This is not going to be written in the first person!

“It happened 23 years ago. What we know for sure, is that it was a biochemical weapon that works only on humans. The US wanted to use it against North Korea in 2016, but the plan didn’t go that well. To be more precise, the weapon is a mutagen, released by a virus, which my grandmother was studying for years before the weapon was used. It causes the cells to mutate, forming cancers and an incredibly strong, nearly impenetrable immune systems as well as immortality (meaning they don’t age anymore, but you can kill them by damaging their hearts or destroying their brains). The mutagen later spreads through to others by bodily fluids, such as saliva, sweat or blood. It doesn’t take much of it to get the mutagen inside your body, but outside of a carrier, it disintegrates easily.”

“Even though the time it takes the cancer to develop depends on the individual, after it’s there it usually takes about a week or two for it to metastasise. Sure, cancers do that all the time. However, that mutagen is unique in a way that the cancer cells always metastasise only to the brain, while after metastasis, the strong immunity works to destroy the tumour that starts it all.”

“More precisely, the disease’s second target is the pre-frontal cortex. The tumour would become so big that it would completely diminish one’s personality and complex decision making (at first). In fact, in a short amount of time it would destroy all the functions that makes us people. Basically, cancer meant zombies. The ones like from the films, my grandma always talks about.”

“Only a small portion of the population had a gene that made them immune (the white blood cells would immediately “eat up” the mutagen) to what proved to be the most potent biochemical weapon. The immunity is definitely caused by a dominant gene. “You see, Yoongi, it’s sort of like the one for Huntington’s”, my grandma would try explaining to me, “because it’s inherited in the same pattern, but it’s not very common among the people.”.”

“To be honest, my dad says that even when we were still traveling from one place to another (the first two years, until I was about four years old) we hadn’t met as many survivors as we thought we would. The gene is that rare. Grandma always tells me how at first it seemed like there were so many of what seemed like survivors, however, the cancer got them eventually. The metastasis is a relatively slow process, but only in terms of the fact that you can see the person gradually developing the symptoms right before your eyes. If it’s slow enough, you can also notice the desperation they feel after they realise what’s happening. It’s heart wrecking.”

“For the past 21 years we have been living in this former university. I could say I grew up here. It’s relatively safe and new. It has a yard that can only be reached from the inside of the school (this is where we grow some of our food). The building is sealed off by a huge metal fence and there are two gates that lead outside, they are always manned by at least 2 people each.”

“Since the university was for natural sciences, there are a lot of labs. There, my grandma and the people she taught test people for the gene that is linked to immunity. Since every one of the 534 people does their fair share of work. The ones, who aren’t really immune or have a lower amount of base pair repeats for the gene (so might be at risk too), work inside. If they develop the cancer eventually, we try to make their last days as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. People who are immune train with some kind of weapons (be it ranged shotguns or just the regular axe). I am one of them. We would either man the gates and fence or go on resource expeditions.”

Yoongi puts down his pencil and the “memoir” he’s been writing “for future generations” (he’s actually writing it for his own enjoyment, “creating art” like he has read in the books from the immensely huge university library only two kilometres away from the main building). He gets up from the bed and dresses himself, taking his guns and machete. Yoongi should probably hurry if he wants to eat before leaving for the week-long resource expedition for building materials, fuel and raiding stores for what’s left of various tools and furniture.

He doesn’t know which one he has been assigned to do, he just hopes it’s the week-long one. The others contain hunting for huge amounts of meat for a few, three-day expeditions, as the cattle they have are not enough to produce food for all of them and the cultivated food isn’t enough in its nutritional value. Or preparing the new safe place to live a long way from here (about a thousand kilometres). It’s a two-month-long expedition where only people with the best survival skills go, since it’s extremely dangerous. They’re rebuilding/clearing the mall that they’ve found a while ago, as it is more sustainable to hold so many people as well as is built near vast fertile lands and a forest (not a very good location for a mall); and putting up a fence from the bricks and building blocks they’ve found in an abandoned factory to keep the zombies out (because being eaten up is not nice). It’s very unprotected and there’s a constant threat of being bitten (or eaten) by a zombie if you’re not careful. To be honest, being bitten by a zombie is still nasty, even if you’re immune to the mutagen, as they carry all sorts of other infectious bacteria in their mouth. Two out of five people usually don’t even come back… but it’s worth the risk, with all the benefits they’ll get when they move.

Yoongi strides down the hall towards the other room complex (it was actually an old auditorium they’ve separated into rooms for two people). He found his roommate’s bed empty in the morning, since he couldn’t remember her coming back to the room at night at all, Yoongi assumed that she’ll be in the other room complex.

Yoongi knocks on the door labelled 93 and carefully opens it. As he expected, the room just reeks of sweat and…ok it just smells of … Byulyi is cutely curled up with Seulgi, both still fast asleep. Yoongi gently shakes Byulyi, expecting to wake her up. However, only her girlfriend responds, rubbing her eyes and scrunching her eyebrows up in confusion.

“Byulyi and I are leaving for an expedition in half an hour. Wake her up, I’ll go see which routes we’ve been assigned to.” Yoongi says, trying to convey his (actually non-existent) annoyance through his voice and immediately leaves and heads to the main yard, where the people, who were assigned, are already lining up to get the supplies for their positions.

Yoongi goes to the bulletin board and stands on tip-toes to read the assignments, when he’s scared by Taehyung sneaking up from behind.

“I’ve already checked your route. You’re assigned to do the week-long expedition.” Taehyung sighs “Sadly, I’m not on that list… I’m really disappointed, because I wanted to go somewhere this time, but I got to stay at the wall once more. And you know what’s worse? Nobody wants to switch places!” Taehyung is usually a quiet guy when it comes to expressing his feelings, but if he starts ranting you won’t hear the end of it.

Yoongi decides that a few concerned nods while he pretends to listen will suffice, since he’s not in the mood to communicate with people today. He starts looking for Byulyi’s name on the board. There, just under the name “Two-month Mall Expedition”, he sees it. She’s definitely going to want to switch places with someone, because she wouldn’t want to leave Seulgi for that long. Yoongi ponders a bit about how it must be hard being in a committed relationship with someone you love so deeply and heads back to the room complexes, in hopes that there is still water, preferably warm water, left for a shower.

Everything is powered by people. The training machines, which are occupied almost all the time, bring water from the wells to the reservoirs (it’s also collected from rain, but it’s not the main source). If not enough electricity is generated by those training machines and sun batteries the water doesn’t run in the showers (as the pumps from reservoirs are not working).

Since there are times when there’s not enough electricity, some places are prioritised, like the kitchens, the “hospital” and the labs. Reservoirs are actually used only because they are metal and out in the sun, so less electricity is needed to warm the water up. However, during cold periods the water goes directly from wells into the tubes, and is cut off from reservoirs, as the water might freeze up.

Everyone is actually very conscious about water and electricity conservation, because they know it’s not nice to spend weeks without showering, but it’s Yoongi’s last normal shower before he leaves. He spends a decent amount of time scrubbing himself from any kind of dirt until he finally gets out and heads for his room to get his clothes and books. When he opens the door he sees Byulyi, hugging Seulgi and sobbing into the creek between her shoulder and neck.

“So you’ve already checked where you’re going, I assume…” Yoongi sighs, trying to express as much displeasure and a sort of disappointment in his voice.

Byulyi nods, but Seulgi is the one who answers, “She says that she can’t just leave me, because she’s too scared of never seeing me again… She’s skilled though, she should be fine. Plus, they’ve already put up a fence, so unless there’s some rogue zombies in the mall, it should all be fine…”

“Oh my god… Byulyi, it’s not like you’re attached at the hip.” Yoongi says harshly, while in reality, he’s thinking of how he could possibly help them. He could pull off the two-month long expedition, it’s nothing, just a bit tiring. If Taehyung agrees, he could take the week-long expedition, as he’s not trained enough (more like less disciplined) to go on the “Mall” expedition. This would allow Byulyi to man the wall… Then, everyone’s happy. Yoongi expresses his idea to Byulyi and goes to find Tae.

Now, you might think that Yoongi is trying to distance himself from people or that he doesn’t like them, but it’s not quite true. His friends mean the world to him. It’s just that he doesn’t think others need to know that, because “that would make him vulnerable” (who knows to what though). With that deep care for his friends, Yoongi arranges everything with Taehyung and Byulyi, gets his belongings and supplies for the expedition.

The next thing Yoongi knows, he and the team are driving through the gates with their solar-powered van. He watches his friends as they wave him goodbye. The last time he glances is at the turn. Right at that moment Yoongi sees Seulgi, suddenly grabbing her head and dropping to the ground. He sees Byulyi, with a terrified look on her face, rushing to her girlfriend. He sees this and he can’t do anything. He can just watch as they slowly drive away through the bumpy gravel road into the dark old forest… Yoongi starts thinking that maybe this expedition wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Idk if I should continue with this... pls tell me what you think...

Also, I'm really sorry that there are no more characters right now...