Nobody had expected things to change. Nobody could've predicted things would actually get better.

Minkyung remembers how everything used to be. The wall. The guards. The restrictions.

For the first few years she'd felt like she was suffocating. Everyone was on edge.

Not a day had passed in those early months where Minkyung didn't constantly look over her shoulder, loaded gun in hand, waiting for someone, something, to creep up behind her and turn everything to .

They tried to deny it, ever the ignorant race, but Minkyung knew everyone was waiting. Waiting for something to go wrong, for the walls of their safe haven to be torn down (quite literally) and whatever glimpse of peace they'd had to be ripped away right in front of their eyes.

But the years went by, and nothing happened. Nothing drastic anyway.

They'd lost a few people along the way, soldiers and guards who'd been sent out to fetch supplies from nearby warehouses and hospitals. But nothing they couldn't recover from, new soldiers could be trained and the Institute already had classes full of bright-eyed teenagers hoping to become the new generation of guards.

The population kept growing, and things started looking up. People got braver, more optimistic, maybe the world wasn't going to end afterall.

If something bad happened, they'd be able to bounce back from it, Minkyung was certain.

And then her best friend Nayoung had been dragged out of her arms by a corpse who somewhat resembled their 4th grade English teacher. She still had the dried blood from the bite marks on Nayoung's tanned arm imprinted on her uniform.

And Minkyung wished she were dead for the first time in her life.

Growing up inside the compound, Minkyung was taught to appreciate everything. Small things at first: the grass that grew in the spring, the flowers her and Nayoung had grown in her backgarden, the animals they'd managed to rescue and breed. Next, she was taught to love and appreciate the people around her (though Minkyung thinks being taught such a thing wasn't necessary, for her at least): her parents, her family (what was left of them), Nayoung, Yebin, the rest of her friends, her teachers, the gentleman working in the shop she bought her favourite food from, even her enemies. Everyone.

Because they all had something in common: life.

And that was the last thing Minkyung was told to be thankful for, the most important one of all. The fact that her heart was still beating, she was still alive.

She was living. To what extent she could truly be 'living' being couped up in the compound, Minkyung still wasn't entirely sure.

It's for our own safety, they'd said. And Minkyung knew it was, there's no way anyone could survive outside of those walls, not with corpses and boneys roaming around freely.

Nobody blamed her for distancing herself. Not after Nayoung was so cruelly taken away from her.

It's one thing for someone you love to be eaten by corpses, but witnessing it first hand was unimaginable.

Minkyung still remembers the look on Nayoung's face as the first corpse sunk it's rotten teeth into her forearm, remembers the piercing scream she let out when another landed on her body and broke her left leg in the process. But Minkyung also remembers the feel of Nayoung's cold hands on hers, the blood beneath her nails as she clung to Minkyung as if fighting the battle between life and death.

Because she was, and death had won. It seemed, Minkyung observed, that death always won.

What Minkyung remembers last is the worst of all. Nothing.

How one second Nayoung's icy grip was firm on her body and the next there was nothing but hot air.

How Nayoung's face could be seen through a space between the bodies swarming her, a single tear running down her right cheek and then another corpse made it's advances and Minkyung couldn't see her best friend anymore.

Finally, how the last raspy words that escaped from Nayoung's lips were a simple I love you, a phrase they'd shared so many countless times before, followed by a few final gasps of air, Nayoung too stubborn to let go just yet.

Then nothing.

That's when Minkyung knew she was gone. And though every muscle in her body burned from exhaustion and every fibre of her being told her to stay, Minkyung ran.

Ran so fast she didn't think she was able to stop. Ran as though she hadn't just watched her best friend die, hadn't watched her best friend being murdered right in front of her.

It was just a simple retrieving mission, a few stops at nearby supermarkets and clinics, nothing too serious. Nobody expected things to go so wrong.

Darkness consumed Minkyung all too quickly.

All those things she'd been told to be thankful for were thrown out of the window because What was the point? she'd tell her parents.

To Minkyung, life wasn't worth living if she was living it without Nayoung.

"You and me together forever, right?"

She remembers the conversation her and Nayoung had had when they were eight years old.

"Forever?" Minkyung had said, "That seems like a long time to be stuck with you."

Nayoung had shoved her in the shoulder, but not too harshly.

"But there's no other way you'd wanna spend it."

"I guess you're right."

"Forever and always?" The older had questioned, raising her hand and extending her pinky finger to Minkyung.

Minkyung mirrored the other girl's actions, lingering for a second before linking her pinky tightly with Nayoung's.

"Forever and always."

But life moves on, and Minkyung had to live. She couldn't change the past, she couldn't wish it away, all she could do was move forward.

It was Yebin who finally managed to pick Minkyung back up again, and for that Minkyung was eternally grateful.

Without Yebin, Minkyung isn't sure she'd still be alive, death seemed all too tempting in the weeks following Nayoung's capture.

So Minkyung thanked the Gods (or whoever was listening to her, if anyone at all) that Yebin had stayed home the day of the mission, that Yebin wasn't among the people sent out in Minkyung's group of 10, that Yebin was still here, alive and well.

"You have to move on." Yebin had told Minkyung one day, having brought a movie and a carton of homemade ice cream up to her bedroom for them to share.

"It's time to move on."

"I can't."

"You have to, Minkyung."

"And you know I can't Yebin."

The younger girl had pulled back Minkyung's worn out sheets and crawled into bed with her, propping a pillow up against the headboard and leaning on it, side pressing into the other girl.

"Please."

"I-"

Minkyung stopped midsentence when she looked at Yebin's face. And suddenly it dawned on her.

Nayoung didn't solely exist for Minkyung. Yebin had lost a friend too. Yebin had known Nayoung for the same amount of time as Minkyung, if not longer. She might not have been there to see it happen, but that day, a piece of Yebin had been torn away from her too, and neither of the girls were getting it back.

Who had been there for Yebin? Who was Yebin's shoulder to cry on? Who did Yebin have if she didn't have Minkyung?

"I'm so sorry Yebs." Minkyung said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Huh?"

"I'm so sorry."

And Minkyung broke down in Yebin's arms.

Nothing seemed to matter in that moment except for the girl who's body she'd engulfed in hers, and the friend they'd both lost too soon.

"I'll do it." Minkyung had sniffled, "For you, and for Nayoung."

Minkyung caught the glimpse of a smile before the smaller girl pulled her into a heart-wrenching hug.

She'd recovered slowly. Slowly by surely. Minkyung hated to admit how easily it seemed to be to slip back into her usual routine: her classes at the Institute, her duties as a Potential. She'd grown to like that name, the most promising members of our next generation, the ones who have the potential to do great things for not only our community, but mankind. That's what the Commander had said when naming the guards-in-training, and Minkyung hoped there was some truth to his words.

She'd even been assigned two new interns, Sungyeon and Yewon, who were too young to enroll in the Institute but eager to learn all the basic things it took to become a guard.

They were cute and all too excited about life, but they took Minkyung's mind off everything because she was their teacher, and if Minkyung was one thing she was dedicated to a cause.

All too soon it seemed that things had returned back to normal. The compound had recovered from the attack on their scouts, and things were progressing well.

Minkyung still felt the ache in her chest and wondered when it would fade, secretly hoping it never would.

She'd pass Nayoung's house everyday on the way home and think about how easy it would be to just let go again, lay down right in the middle of the road and cry. Cry for Nayoung, scream for her to come back.

But just like the compound had built it's walls to protect civilisation inside, Minkyung had built her walls too. And she'd promised Yebin it would take a lot more to tear them down this time.

Things seemed too good to be true for a week or so, and therefore Minkyung wasn't surprised when a new report came in that another group of Potentials had been ambushed by corpses in a nearby city. Eight dead. One missing. One survivor.

Everyone went into turmoil. When Minkyung's group had been attacked, only two had died: Nayoung and a guy called Yixing. Never before had they lost eight people on one mission alone.

Corpse numbers were increasing significantly (they hadn't even taken into account the number of boneys out there), and Minkyung wasn't sure how long they'd be able to keep it under control.

"We're totally and completely ed."

"Don't say that!" One of Minkyung's only other friends, Jieqiong, scolded Yebin.

"You don't know that Yebin. You don't know what the Commander and his team have planned."

"Oh come on Minky, all three of us know they're just as scared less as us, if not more."

A look was exchanged between the three girls, and no more was said.

Thankfully, it wasn't too long (a week or two maybe) until a pretty girl named Julie, the Commander's daughter, had found her way back to the compound having survived the attack from the week before.

It was amazing really, Minkyung had mused with Yebin and Jieqiong, how she managed to survive for so many days without food or water, al