Act 0

I still remember… The way my parents picked me up from school every day. The way my mom’s cooking tasted like the best thing ever and no 5-star restaurant could ever beat it. The way they reacted with a huge smile and hugs when I got a perfect score on my math exam.

I still remember… All the nice clothes that they bought for me. All the little fights they had that always got resolved before midnight. All the nice presents and sweet birthday cakes.

And I still remember… When I heard their heart stop beating in front of me. When I saw their blood all over my hands. When I could taste their fresh body inside my mouth.

And it’s revolting. The sight, the smell, the taste, everything makes me want to throw up… But I couldn’t… Not when I enjoyed it so much…

I suddenly hear a gunshot, waking me up from my daydream. I walk to the window and look down to see what’s happening.

A survivor. How silly… As if there is anything worth surviving for.

“There won’t be anything left if you’re not quick.”

I turned around to see Chanwoo already dashing down the stairs. I don’t get it… Why would you eat if you’ll only get hungry again…? This question sounds very silly when I was a human. But now I finally understand.

It’s really no use eating… Not when you’re a zombie cursed to live forever with eternal hunger…

Act 1

Nobody know how it began. Some said it’s a punishment from God. Some said it’s some virus that went through extreme mutations. Some said it’s a secret weapon developed by someone somewhere that got leaked out.

All that I know is that it came with the rain. Whatever this curse or virus or weapon is… It came with the rain…

I stare at the sky from the window. It’s raining again.

Sometimes I wonder… Don’t the sky get tired of making rain. Of making rainbow. Of making sun and cloud. It goes on and on. Sun, cloud, rain, sun, cloud, rain… Isn’t it futile?

“How’re you?”

Chanwoo again.

“Hungry.”, I responded.

“Duh. You haven’t eaten for months”

“Why are you keep eating?”, I asked.

“Hmm? Because I’m hungry?”

“I mean, won’t you just get hungry again?”, I asked again.

“You’re being silly.”, he said. Then, he drags me by my collar, “You need some fresh air.”

“But it’s raining.”

He only hums in response while still dragging me.

...

As soon as we’re outside, I can feel the rain drops start wetting my clothes. I look up only to find the rain get heavier and heavier.

“Are you coming or not?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Where?”

“Just come.”, he said.

I follow him. It’s certainly not a short walk. It must be the fifth intersection when that thought crosses my mind. And I don’t think we’re stopping anytime soon.

We just walk and walk. No word. Just walking.

Then, he stops when we reach a river.

The riverside is filled with long grass; heavy rain clearly makes its mark on the water surface. And I can hear frogs. Tons of frogs. Noisy frogs.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”, Chanwoo asked.

“The wetness or the noise?”

“You don’t have to be that sarcastic.”, he responded with a slight disappointment.

Then, he moves toward the grasses. “The frogs all come out when it’s raining.”, he said while crouching down. “So…”

I can see him moving around, trying to catch something, the frog presumably.

“…it’s very easy to catch one.”, he said after catching one. He quickly turns around and points the frog toward my face.

“Do you want it or not? It’s not as good as human, but you can’t really complain when human is pretty much non-existent.”, he said with a beaming smile.

Where did he get all that optimism?

“Well, if you don’t want it, then I’m eating it…”

I quickly grab the frog before he can put it inside his mouth.

“Finally! You haven’t eaten for months! I’ll grab some more.”, he exclaimed.

While I’m eating, all I can see is how excited he is. Moving around quickly, trying to catch more frogs, then turn around with a huge smile when he finds one.

And I can feel… my heart… is still not beating. But if I’m human, then maybe… maybe… it’s beating fast.

Act 2

It might be surprising how the society goes when pretty much everyone turn into zombies.

We still have our brain. We’re not dumb. We may be hungry. Very hungry. But not stupid. We still have all our personality, memory, skill, and so on.

But that doesn’t mean the world don’t change. It changes. A lot.

Now it’s all about food. No longer do the humankind (or zombie-kind, I should say) care about health or science, about technology or electricity, about music or arts. Now it’s just about food, food and more food.

Our numbers decreased quickly too. We cannot die from old age, that is for sure. But some very small number of human are still alive. Killing us, trying not to get eaten.

And the fact that we can no longer reproduce do not help too.

“What are you thinking?”

I look up to see Chanwoo’s face right above my head. Too close…

“Nothing.”, I said.

“You’re obviously thinking something.”, he said while walking around my room, before sitting on the bed that’s never used anymore.

“We’re zombies now. Nothing can change that.”

I turn around to face him. “But why go on when life is meaningless?”

He gives me a peculiar look, “Meaningless?”. He then grabs my hand and start dragging me again.

“Where now?”

“You’ll see.”

And this time, it’s not somewhere far away.

The sun is shining ever so brightly, it’s hot and humid. When we stop, the first thing that I see are flowers. Flowers everywhere. A garden, essentially.

“Someone still cares for a garden at this age?”, I asked.

“You’ll be surprised with what people are still doing if only you get out and explore.”, Chanwoo responded.

Then, a zombie slightly shorter than us comes approaching.

“Hi, Jinhwan hyung!”, Chanwoo greeted.

“Hi there! Who’s that? Is that Junhoe you always talk about?”

Chanwoo always talk about me? As if reading my mind, Chanwoo then said, “I don’t always talk about him!”

“Yeah right.”, Jinhwan said while rolling his eyes. Then, he crouches near one of the flower, but before he does anything, he turns around and said with a mocking tone, “I wonder if Junhoe will smile if I bring him some flowers.”

“I never say that!”, Chanwoo exclaimed, obviously flustered. He then dashes forward, trying to cover Jinhwan’s mouth his hand before he can say anything else.

I can only watch these two having fun with each other. I never know the undead world is so lively outside my small room.

Then, another zombie comes approaching. “Now, now. If any of you break a bone, it’s never going to recover.”

“Hanbin!”, Jinhwan happily shouted as he stands up and quickly approaching this Hanbin guy.

“Hi, Hanbin hyung!”, Chanwoo greeting is practically ignored as Jinhwan takes Hanbin mouth for a kiss.

After their kiss, Hanbin points at me. “Who’s that?”, he asked.

“That’s Junhoe.”, Jinhwan answered.

“Oh, it’s the boy Chanwoo always talk about.”

“I don’t always talk about him!”, Chanwoo exclaimed again with an obvious annoyed tone.

“You surely talk about me a lot, eh?”, I asked.

“Not you too…”, Chanwoo can only replied with a big sigh.

...

We spend the day helping Jinhwan and Hanbin at their garden. It’s refreshing, having something to do, forgetting about our eternal hunger even for just a few minutes.

Apparently, they have to go all the way to the river just to water these flowers. Well, the whole water and electricity system stopped working a few days after the zombie pandemic spread. So it can’t be helped.

It’s not tiring. Zombies do not get tired, after all. It just takes a lot of time. That’s why Chanwoo is regularly helping them.

By the time we finish, the moon is already high in the sky. I lay on the ground, staring at the bright moon and all the little stars. Then, Chanwoo lays next to me.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”, he said.

For some unknown reason, I find myself unable to answer that question. I can only turn my head, looking at Chanwoo’s face. It doesn’t take long before he also turns his head, his eyes locking with my eyes.

…

Meanwhile, from the corner of the garden.

“They’re definitely going to kiss, right?”, Hanbin asked.

Jinhwan hums at the question, “Come, let’s go.”

“We’re leaving them just like that?”

Jinhwan pulls Hanbin for a quick kiss, before taking his hand and drags him away from the garden.

…

After what feel like forever, I finally break our gaze, and try to stand up. Before I can do that, however, Chanwoo suddenly hold my hand. “Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Let’s go together.”, he said.

Then, before we exit the garden, Chanwoo turns around, “We’re going ho… Eh…? They left already?”

“You just noticed that now?”, I said. But, before he can respond, I start walking, leaving him behind.

Our walks home is mostly silent. I am just staring at the road in front of me, while Chanwoo is gazing at the sky.

When we finally reach my room, I turn around, facing Chanwoo. He stares back at me, and I find myself losing my words in front of him…

“Thank you.”, I finally said.

“Thank you? For what?”

I ignore his question and enter my room, closing the door. I find myself walking toward the window, before sitting down on the floor and stare at the moon again.

For not giving up on me.

Act 3

It’s getting hotter. The weather is hotter, the sun is hotter, the floor is hotter, everything is hotter. Summer, they say.

“It’s summer!”, Chanwoo said while barging into my room.

“And what with summer?”, I asked.

“It means… All the chicks will come out!”

“Chicks?”

“Yes! Those little helpless birds make easy snacks!”

“Seriously?”, I asked again.

“Yes, it’s been a loooong time since I eat chicken… Come, let’s go!”

He quickly grabs my hands and drags me outside. As soon as we’re outside, I can hear someone approaching.

“Chick hunting?”, Hanbin asked.

Chanwoo gives a quick nod, “You too?”

Hanbin gives a quick chuckle, before answering, “You know, chicks are easy food.” Then he walks around for a little bit, before turning around and said, “But… the humans know that too.”

Chanwoo eyes gleam upon the word ‘human’. “Do you think there are still some humans around here?”, he asked.

“Remember that lone survivor that showed up a few months ago? He was looking for medicine of some sort, obviously not for him.”, Hanbin answered.

“Ah… so there’s a pack of them!”

Hanbin nods, “But we can’t just attack them, that’s stupid.”

“So, we lure them out.”, Jinhwan said, suddenly appearing from behind me. I would never guess that two garden-tending zombies are expert human hunters.

Then, some other zombies appear from nearby buildings. Some of them are armed with weapons. Impressive.

“Is this your group?”, I asked.

Hanbin nods, “You know, human is such a scarce resource. We will definitely have to fight them, but we might also have to fight other zombies as well. So more is always better.”

Chanwoo suddenly interrupts, “Alright! Human hunting then!”

The walk to the forest is filled with awkward silence between us and the rest of the group. We don’t know any of them except Hanbin and Jinhwan. Along the way, I can hear these unfamiliar zombies talk about their craving for human meat.

I and Chanwoo feel like we’re out of place.

Then, from behind me, Chanwoo suddenly whispers, “Hey… Isn’t this scary?”

“What is scary?”

“This whole human hunting… What if the humans outnumber us?”

“How should I know? Isn’t this your idea?”

“Well… it’s not really my idea…”, he said, looking down on the ground.

Then, as we are getting closer to the forest, Chanwoo starts to get more and more anxious. I look at him, observing for a while, before deciding to call this off.

I approach Hanbin, “Hey, I don’t think we’re ready for this.”

“Is Chanwoo getting scared?”, Jinhwan suddenly asked.

“I’m not!”, Chanwoo exclaimed.

“Aw... How cute…”, Jinhwan responded while trying to pat Chanwoo’s head.

“I said I’m not scared!”

“You don’t have to come though.”, Hanbin said. Chanwoo’s expression quickly relax when he heard that.

“Alright then, have fun with the chicks!”, Jinhwan said while waving us goodbye.

We watch as their group start walking again, leaving the two of us alone. On their way, I can hear Hanbin said, “You really should stop teasing them.”, to which Jinhwan replied, “Why? They’re cute. Like you.”, which effectively shut Hanbin up.

When we can no longer see them, Chanwoo said, “Thank you for that.”

I turn around to face him, then ask, “So, are we still hunting chicks?”

“I… I don’t really feel like it…”, he answered while looking at the ground.

“Let’s go back then.”, I said, grabbing his arm and start walking the way home.

“Do you think they’ll be ok?”, he asked.

“You’re worrying too much.”

“And you’re worrying too little.”, he said with a pout. Cute.

“Um…”, he tries to grab my attention. “What if…”

“Yes?”

“What if… we went to that hunting… and I died. What will you do?”

His question catches me off guard. I stop walking, and turn around to look at him. “I won’t let that happen.”, I said.

“But what if…”

“I said I won’t let that happen!”

To avoid prolonging the conversation, I quickly turn around and walk away, leaving him behind.

Act 4

It’s night again. I am still sitting on the floor, as per usual, staring at the night sky.

I can hear some ruckus from outside the window. It’s Hanbin’s group. So it’s a success, eh? But I count their number, and there is definitely less zombie than this morning.

Then, I hear a knock on the door. It must be Chanwoo… But he never knocks before, why now?

“You know you don’t need to knock.”, I said.

He approaches me and sits down next to me on the floor, also staring at the night sky. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”, he asked.

I only hum at his question. Then, suddenly, he rests his head on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable this morning.”, he said.

“No, I’m fine.”

There was a long pause before he continues, “But if I die…”

“I said I...”

“No, listen!”, he said, shouting a little. He then moves his position so he’s right in front of me, eyes staring into my eyes.

“If I die… Please… please… don’t lock yourself in your small room…”

I am not prepared for what he was going to say. I try to find a comeback, but to no avail.

“I have known you for such a long time, Junhoe. I know you won’t even get out of here if not for me dragging you out…”

He pauses, taking a deep breath.

“So please. Even if I’m gone, don’t lock yourself here. You need to go out, find something new. There must be something in this world that will interest you.”

“But what if there’s none?”, I asked.

“Then keep searching. You have forever, remember?”

Again, I find myself at lost for words… I avert my gaze to the floor, looking at his eyes is too painful for me…

“What about you…?”, I asked.

“What about me?”

“Have you found something interesting in this condemned world?”

It doesn’t take more than half a second for him to respond. He puts both of his hands on my face, forcing me to look at him. Then, our lips meet…

It doesn’t take more than half a second for me to know what his answer is.

When our lips parted, he said, “I found the moon on the sky interesting. I found the flowers in the garden interesting. I found the frogs in the river interesting.”

He pauses…

“But, above all of that… I found you interesting.”

And our lips meet again.

“So, what are we going to do tomorrow?”, he asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t care… I just want to think about you for now.”, I said with a smile that finally return to my lips after a few years.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t take forever to find something in this world that interest me.