Mingyu double-checked his gun to make sure it had enough ammo. He had a habit of double-checking things.

Did I really lock the door for the night? Am I sure that’s not my blood? Am I absolutely certain that thing is dead?

He thought of those words too often. They had become normal things in his life. They kept him alive.

“Mingyu, everyone’s waiting for you!” Seungcheol’s melodic call rang through the spacious abandoned restaurant they called their hideout.

Mingyu quickly stood up,  "Be there in a sec!“

He put the heavy gun in a leathery holder on his back and took his large, dark green backbag from a shelf. The giant looked through all its pockets, making sure he had everything he needed in there - a knife, a lighter, some basic first-aid stuff like bandages, a flashlight and duct tape. The black-haired man grabbed the bag and headed out of the bright storage room he was in.

"The8!” he called out. “I’m out of food.”

There was a happy chirp that answered, “Coming!”

A blond man stepped out of a room that was supposedly once the kitchen - a guess based on the ovens and kitchenwear in there. He had a can of food in each hand.

Mingyu took one in his own, shaking it a little and reading its etiquette. “I thought we were out of pork.”

“Me and Dokyeomie spent the last three days looking for food,” The8 smiled, looking proud. “I found a jackpot in the marketplace next to the park.”

He was so glad to be useful after all the trouble he had caused for the others. Many months ago they found the poor young man whimpering in the corner of a building, all alone and with a broken ankle. He had been so shocked that he could barely speak. The man didn’t even remember his name, yet the others were kind enough to take him in. Soonyoung started calling him The8 for being the 8th person in the group of men, and in the end the nickname had stuck.

At first, the novice had been hopeless. Tripping over his own feet all the time, not being able to handle a gun, always being in the way of others… But  he had worked hard to get better. And now the young man felt like he was finally able to pay back all the kindness the others had showed him.

Mingyu placed the cold cans in his bag and threw it on his back. He turned towards Seungcheol, who was tapping the floor with his foot, and jogged to him.

“I knew you’d be late again,” Junhui teased, having been ready exactly one hour after sunrise, as promised.

“At least he makes sure everything’s taken care of. Remember that time you left the door open for the night?” Wonwoo scoffed, raising an eyebrow at the brown-haired man.

Junhui let out a loud gasp before shooting a death glare. “Jeon Wonwoo, I am absolutely sure we all promised to never ever talk about it ever a–”

Jihoon, the smallest yet the most experienced one, interrupted the bickering. “Yah, stop fighting. We don’t have the whole day.”

“Is everyone ready?” he asked from the other four.

They all nodded and Mingyu even lifted two thumbs up. He had been preparing for the whole morning.

“Alright guys, we’re leaving!” Seungcheol shouted to make sure everyone in the building heard him. “We’re checking what’s in the hotel on the other side of the bridge! Come say your goodbyes!”

People started gathering in the front hall. They exchanged short conversations and farewells. Trips like this were always dangerous, even if all five of the travelers knew how to stand up for themselves. You just never knew what was gonna happen in this world.

The8 was the last one to say his goodbyes. He was in the middle of a very fast-spoken conversation with Junhui in Chinese. They ended it in a tight hug.

“Let’s go,” Jihoon commanded with a low and harsh voice this time.

He gave one final glance over the eight people staying. Chan was nervously biting his lip and playing with the hem of his shirt. The others were staring at the people about to leave like they needed to memorise every detail of their faces. Joshua even had his fingers intertwined and his eyes closed, like he was silently praying.

Jihoon stayed silent as his jaw clenched slightly. The man swallowed, keeping his glassy gaze unmoving. He quickly his heels and headed out the front door, the four young men more or less hesitantly following him.

–

“Okay brothers,” Jihoon turned around to face the rest of the group. “We’re about to enter an area we don’t know much of. Do you have anything to say before that?”

Glances were shared, yet no words were said. Some their lips like they were holding back. Mingyu slightly shook his head, his gaze flickering between everyone. The short commander’s face was as stoic as ever as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Then I guess we’re ready to go.”

Jihoon was the first one to go through the heavy front door. Mingyu held it for others and stepped in last. He turned his head to scan the huge front lobby. The stench was horrible. It stung Mingyu’s eyes so that he had to blink the pain away.

The giant sneezed and held a hand over his mouth. “Oh my god, what died in here?”

“We’re about to find out,” Jihoon picked his flashlight from his bag and guided the others to do the same. He walked to a rectangular staircase and looked up, counting how many floors there were. “I’m checking the first floor. Seungcheol, take Junhui and look through the second floor. Wonwoo and Mingyu, you search the third one. Once you’re all done, let’s meet here and go through the basement.”

Everyone nodded as a sign of understanding. Mingyu gulped to get rid of the uncomfortable dry lump that had been stuck in his throat.

“If anything happens, you find the nearest exit immediately and run to our side of the bridge, okay? We’re not here to fight with zombies today. We’re just figuring out if there is anything worth fighting for in here,” Jihoon turned his head. “Got it, Wen Junhui?”

The said boy clenched his jaw and rolled his eyes in annoyance. He had always had a thing for fighting against zombies. Like he actually liked it. No one really knew why. Under the glare of the fierce mission leader, he gave up, breathing out a deep sigh.

“Fine. But next time I want to slaughter them.”

Mingyu shifted his weight to another leg and scrunched his eyebrows, staring blankly at Jun who for some reason had fun killing those monsters. Was it the adrenaline rush he was after? Mingyu himself didn’t much like confronting zombies. If not for the things he had experienced, then for the fact that he could die because of one little mistake. He didn’t find that very tempting.

He followed Wonwoo up the stairs. The steps creaked under their feet and Mingyu wouldn’t have been surprised if his foot had gone through the fragile-looking wood. There were large windows on the walls of the staircase. Some were so covered in dirt and dust that the view through them was blurry. Some were covered by dark curtains that had been partially torn off. In some the glass was broken, letting a cold breeze of somewhat fresh air in. It had only been almost a year since the virus broke out, yet this place was very run down. And that wasn’t a good sign at all.

The pair got to the third floor together. In front of them was a long hallway that seemed to separate into many other ones. There were room doors everywhere.

“This hotel must’ve been pretty popular,” Mingyu let his gaze rest on the white walls that occasionally had holes or slimy lines on them, like someone had tried to grab hold of it while they were being dragged.

“Oh, you really think so?” Wonwoo questioned with a sarcastic tone. “Aren’t you so smart.”

The giant lightly bumped into his shoulder, making the older one chuckle. The two walked a bit further, up to the first intersection.

Mingyu scoffed, “Of course that’s not all there is to it.”

Those two new hallways led to even more other ones.

“Who the hell created this maze?” Wonwoo hissed under his breath. He didn’t like closed spaces in the first place and now the already bothered man had to tolerate this mess.

Mingyu groaned, “If we go there, how do we ever find our way back?”

Wonwoo looked puzzled. It’s not like they carried a ball of yarn or something like stones with them. They couldn’t mark the route they would take. Would they have to just give up and turn back?

“I know a way,” Wonwoo assured, “but you have to listen to me carefully, okay?”

He grabbed hold of Mingyu’s shoulders, turning the taller man to look at him properly. “Everytime you come to an intersection, take a turn to the right. Every. Time.”

“Why?”

“When you come back, only take turns to the left and you’ll end up back here.”

“Ohh…”

Mingyu could feel Wonwoo’s grip on his shoulders getting tighter. Like his fingers were preparing to never let go.

“We  have to search this place before it gets dark, so here’s the plan; we go in the opposite directions,” Wonwoo continued, “And if you find zombies, don’t fight against them on your own, please.”

“Hyung, I know how to search buildings. We’ve been doing this for months. I’m not a child.”

“You could as well be.”

“I am way more mature than–”

“The point is,” Wonwoo interrupted him, “that I don’t want you getting hurt, okay?”

“Do you love me or something?”

“No, you make the best food.”

“I love you though.”

Both of them were very quiet and serious for a while. They looked into each other’s eyes. In a moment, a small smirk crept onto both of their lips and they bent down to silence their laughter.

“I love you too, bro,” Wonwoo smiled as he gave Mingyu a warm pat on the shoulder. “Now off your way. Only take turns to the right.”

Mingyu nodded and did an overdramatic salute. He then prepared himself, grabbing his comfortingly huge gun and faced the new, dark hallway, turning his back to his sighing friend. The giant walked forward cautiously, checking the doors on his way. All of them were locked. The man should’ve known - it was a hotel after all. He stopped at the first intersection and took a turn to the right.

The fourth door on his left was the first one that opened. He firmly held the large gun in his hand as the door creaked, giving away it hadn’t been opened for a while. Mingyu stood still for a while, just listening to whatever sound might’ve come from the room. Nothing.

Wait, he was wrong. There it was. The skincrawling screeching, mixed with a clicking sound and something that resembled a fork being dragged against a chalkboard. It was horrifying. Mingyu flinched and took a compulsive step back before his brain could even process an important fact. The sound was much quieter than usual. The man let out a shaky breath he didn’t know he had been holding and his shoulders relaxed.  He fully opened the door and searched the room with his flashlight. And there it lay, pathetically on the ground.

“Wow, you haven’t been eating for months,” the giant talked to it like it could actually understand him.

That’s why its body had turned fragile and in the end, collapsed to the ground. It couldn’t move. It was a smelly corpse, a mere lump on the floor. Mingyu pitied it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered quietly. “I’d set you on fire, but that would do no good if there are supplies in this hotel.”

He started to close the door. The remains of a zombie tried to let out a louder noise, like a call for help. Or a hungry whine. Mingyu gave it one last look.

“You must have been a great person,” he bowed his head, closing the door.

He faced many intersections and always turned right. Or was it left? He hoped it wasn’t. Most of the doors had been locked on his way. The open rooms had had no other zombies in them. Instead, they had had some leftovers of food that had gone bad a long time ago. There had also been shampoo samples and rotten fruits, accompanied by flies. This seemed like a fairly safe place. Or at least this floor.

He reached a dead end. There were no more hallways after this. Just a few more doors and he could return to the others with somewhat good news.

First one, locked.

Second one, locked.

Third one, click. Open.

He stayed still for a moment, listening if there was anything inside.  He didn’t hear anything. And after searching the room with the help of a flashlight, thanks to the curtains not letting in any sunlight, he didn’t see anything either. So he stepped inside.

The door behind him was kicked shut and he was pushed harshly against it. He felt the stinging pain in his back, a doorknob pressing especially hard against him. A knife cut his cheek and an obnoxious coppery scent rose to his nose, followed by something wet and warm slowly dripping down his cheek. A zombie tried to pull his gun from him but he tightened his grip on it and kicked the zombie in the stomach instead. It let out a high-pitched yelp as air escaped its lungs. Mingyu couldn’t properly see anything - his flashlight had dropped to the floor the second he had been attacked.

The zombie was whimpering quietly, scrouched over out of pain as it was backing away. Mingyu took this opportunity to load his gun, ready to shoot it.

“No!” it shouted as it dropped to the floor.

Mingyu was just about to shoot, but he stopped his finger. “Wait, no?” Zombies didn’t say no. Zombies didn’t say anything.

“No! Don’t shoot me!” it pleaded.

Mingyu stayed still for a while. He needed a second to think. Zombies didn’t speak. Zombies didn’t feel pain. Zombies couldn’t have air in their lungs - they didn’t breathe. The giant slowly crouched down and grabbed his flashlight, making sure the gun was still aimed at the creature. He lifted the light to see what he was up against.

It wasn’t a zombie. It wasn’t a zombie at all. It had pretty hair and cute eyes. Its soft lips were slightly open and its chest rose as it breathed air. Its clothes were partially ripped but it had a fierce look on its face. That couldn’t be a zombie. It was a… a…

“A girl?!”

“A woman,” you corrected.