“Hyung! Hyung!” Eric continued to yell as he followed Hyunjae around like a puppy. “Yes, Eric?” Hyunjae spun around and tried to mask the look of annoyance that was threatening to show on his face. Not sensing the mood, Eric kept speaking, “So…” He crept closer to Hyunjae to whisper in his ear, “You like that doctor we saved, don’t you?” Jumping back, Hyunjae held his ear, “What?! N-No. I- How could you think of such a thing?”

With a knowing smirk, Eric grated on his nerves more, “Ooooh, you do like her!” Hyunjae was about to tackle the teenager when Soorin appeared in the hallway with them. Composing himself as much as he could, Hyunjae feigned to clear his throat while hoping Soorin hadn’t heard the conversation that had just taken place.

A few moments later, Kevin joined the three. Looking between Eric and Hyunjae in confusion, Kevin held back the obvious question as to what was going on. “Hey Hyung, I was talking to Soorin earlier. She knows why I can speak to zombies,” Kevin informed as he glanced at the doctor for more input. “Really?” Hyunjae was surprised at this turn of events.

Nodding, Soorin explained, “Yes, some people can communicate with the zombies, and some are immune. I was previously in a team with people who had these abilities.” “They could help us too,” Eric blurted out. Soorin looked down, “Well, the thing is that they died recently. There was a falling out with a few others in the team.” Hyunjae’s eyebrows raised incredulously, “What happened?”

When Soorin met his eyes, she was on the verge of weeping, “They all killed each other. Right after that, zombies found our location, and I had no choice but to get away from there.” Hyunjae wanted to console her with a hug, but he didn’t want to seem inappropriate. So, he merely gave her his condolences.

Soorin wiped her eyes, “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Kevin. His condition is a rare phenomenon similar to the existence of zombies. In biology, every predator is also prey to a stronger predator. However, the zombies and those who can speak to them are all very much alike.”

As they wanted to know every detail, the three Bunker Boyz stayed silent when she paused. She slowly continued, “They both are connected through telepathic brain waves which can access FM waves. This is how their connection works. Those who are immune are only similar to humans as they are the opposite and don’t become zombies.”

She held her hand up to Kevin, “He is a rare phenomenon because he is an immune healer.” “Which is, exactly?” Hyunjae wondered. “It means that he is similar to zombies and humans. He’s immune and can heal zombies through communication,” she finalized. Hyunjae was confused though.

In question, he looked at Kevin, “How do you know that you’re immune? Plus, your eyes aren’t blue.” Kevin chuckled a bit to himself as his gaze fell to the ground briefly, “Well, last year, I was jumped by a zombie. It bit my hand, but I never told you about it because I secretly snuck out of the bunker alone. I also didn’t turn into a zombie so I didn’t think I needed to worry you.”

“Kevin,” Hyunjae said sternly, making the gunslinger look at him apologetically. “Don’t do that again. We’re supposed to be a team. You could have died, and we wouldn’t even have known where you were,” Hyunjae stated. Kevin nodded, “I won’t. I’m sorry, Hyung.”

Realizing how the mood had become, Hyunjae smiled at Soorin, “Anyway, allow me to show you around. Maybe we can find a place for you to work.” “Sure, I’d like that,” Soorin returned the smile, and the two left Kevin and Eric alone in the hallway.

Eric, who had been suspiciously silent for most of the time spoke up, “Did you see that? They’re totally going to end up together.” Kevin rolled his eyes as he slung an arm around Eric’s shoulders, “Come on, kid. Let’s go do some training.” “Aw!” Eric whined, “You’re not even gonna make a bet with me about them?” “No,” Kevin responded, which only made Eric let out more whines along with a pout.

…ooooo…

Once again, the time had come for the Bunker Boyz to look for survivors and supplies. Kevin and Juyeon led Haknyeon and Sunwoo northwest with them toward the sea. It was basically unknown territory to the veterans of the expeditions. So, they had all been warned by Hyunjae to stay on their guard for any threats.

Sunwoo was still afraid of zombies, but Haknyeon said that it might do him good to go out and face them at least. Even though he had listened to his friend, Sunwoo was feeling that he might have made the wrong decision to go outside. Gripping the butane gas torches which hung at his sides, he took in the sight of the terrain which had dried up and noticed not a single animal in sight. The place they were now trudging through could only be described as a wasteland. An eerie aura settled too as they went further along and approached closer to the sea.

“We should have brought Eric,” Kevin commented, “He hasn’t seen the sea before.” Juyeon wanted to agree, but he also enjoyed the break from the hyper teenager. No one had realized how lively Eric could be when they had first welcomed him into the bunker.

After a few more hours, they found themselves standing at the edge of a hill which overlooked the dark sea. Above the sea, the sky was a bluish gray and seemed as if it was going to rain at any time. Down the bank, a small boathouse with an old dock sat atop the crashing waves. It also looked as if a town could be closeby due to the narrow path which led over a hill away from the beach.

Juyeon and Haknyeon slid down a large sand dune as they proceeded to the boathouse in search of anything useful to collect. It only took a few moments and the two were back quickly. Juyeon shook his head, “Empty.” Kevin acknowledged the finding with a nod and chopped his hand toward the pathway, “The town it is, then.”

As they reached the high point of the hill above a lower plain, a partially dilapidated excuse of a town could be seen below. There was barely any living foliage visible as they had witnessed on the entirety of the trip already. Kevin highly doubted anyone could be thriving in a place so run-down, but they all decided to be on alert just in case.

Crunching down the path, away from the salty air, the four edged near to what seemed to be an old hotel. Windows were boarded up, but the door appeared to be intact and accessible. “This could be the best place for shelter,” Juyeon said more to himself as it was evident due to the sturdy build of the structure. He patted the column of the hotel’s porch though just to be sure; he gave a tiny smile when nothing moved. Kevin huffed a scoff at Juyeon’s antics. Haknyeon snorted a bit as he found it funny, but Sunwoo was still too scared to make any sort of reaction.

Possibly from hearing the noises outside, an elderly man and woman poked their heads out of one of the abandoned stores across from the hotel. When they noticed the people, the quintet all turned in the couple’s direction. The man was frantically making hand motions for them to come over to him.

Kevin took the lead and started the conversation, “Hello, we’re here to help. Is there something you need?” Roughly grabbing and pulling Kevin’s shoulder for him to crouch down, the old man spoke in haste and a gruff whisper, “Keep yer voices down! It’s not safe here.” The remaining three Bunker Boyz followed suit as everyone crowded inside the musty store. Carefully closing the door behind them, the graying woman gave an apologetic smile to the boys.

“There’re monsters out there, and we don’t have weapons to fend fer ourselves,” the man explained himself. “Ah, you’re in luck. We’ve actually been fighting quite a few monsters for a while,” Kevin gestured to himself and Juyeon, “All four of us also have our own weapons. We can also you to our bunker toward the southeast if you need somewhere to stay safely.” In contemplation, the man and woman looked back and forth between each other.

“You see, we’re not the only ones here,” the woman finally spoke. With a look of mild anxiety, she clasped her hands together, “There are five other people camping out in the hotel, but, if anyone tries to go in, they’ll shoot. One of them has a pregnant wife, you see, so they’re quite paranoid that everyone else will try to harm them.”

Juyeon sympathetically touched the woman’s shoulder, “Is that why you’re both out here alone?” She shook her head, “No. No, we’re just tryin’ to prove that we’ll be fine on our own. We didn’t want to burden them either.”

With a sudden streak of courage, Sunwoo rose from the ground and dusted his knees off, “That’s not right. Let’s get you all out of here together.” Haknyeon was proud of his younger friend and jumped up next to him. The other adults in the room chuckled at the display, but they also stood.

Now that the group had grown, they made their way back to the sturdy hotel door. After pounding on the wood a couple of times, Kevin attempted to speak loudly, “Hello?! We’re human, and we’re here to help!” When there was no reply, he almost started to knock again, but the barrel of a rifle slid through the boarded window and stopped him with a chill. As Kevin held his heart in shock, the person holding the rifle replied, “Get out o’ here. We don’ need yer help. Yer goin’ to bring all those darned monsters right to us with that yellin’ o’ yers.”

Stepping away from the gun, Kevin held his hands up in resignation, “Okay, we just wanted to help.” “Git outta here!” the stubborn man wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Hyung,” Sunwoo’s voice cracked as he tugged at Kevin’s sleeve with urgency. Everyone turned to see that Sunwoo was pointing at something odd in the distance. “Run,” Kevin commanded without hesitation.

The group headed back for the store they had just been in only to find that zombies were blocking their way. With nowhere else safe enough to hide in, they followed each other toward the church which was further down the road.

Just mere inches away from safety, everyone except the old man had filed into the church. Kevin spun around to shoot some of the zombies which were too close to the man. Jumping at the sound, the man tripped and fell. “No! Hold on!” Kevin ran to him, but was too late as one more zombie attacked from behind another building.

Holding up his hand in defense, the old man ended up getting his arm bitten into by the zombie. Sliding to the man’s side, Kevin held his gun up to the zombie’s chin and fired. With ringing ears taking over their hearing, Kevin and the old man made it into the church alive. Shutting the door behind them, Haknyeon and Juyeon made sure to bolt it securely with a beam.

“Oh, Chul!” the woman collapsed to her knees to inspect the man’s wound. “Here. I might be able to help,” Kevin offered as he held the man’s wrist. As if on instinct, Kevin concentrated on the bite and thought of how he wanted it to be healed. In seconds, the flesh closed up and looked new again. “Wha-” the old man inspected his arm in shock. Everyone else in the church was just as taken aback.

“You can heal bites now?” Juyeon was so surprised that he smacked Kevin on the back with a little too much force. Kevin almost fell over, “Yeah, and OW!” “Sorry…” Juyeon gently patted Kevin’s back as if that would make it better.

After five minutes had passed, the man was still in stable condition. “How did you do it?” the woman queried, gazing at Kevin in awe. He simply shrugged, “I guess I have some kind of zombie healing powers. It’s weird- I know.”

As the zombies were still outside, the group agreed to take shelter in the church until daybreak. If the zombies hadn’t left, Juyeon and Kevin would take matters into their own hands to make sure everyone could leave.

Lying on the dirty floor, Kevin tried to sleep, but he kept thinking about how he had just wanted to heal without thinking about it at first. Curious about something, he pulled down his sleeve to reveal a scar; it was the same one he had acquired from sneaking out of the bunker alone.

Focusing on the marred skin as much as he could in the dark, Kevin was relieved to see the marking vanish before his eyes. He felt it with his other hand to assure himself that he wasn’t seeing things. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes with peace that he could do more for people now than he had thought originally.