Jessica sat up in bed and looked over Gary, who was sprawled beside her, barely covered by the sheet. They had slept together every night since that first night on Hyun Suk’s yacht, but only to hold each other, to forget the pain of the world by being there for each other, not ually but emotionally… until last night. Last night, everything changed.

They had come back home well after midnight, their bodies dirty and exhausted from digging, and had collapsed onto the bed in tears. They clung to each other in the way that they always had these past two months, their eyes closed and their arms tight around each other, holding each other close to relieve their suffering. That had always been enough before, but last night it wasn’t. Last night they needed more. Their had begun slowly but quickly grew wild and desperate, their bodies seeking some sort of ultimate closeness, as if they couldn’t kiss hard enough, as if they couldn’t push and receive deep enough, as if…

… as if it was their last night alive.

When they had lain in bed last night, breathing heavily in the aftermath of their passion as they stared into each other’s eyes, Gary had said, “Don’t give up so easily on this game called life.”

Jessica had immediately recognized the line from his song and completed the thought. “So when you close your eyes in this world, you can open your last door of happiness without any regrets.”

Through those quoted lyrics, they had both understood without having to say it: they would be amongst those leaving Sido. They closed their eyes afterward and had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. Nothing more needed to be said.

They didn’t know who else was going. No one knew. The plan was for everyone to return to Hyun Suk’s home that morning for Jae Suk’s service, after which those who wanted to leave Sido would do so, and those who wanted to stay behind would say goodbye.

As Jessica looked over him now, she felt overwhelmed and confused. These past two months, she had been friendly but somewhat distant with everyone but her sister. She thought that if she cared as deeply for the others as she did her sister, then she would have to carry the weight of those feelings and suffer that much harder if one of them were to perish. She knew that she was being somewhat selfish, thinking only about herself and her ability to handle her grief at the expense of her relationship with the others, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t feel as strong as them. She had no idea how they could love so much, how they could give away so much of themselves when there was this risk of loss at every turn. If she gave pieces of herself out, and those people died, then the pieces of her that she had given would die with them. Eventually, she would be hollow, with nothing of herself left.

At least, that was how she used to feel. But after being with Gary last night, she realized that in giving herself to him, she had also gained something in return. She had gained his love. And that filled her. It filled her more than she could have ever imagined. And she knew now that she had wasted these two months, that if she had only opened up to the group more, she would have received just as much as she would’ve given.

These thoughts of hers were shaken by a loud knock at the door.

Gary stirred at the sound, awake as he rubbed his eyes. “Sica?” He slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Jessica’s beautiful face over his.

“There’s someone here,” she whispered.

Gary quickly sat up and squinted at the morning light.

They both heard the front door downstairs slowly creak open at that moment.

“Unni?” It was Krystal.

“Up here!” Jessica yelled. Turning to Gary, she said, “You better get dressed.” She leaned down to kiss him, the moistness of her lips quenching the dryness of his.

Gary breathed in deeply, wanting to pull her atop him and love her all over again, but there didn’t seem to be time for that anymore. He could hear Krystal ascending the stairs. She was talking with someone, likely Thunder, their voices echoing throughout the house. Covering himself with the sheet, he reached over to the floor where he had thrown his boxer shorts and pulled them back on. He was just zipping up his jeans when he saw Caesar rush in, followed by Krystal and Thunder.

Krystal quickly covered . “Oh, sorry,” she said. She averted her eyes from Gary’s bare chest and turned toward her sister sitting on the bed. “Unni, we were just wondering if you two talked yet about... anything.”

Gary pulled a shirt on and leaned down to pet Caesar. Glancing at Jessica, he said, “We decided we’re going.”

Thunder sighed in relief. “Ah, good,” he said. “We want to leave, too, but…”

“I was just worried, thinking that you two might have decided to stay,” Krystal said.

“I wouldn’t leave if you weren’t also going,” Jessica said, as she stood to hug Krystal. Holding her tight, she whispered, “You’re my little sister. I love you.”

The four of them stopped to pick some wildflowers that were growing in patches along the main road and then continued on to Hyun Suk’s house, where they saw that everyone else had already arrived. Some were standing around Jae Suk’s gravesite. Others were just beyond at the shoreline, hauling supplies there to stock the boats. Caesar ran off toward the kids, who all excitedly pet him.

Daesung and Minzy arrived nearly at the same time as Gary, Jessica, Thunder, and Krystal. When Minzy saw that Krystal was holding a bunch of flowers, she felt her eyes well up.

“That was good of you to think of that,” Minzy said.

Krystal pulled some wildflowers out of the bunch and gave them to Daesung and Minzy. The six of them then walked over to the gravesite, where they joined G-Dragon, Dara, T.O.P., and Bom.

While Thunder pulled his sister aside, hoping to find out if she, too, planned on leaving, the others stared at the long dirt mound before them. Someone had collected rocks and had outlined the grave with them, forming a border that separated the dirt from the grass around it. At the head of the mound was a makeshift gravestone – a large boulder with Jae Suk’s name carefully printed across the front of it in black paint.

Krystal distributed the rest of the wildflowers out and each took a turn placing their flower atop the dirt. Afterward, they stood in silence, thinking of their loss.

Those who had been down by the shore soon began walking toward the site, eventually gathering with the others and joining the collective silence.

After a while, Jong Kook, who had prepared something to say, stepped out of the crowd and walked over to the gravestone. He pulled out his speech, the paper shaking in his hand as he spoke. “I want to talk about how great this man was,” he said. The sun was beating down his neck, causing him to perspire heavily. He wiped his brow. “He was the most selfless man, always thinking about others, right up until he passed. When we found him, we saw that he had tied himself up so that… so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone when he…” His voice trailed off when he saw Jae Suk’s son clutch onto his mother’s leg. Kyung Eun looked down at her boy and then back at Jong Kook, the tears streaming down her face. Jong Kook had thought that it would be important to share Jae Suk’s last moments with everyone, but when he saw Kyung Eun and little Ji Ho, he decided against doing so and crumpled the speech inside his fist. Sniffling back his tears, he spoke plainly to everyone. “This morning, when I painted his name on this boulder, I thought back on everyone we lost and realized that this is the first time we’ve had a chance to provide a proper burial.” He paused a moment as the memories of each painful death came back to him. “I’m just… happy that we can do this for him…” He tried to gulp down his pain but couldn’t. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to continue, he bowed before Jae Suk’s grave and then returned to Ji Hyo’s side.

Hyun Suk stepped forward then. “Does anyone else want to say a few words?”

Everyone stood with lowered heads, all grieving silently.

When no one answered, Hyun Suk cleared his throat. “I want you all to know that Jae Suk’s wife and son will be staying here on Sido.”

Everyone looked over at Kyung Eun then, some whispering about the decision.

Hyun Suk breathed in deeply. “My family and I… we’ll be staying, too.”

“Boss, why?” G-Dragon asked. He and Dara had decided last night that they would be leaving, but hearing that Hyun Suk was staying caught G-Dragon off guard and he didn’t know what to think anymore. He couldn’t imagine leaving Hyun Suk behind.

“What it came down to was the safety of the children,” Hyun Suk said. “But I don’t want our decision to affect yours. I’m expecting that most of you will leave. I’m… hoping that most of you will. Not that I don’t love you all or anything…” He chuckled a bit, sort of a sad little laugh, but then his face grew serious again. “It’s because I do love you that I hope you leave, that you make it to that base and get out of here, away from all this.” He studied their faces, knowing that shortly, they would all say goodbye. “We worked all morning on bringing the supplies down. There’s food, fuel, and every weapon we could spare. I’ll need you to tell me your decisions soon so we can figure out how best to get you all out of here, whether on the fishing boats or the cruiser...”

G-Dragon looked around at the others. “Who else is staying?” he asked.

“We are,” Jong Kook quietly said. He and Ji Hyo had talked with Hyun Suk and Eun Ju last night long after everyone else had left. They didn’t want to stay on the island but could see no other way.

“We can’t take the baby,” Ji Hyo said. “If something happens on the way and we get stuck out there on those streets, Dream… just one cry from him would attract attention. And I can’t fight if I’m holding him.”

The others stared at Jong Kook and Ji Hyo in disbelief.

“If the rest of you are going, then you’ll be able to fit on the cruiser,” Hyun Suk said. He had talked with Jong Kook and Ji Hyo about this last night, about how their staying behind also had that added benefit of allowing the others to fit on the cabin cruiser. “The cruiser is a strong boat,” he said. “Should get you all the way there.”

“I’ll go gas it up,” Se7en said.

Rina reached for his hand. “I’ll help you,” she said.

As they walked away from the others, Rina breathed in deeply. She didn’t feel right about leaving and said as much now. “You think they’ll be okay here?” she asked. “Those barricades… they’d need to do something about that. And Eun Ju and Kyung Eun could use some more training, especially in hand-to-hand. And Jong Kook-ssi can’t fish–”

“Are you saying we should stay?” Se7en asked. They stopped at the shoreline, just short of where the supplies were piled, and looked at each other.

“You know I want to leave,” she said. They had talked in bed last night about what it would be like in either the U.S. or Australia, away from this infection. They had survived so long in this zombie-ridden land that life without that struggle seemed unreal, like a fantasy. “But I don’t think…” She wanted to say that she didn’t think those on the island would last without them but couldn’t find a way to express that without it sounding haughty.

Se7en stepped closer to her and ran his fingers through her short hair black. The electric blue and purple dye with which she used to streak her hair had since grown out and now just covered the ends. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “I’ll go along with whatever you decide.”

The others, by then, had said their final goodbyes to Jae Suk and left the gravesite. Those leaving the island had briefly returned to their vehicles to grab their backpacks, which were filled with clothes, flashlights, ammo, and other supplies for their journey, and then joined everyone else as they all headed to the shore.

While Se7en set off on the rowboat with the fuel so that he could gas up the cruiser, Rina pulled Jong Kook and Ji Hyo aside to talk with them.

CL, Seungri, Daesung, and Minzy, meanwhile, began examining the weapons piled atop the supply boxes in the sand. Hyun Suk had gone through the armory that morning, carefully selecting which weapons he thought would be best for the journey team while also thinking about which weapons would be best to remain on Sido with the home team. He decided that the larger weapons, like the rocket and grenade launchers, would best serve the home team, as they were impractical to carry out, but he gave away most everything else.

“We don’t need all this,” CL said, looking over at Hyun Suk while gesturing toward the array of machine guns and pistols. “We just need one each. If we have enough ammo, we should be okay.”

Hyun Suk sighed. “One gun each isn’t enough,” he said. He thought about Jae Suk then. Jong Kook had told Hyun Suk about how Jae Suk had died, how he had encountered that zombie on the path and fled into the woods when his gun jammed, eventually smashing the zombie’s head in with a rock before tying himself up at that tree. “You at least need two each,” he said. “Just in case the… the first one jams.”

“You have enough left over for everyone here?” Minzy asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Hyun Suk said. He picked up his son, Seung Hyun, who was growing somewhat restless and tugging at his father’s leg. Talking to his boy now, he said, “Let’s go say goodbye to Auntie Chaerinni and the others, okay?” Seung Hyun nodded. Eun Ju, who was carrying their daughter, also walked over to say goodbye.

G-Dragon, still upset at the thought of leaving Hyun Suk behind, sat on the sand and watched them all. Dara was sitting beside him. She knew that he was upset but didn’t know what to say to make him feel better.

T.O.P. and Bom sat down beside G-Dragon and Dara.

“Maybe it’s better if we don’t all go,” T.O.P. said, his voice deep but quiet. “If those who go die, at least those who stayed will still be alive.”

G-Dragon mindlessly dragged his fingers through the sand. “But if we live, we’ll have to live knowing that we left everyone behind here.”

Dara put her arm around G-Dragon. “We’ll come back for them,” she said.

“How?” G-Dragon asked. “You heard what he said. This is a one-shot deal. We get to that base and get on that transport out of the country and that’s it. No one else gets to leave.”

“We’ll find a way,” Bom said, looking over at him.

Their conversation trailed off when they all heard Ji Hyo begin to cry. They looked over at her, seeing that she was rocking the baby in her arms and walking away from Jong Kook and Rina.

Gary rushed to Ji Hyo’s side. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Ji Hyo only shook her head, unable to talk about how Rina had offered them her and Se7en’s place on the boat while implying that Dream could stay behind with the other children.

“Are you having second thoughts about staying?” Gary asked, somewhat hopeful that his friends would change their minds. He saw then how badly her hands were shaking and said, “Here, let me take the baby.” But as he reached for Dream, Ji Hyo pushed him away.

“No,” she said, tucking Dream closer to her chest. “I can’t…”

Jong Kook, whose eyes were red and lined with tears, walked over to comfort Ji Hyo.

“Jong Kook-ah, how can you even consider this?” Ji Hyo asked.

“I’m only thinking about Dream,” he said. “It’s like CL said last night… what kind of life would he have here? If we leave, we can secure a better life for him. We can get out of this country and…”

“And what?” Ji Hyo asked. “Come back for him somehow?”

Hearing this and thinking about his own concerns at leaving Hyun Suk behind, G-Dragon stood up and walked over to them. “We will come back,” he said. Echoing Bom’s words, he added, “We’ll find a way.”

“That’s just… that’s just blind optimism,” Ji Hyo said.

“Ji Hyo-yah, please,” Gary said. “Come with us.” He looked over at Jong Kook. “We need you, Jong Kook-ah. We have no leader otherwise.”

Kyung Eun now approached and slowly held out her hands. “Let me look after him,” she said, reaching for the baby. “I promise that I’ll protect him.”

“We’ll all protect him,” Hyun Suk said.

Ji Hyo slowly let the baby go, her arms frozen in the air afterward.

Jong Kook took her arms and placed them around his waist as he leaned in to embrace her. He held her head against his chest and brushed his fingers through her hair a few times, trying to soothe her concerns.

Jessica, who had just re the rowboat with Thunder and Krystal after bringing the last of the supplies to the cruiser, called out for Gary then. “Are we taking the dog?” she asked.

Gary saw Jae Suk’s boy on the sand, petting Caesar. Seeing how happy little Ji Ho was, Gary sighed and walked over to him. “Remember to feed him every day,” Gary quietly said. Turning back to Kyung Eun, he said. “There’s dog food at my house, plenty of it.”

Kyung Eun nodded and continued rocking Dream in her arms. She couldn’t explain it, but with these two new additions to her family, she felt somewhat whole again.

Hyun Suk breathed in deeply, realizing that he had one last thing to do before everyone left. He set his boy down and walked over to T.O.P., who was standing near the rowboat with Bom. “Your father, when I talked with him, I could hear it in his voice how much he wanted to come get you.”

“Then why didn’t he?” T.O.P. asked. But he knew the answer already. His father was a military man and always followed orders, even at the expense of his family.

Hyun Suk reached into his pocket and pulled out the satellite phone. “Take this,” he said. “If you get into any trouble, call him. His number is saved on it. You just need to use the speed dial function.”

“He won’t come get us,” T.O.P. said. “It’s better if you keep the phone, that way there’s some way to get in touch with you.”

Hyun Suk pushed the phone back toward T.O.P. “He’ll come get you,” he said. “I know he will. I’m telling you, his voice was shaky when we talked. I could tell he wanted to defy those orders but… he knew that you weren’t in any immediate danger here. If the situation was different, if you were in trouble and had no way out, he would come get you if you called. I’m sure of it.”

T.O.P. didn’t believe that his father was capable of defying orders but he accepted the phone anyway, if only to appease Hyun Suk.

Hyun Suk ushered T.O.P. and Bom into the rowboat then and called for the others to come down. “I’ll take you out in groups,” he said. G-Dragon and Dara joined T.O.P. and Bom in that first group, all of them exchanging tearful goodbyes before Hyun Suk rowed back for the others.

After he had shuttled the last group out to the cruiser and finally returned to the shore, he joined the rest of the home team on the sand and pulled his wife and children in close as they looked out over the water to those on the boat and waved goodbye. Kyung Eun, with her son and Caesar at her side and with Dream in her arms, waved too, as did Se7en and Rina.

G-Dragon pulled the throttle, sending that motor roaring as they pulled away. Everyone on board kept their gaze on the people they had left behind, hoping that they were doing the right thing. As the boat headed further into the depths of the Yellow Sea, it became harder for those aboard to distinguish between the faces of those ashore, and eventually, they couldn’t see them at all. A light fog hugged the shore and the island began fading in the distance, as if it didn’t even exist anymore.