A few more days passed without anything major happening. Somi’s ankle was already feeling better, Chaeyeon kept Heehyun on strict bed rest, and we kept an eye on Sohye at all times. Sohye didn’t seem to be turning at all but it still left all of us standing on our toes around her. Yeonjung had even tied Sohye’s hands.

“Safety precautions,” Yeonjung said.

Nobody else seemed to have a problem with it. Even Sohye agreed to it.

-

It was raining - pouring, when I woke up, rumbles of thunder going off in the distance partnered by loud winds that shook the windows. Jieqiong was already awake next to me, a water bottle half full in her grasp. Jieqiong and I started to share the couch seeing as Chaeyeon insisted on Heehyun staying in one of the beds so her wound would heal better. I didn’t have any complaints.

“Morning,” she greeted me as I sat up, cracking my back in the process. “I can’t remember the last time it rained.”

I nodded in agreement. We sat in silence and I knew that Jieqiong wanted to say something. I nudged her knee with mine. She sighed, shoulders dropping..

“Where are we going to go?”

Ah, that question.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But we’ve been fine so far.”

“Fine?” Jieqiong asked in disbelief, eyebrows raising. “Sohye is bit, Somi’s ankle damn near broke, our food’s all going expired. Nayoung, what are we going to do?”

I shook my head, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees, quickly running my hands over my face. “Stop. Please.” I had just woken up and my mind was still hazy - it wasn’t doing me any good by thinking about such crucial plans. “Okay, ‘fine’ isn’t a good word to describe our conditions - but we’ve gotten this far.”

I felt her hand come to my back, rubbing small circles.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized softly, leaning her head on my shoulder. “It’s going to get cold, Nayoung. I’m just worried.”

“You have every right to be worried,” the words left my lips shakily. “Like I said, we got this far - we’ve been through hell. We can get through this.”

She placed a soft kiss onto the back of my shoulder before letting her chin rest upon it. “You hungry?”

When I nodded, she rose from the couch and entered the kitchen. I rubbed my face once more and took hold of my revolver, loading and unloading it until Jieqiong got back with a piece of jerky in her hand.

“It’s not much,” she said, sitting down beside me. “We’re running out.”

“We’ll leave soon,” I responded, biting off a small piece of the jerky. “Tomorrow, if the rain stops by then.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then we’ll wait for it to,” I murmured. “This world is dangerous enough without adding weather into the mix.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jieqiong smiled, patting my knee. “I’m going to go check up on Sohye.”

“I’ll come with you,” I stood up with her and chewed on another piece. “I need to check on the other girls, too.”

“Heehyun’s being good,” Jieqiong commented as we made our way down the hall. I peeked into the kitchen and saw that it was empty.

We didn’t exactly talk about Heehyun at all for the past few days. Even when she did join us for our nightly talks, nobody mentioned the fact that we still hadn’t decided as a group whether she’d join us or not. “We should talk about it as a group.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “We will. Tonight.”

Jieqiong hummed and opened the first door to the right, peeking her head in. I stood next to her and smiled at a tired-looking Sohye and a grinning Sejeong holding onto her hand. Mina was still asleep, her head rested on Sejeong’s lap.

“What’s up, sleepy head?” Sejeong’s grin curled up into a warm smile to me as Jieqiong went to sit next to her. I rolled my eyes and went to check on the other girls, hearing Sejeong’s laugh ring out from behind me.

The next room I entered was where Chaeyeon, Heehyun, and Somi were settled. Somi was sat off to the side at the small desktop next to the bed whilst Chaeyeon was rebandaging Heehyun’s cut.

“Morning,” I said to them. Chaeyeon nodded without taking her eyes off of Heehyun’s leg, Heehyun smiled at me, and Somi didn’t even seem to notice my existence.

I backed out of the room slowly and walked to the last room where the usual trio of Yeonjung, Doyeon, and Yoojung were, but then I realized we were missing someone.

“Where’s Chungha?” I asked with furrowed eyebrows. The trio looked just as confused as I did.

I stood in the hall, in between the three rooms.

“Where’s Chungha?” I repeated the question, voice louder to catch all of their attention. I heard a shuffling and saw that Somi had quickly hopped off of the desk.

“When I woke up she was gone,” she widened her eyes, rushing towards me. “I thought she just went to pee. Why? Is she missing?”

Somi tried to pass me in the hall but I grabbed onto her wrist, causing her to shoot me an incredulous look.

“Don’t rush off like that when you’re emotional,” I warned her. All of the girls were gathered by the bedroom doors, even Mina, who had just woken up. I glanced around. “Any of you seen Chungha?”

All the girls mumbled out negative answers and shakes of their heads. I took a deep breath, trying hard to keep calm.

It wasn’t easy.

“Okay,” I said. “It’s Chungha. I’m sure she’s fine.” It was more of me trying to convince myself than anything else and I’m sure the rest of the girls were well aware of that.

“Were you this sure when it was Doyeon missing?” Somi hissed.

“Somi,” Doyeon scolded, stepping forward and staring at her with shocked eyes.

“No,” Somi replied angrily, pulling her hand away from me. “This is Chungha. Our Chungha. If she’s missing I’m going to find her.”

But then we all stopped. “I’m fine,” a strained voice came from down the hall. All of our heads snapped to see Chungha offering us a soft smile. She was soaked from head to toe.

Somi rushed forward and hugged the girl, who let out a little laugh. “I’m fine,” Chungha said into Somi’s shoulder as the young girl kept a tight grip on her.

“Where were you?” I asked once Somi pulled away, heart relieved but anger riddling in my tone.

Chungha’s smile wavered. “I… I think we should start moving as soon as possible,” she said. “There were voices outside this morning when I was on watch, it was a small group of four. They were pretty well-equipped… I drove them away from the house.”

My anger whisked away, immediately replaced with fear and worry.

“I was going to talk about that with all of you tonight,” I responded. “If the rain lightens up, I think we should leave at dawn.”

“Heehyun’s leg isn’t good enough to walk,” Chaeyeon entered the conversation, glancing back to the girl who was still sat on the edge of the bed, away from the rest of the group.

“Well, it was never certain she was going to be staying with us, right?” Somi replied.

Chaeyeon shot her a look. “We aren’t going to leave her here to die.”

“Oh, right,” Somi frowned, voice dripping with sarcasm. “We’ll just all die along with her here.”

“No one’s going to die,” I interrupted them sharply. “You all know that we’re in the gang’s territory. We need to head back towards the forest.”

“You’re kidding,” Yeonjung grumbled. “Back towards that psycho you killed?”

“Well, he is dead,” Sejeong stepped up, quick to play peacemaker, that usual grin playing on her lips that told us not to worry. “It’s not like he’s going to be a problem to us now.”

There was a loud clearing of a throat and we all turned our attentions to Heehyun, who grinned a little.

“The gang doesn’t like going towards there because of him, and they don’t know that he’s dead now. I’m sure you all can set up some sort of home down there,” Heehyun suggested.

I gulped down the lump in my throat as all the girls turned to me. My eyes scanned their faces as I wondered what to say next. And then I let out a big sigh.

“Palms up to keep Heehyun in the group and fists up to vote otherwise,”

There was a small moment where it felt like everyone held their breaths, all looking towards eac other at the suddenness of my order.

I was the first to put my palm up. One by one each girl lifted their palms until it was down to Yeonjung and Somi. Yeonjung’s eyes were wary as she looked into the room where Heehyun was.

And then she put her palm up.

Somi’s eyes rolled the slightest bit though she didn’t seem truly agitated. She put her palm up.

“It isn’t like putting my fist up would’ve made any difference,” she murmured. I turned to look at Heehyun and saw her smiling. I returned the smile.

“How much longer do you need to heal?”

“I’m good to go whenever you all are,” Heehyun replied.

I nodded, facing the rest of the girls. “Then we leave first thing in the morning.”

-

The early morning was bustling with the noises of backpacks zipping and buckling. The sky still dark, hints of a leftover moon and a rising sun. It was still drizzling but it wasn’t as bad as it had been the day before.

I picked up a duffel bag and tossed it over the shoulder, revolver tucked into my waistband as I placed my hands on the kitchen counter.

I jumped when I felt a hand come up to rest on my waist from behind before calming down when I saw Sejeong’s familiar face peek up next to me. Her other hand came up and I saw my journal in her hand.

“Forget this?” she asked with a grin.

I took it from her with a thankful smile and placed it into the duffel bag.

“Are you all packed up?” I asked her.

Sejeong scoffed and let go of me to hop onto the counter. “It’s not like I have much to pack.”

She had a point. Besides clothes and the necessities like food and water, Sejeong didn’t carry much personal things with her. I chuckled and turned, watching the girls hurry back and forth in the halls with their bags. Chungha peeked her head into the kitchen.

“We’re good,” she said to us, eyes flickering between me and Sejeong before she left. Sejeong hummed and slid off of the counter, giving me a squeeze on the shoulder as she walked past me, taking one of the duffel bags off the counter.

The girls all gathered in the living room with their bags once they were ready. Heehyun was stood next to Chaeyeon, leaning onto her.

“You know the plan,” I said to them. “Stay close - within viewing distance - and look out for each other. We’ll go back towards the small town and find shelter there. When we get back to the highway we’ll… we’ll choose another direction.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Yeonjung grumbled, taking off towards the back door with a screwdriver in her hand. Each girl followed with their own sort of bag and weapon (except for Sohye, who only had a backpack on and her wrists tied).

We took off with a steady pace, making our way through the backyards of the houses in the neighborhood. The rain slowed us down only a tiny bit. With the dirt moist and sticky, a few of us had stumbled and/or slipped, but nothing too life-harming occurred.

“Hold on,” Yeonjung called from the front in a whisper. I looked ahead and stepped to the side as Yeonjung held up her hand, gesturing for us to pause. “We have to go around this one. They’re all stuck in the mud.”

“If they’re stuck, can’t we just go past them?” Mina whispered.

“No,” I mumbled. “We’re not taking the risk. We’re going to just go around.”

And that we did - with much difficulty considering all the fallen branches and the sticky mud - but we did. And we trudged on through until we reached the familiar sandy roads and wooden houses of the town I had never wanted to see ever again.

We sought shelter in a run down bar after Yeonjung and Sejeong made sure it was empty of any infected. I closed the door and locked it with the bolt as soon as we were all inside.

“Psst, there’s wood to start a fire,” Yoojung called out.

“Then start one,” Yeonjung replied. “I’m freezing.”

“Cover the windows if you’re going to do that,” I commanded. “You know those things are like moths - attracted to light and all.”

Yoojung looked over to Yeonjung and they gave each other nods before pulling a couple rugs off the floor. Doyeon and Chungha went to help them hang it over the windows.

Heehyun plopped down on one of the stools, hand going to grasp at her thigh where the bandages were. Chaeyeon was quick to be in front of her.

“Did it reopen?” Chaeyeon asked worriedly as I walked behind the counter to look for anything that could be of use. All I could find were empty bottles.

“No, I’m fine,” Heehyun replied. “It just hurts a bit.”

There was a small hush of cheers over by the fireplace and it wasn’t long before the room glowed a faint orange, the silence filled with soft crackles of the firewood burning. Everyone gathered around the fire in hopes of warming up.

“It seems like the weather’s getting worse,” Doyeon commented with Yoojung sitting on her lap, the two of them seeming quite comfortable. I was still stood off to the side behind the bar, watching the girls with tired eyes that threatened to close any moment.

“I used to be scared of thunderstorms,” Somi said after a few moments. Chaeyeon let out a small giggle - one that proved to be involuntary, seeing as she shut up quickly and blushed after doing so. Somi caught it, though, and grinned. “Oh, she knows all about how scared I used to be.”

Everyone looked to Chaeyeon for some sort of continuation or explanation, and the girl let out another quiet laugh.

“She hid under the bed one time,” Chaeyeon said, recalling the memory. “She didn’t come out even after the storm had passed.”

“It was wild,” Somi whistled to make emphasis. Chungha scoffed and bumped her shoulder with Somi’s and I couldn’t help but think how this was probably how they acted before whatever happened between them.

“Why aren’t you afraid now?” Yoojung questioned before gesturing to the covered windows. “It’s pretty wild right now.”

Somi shrugged and stood from her seat. “The dead are living,” she said, walking towards the bar before sitting on a stool right in front of me. “There are other things to worry about.”

“Yeah, like how we’re all shivering our asses off,” Yeonjung quipped.

“We’ll try to find some coats tomorrow.” I said, loading and unloading my revolver just so I had something to do with my hands. “But just rest for now. I’ll take the first watch.”

Nobody had anything else to say as they all shuffled to get into comfortable sleeping positions on the floor around the fire. Somi stayed sat in front of me. I raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled.

“Buddy system, remember?”

I hummed and ran my hand along the bottom of the bar.

“What are you doing?” Somi questioned.

“Can you go get me the flashlight?” I asked her. She did as she was told, handing me it over the counter. I flicked it on and huffed as I crouched down, running the light over the underside of the counter. I smiled when I saw a pistol taped to it. “Bingo.”

I crawled over and pulled out the pistol, standing as I did so.

Somi gasped. “Jackpot,” she said as I walked back over to her, handing her the flashlight. I removed the sticky tape from the black pistol, examining it.

“Ammo…” I mumbled, unloading the clip. It was a full clip, but also the only clip. “We’ll have to find some.”

The young girl grinned at me. “Do we even know what type of ammo we’re looking for?”

There was a grunt from the other side of the bar. Heehyun was limping her way towards us, a playful smirk on her face.

“That’s why you have me,” she sat onto the stool next to Somi’s. The girl frowned a little but didn’t back away. Heehyun gestured for me to hand her the pistol. Somi eyed me warily as I handed the pistol over, almost as if to tell me ‘what the actual hell are you doing?!’.

Heehyun hummed. “.22,” she answered, taking a bullet out of the clip and rotating it in between her thumb and her index finger. “Have you looked around for a box of some sort? Ammo might be in there.”

“I’ll go look for some,” Somi stood from the stool, heading off to the back where the shelves were.

Heehyun lifted her eyebrows in comedic disbelief. “She really does not like me,” she said, handing the gun back after reloading the bullet into the clip.

I snorted quietly, taking the gun and simply placing it on the counter between us. I leaned on the counter, staring over to the rest of the girls who were either already asleep or were trying to sleep.

“She’ll warm up to you,” I murmured.

-

“How the hell did you get stuck up in here, Chungha?” Sejeong asked in a friendly, soft tone to the girl who was eating a can of beans almost animalistically. They had boarded the front door again and decided to stay the night before moving out at first light.

Chungha paused and swallowed her food before speaking, a sort of sheepish blush on her cheeks, visible even with the little light their flashlights gave. “I wasn’t stuck,” she shrugged, looking around the spacious room bordered with mirrors as its walls. “If I was going to die, I’d want to die in a place I love.”

“A dancer,” Sejeong smiled as Chungha nodded. She then resumed eating.

-

Her left eye was nearly shut closed with the bruising around it swelling it up. The left side of her upper lip was cut pretty badly and she’s sure she had broken a couple of ribs.

“Get up!” barked a commanding voice of her group leader, Cathy. Yeonjung groaned and pushed herself off the ground so she could come face to face with the person who had beaten her like this. Cathy was seething and Yeonjung swore she could see angry tears in her eyes. “You cannot be weak.”

Yeonjung wasn’t a newbie to the gang but Cathy sure liked to act like she was. Yeonjung was Cathy’s go-to whenever she needed to teach the group of fifteen a lesson.

Yeonjung gulped as Cathy leaned close.

“Are you weak?”

“No,” Yeonjung gritted her teeth.

Cathy nodded, backing off. Yeonjung limped back to her spot in the lineup, aware of all the eyes on her. Her brain was muddled with rushing thoughts. She was seeing red as Cathy continued with the regular procedure to the evening, calling out schedule times.

That’s when Yeonjung made up her mind that she was getting the hell out of there as soon as she could.

-

Yeonjung huffed out short, rapid breaths as she ran as fast as she could, ignoring all the shouting going on behind her. A brief alarm blared that signalled someone was going rogue. Yeonjung had once been the person rushing to capture the runner.

Now she was the runner.

She had already made it past the main gate, hopping over all the tripwires and traps set out with ease, considering she had been one to reset and set the traps. She ducked with a gasp when she heard gunshots ring out.

She knew that the gunshots would call every zombie in the immediate vicinity to her exact location and she knew that was exactly what they wanted.

Yeonjung just kept on running, not stopping until the afternoon sun lowered towards the horizon until it disappeared and left only the moon.

Yeonjung was gasping once she finally stopped at a local gas station, leaning on a crashed car that had already been blown up long ago. She slipped off her backpack and hissed as the soreness became more apparent with the longer she stood still.

She crawled into the back of the car and took deep breaths, taking her water bottle out of her bag and sipping on it.

It was dangerous for her to fall asleep the way she did in the back of the car, wide open to any zombie that would like to take a bite of her, but Yeonjung couldn’t help but just feel relieved at the fact that she had gotten away from the gang.

She got away.

a/n - long time no seeeeeee! this chapter was very action-less LOL sorry if it was boring but idk i feel like every now and then a chapter with more conversation than actions is needed.

anyway, my sophomore year has started already and if you already thought i’m inactive HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU you’ve got a storm coming, honey! (speaking of storms i hope everyone who’s been affected by hurricane harmine is okay :/ the storms hitting me tmr) thank you thank you for your comments i will try to answer all of them as i usually do but as you can probably tell,,, i’ve been slacking :( sorry!!! but!! i hope everyone’s doing good and well! comments and upvotes are appreciated! :D

-dd.