The zombies had flooded the field, the dark depths of that deluge rising with the ever-growing body count. Those who evaded the tide of undead did so only by escaping into the interior of the stadium, where there were fewer zombies and more places to hide.

Jae Suk, his wife Kyung Eun, and his little boy Ji Ho, had found a hiding place inside a storage closet on the first floor. Jae Suk had pulled the shelves over, propping them up against the door to act as a barricade. But they had no food. No water. No weapons. He knew that they couldn’t stay there, but he didn’t know what else to do.

Little Ji Ho began to cry. He hadn’t cried this entire time, not when Jae Suk picked him up and ran with Kyung Eun from that concert, not when they heard the machine gun fire and the screams and that horrible slurping of zombies gobbling flesh, not until now, when there was nothing but darkness and silence.

Kyung Eun picked the boy up and cradled him in her lap. “Shh, my sweet boy,” she said. “It’ll be okay.” She looked over at Jae Suk sitting beside her now, her eyes seemingly pleading with his for confirmation that they will, in fact, be okay.

Jae Suk nodded. “We’ll be okay,” he said. He looked down at little Ji Ho in his wife’s arms. “We’re just going to stay here for a little while, okay? Just until the… until…” but he didn’t know how to finish that sentence. The zombies were all over the field, feasting on the civilians, and once that food supply ran out, they would likely venture into the interior, looking for more live bodies to eat. For now, his family was safe, but he would need to figure a way out soon before it was too late.

Jong Kook, holding Dream in his arms, ran right past the storage closet that Jae Suk and his family were hiding in, unaware that they were inside. Following closely behind Jong Kook were Ji Hyo and Kwang Soo. For a while, Ji Hyo had offered her shoulder as a crutch so that Kwang Soo didn’t have to use his half-eaten leg to walk, but that had slowed them down considerably. Instead, Kwang Soo had found that, because of his height, it made more sense for him to take long quick strides with his good leg and just drag his bad leg behind him. It still slowed them down, but not as much.

Jong Kook ran into the first open room he saw – a large office with an adjacent ticket booth. The door was ajar and Jong Kook pushed that open now and glanced around at the space. “Okay,” he said, gesturing Ji Hyo and Kwang Soo inside. “Come on, hurry up.”

Inside the office, Jong Kook passed the baby to Ji Hyo, pulled a chair over for Kwang Soo to rest his leg, and then got to work on securing the place. He moved the desks around and barricaded the entry to the ticket booth, which had a glass façade, so that the zombies wouldn’t be able to see them in the adjoining office. With the glass window now covered, he then rummaged through the drawers, pulling out scissors and anything else that could serve as weapons. He turned now to Ji Hyo and Kwang Soo, giving them both the makeshift weapons he had found. “You two will be safe here. I’ll come back for you.”

Ji Hyo quickly stood up. “You’re leaving?”

Jong Kook nodded. “I can’t leave her like that. I have to go back–”

“What are you talking about?” Ji Hyo asked. She bounced Dream gently in her arms, happy that he had finally fallen back asleep.  

Jong Kook breathed in deeply. “I have to go back and make sure that she doesn’t turn into... into...”

“Are you talking about Byul?” Ji Hyo asked, incredulously. “You can’t possibly think that going back there is a good idea, Jong Kook-ah!”

Jong Kook’s small eyes were red and glassy. He had been trying to hold back his tears, to be a man, but his limits were being pushed. “I failed,” he said. “I promised Dong Hoon that I’d take care of his family but I didn’t. The… the mother of his child died right there… right in front of me.”

Ji Hyo readjusted the baby in her arms and then put her hand on Jong Kook’s shoulder. “Listen to me, Jong Kook-ah. There was nothing you could’ve done. I was there, too, remember?” She reached for his chin and turned his face so that he was looking directly into her eyes. “There was nothing you or I could have done to help her.” She turned around now and looked at Kwang Soo. “Or to help him,” she added.

Kwang Soo had been listening to them talk but he was in a great deal of pain and couldn’t concentrate. He had searched through his pockets for the handkerchief with the giraffe printed on it, and as he now tied it around his bloody calf, he remembered how when they first arrived, he had been worried about his too-short pants, about his legs being exposed. It had seemed like such a silly worry at the time, but as he stared at what was left of his leg now, he wondered if it might have been an omen of what would ultimately happen to him. He looked up now at Jong Kook and Ji Hyo, both of whom were staring at him with sad eyes. He could see that they were thinking about exactly what he had been trying not to think about – about the short time he had left in this world and about the fact that, soon, one of them would have to drive some sharp weapon through his brain to stop him from turning into one of those flesh-eating ghouls.

CL led her group, which consisted of Seungri, Mir, Dara, and Bom, through the passageways in search of an exit to the streets. Although she had the pistol she had taken off the dead soldier, she had been afraid to use it in the interior of the stadium because she was worried that the shot would echo and draw zombies to them. Outside, on the field, it had been loud with panic. But inside the stadium it was quiet.

Seungri was in the middle of the group. Behind him, Dara and Bom were holding hands and staying close to each other. Occasionally, they would whisper about where G-Dragon or T.O.P. might be, each trying to hold back their tears. Ahead of Seungri, CL was walking with Mir. For the last ten minutes, Mir had been talking about how G.O. had been taken down by that zombie on the stage. He cried as he told CL what he saw, and CL had been comforting him. Seungri, walking behind them, watched the two of them, and although he knew that he shouldn’t be jealous, and that this was quite possibly the worst time in the world to be concerned with such things, he couldn’t help it. He had liked CL for years, but until now, he had never felt like he had a chance with her. After all, she was a queen. And what was he? A cute panda? Certainly not a king, certainly not someone worthy of her. But things were different now. They were different now.

But that damn Mir! Always interfering! Seungri wished now that he had left Mir underneath that cot. It was a horrible thought, but he couldn’t help thinking about it. He had risked his life to persuade Mir to come out from that hiding place. He could’ve just left him there. And if he had left Mir there, then he wouldn’t be walking alone while Mir and CL walked together. It would’ve been him there by CL’s side instead.

Seungri shook his head now, trying to rid himself of these awful thoughts. But just then, in a matter of seconds, a zombie appeared at the doorway of a room they were passing at that moment, and Mir, being the closest one to that door, was instantly attacked. Dara and Bom jumped back, frightened by the suddenness of the attack. CL, contrarily, leaped forward, trying to pull the zombie’s hand off Mir’s shoulder. Seungri stood frozen, not knowing what to do. But then he saw the zombie try to chomp at CL and he jumped into action, diving toward CL and knocking her to the ground, out of the zombie’s clutches. Unfortunately, though, by doing so, he had left Mir alone and vulnerable. And the zombie, with its hungry mouth open and dripping with blood and saliva, soon tore into Mir’s shoulder and neck, chewing at the flesh and ripping off pieces as it gnawed and sawed with its teeth.

CL was surprised to have been knocked down by Seungri. She looked at him for a moment, confused and angry, and then she returned to try to help Mir… but by then it was too late. Mir was already on the ground, the trauma and blood loss fatal. CL pulled out her pistol now, shot the zombie, and then turned the gun on Mir, shooting him once straight in the head to ensure that he wouldn’t rise from death.

G-Dragon, T.O.P., Thunder, and Minzy were out of the interior and were standing just outside the eastern entrance to the stadium, looking out over the parking lot where zombies were interspersed between the cars. Just beyond the parking lot was a wide red bicycle path bordered by a green walking path and a stream that flowed to the Han River.

They could have left. G-Dragon had the map and the keys that Hyun Suk had given him. They had already talked about that backup plan once since joining together. But no one wanted to leave. Not without the others.

G-Dragon and Thunder were both thinking of Dara. T.O.P. was thinking of Bom. And Minzy was thinking of Daesung.

“I can’t leave without Daesung,” Minzy said. “I promised his sister. You saw, you saw how she died right there and how I had to put her down. Right before that, I told her I would find him.”

No one said anything. They didn’t want to leave either, but they knew if they opted to stay, that none of them might end up alive.

“We have to go,” Thunder suddenly said.

Everyone was surprised to hear the young idol take a stand.

“I love my sister. I want to go back and find her. But there are four of us. Four against what? Three hundred of those things?” He furrowed his brow a bit as he looked behind them to the dark interior they had just left, where they could still hear echoes of growling zombies. “If we go back, we die,” he said. “You said that they know the backup plan, right? We just… we just have to have faith.”

Minzy breathed in deep and looked at Thunder. “Fine. You go. I’m staying.”

G-Dragon and T.O.P. now stepped forward, ready to intervene in this discussion, but at that moment, they heard screaming and hurried footsteps coming their way. They all turned to the interior now, watching that dark entrance with wide eyes, not knowing what to expect.

Out of that darkness, Daesung and Lee Joon came running. They fled out into the sunlight and were about to descend the stadium steps when they saw G-Dragon and the others.

“Aigoo, Kwon Leader!” Daesung yelled. His eyes now scanned the group, and when he saw Minzy, he smiled. But there was no time to stop and rejoice in their reunion. Behind Daesung and Lee Joon was a legion of the hungry undead, all clawing over each other in their attempts to grab and eat the young idols.

Daesung and Lee Joon quickly joined G-Dragon’s group, and together, they all ran from the stadium, trying to escape the horde behind them while heading toward the parking lot where more zombies waited.

While G-Dragon’s group was trying to traverse the parking lot on the eastern end, Gary and his group – Ryeowook, Donghae, Siwon, Suho, and Kai – were about to battle their way out of the southern entrance. They had followed Rina’s directions and had made it to that second hallway without problems, but a dozen zombies were stalking the entrance and the group was forced to stop.

Caesar barked at the zombies and Gary tried to shush him so that more zombies didn’t hear.

“How many bullets are in that thing?” Donghae asked, gesturing to the pistol Gary was carrying.

Gary shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said. “Guess we’ll find out?” He held the pistol up and aimed it the zombies in front of them.

“Clear the ones over there to the right,” Siwon said, pointing forward with his bandaged hand. “We won’t have enough bullets for all of them, but if you can get those stragglers on the end, we might have a clear path to run past the others.”

“Erm…” Gary mumbled. He had no idea what he was doing. He had completed his military service some time ago but hadn’t handled a lot of guns. He did his best to aim at one of the zombie’s heads, pulled the trigger, but missed. The bullet ricocheted off the wall.

Everyone in the group winced and looked around them as the zombies in front, and now behind, drew in closer. “Hurry!” they yelled.

Gary steadied himself and tried to channel his inner peace and concentrate. This time, he fired and the bullet went straight through one of the zombie’s heads. He now aimed at the next one and the next, and with those three zombies on the right down, his group then prepared to run over their fallen bodies and make their way outside.

Donghae and Siwon jumped over the bodies first, the two making it out into the sun, and then Kai and Suho, and then Gary and the dog, but Ryeowook, the last to try to squeeze by, was grabbed by the sinewy hands of a nearby zombie and quickly pulled under.

The others, all outside by then, hadn’t realized that Ryeowook didn’t make it, not until they heard the zombies’ collective groans grow louder as they crawled over each other atop that poor idol. From beneath that pile, Ryeowook uttered a faint cry.

Donghae fell to his knees and screamed out. “No!” he yelled.

“It should’ve been me,” Siwon said. “I’m already dead anyway.”

Donghae looked up at him, wondering how he could be so calm. “Don’t say that,” he said.

Siwon sighed. “I’ve already accepted my fate,” he said. “I had no choice but to accept it.” Siwon pulled Donghae to his feet now, knowing that they had to go on, and then nodded toward Gary to lead the way.

Suho and Kai felt numb. They felt like this was all their fault, that they had brought at least a third of those zombies here. And for what? They were now heading back to the very streets they had tried so hard to escape.