stomach, feeling a deep ache on the left side of her upper abdomen. Clutching onto it desperately, she stumbles to the kitchen, feeling slightly light-headed from the sudden movement, but racks the drawers for food. She spots the cabinet where they store their food, and flings it open urgently. Popping a slice of beef jerky into , she sighs contently before reaching out for another one.

“Greedy.” Yebin spins around so quickly she almost choked on the meat, and she’s greeted with the sight of Minkyung in her tank top, hair unkempt and appearance disheveled.

“Excuse you, but I hadn’t had anything for the whole of yesterday,” Yebin mumbles with filled with food. “Except water.”

“Aw, poor you,” Minkyung’s tone is slightly teasing, the corners of her lips tilt downwards, “Make sure you stuff yourself with all the food there is, little bunny.”

She chortles when Yebin shoves her backwards, face flushing red in embarrassment, before snatching the half eaten meat from Yebin’s hand, and chews on it like candy. The both of them go silent, as they stand awkwardly, the sounds of munching filling the kitchen, until Minkyung shoots a question out of the blue.

“How’re you coping?”

Yebin feels a tinge of annoyance at the way Minkyung phrases her words whenever she talks to her – like she’s a kid. She wants to tell the older girl that their ages aren’t that far apart, that they’re only a year different, and if Nayoung and Siyeon can speak to each other without one treating the other like a baby, then Minkyung can do the same for Yebin too. But when she sees Kyungwon entering the living room – obviously looking for Minkyung – she thinks she’s mature enough to know her place and keep mum about it.

“Good, I guess,” Yebin gestures to her moving mouth, “Beef keeps me going.”

Minkyung laughs her usual addictive laugh; the exact laugh that made Yebin fall head over heels with her since the beginning. Kyungwon laughs along too, but Yebin is unable to tear her gaze away from Minkyung, as she keeps her eyes fixed on the girl. And when Kyungwon tells Yebin she’s going to hunt the surroundings for useful items with Minkyung, she can only nod her head in acknowledgement, and doesn’t say that the one who keeps her going, is none other than the redhead, walking right out the doorsteps, with her back facing her.

//

Kyungwon clutches the bouquet of flowers, as she stands with her feet together at the bus stop, watching as the sky is filled with speckles of snow, coating the pavement with a white, fluffy carpet. The color is drained out of her hands, as her boney fingers tremble and her lips quiver in the cold winter. She refuses to sit, insisting on standing as she waits for a certain someone, her heart hammering against her chest, spreading fire throughout her frozen body. Every second that passes by feels like an eternity to her, but as she thinks about her next step, she assures herself that it will be all worth it.

“Kyungwon!”

She turns her head in the direction of the voice, and feels the heat travelling to her face, retaining its color. She watches the other girl take off her red scarf, sprinting in her direction, her boots sinking in the snow-covered pavement.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Minkyung says harshly, wrapping the scarf around Kyungwon’s neck. The latter can only stare at the other girl, hands gripping the flowers even tighter, smile gone softly shy.

“You could’ve caught a cold!” Minkyung continues to ramble, her voice like a broken record as she goes on and on about how Kyungwon should’ve waited for her indoors, and not outdoors when the temperature is below zero, but her words enter one side of Kyungwon’s ears and out in the other, whom obviously couldn’t care less about what she’s saying.

“Are you even listening to me?” Minkyung waves her hand in front of Kyungwon’s face, breaking her thoughts. Her gaze drops to the bouquet of flowers, and if Kyungwon hadn’t mistaken, she sees the slight hue of pink on Minkyung’s cheeks, and it’s definitely not due to the cold.

“Here you go,” Kyungwon says when she s the flowers to the other girl’s hands, and Minkyung has no choice but to take them.

“What’s this for?” she asks, her brows creasing.

Kyungwon breaks into a goofy grin, subconsciously scratching her head, as her eyes desperately search for a spot on the ground – anywhere but on Minkyung’s face.

“Kang Kyungwon,” she says, her tone half questioning and half demanding. A pregnant silent follows; with Minkyung keeping her gaze on Kyungwon, and the latter picking the right words.

“Be my girlfriend?”

Minkyung doesn’t reply, but her frown turns itself upside down, and the corners of her lips are threatening to tilt upwards. And when Minkyung’s head proceeds to nod itself slowly, Kyungwon ponders over how she got so lucky, and mentally give thanks the gods above.

//

“Why are your hands so cold?” Minkyung whispers, lifting their intertwined hands as she carefully inspects Kyungwon’s fingers one by one, earning a chuckle from the other girl.

“Worry about yourself, love.” Kyungwon eyes Minkyung’s left knee as subtle as possible, but the latter catches her movement quickly, squeezing their palms together.

“I’m fine,” she assures, “It doesn’t hurt as badly as it did before, I swear.”

Kyungwon smiles, quickening her steps as she walks towards a tree stump, at the same time dragging the other girl along with her. She plants her on the wood, and although she knows for a clear fact that it’s dangerous to do so when they’re outnumbered and vulnerable to the creatures’ attacks out here in the forest, she’d give anything up for a private moment with Minkyung.

“What’s up?” Minkyung quirks when she plunks down beside Kyungwon.

“Nothing,” the latter replies, rubbing her fingertips on Minkyung’s knuckles, “Just wanted some peace and quiet with you.”

Humming in response, Minkyung doesn’t say anything else as they sit hand in hand, taking in the surrounding – the rustling of leaves, the howling of the winds and the company of each other. Any creature that appears now would have made an easy catch, but to the both of them, those don’t matter, at least momentarily.

“Do you think we’ll all make it out alive at the end of the day?” Kyungwon says softly, not wanting to ruin the tranquility.

“I don’t know,” Minkyung answers honestly, her voice a little louder than Kyungwon’s, but equally afraid, “It’s possible, but it’s also impossible.”

Kyungwon nods, and admits, “I’m actually really scared.”

A chuckle escapes her lips, but it isn’t enough to hide the tremble in her voice as she speaks. Minkyung cranes her neck to her right in concern, but Kyungwon doesn’t turn to look at her.

“I’ll always be with you, you know,” Minkyung squeezes their palms together again, “No matter what happens.”

This time, Kyungwon turns to look at her, eyes b with tears. “I know.”

Minkyung’s lips are rough against hers, chapped and cracked due to the insufficient amount of water they’re limited to drink everyday, and Kyungwon can’t deny the fact that she misses the strawberry-smelling lip balm that Minkyung used to wear whenever they met up, but honestly, she’s more than grateful for whatever she has with her right now to be wishing for anymore more. When she pulls away, the same smile greets her, eyes sparkling and nose crunching, and Kyungwon’s heart skips like any other time.

“We should go back before nighttime, shouldn’t we?” Minkyung says, her voice as mellifluous as ever.

“Yeah, and pick up some stuff even if they’re useless – like twigs, maybe – so Nayoung wouldn’t nag,” Kyungwon adds with a grin.

Minkyung breaks into a fit of laughter, her giggles are light and laced with a hum of amusement at that matter. The crinkle of her eyes and the upturn of the corners of are enough to brighten Kyungwon’s world, even as the sky darkens, even as their words seem to foreshadow their fate, in their clasped hands and interwoven fingers.

//~//

A/N: Nayoung/Jieqiong/Siyeon stans can take a break for the next few chapters, since I won’t be focusing much on them, not unless you squint. Also, do cast your votes on the poll I’ve created to help me better improve this story. Super thankful to those who always leave positive comments and do continue to stick with me for the new few chapters. Thank you for reading!!