Shining through the trees above, the sunlight touched the forest below it with great radiance. Haknyeon awoke slowly as the light made him squint. Relieved to find himself still alive, he let out a tired sigh.

Then, he thought of Sunwoo and hoped he was alright. Haknyeon had no way to contact him. The night before, he had gotten his backpack, with the walkie talkie in it, stuck in a bush.

Looking down from the tree he had climbed into, he made sure he was alone. When all looked good, he descended from the branch he was on.

Attempting to retrace his steps, he ended up going in the opposite direction of where he should have gone. He also couldn't discern any landmarks because it had been dark before. 

From what he could tell, it was early in the morning. His stomach also gave him a clue by grumbling. On instinct, he reached for his backpack only to remember again that he had lost it. "Ugh, my food…" he sighed dejectedly.

Nearby, he heard the calming sound of rushing water. Following the noise, Haknyeon hoped he could find some edible plants growing along a bank.

When he found the stream, he didn’t spot anything he could eat. There were only weeds and rocks. Not giving up, he walked alongside the water until he came upon a cliff with a waterfall in the distance.

As he looked down, Haknyeon noticed someone floating in the water. He wondered if they were okay and discovered a path down to where the person was. Maybe the person would know where some food was too.

…ooooo…

Eric opened his eyes to water and sputtered as he sat up. Water was falling on his head, so he swam and crawled forward onto the rocks he had been partially lying on to see that he had unintentionally found a cave.

“I’m alive,” he said in shock. He thought he was going to drown because of the fall, but he seemed to be unharmed. He checked himself for broken bones or other injuries to only find a few scrapes from brushing against the rocks.

Attempting to fix his hair into a more comfortable fashion, Eric decided that he needed to look for food and a good place to hide besides a cold cave.

“Hello? Are you okay?” Eric heard someone call from the other side of the waterfall. Being on high alert, he cautiously moved to where he could see out of the cave. An adult was standing next to the waterfall. Eric wondered if the person had knocked him into the water as he couldn’t recall the face of the culprit.

“Who are you? I don’t have anything valuable,” Eric questioned. Haknyeon looked hopeful, “I’m Haknyeon. I was traveling with my friend, but we were chased by zombies and got separated. I actually lost my backpack with food in it too.” Eric wondered if this guy could be helpful, so he pulled himself out of the cave to face Haknyeon.

“I’m Eric. Maybe we could help each other. I’m on the run from a crazy guy, and I can help you find your friend. I’m good with directions,” he explained. “A crazy guy? Was he trying to hurt you?” Haknyeon looked concerned. “You could say that. He also thinks he’s saving the world though- a total nutcase,” Eric huffed just to have to think about it again.

“Wow, I don’t know if I’ll be useful, but I’ll help you hide from that guy,” Haknyeon agreed. Eric smiled as he could tell Haknyeon was a good guy.

“So, should we get going? Which direction were you both going?” Eric asked. Scratching the back of his head, Haknyeon admitted, “I’m not the one who’s good with directions. My friend knew which way, but I remember that he said we were going northwest.” Eric snapped his fingers, “So, we need to go northeast.” Haknyeon was dumbfounded, “How do you figure that?” “If you followed the stream to find me here, then you would have to have come from the northeast. I saw it on a map while I was trying to make an escape route from the crazy guy,” Eric clarified.

Still in awe at Eric’s directional skills, Haknyeon nodded, “I approve of you leading.” Eric laughed, and the two set off in search for Sunwoo and hopefully Haknyeon’s backpack as well.

…ooooo…

Not far away, at a hidden lab in the forest, an upset Jacob slammed his fist down onto his desk. “We have to find Eric as soon as possible! Ungrateful kid…” Jacob seethed. Sangyeon nodded aggressively, “Yes!” Jacob turned his attention to his many tv monitors with graphs and scientific data, “We’re so close to finding a cure. He just had to go and ruin it for everyone.”

Trying to calm down despite his ill mood, Jacob locked eyes with Sangyeon, “He has to be found as soon as possible. “Yes!” Sangyeon agreed with a bit of hesitation hidden behind his voice. Sangyeon was not ready to have to deal with an angry Eric again. It was true that Eric was a teenager and Sangyeon was an adult, but Eric had beaten Sangyeon up more than a few times before.

“He might have gone to a town to look for people to hide him,” Jacob commented while standing from his chair and striding toward the front entrance. He mashed in the code to exit, and the two got into Jacob’s Humvee which he gave the odd name of Pear. Sangyeon had jokingly asked before if Jacob had named it after Jacob’s last name Bae. However, Jacob told him that it was not the case. Apparently, since the Humvee was green, he had just decided that it looked like the color of a green pear which he liked.

Without waiting for Sangyeon to buckle his seatbelt, Jacob stepped on the gas and took off to the east toward the town with a shopping mall.

…ooooo…

Although he had checked many stores in the shopping mall for supplies, Changmin couldn’t find anything useful. Other people had already raided for the necessities.

He scoured through employee areas instead and was able to acquire a good pocket knife, some first aid supplies, and a few water bottles. Everything was stowed away safely in his backpack with room to spare should he need anything else.

Since this place was now useless to him discovering a secure place with more people, Changmin decided to get out of the building. He also kept having a nagging memory about what happened to Chanhee. The place was definitely not one that was good for Changmin’s sanity.

Figuring out the location of a good exit was fairly easy, and Changmin was soon back out in the open air. He breathed in the scent of the outdoors in relief as the shopping mall had been rather musty from lack of use.

Food was still scarce, but Changmin could see a small neighborhood becoming closer as he walked toward it. From what he could tell, the homes were probably all abandoned. There didn’t seem to be any activity going on outside. Animals weren’t even present.

As if contradicting his prior assumption, a little boy about the age of six or seven was standing in the road. The kid looked lost and scared. He looked up at Changmin while not noticing a zombie inching toward him. “Kid! Run!” Changmin shouted suddenly which startled the child, and he picked up his pace in Changmin’s direction. The kid looked over his shoulder and started panicking.

By the time the kid had reached Changmin, the adult took the child’s hand and tried to escape together. Glancing at the child, Changmin noticed that he had already been bitten on his arms and legs.

Without warning, the zombie caught up to them and was about to attack Changmin. Momentarily letting go of the child, Changmin ripped his backpack off while using it to bash the zombie in the head. Now stunned from the impact, the zombie dropped quickly and didn’t get back up.

After putting the kid onto his back, Changmin took the chance to get them to a safe place to hide. There was a house with an open front door close by. Changmin headed inside and shut the door. Then, he checked the rest of the house to make sure there weren’t any zombies inside.

“So, kid…” Changmin said as he met him back at the front door, “What’s your name?” Wide-eyed, the child said, “I’m Younghoon.” Changmin smiled, “Nice to meet you, Younghoon. I’m Changmin. Why were you all alone out there?”

Younghoon almost burst into tears while explaining that he was looking for his parents. They had all been scavenging stores in a nearby town for food, but Younghoon had gone off to one of the stores alone. He wanted to find his favorite snack bread, and he became lost.

Changmin listened attentively, “What about these bites? Aren’t they from zombies? You didn’t turn into one though.” Younghoon pointed to one of the bites, “Yes, they attacked me, but I don’t know why I’m fine. It hurt though.”

Feeling bad for the kid and having lingering guilt from what happened to Chanhee, Changmin made the choice to help the kid. “We’ll find your parents. Is the town the one by the shopping mall?” Changmin said. Younghoon nodded, “Yes, that’s the one.”

“Okay, let’s go. It’s still early in the day. We can at least spot the zombies easier right now,” Changmin declared after handing the child some food. Younghoon made a small smile and nodded while eating. Changmin took Younghoon’s hand, and they ventured back outside.

It didn’t take long for them to come upon the shopping mall again. Everything looked fine with not a zombie in sight. There was something different now as they spotted a vehicle with two men standing outside of it. Changmin was almost relieved to see normal people.

Just as they thought all was going well, a group of zombies came running up from behind Changmin and Younghoon. Caught off guard, Changmin tried to run faster, but a fast zombie jumped on him and bit his shoulder. Changmin fell down and let go of Younghoon’s hand in the process.

By the vehicle, Jacob and Sangyeon noticed the commotion. They jumped into the Humvee as soon as they spotted the zombies. “Hey, didn’t that guy just get bitten?” Sangyeon asked as Changmin didn’t immediately turn into a zombie. “Yes…” Jacob trailed off while formulating a new plan in his mind, “One of them must be immune.”

After driving closer to the action, Sangyeon emerged from the vehicle with interesting weapons. He threw a flash bang which had Changmin and Younghoon holding their ears from the sound. The zombies hated it even more and scurried off as fast as they could.

When all was clear, Jacob approached the two who were hunched to the ground. Through the ringing in his ears, Changmin could barely hear Jacob’s question, “Which one of you are immune?” Understanding, Changmin pointed to Younghoon.

Feeling like he saved the world already, Jacob looked over at Younghoon and smiled, “Hi, kid. You’re coming with us now.” Before Changmin could protest, Sangyeon was behind him and knocked him out with a swift blow to the neck.

Younghoon screamed in horror as he tried to scoot away from Jacob and Sangyeon. “Let’s go. I’m tired,” Jacob commented. Sangyeon moved without question and put Younghoon over his shoulder. Even though he was kicking to get away, Younghoon was still put into the Humvee.

By the time Changmin woke up, the trio were long gone. Mentally bashing himself for putting Younghoon in danger, Changmin knew he had to go save Younghoon. The people who took him must have thought he wouldn’t be able to find them, but there were tire tracks left behind. “Let’s go save that kid,” Changmin told himself as he started off toward the southwest.

MAP