Once everyone was asleep, Siwon went into the storage room to make a phone call. He hadn’t found a quiet place alone to get his update out before, but it was perfect now. Pulling out his cell phone, Siwon made the call to the base, waiting for Heechul’s dad to answer.

“We’ve got them,” Siwon said with a sigh of relief when he heard Kim appa. “No sir, no one looks infected. Heechul’s not well, but he didn’t bring weather appropriate gear and stayed in soaked fatigues all night.” Siwon breathed a laugh. “Yes sir, I’ll remind him he’s an idiot. Ah, yes, we have Leeteuk. But Leeteuk-ssi comes with two others. Kangin and Sora. Both are healthy, but alone.” Siwon frowned as he listened. “Yes sir. No, I understand. Yes sir. Thank you.” Siwon checked his watch. “If I can push them fast enough I put us home before 1900 tomorrow sir. Yes sir. I’ll keep in touch.” Siwon sighed as he ended the call and thought about how much work was still ahead of them.

Leaving the storage room feeling more energized, Siwon looked around at his sleeping party. They’d need a leader; Heechul was compromised because one hour’s rest certainly wasn’t enough time for him to fully recover, not to mention his emotional connection to Leeteuk. Kangin showed potential as a replacement soldier, but he didn’t have the skills, at least not from what Siwon had seen. That left Sora and Leeteuk as their liabilities.

Siwon didn’t have much faith that Leeteuk could take care of himself. He’d needed help over a fence, he’d run out of reach in a possible hostile situation. Heechul had a soft spot for weaklings and he’d found a good one with Leeteuk. The kid had a death wish and Siwon wouldn’t let Heechul take the fall for him.

Stopping by Heechul’s feet, Siwon hated what he knew he had to do but woke him up anyway. “Sorry,” he said when his friend sat up groggily. “We’ve got to keep moving.”

Heechul nodded and looked back at Leeteuk. Holding his shoulder, he shook him gently until he woke up. Leeteuk sat up beside Heechul and shivered, reaching for his jacket he’d taken off before sleeping.

Siwon had moved on to Sora and finally Kangin, waking up the group. They packed their bags with fresh water, drinks and what was left of the coffee shop’s pastry stash. Siwon started a spot check of their immediate surroundings outside as they got closer to being ready to leave.

Getting his jacket back on, Heechul stuck his axe in his belt and left hearing range of Kangin, Sora and Leeteuk for Siwon's company. "Hey," he said softly. "Anything out there?"

Siwon nodded, "There's a small group to the right there, but we can get around them if we go out the back door and down the alley there."

Heechul nodded. "Thanks." He said softly.

Siwon looked at him and slowly smiled. "I'd do anything for you, you know that." He shrugged and looked back out the window.

Chuckling, Heechul nudged him with his shoulder and went back to the group.

Siwon followed him over to go through some of the basic military signals he'd be using on their journey to safety. He couldn't stress enough that the less noise they made, the safer they'd all be. They packed up and got into a marching order before Siwon led them out the back door. Heechul was still tired and even more sore for having rested. He didn't even think that was possible. Alert enough to keep pace and watch out behind them, Heechul was happy to take the rear this time.

Where normally this district saw its fair share of nightlife, now it was eerily quiet and devoid of life. Not even an alley cat slinked past their path. Siwon motioned them to stay against the wall as he went to check if the coast was clear on the street. He signaled to Leeteuk who was directly behind him, that he should follow and they continued their march through the dead streets.

It was getting obvious as they continued to walk that they'd spent too long resting, the virus worked quickly and they were screwed. Nearly every corner they turned led them into another horde of bone clicking, twitching, walking dead. The closer they got to residential areas, the more thickly populated the streets were. They had to go almost an hour out of their way to avoid a small swarm around a high-rise apartment building in the city.

Leeteuk and Sora were getting more jumpy as the night wore on and wore them down. More than once, Leeteuk had jumped for Siwon, wrapping his arms around his waist and hiding his face in his back. Siwon almost felt like he was leading them through a haunted house, he couldn't help a chuckle every time he felt Leeteuk against him. Sora was doing the exact same thing to Kangin who was behind Leeteuk and in front of her. Heechul had the same chuckle reaction Siwon did whenever he saw it. At the very least, their moral was high, despite the situation.

The other ground hazard were the quarantine crews that Heechul and Siwon had seen upon entering the city. They were more frequent and obviously trying to herd as many undead into the middle of the city as possible. Siwon turned a corner too quickly and had to jump back to avoid being spotted by a military truck as it rumbled past. He knew this would be a problem too, but he didn't think they'd be out this thickly already.

Stopping inside a fenced backyard, Siwon called a rest and let them eat and drink to get their energy back up. Heechul stayed by the gate of the fence, eating a pastry as he watched the streets. Siwon leaned against the fence next to him.

"It's bad out there," Heechul said softly.

"Yeah. We're at about halfway out of the city. We could be making better time, but it's hard to take a straight path anymore."

Heechul nodded. "Do you think they'll make it?" He asked, motioning with his head toward the other three, huddled together.

"Kangin yes, the other two girls, I don't know."

Heechul punched his shoulder and Siwon grinned at him.

"Why do you like him so much?" Siwon asked.

Heechul flashed a glance away from the street at Siwon, then slowly brought his eyes back to patrol. "Because, he needs me."

Siwon lifted a brow. "Only because he needs you? Do you need him?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why do you care so badly?" Heechul muttered.

"Just seems one-sided." Siwon shrugged. "I don't want to see you wasting your time. Like you have been," he teased and reached to push Heechul gently. "Thin and tiny Heechul, instead of hardened and battle ready."

"Yah, shut up. I'm balanced." Heechul had picked up on the innuendo, he wasn't stupid. But this also seemed really sudden and out of character for Siwon. Siwon had never shown him anything but good brother love, friendship closeness. Maybe he'd been blind to how he really felt? Wouldn't be the first time.

Siwon smiled. "Sure you are." He shrugged and looked over at the others.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Sora asked without motioning who she meant.

Leeteuk swallowed his bite of pastry and frowned. "I hope it's about how to get out of here."

Kangin glanced over at them, noticing how Siwon's posture changed around Heechul. "They're probably talking about us." He said.

The other two looked at him

"Well isn't it obvious? I mean, Siwon definitely doesn't want us around. He's nice enough, but he gets pushy when he's talking to us. Look at how he is with Heechul. He said something to me back at the cafe too. That he was training all his life for this. This isn't terrifying to him, this is routine, no one he knows has suffered. It's a big game that he gets to play with Heechul and he's mad someone's playing along."

Sora nodded. "He sounded like he wanted to get rid of us while we were looking at that map too. Like he and Heechul could easily get to safety, but because of us, we're all in danger."

"I don't trust him." Kangin said softly. "He's only here for Heechul, which means if one of us gets hurt, he's not going to bother."

"You guys didn't see him at my house," Leeteuk said to Siwon's defense. "He came in after me and got me before my dad could break out of the room I'd locked him in. He cares."

Kangin shrugged and cleared his throat as he noticed Siwon and Heechul coming their way.

"Ready?" Heechul asked.

"Yep," Kangin said as he stood up, passing Siwon a glare which got a smile in return.

Siwon took the lead of their group again but they insisted Heechul go behind with Kangin bringing up the rear. Leeteuk kept his arm around Sora's shoulders. She was getting colder as the night continued, all of them were.

The five of them stopped at the sound of gunfire to their immediate left. Heechul grabbed for Leeteuk's hand and the hand holding shifted back to Kangin before Heechul started running. The noise of their pounding feet and even more gunfire brought screeches from all around them. Zombies were coming.

Sora tripped on some garbage in the alley they'd run down. Her legs weren't nearly as prepared for the run as the boys she was with. Kangin and Leeteuk stopped to help her up and just then a creature burst through a service door behind them. Heechul turned back, axe ready, but Siwon was there, grappling the zombie down before he heel stomped its skull, smashing it to fragments and killing the creature instantly.

With little time to catch their breath, Siwon and Heechul got everyone back on their feet and running. The sounds of screeching zombies were still all around them, closing in. They had become prey.

One creature lunged for Heechul as they cleared a passage, it caught him off guard and he stumbled back against the wall of the nearest building, dropping his axe. He grappled with the beast as it tried desperately, from its dangerously close position to his face, to take a bite of him. Kangin cracked it in the back of the head with a loose brick on the ground and it gurgled, vomiting on Heechul's chest as it fell to the ground dead. Heechul's stomach had been desensitized a long time ago, but he still had to force himself to not look down at what had been the contents of the zombies stomach on his uniform.

Sora didn't fare so well and emptied her stomach onto the ground by a dumpster.

"We have to keep moving," Siwon said in a hissed whisper as more zombie noises clouded the air.

Kangin helped Sora to her feet and kept her close as they returned to their run out of danger.

"Heechul," Leeteuk said to their leader. "We have to find somewhere to stop, Sora can't keep this up."

"We can't stop," Siwon said behind them.

Heechul weighed their options as he looked around the street corner they'd come to.

"We just need to breathe, Heechul. Please?" Leeteuk asked, setting his hand on his arm.

"Heechul," Siwon insisted. "We can not stop."

Heechul moved back toward Sora and looked at her face, taking the hand that Kangin wasn't holding. "Can you run a little farther? We're almost out of the city, then we can take a break."

Sora shook her head and started crying. "Just go without me."

Heechul stood up straight and let her hand go. He turned away and started walking quickly.

Leeteuk caught his arm. "You can't leave her." He yelled, not caring what would hear them.

"Shut up," Siwon hissed in a warning whisper.

"I don't care what you guys do once we're out of here, but you're not leaving us behind." Leeteuk said loudly.

Siwon drew his gun, pointing it at Leeteuk's head. "Keep your voice, down." He hissed.

"Whoa, you Siwon," Kangin said. "Put the gun down."

Heechul glared at Siwon. "You ing idiot," he said softly. "Put the ing gun, down. I wasn't going to leave her," he said to Leeteuk. "I was looking for where we could go. Now put the ing gun, down, Siwon."

"The whole damn night you've been trying to get us killed," Siwon said softly as he lowered his gun. "Stop raising your stupid ing voice and calling attention to us."

Leeteuk could finally breathe once the gun was off his person, which only allowed him to break down into tears, shaking in fear.

Heechul moved on Siwon, shoving him against a wall before throwing a punch at his face. Siwon blocked it easily and got his leg up between him and Heechul, kneeing him back. Heechul staggered back and growled as he came at Siwon again. The training Heechul had half paid attention to came back to him through muscle memory and he blocked two punches from Siwon, feigning one of his own before catching him in the jaw. It was only a sliding of knuckle on jawbone as Siwon turned his head away from the punch.

Kangin moved to Leeteuk, hugging him tightly. Sora, for the terrible shape she was in, tried her best to reassure Leeteuk as well.

Siwon punched Heechul too hard in the ribs and Heechul gasped, staggering back. His next attack was slower and weaker and Siwon easily blocked and shoved him back. "Are you done yet?" He asked Heechul, too angry to keep his voice down.

Heechul took a breath from his position a few feet from Siwon, it was labored, his ribs obviously broken. " you," he whispered.

"Guys?" Sora said.

"No Heechul, you. You want this so badly? This difference from everything you know? You take it." Siwon said, shoving Heechul again.

"Guys?" Sora said again.

Heechul hissed as Siwon pinned him against a wall with one strong arm across his chest. "You want to die out here with them? Do it." Siwon hissed, close to Heechul's face.

"Guys." Sora yelled.

"What?" Siwon yelled back at her.

Sora pointed and Siwon and Heechul turned their heads to see a group of zombies poised a few feet away from them.