Sehun sighed loudly, Baekhyun's face turned away from him as the man sat in the car. By the looks of things, Sehun was sure Baekhyun wasn't up for moving now since the "big battle" was over. Nevertheless, he really thought it would be worthwhile to search the other houses close by to gather more supplies. Who knew what other beneficial items they could salvage in them before the long journey to safety ahead?

"Come on, Baek," Sehun lamely said, mentally facepalming himself for seeming to sound so desperate, which would definitely not convince the stubborn man any more than what little he had with him. There went his chance of being stern with the man.

"I'm not going," Baekhyun replied, huffing out a breath with his arms still crossed on his chest, "and you won't be able to convince me."

Sehun rolled his eyes, "What happened to 'we'll work together' thirty minutes ago? If I recall correctly, you were the one who said that."

"I don't remember ever saying that," Baekhyun stubbornly said, turning his head to look the other way.

The ex-soldier didn't need such attitude at the moment. Judging by the sun beginning to set in the distance, they were running out of time, and it wouldn't be long before wandering zombies would find them. Sehun was solely determined they would find useful items in the surrounding houses. He had to somehow think up of another way in to bring Baekhyun along with him—safety came in numbers, after all.

Looking at the man in the car, he supposed he could carry the man with him until he had no choice but to follow. Baekhyun was short and appeared light to carry. His show of strength earlier could be from adrenaline coursing through his system, rather than actual physical strength—unless Baekhyun can channel his inner strength at will, which could be a problem for the ex-soldier.

With no other choice left, Sehun swiftly pulled the passenger car door open and easily lifted Baekhyun onto his shoulder. He also picked up the bat Baekhyun left in the car and started heading their way to the first house, all the while Baekhyun battered his fists onto Sehun's back upon realising what was happening to him.

"Put me down! This is so unfair!" Baekhyun wriggled in Sehun's grasps, trying to free himself from the ex-soldier. However, he was weak and the battle earlier wore him slightly. Eventually, he grew tired of struggling to freedom and allowed himself to be carried. As long as he was being carried around, he guessed it would be okay. It didn't mean he was happy with what Sehun was doing, though.

Noticing Baekhyun's lack of struggle and deducing this as him giving in to what Sehun wished, he put Baekhyun onto his feet once they arrived at the front door of the first house they were about to loot.

"How're you feeling, your highness?" Sehun smirked, which earned him a death glare.

"Whatever. This better be worth it," the shorter man grumbled, snatching the bat off Sehun's grasp.

Both men turned to the front door, which was slightly open ajar. Sehun toed the door open, peering into the dark hallway.

As expected, inside was deserted. With the sun setting behind them, there was minimal light left seeping into the hallway through the front door. The pair quietly walked in, their eyes scrutinising the area. On the walls hung scenic portraits and family portraits, the eyes seemingly watching the pair's every move as they passed by.

Baekhyun wondered what might've happened to the family who owned the house; did they escape, or have they joined the living dead as well? The shorter man shivered at the latter thought. For once, Baekhyun felt sorry for the family, if they ever did turn into zombies.

"Let's hurry up," Baekhyun squeaked, and Sehun couldn't agree more.

In haste, they made their way to the kitchen, quickly searching through the pantry and the refrigerator. Baekhyun was able to find an empty rucksack, enabling them to carry their loot in a pack to easily carry around.

"Put the stuff in here," the shorter man suggested, handing the rucksack to Sehun.

"Good find," Sehun praised, taking the rucksack and quickly shoving in any canned food he could find. There was a small basket of fruits lying on the kitchen countertop as well, which Baekhyun took—for a few days, he could at least continue to eat healthy before relying on processed food for survival.

The ex-soldier took a pot and a pan, and the remaining kitchen knives with him. In the most needed emergencies, the knives could be used as weapons.

"Hey, there's a first-aid kit in here," Baekhyun exclaimed, taking the metallic box from one of the upper cupboards with his free hand.

"That's good. It'll be useful," Sehun remarked, gesturing for Baekhyun to place the kit into the rucksack. After all cupboards were looted and searched through, the pair took a final look around the kitchen.

"There's nothing else left, is there?" Sehun asked, to which the other man shook his head at.

"You think there will be something in the bathroom? More medical supplies?" Baekhyun countered with another question.

"Perhaps. Let's go check," the ex-soldier replied, heading towards what he thought would be the way to one of the bathrooms of the house. They turned a corner and stepped back into the hallway, but, thankfully with Sehun's quick reflexes, turned back around the corner. Some of the undead have started to litter the hallway. They were lucky to not have been seen yet.

"," Sehun hissed, annoyed at himself for he accidentally left the front door ajar, which was the only explanation as to how the zombies managed to get inside the house. He turned to Baekhyun, who stared at him with slight panic.

"What do we do? I only have this bat."

"I've got a gun, but firing it off will only alert the surrounding undead nearby. I don't know how many there are outside, but I don't really want to risk it..." Sehun cursed to himself, peering around the corner again to headcount the zombies down the hallway. He counted about four of them; two just standing about, one dragging itself aimlessly across the hallway, and another which just walked in through the front door.

"You're an ex-soldier, aren't you?" Baekhyun whispered back, "How about you just throw punches at them?"

"I was thinking that, too... Zombies aren't that strong, are they?" Sehun questioned, turning to the shorter man for confirmation. Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders. What would he know about zombies? Before this all happened, he thought the undead would be nothing but fiction in this world. The least he expected was a zombie apocalypse, especially at a time when he's alive. Even up to this point, he's just wishing everything was only a dream and he would wake up soon from this horrible nightmare.

"Why are you asking me? I'm not a stupid zombie," Baekhyun rolled his eyes, his panic long gone, and his sassy attitude back in place, "Just throw a punch at one and see for yourself. I'm sure with your strength, you'll be able to whack their heads off like what we did with our bats earlier."

Sehun said nothing, but chose to do what the shorter man suggested. He carefully and quietly placed the rucksack of supplies down on the wooden floor, then walked back into the kitchen. He grabbed some kitchen towels, expertly tearing them into neat, equal shreds, then wrapped the shreds around his knuckles. In the chance the zombies were easy to take down in physical combat, Sehun didn't want to risk getting infected from skin-to-skin.

The ex-soldier stepped back to where Baekhyun was, who already placed down the things he was holding and was readying his bat.

"Ready?" Sehun asked, to which Baekhyun nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

The pair swiftly turned into view. Before the undead were able to notice them, Sehun, being in front of the pair, was able to land a solid, hard punch on the cheek of the first zombie. With a crack, the zombie's head flew off its body, bounced off the wall and landed on the floor with a thud, the body following suit afterwards.

Now aware of the two humans heading their way, the remaining zombies trudged towards their direction with arms outstretched and ready to grab. However, they were too slow and their efforts were in vain as the pair of humans fought against them, hitting their heads off and knocking them out. Hearing the commotion, two more undead limped into the room, but were immediately killed by the ex-soldier.

Quickly, Baekhyun closed the front door, barring the undead access to inside the house. The pair wouldn't have to worry about surprise attacks for now.

"Next time, let's make sure we close the door," Baekhyun wheezed, a little out of breath, but still looking fine. Sehun nodded in agreement, also worn out, but he still had some energy left in him, if absolutely needed.

They walked up the stairs to the bedrooms, deciding to split up to be able to cover more ground faster. In their quick search of the upper floors, the pair were able to scavenge more medical supplies and, strangely, a gun which was taped under one of the side tables in the master bedroom. Sehun didn't even want to question about it.

Before they left the house to loot another, Sehun made sure there were little to no undead on the way there. It was nearly getting dark, but the ex-soldier knew they could loot another home before night fell upon them. He ordered Baekhyun to follow him, telling him to try and mimic what he would do. Quietly but quickly, they sneaked  past a few unknowing undead to the next house. Baekhyun was surprised to find he slipped past some zombies unscathed and without being noticed at all, and he let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding.

Quicker than the first, they split up and scanned through the house. Sehun made sure to close the front door firmly this time as they both looted whatever they could find. The second house was smaller than the first, which made it easier and quicker to loot, but it also meant there were limited things to scavenge. Baekhyun was able to find some bandages and painkillers in the bathrooms, but nothing else, and Sehun found another baseball bat and bullets, strangely enough. To their misfortune, food wasn't available in the second house.

Once done, the pair speedwalked towards their car. They loaded their looted items into the trunk of the sedan then climbed in: Sehun in the driver's seat with Baekhyun riding shotgun.

Nothing was said between them, but there was nothing to say anyway as Sehun revved up the engine and they sped down the road into the night.

It was a good hour drive before Sehun decided to himself to find some place to turn in for the night. Throughout the whole drive, the pair hadn't said a word to each other, as Baekhyun decided to look out the window and watch the working street lights whirr by, avoiding conversation as much as possible. The shorter was definitely tired, from everything in general, but with what was going on outside the car's walls, he didn't want to catch a wink of sleep in fear of suddenly being ambushed.

"We should find a place to sleep for the night," Sehun suggested, breaking the long silence between them. His voice was hoarse of un-use for an hour without a drop of water.

Baekhyun said nothing, only deciding to grunt as a response. Sehun wasn't even sure if that was a grunt of approval or not. Nevertheless, the ex-soldier decided to take that as a yes, and so looked around for any signs of a motel that was intact, or at least a good enough area to act as a campsite.

Unfortunately, the buildings surrounding them didn't seem stable, and looked as though a few undead could be lurking in the shadows. Sehun also wasn't trusting of the outside world, despite the fact they had tents with them. Thus, the man decided camping in the car would be best--as long as they made sure the doors were securely locked, they would be safe throughout the rest of the night.

Sehun parked the car in a narrow alley, which had one street light which flickered every so often. The ex-soldier made sure to park up close to the light source, however not too close in the possibility of being seen by anything--they only needed just enough light to see their items in the back of the car.

Baekhyun didn't seem to want to move, Sehun thought, so the latter climbed out of the car to grab some food they left in the trunk. He returned with two cans of food and a piece of fruit. Earlier, he noticed the other was insistent on the basket of fruits.

The ex-soldier handed the food to Baekhyun, carefully watching the man. Was the younger tired, or was there something else he was missing?

What should Sehun do?

​1 - Ask Baekhyun what's wrong. -
2 - Leave it. Baekhyun will eventually open up about it. -

VOTE

author's note: Hello! I know it's been a long time since, but thank you for your patience! response towards this fic is in the minimal, but i'm very determined to continue this fic until the end! throughout this journey, please send a comment my way! upvoting and subscribing are not necessary, but very much appreciated!
again, i would like to mention (since there may be confusion in the prologue) that the word "vote" is a link to the poll! multiple responses are enabled, so you can vote multiple times for your choice! happy voting :)