Youngjae stretched as he walked out onto the back porch, almost able to forget the cruel reality that they were currently in. The sun was setting after a long baking hot day and it cast warm red ribbons over the rapidly darkening land. There were the remains of grass here, at the back of his formally abandoned woodman’s cottage, with just the hint of new growth coming through and the trees weren’t as gnarled and strung out as they could be in other parts of the country. Though they weren’t fruit bearing trees which was a little bit of a pain but it also saved from any scavenger parties that may come lurking around. In the whole month that they had come across this little gem, there had only been two other groups of survivors who had come across them.

The first were a small nomad trader group whom they had encountered before and in exchange for some small supplies they had gotten several good meals and a few good animal skins which were going to be great when the winter snows came along. The second group were a small family like themselves but they were strange. Daehyun had practically been forced to pull his gun on them to stop them from entering the house as they would not heed to his warnings and Jongup came across them two days later in the latter stages of the fungal infection.

He had cried when he took them down but he knew that it was for the best. They were too close to the house and too close to Zelo, it was a risk that could not be taken.

Turning to look over the trees, Youngjae was glad to spot Yongguk on the old creaky wood swing seat with his gun laying idly on his lap. To the untrained eye, he was pretty relaxed, enjoying the sunset but with a keen eye scouring for any trouble. Before Youngjae could open his mouth in greeting, Yongguk had suddenly stiffened, stood upright and levelled his rifle and shot off into the distance.

A walker gurgled nosily as its head flew off its body and landed somewhere nearby before it collapsed out of sight. “Fifth one in the past hour,” Yongguk said with a painful swallow.

“Walkers or the others?” Youngjae asked in return, straining his eyes for trouble.

Yongguk sighed, “Walkers. They’re sending scouts again.”

“Time to move?” Youngjae said.

“Yes,” Yongguk replied before casting his eyes up towards the house, “Shame, I was just starting to like it here.”

Jongup happened to pop his head out of the kitchen window at that moment, his young eyes still slightly heavy with sleep but no other indication that he wasn’t doing fine. “What found us?” he asked, rubbing half blindly at his left eyelid.

“Walkers, five in the past hour,” Yongguk replied, “How’s Zelo?”

“Still asleep,” Jongup replied, frowning as he shook his head, “I swear once he’s under you could practically roll a whole military truck past him and he wouldn’t stir.”

Youngjae smiled at that, “Be thankful for small mercies. Where’s Daehyun?”

“Out the front somewhere, I think he’s trying to fix the car again,” Jongup replied as he hopped back into the kitchen, “Or maybe putting up the fence again. Best go tell him to stop it now since we’ll be moving, right?”

The two elder brothers made confirmation noises towards the younger, knowing that Jongup would be already mentally sorting out their provisions and supplies to be packed up into the car for the next stage of their long road journey. It would be more fun if there weren’t several thousand victims of the infections continuing to live after they had died but it was what they had to do to survive. If they didn’t then they would just end up in the same situation as all the rest and Zelo would be gone.

Youngjae headed out of the front door to go and help Daehyun as the pair were the best when it came to dealing with anything mechanical whilst Yongguk went to take over sleeping watch duties with Zelo so that Jongup could do what he needed to do. Vaguely he wondered where Himchan had gotten to but figured that he would know when he was wanted and would make his presence known. Actually, come to think of it, Himchan was probably preparing food or gathering water supplies because it could be a long while before they came across another building as good at this for a long while. Yongguk however shook his head and knelt down next to the sleeping figure of his youngest brother, finding a smile crossing his features for the first time in a long while just because Zelo was sleeping so peacefully.

It was a rare occurrence these days to get Zelo to actually fall asleep, it seemed like he had been somehow programmed to keep on going until he passed out from exhaustion but there again there were many things about Zelo that were unknown. It was a miracle that they had managed to make it this far without anyone realising who he was and what he had the potential to do. If anyone ever did figure it out there would be nothing short of troublesome hell for all five of his elder brothers and since they had all gone through hell in order to get him back, that was the last thing that any of them wanted.

Sighing lightly as he looked at his youngest brother, Yongguk shook his head before reaching across to gently try and wake him up. He already knew that it was a fairly pointless task for him to even attempt it as Himchan was the only one who could actually get Zelo to wake up but there was always a part of the eldest that liked to try. He would always joke that it was one of the few things that kept him sane in this ever madness inducing world as it brought back happy memories of the times before the infection. Before the times when the dead would walk and try to eat more of the living or the others would start to cause trouble. When living was just a breeze with no desperate scurrying for supplies, conserving of ammo or attempting to avoid other groups of humans because most of them were not friendly. A few could be relied on during hard times but the brothers had learnt very quickly not to trust anyone because as soon as they became aware of whom Zelo really was, either accidentally or in a moments frantic panic, they turned.

Everyone wanted a cure for this deadly disease and the infectious fungus and supposedly Zelo was it.

But his brothers were not going to let him go so easily, not after they had seen with their own eyes what they were doing in those science labs to their baby brother and there was no way that any mad scientist wannabe was going to try and extract the solution out of Zelo.

Not that they were hoarding him for their own survival, of course not as they wanted the infection gone just as much as everyone else in the world so that they could be free of all the terror and madness but the process of removing the strain was so brutal that three of the other supposed cure patients had been reduced to a pile of bones and ash with not even a milligram of the anti-virus available. Plus, there was also another problem, one that no one could have possibly predicted would occur.

Zelo was infected with the T-Virus to the point where he needed it to survive.

So, whilst there were many hunters in the world who were seeking to destroy the T-Virus and neutralise it, Yongguk and the others were hunting it in order to keep Zelo alive with the hope that one day they’d find a way to ease the boy’s suffering and remove the counter in his bloodstream. They all accepted that once they did remove the antidote that the T-virus would probably kill their little brother but Zelo had suggested that maybe it would be the best way because then he would be the last victim of it.

What was worse was that when Zelo said those words to his stunned elder brothers, he had the most beautiful and serene smile on his face. Purity and innocence and the will to only do good for the world was all Zelo knew now and it was a reality that the five elder brothers had come to accept.

Zelo knew that he wouldn’t survive, he already accepted that he was going to die one way or the other, he just chose to hope that his passing would mean an end for all the suffering in the world. There wasn’t a mean or angry bone in his body anymore, Yongguk often got the impression that Zelo was just happy to spend out the rest of his days with his family, even if things were a little on the strange side.

Sitting back on his haunches, Yongguk sighed as he gave up on trying to wake the other, “Honestly, you’re a pain in the neck, Lo, I hope you know that.”

“Of course he is,” Himchan’s voice startled Yongguk as their missing brother came into view, looking like he had been wallowing in the mud, “That’s what makes him endearing to us.”

“Where the heck have you been?” Yongguk growled towards the other, eyes set sharply on his next immediate brother in terms of age. “We haven’t seen you for days!”

Managing to look meek, Himchan lightly bit his lip, “I was tracking a water supply out the back of us and came across a group of hermits.”

“And?” Yongguk asked, wondering why he even bothered asking for explanations when he knew that Himchan wouldn’t give them over easily. He had always been quiet and reserved but these days there was an edge to him that was slightly unsettling.

The other grinned a little smugly, digging into a small leather pouch that he carried around with him constantly and pulled out three glowing tubes of various shades of green. “They had these and since I know we’re running low...I traded for them,” Himchan kept his voice bright but there was a certain reluctance to the tone which suggested something terrible.

Yongguk stared at Himchan, “You did not.”

“Yes, I did,” Himchan argued back, unable to quite hide the blush from his face, “It was a damn sight easier than trying to kill them or taking these by force.”

“What if they were Others?” Yongguk shot back, trying to hide his disappointment at what his brother had done in order to get these dangerously precious items but also thankful because it meant that they didn’t have to go anywhere near the lab that was covered in the crawling black slime to get more T-Virus and also worried to death about what Himchan could have caused to himself.

A soft hand reached out to touch Himchan’s wrist which startled both brothers and they turned to look at Zelo who was now wide awake, sitting up and concentrating. After a few seconds, he smiled and removed his hand, shaking his head, “Himchan-hyung has no infections. He’s fine. Except maybe a bit of as STD though it’s at the treatable stage and there’s a medical branch nearby which will treat him for it.”

Paling then blushing bright red, Himchan passed the bottles over to Yongguk and mumbled something about going to get the car sorted before disappearing as fast as possible. Yongguk stared after his brother before shaking his head and carefully setting the glowing bottles down onto the floor with a sigh, “Idiot.”

“Did I do something wrong?” Zelo asked, his large brown eyes wide and innocent as they would hopefully always remain.

Yongguk shook his head, “No, Zelo, you did good. I just wish he would think before he does this sort of thing.”

“We’re all still human,” Zelo said, resting his chin on his knees cutely and trying not to giggle like a child which just made him appear to be even more cute. “He still has needs that we can’t fulfil,” the boy continued, now sounding way too grown up for Yongguk’s liking.

Thankfully Jongup appeared just at that moment, “Oh good, you’re up! Come on, buddy, you can help me sort out the blankets cause I’m sure a few have been eaten by moths again.”

“Oh, we’re moving on?” Zelo asked, his attention thankfully distracted by the arrival of the other as he slowly uncurled himself to stand up with some help from his elder brother. It was still funny to see how Zelo towered over all of them despite being the youngest and most childlike but Yongguk was grateful for small mercies.

Jongup nodded, “Yeah, I think we’re going to head further south this time, hopefully pick up a better trail.”

“North would be better,” Zelo said, smiling happily, “With just a touch of going east. Not as many Others that way.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Daehyun said as he too appeared, covered in grease and spots of oil, “Don’t suppose you know where we’ll be able to grab some fuel as well do you?”

Zelo shook his head, “Nope. I can’t sense that.”

“I know, little one,” Daehyun grinned, “Yo, Gukkie up for a fuel dash?”

“How much do we have?” Yongguk said as he pulled himself up and dusted off his ragged clothes, there was no real need but some habits were just too hard to kill.

“Enough for maybe an hours drive if we don’t run into problems,” Daehyun replied, “Youngjae is ciphering off the stuff from the tracker back there but I think it’ll clog up the engine and it’s on its last legs as is.”

Yongguk sighed, “So a new motor is in order then?”

“Yup. We haven’t checked out around here much, there may be something lurking in one of the barns,” Daehyun shrugged lightly.

Nodding the eldest brother cast his eyes towards where Zelo and Jongup were busy sorting through the blankets and let a smile cross his face. Oh, how he wished that the pair were just up to some form of mischief or making a fort rather than planning what they could carry in order to move out. “That sounds like a good idea, we best grab Youngjae though...just in case there’s something else lurking there which I don’t want to meet.”

“Already ahead of you,” Youngjae called from the back porch where he had picked up the abandoned rifle, “Himchan says he’ll come and watch the kiddies once he’s cleaned up a little bit.”

Daehyun chuckled as he made a swift grab for Yongguk’s collar to haul him in the direction that he was meant to be going in rather than to chase straight off after Himchan in order to kick his behind. However, the elder brushed him of, bending down to grab the three glowing bottles and placed them carefully back in the leather bag before handing it to Jongup with a, “Put into safe keeping.”

Jongup nodded and handed Yongguk a hand gun, “Zelo said that there’s something lurking in one of the back barns. Not necessarily bad but be careful, okay?”

The three elders nodded and started off, knowing to take their youngest brothers words seriously. Nothing had happened over the last few days to suggest that there was anything that didn’t want them to be around but Zelo could detect Walkers and Others and if he said there was one lurking there, then there more than likely was.

authors babbling: so finally get this new fic underway and sorry if this chapter is a littl slow and plodding but it's set up. Though I do hope it was enjoyable for you.