An abrupt cough echoed through the hallway. Woohyun gagged out dust and a sticky metallic substance that tasted like-blood. He grunted in pain when he tried to fidget a little. His head throbbed wildly and pain surged through his body every time he moved. He was lying flat on a solid ground and everything around him was blurred. He focused his visions and allowed his eyes to adapt to the dim surrounding. Not really knowing where he landed, he flipped and laid on his back, resulting a loud scream in pain. It seemed to be coming from his abdomen.

He saw blood seeping through his shirt and tore the fabric for a better view of his wound. A deep gash was left across his abdomen and blood was draining from it slowly. Woohyun whipped his head back and muttered a curse before looking around to grasp a better view of his whereabouts whilst wiping the blood at the corner of his lips with his sleeve. He remembered falling, falling so terrifyingly till he thought his heart stopped beating. It was a miracle that he survived, but it also meant that he landed into another world. The first thing that came across his mind was Sunggyu.

“Sunggyu-hyung?!” He called but only heard the echo of his voice. “Sungjong?”

No response. Where could they have been?

Woohyun had no other choice but to drag himself to a side of the wall on his back. With all his might, he stretched himself against the wall and cursed at the pain but was relieved as he successfully leaned against the wall on his back.

“Come on, you can do this,” he mumbled to himself and slowly got up to his feet with the support of the wall. He grunted again and placed a hand on his wound, applying pressure. He couldn't see the end of the hallway considering it was dark. Some of the ceiling lights were dim and some were not even functioning. But the amount of light shone gave Woohyun brief details around him. He saw a movable bed and an IV bag a few feet in front of him and realized he was in a hospital.

It was eerie, and he felt an ominous presence approaching. Sudden heavy footsteps echoed through his ears. Startled, he reacted to the sound and jerked his head. He kept his breath steady, listening. The footsteps were approaching his way. Every step sounded like a thud that made his heart beat three times, and he could hear metal scraping and trudging on the ground. Something was coming and he was positive it wouldn't be a human. It was heavy. Too heavy.

Trusting his guts, he stepped backwards slowly and came in contact with a doorknob. Not sparing a second, he twisted it open and flung himself in, closing it after. The footsteps became more and more audible, and Woohyun was not anticipating to find out what it is. Something tells him that it's gonna be real .

He leaned closely to the back of the door, his head looking to his right. There was a big see-through glass right beside the door and the ceiling light was just right outside, shining dimly. So whatever that passes through, Woohyun could take a good look at it.

Few moments passed and the footsteps were right at the other side of the door Woohyun is leaning on. The metal scratching the ground pierced his ears. It stopped. Woohyun in his breath, beads of sweat threading down his face. His body was trembling, he was scared. He heard a short and ragged breathing and suddenly the air smelled like rotting meat. He could smell it even though he was holding his breath. It was overwhelming and he had to fight the urge to gag. It paused right outside his door for sometime, as if it could sense him. Then, it started to move again, passing the see-through glass. Woohyun has never felt that horrified in his life. It really wasn't human. It was a monster.

It was so big that its arm almost touched the sides of the wall. Rusty chains draped over the monster's gigantic body. Deep gashes were all over it. Some were bleeding, some had pus on them, and some were so bad till bones were jutting out in awkward angles. It looked like it was rotting itself. The worst thing was it's appearance. Half of its skull was gone, revealing it's brain. There were large stitches on its lips and big nails penetrated its ear and face, leaving lines of blood. There was a hole in its left eye, but the right eye resembled a human's. Soon, the monster started to trudge again, walking away, and that moment, Woohyun saw it dragging a gigantic machete almost its own size. The machete had blood all over it, and it was bound to leave a trail since it was being dragged.

It felt like a million years after the monster finally left and Woohyun exhaled. Panic was written all over his face. He had to find the others, ASAP. He had to warn them about this creature, but the thing is, are they even alive? First things first, he needs to attend to his wound. At least he is in one of the hospital ward, where there's bound to have a first aid-kit.

Searching blindly throughout the ward, he found a flashlight instead. Turning it on, the ward was slightly illuminated, making his life easier. But unfortunately to his odds, he couldn't find any medicine or bandage. Groaning his frustration, he decided to check the other wards.

He made his way through the hall, walking cautiously with light steps. He prayed hard in his mind, hoping that the monster was the only creature in this whole hospital. He really did not want to end up finding another one. One was enough, literally enough.

Woohyun made it to the end of the junction of the hallway with the help of his flashlight, opposite from the direction the monster went. He looked left and right, debating which direction to go. It was always decisions like these that he hated. Since it looked brighter on the left, he made up his mind to follow that route.

A big sign hung from the ceiling, written on it was: Emergency Room (ER). Woohyun mentally cheered. There would be supplies, there had to be. Walking along the hallway of the ER, Woohyun stifled a scream as someone clamped a hand over his mouth dragged him into one of the rooms and shut the door. No sound escaped his throat as he saw the person who dragged him in that was currently placing a finger on his lips, indicating Woohyun to keep quiet.

“S-sung...yeol?” He croaked. He couldn't believe his eyes. He thought Sungyeol was dead. All of them thought that he was. But Sungyeol was there looking at him and Woohyun piched himself to assure that it wasn't a dream. “Is that...you?” Sungyeol nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, it's me.”

“You !” Woohyun hissed unexpectedly and threw his arms around the younger, ignoring the pain on his abdomen. “We thought you were gone you bastard! Where the hell have you been?!”

Sungyeol choked at the sudden strangle. “It's...a long story. Could you stop squeezing me?”

“Sorry,” Woohyun released him.

“Hoya and Dongwoo-hyung saved me,” Sungyeol said.

“What?” Woohyun scrunched his forehead. “Who?”

Sungyeol got up to his feet and reached for the switch, turning on the dim lights and gestured behind him. “Them.”

One red-haired guy sat on the edge of the bed, and the other with brown-colored hair leaned against the wall, holding a blade in his hands, both looking at Woohyun. The red-haired guy scanned Woohyun up and down, and finally parted his lips to say something.

“Gotta get you patched up,” he said and stood up, looking for supplies in one of the shelves above the bed. “C'mon, lie on the bed here,” he patted.

Woohyun looked at Sungyeol, still demanding for more explanation.

“Go let Dongwoo-hyung fix you up first, then I'll update you with what really happened,” Sungyeol motioned to Dongwoo's direction.

“Okay,” Woohyun mumbled and walked towards the bed and laid on it as told. Dongwoo examined the wound on his abdomen and gave a shake which Woohyun had no idea what it meant. Is it that bad?

“Not critical, but it will be if you keep losing blood. It's gonna sting, so bite this,” Dongwoo said and gave Woohyun a piece of cloth.

“Don't scream,” Hoya butted in suddenly. “Don't wanna give away our location.”

Woohyun gulped and bit on the cloth, closing his eyes tightly. And the pain begins.

9

Woohyun screamed through the cloth he was biting on, clenching his teeth and his hands digging into the sheets. Dongwoo tried his best to patch Woohyun up as fast as he could, pouring saline solution, followed by some medicine. Woohyun breathed a sigh of relieve as Dongwoo made the finishing touches-taping up the wound with a gauze.

“Done,” Dongwoo said and patted Woohyun's chest. Woohyun took away the cloth from his mouth, surprised that he didn't gnaw it to pieces. He glanced at Dongwoo, wondering if he was some medical expert.

“Thanks,” he said. “Are you a doctor or something?”

“Nah,” Dongwoo shook his head and went to a nearby basin to clean his hands. “Don't know where I got them skills from. Couldn't remember. But only my name though.”

Woohyun found the way Dongwoo spoke weird and fast at the same time, as if he was in a rapping competition. Nevertheless, he felt that he was an easy-going person. Woohyun sat up on the bed as Sungyeol made his way next to him and sat on the floor.

“I'm Woohyun. Nam Woohyun,” he said to Dongwoo and Hoya. The brown-haired boy approached them and took a seat next to Dongwoo. “I'm Lee Howon, but please call me Hoya.”

“Jang Dongwoo,” the red-haired guy smiled.

“So...” Woohyun started. “You both don't remember anything but your names?”

“Yeah,” Hoya nodded.

“How did you guys get here?”

“Probably the same as you and Sungyeol. Waking up in bright lights, the girl, then the warehouse. I met Dongwoo at the warehouse though. Then we went through the cemetery, after that was the zombieland. That's where we found Sungyeol.”

Woohyun looked at Sungyeol, finally remembering to demand an explanation from him.

“While I was waiting for you back at the apartment, I heard slow footsteps outside so I thought you were coming back. But it was a mistake to think that it was you,” he paused. “I found myself face to face with a zombie instead. Since my leg was that bad that time, I hard a hard time wrestling with it. It got me pinned and it was aiming for my neck. Just when I thought I couldn't resist anymore, there was a sharp puncture and the tip of the knife emerged from the zombie's mouth. When I shoved the zombie away, I saw Hoya and Dongwoo. Before I could even say a word, they dragged me off as there were more approaching. We ran and the whatnot, jumping off the cliff and woke up here.”

Woohyun nodded slowly as realization dawned on him.

“Did you see the Thing when you fell here?” Sungyeol asked. Images of that horrifying monster crashed through Woohyun's mind, making him tense up.

“Y-yeah,” he stammered. “It was...a hell of a beast.”

“So far there's only one,” Hoya added. “We got a map of the hospital. But I don't have a clue where we should go.”

Dongwoo spread open the map and laid it on the floor. The four guys huddled together to examine the map. Apparently, this hospital had no floors which was a good sign, but the problem was that it is freaking huge.

“We should try the exit,” Sungyeol said and pointed on the map.

“Yeah,” Woohyun nodded. “We can wait till sunrise so we have lights coming in.”

The other three looked at Woohyun as if he was an idiot.

“What?” He frowned.

“One thing you should know, there is no sunrise here. It has been more than 24 hours since we've been here and there's no trace of sunlight,” Hoya said.

No sunrise? What kind of place is this?

“No sunrise? You've gotta be kidding me. How are we supposed to get out of this dark place that we can't even see where are we going?”

Dongwoo pulled a bag from under the bed, and in it were flashlights. “I'm guessing we have to use these.”

“Anyway, we're not going anywhere for now, you need to get some rest Woohyun-hyung,” Sungyeol said and closed the map. Then suddenly it struck Sungyeol. No, not a hammer striking him, but a question instead.

“Speaking of hyung, where is Sunggyu-hyung and Sungjong?”

Woohyun shook his head.

“They...didn't make it?” Sungyeol's voice trembled.

“No!” Woohyun frantically shook his head. “We jumped from the cliff together, they should be here somewhere. But I don't know where cause I woke up alone.”

“For now, we can't do much. I'd say we get some rest and go look for these friends of yours a bit later,” Hoya said.

“We have to look for them now,” Woohyun protested. Just thinking of Sunggyu and Sungjong out there alone scares him. How would the two react when they encounter the Thing? Especially Sungjong...

“Look, you just ended here and we don't know the place well,” Dongwoo supported Hoya. “Get some rest, I'll get you some food we found from the cafeteria of the hospital. Then later we'll look for them.”

“Yeah hyung, you need to rest first,” Sungyeol piped in.

Woohyun sighed and relented, accepting the food from Dongwoo. “Speaking of looking for them, what are we gonna use to defend ourselves from the Thing?”

Hoya gave him an amused smiled and walked to the corner of the room, pulling a few bags with him along and back to Woohyun. “At least we have these.”

Woohyun zipped open the bag and felt all sorts of emotions surging in him. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw weapons. Knifes, blades, daggers, axes. But the best thing were a few handguns and shotguns.

“Where did you guys get these?” Woohyun asked in astonishment.

“To be honest, I don't know how these stuff can be in a hospital. There's at least a weapon in every room so we had a quick tour around the whole ER and these are the bunch we found,” Hoya answered. “All I can conclude is, the Thing is our biggest problem for getting out.”

“Let's not think about it too much for now, lights out guys,” Dongwoo said and got up to his feet. Hoya followed suit.

“Rest up hyung,” Sungyeol got up too and patted Woohyun's shoulder. “We'll look for them in a few hours time.”

Few hours time...Woohyun thought. We're coming Sunggyu-hyung and Sungjong. Wait for us.

Authornim: Mugawd!!! Sorry for such long hiatus for this story. School started and came piling in. Unending piles of homework and packed schedules ohgod...Luckily I had some break for this weekend. And you know asian parents...they just won't let you do something on the computer for more than 3 hours -=- They'll be nagging and the whatnots...Anyway, I had writer's block as well so I couldn't find inspiration to continue this fic. But still, I'm BACK!!! <3 Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thanks for sticking by .