The sky is bright yellow and orange when Soojung comes back into consciousness. She hadn’t even realized that she’s fallen asleep. Chanyeol is behind the wheel now and Naeun sleeps peacefully beside him. She can hear small, mumbled voices coming from behind her and Jongin still sleeps as well.

“We should probably find somewhere safe to lay low since the sun is disappearing pretty quickly,” Chanyeol says. Jongin sits up, now alert, and everyone keeps an eye out for somewhere they can camp.

The tallest building in the perimeter is what they come up with as a hiding spot until the morning. It’s a bank of some sort, and there’s probably no comfortable sleep quarters like the hotel, but it seems the safest for the night.

They conceal the Hyundai under the sunroof of a store and start the two block trek to the bank. The sun is dangerously low on the horizon, and there’s limited light. 

“Hang tight guys. We can’t pull out the flashlights until we’re inside and everything’s clear,” Chanyeol whispers, leading the way with Naeun close behind. Soojung stays close to Sulli who’s grabbing onto Sehun and Jongin brings up the back, keeping an eye out for any surprise attacks.

“I think we’re good, just let me go around this corner first so—holy !” Chanyeol comes to a standstill and backs into the building nearby.

It’s faint and almost indistinguishable, but under the quick breaths of them all, Soojung can just make out the faint yelping growls of the bloodthirsty creatures just around the corner. She glances at Chanyeol who’s signaling to Jongin, beside her, and then she sees the beast, on the far side of the street at the corner, but prominent and deadly.

"Everyone just stay calm," Naeun's steady voice calls to them. Soojung finds herself slightly trembling. Her hand grips around the gun on her belt and finally, she finds some room to breathe.

The beast across the street doesn't seem to notice them as it rounds a different corner and disappears down the street. Sulli lets out a labored breath beside her, and that's when the gun fires. 

Jongin jumps out of their line first and shoots at the fallen beast once more. It's smaller than the others Soojug has seen. 

"We need to get back to the car. We need to get out of here. Safe territory is just beyond these few streets," Jongin states, stepping around the dead body. 

Chanyeol cautiously steps away from the wall with Naeun close behind. 

"What do you mean safe territory?" Naeun asks. Soojung can't help but admire the girl's confident and calm demeanor. 

"Just get going. Chanyeol, that rifle should be fully loaded. Naeun take this," Jongin sets down his bag and pulls a hand-held almost the exact replica of Soojung's. 

"Sehun, don't be a fool out there and take this. It's long range, you won't necessarily get any good shots unless you're a couple hundred meters away," he says and pulls a gun with a long barrel from the bag. 

"Where did you get all these guns?" Sulli finally asks when Jongin silently hands her a pistol.

"If you want to survive, you have to fight."

The look in Jongin's eyes sends shivers down Soojung's spine. Terror and fear is written clearly in them, but there's something else; a slither of a smile and hope.

"Let's go. They're coming," Chanyeol's voice wakes everyone. 

Down the street, Soojung can make out the shadowed figures of the beasts, approaching them. Lips pulled back; growling, thirsting for blood. 

They try to stay quick on their feet, lurking near the shadows of the buildings and cars. It seems okay at first, and Soojung thinks they’ll make it, when the first round of shots is fired. She shifts her gaze across the street and sees Jongin, kneeling in a defensive position, his gun hooked under his arms and shooting at one of the beasts, which is too close for comfort. 

“Keep moving,” Chanyeol’s voice sounds, and Soojung nods. She’s moved only a few more steps, when suddenly, something goes flying through the air and lands just before her, growling, shivering, and staring straight at her.

“Watch out!” Jongin’s voice yells as another shower of bullets comes from his gun. The first monster is already on the ground, whimpering loudly. The second one before Soojung doesn’t seem to be effected by the bullets.

“Your gun! The gun!” 

And suddenly, Soojung is reminded of the gun in her hand. It’s slippery from perspiration, but she clasps it tightly and draws it sharply. The shooting somehow comes with ease and she’s fired three bullets when the creature finally slumps to the ground.

“Go! Go! Go!” Chanyeol shouts. Naeun runs in the direction of the car and Soojung follows shortly. She can feel the ground trembling as the beats follow, and she’s scared that they’re never going to make it, until she sees Sehun. 

He’s ahead of everyone, diving between the cars and shooting behind him as he goes. He’s accurate as well, hitting them square in the eye or near the feet, to throw them off. He tries another tactic at one point, knocking down a crate full of metal near an alleyway, and one of the beasts immediately turns that way and lunges into the alley, only to be blasted in the brain by Sehun’s gun.

She sees him reach the car first. He’s in the driver’s seat before she can even react. The beasts are still gaining on them. She hears the engine humming to life as she and Chanyeol fire into the vulnerable parts of the monsters. 

Something tugs on her jacket sleeve, and she’s confused for a moment, until she sees the car pulling out, headlights on, waiting for the rest of them. Sulli is the first to get to it, tossing herself into the backseat. Naeun reaches the car second, ducking in swiftly.

Soojung finds herself farther from the car than she expected. One of the monsters blocks her direct path, so she chooses to run around. Her legs carry her lightly as she distracts it from her. She fires into one of the windows of a vacant store and it turns its head. 

She takes this chance, and takes off for the car, seeing Chanyeol reach it successfully. Jongin is a few steps ahead of her, and he reaches it first. He’s shooting at the monsters and she tries to make her legs go faster, and in just a few steps, Jongin takes her hand hauling himself and her into the car, and then commences in shouting at Sehun to keep driving straight. 

Soojung is panting, catching her breath from the exhausting run. She pries her fingers from the gun, and it tumbles to the floor of the car. She’s glad it’s not in her possession anymore. Everyone seems okay. Sulli is calming herself in the back with Chanyeol helping her. Naeun sits in the front, checking herself and Sehun for any injuries.

“Is everyone alright?” Chanyeol asks. Soojung nods and glances at Jongin. He’s panting too, while dropping his bag on the floor. She sees a few scratches and scrapes on his arms, but other than that, he seems fine.

“What’s that?” Sehun asks, squinting in the now completely faded darkness. The headlights are dim and Soojung can just see the tall, barbed fence a few blocks down.

“Safety,” Jongin answers. He sounds drained, almost exhausted.

As they pull up to the rigid fence, Soojung spots the guards on the inside. They’re all tall and bulky, but none of them look any older than she is. The gates pull open and Sehun drives in, only to be stopped by more guards.

“We need you to exit this vehicle for inspection,” A voice says, eyes staring into the car, observing everyone.

Soojung goes through the movements. She holds still as two people pat her down and search her bag, then confiscate most of it. She hunkers down and bathes herself, rubbing herself clean and washing the shampoo out of her hair. Then she bites down on her lip as a medical assistant cleans out her healing hand wound again and patches it up, along with a few band aids here and there.

When she’s told to go through the double doors and to the cafeteria, she’s aware that none of her party has come out yet. Probably still bathing and being treated. 

She’s about to go through the doors, when a large hand clamps around her wrist and she’s pulled through a door to her left. She stumbles down a flight of stairs and is ready to fight back when the man lets go, but as soon as he turns to her, all the emotions in her body stop.

The thick eyebrows and piercing gaze is all too familiar, but the short, dark hair is off. The height difference, she recognizes, but the intense and rigid form of his shoulders, she doesn’t. She knows exactly who the man is, but at the same time he’s a totally different being. 

“Soojung.”

His voice brings back memories of her sister and how she liked to cuddle with him on the couch and how Soojung’s mother would always compliment him on his good looks and his flawless Korean. Every detail is vivid in her mind, and when a hand finally lands on her shoulder, she realizes that the brims of her eyes are wet.

“Where’s Sooyeon?” his voice is still baritone; deep and dark.

Soojung just shakes her head. She can feel sadness strangle her, and anger bubbling in her stomach, but she can’t seem to express any emotion.

“Well, at least you’re safe,” his voice drifts. 

They stay like that for a few minutes, and Soojung feels weak. All she wants to do is go to bed and wake up like a normal day; before everything happened—before her sister had died, and before she was left to fend for herself. 

“You and your friends can stay here. We’ve got plenty of room and plenty of resources to feed an army. I don’t want you getting hurt, and I’ll only blame myself if you-“

“Kris,” she says, gently cutting him off. He turns to her and she can see the dread in his eyes.

“We’re leaving,” she gets to the point. Kris seems baffled for words, but he straightens his back and the look in his eyes intensifies.

“I can’t protect you if you’re not here. You don’t know what’s out there-“

“Yes, I do know what’s out there. I know how to fight them, and I’m not alone,” she fires back, words stinging in her own chest.

“And besides, no one asked you to protect me,” she adds, gazing down the next flight of stairs. 

Kris huffs a sigh beside her and buries his face in his hands. He looks too vulnerable, and Soojung feels a chill run down her back. He’s never shown many emotions, especially in front of her. 

“I just…Sooyeon is gone, Soojung. I can’t see you leave and never come back,” he starts, voice choking slightly at the mention of her sister’s name. Soojung feels guilty, but actions take over her body. Before she realizes what she’s doing, she starts up the stairs, and bursts through the double doors. In the distance, she sees Sehun and Sulli, and Chanyeol, Naeun, and Jongin, all sitting around a table, chatting away.

Chanyeol spots her first and hurriedly comes to her side and drags her to their table. She’s sitting between Naeun and Jongin and Sehun’s glare is melting her skin.

“Soojung, are you okay? You’re as pale as a ghost,” Sulli speaks first, touching a hand to her forehead. 

“Yea, I’m fine. Hungry, that’s all,” she lies too well and even manages a convincing smile. A hot bowl of stew is placed before her and Chanyeol grips a spoon to her fingers.

“Eat up,” he says and turns to his own bowl of stew.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur of chatter. Chanyeol and Sehun arm wrestle and it feels like a regular hang-out with a couple of friends, if not for the numerous people and beds surrounding them. The head of the Apgujeong Survivors’ Facility—a guy named Suho who seems much too young to be an official—and Kris come by to talk to them. 

Soojung catches Kris’ eye, but he doesn’t say anything as they arrange plans for their departure. They decide to rest for another day, and depart the following morning with a few rations of dry and canned food that the facility can spare. If they find survivors on their journey, they’re to send them here, because it’s the closest safe house in all of Seoul.

When their meeting is finished, they all decide to turn in for the night.

They’re assigned a block of space in the corner of the room. Three bunk beds await them and when Soojung finally settles into her lower bunk in the middle, she feels beaten. Her bones ache and her head throbs, but sleep doesn’t come easily. 

She turns in her bed, only to have her sister’s shrilling scream haunt her. She turns the other way, and closes her eyes, only to see those vivid memories cracking her structure, threatening to break her sanity.

It’s well into the night, and Soojung doesn’t even realize she’s fallen asleep, when she wakes with a start; the same old scream ringing in her ears. A set or familiar eyes watches her from the bed on her left, and she realizes that it’s Jongin.

“Dreams?” his voice comes, soft in the dead of the large room. The rhythmic breaths all over calm her and she sits up, brushing stray hairs back and wiping her forehead of the sweat.

“Nightmares,” she answers, pressing her feet into the cold tiled floor for some type of link to the real world.

Jongin sits up too. His hair is tousled some, but remains smooth on his head. His feet touch the floor, just a foot away, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees something catching the moonlight.

“How did you get that in here?” she asks, eyeing the shining blade of the knife in his hands. A smirk lines his lips, “I have my ways.”

Soojung thinks his eyes are dark. Darker than any pair of eyes she’s ever seen. She watches as he sets the blade down beside his pillow, and leans his elbows on his knees, staring at her. She holds his gaze, and searches for some type of emotion in his eyes, but she sees none. It’s somewhat terrifying, so she looks away, backing up in her bed and sitting with her legs crisscrossed. 

“I saw you earlier. Who is he?” Jongin asks. He asks carefully as if not to cross the line, but he’s already crossed it. She eyes him carefully for a while, but gives into his intense stare.

“He used to be my sister’s boyfriend. Name is Kris. We first met when she brought him home one day to introduce him to our parents. That was almost three years ago; long before any of this happened,” she starts, remembering the shining smile on her sister’s face and the way her fingers played with his under the dining table.

“He’s a nice guy; real sweet. It hurts to see him here, alive and well, but if I would’ve found him dead, I guess that’d hurt too…I’m just angry at him. He knew what was going on, and even then, he couldn’t save her…”

Soojung realizes that she’s rambling when a wet tear drops onto her arm. She quickly wipes the tears from her cheeks and shakes the emotions away, only to realize that Jongin is still staring at her intensely. She feels heat rising in her cheeks and sheepishly avoids his eyes, but when a whimper comes from behind, she stops. 

Her breathing shallows and she turns just enough to see Sulli mumbling into Sehun’s ear. He answers with a few quiet words and a kiss to her temple, and then they both tangle themselves together and drift back into slumber. 

Soojung doesn’t move until she’s sure that they’re asleep. Without glancing up, she settles herself back into her bed. Jongin watches her still.

“You should sleep. None of us have had much sleep anyway,” she tries, glancing at him with half-lidded eyes.

“I will,” he states, but he doesn’t move from his position.

Minutes pass, and Soojung’s eyes are heavy, but she can’t seem to fall back asleep. Jongin is finally back in his bed, but she can tell he’s not asleep.

“Nightmares?” she asks, the corners of her lips tugging. Jongin just nods, but doesn’t turn to her. 

She wants to think that she knows how he feels because she’s taunted and haunted by her family and friends every night too, but something about Jongin tells her that his nights are different.

“My father used to stay up until dawn. He experimented and studied and was so caught up in this project, that I honestly thought he was going mad. He’s probably dead now,” Jongin says in almost a whisper. Soojung then realizes that Jongin never really had a father to rely on.

As she turns back to him, he’s still lying face up, staring at the bottom of Chanyeol’s bunk. He seems much younger than he is, now that he doesn’t have a scowl on his face. 

“What about your mother?” Soojung asks, propping herself on her elbow.

“Everyone used to tell me that she was wonderful; full of smiles. I don’t really remember. I was so small then,” he mumbles, almost as if reminding himself.

“She…” Soojung starts, not fully comprehending, but Jongin finishes the sentence, “passed away when I was three or four. I don’t remember why or when exactly.”

“Oh,” is what Soojung can configure. She doesn’t see any emotions on his face, but there is a longing in his voice. 

“Maybe if she were here today to knock some sense and sanity into my father’s brain, this wouldn’t have happened,” he says, practically speaking to himself.

She remains lying, watching his face, seeking for any type of emotion. But there’s nothing—only the strong face of the broken boy who didn’t really even have a family. 

“Go to sleep. It’s late,” is what comes from him next. That and his figure turning away from her.

“I can’t,” she says before she can even register it in her head. 

He doesn’t seem to hear her, or chooses not to because he doesn’t turn or stir, or even pretend to care. She watches him for just another moment, but gives up, welcoming her exhausted eyes into a deep slumber.

What do you guys think about Soojung and Jongin's relationship? And Soojung and Kris's relationship? And, I'm sorry if some of you have sour feelings for Kris, but he's been one of the characters since the beginning. Thank you all again for reading! It's slightly a long chapter, but I hope you guys don't mind! :)

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