The world was now almost worth pitying. Homes destroyed and used as hideouts, food was almost a luxury, the last remaining money, people had used for ammunition, there was no trust, no humanity...nothing was left! 

A little hope sprang in people, when a day passed by without them getting bitten or sick. But what was the point?  The next day would start soon. And the hope once again would be threatened. It was either being on your own or trusting someone- that was the choice. 

Daehyun was now the front man of a small crew of him and some friends he had made over the years. They set up a camp in a deserted part of Seoul and started small means of survival there. They managed to get rations of food and stocks of ammunition just to get by everyday. But it was becoming tougher day by day to be safe. 

Daehyun only chose to live because of his instincts. He probably would've ended life a long while  ago. He didn't really have any particular thing he could take revenge with. He was outnumbered anyway. Still, he decided to live as long as life was giving him a chance. Its probably what she would've wanted. 

In the present day,  it was another struggle of finding the basic supplies to stock. Just as he was laying down on a couch, one of his crew members, Zelo had come in. 

"Damn! Long cues for rations today as well. Looks like we're gonna have to pass on it. " Zelo tells Daehyun with a sigh. 

"Man...it's getting tougher to go by now huh. It's probably the things from across the city. I heard intruders have been stealing our city's rations. How else can it get so tougher then" Daehyun tells Zelo. 

"Yeah and we definitely gotta do something about it. You can't really take what's not yours" Zelo states as he sits down with a sigh. 

" Yeah I don't really think people give a .  Why blame them when we'd probably do the same if he had to. Survival of the fittest remember?" Daehyun says as he closes his eyes laying back on the couch. 

"Guys we better change our hideout, soon. We had a couple of bloody sick freaks comin in from the back alley. They're spreadin in from everywhere. Christ!" Says Dana, one of the crew members coming in after a combat with sick ones.

" Great...just where the hell are we gonna go?" Zelo exclaims irritated.

"Dont know, just anywhere but here" Dana continues.

"Allright then, we better actually think about movin. Get everyone ready. Dont leave any supplies behind yeah?" Daehyun declares making a decison.

"But Dae, where are we gonna go. If we head South, its filled with these sick s. If we go North, Mark's crew is gonna be all over the place. We all know they're gonna kill us if we enter their territory." Zelo said.

" Damn it i keep forgetting how the sick ones are not our only enemy" Dana states as she sits down with a sigh.

Mark who was once part of Daehyun's crew, had left them after a huge argument with Daehyun. He had insisted on risky and impossible ways offinding a cure for this epidemic which sounded hopeless to the rest of the crew. As a result he felt like he need to be on his own and he had started his own group in another part of Seoul, and had marked their territory there. They soon even ended up being enemies when Mark took his temper too far. 

" It don't matter, we ain't staying here anymore." Daehyun decides regardless.

After the discussion, the crew pack up to start their move. They leave their hideout and start advancing through the inner lanes.

"Keep an eye and ear out for any of the infected." Daehyun commanded.

As they go accross lanes that were once called neighborhoods and colonies, they looked it at with despair and shared small conversations with each other. 

"Man, this was once a front porch of a house. If it were me I'd be sippin my iced tea, feeling the breeze....*sigh*.....feels like a dream now huh." Dana stated while sounding hopeless. 

"I Remember those huge BBQ parties we used to have backyard, man that was unbelievably fun. And yeah really seems unreal now ha."  Zelo said.

As all of them could do nothing but sigh at how a normal life is more like a dream now, they come across an abandoned building that looked good enough for a hideout. They had reached the outskirts of Seoul. 

"What do you guys think?  Does this look good enough?"  One of the crew members asked.

"Can't be sure until we find out. Allright guys let's go search this area up. Don't leave any place out" Daehyun commanded.

The crew search the place in and out and almost make a conclusion that it was safe. Just then-

" Don't move, put your hands where i can see them!" A woman who came out of no where commands at them.

Daehyun and his gang freeze, however, Zelo secretly tried to reach out for his gun which the woman spots.

"Don't even think about reaching for your guns. I said don't move!" The woman shouted.

" Zelo put it away.." Daehyun ordered Zelo since he knew peace was the only way to find out what was going on.

"Listen, we're not the bad guys and nor are we here to attack you or anything. We didn't know this place was occupied, we were just here to see if we could hideout in here. We can leave if you want. Just stop pointing the gun at us." Daehyun explained.

"Of course and i just believe you right? Because someone who wants to really just attack us would tell the truth? Ha, I'm pretty sure Mark raised you better than that." The woman stated.

"Mark? what the ? she thinks we're with Mark?" Dana asked Daehyun.

"Ok...um..lady? We're not part of Mark's crew allright? I'm pretty sure thats not enough for you to believe either but we can prove it you." Just as Daehyun was about to explain more to the lady-

"Let em go Alice, they're allright." A man stated coming in to the room.

" You know them or something?" The woman whose name was Alice asked.

"I sure as hell know they're not with Mark." The man said. He then went towards Daehyun.

" Your Daehyun right? Yongguk's little brother?" The man asked Daehyun.

Daehyun looked confused and looked at the rest of his group but then responded, " Uh yeah i am. But how exactly do you...?" Daehyun asked the man.

"I'm Jackson." Jackson introduced himself while reaching his hand out to shake Daehyun's hand. As the two shake their hand Jackson continued explaining.

"I used to be across the city with Yongguk's crew a few months ago. That's how i know him and you" He explained.

"You were with him? So the guy is still around the city huh? Ha figured. But how exactly do you know me?" Daehyun asked.

" Obviously because hes told me all about you. A lot actually" Jackson responded.

"Oh... I'm sorry that just got me off guard. It's just the last time we talked, we almost killed each other. It just surprised me that he even mentioned me." Daehyun responded sounding surprised.

"Oh i see. I had no idea about that. But he did, hes told me a lot about you." Jackson stated.

From this it was obvious that somewhere along the years, things had gone wrong between Yongguk and Daehyun. 

Jackson later introduced Alice to the gang.

"Oh and this is Alice. She was just protecting our hideout haha. Don't mind her" Jackson said while teasing Alice.

" Sorry guys. It's just been really annoying with Marks's people always comin in on us. So just had to make sure haha. It's nice to meet you all by the way" Alice said as she introduced herself.

"Nah it's cool. Happens to all of us. We're done with Mark's people too. We don't get along with them either. Let's be honest they're so much worse than the sick ones." Dana remarked.

The two groups soon socialize. Jackson offered them to sit down and relax as they all converesed.

"You guys seem pretty stocked up." Zelo said.

"Oh yeah we were able to find good food supplies and this hideout has been helpful...until it isn't anymore of course." Alice remarked.

"Yeah that's what happened to us. We had to move cuz it wasn't safe anymore. We thought we could camp here but guess not haha. How many people do you have?" Daehyun asked.

"We have a group of about seven people. Yeah some of them are out guarding the parameters. We take shifts to do it. We haven't really had a lot of sick ones here so that's good. But you never know." Jackson explained.

Just as they were conversing and sipping some raw grape wine served by Alice, a young man possibly from Jackson's crew, came in.

"All clear around the house, nothin to worry about, it's all good. And guess what? I didn't mess up this time. Wooohooo!" The young man exclaimed. Just then he noticed a couple of new faces gathered around and became silent.

"Haha guys this one of my boys, Youngjae. Better described as the, hmmm, how do i say this...oh yes as the goof of our group." Jackson teasingly introduces Youngjae, one of his crew members.

"Ha Ha thats hilarious." Youngjae makes a sarcastic statement. "Oh and nice to meet you guys....whoever you are" Youngjae awkwardly addresses Daehyun's gang.

"Yeah it's nice to meet you too. I mean you sure made a lasting first impression haha." Zelo teases Youngjae.

"Jae here is known as the black hole of our group. I really just carry him around because he's sort of my relative. Famalies i tell you." Jackson continues to tease Youngjae.

"It would be great if you realized that black holes sometimes could be your cause to live." Youngjae made a proud statement.

The group continues to interact when Youngjae askes each of the group member's names.

"Oh so i didn't catch all your names." He aks.

All members from Deahyun's group introduce themselves. But Youngjae's attention was caught by Daehyun. He wondered why he was this really quite and formal person while talking. In fact, when Youngjae was asking for their names, Daehyun looked distracted as if he was lost in his thoughts.

"Your name was....? Youngjae asked Daehyun.

Just the Daehyun realized Youngjae was talking to him and he responded.

"Oh right sorry, I'm Daehyun." He gave a short response.

"Oh ok, nice to meet you" Youngjae replied.

They both gave each other a small warm smile. However, Youngjae was still wondering how Dana, Zelo and everybody else from his group were talkative and active, while Daehyun sometimes seemed distracted and only responded to what was asked to him. He figured out that Daehyun probably headed his gang, judging from the mature behaviours. But his curiosity was certainly not satisfied.

"So what do you guys think about joining hands?" Jackson suddenly proposed the idea of combining their groups. "See, i don't know if you guys heard about this, but apparently theres a bunch of people in what was once a hospital or a clinic or something in Busan, trying for well.....a cure. Now i know that sounds surreal but, it's worth hoping for. After all that's all we can do right? Hope! So i say the more we are in number, the better. It's a long way to Busan. Also, just how long are we gonna sheild ourselves in hideouts and . We gotta try something man. What do ya say guys? Jackson explains his idea and asks for an opinion.

"A cure?  Hmm I'm not sure about this. Who exactly is working on this?"  Dana asks Jackson.

"Its a bunch of medics. I mean they were once doctors. I know it's not easy to just trust this but all I'm saying is we check it out. What if it could work right. You never know." Jackson explained. 

Zelo and Dana look at Daehyun for his approval. But he seemed hesitant. And there was good reason why. Somehow the words medics and hospitality and everything didn't seem to give Daehyun pleasant thoughts. His group could tell what was going through his mind. They knew what memories he has attached to these words. So they knew it was better to refuse before Daehyun needed to say anything. 

But just then, Daehyun gave a response. 

"Yeah....I say we go, check it out, see what's happenin. They could be on to something you never know. What are we gonna do hiding all the time anyway."  He stated. But the next part of what he said caught Zelo and Dana's attention. 

"After all, If these 'medics' were the ones who created what now has destroyed 'life', I'm sure they can find something to make it better too...ha" Daehyun said. 

To Jackson and Alice, it seemed like a small inside joke Daehyun had made. But to Zelo and Dana , they knew exactly the tone and meaning he brought out from the statement. But they decided to stay by what Daehyun said. 

However there was another person who maybe caught of a different meaning from it too. When Alice and Jackson slid it off as a joke, Youngjae didn't. He was curious about Daehyun from the time he saw him. And now he had only started wondering more. He kept noticing Daehyun's gestures, expressions and body language. 

He didn't derive any conclusion from it all. But he hadn't let go of his curiousity. Regardless, he decided to give it a rest for now and join everybody else in getting ready for the move. 

"Allright then the sooner we leave the better. It might not be easy to walk across towns at night. Let's try to cover as much distance as we can in the day."  Alice announced. 

They all gear up and stock up for moving. Daehyun's group were already packed and ready to go. 

Daehyun waited around outside for the others while taking small Walks around with his hands in his pocket. Just then he feels something empty about his neck. He notices his chain missing. That very same chain that's been with him since the time it was his last gift from his girl. He panicked at the thought of losing it. 

"! Where the hell did it go?" He exclaimed as he started looking for it. 

"is this what your looking for?" just then Youngjae comes in asking him the question while handing over Daehyun, his chain.

"Oh thank goodness, yeah it is. Thanks a lot man. I thought I ing lost it." Daehyun thanked Youngjae in relief. 

"Hey no worries. We should go by the way. We're all ready"  Youngjae said. 

But as he said that, he notices Daehyun's attention was glued to the chain. Daehyun was looking at it with the same look that ignited curiousity within Youngjae. 

"Daehyun?"  Youngjae called him. 

"Yeah?" Daehyun suddenly looks up realizing that Youngjae was talking to him again the same way as before. 

"You good?" Youngjae asked him. "Youuu ready to go? he continued.

"Oh yeah, yeah sorry, of course let's go." Daehyun stammered. 

As that brief conversation ends, the two join the gang that was now filled with a decent number of people. They start their move and advance towards Busan in hopes for what is every humans dream at this point. 

They may have made ties with each other for now. But in a situation as such, there was no saying to who was going to turn out to be what. What kind of relations were gonna unfold within them. Daehyun usually was a man who played with strategies. His entire reason to agree combining groups with Jackson could have been a strategy too. The same could've gone for Jackson's side.

But sometimes, even beneath all the fake trust and bonds, there is a hope for little good. It was all left to find out, what the turn of events will be.