“Tao! Kill Him!”

Tao is face to face with a zombie, and when Kyungsoo calls out to him he can only glance in his direction. He is frozen; aluminum baseball bat trembling in his grasp.

“What are you waiting for! Kill him!” Kyungsoo shouts again, this time looking for spare rounds for his stolen pistol.

“C-chanyeol, run!” Is the only thing Tao can sputter out to the boy behind him.

Chanyeol wants to move but he can’t get to his feet. 

“Baekhyun, if you don’t blow his brains out, I swear to God!” 

Baekhyun is on the roof of the library looming before them. You can see the top of his red cap peeking out from the ledge above.

“I don’t have a clear shot!” he calls out, frantically looking through the sniper rifle viewfinder. It’s too risky with Tao in the way. 

Suho has officially gone crazy. He sits, rocking back and forth, hugging his knees to chest.

“Tao, that’s not Kris! Kris is gone, do you hear me!?”

The baseball bat in Tao’s hand rattles against the pavement. He watches as Kris’ last remnant of humanity fades away; a smile.

Tao squeezes his eyes shut before raising his bat. A grotesque crunch resounds through the area. No one moves to stop Tao from beating the monster to a pulp. He had to make sure he was dead, after all.

The blood spatter on his face mixes with tears as he collapses to his knees next to the mangled corpse.

Kyungsoo gestures to Baekhyun to come down from his vantage point on the library roof. The library is what survivors dub “the safe zone”, home to a thriving black market and free of zombies. It seems Kai, Luhan, and Jongdae are still inside negotiating with the crew that runs the place.

Kyungsoo places his phone to his ear. Since it’s only been a week since the virus has spread, the telephone lines are still intact. He has to be careful about conserving energy, who knows what could happen in the coming months.

“They have the supplies but our money isn’t good here” Jongin begins as soon as he picks up. There are no “hellos”, or greetings, those aren’t important anymore. “They don’t take Korean currency. They don’t take currency at all it seems”

Kyungsoo frowns in annoyance. “Well, what do they want?”

“…girls.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“What do you think we should do?”

“Give ‘em Luhan.”

“E-excuse me?”

Kyungsoo sighs and massages the bridge of his nose. This was veering off from their original plan. When they found out about the black market, Junmyeon suggested that they stockpile on supplies to bring back to the base.

It was only supposed to take three days, but now it’s already been seven days and counting. Lay, Xiumin, and Sehun must be wondering whether they’re still alive.

“Put Jongdae on the phone.” ing idiots. 

A rustle of exchanging hands emerges from the receiver.

“What’s up, D.O?” 

“We failed. We’re leaving” 

“What do you mean? We just got here”

One of our members just turned into a zombie and we killed him, that’s what I mean. Kyungsoo wants to say but he keeps his mouth shut. He would have to tell them about Kris later, in person.

“Listen, there’s a whole underground fight club here. The guys here don’t even look that tough. If we win, we get the whole haul! Paracetamol, Acetaminophen, the works!”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “Maybe you could reword that so that I can understand?” 

“In other words, a first aid kit big enough to bring a tear to Lay’s eyes, how about that?”

Tempting.

“We can’t afford to stay here any longer, Jongdae. We have to get back to base, where it’s safe–”

“They’re calling us!” Jongdae interrupts excitedly. “We’re up! Gotta go–” 

click

“Yah!” Kyungsoo his teeth and pockets his phone. He would have to drag them out of the library himself. 

Kyungsoo glances warily at Suho, who is staring at the Kris’ bloodied corpse. Kyungsoo walks through his line of vision to pick up the sawed off shotgun that was in Kris’ possesion. It wouldn’t be wise to go into “the safe zone” without a weapon.

“Suho, we’re going to get the guys, are you coming?”

Suho doesn’t hear him, but continues his far-away stare.

“Fine, stay out here then, see if I care. Baekhyun? Tao?” Kyungsoo doesn’t look behind him as he walks up the stone stairs leading up to the library’s wooden doorway. He expects them to follow.

Baekhyun is tending to Chanyeol and helping him stand.

“Can you stand on your own?” Baekhyun asks, brow furrowed with worry.

“Yea… I fell a little hard, but I’m ok. It’s alright, I’ll just stay in the van.” Chanyeol lightly covers the wound on his arm. Now wasn’t the time for Chanyeol to tell Baekhyun that he’s been bitten.