When the scavenger group pulled into the dirt parking area alongside the Full House house, they thought they could see lights on inside. It was late afternoon and the sun was still bright in the sky, but they could discern a yellowish glare through the windows of the main floor space. They opened the truck doors now and could hear music echoing out of the house.

Everyone looked at each other, somewhat confused. Leaving their haul in the truck for now, they walked up to the fence that bordered the parking area, unlatched the wooden gate, and made their way to the front door.

Jae Suk opened the door at that moment, his smiling face greeting them.

“Come in, come in! We heard you pull up,” he said.

“What’s going on in here?” G-Dragon asked, as he walked through the doorway. The others followed, looking at all the lights on and trying to peek around the others to find the source of the music.

“Surprise!” Daesung said, sneaking around Jae Suk to welcome the group in. “Seungri-yah got the power on! And we found all this stuff….”

“Yah, come here, come here,” Jae Suk said, beckoning everyone further inside.

The floor was empty but for one karaoke machine in the center of the room, the tall speakers on either side blasting SHINee’s “Why so Serious.” Thunder was holding the microphone, though he had stopped singing when he heard the others come in. Seeing Dara now, he put the microphone down, paused the music, and ran up to the group, stopping in front of G-Dragon.

“Thanks for getting her back safe,” Thunder said. He smiled a bit now. “I guess I approve of your relationship.”

“Yah!” Dara said, laughing as she jokingly jabbed Thunder in the arm.

Thunder had always been protective of his sister and had once told her that he wanted a say in her dating prospects. G-Dragon wouldn’t have been his first choice. Long ago, Thunder had thought about all of the idols he knew and he had chosen Seungho for her, believing that Seungho was most ideal. He thought about that now as he and G-Dragon exchanged smiles, but the remembrance of Seungho made him sad and so he tried to shake off those thoughts quickly. Today, after all, was not a day to be sad. They had power, they had karaoke, and they had all their friends back.

“Seungri-yah went looking for the fusebox and found this utility room,” Jae Suk said. He explained then about how the Big Bang maknae had thought about the water being connected to an electric pump, essentially solving both the power and the water problem with a mere flick of a switch.

Seungri looked down, somewhat bashfully smiling.

“There’s all sorts of stuff in that utility room,” CL added. “No furniture or anything big, but tons of expensive appliances and art and just other stuff the boss must have ordered in advance.”

“What’s that smell?” Ji Hyo asked, her nose leading her to the kitchen.

“We’re making lunch,” Gary said. “Well, a late lunch. Or maybe an early dinner.” He laughed now, realizing that he had no idea what time it was. The concept of time was lost along with so much else of the old world.

“Oh?” Ji Hyo’s mong expression was back, her eyes wide and partially agape.

“Yah, Ji Hyo-yah, we know you lost your crab catch this morning,” Jae Suk said. “So we all went out and fetched a bunch of them.” He pointed over to the pots on the stove, the steam seeping out from around the lids.

“Oh!” Ji Hyo said, walking into the kitchen now. She took the lid off one of the pots, the steam billowing out now. She then quickly closed the lid and turned around to face the others, smiling and feeling as if on the verge of tears as she looked at each of them and realized how much of a family they had become. “Wait!” she yelled, remembering the soju. She smiled widely and ran to the door, slamming it behind her.

Jong Kook ran after her, still anxious at the idea of any of them being alone despite how few zombies they had seen, but at the same time he didn’t want to smother her, knowing how important her independence was to her, and so he stopped at the door and waited for her to return.

While he waited, he turned to those whom had stayed home that day and asked if they had seen any zombies.

“Not one,” Minzy said, smiling. “We sat outside all morning on the beach just sharpening sticks. It was really nice and peaceful.”

“What about you guys?” Gary asked.

“Just a couple,” Jong Kook said. “Maybe three. Not many at all.”

“Maybe they all went somewhere,” Seungri said. “Maybe the people got evacuated in time.”

No one said anything. The lack of zombies certainly wasn’t a concern. If anything, it only made them feel safer, more comfortable. It gave them hope.

“We got clothes for everyone,” Bom said.

“y clothes?” CL asked.

“No,” Bom said, pouting. “It’s all old people clothes. But we can make them y.”

CL didn’t really care about having y clothes. She just liked seeing Bom so happy.

Ji Hyo opened the door at that moment, nearly slamming it against Jong Kook as she stumbled in with an armful of soju bottles, trying to balance them all against her chest.

“Oh my god,” Gary said, his jaw dropping.

The scavenger group was just as surprised as the others.

“Where’d you get that?” Jong Kook asked, helping her now unload the bottles onto the counter island that separated the main space from the kitchen.

Ji Hyo shrugged. “Now we have something to drink while we eat,” she said.

Everyone helped the scavenger group unload the truck. They brought most everything inside, leaving behind only the lumber, tools, and some extra jugs of water. After setting up the furniture, they sorted through the sleeping mats and quilts and then ran around the house happily, trying to claim their permanent rooms. It felt almost like they were back in that old world, able to have fun and be silly and laugh.

Jae Suk, Kyung Eun, and even their little boy, Ji Ho, served the steamed crabs to those sitting on their floor cushions around their new table. The room echoed with laughter and the cracking of crab shells, the delicious smell of that seafood filling their noses. The bottles of soju were passed around and everyone drank freely as they ate and talked.

Ji Hyo had Dream in her sling and was feeding him some of the baby food. The transition from milk to puréed food didn’t seem to bother the baby, and Ji Hyo now wondered if she could feed him a tiny piece of the crab meat.

Jong Kook laughed and told her no. “He hasn’t even teethed yet, Ji Hyo-yah,” he said.

“But what if I mash it up real good?”

“You can chew it in your mouth like birds do,” Daesung said, having drunk too much soju already. “And then kind of just…”

“Ew, no!” Minzy yelled. “I hope you’re not going to tell her to spew up the chewed up crab into that baby’s mouth.”

Daesung shrugged and smiled. “It works for birds,” he said.

Everyone laughed, their stomachs and hearts overflowing with satisfaction. This was truly a family, one that has struggled so much in their journey. Nothing had come easily for them. They had fought their way out of the YGE building to reach the stadium only to see it fall mere days later, and had then taken to the streets to find the marina, where they once again had to fight to survive. And now… this island, this house. To survive all that and find that this final hope for a haven was empty and unsecured could have been devastating to the group, but their will was strong and they had turned this house into a home, their hope renewed.

After a while, nothing was left of the crabs except for shells, but the soju was still flowing and almost everyone was drunk. Jong Kook and Jae Suk were the only two not drinking. They had been talking about plans for the next day, like working with the lumber to extend the fence around the whole property so that zombies couldn’t reach them from the beach, and going out on additional missions to find more food and weapons.

Daesung looked over at Jong Kook and Jae Suk, seeing that they were the only two not smiling. “Why so serious?” he asked.

“Ah!” Thunder yelled out, remembering the SHINee song that he had been about to sing just before the others returned from their mission. He looked over at G-Dragon. “Come on, brother-in-law,” he teased. “Come sing with me.”

“And me!” Dara said, getting up now, too.

The three gathered around the karaoke machine as Thunder started the song, the heavy guitar sound now overwhelming the small talk at the table. Everyone laughed as they watched G-Dragon, Dara, and Thunder try to imitate SHINee’s opening stance, and then laughed even harder when G-Dragon yelled out, “Oooh yooow!” and jumped in the air.

G-Dragon, quite drunk and happy to have his girl and brother at his side, belted out the first line as if he was some heavy metal rockstar, his eyes squeezed closed and his body lurching forward with one knee up on the table. At dawn right after midnight, something in the mud opened its eyes…

Everyone was scared of me, Thunder and Dara sang.

My arms stretched forward, I’m the living walking dead, G-Dragon sang.

Most at the table, even some whom were paying attention to the lyrics, cheered and were having a good time, seeing this song as some strange way of being able to rise above their situation. But Jong Kook and Jae Suk found it somewhat disturbing. Jong Kook looked over at Ji Hyo who was clapping along with the song, the baby close to her chest. And then over to Daesung and Minzy, and T.O.P. and Bom, and Seungri and CL, all of whom were drunk and laughing, and then to Gary nodding and drinking more soju, and then to Kyung Eun and little Ji Ho, that small boy smiling and watching the trio perform with such wonderment on his face.

Jong Kook turned now to Jae Suk. “Something’s wrong,” he said.

“What?” Jae Suk couldn’t hear over the music.

Jong Kook stood up. He couldn’t explain what he was feeling. He just felt like something was wrong. And then he realized what it was. It was déjà vu. He felt just as he had that day in the stadium, when they had all let their guard down during the concert, just before the stadium was overrun. He hurried over to the karaoke machine now and ripped the plug from the wall.

Silence.

Everyone stared at Jong Kook and saw the panic on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Minzy asked.

Jong Kook slowly brought his finger to his lips and then walked over to the window on the western wall. He could see the fence gate and the truck nearby. No zombies. He wondered if he was just being paranoid. But then he saw Caesar go over to the back window and let out a long growl, and when Jong Kook joined the dog there, he saw hundreds of zombies coming from the east. Some were pushing against the fence. Others at the end of the fenceline had already staggered around it, filtering out onto the beach. “Oh my god,” he said.