“Have you watched any of the coverage?”

“I’m not too worried, the police will catch whoever is doing it.”

Baekhyun stood up as his bus came to a stop. He flashed a halfhearted smile to the women who had been gossiping across from him. It was eleven in the morning, yet business people had packed themselves into the bus to head home after hearing the emergency broadcast. Not much information had been given to the public, just that they were mandated to head home immediately and stay inside.

Baekhyun stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, just a block from his condo. Being downtown the streets were unsurprisingly still busy with people making their way home. He began his trek with his heart pounding in his chest, his fingers clutched into nervous fists at his side. The government hadn’t ordered something like this in his lifetime, his mind raced with possibilities. He prayed it wasn’t too serious, that Jinho would know what was happening and reassure him that everything would be fine when he got home.

He was lost in a train of thought when someone bumped hard into his shoulder, nearly knocking him over. He glanced back to see a man in a business suit running full speed in the opposite direction as if his life depended on it. What the hell was going on? He looked left across the street and was met with the site of panic, people running out of a club he had been to once, screaming. Was that blood?

“Oh my god, it’s eating him!!” Someone screamed as Baekhyun approached the opposite corner, his pace quickening to a jog. He turned right and felt relief upon seeing his condo building just at the end of the street. The door hop was no longer there and the usually guarded door into the lobby was left wide open. A couple of people ran out of the building and into the street.

It was going to be okay, he told himself. Jinho would be home and he would know what to do, he would never let anything bad happen to Baekhyun. It was only two flights of stairs until he was on their unit’s floor. He paused just outside when he found their door left ajar, something that looked like blood was smeared at the frame.

“Baby? Are you home?” It was silent for a few seconds, suddenly followed by a crashing sound back towards the bedroom. The atmosphere made Baekhyun’s stomach sink. Acting out of instinct Baekhyun opened the drawer to one of the side tables by their couch. Stored inside was Jinho’s handgun, something he had bought and trained to use after they moved into the somewhat sketchy area to save money for their house. Baekhyun had never dared to touch it and personally liked to pretend it was not there. Jinho had shown him once how to remove the safety and properly handle it, just in case.

With the gun clasped tightly in his hands Baekhyun finally started to make his way down the hall towards their room. “Jinho? I’m scared. Please come out here…”

There were some shuffling noises and then suddenly, an eerie silence. He pushed the door open slowly with one hand and peeked inside.

“Jinho what are you–”