Sooyoung hissed, the feeling of the disinfectant foreign and familiar at the same time. Haseul glanced at her, and then around: one never knew what was laying around, in wait, hoping for a moment of weakness.

Ever since the world had ended, Sooyoung and Haseul - classmates on occasion at their fancy law school when it still stood - had stuck together. They had looted stores together, had stolen weapons together, slept together, and now traveled towards a rumoured bastion of civilization in the middle of Germany. Rumours were a currency, together with food: precious, but dangerous if expired.

“We could’ve used that for a trade.” Sooyoung said, when Haseul ripped open a pack of clean bandages that they’d picked at a pharmacy a few months back. “It’s just a skinned knee, Haseul. It would’ve healed just fine.”

“But what if it didn’t? What if it got infected?” Haseul chided, putting the bandage in place, closing it with the medical tape. “There’s no doctors anymore, and the ones that are still around, well.”

Haseul cringed at the memory of their brief time at a survivor’s camp, where the doctor demanded payment before treatment, always the best sort of canned food, the weapons, hoarding them all. They left the camp pretty soon after they arrived, sensing the mounting tension in the air. Sure, they took with them some of the doctor’s food and a few choice weapons, but they left nonetheless.

Now they were alone, traveling during the day, meeting other people on occasion. Most of the time, it was just them, walking around long stretches of would-be roads and grabbing maps from abandoned gas stations. Once in a while, when they found a car that still worked and had gas - a rarity, since gas had stopped being produced and cars broke down so easily -, they made good time, a few hundred miles before the dream was over.

During these brief moments, Sooyoung faked normality: she put her head out, felt the wind rushing past her, watched and pretended the rundown buildings were not taken over by plants, but aesthetic choices.

Still: it was over the moment the car started to cough, to grunt. Haseul would sigh, turn it off, and ask if Sooyoung would take first watch, while she napped on the backseat.

Back to the present: they were somewhere in the middle of past-China, probably. It was a guess as good as any others, since mobile phones had died a while ago, but Sooyoung knew they couldn’t be too far north, since winters had been mild at best. 

“I know, I know.” Sooyoung replied, finally. “But, I don’t know. Maybe we could’ve got some information out of it.” 

Haseul offered a dry laugh, at that.

“From who? It’s been at least two weeks since we’ve seen anyone. Might as well use something before it expires.” She passed a hand through her hair, and helped Sooyoung up. Pain shot briefly through her leg, but Sooyoung bore it. “Let’s go. We’ve got some ground to cover before night falls.”

With a nod, Sooyoung started to follow Haseul, their hands still clasped together. The world had ended, but at least they weren’t alone.