There's an hour left before boarding time when the end of the world begins.

"Okay," Irene clears , "Yeri's going with Joy to get some snacks, while the three of us will look for some other things to buy. Be back here in forty-five minutes, alright?"

Their two youngest barely even say yes before they're already off and heading towards the mart, linking their hands as they walk with an extra bounce in their step. Wendy, Seulgi, and Irene watch them for a bit before the eldest turns to face them and asks, "Which store are you going to?"

"We passed by a book store earlier," Wendy says, pointing to somewhere behind Seulgi. "I'll go there. How about you, unnie?"

"I don't really have anything to buy, so I'll just go with you," Irene answers. "Seulgi?"

"Hmm," she hums, not knowing where to go. Seulgi's thinking of just going to the café for some coffee and bread when Wendy interrupts her train of thought and blurts, "There are coloring books in the book store!"

"Fine," Seulgi looks at her amusedly but nevertheless smiles. "I'll go with you, too."

————————

(A couple of minutes later, Seulgi couldn't be anymore grateful that she decided to go with them. Just imagining being alone during the zombie apocalypse makes her shiver.)

————————

That is how they end up in their current situation—huddled behind the farthest bookshelf from the entrance, with a fire extinguisher and a baton they got from a fallen guard as their only weapons. Seulgi has the fire extinguisher because she's the only one who can carry it without struggling while Irene has the baton because well, after inflicting so much pain with just a slap of her hand, there's no doubt that she'd be a mean hitter with a baton, too.

Wendy is doing her best to think of a way out of this mess, but thinking is very hard to do, especially when the sounds of the growling undead kept on breaking her concentration. They managed to barricade themselves by moving some of the bookshelves and covering any open spots with books, blocking them from sight. She's actually glad the zombies aren't like the ones from that game her friends back in Canada used to play—just thinking about having to deal with any of those Special Infected makes her shudder. Instead, she hopes that the zombies are like the ones from The Walking Dead—slow, mindless beings that can be outrun. There's something niggling at the back of her mind when a hand slips into hers, getting her attention.

"I'm worried about Sooyoung and Yerim," Irene says in a low voice, her eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think they're okay?"

Not wanting to agitate their leader any more than she already is, Wendy replies, "If there's anyone who's going to survive the zombie apocalypse, I'm pretty sure it would be those two."

"Yeah, unnie," Seulgi adds, touching Irene's shoulder. "I'm sure they're fine."

Irene's about to retort when they suddenly hear a gunshot, stopping her. Judging from the sound, it wasn't too far off from where they are. Motioning with her hands for them to be quiet, Irene attunes her ears and takes note of all the sounds she hears. Besides their breathing and the zombies' growling, she hears distinct footsteps approaching their location, too regular and even in their pacing for whoever it is to be a zombie. She instructs her two other members to crouch and get ready to fight, also readying her baton.

Poised to attack, Irene raises her hand when the bookshelf in front of them moves, but when she sees a flash of red and blonde, she nearly drops her baton in relief. It's when she sees the out of place red streaks on blonde hair that she panics again.

Rushing to Yeri, she asks, "Whose blood is that? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you get bitten?" Irene is halted in her rambling by a shaking hand on her shoulder. "Unnie," Joy manages to say in between barely muffled giggles, "stop worrying, that's just blood from a zombie Yerim shot through the head when it tackled her."

She then notices the pistol their youngest member is holding in her right hand and nearly hyperventilates. "Where did you get that? Do you even know how to use that? What if you shot your—"

Irene is cut-off when a hand covers and she is honestly annoyed that she keeps on being interrupted, but when Wendy motions for them all to be quiet with her other hand, the Red Velvet leader is harshly reminded of their present situation by the louder growling of the zombies. She sees Wendy grabbing a book, and before Irene has the chance to ask what she's doing, the book is thrown over the bookshelf, followed by the rush of footsteps.

She raises an eyebrow at Wendy who just shrugs and offhandedly says, "Sound attracts them." The main vocal then goes back to sit in her corner—her self-proclaimed thinking space—to plan their escape. Irene turns back to Yeri to continue berating her, a bit softer this time since she didn't want to attract the zombies again, but their youngest member points towards Joy's direction. Irene looks confused at first but when she notices something slinged on Joy's shoulder, her eyes grow large in disbelief.

"Why do you have a shotgun with you? Nevermind that, where—how did you even get that?" Joy cringes back a little bit from their frantic leader, while Yeri just chuckles evilly and Seulgi looks worriedly between her members and the bookshelves. After some more glaring from Irene, Joy breaks and answers, "We saw some dead bodies on our way here then Yerim pointed to the side and there was this dead guard with a shotgun, so of course I did the rational thing during a zombie apocalypse and took it. There was another guard beside him with a pistol, so I took it and gave it to Yerim."

They became silent after that since Irene didn't have an acceptable retort, but the silence didn't last long because of Seulgi who innocently asks, "Did you take their spare ammo too?"

Irene hisses Seulgi's name in disapproval, but the rest of the members just ignore it and Yeri perks up, opening her small purse. "Yeah, two magazines for the pistol and around a dozen of shells for the shotgun."

"We should use them sparingly and when really necessary then—the shotgun when there's a horde and the pistol when in an emergency," Wendy says and nods her approval. "I trust you at least know how to handle them?"

Their two youngest beams at them in affirmation with Yeri replying, "All those shooting games aren't for naught, unnie!"

Wendy nods again, her eyebrows furrowed, thinking. After a while, she points a finger upwards, getting everyone's attention. "Okay, here's what we're going to do."

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, Irene gets a bad feeling and shivers.

————————

“Vote no, Seulgi! It’s disgusting!”

“But unnie, it’s the only way we could go out safely!”

“But it’s so unhygienic! Do you really want to splatter yourself with zombie guts and blood?”

“If we’ll live, then yes!”

Amidst all her members’ whisper-shouts, Seulgi looks back and forth between them as if she’s watching a ping pong match. Why did she have to be the last member to vote? Where is all the fairness in the world? A zombie apocalypse comes and suddenly a matter of life and death rests on her shoulders?

“Seulgi, snap out of it!”

The bear blinks at her members. Their expressions range from excited, hopeful, determined, and fairly annoyed.

An awkward moment passes with only “Rarghrhrgwrs…” or “Ughhghnghnghghs…” filling up the silence.

Seulgi blinks at her members again. “I vote yes.”

Yeri beams at her, Joy looks defeated, Wendy only nods as if she was already expecting it, and Irene glares at her.

“I trusted you, Seulgi!” Irene hisses, looking betrayed.

Instead of looking sad, Seulgi perks up and says, “I watched this one episode of Fear the Walking Dead and Nick lives. It’s going to work, unnie!”

The only thing that manages to do is to annoy Irene more, which Wendy notices. “Don’t worry, unnie. It’s only going to be for a while. We can wash it off when we get to a safe place. Besides, we can always walk around Michonne-style.”

That placates Irene for the moment, even though she doesn’t know who Mishon is. Wendy is smart and she trusts her. She got that presidential award after all.

————————

[a/n]

this is kinda crack-ish, but i love zombie!au and i remember having fun writing this so ehe. oh and their hairstyles here are from red flavor era bc i started writing it around that time !!