It was late in the afternoon when Sunwoo’s stomach started to growl. “It’s time to eat!” his friend, Haknyeon, said happily. “We can’t yet though,” Sunwoo protested, “The zombies will see us if we build a campfire now.” Haknyeon hated to admit his younger friend was right, but, at the moment, they only had food which had to be cooked first.

When Haknyeon’s stomach also called for sustenance, he gave in. “I really can’t wait. We’ll just run if they attack,” Haknyeon declared while starting to pick up some dry sticks for a fire. “Hyung!” Sunwoo almost shouted. “Sit down. It’ll be fine,” Haknyeon assured while waving his hand at him.

Being scared of walking into a zombie in the dark and starting to feel cold anyway, the teenager finally gave up and listened to his hyung. Holding his knees for safety, Sunwoo wondered if they would ever find a safe place away from zombies. As their hometown had been overrun, the pair had now been traveling for months and scrounging for food wherever they could find it. Luckily, the two had good survival skills as they had gone camping a lot with their families.

“I really wish we had found flashlights earlier,” Sunwoo pouted, “We could trip over something when we’re traveling at night.” Haknyeon nodded as he fanned the embers, “Okay, that will be the first thing we look for when we find a place to scavenge.” Sunwoo wondered how many days it would take for them to find another town or city.

When he was about to doze off, Sunwoo heard Haknyeon talking to him, “Here.” Some of Sunwoo’s worries disappeared when he saw a roasted kabob being held in front of his face. Taking it thankfully, Sunwoo wondered, “Hyung, just where did you find these?” Haknyeon laughed, “At that store we found earlier today- in the frozen food section.” They had made a plan to go back there for more supplies since they couldn’t carry a lot. It was more important to find other people to group up with.

Once they were finished eating and warming up, Haknyeon put the fire out. They pulled on their backpacks which they had set down and started to walk.

Suddenly, Sunwoo stopped and whispered urgently, “Hyung!” Haknyeon turned to see an unmoving, silvery humanoid form in the distance. “I told you the zombies would see the fire!” Sunwoo wanted to yell as he started panicking. The two tried to keep going forward stealthily when they heard more feet pushing past the grass behind them.

The zombies had definitely seen them and were gaining on them. Haknyeon and Sunwoo ran now to escape. Without warning, a lone zombie appeared in front of them. Sunwoo ran the other way as the zombie now chased Haknyeon. When Sunwoo looked behind him, he only saw the zombies. Fearing the worst would happen, he wanted to turn back for his hyung, but he didn’t know how to get around the zombies.

Yelling in frustration, Sunwoo picked up his pace as he saw a small cabin in the distance. He could hide there from the zombies for a while and go back out to find Haknyeon when they were gone.

As soon as he reached the door, Sunwoo was relieved to find that the cabin was unlocked and uninhabited. Slamming the door shut behind him, Sunwoo shrank to the floor and dug through his backpack. He retrieved his walkie talkie and spoke into it, “Haknyeon-hyung! Haknyeon-hyung!” There was no response. Maybe the batteries were dead or something had happened.

Being scared and alone, Sunwoo didn’t want to think about his friend’s fate. Although he feared the worst, he would still go out to search for Haknyeon. “I’m sorry,” Sunwoo cried with guilt. He felt like a coward.

MAP