loud gasps were emitted from the camp. all the survivors were shocked to see seulgi. along with shock was fear. shackles of metal were heard, a male survivor was gripping metal chains in his hands, ready to tie up the half-zombie. everyone gathered up, some took out their weapons and others didn't. seungwan, sooyoung and yerim backed away from joohyun and seulgi. sooyoung was in front of the two, holding out her gun.

“u-unnie, y-you're crazy for bringing the ing undead in here!”

joohyun understood that state that they were in. she felt like this the first time she looked at seulgi but after a minute or so, she got to really know the half-zombie. seulgi wasn't going to harm anyone unless her protective instincts kicked her to do so. joohyun had to explain that to everyone before they do something bad.

both her and seulgi backed up. seulgi hid behind her, holding her hand tight. this time, seulgi was the one who's scared. the thought of being killed scares her, especially when she has the chance of being human again, “p-pretty.. i-i'll just go—” 

“you're not going anywhere, seul.” joohyun interrupts, “y-you're staying with me.” she has to convince everyone that seulgi was not the zombie they see her be right now. she might look like one but she has the mind of a human. joohyun looks at sooyoung straight, “if she was a zombie, she could be attacking you right now. every one of you could turn into the undead outside these safe walls of yours. but what is she doing?”

every survivor focused their attention to the half-zombie behind joohyun, body slouched and head hanging low as if it was in a vulnerable state, “she's hiding because she's scared.” joohyun whispers, an audible shakiness was evident from her voice, “i've already been with her for almost a month now. seulgi could have eaten me already if she was a zombie… yet she didn't.” 

“b-but unnie, she's still a zombie—”

“no, she's not!” joohyun exclaims, her breathing was becoming heavy as she was trying to explain, “she's not even partly a zombie anymore! i-i can prove it!”

joohyun began to list out all the conscious, human-like actions seulgi had expressed towards her. she could feel tears running already. she was emotional to declare that seulgi was indeed changing and means no harm to anybody in this camp.

“she's becoming human.” joohyun felt drained, her vision blurry. everything around her turned to specs of dots like the static on a tv. she didn't know whether she was tired from the travel or because she was trying her best to prove the truth. she hasn't said much though, “s-seulgi is human…”

a collection of voices that called out her name shouted but only one stuck out to her the most. the owner of the voice catching her just in time before she falls,

“j-joohyun!” 

joohyun began to wake up from a deep sleep. her eyelids slowly rising. she blinks, getting used to the bright light that hangs from the roof of the tent. she questions how long she was out for. she stares at the roof for a while, lost in her thoughts and not noticing the woman that just stared at her from the side

seulgi stands inside the tent with joohyun's resting body on the bed. she sat beside the older woman, worried as hell but glad that joohyun was awake now. she gripped joohyun's pale and warm hands, pressing her lips on the back of the hand, “i-i'm sorry for being s-such a burden…” the older woman jumps at the sudden contact, surprised to see seulgi beside her.

“y-you're okay! and you're not a burden, seul.” joohyun immediately sat up, capturing the half-zombie in a bone-crushing hug. “they didn't hurt you, right?” joohyun pulls away from seulgi, holding her shoulder and checking her side-to-side for any suspecting injuries. until she realized that she was holding seulgi's injured shoulder, “oh my gosh, i'm so sorry, seul. did it hurt?”

joohyun was really worried. seulgi smiles, “w-while you were out for almost a whole day, seungwan decided to help me out with the g-gunshot. i-it hurts a bit but it's okay now.” seulgi rotates her patched up shoulder while patting it.

“so that means, they're okay with you?”

“i guess...?”

joohyun smiles with genuine happiness. they actually accepted seulgi. and of course, seungwan, the goody two shoes was the one to help her out, “they kept asking me a lot of questions.” seulgi says with a pout, “i-i was worried i would answer awkwardly but i think i did well.” seulgi sighs and slumped her shoulders. 

“don't worry about it, seul. i'm sure you were fine.”

outside the tent was the trio. seungwan was smiling the whole time while yerim was peeping through the small window, witnessing the couple's sweet interactions. sooyoung was still in denial about it but was learning to accept seulgi. 

they saw seulgi being so overprotective and caring towards joohyun when she fell unconscious. carrying joohyun to the tent they are in now and pleading them to take care of joohyun and make sure she was okay. they saw the fondness seulgi showed with her eyes when she left her and joohyun inside the tent. she treated joohyun as if she was the only thing—the person she only had.

they bombarded the half-zombie with a bunch of questions that were all answered such as seulgi not remembering her past before she turned into a zombie and how she actually met joohyun and claimed to be her private bodyguard. it was a weird thing for a zombie to do but she was turning human, right?

“it is weird for our unnie to be dating a half-zombie. seulgi-unnie is turning human though. would it be weird if i want to see them kiss and see how it looks like?” yerim asks, still peeping through the window. the younger of the three was quite nosy, always curious with everything. sooyoung facepalms, seeing how stupid yerim looks. she turns to look at seungwan who was writing on her journal, “are you writing about seulgi-unnie?”

“of course! this is such a great discovery! i can't believe i actually met a half-zombie!” seungwan continues scribbling on her journal, “doesn't that mean that there could be a possibility of other zombies… y' know.” seungwan shrugs, “it could be a possibility that zombies would gradually turn back. seulgi might know but let's not pressure her.”

“where did she even come from. we never even asked about her left eye.” sooyoung first noticed the bloodshot left eye when seulgi was first revealed. the bloody red pupil that almost looked dull yet the other one was human-like, “maybe that's why she's half.” she mumbles. 

“what?”

“oh, nothing.”

“they're kissing! it looks disgusting but romantic at the same time. not gonna lie.” 

after joohyun's rest, everyone was collected to the middle of the camp where park tables were placed. in front of them was a portion of food that would last for the whole day. seungwan said that the military would often stop by to give out food since they were the only camp that was ever trusted by the government. they were very lucky to receive food. 

joohyun was happily eating, munching on the food since she hasn't eaten something in a while. of course, she gave out the canned good she and seulgi had taken previously to the camp's cooking team. she had actually explored the area of the camp before lunch. she had not realized how big it actually was. she met each section: the cooks, the arsenal, the scavengers and the medic. some weren't too fond of her because she brought a zombie along but she just shrugged it off.

seulgi pokes the piece of meat on her food tray. she questions if she should eat it or not. she actually hasn't tried to eat human food. she s her finger!r into the roasted chicken meat, the meat juices coming out. she contorts her face in disgust, taking out her finger and the juice off her finger(it sounds disgusting, i know. i was cringing when writing this.), hey it's not as bad as it looks.

one person, sooyoung was staring at seulgi, observing the half-zombie's childish behaviour, “you've never tried it before, huh? do you like it?” she asks. seulgi lifted her head and nodded with a smile at sooyoung. sooyoung scoffs with a blush, this zombie is really… she turns to yerim who was beside her punching the keys of her laptop, “why do you have that when we're eating?” 

“i've been checking our medical supply for the past month now. it's been depleting ever since last weeks f