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Just like in the movies, nobody knew how the whole thing began. Maybe because the virus had spread so rapidly that the starting point was reduced to only a blur. 

。。。。。。。。。。

"Can you stop doing that?" 

"Doing what?"

"Flicking through the channels like that, just choose one and stay on it." 

Yongguk stopped his channel surfing for roughly 5 seconds at most, staring at the giraffe's as it stooped down to drink from the waterhole.

"It looks like it's about to collapse and probably break its neck in the process..." Yongguk muttered.

Then he began clicking the buttons on the remote again, a useless montage of faces and colours flashing on the tv (unless there was even the slightest flash of a bikini or a girl in skimpy lingerie then maybe there would be a small delay). Daehyun sighed and ran a hand down his tired face as the mindless switching of channels continued. Yongguk took his feet off the table and stopped clicking briefly to lean forward to grab the half-empty, warm can of flat beer resting in front of him. Taking a small sip of it, his face scrunched up in disgust.

"Dae, this beer's warm."

"......yes?"

"Can you pl-"

"No." Daehyun's eyes never left the screen. Yongguk wondered what was so intriguing about the infomercial advertising vacuum cleaners but then again it was most likely Daehyun's way of telling him to leave him alone, subtly hinting at him that vacuum cleaners were much more interesting than whatever Yongguk had to say or ask.

"Fine...idiot..."

Yongguk sighed and got off the couch, leaving an indentation in the worn out cushion, an indication that he'd been there for way too long. Walking to the kitchen with the warm beer in his hands, he heard Daehyun change to the animal channel, then to the infomercial, then to the news channel, then to the animal channel again, then back to the news channel. 

"Hypocrite." Yongguk thought to himself, pouring the warm beverage down the sink then snapping opening a new can of cold beer from the fridge. He leaned against the counter that was piled with days of unwashed dishes, and listened to whatever was on tv.

「"Breaking news...demic...contag...irus...safety...may disturb..."」 was pretty much all he could make out. He was never one to keep up with the news. His logic was that if it concerned him then he would be informed one way or the other. He took one last swig of his beer, attempted to chuck it into the garbage, missed, ignored it, then sauntered into the living room.

Daehyun's eyes were wide, and Yongguk guessed it was either because he saw two hippos doing the nasty on the animal channel or he saw something shocking on the news. Either way, he was curious.

"H-holy ..." Daehyun's voice was small.

Yongguk was about to ask what was wrong, but he was cut short by Daehyun pointing to the tv. Yongguk looked behind him and was taken aback by what he saw, having to blink a couple of times to register what was being shown on the screen.

「"Victims of such attacks have been suffering from flu-like symptoms shortly after the attack, it takes approximately fifteen minutes..."」

"What the is this?" Yongguk asked, almost to himself as he stared at the graphic images being shown on tv.

People with their throats ripped out,

「"...virus transfer via bodily fluids through any orifice..."」

...tendons hanging from gaping wounds,

「"...resembling gangrene..."」

...slowing waves of blood pulsing out of each laceration,

「"...increased blood viscosity..."」

and they were all outlined with disgusting, 

「"...to apparent death, however..."」

purple,

「"...re-animation of the corpses..."」

bruising of the flesh.

「"...or by applying blunt trauma to the head." 」

Daehyun's heart was now beating uncontrollably against his ribs and Yongguk's mind was still processing what was happening.

Wasn't this type of thing limited to video-games and crappy B-grade horror movies?

"It's not here right?"

"What do you mean?" Daehyun replied shakily.

"I mean, has anything like that," Yongguk pointed at the tv, which was now blurting warnings and recommended safety pre-cautions, "happened here, in our area?"

"I-- I'm not--" and as if on cue, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the still evening air.

"What."

"The." 

"." 

。。。。。。。。。。

Yongguk took a quick glance out the window, just in time to see the gruesome scene below of a young girl being scalped by the teeth of a grotesquely deformed being. It was like looking at a train-wreck, he wanted to tear his eyes away from the horrific scene but as much as he tried, he couldn't. The zombie (Yongguk had resorted to calling them that seeing as there wasn't anything more appropriate) continued to maul the helpless girl in the middle of the road, tearing into her flesh and smearing her organs all over its own face, and onto the asphalt. Yongguk felt his dinner rise to his throat. 

The zombie sat there for a few seconds after it was done, strings of red dripping out the corners of its mouth, a few chunks of flesh dropping from its mouth. But what Yongguk saw next made his heart stop beating. What was left of the young girl, it moved. It ing moved. It stood the up, not caring that its innards were spilling onto the ground, and it began to waddle along the street. It's gait was strange, as if it had just learned how to walk.

"I'm not ing staying here." Yongguk stated firmly as he finally looked away from the window.

"Yeah? And where are we going to go?" Daehyun was in a state of panic, Yongguk could tell from the way his breathing shallowed and the way his voice trembled.

"It's been eight ing days! We haven't left the apartment, I haven't heard from Jieun in over a week, what else can we do?!" Yongguk was almost shouting by now. 

"I'm not going outside." Daehyun flinched as more screams pierced the air.

"So you want to stay here? In here?! How long can we survive? The amount of food we have can't even last us a week at this rate!" Yongguk rubbed the bridge of  his nose with his index finger and his thumb. Daehyun bit his thumbnail, blinking slowly as he took in Yongguk's blunt words.

"Look at how many people are in this complex Daehyun," Yongguk's voice softened in a way that turned his voice sinister, "the chances that any of them are, or can be, infected are rising at a rate quicker than you can imagine and if we don't leave soon--" Yongguk sighed, "You can't stay here Daehyun. You'll die, and neither of us want that do we?"

Daehyun eyes flickered down for a moment, then shook his head slightly without looking up. 

"Good, now get whatever you need, clothes, food, phone, whatever," Yongguk looked outside at the carnage, 

"...and we'll most likely need weapons."

。。。。。。。。。。

It was probably the first time Daehyun was thankful for Yongguk's bulky, monster of a truck. He was busy helping loading various items into the car, inspecting them each as Yongguk passed them to him. How Yongguk managed to keep all of them hidden was a mystery to Daehyun. A spade, a metal baseball bat, a spiked baseball bat, a chainsaw, a sledgehammer, an axe and a shotgun and a load of shotgun shells to accompany it.

"If we need anything, I'm pretty sure we can take anything from any store," Yongguk told Daehyun as they climbed into the truck, "nobody is going to be bothered with that now." Shutting the door firmly, Yongguk turned the key sharply in the ignition and pushed the accelerator down harder than usual as the sped out of the apartment's parking lot. 

There weren't many cars, or people, in their vicinity. It was like their whole town was dead. Both of them knew where everyone had gone, but neither of them said anything.

The sky was a perfect shade of navy, Daehyun noticed. He rested his chin on his hand and his elbow on the door handle. Yongguk was too concentrated on getting somewhere safe and so all that could be heard was the purring sounds of the truck in the absence of words. Daehyun was getting sleepy. He was tired. This all happened too quickly. One minute he was watching giraffe butts as they drank from the waterhole, next he was running out of town with his best friend because the town had so quickly been infested with--

"Don't look outside." 

"Hm?" 

"Pretty sure you won't like what you see." 

"Oh. Yeah, thanks..."

Daehyun placed his arm against the window and rested his head.

It was going to be a long trip.

。。。。。。。。。。

He had been driving for God knows how long.

Yongguk listened to the sound of Daehyun's breathing and the humming of the engine and all of a sudden he was aware of his own exhaustion. Yongguk lessened the pressure on the pedal and took a look around. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, he was more focused on just going. It was almost pitch black, except for his headlights emitting two lonely beams of yellow onto the otherwise empty stretch of road. If there were any buildings around them, he wouldn't know. He stopped the car on what he thought was the side of the road.

Placing his head on the steering wheel, he glanced at Daehyun. He looked peaceful, something that Yongguk envied. How could he sleep in this time and place. How were his parents? They had moved to Wonju not long ago, had this infection reached out there?

Suddenly a pang of guilt hit him, his girlfriend whom he has been dating for about five or so months now, was probably still back in her house, helpless, defenceless and scared. He hadn't heard from her ever since this whole storm began. Quickly reaching into his pocket, he dug out his phone and checked for messages. There was none. Yongguk cursed and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Could she have--

No. Yongguk tried to force the idea out of his mind.

"I'm sorry, Jieun," he mumbled more to himself than anyone else, "I'll come for you. Just hang on."

And with that, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come.

。。。。。。。。。。

"Oi." 

Daehyun had woken up from a dreamless sleep and took a quick look around. It looked like they had driven into a suburban area, with small houses lined side-by-side and uniformly mowed lawns.

"Oi wake up." Daehyun nudged Yongguk's head with his hand, earning a small grunt and a sniff from the other before he finally opened his eyes, struggling to keep them open.

"Where are we?" Daehyun asked as Yongguk yawned and stretched, almost hitting Daehyun's head in the process, "we're almost out of town right?" 

"I don't know, it was too dark last night, it was hard to see anything..." then Yongguk remembered his thoughts from last night, "...Jieun."

"What?" 

"We have to go back get Jieun, I'm not leaving her in this hole." 

"Are you serious?" Daehyun sighed. It had taken so long to get here and now they were turning around to go rescue Yongguk's damsel in distress. 

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Yongguk pointed to his face. It read nothing but determination and Daehyun closed his eyes and gave in. When Yongguk was determined there was no use in trying to convince him otherwise.

"...fine. After coming so far we'll just turn right around go back, possibly have to fight through hoards of those...those things, get your girlfriend, then try to get out of town. Again." Daehyun had pronounced the word 'girlfriend' with such venom that Yongguk worried for a while that bringing her along would cause her more harm than leaving her here.

"Fine by me." Yongguk mumbled stubbornly as he turned the key in the ignition.

。。。。。。。。。。

The ride back seemed longer than last night, most likely because this time he was awake for the whole time. His conversations with Yongguk had died down halfway during the trip back after each one led to the subject of either zombies or Jieun, neither of which Daehyun liked and neither of which Daehyun wanted to talk to about. He checked the clock. 

1:30 pm

"Hey, do we have food?"

"Uhh...check the back?" Yongguk's stomach began to churn at Daehyun's mention of food. He hoped silently that there was an abandoned supermarket nearby to raid in the case that there was no food.

"Kay."

Daehyun managed to wriggle out of the passenger to into the backseat, with much difficulty considering the small, contained space they were in and the fact that this place was nothing but corners and turns. Daehyun landed with a soft "oof" as his face met the cushion.

And that was when Yongguk heard the screams.

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"AHHHH!!! !!!" Daehyun's voice pierced through the silence, causing Yongguk to swerve dangerously on the road.

"WHAT?! WHAT?!" Yongguk frantically tried to get the car back on the road all while attempting to hear Daehyun over the screeching of tires and craning his head back to see what had happened.

"Z-- Zom--"

"ZOMBIES?! IN HERE?! Yongguk slammed on the brakes and turned around abruptly to help Daehyun,

"HOLY FU--" Daehyun screamed as the force of the sudden brake threw him backwards into Yongguk's face.

"AAHHH!! GET OFF!! AHHWEAPONSGOWHATARGH!!"

Yongguk was too busy screaming incoherently and Daehyun was too busy yelling and flailing his useless limbs around that they didn't realize that there were more voices screaming along with them. It was only when an unfamiliar, yet human voice managed to yell back "OH GOD DON'T HURT US!!" that Yongguk and Daehyun stopped their deafening panicking.

"...wait what?" Yongguk put his hands around Daehyun's waist and pulled him aside to free his vision.

Two blonde heads and two pairs of eyes peeked out from behind the backseat where the weapons were kept. They both appeared to be of similar age to each other, younger than both Yongguk and Daehyun. The two older ones just stared at the half-faces, which only stared back at them.

"Um...hi." A quiet voice spoke. The silence that ensued was slightly awkward as the two behind the backseats remained in their half-hidden positions and Yongguk and Daehyun exchanged confused glances. Yongguk was the first to break that silence.

"What the ."

"We're so sorry!" The same one spoke up again. He revealed his face as he got up in an attempt to bow within the restrictions of a car, and the other boy copied. They were both young probably 16, 17 at most. They didn't lift their heads up until Daehyun asked for an explanation. The two boys nudged each other, urging the other to explain the situation.

"Um..I'm Jongup and this is Junhong." 

"Uh," a small voice sounded, "sorry for intruding."

"We're really, really sorry." Jongup began, "we really needed a place to stay and you two were the only people we saw for milesandweweregoinGTOGETKILLEDAND--"

"Are you two brothers?" Daehyun asked quickly almost as an excuse to shut him up.

Jongup just smiled and shook his head.

。。。。。。。。。。

"We're on our way back into town." Daehyun told the two, a small hint of annoyance in his voice. They had decided to let the kids tag along, both agreeing that it would be cold-hearted to just throw them back out to the wolves.

"Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armour here wants to save the bi- I mean his girlfriend." Daehyun had ended up sitting in the backseat with Jongup and Junhong since he was too lazy to climb back to the front.

"Stop hating on her man, everyone makes mistakes." Yongguk tried to defend Jieun to no avail.

"You have a girlfriend?!" Jongup jumped up at the thought, causing Junhong to flinch slightly from the sudden movement, "I've never had a girlfriend!"

"Yeah well she made the same mistake three times over..." Daehyun mumbled to himself. Yongguk shot Daehyun a glare but it was like water off a duck's feathers. Yongguk knew Daehyun was right, but hell if he ever showed it.

"Is she pretty?" Jongup asked, leaning forward to rest his chin on the back of Yongguk's seat, "what's her name?"

Yongguk waved his hand around, probably trying to get Jongup to stop with the questions, "You'll see her soon enough, her name's Jieun and yes," Yongguk's voice suddenly dropped to a low volume, "she's pretty."

"Junhong?" Yongguk took a quick glance at the thin boy staring out the window through the rear-view mirror, "you alright?"

Junhong nodded and pulled on his bottom lip with this fingers. But his stomach contradicted his actions and grumbled rather audibly, to his embarrassment. 

"OH that's right!" Daehyun's eyes lit up, he had forgotten about his hunger after the shock of meeting the two and looked behind him to check for food. He was met with the unwelcoming sight of empty bags of chips and wrappers littered all over the floor. Daehyun looked back at Jongup and Junhong, both of them avoiding eye-contact. 

"Argh me!" Daehyun exclaimed as he knocked his head on the window in despair.

The rest of the car-ride was a lovely concert of stomach growls, featuring complaints about the lack of food by Daehyun.

。。。。。。。。。。

"Holy ..." Jongup mumbled as they drove through the street near Jieun's house.

The streets had been painted a sickening shade of burgundy, the blood and loose bits of flesh baked onto the ground by the sun. And there they were, the culprits. Lumbering, bumbling, decaying bodies a few metres ahead. 

Right outside Jieun's house.

"Motherfu-- Daehyun hand me something." Yongguk said sternly.

"Hand you what?" Daehyun looked at the assortment of dangerous items at the back.

"Anything." So Daehyun grabbed the first thing he could find, a spiked bat, and handed it to Yongguk, careful to avoid whacking Jongup's big head with it, "you're not seriously going out there are you?" Yongguk gave Daehyun that do-I-look-like-I'm-joking look again and Daehyun didn't even try to reason with him, so he did the only thing he could, he sighed and followed Yongguk out.

"What are you doing?" Yongguk asked as Daehyun stepped out of the car.

"I'll go with you." Daehyun offered, grabbing an axe for himself. It was surprisingly heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle. The stench of rotting meat was offensive but he tried not to show his discomfort.

"No." The last thing Yongguk wanted to see was Daehyun's limbs and intenstines spread onto the road.

"Seriously." Yongguk stopped for a while before he gave him a firm pat on the back, and they looked forward to the small crowd of zombies blocking the entrance to Jieun's house. 

"Wait!!" They heard a voice call out behind them, turning around they saw the two blonde boys jogging towards them, "we'll go too, I don't want to stay in the car and neither does Junhong." Junhong shook his head in agreement. 

"No, stay in the car. It's too dangerous."

"We'll be fine! We've killed a couple of these before!" And Jongup waved his own baseball bat around, assuring Yongguk that they were experienced zombie-killers.

"I said stay in the car!" Yongguk didn't mean to raise his voice, but he didn't fancy the idea of being responsible for two dead teenagers.

"Uhh..." Daehyun nudged Yongguk, "I think they heard you."

"They better have." Jongup and Junhong stood their ground.

"No, I mean them."

He turned around and Daehyun was right. Pairs of milky, clouded eyes turned, all in their direction. Then slowly, they began to amble over to the four living, breathing humans. 

"Hyu--" Daehyun was starting to panic.

"You two better know how to take care of yourselves, for now." Yongguk directed at Jongup and Junhong without turning around, "Dae, stay close."

"Wait wha--"

And before anybody else could say anything, Yongguk quickly walked over to the first zombie, swinging the bat as hard as he could, aiming for its head. The impact caused the already decaying head to split open before it hit the ground. Dark red splattered onto Yongguk's baby blue shirt but he didn't mind. He didn't mind at all. Then Yongguk went on to the next zombie, then the next, landing powerful blows to their heads, even decapitating one or two in the process. It seemed to Daehyun that Yongguk might even be enjoying himself.

Daehyun followed quickly behind, he was afraid of the zombies coming back to life so he had made sure to completely destroy the nervous system connection between the brain and the rest of the body, using the axe to completely severe the heads. His shoes had seen the worst of it, they went from a navy blue to a nasty shade of purple. He looked behind them and his heart stopped when he saw the two younger boys attempt to fight a small crowd of zombies around them. But he was too busy worrying about the others to realize that there was one coming right at him.

"Daehyun!" Yongguk's voice rang into Daehyun's ears and Daehyun span around, met with the sight of a jawless zombie reaching out to him. Forgetting he had a weapon in his hand, Daehyun lifted up his leg and kicked the zombie in the cavity that was its stomach. It stumbled backwards a little, and before it fell over, Daehyun picked up his axe and swung it, the blunt end of the axe straight into the zombies head. He felt a surge of adrenaline as the head of the zombie burst into red with the sound of breaking bone and watched as the body fell to the ground. Daehyun looked up and watched as Yongguk killed a wall of zombies with the gracefulness of a raging rhino. Remembering the two behind him, Daehyun quickly turned to run back and help, but instead, saw as the two were finishing off bludgeoning the heads of six or eight zombies around them.

"Okay then."

When they had finished having their fun, they ran to join Daehyun to go follow Yongguk. Halfway up the driveway to Jieun's house, they all grinded to a halt, Jongup walked into Daehyun and Junhong walked into Jongup. And Yongguk was standing there among the corpses, and he was silent. There was one more zombie left, heading straight for Yongguk, yet Yongguk didn't move.

"Yongguk!" Daehyun yelled.

"Idiot! Don't just stan--" then Daehyun saw, a few strands of coffee brown hair left on its head, the only thing that helped to distinguish this zombie from the rest.

。。。。。。。。。。

Yongguk had been sure he'd be able to fight his way through all the zombies on the way to Jieun's house, hell even the kids were able to do it, so why couldn't he? As he ploughed his way through the mass of decomposing flesh (which he inferred was the reason for the pungent smell lingering in the air), he could only think of Jieun, how happy she would be to see him, how happy he would be to see her, how happy they would be to see each other. One last spray of red, and he was already at her house. But when he walked up to the front door, it was open, and Jieun was nowhere to be found. 

"Jieun!" Yongguk yelled into the house, and instead of hearing her sweet voice, he received a gurgle in reply.

And that was when Yongguk turned and immediately, he stopped moving.

。。。。。。。。。。

"He's going to get himself killed." Jongup said quietly, before he took a step forward. Daehyun put his hand out to stop him. 

"No no, let me." Daehyun wasn't going to pass this opportunity to smash her face in, something he wanted to do a long, long time ago.

Junhong and Jongup watched as Daehyun took a few steps towards Ji- well, what was Jieun, and prepared to destroy her. He lifted up the axe, but just as he was about to swing--

"Don't you ing dare." Yongguk finally spoke.

"What?" Daehyun stopped half-swing and turned to face Yongguk.

"Get the away from her!" 

"Yong--" 

"I said," Yongguk reached out to pull Daehyun in by the collar and levelled with him, "get the away from her." 

"Look hyung, we don't have time for this! That thing is not your girlfriend okay?!" Daehyun pointed in the general direction of the creature.

"If you even ing touch her I will--"

"GUYS!!"

There was a sickening crunch and everyone stood still and nobody made a sound.

"What the --" His knuckles were pale from gripping Daehyun's collar so tightly and his voice was dripping with hostility yet at such a soft tone.

Junhong remained completely calm as he stood over the unmoving corpse, a bloodied bat clenched in his grip.

"Don't." The look of Yongguk's face was one of pure murderous intent and it was obvious he wanted Junhong's throat crushed under his fingers. Yongguk took a step towards Junhong, but his path was blocked when Daehyun moved swiftly to stand between them, placing a small hand on his shoulder.

"Hyung. Listen to me." He gave the shoulder a comforting squeeze, "That wasn't your girlfriend. That thing wasn't Jieun." Yongguk remained quiet, "Junhong killed the thing that killed her, Yongguk. Snap out of it."

Then all of a sudden, Yongguk pulled Daehyun into an almost suffocating hug, and at that moment Daehyun didn't know what to do. His heart was too busy beating at breakneck speed that he forgot to hug back.

。。。。。。。。。。

"Punching brick isn't a good thing to do you know." Jongup murmured softly as he examined Yongguk's hand. He lost chunks of skin and flesh and it was still bleeding by the time they got back to the car.

Daehyun had offered to take the wheel after Yongguk in a fit of stress and anger after the incident, threw a punch at the closest wall, a brick wall.

He was pissed that his girlfriend was dead, but he tried to convince himself it wasn't anyone's fault. And he also felt extremely guilty for that tiny moment he thought that maybe it's for the better that she was gone because she wouldn't have survived for long. She would've been a burden.

"Of all the things we didn't bring," Yongguk began, "we didn't bring a ing first aid kit." 

"Why don't we just go to a pharmacy and take whatever we need, I mean, it's not like anybody would mind right?" Jongup suggested.

They took a detour to the small local pharmacy and just as they thought, it was wrecked. The glass had shattered and the shards were glistening in the orange evening glow. When they entered, they found that the interior wasn't as horrible as they thought it would be, not many of the shelves had toppled over, but there were a few items here and there on the floor. It was just very, very bloody.

They examined everything, picking up things that "might come in useful, just in case, you never know". 

"Hey hey hyung, what antipseptic do you prefer?" Jongup held up two bottles that looked similar to each other. Really similar. Yongguk shook his head.

"Jongup, they're the same brand."

。。。。。。。。。。

"So where are we going exactly?" Daehyun asked Yongguk as Jongup attempted to help with cleaning the wounds and bandaging his hand up. 

"Uh...I guess you should just keep dri- ah! Driving until whenever, we just need to get out Seoul and fi- ow goddamn..." 

"Sorry..." Jongup said quietly, "You wanna do it yourself?"

"You think I can do this myself?" 

"Oh right. Haha...sorry." Jongup mumbled nervously as he continued dressing the wound. Yongguk intimidated him to no end, his composure, his voice, his everything. He wondered how Daehyun managed to live with someone like him.

"You okay?" Jongup asked when he noticed Daehyun tightening his grip on the steering wheel. 

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

。。。。。。。。。。

Daehyun had pulled over at the side of the road. He was tired and because nobody else was fit to drive, they had no choice but to stop. Daehyun lifted his heavy eyes to the rear-view mirror to check on the others. It looked to him that everyone was asleep--everyone but Junhong.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" 

"No...I will when I'm tired." He didn't turn to look at Daehyun, instead he continued staring out of the window.

"Oh, well, I'm going to sleep now so...goodnight." And with that Junhong was left by himself in silence.

Outside, it was almost black. 

。。。。。。。。。。

"How's your hand?"

Yongguk woke up to a damp puddle of warm drool on his right shoulder, courtesy of Jongup, and a pair of long legs draped heavily over his lap.

"Better." He groaned as he gently pushed Junhong's legs to the floor with a dull thud and detached Jongup's mouth from his shirt, "Did you have a good sleep?"

Daehyun tapped his fingers on the steering wheel absent-mindedly as he nodded, biting his lip. The truth was, falling asleep was harder than he imagined. How does anyone have a good sleep when every waking moment is spent worrying about whether or not one of those things would come rushing at you with their bloody teeth bared, fingers clawing your face, desperate to tear your flesh off. You could never be too careful, especially in a situation like this where the second your guard is down you could already we halfway through the putrid mouth of a zombie.

Yongguk must've seen the look of fear and fatigue on Daehyun's face.

"Look, Dae, I'll make sure nothing happens to you. I mean," Yongguk paused and took a breath, "you're pretty much all I have now."

A less than comfortable silence fell softly between them. It was obvious to Daehyun that Yongguk was still in the process of recovering from Jieun's sudden and not-so-peaceful death. Usually at a time like this, as a friend he would be expected to say something encouraging, perhaps comforting, but Daehyun was never good with words, so when the silence was finally broken he let out a small breath in relief.

"Man I am so hungry. If only we had fooood..." Jongup's slurred voice rang out.

"And whose fault would that be?" Daehyun was still a bit bitter about the fact that their supply of food was devoured so quickly, and he didn't even get a tiny amount of it. Jongup pouted and shrunk back into the seat, trying his best to avoid Daehyun's piercing glare. 

"Well, since most of us are up," Yongguk glanced at the boy still sound asleep beside him, "wanna continue on our way? I'll drive."

"But isn't your hand--"

"You need more rest than my hand does. It's fine."

Daehyun couldn't suppress the yawn that escaped and he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. When his eyes were closed for more than the split-second of a blink, he realized how exhausted he really was. 

。。。。。。。。。。

"It is recommended by the Biohazard and Affliction Purge Association to construct a safe-house. Many have been placed around the city by the B.A.P but it is strongly advised you build your own. This will aid you, and others, in your fight for survival. This was a pre-recorded message from the B.A.P. Thank you."

"A safe-house?" Yongguk asked the radio as if it were able to provide him with an answer. "What's the point if you can just get out of the city?" 

"What's up there?" Junhong pointed into the distance, an unidentifiable cluster of colours reflecting the orange glow of sunset. As they neared it, it became clear to them.

It was a blockage of abandoned cars.

"!" Yongguk couldn't believe his luck-- or lack thereof. All this way only to reach a dead end. With thick foliage on both sides, there wasn't any other way for them to travel except back, and that was not an option.

"Man..." Daehyun shook his head.

Even if they wanted to, a quick check of fuel told them that there wasn't enough for them to turn around and find another exit. It was just what all of them hoped it wasn't. The only thing left to do was obvious, but at the same time none of them wanted to suggest it, it just seemed too dangerous and absurd.

"We can't turn back." Yongguk heard Daehyun mutter helplessly.

"Thanks for that." The irritation emanating from Yongguk was almost palpable.

"But it's not like we can stay here either." Jongup said as he watched the two older males in the front seats search their minds desperately for an alternative solution. It was proving to be fruitless as they wordlessly stared at one another.

"I guess..." Yongguk's fingers tightened around steering wheel, "we'll have to go by foot."

The level of danger that would come with that was off the charts, but none of them argued because all of them knew it was the only thing they could do, and besides, staying in the car would most likely be a worse decision because it was a small confined space and they were practically sitting ducks.

Daehyun froze at the thought of having to go by foot, possibly through hoards of zombies craving nothing but the taste of soft flesh and warm blood, wanting nothing but to splatter his insides all over the ground. He shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths, taking a minute to compose himself, to tell himself that being afraid was only going to be a hindrance. He wasn't religious but Daehyun also took this time to pray to whoever was up there and tell them that he was ready to wake up from this drawn-out nightmare and continue with his previously simple life as a student.

If he could wake up at all.

They all stepped out of the car and for the first time in hours they felt the grittiness of concrete under their feet. Daehyun sighed and rubbed his forehead as he felt the start of a headache rise. A hand rested softly on his shoulder and looking up from his half-assed prayer, he was met with Jongup's soothing smile.

"We'll just have to look out for each other and as long as we do that we'll be fine right?" Daehyun stared at Jongup, shocked and envious at the positive outlook that the boy had. He may have been young but he had what Daehyun lacked and wished he had. Optimism, bravery and even muscle. 

"Yeah...I guess. Thanks, Jongup." Daehyun mustered all his strength to return a smile of his own, even if it was terribly forced.

"O-oh, no need to uh...yeah..." A pause. Jongup's eyes met Daehyun's and Daehyun stared back. None of them knew how to end the conversation.

"Okay you two, I feel like with the amount of eye- you'll be catching STDs any second now." 

That could work too.

Jongup choked on whatever air he was breathing and Daehyun let out a noise that was an odd mixture of a gasp and squeak.

"Wh-what?!" Daehyun then pursed his mouth and his brows furrowed before he landed a heavy punch on Yongguk's arm as the older chuckled to himself, amused by the reactions of the two boys. 

"Don't punch me, I'm three years your senior, you should respect me!" Yongguk laughed despite the throbbing of his arm. Maybe Daehyun was fit to fight these zombies after all, he thought. The boy was thin but he had a surprising amount of strength in him.

"Sorry what was that, old man?" 

Yongguk playfully grabbed Daehyun by the collar and before he could react he was being roughly shoved against the truck with Yongguk's body dangerously close to his own. Yongguk leaned down until their faces were merely inches away.

"It's 'hyung', you brat." Yongguk smirked as he towered over Daehyun's small frame.

Daehyun gulped at their close proximity and he nervously giggled. 

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, hyung." 

"Now kiss!" Jongup's strangely high-pitched, faux-girl voiced interrupted them and Daehyun mentally noted to thank Jongup for being there at the most convenient of times, even if the comment was just a bit unnecessary and didn't really help with the awkward atmosphere lingering around them. Only a small snicker from Junhong could be heard.

Yongguk released his grip on Daehyun's collar and ruffled his fingers through the soft blond hair. They've been best friends for a decade or so, and they even started living together recently. Yongguk saw him as the little brother he never had. He wasn't lying when he said that Daehyun was all he had left and he was strongly determined not to lose him. 

The weight of the situation hadn't fully settled yet, and Yongguk was afraid of what it would do to him when it finally did. 

"rgl..grlg..." and a small splat could be heard. Then another. And another.

"Please do not tell me there is a zombie behind me." Yongguk said simply, as if it were a daily occurrence, which, worse comes to worse, it would become.

"N-not a zombie..." Jongup trembled at the sight behind the older man, "maybe we should get the weapons out."

"Good idea."

They all stood still like a deer in the headlights, until more gurgles bubbled out of the many decaying throats behind them and suddenly in a burst of realization and fear, they were all running towards the back of the truck to retrieve their means of defense.

"Okay, everyone," Yongguk began, almost like the unspoken leader, "stay close. Do not, I repeat, do not separate from the group." The others nodded in unison.

Junhong took the first step and in one wide swing came an explosion of rotting flesh. Jongup stayed close behind, sending heads flying in all directions. Yongguk was thankul for the fact that these bodies were already decomposing because it made it just that much easier for them. He was in the middle of fighting off an armless corpse when he noticed the absence of warmth against his back that Daehyun always provided when he was afraid.

"Dae, come over here." Yongguk called out without looking back as his bat made contact with the underside of the zombie's jaw, snapping the head right off and watched with satisfaction as the scene before him unfolded. A beautiful massacre of zombies. "Dae?" The lack of response caused Yongguk to spin around in search of the boy in question and it was what he feared most.

He was nowhere to be seen.

。。。。。。。。。。

"He's missing?!" It was almost like Jongup was blaming Yongguk for his disappearance. Junhong's foot tapped on the ground without rhythm as they stood together amidst the sea of dismembered, headless bodies.

"I told him to stay close," Yongguk muttered under his breath, and grabbed a fistful of his own hair, "that idiot..."

"We really should've kept our eyes on each other..." Yongguk watched as Junhong bit his lip in regret.

"Look, it's nobody's fault, we just have to keep calm and find--"

"That's easier said than done."

"Well that attitude is really going to make things easier." Yongguk crossed his arms over his chest and stood over Jongup. "What do you suggest we do then?"

Jongup bit the inside of his cheek and cast his eyes downwards. It really wasn't anybody's fault, but Yongguk is Daehyun's best friend and he had subtly made it known that it was his job to protect Daehyun. Jongup felt a pang of regret. Perhaps it was also his fault for not looking out for him and leaving it all to Yongguk, because maybe then he could've prevented this from happening. 

"There's no use in arguing, Jongup," Yongguk placed a hand on Jongup's shoulder, "the longer we do this-- let's just look for him, okay?" 

Jongup nodded obediently and Yongguk gave a firm pat on the shoulder. Junhong reached a comforting arm around Jongup's shoulder. 

"You okay?" He asked simply.

Jongup his dry lips before he shook his head.

。。。。。。。。。。

DAEHYUN

"Okay, everyone, stay close. Do not, I repeat, do not separate from the group." Daehyun swallowed as he watched the approaching wave of zombies amble towards them. 

Junhong sprang off, not even flinching when the zombies lunged at him, instead swinging that metal bat of his and succeeding in taking out three zombies at once. Daehyun watched, mouth agape as the others took off and dispatched more zombies than he could count. If he could be as fearless as them, it would be such a great advantage. But unfortunately that wasn't the case, so here he was standing alone, too scared to go within a 10ft radius of a zombie. He was so busy watching the others in awe, paralyzed with fear that he forgot that in his hand was an axe that could be used for doing just that. 

But suddenly, a cold hand clamped over his mouth while the other wrapped around his wrist. Daehyun's eyes widened as he struggled against the hold, feeling the disgusting puffs of foul breath run down the back of his neck. The zombies may be fragile but they were in no way light, and this one was no exception, nor did it have any motor skills to prevent itself from losing balance as Daehyun fought against it,and slipping backwards down the slippery slope of dirt and leaves into the forest, dragging Daehyun with it. He desperately grasped at the rotting flesh, trying to pry the zombie off of himself, but it was stubbornly stiff around his body. They hit the forest floor and the wind was knocked out of Daehyun as they landed hard on the ground.

He had no time to recover before he heard the crack of an opening jaw and the familiar growl, and panic immediately flooded his chest. From the corner of his eye he could see the unhinged jaw aiming for his throat, so Daehyun lifted his free hand to push the horrifyingly grotesque face away from his own, but instead the sharp teeth of the zombie sunk into his arm. Daehyun screamed through the hand still firmly placed over his mouth and tears streamed quick as his arm turned numb with pure agony. Driving his elbow backwards, the zombie stumbled, Daehyun's blood smeared an agitated red around its maw. Daehyun swallowed thickly has he released his grip on his wounded arm and with the small ounces of energy remaining, he stood up, using the axe as a support and dropped the head of the axe onto the zombie, watching as its head burst open with a crunch and a squelch. The tears were messy on his face, he had no more energy to call out for the others. He took a step. His knees gave out.

Then,

black.

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A/N: Obligatory apology for not being active all year and coming back with something like this. But uh.

Yeah. ♥

Oh yeah, this...I was a bit hesitant to untick the "Hide Chapter" box and publish it...I haven't really read this over a lot, so there is probably a few errors...might change some stuff around later idk...if I can be bothered...

Please enjoy it ㅠㅠ ♥

(Part 2 is just being finished ; ;)

(I JUST REALIZED THE ; ; FACE NEXT TO THE CLOSING BRACKET LOOKS A LOT LIKE A WINKY FACE OMG HAHAHAHA)