It was the metaphorical snap of a twig, the sudden hush in the crowd.

Chaeyoung felt it in the air before she heard it; before she saw it. There was a shift around her and the sensation caused the hairs on her neck to stand straight, as if to warn her of incoming danger.

She looked up from the grocery list in her hand and scanned the area around her, not entirely sure what she was looking for. 

Nothing seemed wrong. It looked like a typical scene at her local mart: shoppers groggily shopping, glossy-eyed employees with bright red aprons doing inventory as usual and occasionally helping out customers. 

Yeah, everything looked pretty normal. But then what was up with the shiver creeping up her spine? 

Chaeyoung shook her head and ran a hand through her short blonde hair, soothing the nervous neck hairs along the way. I must be paranoid or something, she thought to herself. I’ve gotta stop watching so many crime shows.

She looked back down at the grocery list, the one her mother had given her. 

Okay, so… onion powder and some beef.

“Ah, okay,” she said aloud, “Not that much to grab. Nice.” Added to the fact that the list was short, she’d brought more money than she actually needed, so more than likely she’d have enough money left over to warrant a detour to the snack aisle and get herself some sweets. 

Adjusting the backpack on her shoulder, she began walking toward the location of the first item, the onion powder, when she finally heard it. A low, guttural sound coming from the front of the store.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! Slow down!” 

Frightened, Chaeyoung quickly turned and stretched her neck trying to figure out what the yelling was about. When she was about to give up, her eyes finally spotted an employee near the cash registers holding someone back, clearly struggling to do so. 

“Ma’am! I’m going to need you to exit the premises! Do it now or I’ll call the security guard!” 

What had the woman done? Chaeyoung squinted, trying to find that out. 

The woman in the employee’s arms looked ed up. Chaeyoung wasn’t being mean, like, she seriously looked ed up. Her face looked beaten and bloody, like someone had smashed a large glass bottle onto it and then stomped on it. 

She was struggling against the young employee’s grip, twisting her body in weird unnatural ways.

Chaeyoung frowned, feeling like something bad was about to happen. Everything in her body was screaming at her to leave, to stay away from the confrontation happening before her, similar to the way her body had told her there was a danger earlier. Trusting her senses this time, she took a quick look at the list and shrugged, deciding to leave the store before things could escalate more than they already had.

Sorry, mom, she thought, maybe another time.

The store had two main entrances, one on the far left and another one on the far right, and she began to scuttle her way to the one farthest away from the altercation, the right-side exit.

She was trying to remember where she had chained her bicycle as she reached the sliding glass doors when a man limped in, looking just as bad as the lady fighting the employee. Chaeyoung jumped backward in fright, seeing that the man was actually in worse condition than the woman. He had brown rotting flesh hanging by thin strings of skin, leaving a trail of bits and pieces every now and then. Upon closer inspection, Chaeyoung realized that he had no lower jaw. How the hell was he acting so normal? Why was he not writhing and gasping in pain?

It took a while for the man to notice her, but when he did, he locked eyes with her. 

Oh, no, wait, no, he didn’t have eyes either. Just holes full of what Chaeyoung could only describe as blood clots.

Chaeyoung backed up some more, not peeling her eyes off the man. Where were his eyes? Why was his skin like that? Where was his jaw? She had no idea, but she wasn’t about to just stand there like an idiot as she tried to figure it out. The smell emanating from his body was enough for her to know that he was probably diseased in some way or another, so she had to avoid touching him at all costs. Chaeyoung felt like she could probably juke him and stay out of reach, but she wasn’t much of a risk taker. She knew there was a chance that he would reach out with lightning speed and attack her. Instead, she made her way to the spot she’d been at before, near the left-side exit where she’d seen the first altercation. 

As Chaeyoung got there, she heard a scream originating from the area where she had first seen the bleeding woman.

Peeking from behind the refrigerators, she saw the employee that had been holding the woman stare at her in utter disbelief. He screamed again and held up an arm. There was no hand at the end of the arm, just a disgusting bloody stump where it should have been.

The bleeding woman had more gore around than she had the first time Chaeyoung had seen her, so she guessed that the woman had something to do with the missing hand.

The employee regained his senses and angrily swung at the woman with the arm that was still intact. The woman didn’t even bother dodging; she simply stood as he punched , knocking her down onto the cold floor. The young man, cradling his bloody stump, screamed at his coworkers to help him. At first they did nothing but stare in shock. Chaeyoung wasn’t sure if it was because they couldn’t believe he was missing a hand or because he’d just punched the demonic woman. After another shrill scream, they finally snapped out of their trance and ran toward him, ripping their clothes to create a makeshift bandage. Unbeknownst to all of them, the bleeding woman got up and stumbled her way to them.

Chaeyoung could have done something, anything, to warn the crowd of employees that they were in danger, but closed up and her legs turned to jelly. All she could do was watch in horror as the woman climbed onto the one-handed young man and bit his head, causing him to let loose a string of curse words. He tried spinning around to throw her off and grabbing fistfuls of her hair to pull on her, but the woman had an incredibly good grip on him and simply bit him again, twisting her sickeningly thin body around to take a bigger, better chomp of his face.

Chaeyoung watched the guy fall to the floor and writhe in pain for three long, excruciating minutes. Finally, he gave into his wounds and died. By that time, every single one of his cowardly coworkers had already left, running for their lives and abandoning him. 

It was hard to look away, but Chaeyoung knew she’d end up just like him if she stayed frozen where she was standing. She ripped her eyes away from the dead body and looked toward the right, near the exit she had tried to leave through before. It was now littered with more people, all of them looking the same as the eyeless man and the bleeding woman. 

Oh, god. She had wasted her time watching the fight.

Chaeyoung stifled a frustrated scream. What the was happening? Was any of this real? It felt like a nightmare situation but Chaeyoung knew that it was all real. Everything felt way too real to be all in her head.

Even if it was a dream, Chaeyoung wasn’t about to take any chances, so she ran to the back of the store, looking behind her for a quick second to make sure there were no demons.

In looking back, she crashed into something. Chaeyoung fell to the floor and shrieked, thinking it was one of those creatures. She closed her eyes and kicked at the floor to push herself away from it. When she realized she wasn’t being attacked, she opened her eyes only to find an older woman splayed on the floor with a dark haired girl, possibly her daughter, on her knees next to her, asking her if she was okay. 

“O-oh my god, I’m–“ Chaeyoung only managed to say those first words before closed and refused to reopen. She got up and tried to help the woman up, but her daughter got up as well and darkly shooed her away. Chaeyoung stepped away quickly, afraid of the girl. Normally she wouldn’t be so intimidated, especially after what she’d seen just seconds before, but the daughter was well over ten centimeters taller than her and didn’t look weak at all, so Chaeyoung backed off before she was crushed.

“Tzuyu,” the taller girl’s mother huffed, “help me up, please.” She shot Chaeyoung a look of contempt, her wrinkles deepening, as her daughter complied and pulled her up. They started walking away without looking back, causing Chaeyoung to freak out.

Tell them! Tell them about the demons at the front of the store! She really tried to, but nothing would come out. They’re going to get bitten too! Go! All of the internal screaming was for nothing, as refused to open. It had been made especially worse after the nasty look the woman had given her. 

They clearly had not heard any of the commotion and had no idea of what was happening throughout the store, as they calmly walked off, so if they remained unwarned and something happened to them, it all would be on Chaeyoung. 

The woman and her daughter disappeared behind a corner, causing the guilt in Chaeyoung to tear away at her heart. 

Then walk, you fool! Tap them, drag them away from there, do something!

But her legs refused to listen as well. They just shook, rattling her entire body to the core. All of Chaeyoung had shut down, and she knew that it would be the death of two innocent people.

As warm tears flowed down Chaeyoung’s cheeks, her pocket buzzed silently. Sobbing, she reached for her phone and tried reading the notification on the lock screen. She couldn’t see anything– her tears blurred her surroundings. 

She really had no time to waste. There were creatures in the store that had the ability to kill her and if she spent too much time crying and texting, they would do exactly that. And there was nothing that Chaeyoung feared more than dying. 

But– Chaeyoung had to tell her mother what was happening, just in case she got attacked by the creatures, so using muscle memory, Chaeyoung guessed where all of the keys were and unlocked her phone, thankful to herself that she had kept the passcode short. She attempted to type out a message, hoping that it would be readable, because she definitely still couldn’t see anything. 

She hoped that she managed to send “Mom, something happened at the mart” and not something bad and terribly autocorrected. She trusted that her habit of always being on her phone would at least be useful in this situation. She hit send and then continued by writing another message.

She almost typed “I’m being attacked by the undead”, but...was that actually what they were? Were these things actually the living dead? She had no idea. They could very well be crazed living humans with an appetite for human flesh. Besides, who would believe that there were actual undead creatures storming into the store? That sounded more like the plot to a movie than an actual thing that was happening to her. Her mom would laugh, thinking it was a joke, and not take her seriously, a dangerous situation that Chaeyoung wanted to avoid. 

She opted to type “There are weird and bloody people here, mom. They look like they’re ready to kill someone! I don’t know what to do.”

Chaeyoung didn’t expect a quick reply. Her mother was the kind that looked at texts and never replied back, and whenever she did reply, it was hours, even days, later. So when her phone started buzzing, signaling a phone call, Chaeyoung yelped and stared at her phone, surprised. As soon as she answered, her mother immediately started pelting her with questions.

“Chaeyoung! What did you mean? Bloody people? Where are you? Are you safe? Have they killed anyone? Chaeyoung, answer me! I’m terrified!”

Hot tears ran down Chaeyoung’s face again. It seemed ridiculous, but hearing her mother’s voice was so soothing, especially in such a wild situation like this. She opened to speak and, somehow, managed to say only one word.

“M-mommy..” She broke down after that, hunching over and sobbing into her phone.

“Chaeyoung…” Her mother’s voice softened. “I’m so sorry, you’re probably scared out of your mind. Oh, my Chaeyoungie… Please be careful. I’ll be right there, okay?”

Chaeyoung’s heart stopped. Her mother? Coming? And putting herself in danger? That in no way would help Chaeyoung. 

“N-nnn-no! No!” She half screamed into her phone, words finally coming out.

“What? But sweetie, I–“

Chaeyoung choked back tears, the sensation burning the back of . She didn’t want her mom to risk her life like that.

Her mother was silent on the other side. She sighed dejectedly and agreed to stay.

“Okay, honey, but you have to come home,” she said, clearly still not convinced about staying put. "You have to. Please be careful. Come back home, okay? I love you…”

Chaeyoung looked around, making sure no demonic humans were around, ready to pounce. “I love you too, mom.” Seeing that she had successfully spoken, she dared risk a few more seconds to say more to her mother who was worried sick. “I’ll be home soon. I’ll- I’ll see you!”

She hung up immediately after that, not wanting to choke up and cry again at any other words her mother had to offer. Chaeyoung knew that her mother didn’t understand why she didn’t want her to come. Every word in those text messages had seemed to be pleading for help, for her to rescue her. Chaeyoung knew this. She regretted sending those messages now. Imagining all of the danger her mother would be in by coming made Chaeyoung’s mouth dry up. 

She knew she’d made the right decision by rejecting her mother’s help, though. She could make it out by herself. She would.

She coughed once and shook her head, clearing it up. She knew she’d have to keep it clear during moments like these, where every second needed quick decisions.

With breath that trembled more than her legs, she slowly made her way through the store, seeing if she could spot something that would spark an idea on how to escape. She checked the corners before passing by the many aisles it offered, not wanting to end up like the poor employee.

When she got to the pasta aisle, she heard a scream. Hesitating for only a second, she ran to the adjacent aisle and found the woman who she had crashed into earlier. She was on the floor again, this time getting her head bitten off by one of the creatures. 

“Tzu-Tzuyu…” The woman rasped, reaching out in vain. Her daughter, Tzuyu, simply stood in horror, only meters away, watching her mother be eaten. Chaeyoung wasn’t sure, but she guessed the demon would eventually move on to attack the girl as well, unless she interjected. She ran to Tzuyu and grabbed her hand. Tzuyu yelped, not noticing that there was a second person watching her mother die. 

The feasting monster heard the yelp and stopped, staring straight at Chaeyoung and the now orphaned girl. It bared its teeth, chunks of flesh caught between them. Tzuyu froze again, seeing an earring caught on the lip of the demon. Chaeyoung barely recognized it as the older woman’s.

“Run, run, run!” she shouted, pulling on the other girl’s arm, hoping she would snap out of it and do as she ordered. At first Tzuyu resisted, probably refusing to abandon her mother, but quickly changed her mind when the monster began spider-walking toward them. 

Chaeyoung was originally heading toward the front of the store, hoping to finally escape through either of the exits, but stopped in her tracks when she saw what was going on.

From where the girls stood, they could get a good look at both exits, and the sights were not good at all. There were hordes of several bloody creatures coming from both sides, all making their way to the center, where the girls were standing. The automatic sliding doors were practically welcoming all of the creatures in.

Chaeyoung quickly noted that three of the monsters had red vests on, a signature look for employees of mart. One of them was missing a hand.

“H-hey!” Tzuyu said, drawing Chaeyoung’s attention back to the matter at hand. She pointed to the left and Chaeyoung saw three other abominations making their way toward them, slowly but surely. 

Chaeyoung nodded, thankful that her companion had paid attention, and clutched her hand tighter, then began to run back to the area where she had called her own mother. That place seemed to be devoid of any undead, perfect for Chaeyoung, since she needed someplace to have a few moments of peace to come up with a plan.

Tzuyu seemed to have fully come back to her senses, as now Chaeyoung didn’t have to pull her along. She kept up with Chaeyoung’s pace perfectly. 

(And...maybe it wasn’t the time or place to care about such things, but Chaeyoung couldn’t help but notice that Tzuyu hadn’t let go of her hand yet.)

When they found the area that Chaeyoung had been at previously, they found another creature stumbling around. They’d have to move somewhere else to be able to talk and formulate a plan.

The taller girl tightened her grip on Chaeyoung’s hand and pointed somewhere. Chaeyoung followed the direction of her finger and saw an emergency exit. Her heart jumped, excited to finally find an escape. 

They ran to it, Chaeyoung wondering why she hadn’t thought about finding a back exit before. 

When they got to the door, they found the door wouldn’t budge. Chaeyoung shoulder-slammed it, doing nothing but hurting herself. The taller girl attempted to open it as well, all to no avail. Wordlessly, they agreed to try it together. Chaeyoung pressed her palms against the flat gray door and the other girl used her shoulder to try and push it. 

At first it seemed like their efforts were for nothing, but after a few more seconds of struggling, the door ever so slowly cracked open. This gave Chaeyoung a surge of strength, which helped them open it even quicker. 

Once they opened the exit, an alarm rang throughout the entire store. It didn’t matter to Chaeyoung though, as they were finally…

Free?

The girls were treated to the sight of dozens of demons, all of them walking aimlessly around the back parking lot of the mart. Once they heard the deafening alarm sound escaping through the doorway, however, they all turned around to look at Chaeyoung and her partner. 

Everything was still. It was like the undead were just as surprised as the two girls to find each other. But the moment quickly passed and all of the creatures made their way to the poor girls, hunger evident in the eyes of those who still had them.

Tzuyu screamed and began to pull on the door, trying her best to close it. Chaeyoung stared, still shocked that the exit they had worked so hard to open turned out to be a trap.

“Hey!” The girl screamed, kicking Chaeyoung’s foot. “Help me! Come on, they’re going to kill us!”

Chaeyoung’s brain buffered for only a second. Then she got into action. She pulled on the side of the door, struggling to keep her grip on it. The door was as heavy as it was when they tried to open it, but the desperation of seeing the undead amble closer made it seem like the door now weighed a billion times more.

Sweat formed on Chaeyoung’s hairline. The monsters weren’t all that fast, but that didn’t make Chaeyoung feel any better. They weren’t gonna stop until they got to them. That she knew very well.

One of the creatures began to get dangerously close. Tzuyu seemed to notice that they had barely managed to close the door halfway and began to pull with newfound strength. She clearly wasn’t about to let herself become food for the undead. 

“No, no please! We can do this!” Tzuyu shrieked, the choked panic in her voice turning Chaeyoung’s stomach. She felt like she wasn’t helping enough so the blonde tried channeling all her strength to her legs, which were what she was using the most. 

With both of the girls using all of their power, the door slowly stopped to a close, and just in time too, as two demons had looked ready to pounce.

Chaeyoung dropped to the floor and began seeing stars, the room spinning faster than her eyeballs could handle. She couldn’t believe how exhausted she was. 

Tzuyu doubled over, also trying her hardest to catch her breath. Her brown locks clung to her sweaty face. She looked like she was gagging, her body probably punishing her for overexerting it.

Chaeyoung groaned as she got up, secretly wishing she could just lie down there forever but didn’t, knowing that that would be the death of her. She stumbled toward Tzuyu, wanting to check on her.

Tzuyu seemed to have won the battle against her guts. She was now leaning against a shelf, fanning herself and trying not to cry. She saw Chaeyoung and closed her eyes.

“Hi,” she breathed out, trying her best to disguise her fear but failing to do so. Her wavering voice betrayed her. “I’m sorry. I feel like all of that was my fault. If I hadn't suggested it, we would probably be at the front exit tasting freedom.”

Chaeyoung leaned against the shelf as well, instantly regretting it when the shelf almost gave way. Tzuyu laughed a little, her dimples shedding a little light on an otherwise dark and bloody day.

Chaeyoung recovered, chuckling at herself and holding the shelf still. “It’s– uh, fine. The front exit is clogged with undead creatures anyway, so… It was worth a try, you know? Let’s keep moving, I guess. I feel like it would be a mistake to stay in one place for too long.”

Tzuyu agreed and stepped aside as if to let Chaeyoung lead the way. She did, albeit a little flustered, and began heading to the right side of the mart, toward the electronics section. Despite this particular area being at the back of the store, it had a clear view of the right exit. They could make a break for it if it was clear of monsters and have a chance of actually making it.

“Uh, I’m Tzuyu, by the way. Chou Tzuyu. Just thought I’d let you know, since we’re working together and all.”

Chaeyoung spared a second to look behind and gave Tzuyu a smile. “I know. I heard your...mom...say it. Before, uh, before– you know.” , she felt bad for reminding her. Thinking quickly, she introduced herself. “I’m Son Chaeyoung. It’s unfortunate we had to meet in these circumstances.”

She smiled at her, a forgiving look gracing her beautiful features. “Yeah, you seem really nice. Plus you seem to know what you’re doing. You ever fought undead creatures before?”

Chaeyoung scoffed, acting all tough, but almost tripped on a box on the floor. “O-of course, all the time! This is a piece of cake.” 

Tzuyu let out a laugh, almost inaudible because of the exit alarm that was still going off. “Sorry, I know that was a dumb question. I just think that you seem very calm and collected for someone that was almost killed by demonic creatures.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m good at hiding it. I’m actually terrified. I came here to buy groceries, not fight for my life.” 

Chaeyoung cut the conversation short upon finding that the electronics section was seemingly devoid of any life. (Could she still say that when the threat was probably undead corpses?)

Tzuyu leaned close to Chaeyoung, her eyes roaming around, wondering why they had made their way here. “What’s the plan, Chaeyoung?”

Chaeyoung grabbed her hand and led her further into the area. “Around here, there’s a main aisle that leads right into an exit. If it’s safe, we can run like hell and maybe make it out alive. There can’t possibly be an infinite number of creatures entering the exit in front of us. The influx has to have stopped by now. If not...”

Tzuyu nodded, understanding. She paused suddenly, grabbing Chaeyoung and pulling her closer. Chaeyoung looked where Tzuyu was staring and saw a demonic corpse sniffing around. She had almost walked into it. Chaeyoung assumed that the shrill scream of the alarm had covered up all of the sounds they made.

Tzuyu carefully backtracked for a while and hid both of them behind the corner of a different section, the tool section. They unanimously decided to take a few tools just in case (Chaeyoung aquired two hammers and Tzuyu a machete) then took a detour and circled around the place they spotted the monster, finding the clearing to the exit. Chaeyoung’s heart jumped as she saw that the plan had been a good one— even though it was super far, it seemed like the exit was now empty. There could be creatures within the aisles, but maybe if they ran fast enough, they could break free from their grasp with their new weapons before they could get ripped apart. 

Tzuyu silently celebrated and grabbed Chaeyoung’s hands. Whispering, she said “This is it! All we have to do is run, right?” Chaeyoung nodded in response.

“With all of your might, okay?”

Tzuyu nodded with a smile, seemingly ready to go. But as quick as the smile had appeared, it wavered and eventually disappeared. Chaeyoung tapped her shoulder and made the what’s up? motion.

Tzuyu blinked a lot before answering. Her gulp was almost audible. “M-my mom… is she dead?”

Chaeyoung cringed inwardly, knowing that no matter what she said, it would come out badly. She was almost certain that Tzuyu’s mom was dead. No way she could survive after the undead creature bit her entire face off. And even if she did survive that initial attack, there were monsters nearly everywhere. She was bound to be dead now, for sure. But how could she tell Tzuyu any of that? 

Tzuyu studied her face. She looked down and spoke slowly. “I know this is going to sound foolish and suicidal, but I kind of want to check and see if my mom has died. We don’t know the behavior of these things, s-so maybe it’s not like it is in the movies. Maybe… maybe they don’t turn into undead monsters when they’re eaten. It’s possible that the ones we’ve seen are just the originals and, and they don’t have the ability to make their- their victims–“ Tzuyu didn’t bother finishing. She knew that she definitely sounded foolish. 

Chaeyoung remained silent. She didn’t want to tell Tzuyu about her theory— that her mother had definitely turned into a demonic creature. The bright red employees’ vests on the demons they saw earlier told her everything. The first woman, the one that attacked the young male employee, bit him and now he was roaming the store looking for someone to bite as well. 

“I know you must be thinking that I’m an idiot. Maybe I am. But of course, you don’t have to go with me,” Tzuyu whispered, turning around and facing the direction of the aisle where her mother had been attacked. “I’m going to go now before I waste any more of your time. Don’t want the demons to flock around your goal. I’ll- I’ll see you around, Chaeyoung. Hopefully.” She used her free hand to grab Chaeyoung’s and quickly squeezed it before sprinting away and out of sight. 

Chaeyoung nearly whimpered when the last thing she saw of Tzuyu was her long dark hair disappearing behind a corner. She hadn’t known the girl for very long, but having a living, breathing human being accompanying her had been such a beneficial thing for her mental health. She had felt relative safety with Tzuyu around. Not to mention that she had genuinely liked her. With her gone, Chaeyoung began to feel cold. Had it been this chilly before? 

She rubbed her arms and did her best to not worry about Tzuyu too much. She had a heavy machete to protect her, after all. 

She got into running position, body pointed at her destination. Truth be told, Chaeyoung had never really been good at sports. She was more of an art kid, so the most strenuous activity she participated in was carrying around heavy canvasses for art class. Never in her life would she ever have thought that she’d regret not being a little more physical. Pushing the heavy door and then pulling it closed had nearly left her dead, and now she was about to run for her life a good eighty meters, from one end of the store to another. Could she even run that far before getting a cramp on her side or running out of stamina? 

Chaeyoung frowned. 

Stop it. I have to do it.

She told her mom she’d make it home! She couldn’t let her down! 

Without warning, the lights of the mart turned off and the alarm ceased to make a sound. Chaeyoung gasped and raised her hammers in defense. She blinked a few times and found that could still see thanks to a few of the building’s sunroofs.

“What awful timing,” she grumbled, wondering what could have caused the power outage. Whatever it was, it because with the darkness and no sound to mask her running, she was a lot less likely to succeed in her mission.

After taking a minute to get used to the darkness and silence, Chaeyoung resumed the running position, doing her best to shake off the negative feelings. She had to succeed no matter what. 

After another moments of hesitation, Chaeyoung made a mad dash for the exit. Almost immediately, she regretted her decision. As she predicted, the cramp on her side immediately manifested after running for a  few seconds, impairing her speed by a lot. The two hammers in her hands made running much harder, too, and to make matters worse, the exit Chaeyoung had aimed for was clear, but the path to it was not. It seemed that a few undead creatures had stepped in the way of the exit. 

Chaeyoung huffed and made a sharp turn to duck inside an aisle that served as the midpoint between her starting position and the exit, the condiments aisle. Chaeyoung clung onto the shelves, accidentally knocking over a few jars.

Neither her lungs or legs were made to be used like this. She muttered her apologies to her own body parts and slipped down onto the floor. She was so exhausted already.

Somehow she was already sweating and it was trickling down her back, freezing her skin due to the cold air of the mart. It felt like her entire body was giving up, tremor-like shudders rolling down her body.

She knew she had to get up, but damn would it be easy to just give up and let herself get eaten. 

As if hell were listening to Chaeyoung’s thoughts, two creatures appeared in the aisle Chaeyoung was in. Immediately regretting ever letting herself give up, she jumped to her feet and assessed the situation. There was a monster at each end of the aisle, effectively trapping her inside. Not wasting any time, Chaeyoung made her way to the middle, giving her enough time to think up a plan as the demons slowly shuffled to her. 

Maybe it was the fact that she was only seconds from being eaten alive but her brain was coming up with absolutely zero escape plans. Chaeyoung steeled herself and raised her hammers, not sure about what she was going to do when the demons came close enough to grab her. 

When one of the undead came within less of a meter, Chaeyoung screamed and swung with her left hammer, hitting the thing straight in the jaw. It recoiled and lost it’s jaw but largely, it remained unaffected. It simply resumed trying to eat Chaeyoung. Instinctively, she backed away from it, only to bump into the second monster that had been at the other end, making her drop her hammers in surprise. She tried to run away, but the monster grabbed her backpack. Chaeyoung twisted herself until she was free from it, but the creature just lunged and grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, digging its stick-thin but strong fingers into her skin.

Chaeyoung had never felt a fear as intense as this. She had walked right into the monster’s arms thanks to none other than herself and now she was going to die. She tried struggling, wildly swinging her hammers and throwing its arms off of her, to no avail, as the demon holding her had a death grip. She tried screaming, but it caught in the same way her words had when she first saw Tzuyu and her mom. 

Nothing, absolutely nothing, came out of . 

Chaeyoung felt hot breath in her ear as the demon that was holding her opened its mouth to take a bite out of her shoulder. Sickeningly slick saliva spilled down onto her shoulder, burning any area it trickled onto. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head away, hopelessly hoping that that would make the situation less real.

Chaeyoung heard a loud crash and felt a sharp bite on her neck, but– but it didn’t feel like a creature’s teeth. 

She heard the creature that had been holding her let out an animalistic screech. It let her go and Chaeyoung threw herself onto the floor. There was a second crash near her, and a second scream originating from the second monster that had trapped her. Seemingly out of nowhere, Chaeyoung caught the super strong stench of pickles. 

She felt her neck and found a piece of glass sticking out of it. She pulled it out with ease and felt for any more. When she checked her hand, there was a bit of blood, but it was a lot less than she expected. 

Searching for the reason as to why everything was happening, Chaeyoung spun around and spotted Tzuyu at one end of the aisle, bouncing a large pickle jar in her right hand, ready to throw it. She looked like she had been through an equally bad time as Chaeyoung had. Her hair and blouse were stained with blood and her hair was a lot more disheveled that it had been when she’d left Chaeyoung.

Tzuyu jumped over the writhing creature and grabbed Chaeyoung, rattling her. “Chaeyoung! Are you okay? Did I get it before it bit you?” Tzuyu felt her neck and sported a terrified look as she saw the blood on Chaeyoung’s neck. “Oh my god, was that because of the pickle jar? I’m so sorry, Chaeyoung!”

Chaeyoung shook her head. “No! No! You literally just saved my life! Who cares about a little scratch!”

Tzuyu, somehow looking relieved and also terrified at the same time, nodded and got behind Chaeyoung, creating a back-to-back team.

“Tzuyu, what happened? Where’s your machete? How did you find me?” Chaeyoung asked, grabbing a small vinegar jar from the shelf next to her and hurling it at the undead that had almost eaten her. The attack did nothing more than slow the creature down for a little, just as the hammer had done, but every precious second counted.

“I didn’t find her. She’s probably walking around here, trying to find us to eat our faces off. Also, I was attacked and had to bury my machete in the head of a creature. After that I decided to–“ She interrupted herself to scream and throw a jar at the monster that had gotten dangerously close, knocking it back a meter or two. “I decided to come back! I felt safer with you, and I wanted to find you again! I’m so sorry for abandoning you!” 

Chaeyoung blinked away a few tears. So she’d felt the same way as her…

“But when I went to look for you, you weren’t anywhere. Th-then I heard your scream.”

“And I’m glad! You have the best timing. I owe you one, Tzuyu.”

Tzuyu gasped and Chaeyoung heard another jar crashing onto a demon. “You don’t owe me anything! Let’s just get out of here, please. I don’t think throwing pickle jars at them will work infinitely.”

Chaeyoung grunted in response, her brain formulating a plan. Funny how it decided to work when Tzuyu was by her side again.

“Hey, let’s climb the shelves! Quickly before the creatures get too close! You first!”

Chaeyoung pushed Tzuyu toward one and covered for her as she climbed up. Once Tzuyu was done, Chaeyoung threw one last jar before making her way up the shelves as well. She had a close call with one of the creatures, as it managed to wrap a hand around Chaeyoung’s ankle, but she gave it a vigorous shake and it let go, unable to hold on any longer.

Chaeyoung finished climbing and turned to a crouched Tzuyu. In the darkness, Chaeyoung could see that the taller girl gave her a weak smile, in a way letting her know she was okay.

Chaeyoung shuffled closer to Tzuyu and reached for her hand. Tzuyu took it graciously and covered it with both of hers, the warmth sending chills up Chaeyoung’s spine. 

“Tzuyu… I- Uh…” She stumbled on her words, the excitement of having Tzuyu by her side again holding reins on her tongue. Giving up trying to say anything about being glad about having her back, she just sighed and squeezed Tzuyu’s hands again. She allowed them some rest for a few minutes, making sure they regained their strength before they could even think to start strategizing again.

When Tzuyu's heavy breathing calmed down, the blonde offered her friend a smile. “Hey. Let’s keep going. We lost our weapons somewhere along the way, but god, Tzuyu… We’re alive!”

Tzuyu nodded. “How are we going to do this? We won’t be alive for long if we don’t come up with something.” She pointed at the right-side exit that Chaeyoung had tried making a run for. “It’s close, but it’s hard to imagine being able to run to it. Do you have a plan?”

She did not. There were indeed creatures all around them, attracted by the sound of teenage girls screaming and breaking glass. She had no idea why they weren’t walking around trying to find new prey. The demons stood there, waiting, and Chaeyoung had a hunch that they were intelligent enough to know when the two girls were devising a plan. 

“Not really. Originally I was going to suggest we climb off these shelves and onto the next, then climb off those and climb on the next ones, you know, since we seem to be pretty safe when we’re higher up, but…” She motioned to the demons below them, “They won’t move at all. If we jump down, they’ll be on us before we reach the next ones.”

“Even if they weren’t super close, we’d definitely tire ourselves out by doing that,” Tzuyu pointed out. “The sound of the glass shattering attracted a ton of the rotting creatures. I can’t see anything, but I can hear their footsteps and groans.” She motioned around them. “There are more surrounding us than before, right?”

Chaeyoung huffed, scanning the areas before them. “Yeah. I noticed before. And you’re right, Tzu. Climbing this many shelves and throwing so many jars just to keep them at bay… We’ll get tired and die in a second, for sure.”

Both girls groaned, knowing the situation was dire.

At that moment, Chaeyoung’s side pocket began vibrating. It spooked Chaeyoung at first. She had totally forgotten she had a phone. She checked the caller ID with squinted eyes, unused to such brightness, and her heart leapt at the sight of her mother’s contact name. Holding up a finger to let Tzuyu know she would answer, she pressed a button on the screen.

“Mom? Hello?”

“Chaeyoung! Baby! Oh my baby! You’re alive! I heard what happened and immediately thought of calling you! Chaeyoung, the radio is calling it an apocalypse!” She paused only to take a quick breath. “Is that what’s happening at the store? Why didn’t you tell me there were dead people walking around!”

Chaeyoung nearly laughed, bitterness in . Because it would have sounded silly at the time, she thought. Even I almost didn’t believe myself, and I was actually there to witness everything. “Mom, that doesn’t matter. I’m alive. I’m fine. I found a girl, her name is Tzuyu, and we’re gonna escape together! The store is full of the things, and it’s going to be hard to evade them, but I’ll be home, mom. I promise.”

Her mom was quiet on the line. “Please do. Please come home. I called the police and asked them to help you, please don’t move. They’re coming for you! Stay safe, please! They’ll save both of you, I know it.” Her mother started to cry hysterically. “Please, promise me! Promise me you’ll do everything you can to stay safe!”

Chaeyoung looked over at Tzuyu, who could most likely hear everything. “Mom, I already promised! B-but okay, I promise! I’ll make sure to stay safe until they come!”

“I better go, sweetie, or else I’ll distract you! Stay safe, I love you so so much.” Her mother paused for a brief second before repeating herself, quieter this time. “I love you so much, honey.”

“I love you a lot too, mom. Take care of yourself too. See you soon.” She hung up and didn’t say a word for a while. 

Chaeyoung wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to promise such things to her mother, but then again, being optimistic never hurt, right? If she and Tzuyu kept doing what they were doing and kept making wise decisions, then all would work out. 

Tzuyu allowed Chaeyoung a few moments of silence to digest everything and peered over the edge of the shelf, watching as the demons walked aimlessly around the aisle. They seemed to know that she and Chaeyoung were going to come down eventually. That if they stayed long enough, they’d get an opportunity to eat more people. 

“Hey, you said that the sound of the jars breaking attracted the creatures, right?” Tzuyu asked, and when she saw Chaeyoung nod, a curious expression resting on her face, she continued her train of thought. “Then maybe we should keep throwing jars, but away from us. Like, behind us, where we don’t have to run. If we get as many as we can over there,” she said, gesturing to the electronics section they had been at earlier, “then we might have enough time and space to run. Does that make sense?”

Chaeyoung looked at the shelf they were on, seeing that there were some jars within reach. “Do you think you can throw far enough? Without using too much force. We don’t wanna throw so hard we accidentally fall off the shelf.”

“Back in Taiwan,” Tzuyu began as she nodded, “I played a bit of baseball! Turns out I was only good at pitching.”

Chaeyoung grinned at her, tucking away that bit of information for later. “Chou Tzuyu, are you serious? Is that why your jars seemed to affect those things more than mine? Your throws must have been more powerful and precise!”

The taller girl laughed, feeling oddly shy about the compliment. “I guess so, Son Chaeyoung. Either that or the first jars I threw just had more acidic and stinky pickles. But hey- let’s do it then. I’ll carefully pitch some jars while you see if the plan works.”

“I’ll hold you steady, just in case,” Chaeyoung suggested, wrapping an arm around Tzuyu’s waist. She immediately turned pink from the proximity and was momentarily grateful that it was too dark for Tzuyu to see. “Just don’t accidentally elbow me.”

“I’ll try. This way, right?” Immediately after Chaeyoung nodded, Tzuyu reached for some jars below her and set them up beside her. Then, the plan began.

One by one, she began to launch the stuff into the air as far away from them as possible. Chaeyoung watched from under Tzuyu’s arms in amazement as the undead heard the commotion and hurtled themselves in that direction.

“It’s working! I can see a bunch of ‘em running to the electronics section!”

Tzuyu said nothing, wasting no energy. She just kept catapulting the jars and reaching for more until a minute later Chaeyoung told her to stop.

“Enough! Tzuyu, I think we’re good. It’s empty around here now.”

Tzuyu turned toward the exit. “My eyes haven’t adjusted to the darkness, though. I can’t see a thing yet.”

Chaeyoung let go of the taller girl and nodded, then corrected herself and said “Okay, if you can’t see, hold my hand. I’ll lead you around, okay? We can do this.”

With no hesitation, Tzuyu grabbed her hand naturally and nodded.

“W-well,” Chaeyoung stuttered, “not right now. Let’s jump off and then we can hold hands.”

Tzuyu let it go quickly and nodded. “Yes, sorry. My apologies.”

Chaeyoung swallowed thickly and nodded back. “R-ready?”

“As I’ll ever be” was her response.

“Okay. To the exit. Go!”

Chaeyoung tried to get off as carefully as possible, but her shoe caught on the tip of the shelf and she fell to the floor on her knees, landing hard and painfully. She tried her hardest not to hiss or release air out of her nose too loudly, afraid to ruin the plan more than she already had.

Tzuyu, being more careful, hopped off and pulled her up. She wrapped Chaeyoung’s arm around her own neck, then helped her walk as the pain ebbed away at her strength.

Stupid, Chaeyoung thought, feeling sorry for Tzuyu for ruining the plan not five seconds after devising it.

“Tell me if you see anything, okay, Chaeng?” Tzuyu whispered, turning her head every now and then, probably to hear better. She didn’t seem mad at Chaeyoung for ruining the plan, not at all. “I feel like I’m so unused to this darkness that I could walk into one of them.”

“Okay. Just keep straight. There’s nothing in our way and our exit is clean.” Chaeyoung’s heart pounded in her chest at the sight. She could see through the glass and spotted the orange sky. It was getting dark outside as well, which meant that Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had to quickly find a safe place for the night. Two people wouldn’t fit on her bike, and even so, her home was much too far away, making it dangerous to cycle there. Yeah, they’d definitely have to crash somewhere else.

The girls were about eight meters away from their destination when a loud bang sounded throughout the mart. Tzuyu ducked and jumped into the first aisle she could, the frozen food aisle. After setting Chaeyoung down, she spied around from behind a safe spot. 

Chaeyoung made an effort to get up and found that her kneecaps didn’t shoot pain down her leg the same anymore, so she limped behind Tzuyu to see what was happening as well.

“Look,” Tzuyu pointed to an area beyond the sliding glass doors, “the creatures. They’re running.”

They were, and fast, too. “But to what?”

“Or from what? It looks like they’re trying to get away from something. Maybe from whatever caused the bang.”

“You don’t think it came from something in here?” Chaeyoung asked. She assumed that the terrible banging sound had originated from something blowing up inside the mart.

“I thought that too, but now that I’m looking at these things running, I th–“

Another loud bang interrupted her, and after recovering, Chaeyoung saw a new stream of demons running outside. 

“Whoa! You’re right. They’re running away from the bang…”

Tzuyu sighed. “Humans? Living ones? Maybe it’s the police your mother asked to help us!”

Chaeyoung wanted to say that it was, but no one could ever be sure.

A third bang pierced the air and Chaeyoung stopped peeking from the corner, choosing to make a whole new plan. They couldn't continue walking out of the mart, because that meant walking right into the cowardly undead and whatever was the origin of the bangs. But they couldn’t stay put where they were either. Chaeyoung was sure that as they stood there, the undead they had distracted with the jars were making their way back after seeing there was no dinner for them.

She tapped her forehead in order to make her brain come up with a good solution when she felt Tzuyu shove her hard.

Before she could protest and ask what that was about, Tzuyu opened a freezer door behind Chaeyoung and shoved her once more, shutting the door on her nose. The blonde’s back hit the cold desserts, a sharp pain going up her shoulder blades. 

“Tzu!”

Tzuyu ignored her and opened a freezer door for herself, quickly darting in and shutting it. 

Chaeyoung reached for Tzuyu’s arm and was calmed by the other girl reaching out as well.

“Sorry!” Tzuyu breathed out, fine mist escaping her lips, “but they’re coming!”

“Who?”

Tzuyu jumped when a demon crashed into her door, squishing its face onto it. Many more followed after, pressing up against each other in failed attempts to get the girls in the freezers. 

Chaeyoung looked down at the handle on her door, praying that the things didn’t gain a brain cell and think of grabbing it, successfully opening the one thing that was keeping her from getting mauled.

Beside her, Tzuyu shivered and stared in horror. This was the second time she got a proper look at these creatures and, needless to say, it didn’t get any better. 

“They’re missing entire body parts but they’re still moving around,” the taller girl pointed out. Chaeyoung nodded like as if she hadn’t already noticed that. “That’s so ing gross. God.”

Chaeyoung closed her eyes and pursed her lips, feeling like everything she was doing would help the creatures find a way to open her door. However, the demons didn’t allow her eyes to rest for even a second, as they began to throw themselves at both sets of glass doors. She heard Tzuyu’s crack the slightest, and Chaeyoung looked at the girl in question.

Tzuyu was watching the monsters slowly break the only barrier between them. She was shaking hard, and she had a similar look on her face as she did earlier; she wanted to vomit.

Chaeyoung pulled on her hairs, despair heavy in her heart as her own door began to show long and wide cracks. She looked around inside the cold freezer and noticed that she and Tzuyu could easily travel behind the freezer doors if they flattened themselves enough.

“Tzuyu!”

The girl opened her eyes and Chaeyoung was startled by the utter misery in them. She knew that this was the closest they have been to death and that it was getting to Tzuyu, but Chaeyoung laid a hand on her friend’s arm in hopes that it would help, even a bit.

“Tzuyu! Listen carefully! There’s enough room for our feet and bodies so that we can shuffle in here and move behind different doors! Let’s go this way-“ she said, pointing to her left, at the unharmed doors, “- and quickly get out of here! Let’s climb another shelf and gather our strength!”

Pooled eyes that still looked scared looked around at what Chaeyoung had suggested, taking in the instructions. Tzuyu nodded and blinked back tears, unsuccessfully, and Chaeyoung promised she’d wipe those precious tears as soon as she could. Through the terrifying sound of glass cracking and bodies being thrown, Chaeyoung could just barely hear her say, “Ok, Chaeng.”

As Chaeyoung side-stepped toward unbroken doors, an undead body hurled itself at Tzuyu’s door and finally broke through. 

Large slivers of glass rained on Chaeyoung as she desperately reached for Tzuyu in hopes of pulling her away before bloody hands could snatch her, but she was much too slow. 

Tzuyu let out a blood curdling shriek as the undead creatures ran into her, multiple mouths and groaning, already open in anticipation for a feast.

Blood squirted everywhere as one bit into her neck.

More blood flew as another one bit her shoulder.

Chaeyoung watched in horror at the gore next to her, unable to tear her eyes away from her friend. Somehow, Tzuyu was still trying her best to bravely fight off the demonic bodies. She was successful sometimes, but there was always another creature to replace the one pushed away

Tzuyu, still screaming, turned to Chaeyoung and violently waved an arm. Chaeyoung had no idea what that meant until the bloody girl stopped screaming long enough to shout a powerful “LEAVE!”

Chaeyoung heard her own door crack again and fearfully obeyed, continued shuffling until she was many, many meters away from the action. She pushed the last door of the aisle open and sprinted for a shelf, ignoring the searing hot pain on her kneecaps. She almost knocked it down as she climbed the shelf, but didn’t stop trying to, as she heard that a few monsters had noticed her and were hot on her trail. 

Somehow, Chaeyoung made it to the top without any more trouble. She curled into herself and tried to think, but her friend’s screams drowned out any thought she had. She cried and cried, her heart broken after leaving her friend to die.

Another ear-busting bang scared Chaeyoung half to death and the creatures seemed to react to it, stopping their attack and running in the opposite direction. Chaeyoung was about to lean over and check on Tzuyu when somewhere, glass shattered and multiple demons could be heard crying in pain.

She didn’t know what was happening, she was so overwhelmed with sounds, thoughts and emotions. She cowered, covering her head with her arms and waited until the commotion was over.

It took a while, but finally, dead silence followed. Chaeyoung’s breathing calmed down, as much as it could, and she blinked a few times. She couldn’t really see why the demons had cried when the glass had shattered, but she could see that all of the path between herself and Tzuyu was clear.

Throwing all caution, better judgement and brain cells to the wind, she quickly climbed off the shelf and tripped her way to Tzuyu.

Or, what was left of her.

Chaeyoung wheezed and put her hand over and gawked at what remained of her friend, which was near to nothing. Her face was almost intact, as was her upper body, but that was about it. Chaeyoung fell to her knees and let out an ugly sob.

They’d made it so far. They had been so ing close to the exit, to freedom, but it had been for nothing because Chaeyoung had been to much of a coward. If she had just decided to brave whatever was outside of the mart like their original plan was, maybe Tzuyu would be alive, holding her hand and giving her a smile as pure as moonlight, one that, she admitted to herself now, she had slowly fallen in love with. Instead, she was crying over remains of a sweet girl that had followed her without a second thought. She let her down, and Chaeyoung felt so much bitterness inside of her manifest itself into tears that stung her eyes. 

She shut them tightly and rested her head on Tzuyu’s bloody chest, slamming her fists down hard.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Tzuyu. You’re dead because of me. I deserve to be where you’re at. God… it should be me.”

She didn’t care that she was getting the dead girl’s blood all over her. All that mattered to her was now sprayed all over the dirty mart floor.

This time, the bang didn’t scare Chaeyoung. She raised her head from her dead friend’s chest and looked around, infuriated with the world and herself. But mostly, at the banging sound. If it hadn’t been for that stupid ing sound, she wouldn’t have feared the outside.

Chaeyoung wiped her tears and looked around wildly, checking to see if she could salvage anything the girl had been wearing, to at least remember her by. She found a broken gold necklace near the ground next to Tzuyu and checked it out: it was a nameplate necklace that simply said ‘Tzuyu’ in cursive letters. The heart inside Chaeyoung sped up in its beating. It was beautiful, just like its owner. She pocketed it, swearing she’d fix it up and wear it around her neck for as long as she lived.

There was a shuffling one aisle over, likely a creature stirred by the loud sound, and Chaeyoung knew her grieving period was over. Back to survival.

Chaeyoung quickly stood, wiping her arm across her face, and looked at Tzuyu one last time, then tried to climb the nearest shelf when she heard shouting. Real, human shouting. She stopped everything she was doing and froze, afraid that if she ran to where she heard the humans, they’d mistake her for a demon and shoot her on the spot, assuming the previous banging sounds were actually guns being shot by them.

She ran back to the area where Tzuyu’s corpse lay and waited until the shouts got closer.

The humans quieted down and Chaeyoung began to worry that maybe they were planning on unceremoniously gunning down the whole place when she heard them trying to open the doors. 

That’s right, since the power was out, they no longer slid open.

Chaeyoung went to a different aisle, closer to the left-side entrance the humans trying to get in from and was pleased to see a bunch of armed men successfully opening the sliding doors. They snuck in, their guns raised in case of an attack.

Unsure of how to proceed, Chaeyoung grabbed a nearby candy bar and tossed it in their direction. None of the humans shot at it. They simply pointed their flashlights at it in confusion. 

Okay, so they’re not jumpy. They might not shoot me if I come out.

Just in case, though, she tossed another candy at them. They looked around at each other, nodding wordlessly.

Chaeyoung found this to be good and slowly, with her arms raised, stepped out from the frozen food aisle.

Like she had hoped, none of them shot at her, just watched her carefully.

“You! State your name!”

“S-Son Chaeyoung!”

They all nodded and looked relieved. One of them, the beefier and taller one asked her another question: “How are you alive? You've got blood all over you.” He motioned with his gun at her bloodied clothing.

“I got caught in the middle of an undead raid and fought with my friend to the very end. We hid by climbing the shelves and throwing jars at them. My friend is dead now, though.” Her heart was heavy with worry, because although they were all serious and not shooting at her, they were a very small group of people. They didn’t look like they were going around rescuing anyone...

“My condolences. Okay, let me ask my superior for orders on how to proceed,” the leader gruffly said, causing the uneasiness in Chaeyoung to start burning her stomach. 

“Wh-what?” 

One of the other men looked sorry and explained everything while the leader spoke into a radio. “You’re the first one we’ve found. Everyone else is either dead or turned.”

Just because she nodded in understanding didn’t mean that Chaeyoung wasn’t having a mental breakdown at his words. Dead? Or turned? Everyone else? Surely that wasn’t the case for everyone in her small town. Maybe...maybe they had not traveled very far. There was no way he meant that for the entire town… Her mom just let her know that the radio station was still active.

“Ah… Affirmative,” the leader of the men said into his radio, interrupting Chaeyoung’s thoughts. “That’s a real shame.”

Those words sent a chill up Chaeyoung’s spine, just as it had in the beginning of this whole mess. She took a step back, her mind going a million kilometers per hour.

No, she thought, this can’t be. But it was. She was in danger, and her body sensed it.

“What happened, sir?” A different man asked. 

“Told ‘im the girl is covered in blood and he told me that we can’t be sure about how anyone has gotten infected or how this whole 'zombie' thing started, so we gotta play it safe.” As he said the last word, they all raised their guns and aimed at Chaeyoung.

“Wait, no, please!” Chaeyoung’s hand want to her pocket, her fingers closing around Tzuyu’s necklace. She had to live. She had to, for Tzuyu and because she had promised her mother she would! “This doesn’t make sense! Wh-why would you go around looking for people if you’re just gonna shoot them!”

“Sorry, kid,” she heard before a bang, similar to all of the ones she’d heard before. An intense pain shot up her neck, and she fell to the floor. “I don’t make the rules here.” Two more bangs, more pain, this time in her skull. Chaeyoung sank to her knees, the cold floor catching the rest of her body.

She waited for another bang, more pain, but neither came. 

Chaeyoung saw the men lowering their weapons and shaking their heads, then turning on their heels and walking out of the mart.

She felt was a buzzing in her pocket, proof that her mother was probably still alive somewhere. It consoled her, knowing that. She didn’t answer though, not wanting to disappoint her mother and tell her that she would never make it home. Chaeyoung hoped her brother was alive, to take care of their mother.

Chaeyoung could barely register the sound of her own erratic breathing slowing down, and her fading vision almost didn’t catch the mart floor darkening with her blood. 

Damn, she thought. This wasn’t how I was supposed to go.

With the last remaining strength she had, she painfully reached into her pocket and managed to pull out the cold golden necklace. She shakily held it close, envisioning the girl it belonged to, and Chaeyoung stopped feeling so much pain. How could she be in pain, after realizing that she’d be with Tzuyu soon? Maybe, just maybe, wherever they ended up, they could get to know each other in a way this apocalypse hadn't allowed them to.

Maybe finally life would be fair.

She held the necklace to her face for what seemed like hours, until her arms could no longer stay up, could no longer support their own weight, dropping beside her.

Eventually, the pain faded, Chaeyoung stopped shaking, and the necklace stopped being so cold.