Day 4: Safe

The Survivors

        Hyuna awoke before Hyunseung. They were still on opposite sides of the room and she had no desire to change that. She wondered to herself how he could be so uncaring. They were all each other had, how could he just dismiss her feelings like he had been doing since the beginning? Did he not want to comfort her? They had lost so much. Their pampered lives had been taken from them, yet he hardly seemed to mind.

        The dark-haired girl made it to her feet and picked up her backpack as well. She cast a glare at Hyunseung's sleeping form before stepping out of the room. She didn't know where she was going, but she wasn't leaving the building that was for sure. They were safe there until Woori forced them out - which Hyuna had no intention of letting her do. The building seemed like their best chance of survival and with Woori there, it felt even safer. Even if Hyuna was not quite up to trusting the stranger.

        The halls within the building were dark and Hyuna had to press her palm against the wall to guide herself. When her hand met empty space she turned her head towards the doorway she had found. The room beyond was mostly dark, a single window covered in a thin sheet let in just a tiny bit of light telling Hyuna that it was indeed morning.

        Woori leaned against the wall directly across from the window, her head bowed and her hair blocking her face as she slept. She had her arms crossed and pulled close to herself. Her baseball bat was nearby, within arms length of the girl in case she would need it upon waking.

        Hyuna was scared to make any sudden sounds or movements in case it woke Woori and she grabbed her bat. She went to turn around when a voice sounded within the room.

         "What do you want?" Woori raised her head and turned her gaze on Hyuna. A stern expression was on her face and Hyuna wondered if the girl had been asleep at all. Beneath her eyes the dark circles were still very much prominent and her skin seemed paler.

        "You really should sleep, Woori. You won't be able to survive like this for long," Hyuna advised, stepping into the room though she was still immensely frightened of the other girl.

        Woori smirked at Hyuna's words and shook her head, silently disagreeing with her. "I never got much sleep before all this, why start now?" Woori sat up straighter and beckoned Hyuna to step further into the room. She patted a spot on the floor beside her and Hyuna made her way to it.

        She pressed her back against the wall and slid down it until she was sitting on the cold, wooden floor.

        "Are you really alone? Is there no one else here?" Hyuna inquired, curious as to how Woori had managed to survive alone. It had only been a few days and perhaps she had never left the building and she did seem to know what she was doing when she killed the monsters outside with her bat.

        Hyuna didn't know what she would have done if she was alone and didn't have Hyunseung. She looked over at Woori and scooted away slightly at the cruel smirk that pulled up half of the other girl's mouth. Woori turned her head towards Hyuna, a cold flash in her eyes.

        “There's a reason I'm alone,” she started. Her expression had darkened considerably and she seemed to be in a distant place. A different time. “I was having an argument with my boyfriend. We were breaking up because he had cheated – and it wasn't for the first time. I hated him. I really did. But I suppose that doesn't justify what I did.” Woori pushed herself to her feet with ease and then walked across the room. She peeled back the sheet just a little bit to peek out the window. She examined the outside world for a moment before letting the sheet fall from her fingers. “There was something coming up behind him. I was so angry I didn't notice until the thing had latched it's mouth onto his neck. I ran then and jumped into the car. Without a second thought, and most likely out of anger, I ran over that monster.”

        Hyuna watched Woori and wondered who she was calling a monster; her boyfriend or the thing that had bitten him.

        “I went home and on the news they were talking about those... those zombies,” Woori said. She shook her head and turned away from the window at last to meet Hyuna's gaze. “Maybe it's wrong but, I actually like killing them.”

        Hyuna felt her heart freeze at the girl's words. The look in her eyes seemed almost maniacal and it was beginning to scare Hyuna. She didn't want to be there anymore and so she slowly made it to her feet. Woori reached for her bat. With wide eyes, Hyuna ran out of the room and back to where she had left Hyunseung sleeping. She could hear Woori's steps following her, her tennis shoes hitting the ground in slow, deliberate steps.

        Hyuna slammed the door shut, waking Hyunseung. He rubbed at his eyes and stared curiously at Hyuna.

        “What's going on? Did they get inside?” Hyunseung asked, making his way to his feet.

        Hyuna vigorously shook her head and turned around to press her back against the door. She didn't know if she would actually be able to keep the other woman out.

        “It's Woori. She's a psycho!”

        Hyunseung rolled his eyes. “Enough of that, Hyuna. There's nothing wrong with her.”

        “She murdered her boyfriend and now she plans on killing us,” Hyuna said, her voice low in case Woori was on the other side of the door, listening in. Hyuna nearly fell to the floor as the door was pushed open in a single shove.

        Woori stood in the doorway, her bat raised and ready to swing at someone's head.

        “What's going on?” Hyunseung asked, his eyes widening at the sight of the woman in the doorway.

        “I'm doing the world a favor,” Woori stated through clenched teeth. “You're just going to die anyway.” She swung the bat towards Hyuna who ducked quickly with a yelp.

        Hyunseung stood in shock at the back of the room, watching as Woori swung again at his friend. It took a moment, but finally he was able to move. He stepped forward and grabbed onto the end of the bat. He pulled at it and after a couple tries, was able to get it out of the woman's hands.

        Woori growled at him, an animal-like sound that made his blood run cold. As the woman lunged at him, clearly intent on ending his life one way or another, he swung the bat at her head. She fell to the ground with a thud and remained motionless.

         Hyunseung stared down at her, wondering what it was that he had just done. Hyuna stared up at him from where she sat on the ground. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and then tilted her head down to examine Woori.

        A slow trickle of blood made its way down the woman's forehead, tracing a path from a small wound and down to the floor.

        Hyuna gulped and quickly got to her feet. She grabbed up her bag and grabbed onto Hyunseung's sleeve.

        “We have to leave,” Hyuna said. Hyunseung nodded and grabbed up his own bag.

        The two departed from the building, still unsure of where they were going to go.

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        Tablo leaned against the ledge of the rooftop and stared down at the stumbling mass of beings that stalked the streets below. The three girls in his company were relaxing and enjoying the sunset. A carefree attitude managed to fall over the group though they knew what they were in store for once they decided to leave the safety of their roof.

        They couldn't stay there. The days were far too warm and the sun would surely burn their skin. Yet, they had not come up with a plan of what to do. When Nana had tried to bring it up, Kahi had stopped her and asked that they wait a little longer to decide on anything. Too much happened in such a short span of time, that she wanted to relax and properly digest what had become of their city.

        Kahi wondered about what was happening outside of Seoul. Surely the same thing was happening in the nearby cities and probably all over the rest of the planet. If not, surely someone would have come to take care of the situation. As it was, she had come to the conclusion that they were all too busy with their own infestation of flesh eaters.

        Nana leaned against the older woman, using her shoulder as a pillow though it was quite uncomfortable. It was, in the least, reassuring having the older woman so close. Nana only wished to come out of this scary mess alive. She wondered if it was possible. She had no experience in fighting – for survival or otherwise. She was always pretty dependent on Kahi and it didn't look like that was going to be changing anytime soon.

        Lizzy had fallen asleep, curled up in a tight ball on the hard concrete that made up the roof. Her bangs fell over her face lightly and she looked so peaceful. A glance in her direction made Nana smile. She was happy that they had found the girl. That they had taken her from that school. It would not have been healthy for her mentality to remain there for much longer.

        Tablo stepped away from the edge and walked over to join the tired group of woman.

        “What should we do now?”

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        Hwayoung swatted her hand at her face in an attempt to remove a few hairs that had found their way into . It was of little use though. She was running too quickly so that whenever she did manage to free the hair it hurriedly returned to stick to her lip and occupy her partially opened mouth.

         The only sound she heard was the quick gasps of her own breath as she ran down the dim alley and the sound of her shoes pounding against the pavement. She was too frightened to look back, to see if she had lost them. Those people that wanted to catch her and use her as bait.

        It baffled her, that only a few days had managed to change the group she had called friends. It made her realize that they never really valued her after all. Not if they wanted to use her to draw in those monsters. The ones that ate people.

        A sharp turn forced her to the ground, her ankle twisted. Hwayoung gritted her teeth and forced herself back up, hissing in pain when she tried to place weight on the twisted appendage. She leaned against the nearest building and shut her eyes. Her ears remained alert, listening for any sounds of someone pursuing her.

        She sighed after a few moments. It seemed as if they had given up the chase. That didn't mean she was safe though.

        Ignoring the pain, she pushed onwards, much slower than before. She held back a groan with each step she took. She didn't think she could keep it up for much longer. Her hand wrapped around the doorknob of the nearest building and she prayed it was not locked. She gave it a turn and breathed a sigh of relief when the door easily opened for her.

        She forced just a few more steps from her hurt leg and then forced the door shut behind her. She turned the simple lock and then dead bolted the door. Her body weary from the amount of travel she had endured over the last few days, she slid to the floor and shut her eyes, much too tired to even check if the building was safe. For now, she hoped she was.

        That hope was soon dashed however when a crash came from the adjoining room. Hwayoung's eyes shot open and she blinked around the darkness, searching for whoever it was. She didn't have to wait long for them to appear. They walked into the room, muttering something about how it was too dark in there.

        Hwayoung was only slightly relieved to learn that it was a human making all the racket, but on the other hand she was still frightened. She didn't have a hope to defend herself, she didn't think she could stand even if she tried. She could still feel her ankle pulsating from walking that far and she didn't believe it would let up anytime soon.

        The intruder froze upon realizing there was someone else present in the room. His dark eyes landed on her, taking in her sullen appearance. He scratched at the back of his head and smiled sheepishly, as if he had walked into someone's bedroom without permission and had seen them changing their clothes or something.

        “Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here,” he said, a short, awkward laugh soon following his statement. He began backing out of the room but stopped suddenly. His expression turned to that of one who is concerned. “You don't look so good. Did one of those things bite you?”

        Hwayoung shook her head, the dyed tips of her hair brushing against her chin. The gave an audible sigh of relief but the look of worry did not leave his face.

        “Are you hurt somewhere then?”

        “It's just my leg. I twisted it out there.”

        “I see. Well, there's a mat in the other room if you'd rather lay on that or something. It has to be better than the floor,” he offered. “If you want I can help you get there.”

         Hwayoung clenched her jaw, unsure of what to make of this person. Why would he so willingly help her. All the others she had met – the people she had known for such a long time – had only wanted to hurt her. How could she trust this stranger?

        “I don't bite, promise.”

        Hwayoung grimaced at his lame joke but pushed herself to her feet. When he offered her a hand she ignored him and limped out of the room on her own without a word. He sighed and dropped his arm back to his side. He turned and followed after her.

        “I'm Himchan, by the way,” he said.

        “Hwayoung.”

        He frowned at her short reply but still kept close to her side just in case. By the tone in her voice, he knew that he was not welcome yet she had not asked for him to leave so he resolved to stick around. In truth, he was tired of being alone. There was only so much he could take of only hearing his own voice, it would be nice to have someone else around.

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A/N: I would like to note that the "friends" Hwayoung was running from were NOT T-ARA!  I wrote this before that whole controversy. ^^;;