For Mizz_rainne
~Infinite Secret Santa 2013~ *Santas Revealed!*Silence is a Scary Sound
For Mizz_Rainne
Pairing: Woogyu, inferred Myungyeol
Prompt: Anything Christmassy and tragic
AN: So this isn’t 100% tragic because I thought that all the typical tragic tropes had already been covered in the past 130 or so fics, so this is more just… angsty with inferred tragedy? Anyway, I hope you enjoy it~ Also, I wrote this VERY last minute and it’s nowhere near to the best of my ability and it’s shorter tan I usually write and it's something completely new for me… so I am so sorry about this. Someone also mentioned that this reminded them of The Walking Dead (fic) but I haven’t read that so even if there are similarities they are pure coincidence, I swear!
Silence.
Once upon a time silence was just something that Sunggyu could only wish for. Once upon a time this dorm was filled with the shouting and screaming that came with seven twenty something year olds living in such a tiny space.
Now though, the only sound that penetrated the thick silence inside the dorm was the sound of a clock ticking, almost too loud in the otherwise silent building, reminding them that time was quickly running out.
They couldn’t make any noise though. They couldn’t draw attention to themselves that way. If they did so, they were done for.
Apparently, zombies had very keen hearing. They had figured that out a week ago when Hoya and Sungyeol had fought - smashing things and yelling at each other. They originally thought the banging and the groans and the were coming from the fighting pair until Dongwoo had pointed out fearfully that it sounded like it was coming from outside. The banging had gone on for two days until eventually Hyoan-hyung had sighed, standing up and grabbing the hammer and crowbar that they were holding as weapons.
“Don’t…” Sunggyu had warned. He had seen the sights outside the window; ripped up bodies lying on the ground, littering every inch of the floor.
“There’s only one out there,” The manager had replied, “If I clear it away then we don’t have to live in constant fear.”
Well that was a lie, because even if Hyoan had destroyed that one insistent zombie then they would still be living in fear of attracting more of them. Hyoan never returned, but the banging stopped, plunging Infinite back into a deep, penetrating silence. They never knew what had happened to their manager, but the best-case scenario was that he had killed that zombie and abandoned Infinite. None of them wanted to even consider the worst-case scenario…
Now, they lived in silence - they whispered and hissed and even their arguments were done in the lowest tones. They stayed in the same room together and only crossed into the kitchen to get food whenever there were screams that would steal the attention of any lingering undead. They had brought bedding and toys and things into the front room at the start of this whole thing, when the whole world was in chaos.
Occasionally screams would ring out, jerking the seven of them into defensive positions until the silence returned. Mostly, the screams had stopped days ago which just served as a reminder that Infinite’s time was running out. Up until now, they had gone un-noticed but there was bound to come a time when they would grab the notice of the growing horde of zombies. Even if they didn’t there was going to be a time when they would run out of food or the tap would stop running water or they had to get away from the growing scent of waste and excretion, because they couldn’t even flush the toilet anymore.
“I will go and get supplies.” Hoya had offered a week ago, two days after this whole thing kicked off. The other members had been adamant that that was simply not an option. Which brings us back to the fight between Sungjong and Hoya. The one that had indirectly lead to the disappearance of their manager, Sungyeol’s worsening stab wound and Hoya’s current position in the corner, bound to a chair.
-
Hoya had been the first, and so far only, one to break. If you had asked any of the Inspirits who was most likely to survive the zombie apocalypse they would probably say it was Hoya. Physically, this was probably true. He had the brawn to fight and he was strong. Mentally though he wasn’t… as prepared.
When Sungjong had stood up and insisted that under no circumstances was he to leave this dorm. Hoya had snapped,
“What, so you just want to starve to death in here?” He yelled,
“We either starve to death in here or were mauled to death out there! I know which one I would prefer.” Sungyeol had commented.
There was a moment of silence as everyone took those words in. It had been an unspoken rule until now that they didn’t speak of their inevitable fate. Sungyeol had just broken that rule and nobody knew how to react.
Except for Hoya, who dived at the tallest member growling insults and pushing him to the floor. At some point in the knife which he had been holding to use against the zombies had ended up embedded in Sungyeol’s thigh. Hoya immediately stepped back hands up.
“Sungyeol. I…” He started,
“It’s okay.” Sungyeol hissed, his shaking hands pressed up against the wound which was spurting blood,
“. Sungjong, find the first aid kit.” Sunggyu had demanded, he had then turned to Hoya, frowning,
“I didn’t mean to…” He whispered,
“I know…” Sunggyu replied, his face softening.
“I got so angry…”
“I know…”
“I don’t want to die.”
Sunggyu’s breath hitched in his throat as he replied with another almost silent “I know”.
Hoya had then insisted that Sunggyu tied him up in the chair,
“I… I can’t seem to control myself… This thing has driven me insane and I don’t trust myself. Don’t say you won’t because otherwise I will just walk out of this door. I would rather die than hurt any of you.”
So Sunggyu had tied Hoya up and then turned back to check on Sungyeol’s condition. They had bandaged the wound and they were trying to convince Sungyeol that he would be fine, even though anyone could see that he needed a doctor seriously.
All of this was happening to a steady thump, thump on the door.
That had happened over a week ago.
-
Now, they were left with just the seven of them with no manager, stuck in a silent world which it seemed they would never escape from.
For Sunggyu, the worst thing about surviving was not the fear or the tension, it was the amount of time they just sat around waiting for things to happen. Sometimes, Sunggyu just wanted to scream, to let the horde know where they were so he didn’t have to spend his days laying awake waiting for the inevitable to occur.
“Sunggyu.”
The leader’s thoughts were interrupted by the quiet voice behind him,
“Hey, Woohyun.” He responded, smiling tightly up at the younger man.
“Are you okay? You look…” Woohyun trailed off, unable to find the words. Sad? Confused? Worried? Scared? All of them were words to describe how Sunggyu looked but then again, which of them hadn’t been feeling that way. It was just odd to see Sunggyu like that - he was the closed in, guarded one. As the leader of one of Korea’s top idol groups, he had always had to be guarded and strong and he barely ever let that veil down. Then again, circumstances were different right now.
“We’re never going to get out of here, are we?” Sunggyu asked, staring at the door in front of him,
“Don’t say that.” Woohyun sighed, because even though he wanted to comfort the older man, he couldn’t. Sunggyu was probably right. They probably never would escape from this god forsaken dorm.
“What I wouldn’t give to be doing dance practice right now.” Sunggyu said with a little smile,
“Heck, I would take intense conditioning for 18 hours a day over this.” Woohyun replied,
“Days of filming music videos with no sleep.” Sunggyu added with a yawn.
“Speaking of sleep…” Woohyun grinned, “You should get some, hyung.”
“It’s my turn to keep watch.” Sunggyu muttered, but he honestly was struggling to keep his eyes open,
“Hyung, the watch shift system was set up so we could each sleep easy. You still aren’t sleeping even when it isn’t your shift. I’m not tired, I’ll keep watch.” Woohyun and Sunggyu each took shifts keeping guard when everyone else slept. It was just the two because poor Dongwoo was too scared, Hoya was tied up and Sungjong and Myungsoo refused to leave Sungyeol’s side.
“It’s fine.” Sunggyu insisted, choking back another yawn,
“Then I’ll just sit here with you.”
The pair sat there in a comfortable silence, watching the door and listening for any noises that weren’t out of the ordinary. It didn’t take long until it was just Woohyun on guard duty, with Sunggyu’s head on his legs as the older man snored softly. It reminded Woohyun of the old days, back before all of this had happened, back when the worst worry that Woohyun and Sunggyu had was keeping their relationship a secret from anyone that may use it to tear the group apart.
As Woohyun stared down at his sleeping boyfriend, he felt a tear drip down his cheek.
They were never going to escape from this place.
-
Woohyun was still awake and keeping watch when Sungjong came to sit beside him.
“Hyung.” The maknae whispered, his eyes panicked,
“What’s up, Sungjong?” Woohyun replied,
“It’s Sungyeol… he has gotten worse.”
They had been concerned about Sungyeol’s condition for a few days, the leg was swelling and oozing some disgusting puss-like liquid. Everyone knew what was wrong - his stab wound had become infected and it needed treatment seriously. Sungjong had been washing it out and treating it with antibiotic cream every day, but at most that slowed the infection down a little.
Woohyun walked over to where Sungyeol was laying on an airbed, towels and bandages and water and creams littering a circle around him.
“Just amputate it.” Sungyeol was groaning and Woohyun had no idea whether to take his friend seriously,
“Yeol. It’ll be fine.” Myungsoo kept repeating, that seemed to be his mantra at the moment. It seemed like he was trying to convince himself that just as much as his best-friend or boyfriend or whatever they were, Woohyun had no clue, personally.
They all knew it wouldn’t be fine.
Woohyun pulled the towel that was covering the wound and cringed at the smell. The wound was beginning to smell, a sure sign that the infection was worsening. He crinkled his nose and then glanced down at the wound itself. The skin around it was an angry red, swollen so high. The whole thigh looked purple and Sungyeol himself was turning paler by the second.
“He’s been feverish all night.” Sungjong said,
“I feel like I’m dying.” Sungyeol gasped,
“It’ll be okay.” Myungsoo whispered, gripping Sungyeol’s clammy hand.
“Will you… Will you promise me something?” Sungyeol whispered, looking straight at Woohyun,
“Will you promise me that if I die, you’ll use me to escape?”
“What?”
“Like… use my body to feed the zombies. Or something?” Sungyeol winced at the morbid words,
“You’re not going to die, Yeol.” Myungsoo hissed, blinking back tears, “I won’t let you.”
“Just promise me.”
“No.” Sungjong and Myungsoo said, in unison, but Sungyeol was still staring at Woohyun and he knew that the choding was asking him to make some serious decision as the defacto sub-leader.
“Okay…” He whispered, “But I swear we will do all we can to save you.”
“I kept telling you to amputate it.” Sungyeol almost smiled, “But it’s too late now.” He closed his eyes and Woohyun was almost scared that he had died until he heard the heavy breathing. he was sleeping, sleeping was the best for Sungyeol right now.
Woohyun sighed as he placed the towel gently back on Sungyeol’s leg and turned to Sungjong. The maknae was looking at him with a pained look in his eyes. “Will he be okay?”
“No.” Woohyun answered honestly, “But none of us will be either.”
He then turned and walked back to wake up his sleeping boyfriend.
-
“It’s Christmas eve” Sungjong whispered, bounding over to Sunggyu a few hours later. In his hands was the analogue watch he had bought in London when they were there on tour. Had that really been just one month ago? The last two weeks had seemed like a lifetime.
“Oh. It is.” Sunggyu said, looking at the display of the watch through a crack of light. 24th December, 9am. He smiled a little, happy that despite the fact that everything right now, they could at least spend Christmas together.
At least, they would if they could live through the next day.
They had forgotten about Christmas. All they knew was that it was twelve days since the zombie apocalypse had begun and ten days since Hyoan had gone.
They spent their last Christmas Eve playing card games, unbinding one of Hoya’s hands so he could join in. Sungyeol woke up and observed from his place on his bed, hoarsely laughing along with the games. After their twelfth game of Go Fish, they ended up sitting in a circle around Sungyeol and playing rolling paper.
“Hey, doesn’t this remind you of when we played this on Ranking King?” Sungjong said, smiling at his hyungs. They all smiled at the welcome memory, that trip for the ‘Lucky King’ had been a holiday for them all.
“Yeah, isn’t that the same episode that Sungyeol got the box saying that his fashion sense was great?” Woohyun smirked,
“Even though he ended up at the bottom of ‘Fashion King’!” Sunggyu added. Sungyeol glared weakly at the leader,
“They just didn’t appreciate my amazing posing skills.” He whispered.
This started a conversation about times gone by and when Sungyeol’s breathing got shallower hours later they continued, just with Myungsoo clutching the choding’s hand and Sunggyu his hair back and everyone trying to choke back sobs.
“I’m scared.” Sungyeol whispered, his voice barely audible,
“We’re here, Yeollie.” Dongwoo wavered,
“Yeah, we’re always here.” Sungjong added,
“I am so sorry… Sungyeol.” Hoya whispered, unable to look at his group,
“Don’t be, Hoya. I forgive you and I love you. I love you all.” the last few words were choked out as Sungyeol began to cry. The other members watched as his face grew paler and paler. “I never had the chance before to tell you, but you all mean so much to me.” He hissed, but his eyes were only staring at Myungsoo. His breathing got slower and slower and he slowly closed his eyes.
“Woohyun. You promised.” He whispered, before taking his final breath and then…
Nothing.
-
Myungsoo was the first to cry, inevitably. Wailing things about how ‘he couldn’t be dead’ and ‘why Sungyeol?’. Everyone else joined in soon after, trying to be quiet but it’s pretty difficult to control your volume when your brother, your best friend, your boyfriend has just died right in front of you.
The banging started only seconds later.
“.” Woohyun said, panic breaking through the grief.
The banging stopped.
“That’s odd.” Dongwoo sobbed,
A new noise began, a creaking that could only be feet on a staircase.
“Apparently Hyoan-hyun didn’t shut the door properly.” Hoya muttered,
There was a period of waiting as they listened to the noise of their impending doom.
“Find weapons.” Woohyun ordered but before anyone could move Sunggyu shook his head.
“No.”
“What? But-”
“We can’t win this, Woohyun.” Sunggyu whispered, “Listen. It’s not just us versus one zombie.”
They listened and they understood. It wasn’t just one pair of feet shuffling along the corridor and it wasn’t just one voice groaning. It was a chorus of groans and the six immediately knew that they were outnumbered.
At that moment, Sungjong began giggling. The other five turned to him and stared,
“It’s Christmas.” He hicced through his giggled, then his giggles turned to sobs and he repeated himself, “It’s Christmas.”
“Merry ing Christmas.” Myungsoo hissed.
“So what do we do?” Woohyun asked, “Any plans?”
“Your promise to Sungyeol.” Myungsoo whispered, “We can… We should keep it. It’s what he would want.”
“What-” Sunggyu started, but Woohyun shook his head,
“He wants us to use his corpse to distract the monsters whilst we get away but… it wouldn’t work.”
“But you promised-” Sungjong started,
“Woohyun is right.” Sunggyu cut in, “So it works and we get out of here… then what? We have no weapons, we don’t know how to beat them. We would never survive out there.”
“So what are you saying?” Dongwoo asked, but they all knew the answer.
Sunggyu paused for a moment and the shuffling and groaning could be heard in the background. They were close now… they had minutes left.
“It’s been an amazing run, guys. The past four years have been… amazing. I love you all to pieces and I could never imagine a better Infinite. Woohyun, Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungjong, Myungsoo… S-Sungyeol. I love you all so much but… this is it.”
“This is it.” Woohyun repeated to himself.
They were interrupted by a banging. They had reached the dorm, finally.
“Come on guys, hands in! Infinite on three!” Dongwoo said, placing his hand in the middle.
BANG BANG
The others placed their hands shakily into the center of the circle, right over Sungyeol’s body. It would have been morbid, but in a way it was symbolic - He was still a part of Infinite.
BANG BANG
“ONE!”
BANG BANG
“TWO!”
BANG BANG
“THREE!”
BANG BANG
“INFINITE!”
CRASH
The six remaining men of Infinite turned to face the zombies ambling towards them, groaning.
“Well I guess we know what happened to Hyoan-hyung.” Hoya said, shakily gesturing at the zombie at the front of the pack. Sunggyu grabbed his hand and Dongwoo’s on the left. Slowly, their hands linked together to make a chain.
And Infinite stood defiant as their impending death came closer to them, step by step.
Because their death had been inevitable from the start of all of this, but at least they were together.
Seven. Together. Infinite.
AN; So sorry that this is really incoherant just couldn’t get the flow right and I had so little time to get this done. I hope that you enjoy it and I’m sorry because zombies. Merry late Christmas and I hope 2014 is awesome for you :3
Updates will be just me adding direct links as they come in and adding the santas to the chapters, don't worry too much :3
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