-

Oh no, Jongin thinks as he stumbles along the path wearily. No. This is not how he had wanted to live at all.

As he crests the hill, the sunrise greets his eyes: stunning, yet mocking in a way. For how should such beauty still exist in such a devastated world?

Life on Earth has not been the same, not after a terrible strain of fungus mutation has wiped out nearly everyone and infected the rest. He has spent far too many days sprinting through the dark, rusty ruins shooting at ravenous monsters who used to be human, too many nights huddled up in roadside ditches praying the infected will not find him. Too much blood on his hands, too many weapons spent and bullets shot to be counted.

Each day he wakes up alive is an achievement, though he doubts he has long to live. Nobody lives for very long in this sad, tainted world. Hope has washed away like the blood on a muddy shore, and the survivors number less and less every dawn, whether they be in packs or roam alone, as Jongin does. Although he swears if he is ever bitten, he will not turn. Better to die by his own hand, very much human, than become a mess of a creature with a haunted mind. Kyungsoo would agree... Jongin grinds his heels into the dirt, watching the thick orange cloud of dust float up. Kyungsoo is long gone, dead on the very first day the infection appeared, shot by a soldier who thought he was infected no matter how Jongin pleaded, who was only frightened to die himself.

It used to bother him so very much, killing those strange, twisted mutants that lunged at him with their hands bleeding open sores. Clicks and screams, groans and moans. Almost like a language, except he can’t understand. He still remembers the first time he stared at a corpse, brought to death with his own weapon, right then and there in a pool of blood.

How he had wept, thinking himself no better than a monster! It haunted him for days, that he might be killing his old family and friends. But he only laughs bitterly now as he kicks aside a broken glass bottle. There is no more humanity left inside, nor can he afford to spare any.

It’s a cruel and dangerous world out there, but Jongin intends to survive, no matter what it takes.

There is nothing left for him, after all.

He has nothing to lose.

-