The rotting wooden door creaked on its hinges as the two weary bodies scrambled into the desolate shack. As soon as both of them cleared, the younger of the two whipped round to slam the door shut behind them. The sound of the door bouncing on its hinges was certainly welcome, muffling the roar of the frenzied moans that had been chasing them as well as stifling the stench of decaying flesh that permeated the air. They were safe, but only just.

Seunghyun had collapsed against the wall opposite the door, body trembling with exertion from the previous scuffle. Seungri was immediately by his side and quickly scanned for injuries. Seunghyun hissed when Seungri’s fingers prodded at a particularly tender spot around his ribs. He shut his eyes and scrubbed at them with the heels of his palms, trying to will the pain away. What had been a spot of innocent looting had turned into their worst nightmare, when Seunghyun had tripped and knocked over a tool rack. The noise of the tools crashing to the ground had alerted those bastards of their presence, which resulted in a literal fight for their lives. , this was all his fault.

Seunghyun kept his eyes closed as repeatedly tapped the back of his head against the wall he leaning on. The last ebbs of adrenaline melted away and Seunghyun spoke when he finally felt like his heart wouldn’t leap out through his chest. “We should get on the move soon as I don’t think that door will hold for very long”.

 Seungri was quiet, too quiet. That was never a good sign as usually the kid never shut up. Seunghyun opened his eyes to gaze at the younger man. Then he felt his blood run cold at the sight before him.

Seungri was on his knees, chest rising and falling with laboured breaths. Seunghyun was suddenly struck with how pale the younger man was. They had come across a bottle of peroxide when looting what used to be a beauty supply store two weeks ago, and for a laugh both of them had bleached their hair. It was a welcome respite to the daily battle that had become their lives; Seungri that Seunghyun looked so cool, whilst he looked like a bootleg Asian Slim Shady. Seunghyun had laughed himself to tears at that comment. Now, Seungri’s face was almost as white as his hair – and Seunghyun definitely wasn’t laughing right now.

“Seungri, are you alright?” Seunghyun mindlessly asked, though it was very clear what was wrong. Seungri was clutching his left bicep with his right hand, body wracked with pain. Blood oozed out from beneath Seungri's clenched fingers, soaking into the thin jacket the younger man was wearing. Tears slowly began to leak down Seungri’s cheeks and he turned his watery gaze to Seunghyun.

“Hyung” he whispered.

Seunghyun sprung into action, scrabbling to the younger man’s side to pry his fingers away from the wound so he could examine it. The muscle tissue had already started to turn black, the characteristic smell of rotting flesh beginning to set in. More blood spurted out, covering Seunghyun’s hands but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away. Not from Seungri, never from Seungri.

“When did you get bitten?” Had he always been this slow to process? Seunghyun dipped his head to avoid looking into Seungri’s eyes. He knew he would break if he did. Hell, he was already breaking as the hot tears started to gather on his thick lower eyelashes. Seunghyun pulled his hands away from Seungri’s wound to wrap them around the younger man’s shuddering frame. Has Seungri always been this small? Seunghyun thought.

Seungri huffed out a short laugh, though there was absolutely no humou