Kyuhyun and Donghae trudged along the vast barren land. They had steered away from the city and so had left behind the ruins of the collapsed human settlements. As they got further away from the city towards desolate territory, Kyuhyun wondered if Donghae truly knew what he was doing? 

'Can I really trust him?' He wondered as they walked with heavy steps, literally, being tired out after the struggle with the creatures. He had offered his jacket to Donghae at one point, but the smaller man had just shook his head to reject him. Kyuhyun realised that his jacket was what had the slime of that creature, not his t-shirt, which was masking his scent. So he put it back on and then continued the rest of their trek in silence.

Donghae had suffered injuries and was exhausted after fighting with the creatures. He knew he had gained more injuries in his scuffle, but didn't know the extent of their graveness. The freezing cold had settled in his bones and he was somewhat glad that the new wounds weren't adding to his pain. He had strangely started to feel warm even though his body was shivering due to cold. He crossed his arms in front of him and bowed his head to shield from the blowing wind. The sound of the winds whistling in his ear.

They were covered in the creature's slime which had dried up and so had it's smell started to wear off. Both had realised it was only so long they could hide themselves with the creature's scent. They had to hurry and find shelter for the rest of the night before they get caught in another ambush.

Kyuhyun was so exhausted that he couldn't walk properly and used a piece of stick he found on the way, to help him get across the foot deep snow. Donghae tugged Kyuhyun by the elbow and pointed in front of them.

"Is that... is that a house?" Kyuhyun didn't want an answer, he just hoped that he could finally rest after the gruelling long walk.

Donghae too dragged his feet and walked towards the house that was fenced by barbed wires and metal banners to keep out strangers. The house was located on lower terrain and was therefore hard to spot from a distance. It was only when they got closer that Donghae knew they were on the right path.

Kyuhyun noticed the 'beware' and 'stay out' signs, but didn't pay them heed as he opened the gate, whose lock was broken. The gate creaked weakly in the silent night, cold breeze rustling their clothes as they entered the compound.

Donghae surveyed the grounds before entering the house, making sure that there weren't any signs of the creatures  laying claim on this house. Kyuhyun tried to open the door but despite being made of old wood, it didn't budge.

Donghae extended his hand in front of Kyuhyun when he stood next to him in front of the door. "What?" Kyuhyun asked, not knowing why Donghae extended his hand. He slowly grabbed his palm and shook it, "Good job, you found a safe place for us to stay tonight." Kyuhyun spoke in confusion.

Donghae pulled his hand out of his grip and reached for his lower leg. Kyuhyun cowered back in reflex, only to realise that Donghae had pulled out his dagger. Without sparing a glance, Donghae used the dagger to pry open the door, unfortunately the lock was ruined in the process.

Donghae pushed the door open, few snow flakes drifted away which had settled on the door and fell on the doorway. He walked inside with trepidation and slowly flicked the light switch on. Both heaved a sigh of relief when the lights , grateful that the electricity wasn't cut off.

They were greeted by the warmth of the house which rushed towards them as if a vacuum was released. The living room was covered in a thick layer of dust, cobwebs decorating every nook and corner. Kyuhyun followed Donghae inside the house and quickly shut the door, not letting the cold air infiltrate their place.

Donghae rubbed his palms and shrunk his shoulders as a shiver ran through his body. He straight away went in front of the fireplace and knelt to inspect if it could work. Donghae sneezed suddenly due to the dust in the air, maybe also because of the cold weather as soon as he sat down. One look was enough to know that the fireplace was blocked by debris and so could not be used. 

Kyuhyun walked around the house and found that despite the run down state of the city they had come from, this house was in a much better state. It was a quaint house with a living room, followed by a small kitchen and a bedroom with a bathroom.

The living room in which Donghae was squatted in front of the fireplace, had a three person sofa on the opposite side with a table in front of it. There was a broken vase in the corner of the living room by the sofa and the window, it's shards lying on the floor. There were cracks running through the walls of the house and white plaster fallen on the floor. 

Donghae got up with some difficulty and then headed to the kitchen to inspect if there were any food supplies. He opened the cupboards and then flipped the food cans and items to check their dates. Kyuhyun returned from his brief tour of the house and joined Donghae in the kitchen. Donghae was scanning whatever little food supplies there were in the mostly empty cabinets and sorting them out. Kyuhyun picked one canned tin of corn and flipped it to see it's date, surely it was expired.

After few minutes of ransacking through the cupboards, they had found some tinned cans of vegetables and packs of noodles. Kyuhyun opened the refrigerator only to be met with the smell of decaying food. He quickly shut the door and backed away from it. "Looks like Lady luck doesn't want to hand us everything on a silver platter." Kyuhyun laughed and stood on the opposite side of the food counter in front of Donghae. "Do you think we have fresh water?" He expectantly looked in Donghae's direction.

Donghae turned his back to Kyuhyun and turned the water tap on. Donghae held his breath as the tap made strange sounds of gurgling, and finally water sputtered out of the nozzle. He let out a sigh and closed the tap quickly, not taking any chances of running out of water.

Kyuhyun broke into a smile, "So electricity - check, water - check, food - check, maybe not much but enough. Should we settle down now?" He asked, feeling happy to be in a safe place.

He took off his jacket and dropped it on the ground, "This needs washing. It would have helped if we had spare clothes." He eyed at Donghae, making the latter look down at his clothes which were completely ruined by the slime to such an extent that even scrubbing won't make them clean.

Kyuhyun sat on the sofa untied the lace of his huge boots. He had never worn such kind of shoes in his entire life and fumbled his way through getting them off his feet.

Donghae favoured the right side of his abdomen, placing his hand gently on it, feeling the presence of a wound. He walked inside the bedroom and opened the closet to the sight of fresh pair of clothes. The room was furnished sparsely with a bed, dressing table and windows with bathroom at the far corner of the room. He took a pair of clothes, a long sleeved t-shirt and pants and decided to clean himself up.

He turned around and was startled by Kyuhyun who was standing at the door, staring at him. Kyuhyun was bare foot and had taken the jacket off. He saw Donghae choosing from the clothes lined in the cabinet and wondered if they were as extravagant in choice as they were in video games.

He didn't realise that Donghae was startled, instead scratched his head, "Are they any good? I wonder if there are any of my size." He walked over to Donghae's side and peeked at the clothes. Donghae waved his hand, signing him to have a look and went to the bathroom. Kyuhyun was examining the clothes which to him were mundane, nothing special or alike what he was wearing.

"Oh these are so simple. I like what I am wearing right now. Don't you think I look cool in