The evening is eerily quiet, the only sound infiltrating Yebin’s ears is the sound of pencil scratching paper as she tries to map out the route to the haven through her hazy mind, following her guts rather than her memory (thank god Yewon brought her schoolbag, or they wouldn’t even have the necessities to sketch out a plan). Kyla sits obediently beside her, occasionally peeping over at her progress but never once disturbing her – Yebin can only return her consideration with a prayer of thanks without taking her eyes off the paper.

Earlier that day, Nayoung had called for another gathering, or what Nayoung would have referred to as “a plan”. First, they’ve debated whether to travel by day or night for a long time, aware of the increasing number of creatures lurking outside, ready to go for their brains any moment they’re spotted. Darkness is best if they want to flight, but daylight is preferable if they want to fight. And then they found themselves divided into two groups with different opinions, one in for flight and another in for fight. Nayoung kept her brows furrowed and her arms folded for an uncomfortably long time, until she decided to draw the lines in between, and to compromise both parties, they’ll be leaving late evening.

And then another problem arises – what if they don’t manage to proceed as planned? Yebin shakes her head away from thoughts that throw obstacles to their smooth journey, and focuses on trying to pinpoint the main parts on her map (“Don’t sweat it,” Nayoung had told her, but she still wants to help out as much as possible).

And then she feels Kyla’s eyes boring into the side of her head, and it becomes increasingly disturbing over time and Yebin no longer wants to ignore it.

“What’s up?” Yebin sees Kyla flinch a little.

“N-nothing,” she stammers, obviously trying not to be a problem at such a time. But to everyone, including Yebin, she never was one.

“We’ll get out for real this time,” Yebin says with the most confident voice she can manage, abandoning the map she’s already put her everything in. “No more running.”

“Really?” Kyla’s voice is soft, afraid, and Yebin hopes it’ll be her last time hearing this tremble.

“Of course,” Yebin’s voice isn’t as stable as she wants it to be, but for now, that much of a confidence will do.

//

It’s half past six when they start packing, grabbing all the necessities and filling their backpacks with them, just like they did on the first day of their seemingly endless journey. They pack and pack and pack, in silence and fear, with precaution and urgency, a scary reflection of the first day. The group size, however, differs, and hopefully, their fate differs too.

“Is that b-blood?” Jieqiong shrieks suddenly, her voice echoing throughout the empty room of the gas station.

Nayoung halts her movements and turns around faster than the palpitations of her heart, and sees the image of Jieqiong staring at Yewon’s leg in horror unfold in front of her eyes. Her mind goes blank, her hands turn cold as she tries to comprehend the abrupt situation; she’s never experienced or witness a plot twist as major as this, and she almost bursts out laughing. But, how?

Nayoung blinks as many times as her eyes allow her for a full minute, but when she does so for the last time on the sixtieth second, she still opens them to blood dripping from the edge of Yewon’s sport shorts, trickling down her leg in a red trail.

“Yewon?” Jieqiong says, breaking everyone out of their reverie. Nayoung rushes forward, and only then does she spot embarrassment rather than fear on Yewon’s face.

“I think I’m on my period,” she says while avoiding Nayoung’s eyes. The fortunate anticlimax leads to an awkward pregnant pause, before all of them are laughing, and then they’re back to silence at Nayoung’s instructions.

“Oh good riddance, do we have a pad?” Eunwoo succeeds at her attempt to not succumb to her revolting sense of humor.

“I only have tissues,” Sungyeon awkwardly suggests, to which Eunwoo dramatically gestures her hands towards the far end of the station, “Please.”

A sheepish whimper escapes Yewon’s lips as she scurries towards Sungyeon, away to the far end of the station where she complains to her same aged friend about the fact that she no longer has a working phone for her to use that phone app to predict the date of her period, hence the humiliating show, and Sungyeon only responds by impatiently shoving her a stash of tissue papers.

//

It’s dark time when they spot the faint shimmer of lights, emitting from the streetlamps that they’ve missed throughout the span of the past one month or so. Yebin in a breath so harshly that she starts coughing a second later, but the rest of the girls are too busy trying to take in the unbelievable reality to spare her a second.

“Is that it?” Nayoung says without looking at Yebin, her eyes fixated on the guards and the fence and whatever she imagines to be inside.

“Yes,” Yebin takes a step forward, and now that she’s managed to snap herself out of her confusion, she sees the people a little more clearly. Actual people. They still have a little more than a mile to go, but she knows that everything can end here, and all they need to do is keep themselves alive for the next thirty minutes or so.

And then she hears a moan, a growl, and a mixture of both, and she thinks that staying alive for thirty minutes may not be as easy as said.

“Run!” Nayoung shouts from behind her, and all of them take off sprinting, backpacks slamming against their backs and shoes scraping the ground. Yebin doesn’t dare to turn around but she estimates that there is at least a dozen of undead chasing after them, and as a shiver runs down her spine, she trips.

“Get up,” Siyeon forcefully yanks her to her feet within seconds, and they’re running again, but they both hear the sounds of the undead approaching them nearer, and Nayoung shouting for them to quicken their footsteps from a few meters ahead.

This time, it’s Siyeon who trips, and Yebin automatically stops to help her up. But Siyeon shoots her a glare, and shakes her head a little too objectively. “Run, I’ll catch up with all of you soon.”

Yebin doesn’t have the time to reply before Siyeon is on her feet and whipping out her baseball bat, successfully eliminating the faster ones in the group of undead. So she turns and runs, holding onto Siyeon’s words that she will catch up with them.

//

Siyeon never once found it hard to deal with the zombies, and all it takes for her is to aim for a precise spot and wish for an accurate blow. She back steps and plans to run, but then stops. Where will she run to? The quarantine rooms? An unknown fear runs through her body, and as she subtlety eyes her left ankle, she knows what to do.

Siyeon knows she shouldn’t do this, and she hates herself for having thoughts like these, but she can’t shake off all the what ifs swimming in her head. Sparing once last glance at the group of girls to make sure none of them are looking, she stops her attacks and shoves her arm toward the last incoming zombie, feeling her skin tearing as he sinks his teeth onto the soft flesh.

After a few seconds of confirmation, she yanks her hand away, takes a double check at the bite mark, before she takes the baseball bat and with one strong and swift motion, strikes the creature with a one killing blow to the head. She doesn’t need a confirmation for its death.

And then she screams, ear splitting and blood curling and fake.

Eunwoo is the first to run to her, eyes widening in alarm. “What–“

“Don’t touch me,” Siyeon holds out an arm to keep a distance between them, “I’m bitten.”

The rest of the girls halt their movement, reversing their steps as they surround Siyeon. The group of undead lay splattered around them, bodies unmoving and dried blood everywhere.

“All of you should leave,” she says, chest heaving with each breath she takes, “I’ll find my way out.”

“No,” Nayoung says without a second of hesitation, “I’m going with you.”

“But if I turn–“

“You’re not going to turn!”

Siyeon’s lips screw shut, eyes faltering as she looks at her feet. This is the loudest Nayoung has ever raised her voice, and fear and guilt hits her all at once.

“Keep going straight, okay?” Siyeon hears Nayoung say to the rest, her head still hanging down in shame, “And then once you’ve spot the place, run and don’t ever turn back. Yebin, you’re sure it’s right up ahead?”

Siyeon feels her eyes sting and her cheeks numbing, and suddenly her ears are blocked and all she hears are soft murmurs, slurred words that don’t make any sense to her.

“… I need all of you to promise to stick close to each other, and don’t ever let go of your weapons until you’re safe inside the quarantine rooms, understood?”

“Kyla, pass me your bag. Sungyeon, keep yours in case. We’ll meet up with you all soon, I promise, but for now I need all of you to look after each other, okay?”

And Siyeon starts to shift uncomfortably on her feet, the blood dripping from her arm staining her shoes with a dark, red color.

“Nayoung, can I stay too, please?’

Siyeon feels her heart sagging down into an empty pit of darkness, feels the selfish part of her taking control, so she clears and talks before she regrets.

“All of you should just go, it’s not like I can’t–“

“Shut up, Siyeon, I want to you just stand still and keep quiet,” Nayoung snaps at her, eyes glaring and nostrils flaring. “And you,” she turns to Jieqiong, her head twice, “Just go, please.”

Siyeon lifts her head slightly to see the awkward farewell, and she shoots them a small smile, watching Yebin pull the rest along, and finally Eunwoo taking Jieqiong’s hand. She keeps mum, observes as the rest of her friends go, wondering if she’ll ever see them again. A hand on her wrist shakes her out of her thoughts.

“Let’s go,” Nayoung says, stern and furious, “I saw what you did, and I think I’ll need some explanations for that.”

//

Luck is somehow upon them, Nayoung thinks, as she spots a tree house only a few meters from the transporting areas, which would mean that if they were to be ambushed, they could still make a run for the safety areas without getting lost in the directions. Moreover, the tree house looks sturdy, and not too high off the ground. It camouflages with the bushes and trees, and if they keep their voices to a minimum, chances are that they might not have to deal with any zombies at all. Nayoung heaves a sigh, but as if on cue, she hears footsteps, and the rustling of leaves, and she spins around, finding Siyeon doing the same. And figures start to approach, their shadows getting nearer and nearer. She raises her machete.

“No, wait! It’s me, it’s just us!”

Nayoung squints her eyes and focuses her vision onto a blurry image of Eunwoo and Jieqiong, and panic and fear strikes her. She marches towards them, and attempts to reverse their directions.

“No!” Jieqiong cries out, swatting Nayoung’s hand away from her shoulder. “Can’t I make my own decisions for myself?”

Her lower lips start to quiver, something that happens only whenever she’s nervous, ticked off, and Nayoung’s voice is projected softer, “Jieqiong,”

“Please,” she begs in return, “Let me stay.”

Nayoung takes a moment to cross her arms, and then uncross them, placing them on her hips. And then she turns to look at Eunwoo, cocking an eyebrow at her.

“I didn’t want Jieqiong to go alone,” she laughs sheepishly, “And I want to help!”

“Okay,” Nayoung says after a few attempts to change their minds, knowing that she can’t persuade them otherwise. If Jieqiong wants something, she’ll give her everything, and Eunwoo will never go against Jieqiong.

“What about the rest?”

“We saw them enter,” it’s Eunwoo who answers her, her voice stronger, “We said we’d be back with our friends.”

“Nothing… suspicious?” Nayoung enounces each syllable.

“Nope, nothing.”

“Let’s go in, then,” she finally gestures to the tree house.

Just then, a girl around Siyeon’s height surfaces from the tree house; her hands are wrapped around a gun, and her eyes and gun are locked on Nayoung.

“Drop all of your weapons,” she sputters at them, flexing her arm muscles as if she’s trying to intimidate them. She’s not an undead, for sure, but she’s not someone Nayoung feels relieved upon meeting.

Like hell, Nayoung thinks, lifting her machete.

The girl draws down the hammer, the gun, and readies it for firing. “I will shoot,” she seethes, and from the looks of her eyes, Nayoung doesn’t doubt her words.

She lays the machete onto to muddy ground, fishes out her knife and places it beside it, before stripping off her bag from her shoulders and dumping it altogether beside her feet. Siyeon, Jieqiong, and Eunwoo do the same, with Siyeon muttering soft curses and Jieqiong biting back her whimpers.

“Good,” the girl stares down at them, gun still in position, “Now I want each of you to come up, one after another, without the weapons. You know, just to confirm that none of you are…” she pauses, a slight smirk tugging at her lips, “… zombies.”

Nayoung resists the urge to roll her eyes, and climbs up the wooden ladder to the tree house. The girl inspects her a little too closely, hands groping every part of her body, before issuing her the permission to enter the tree house. Next to join her is Jieqiong, who runs straight to her arms after she’s let inside, and then Eunwoo, who evidently wipes the fear off her face.

“Show me your right arm,” the girl says to Siyeon, who doesn’t budge. She only stares back, unfazed and eyes unfaltering, and Nayoung almost wants to berate her for her obstinacy at a situation like this. Scoffing with an obvious hint of sarcasm, the girl points an accusing finger at Siyeon, smile crooked and eye narrowing, “Listen, if you’re not going to show it to me yourself, I’m just going to have to–“

And Siyeon whips out her right arm from behind her back, clouting the gun off the other girl’s grip. Eunwoo shrieks as the gun slides into the house, a few feet away from her. The girl reaches for her knife at her back pocket, but not before Siyeon has her arm around her neck. She pulls her backwards, and the girl struggles, elbowing Siyeon in the chin. Her feet lose their footing, and Siyeon takes a step too far backwards, tripping over the edge of the wooden plank of the tree house, dragging the girl down with her. Nayoung watches in horror as the two girls disappear from her sight.

//~//

A/N: This update took like a month gosh I’m so sorry lol. I was kind of busy with work but now that my work has ended, I’ll try update more often? Till the next update, I’ll leave you guys to ponder over the reason behind Siyeon’s infuriating switch of personality (I think most of you already have the answer to this) and who might be the new character I’m about to introduce! And as always, comments are very much appreciated :’)

P.S.: Are high school/ soulmate aus still any appealing? Because I’m thinking of starting one…