“You guys can sit down in here,” Kevin had the four newcomers follow him into the weapon room. “Thank you for giving us aid,” Haknyeon spoke up. Kevin smiled, “Don’t mention it. Who were those people anyway?” Eric took over and explained everything to Kevin while he put his guns away. Juyeon, Sunwoo, and Hyunjae had entered the room before Eric had gotten to the major details of the situation.

Changmin hadn’t been paying much attention as he was exhausted and still injured. They had all made themselves comfortable on the couch except for Changmin who was seated at a table in the center of the room. He let his eyes wander a bit when they fell on the person who was in the holding cell at the corner of the room.

“What’s he doing here?” Changmin pointed and questioned as he almost fell out of his chair. Juyeon shifted his eyes to the zombie in the room, “Oh, he attacked Sunwoo here recently. We had him brought here to see if we could help him somehow.” When Changmin made a guilty face and didn’t say anything more, Juyeon asked directly, “Do you perhaps… know him?”

Not knowing how he should explain himself, Changmin simply nodded at first. His silence piqued the interest of everyone in the room who all stopped their conversations to hear him speak. “Um… I uh… Yeah…” Changmin looked down as he decided to just get the story over with, “I’m a journalist and Chanhee was a photojournalist. We were ambushed by zombies and ran to shelter, but he didn’t make it to the door in time.”

Everyone looked expectant for the rest of the info. “I… uh…” Changmin gulped as he almost produced tears, “I had to shut the door. He had tripped, and the zombies got him. It was too late for me to do anything. I feel terrible about what I did too. I don’t have any way to make up for it either. It’s too late.”

No one dared to speak a word as it was too awkward in the room now. The shock was apparent on all of their faces but Hyunjae’s- who seemed to understand Changmin’s predicament.

Younghoon looked wide-eyed over at Changmin in disbelief. Could he really trust someone who left his own friend behind? The child didn’t know, but he was also tired and needed to think about it more.

Without another word about the incident, Juyeon and Hyunjae led the group to the kitchen to get some food. Changmin and Kevin stayed behind as the journalist didn’t move when food was offered. Kevin wanted to make sure he was alright.

Silently, Changmin heavily made his way over to the holding cell. Chanhee was staring blankly through the glass into the middle-distance. Changmin’s head made a light thud as it hit the glass, “I’m sorry, buddy. I was too chicken, and I know we promised to have each other’s backs…” Chanhee still didn’t respond.

As the journalist continued to stand there, Kevin felt some empathy for Changmin. “You should get some rest. Don’t beat yourself up too much now,” Kevin suggested, “We’ll try to help your friend as much as we can.” Changmin nodded, “Thank you.” “Don’t mention it,” Kevin smiled and pointed toward the left, “If you take the hall down that way, there should be some empty rooms for you to choose from.” Before leaving Kevin alone, Changmin thanked him again and made his exit from the room.

‘I- for- y-’

Kevin looked around confused. “It’s that static noise again,” he mumbled. The noise kept happening until he noticed Chanhee staring directly at him. Almost having a heart attack from the pink-eyed stare, Kevin frowned in thought and walked closer to the zombie. ‘Is that you?’ he wondered.

Now more vivid, he received an answer.

‘Yes.’

“I am going crazy,” Kevin laughed in disbelief.

‘You’re not crazy. You can hear me.’

“AH!” jumping back, Kevin held his head. “Th- This isn’t happening… What in the world?” he was losing his grip.

‘Calm down. I don’t understand it either, but you can obviously hear me, Kevin.’

Feeling a little better that the zombie was as clueless as he was, Kevin did calm down a little. “Okay. So, this is really weird. I’ve never seen this happen in any zombie movies before,” Kevin said as he tried to lighten the mood. Chanhee gave him a “deadpan” look.

‘Yet here we are, and zombies are somehow real.’

“Maybe this could work on other zombies? Have we just discovered a breakthrough?” Kevin began thinking of many possibilities. “Hey, do you want to become human again? Your friend was really sorry about what he did to you.”

‘Slow down. Of course I want to be a human. Did you think I wanted to be a zombie in the first place?’

Kevin looked sheepish, “Oh. I guess not.”

‘Look, I know why Changmin left me behind. We were fighting before, and I wouldn’t let him focus on getting to safety. I really wanted to get photos of everything that was happening. He eventually took my camera which is when we were attacked. As annoying as what he did to me was, I’m glad he’s okay.’

“Wow, you’re quite forgiving. You two must have been close,” Kevin mused.

‘Yeah, just like brothers…’

“Are you ready to forgive him? I know that can’t be easy.”

‘Yes, I’ll forgive him even if he does something stupid again. I can’t stay mad forever.’

With a sickening crunch, Chanhee fell to the floor backward. Startled, Kevin was on the verge of having another heart attack. “Chanhee! Chanhee!” Kevin opened the cell door to make sure the zombie wasn’t dead. However, to the bunker boy’s surprise, Chanhee now looked human again. It was confirmed when he opened his eyes to reveal that they were of a natural dark color again.

Kevin sighed in relief and helped Chanhee onto the cell bed to rest. “I’ll check back on you in the morning. You probably shouldn’t move for a while until we make sure you’re doing alright,” he explained to the now human Chanhee. The photojournalist agreed and Kevin left. He couldn’t wait to tell everyone about his discovery in the morning. With his own mind, he had actually been able to cure a zombie.

…ooooo…

“Oh my gosh, guys! You’ll never believe what happened,” Kevin beamed, showing his teeth.

Hyunjae looked at Chanhee who was still in the cell. “I can’t believe it… He’s actually human again,” the Bunker Boyz leader was astonished.

Kevin went on to explain, “So, I just found out that I can talk to zombies with my mind. I heard him talking without moving his mouth, so I couldn’t tell who I was hearing. We kept conversing until I realized I could hear him.”

“How did you get him to revert to normal?” Sunwoo asked. “I think it had something to do with him releasing a grudge,” Kevin turned to Changmin, “He forgave you and became human.” Not believing his ears, Changmin went to the cell door and entered.

“Chanhee?” he tried. His friend sat up and didn’t smile. Chanhee wanted to tease his friend since he had put Chanhee through so much trouble. “Is it true? Is it really true that you forgave me?” Changmin had to check. Giving a fake glare, Chanhee shockingly bopped him on the head.

Holding his head, Changmin looked at Chanhee for an answer. “Of course I forgave you,” Chanhee laughed, “You should see your dumb look right now.” Realizing that he was actually forgiven, Changmin hugged his friend, “I really won’t ever do something like that again. I’m sorry! I deserve severe punishment!” Chanhee grinned wickedly, “Then, I’ll have you do errands to make up for it, and you’ll listen to me when I ask you a question.” “Yes, yes! I will. Just as long as you can forgive me,” Changmin nodded vigorously.

With the mood lighter now, everyone was able to relax more. “Well, it seems like we have a reason to convince Jacob to stop chasing me and Younghoon now,” Eric declared. Hyunjae nodded, “Right you are, kid. Leave it to the Bunker Boyz. We’re good at persuasion too.”

As everyone was doing their own thing, Younghoon kept to himself in a corner. Noticing and feeling bad for the poor child, Chanhee approached. “Hey, there. I hear you’re Younghoon?” the kind adult asked, “I’m Chanhee.” Younghoon nodded.

“Changmin told me you are looking for your parents. I’m a photojournalist, and I took some pictures before we came here of people we saw. If we can find my camera, we could see if your parents are in some photos,” Chanhee told the child. Younghoon’s eyes lit up, “Really?! Did you lose your camera?”

Chanhee glanced at Changmin, “I need to have a word with him because he hid it.” Younghoon wondered why Changmin would do such a thing to his friend, but Chanhee was already making his way over to Changmin.

“Hey, where did you put my camera?” Chanhee questioned. Looking down shamefully, Changmin kicked at the ground, “I... may have left it at the shopping mall we were attacked at. Chanhee rolled his eyes to keep from having a mental breakdown, “Do you know how much that was? The news station wouldn’t even pay for it; I had to come up with the money myself.”

Sensing that Chanhee’s anger could flare at any moment, Changmin hurriedly ran over to Juyeon, “Can you go with us somewhere? It’s really urgent.” Agreeing without knowing what was going on, Juyeon got his things ready and was waiting at the front entrance for them in a few minutes.

Making sure they had all of the supplies they needed, Changmin, Chanhee, Juyeon and Younghoon all made their way to the shopping mall. Wanting to reunite the child with his parents as soon as possible, they made it quicker by taking a four-seater go-kart which they rarely used but for special occasions. It was a dusty ride which no one minded at this point.

Again finding the door he had exited from, Changmin led the group to where he had left Chanhee’s precious camera. As soon as he laid eyes upon it, Chanhee swiped it up and hugged it. Giving a squinted look at Changmin to not judge him, Chanhee waved Younghoon over to look at the photos. Juyeon and Changmin chilled while they waited to leave.

Clicking through the photos, Chanhee showed the child many morbid scenes he had witnessed along the way. Younghoon couldn’t focus on that though as he just wanted to find his parents.

As Chanhee was about to click past another photo, Younghoon stopped him, “Wait-” Mortified and unable to barely speak, the child started to sob uncontrollably. He had recognized the couple immediately from their clothing. However, they were no longer living as they lay peacefully on the ground in the photo.

Experiencing a twinge in his heart for the child’s predicament, Chanhee suddenly drew the young one into a hug. “It’s okay. Cry it out,” Chanhee patted his head. Changmin and Juyeon exchanged looks with Chanhee as they knew that the child would have to be all of their responsibility now.

Pulling away from Younghoon, Chanhee looked into his unnatural, blue eyes which were now bloodshot, “I’m sorry, Younghoon. I wish you didn’t have to see that. We can take care of you. Okay?” Unwilling to speak, Younghoon regretfully nodded before sniffling for air.

As the sun burned in the sky, the trip back to the bunker was cloaked in solemn quiet. When they returned to the bunker, Younghoon locked himself away in his room.

In the evening, upon discovering the fate of Younghoon’s parents, the adults discussed their plans for the child’s future stay with the Bunker Boyz.

MAP