yebin sits up suddenly, looking around in the dark. she doesn’t immediately know what has awoken her, which makes her heart start to race in her chest. it is still too dark to see anything. she turns her head to look all around the room but nothing seems out of place. she can’t hear any movement. the door is locked and all the windows have been boarded up securely.

minkyung is lying unmoving a few feet away, her breathing steady as she sleeps. yebin almost breathes a sigh of relief. she put on a good act, but yebin knows the older hasn’t been sleeping much.

it is almost too quiet to bear and yebin almost wants to get up and go outside, find the east sky and watch the sun rise. but she isn’t looking to die tonight and she knows better. she has seen enough horror movies to know that going off on your own surely meant you are about to be brutally murdered.

though really, now that she’s experienced their current situation, she’d take ax murderer or vengeful spirit over this any day.

“the roads are all blocked. cars are stopped for miles,” minkyung said as she hung up the phone. “we’re not getting out of here anytime soon.”

yebin leaned back, letting out a breath as her head hit the back of the couch. she’d been holding her breath almost the whole time minkyung had been on the phone. the city had started the evacuation process two days earlier and it had already grinded to a halt. that was bad, yebin knew it. things were about to get really bad.

“so we’re stuck?” kyungwon asked, staring at minkyung. minkyung shrugged as she threw her phone down on the coffee table.

“we can’t stay here,” yebin said. “this place is about to go to .”

“you don’t know that,” kyungwon pointed out, though minkyung met yebin’s eye and yebin knew she agreed. “maybe we’re safer here. more places to get supplies. more places to hide.”

“ten times more people than there would be outside the city. haven’t you ever seen one of those movies?”

“yebin’s right,” minkyung said, and yebin could hear a little nervousness behind her voice, though she hid it well. anyone else probably would have thought she sounded confident. but yebin knew her better. “with so many people, there would be too much competition. and a higher chance of dying every time you walk outside.”

“it doesn’t matter much now, does it?” kyungwon asked. “the roads are blocked. we’d have to go on foot and that could take days.”

“but it’s a better plan than sitting in your apartment and waiting to die.” yebin paused, her eyes flickering between the older two girls. kyungwon looked hesitant to agree, but she knew she had won.

“okay,” minkyung said finally, pushing herself out of her chair. “i guess it’s decided.”

instead of going outside, yebin sits up on her knees and crawls over to where minkyung is sleeping. she picks up one corner of the blanket – it’s starting to get colder outside, especially at night, and yebin is getting worried but she knows better than to say something – and carefully slips under.

her legs brush against minkyung’s and minkyung suddenly tenses, awaking at once.

“it’s me,” yebin whispers quickly, and minkyung visibly relaxes.

“yebs? what are you doing?” she mumbles, though she doesn’t push yebin away. instead, she throws an arm over yebin’s waist and pulls her closer.

“couldn’t sleep,” she explains lightly, laying her head down so her face is only a few inches from minkyung’s.

“everything okay?” minkyung shifts around to make herself comfortable with yebin so close, fitting their bodies together easily.

“yeah,” she says, the lie disappearing easily into the dark. yebin doesn’t really know what okay is anymore.

but she’s not dead, and minkyung’s not dead, and right now they seem to be out of immediate danger. so maybe she is doing okay.

silence stretches between them. she can just barely see minkyung’s dark eyes from this proximity, the only proof for several seconds that the older girl is still awake. yebin has always been able to get lost in them, even now that she has much bigger things to worry about than her feelings for the older girl. her feelings, at least, haven’t changed. she is beginning to get sick of all the change.

“you should get more sleep,” minkyung mutters finally, and yebin nods. minkyung presses a quick kiss to yebin’s hair and closes her eyes again.

“ow ow ow, , stop, that hurts!”

“stop moving!”

yebin leaned against the windowsill, her eyelids drooping as she stared at the figures moving on the street three stories below. they were walking slowly, milling about almost aimlessly but never standing still. if it wasn’t for minkyung and kyungwon bickering behind her, yebin might have fallen asleep from boredom.

that would be a first. she felt like she hadn’t slept in forever. it was too dangerous – always the chance that something would be able to find its way in and catch them off guard. yebin never wanted to be taken by surprise.

but this building seemed safe for the time being. it was on the outskirts of the city, so close to the edge and where they needed to get before she felt like she could breathe again. it was tall but not a skyscraper and the elevator didn’t work so the staircase was the only way to get to the third floor apartment they were squatting in for a few days. the entire floor seemed to be secure.

“! , i said stop it!”

“maybe if you didn’t move as much, it wouldn’t hurt!”

“no, just stop it. you know it’s no use, minkyung.”

minkyung faltered for a second. “shut up, it’ll be fine.”

yebin curled her fingers around the wood of the windowsill, her eyelids blinking slowly. it had been almost six weeks. they were moving slow, being careful, and it had almost worked. it had come so close to working. they were so close to the edge of the city now. past the suburbs, they’d be safer.

she should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy. with every day that passed, there were less people and more things. from her window, she could easily count twenty on the street below. and that was just in front of their hiding place. it was getting more and more difficult to get through the city with every sunrise.

and the nights were worse. they needed to be locked up in a safe house with the entrances barricaded before the sun went down every night or else they were in trouble. the electricity had gone out three weeks into the evacuation. yebin had never seen the city so desolate. she wasn’t used to the pitch black nights, kept expecting a neon sign or a glowing convenience store on the corner. but everything was empty.

“it won’t and you know it. it’s time to give up. you promised, minkyung-ah.”

“no, stop.” minkyung sounded like she was going to cry. “we’ll figure it out. it’s ok.”

“yebin, tell her she made a promise.”

yebin turned around, her eyes flickering between the two girls on the floor in the middle of the living room. minkyung’s eyes were glistening. kyungwon’s skin was paler than she had ever seen it and her face was gaunt. she didn’t look good.

“you did promise,” yebin pointed out, her voice sympathetic.

“you’re only crying because you know i’m right,” kyungwon said, her fingers skittering over the open wound on the side of her leg restlessly. yebin never thought she’d seen something worse than when it first happened, but she was wrong. it was way worse now. “don’t be a , come on. we both agreed.”

minkyung hesitated for a few more seconds before blinking the tears out of her eyes and standing up. yebin’s eyes followed her movement as she left kyungwon in the middle of the floor and she could almost see the older girl’s walls go up. her face was completely stripped of emotion as she rifled through the bag on the kitchen counter.

as she came back towards kyungwon, the silver handgun she was holding glittered in the sunlight from the window.

minkyung’s eyes are closed, but yebin can’t really tell if she’s asleep or not. if she is, yebin’s jealous. she wishes she could just close her eyes and fall asleep. these days, it takes almost all night. but she also knows minkyung and her sleeping habits. if she is able to fall asleep so fast, she must be exhausted. they’re in this together, but yebin knows the weight on minkyung’s shoulders is starting to weigh her down.

“unnie,” she whispers, barely audible, “are you still awake?”

minkyung hums in response and yebin bites her lip. she wants to let the other girl sleep for as long as possible. she deserves it. but yebin can’t just lay there all night. her brain is working too fast.

“what do you think is out there?” she asks.

minkyung opens her eyes again drowsily. “what are you talking about?”

“i can’t hear anything,” yebin points out. it is the truth. she had spent so many years living in the city, the sudden quiet of the countryside is almost deafening. “doesn’t it drive you crazy?”

“i can’t hear it. you’re talking over it.”

yebin scowls, and minkyung grins. yebin’s heart does somersaults at the sight. she has missed minkyung’s smile more than she realized. the past few months have been so serious and dangerous. she has almost forgotten what their life was like before.

on the third day of the seventh week, minkyung snapped.

yebin had been counting days since the beginning, keeping track of how long they were spending in certain hiding places and where they needed to be before when. if they were still in the city by the time winter got to seoul, they were in trouble. the last thing they needed were zombies covered in snow.

but she was also keeping track of minkyung. she was too quiet, too serious, too stoic. it had been over a week since they had lost kyungwon, and she had hardly reacted. it was beginning to worry yebin. so when she finally snapped, yebin was actually kind of relieved.

the sound of gunfire was still jarring, but yebin was starting to get used to it. they only had two guns, one for each of them, and they definitely did not have unlimited bullets. so they tried to refrain from using them whenever possible.

so when she heard several gunshots from outside, where minkyung had disappeared a minute earlier, yebin’s heart stopped in her chest. she was on her feet in seconds, leaning out the door to see what the other girl was doing.

she found her only a few feet from the door of their current safe house, her gun raised in front of her. the zombie was dead, but minkyung was still shooting.

“minkyung!” yebin called, raising her voice to be heard over the gunfire. “minkyung! stop it!”

she grabbed onto the older girl’s free hand, and her gun wavered. it was only then that yebin could see the silent tears streaking down minkyung’s face, creating tracks in the dirt on her cheeks. she stopped shooting, and yebin grabbed the gun from her hand before pulling her back inside.

“what’s going on?” she asked gently, though her voice betrayed her by shaking. minkyung said nothing as yebin locked the door behind them, their flashlights the only source of light in the startlingly dark room.

when she was satisfied they were safe, yebin rejoined minkyung and reached up to wipe her tears away with her thumbs. that didn’t help, because a second later minkyung was crying again, bordering on sobbing and yebin pulled her down to sit on the floor, running her fingers through the other girl’s hair.

“unnie,” she murmured, keeping her close, “you’ve been too strong for me. you don’t need to be so strong all the time.”

yebin lets out a breath, her voice quiet. “i miss home.”

minkyung reaches up to tuck a piece of hair behind yebin’s ear. “i know, baby. i do too.”

“is this what our life is going to be like forever?”

minkyung is quiet for a moment, and  yebin knows she’s debating whether or not to tell the truth. it doesn’t matter, anyway. yebin knows the answer.

“it doesn’t matter,” minkyung says finally. yebin is a little surprised at the direction she takes her answer, but she doesn’t know what she was looking for with that question anyway. “we’re not going to think about forever. right now all that matters is right now.”

“you’re corny.” yebin rolls her eyes. minkyung twists her fingers in the hem of yebin’s shirt, leaning in to kiss a gentle kiss to her lips. yebin kisses back, savoring the moment. they don’t get enough moments like this anymore.

“if i keep talking, will you fall asleep?” minkyung asks when they part.

“i’d like it better if you sang.” yebin shrugs.

minkyung scowls. “bossy,” she says, but presses another quick kiss to her lips before pulling her close and starting to sing. yebin closes her eyes, letting the world fall away. she’s right, after all. everything outside they can deal with in the morning, they can deal with together. right now, all that yebin cares about is the two of them here together. safe, warm, still sleepy. they deserve this.

she falls asleep to the sound of minkyung’s voice and the steady thrum of her heartbeat.

_______________________________________________________________________

don't mind me, i'm just gonna puke at that ending. blegh. gross soft .

also i made a twitter recently and i've never had a twitter before but i'm going to try! follow me at @kangyesbian19 for some crying and being gay over pristin v and i'll probably follow you back. :))

sorry if there are mistakes bc what is rereading i don't know her.