“Well, what do we do?”

It was the question that hung in the air as the five of them sat huddled together in the living area, but no one spoke.  Jiyong was staring at the floor, tracing his finger up and down the line between two of the floorboards.  Next to him Seungri was nibbling on what appeared to be some kind of bread.  Youngbae had his phone out and was staring at it, hoping that any second now the world would come back online.  Daesung was leaning against Seunghyun, his head resting on his shoulder and their hands intertwined between them. 

“I take it back, we can’t stay here,” Seungri said. 

“Didn’t you say last night you weren’t going back out there, no way no how?” Jiyong asked.

“That was before I realized TOP-hyung has no food.”

“Sorry, I forgot to do my end of the world shopping,” Seunghyun smiled.  “But that’s a good point.  What is left in the fridge isn’t going to last long.”

Jiyong rested his chin in his hands and stared at Seunghyun.  He obviously hadn’t gotten enough sleep judging from the glazed over look in his eyes.  “Are you suggesting we go out and loot the nearest grocery store?”

Everyone looked around at one another as they fell silent again. 

“I don’t think we should steal,” Daesung said quietly.

“Is it stealing if no one is left to enforce the law?” Seungri asked.

“We don’t know if everyone is gone.  For all we know, it could just be here or maybe we’re in a quarantine zone or something.”

Seunghyun could feel Daesung’s hand tighten around his fingers.  He was desperately trying to come up with a logical explanation for everything, but he could tell that Daesung was having a hard time believing it himself.

“I guess, but…isn’t it odd that everything is out?” Youngbae asked.  “The electricity, the TV, our phones, even the radio isn’t getting anything on it.”

Daesung had no argument for that and instead settled back against Seunghyun.

Jiyong sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands.  “Let’s just run through all our options, okay?  Why don’t we write it down or something and we can vote.  Do you have any paper lying around somewhere, hyung?”

“Yeah, just a minute,” Seunghyun said, reluctantly leaving Daesung’s side in search of the items.  He returned within the minute, handing the requested items over to Jiyong as he sat back down, Daesung becoming attached to his side once again.  “Option one, we have shelter here, but no food, so we stay here and go find food.”

Jiyong quickly wrote out the first option and then started to add another.  “Option two, we assume everyone is gone and we leave here completely.  Maybe there’s like a survivor camp or something.”

“Or option three,” Seungri said, “we hold out here as long as we possibly can.”

“Option four, we don’t worry about shelter or food or anything, we just get out of the city,” Youngbae said.

“And go where?” Seungri asked.  “I was kidding when I said take a rowboat back to Korea…”

Youngbae shook his head.  “Let’s assume the entire world has ended.  There’s a couple possible scenarios heore.  We could be dealing with the zombie apocalypse in which case the last city we want to be in is Tokyo.  Or we could be dealing with some kind of disease that’s knocked out 90% of the world population or I don’t know, some kind of biological warfare.  In that case, I think the best option would still be to leave Tokyo.  We could head towards Mt. Fuji, the forests or something.  But I think we should all realize that, we’re probably stuck here.”

“What do you mean stuck here…?” Seungri asked quietly, but the look in his eyes said he already knew exactly what he meant.

“I mean…”  Even Youngbae didn’t want to exactly say it out loud.  “I mean that, in all likelihood…we’re probably never going to see home again.”

Next to him, Seunghyun could feel Daesung’s body completely tense up, and he suddenly had Seunghyun’s hand in a death grip.  “Hey, first things first, guys,” Seunghyun said, hoping to take Daesung’s mind, and his own for that matter, off the thought of being stuck there forever.  “Let’s decide what we’re gong to do right now.  We can worry about getting home later.”

Everyone nodded solemnly as Jiyong laid the paper out in front of them.  “We have four options then.  I guess…we should vote…?”

They all leaned in closer to look at the four options presented to them.  Option one: stay there and search for food; option two: leave and search for other survivors; option 3: hold out; and option four: get out of Tokyo.

Seunghyun wasn’t exactly sure what he thought.  At first he would have opted for his own option, number one, but now after hearing what Youngbae said, he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to stay where they were.  There were too many unanswered questions.  He had no idea what was going on, but what he did know was that they wouldn’t last long if they stayed holed up there.

“Okay, let’s all just point to the option we want.  Sound good?”

They nodded in agreement but no one moved.  No one wanted to be the first to pick so finally it was Youngbae who suggested they count to three and everyone choose.  He started the count and when he hit three, everyone pointed to their preferred option.  Seungri pointed to one, Daesung to three, Youngbae chose four, and Jiyong and Seunghyun both chose two.

“I guess, its option two,” Seungri muttered.  “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“I think any option that involves us leaving is a good idea,” Youngbae said.  “We can’t and shouldn’t sit in here just waiting for something to happen.”

Seungri looked to Daesung.  “I guess we’re outvoted.”

“Yeah, looks like…”

Seunghyun squeezed Daesung’s hand in an attempt to reassure him.  “What should we do now then?  Maybe pack some stuff and go?  I’m not sure there’s a lot around here we should take, though.”

“We should pack light anyways,” Youngbae said, standing up.  “Like whatever food we can take, water, that first aid kit, maybe a few extra clothes, things like that.  If you have a couple backpacks or something we could take those.”

Seunghyun nodded.  “Yeah, I should.  Daesung and I will grab some clothes.”

“We’ll handle the food situation,” Seungri said, pulling Jiyong to his feet with him.

Youngbae headed for the bathroom.  “I’ll see what’s in the medicine cabinet.”

With their tasks designated, they went in separate directions.  Seunghyun pulled Daesung into his bedroom to rummage through his closet.  He found a couple bags stuffed into the bottom, one of which he started shoving clothes in to. 

“You think it’s okay that these are all my clothes?  Actually some of these are yours…and Jiyong and Seungri are prone to borrowing anyways…”

Daesung sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Seunghyun went through his closet.  “Fashion is the last thing on my mind right now, hyung.”

“I know you’re not happy about leaving, but Youngbae is right, we can’t sit in here forever.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, drawing his knees to his chest, “I suppose you’re right.”

Seunghyun looked over his shoulder at Daesung.  He was an image of sadness and hopelessness and Seunghyun wanted nothing more than to scoop him up and tell him everything would be alright.  But even he didn’t believe that.  He dropped the bag he was holding and sat next to Daesung, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.

“I can’t tell you that everything will be okay, Dae, but I did promise that I wouldn’t leave you alone.  You know I’d protect you no matter what, zombies or whatever is out there.”

“You’d take a zombie bite for me?”

“I wouldn’t enjoy it, but yeah,” he smiled. 

“And what am I supposed to do if you become a zombie, huh?  Am I supposed to do the final honors?”

Seunghyun shrugged.  “Or just let me bite you and we’ll live happily ever after as zombie lovers.”

Daesung finally gave him a small smile.  “That’s quite the love story, hyung.  Maybe you should write romance novels.”

Seunghyun laughed.  “That’d probably be the worst book ever written.  Anyways,” he said, going back to the closet to fill the bag up.  “I don’t even know if that’s what we’re dealing with.  The whole zombie apocalypse sounds a little crazy, though, if you ask me.  The whole world suddenly becoming zombified?  It’s crazy…but then again, didn’t Seungri say some guy tried to eat him…?”

Daesung sighed and rested his chin in his hands as he watched Seunghyun.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know if he was trying to eat him or simply trying to ask for help.  He looked sick, though, I can tell you that.  Lots of people did.  It was like…all these people turned into death but they couldn’t die, they looked that bad.”

“Some kind of disease then?”

Daesung looked to the floor.  He really didn’t want to think about these things.  “That would be my guess.”

Seunghyun finished filling the bag and turned to look at Daesung.  “Well, whatever it is, we survived so that means there’s got to be others out there.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not cut out for this survival stuff.  I’d feel better if we found some other people.”

“I would too, but…I just don’t like the thought of going back out there, hyung.”  He stood up and latched onto Seunghyun’s arm.  “There’s too many ‘what if’s.’  What if there are no survivors?  What if we can’t make it out of Tokyo?  What if we never make it home?  What if we get separated-”

Seunghyun silenced Daesung by kissing him.  “I told you not to worry.  I promise, Daesung, I promise, that we won’t be separated.  And if we are, you know I would find you.”

Daesung couldn’t do anything but nod.  Seunghyun smiled, kissed him once more before taking his hand and walking out of the bedroom to meet the others.  He tossed the second bag to Seungri who had a small pile of food laid out on the counter.

He squeezed Daesung’s hand once more.  “We’re ready whenever you guys are.”

The air smelled faintly of ash and smoke as if somewhere far off something was burning.  Yet the streets were quiet, completely abandoned except for a few empty cars, dropped purses, and bags, their owners nowhere to be found.  The city was like a ghost town.  A big abandoned ghost town made of cement and cinderblock and filled with the personal remains of a people that had dropped off the face of the earth. 

“It’s creepy,” Seunghyun muttered, looking around, feeling a shiver go up his spine.  The others all huddled around him, none of them wanting to stray too far.  “Youngbae…where exactly should we go?” he asked, desperate to hear something other than silence and to look at anything except for the empty windows that surrounded them.  His eyes fell upon the train entrance down the street and an ominous feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.  For some reason he felt like if he stared at it long enough the living dead would start crawling out at any minute.

“I don’t know.  Further inland, maybe?”  He looked around, squinting in the late morning sun.  “Or maybe we should head for the coast?”

“I vote coast,” Seungri said, raising his hand.  “There’s no way I’m heading out into the haunted forests of Japan.  If we stay around here, at least we still have food and plenty of roofs to dive under if we have to.”

“I agree,” Daesung said.  “And there aren’t any crazy people out here so maybe it’s safe?” 

“Better chance of finding survivors around here, too,” Jiyong added.

Seunghyun looked at Youngbae, but didn’t say anything.  His vote would have been to go inland.  There was just something too disturbing about the abandoned streets and all those empty windows staring back at them.  Seunghyun wanted to get as far away as possible, but he knew he was outvoted so he would just have to endure it.

“We should head east then.  If the rest of Tokyo is like this, it should be alright to go through Shibuya or Roppongi and then Shinagawa.  And then we can go south to Yokohama, we’ll just stay on the coast.”

Of course no one had an argument against such a plan, it sounded reasonable enough.  Youngbae somehow found himself as the leader.  He wasn’t sure he really wanted the position, but he picked up the bag with the provisions and started off down the street.  He may not have felt like the best person to be leader in such a situation, but he was going to do his best to fill the job.

Jiyong took Seungri’s uninjured arm and quickly followed after while Daesung and Seunghyun brought up the rear.  They walked like that for a couple hours, through empty streets, past empty buildings, only the occasional car alarm breaking the silence, but otherwise not another single soul was to be seen.  At first they went on cautiously, looking around every intersection certain that some horrifying monster would attack them at any moment, but when nothing had after an hour, they relaxed a little. 

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Jiyong said, now walking on the other side of Seunghyun.  Seungri and Youngbae were some yards ahead of them, still cautiously keeping look out.  “Yesterday the streets were chaotic.”  He peered into a car as they walked by.  “I’m sure people died, but…there’s no bodies…”

“I heard the screams,” Seunghyun confirmed.  “It looks like everyone was just plucked off the planet.”  He felt that same chill from earlier go down his spine once more.  “Aish! It’s so creepy out here…”

Jiyong nodded.  “Yeah, I’m beginning to think we’re the only people still around.”

They passed another entrance to the underground train system.  “I don’t know about that,” he said as they walked by, not taking his eyes off the entrance until they were safely past.  “I have a really bad feeling.”

“Well, we are in the middle of an abandoned Tokyo,” Jiyong muttered, shuffling his feet along the sidewalk.  “I guess that’d give anyone a bad feeling.  It gives me the goosebumps to be honest.”

Seunghyun just shrugged.  He wanted to explain that the feeling he had was a little worse than just goosebumps and chills, but he didn’t think anyone would believe him.  It wasn’t like he was psychic or anything and anyone in this kind of atmosphere would be prone to having bad feelings.  He was probably just overly worried, at least more so than the others. 

He looked over at Daesung, who had been quiet the whole time he was talking with Jiyong.  Seunghyun noticed there was a light sheen of sweat across his face as he flipped his blonde hair out of his eyes.  It wasn’t particularly odd since they had been walking for several hours, but it hadn’t exactly been strenuous walking either.  If anyone should have been able to handle the physical activity, it should have been Daesung.

“You okay?”

He instantly flashed Seunghyun a smile.  “I’m fine, just getting tired.”

“Maybe we should stop for awhile.  It’s not like we’re in a big rush or anything.” 

Seunghyun made to call out for Youngbae and Seungri only to look up and see them both running back towards the three of them.  They both looked panicked and they were out of breathe by the time they reached them.

“What the heck is wrong with you two?” Jiyong asked.  “Did you see something?”

Seungri was doubled over as he tried to catch his breathe.  It was all he could do to nod at Jiyong’s question.

“We found someone,” Youngbae said, panting a little.

“What?  You found someone?” 

The five of them took off together at a run, Seungri and Youngbae leading the way to the next intersection.  It was there, just across the street sitting next to one of the buildings, that they saw him.  He looked like a business man, dressed neatly in his suit and tie, his hair slicked back.

“Is he alive?” Seunghyun asked as they all stood huddled together on the opposite side of the street. 

“I don’t know,” Seungri shrugged.  “We didn’t want to get too close.”

“Well how are we going to know if we’re all standing over here?”

“What if he’s a zombie, hyung?  I don’t want to get eaten again!”

Jiyong rolled his eyes as he started across the street.  “I’ll be the brave one, don’t worry.  I’m the fearless leader, you know…”  He stopped in the middle of the street to look back at everyone.  They hadn’t moved an inch.  “I’d be a lot braver if you all came with me, though.”

“Oh?  What happened to being the fearless leader?” Seungri smiled as he led the rest of the group over. 

They stopped just a few feet from the man.  He wasn’t moving, he was slumped against the wall with his head hanging to one side.  His skin was a sickly shade of gray, almost like ash.

“Is he…?”  Daesung let the question hang.  He couldn’t bring himself to say the rest of the words.

Jiyong edged closer.  “I’m not sure.  I don’t think he’s breathing.” 

“Well, make sure,” Seungri urged. 

Though he shot Seungri a nasty glare, Jiyong moved closer to the man, squatting next to him so he was just within arm’s reach.  He took a couple deep breaths before he reached out and poked him once in the arm. 

Nothing happened except for the collective sigh from five young men who hadn’t even released they were holding their breath.

Feeling more than a little relieved, Jiyong reached out to touch the man’s face.  He wasn’t sure why he did it, he just felt compelled to do so, and when he did the gray skin under his fingertips crumbled.  It just fell apart, like layers of smoldering ash, until it revealed the white bone beneath.

No one spoke, no one moved except for Jiyong who immediately pulled his hand away and fell back on the sidewalk.  Youngbae was like a statue, unsure of what to do or say.  Next to him, Seungri looked like he had forgotten how to breathe.  Daesung was gripping Seunghyun’s hand so tight he thought he was going to squeeze his fingers off. 

Seunghyun’s head was pounding.  It felt like someone was inside his head trying to pry his skull apart.

It was too much. 

Whatever this world, this nightmare was, it was simply too much.   

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A/N: Hi^^ How are you all?  It's 3am here...it's 3am and I'm updating...I have no life XD

Anyways, today (yesterday) was kind of one of those bad days for me^^  I'm going to go headbang to some GazettE now (it relieves stress!), but it would make me super happy if you commented.  I mean...only if you want to, though...because comments are <3, yeah?  ^________________^