My eyes widened upon hearing the name but Yebin didn’t seem to notice, as she let out a string of curses.

“She stole one of the cars at a campsite we have set up down near the highway, ran right through our gates.” the girl explained quickly and in a panicked manner.

“ing kill her.” Yebin growled.

“No!” I jumped up. Yebin’s head snapped towards me and I was taken aback by the look of pure hatred in her eyes. I’ve never seen her like that.

“You know her?”

I nodded, trying to keep my composure. “We—”

“Move the out of my way! Get off—HEY!”

Yeonjung was shoved into the room we were in, body sprawled across the floor with blood dripping from her temple. She wasn’t alone, though.

“Jieqiong?” I spoke in disbelief. “What the ?”

A group of girls hurried into the room behind Jieqiong and Yeonjung, each with a rifle in their hands, pointed straight at the two.

“Hey! Tell your people to stand down.” I nudged Yebin hastily, not liking how close Jieqiong and Yeonjung were to death. When Yebin didn’t do anything, I hardened my stare. “Yebin.”

Yebin lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. “It’s fine.”

“Yeonjung, don’t you dare do anything.” I said before Yeonjung could elbow one of the girls in the face. She was in mid-motion, too. The girl sighed angrily and lowered her arm, mumbling something under her breath.

“Huh, Nayoung wasn’t lying when she said you were alive.” Yebin said with a humorless chuckle, taking steps toward the two girls, eyes focused on Jieqiong.

Jieqiong’s eyes went between me and Yebin fleetingly, confusion, anger, and happiness mixed in her eyes.

“Wait—Yebin—what?” Jieqiong questioned. “You’re alive.”

I noticed the scratch on her neck and frowned at the blood seeping from it, pooling at her collarbone. I hurried in front of Yebin before she could reach Jieqiong so I could tend to her myself, grabbing a nearby towel and dabbing at the blood gently.

“What the hell were you two thinking?” I whispered harshly, looking at Yeonjung before focusing on Jieqiong. “I told you to stay back.”

Jieqiong turned her attention away from Yebin and shoved me.

“How were we supposed to know if you’d ever be back or not? They could’ve killed you on the spot.” she asked angrily. “Don’t get mad at us for being worried.”

I accidentally stepped on Yebin’s foot when I stumbled back, panicking for a moment thinking that Yebin would definitely punch me, or something. Instead, my old friend steadied me with two hands on my shoulders. I looked at her in surprise.

“We tried to get here before you could.” Yeonjung said, my head whipping back around to look at her. She placed a hand on the cut at her temple, wincing. “Before you could trade Heehyun…”

“You care about Cathy?” Yebin interrupted, amusedly. “You, the one Cathy always picked on—”

“She changed!” Yeonjung snapped angrily, taking a step forward but yelling out in pain when she was yanked back by her hair by one of Yebin’s people. Jieqiong interfered, pushing the girl who grabbed Yeonjung but getting slapped in the face as a result. They continued to scuffle a bit and I felt my blood boil.

“Stop!” I yelled before things could escalate even more and someone started shooting and people started dying. Everyone froze upon hearing me, heavy breaths the only noise in the room for a few seconds.

“We already traded Heehyun.” I said quietly, trying to contain my anger that was already seeping through my words. “And Mina is stable for now.”

“We gotta get her back!” Yeonjung said, struggling against the hands holding her arms behind her back. “Nayoung!”

I stared at Yeonjung, seeing the panic and distraught in her eyes. I’ve never seen her like that, not since Doyeon was taken.

“Yeonjung, we can’t—Mina—”

“You’re our leader!” Yeonjung screamed, breaking free from the girls’ grips and rushing towards me. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me, tears rushing down her face. “You’re supposed to take care of all of us! Heehyun joined our group, you were supposed to take care of her, too!”  

“We didn’t have any other choice!” I yelled back, grabbing her wrists and trying to pull her off of me. “We couldn’t just let Mina die!”

“Heehyun’s going to die!” Yeonjung’s neck veins looked about ready to burst, face red with tears flowing down her cheeks.

“Let go, Yeonjung!” Jieiqong said, squishing herself between me and Yeonjung. Yeonjung tightened her grip on me, gritting her teeth as she stared at me with so much hatred in her eyes.

“Let go!” Jieqiong screamed, pushing Yeonjung off of me successfully.

Everyone stared at us for the next few moments, in total silence.

And then, Yebin spoke up.

“How about a deal?”

We all looked at her and I saw from the corner of my eye Jieqiong grabbing Yeonjung before she could lunge at Yebin.

“ you.” Yeonjung hissed.

Yebin ignored her.

“We’ll give you back Cathy—”

“Heehyun.” Yeonjung, Jieqiong, and I corrected Yebin in sync.

Yebin’s eyebrows shot up. “Heehyun.” she said. “We’ll give you back Heehyun if Jieqiong and Nayoung join us.”

“One person for two? Hardly seems fair.” Yeonjung scoffed.

Yebin challenged her. “Heehyun has more experience than Jieqiong and Nayoung combined plus we’re using supplies on your friend here.” she gestured to Mina, who was still laid down and half-conscious.

I shook my head. “No deal.”

“Nayoung.” Jieqiong reached for my wrist, fingers encircling it and tugging on me gently. I looked at her, confused. “Heehyun could die if we don’t…” she trailed off.

“I’m not letting you join them.” I said with finality. I wouldn’t let the gang screw up Jieqiong—the world already did enough.

“It’s not your decision to make.” Jieqiong frowned.

“What?” I replied, taken aback at her defiance.

Yebin cut in. “I just want our group whole again.”

Jieqiong looked over, eyes widening. “The rest…?”

Yebin nodded.

I stared at Jieqiong in disbelief. “Jieqiong, no.”

“Nayoung, we can save Heehyun and go back to our old friends.”

“And what about our current friends?” I questioned, pulling my wrist away from Jieqiong and taking multiple steps back. “What are we gonna do about them?”

Jieqiong sighed. “They’ll have Heehyun, they’ll survive.”

“No.” Yeonjung mumbled. “No deal.”

She composed herself quickly; there was barely any traces of her bawling her eyes out save for her slightly puffy eyes.

“I’m not losing two people just to save one, no matter who that person is.” Yeonjung shook her head. “No deal.” she repeated.

“They’re going to be alive.” Yebin laughed humorlessly, seeming to figure out that the bargain wasn’t going well for her.

Yeonjung stared at her dead in the eyes.

“Living in here? With you monsters? No.” she kept her voice steady. “They’d be better off dead.”

Yebin’s jaw locked. She continued to glare at Yeonjung whilst she spoke. “Then just Jieqiong.”

“What?”

“She seems to be the only willing one.” Yebin shrugged. “This is a pretty good deal to me.”

“Deal.” Jieqiong said.

“No.” I stood in front of Jieqiong, not allowing her to pass me. “Jieqiong, what are you doing?”

“Hey, you heard what she said.”

A loud beep came over the intercom and I could hear the footsteps in the hallway.

“Dinner time.” Yeonjung murmured, rolling her eyes.

Yebin sighed. “Think about it, Nayoungie.”

“Don’t call me that.” I frowned, watching as people started to exit the room except for Seohyun, Jieqiong, Yeonjung, Yebin, and me.

“I’ll bring a plate you guys can share. If you leave, my people will open fire.” Yebin walked past us, closing the door behind her with a bit too much force. Mina groaned at the noise.

Yeonjung walked over to sit next to the injured girl while I stared at Jieqiong with anger bubbling within me.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that we can save Heehyun—that I can save Heehyun, if you don’t want to come with me.”

“That’s bull.” I lowered my voice. “You barely knew Heehyun enough to care this much. What is it, then? Is it because Yebin mentioned the group?”

Jieqiong stayed silent.

I scoffed and crossed my arms, hurt that Jieqiong could even think about leaving our girls like that.

“Jieqiong, they’ve changed.” I said quietly. “Those girls are not our friends anymore.”

“How could you say that?” Jieqiong asked breathlessly. “Those are our friends—we’ve spent years together!”

“They’re not the same.” I tried to get through to her, grasping her forearms. “Is that Yebin the same Kang Yebin we once knew? Huh? Is she?”

“We’ve all changed, Nayoung.” Jieqiong replied angrily. “We’re in the freaking zombie apocalypse!”

I tightened my hold on her. “Sometimes, you need to let go of the past, Jieqiong.”

“So, you’re just going to let Heehyun die?”

“She knew what she was signing up for.” I replied, knowing that Jieqiong was attempting to veer to a different topic. “Being back in our old friend group won’t make things go back to how they once were. Things are different now, Jieqiong. Like you said, we’re all different people… It’s just how things are. Please, listen to me.”

Jieqiong pulled away from me with wavering pupils and a trembling bottom lip.

“I want to see them too.” I whispered. “But seeing them won’t make time rewind. We have to be realistic here. They—”

“Okay.” Jieqiong hissed, turning around so her back was facing me. She was mad at me.

Yeonjung was looking anxiously between me and Jieqiong. Seohyun was busy nursing Mina, not paying much attention to the drama of the group.

“Are you going to them or not?” I asked softly.

“I’m going to go.” She replied, looking down at the ground. I felt my stomach drop as I blinked away the angry tears forming in my eyes.

“Okay.” I said.

She shifted as I said this, tensed up her shoulders. She turned around, eyes locking onto mine within seconds. Her eyes were glossy. Mine were, too.

I struggled to keep my voice from giving way, maintaining a steady tone. “If you want to go to them, you can go.” I gulped down the lump in my throat, shaking my head as a tear fell down my cheek. “But I’m not going to leave my girls behind.”

-

(Note: This isn’t a flashback. This is occurring at the same time as the earlier part of the chapter.)

“What do we do?” Sohye looked to Sejeong for assistance, but the girl looked too worried to answer. Chungha wrapped a steady arm around Sejeong’s shoulder, pulling her close.

“It’s too risky to go after those two.” She said in response to Sohye. Sejeong leaned further into Chungha’s hold. “We just have to wait it out.”

“Wait it out?” Chaeyeon asked hurriedly, a little in disbelief. Somi turned to her in surprise at the girl’s tone. Chaeyeon’s never one to raise her voice or give attitude. “We just lost half of our group.”

“We didn’t lose them.” Doyeon commented. “They’re not dead.”

“We don’t know that.” Chaeyeon said.

“Hey,” Somi spoke up, softly squeezing Chaeyeon’s shoulder. “Stop it.”

The girl gave Somi a cold look, but the iciness toned down upon making eye contact with her.

Sejeong let out a deep breath. “A lot has happened over the past day. We’re all fried out right now, but Chungha’s right. We need to just wait it out. If they’re coming back, then they’re coming back. We just have to be there for them when they do.”

“Why would Yeonjung just run off like that?” Yoojung murmured under her breath. She’s sat next to Doyeon, who held her hand in her lap. “I get why Jieqiong would… but Yeonjung? Doesn’t she hate Heehyun?”

“They were in the same gang together.” Somi stated. “They share similar experiences. Maybe Yeonjung just didn’t want Heehyun to go back to suffer—even if Heehyun did make her life a living hell.”

“I just hope Mina’s doing okay.” Sohye whispered quietly, brokenly. Doyeon reached a hand over and patted her knee in comfort.

“Me, too, Sohye.” Sejeong sighed. “Me, too.”

a/n: long time no see? i just finished (re)playing The Last of Us so i got inspiration. idk if people still read this fic, but i've always been wanting to continue it--i just never had the time or motivation. it's been over a year since the last update and i apologize for that. a lot has happened in a year but i'd like to keep this story somewhat a constant in my life. thank you all for the lovely comments and i'll try my best to reply to every single one because i love feedback <3

-dd.