The afternoon pressed on in silence as they walked through abandoned streets, past empty office buildings and boutiques, restaurants with no customers and apartment complexes without a single tenant.  All they had was the soft sound of sneakers scuffling across the concrete and the encompassing quiet that surrounded them.

No one spoke, not a single word. 

Jiyong kept staring at his hands.  They hadn’t stopped shaking since he touched the man earlier.  For a while afterwards he had kept mumbling the same words over and over again.  “I didn’t mean to…he just fell apart…I didn’t mean to…”  Youngbae had tried to comfort him by laying his hand on his shoulder but it didn’t do much to calm his shaking hands.

They were all equally as horrified, though.  No one could get that image out of their head.  For Seunghyun, the image of crumbling skin was permanently imprinted in his mind.  The only thing that kept his mind off of it was holding Daesung’s hand.  He squeezed it tight, held it in both hands and kept him close.  It was as if hanging onto his hand was the last thing tying him to his sanity because he was afraid that if he let go, what was left of the world would crumble around him just like that man’s face.  And if anything, Seunghyun felt like he had to remain somewhat stable, if not for his own sanity, then for everyone else’s. 

Seunghyun looked up into the late afternoon sun as they walked.  For a spring day, it was unbearably hot, he could feel the sweat starting to drip down the nape of his neck.  Maybe it was all the walking, but it was just so hot.

“Can we stop for a moment?”  Daesung’s voice cut through the silence like a knife and everyone stopped and stared at him like he was an alien.  No one had spoken for so long that the sound of his voice sounded foreign in the empty air. 

“You okay?” Seunghyun asked, rubbing the back of Daesung’s hand.

Daesung nodded, but the look he was giving Seunghyun said he was starting to border on the edge of being too patronizing.  “You don’t have to worry so much, hyung.  I was just wondering if we could take a break.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Youngbae agreed.  It was only then that Seunghyun realized they all looked exhausted, that they were all covered in a light sheen of sweat.

They sat on the nearby curb.  Seungri took a bottle of water from the bag he was carrying, took a sip, and passed it down the line. 

“Anyone hungry…?” he asked.  No one said anything, they just shook their heads and stared at the asphalt.  “Yeah, me neither,” he muttered. 

“It’ll be getting dark soon.  We should probably find some place to stay.”

“Maybe we can get into one of those apartment complexes,” Seunghyun suggested.  “It’s not like we have to be uncomfortable.”

“We’ll probably have to break into one,” Seungri said.  “Shouldn’t be a problem, though.”

They fell quiet again, passing the water bottle up and down the line.  They sat there for a long time, Seunghyun watching as the sun dipped further behind the buildings.  He found it amazing that even though the world was empty, the sun still had to keep to its schedule.  The thought just seemed silly to him.

“I’d love to wake up right now,” Daesung said, his voice once again cutting through the silence as he laid his head against Seunghyun’s shoulder.  “Because this is just a dream, right?  A really bad dream?”

Daesung spoke the sentiment of the entire group.  They agreed, they nodded at his words and then looked away, immediately lost in their own thoughts.  Jiyong was staring at his hands, his lips occasionally moving as if he was repeating some kind of mantra under his breath.  Youngbae laid back on the sidewalk, covering his face with his hands.  Seungri finished off the water and stuffed the bottle back in the bag.  Seunghyun moved a little closer to Daesung, laying his hand on his knee and hoping that he was comforting to him in some way. 

“We should try to find some place before it gets any later,” he said.  “It might not be safe after dark…”

Youngbae sat up.  “Yeah, you’re right.  Looks like we need to do some more walking too.  This area isn’t really residential, it’s more offices than anything,” he said, looking around.

“But those look like apartments over there,” Seungri said, pointing off into the distance.  “Should we head there?”

No one objected and so one by one they stood up and started to migrate towards the buildings.  Except for Jiyong.  He remained sitting on the curb, still staring at his hands. 

Daesung patted his shoulder gently.  “Jiyong-hyung?  We’re leaving.  Are you okay?”

He looked up at Daesung.  For a moment his eyes were unfocused, completely lost in his own little world.  But he blinked once, then twice, and suddenly he seemed to realize where he was again.

“Aw…I’m okay,” he smiled, patting Dae’s hand.  “Really, I’m okay.”  He looked around, saw Youngbae and Seungri already halfway up the sidewalk discussing the best way to reach the buildings in the distance, and suddenly he was on his feet.  “We’re going to get left behind!”

Daesung looked to Seunghyun as Jiyong ran after the others.  He was concerned, it was written all over his face, and Seunghyun was experiencing the same feeling. 

“He’ll be okay, Dae,” he said, trying to smile as he wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

He said it as much to ease his own mind as he did Daesung’s.

The first building had a code system for unlocking the main door.  They tried to bust the glass on the door to get inside but it refused to shatter and then someone made the good point that it probably wasn’t safe staying where the front door was open all the time anyways. 

So they moved on to the next complex they came across.  It was a small building, four apartments, easily gotten into because the main door was wide open.  The bottom floors were empty, but on inspection of the top floor they found more of the “ashen” people.  In one apartment in particular they came across a couple laying together hand in hand on a futon.  They could have been sleeping if not for the sickly color of their skin.

Jiyong left the room almost immediately and the others slowly followed suit. 

“We can’t stay in there.  It’s a grave.”

But they had to stay somewhere, because it was steadily getting darker outside.  The urgency to find someplace was becoming worse and worse.  Seunghyun especially was not prepared to spend the night on the street.  Who knows what else they’d be sharing the street with?

The next apartment complex, another small one, was also left open but the inside of each apartment was completely trashed.  The cabinets had been ripped open, their contents strewn across the floors, tables and chairs broken and thrown aside, lamps and TV’s shattered. 

“This doesn’t look like people just up and left,” Seungri said, kicking aside the pieces of a broken chair.  “This look like an explosion took place.”

“Looters?” Seunghyun questioned.

“You think there’s other people around then?”  There was a trace of hopefulness in Jiyong’s voice. 

“Maybe,” Youngbae muttered.  “But people who do this, I’m not sure we want to find them.  We can’t stay here, though, that’s for sure.”

Seungri had wandered over to the fridge.  “Didn’t clean out the food, though.  Maybe we should take it?  Makes you wonder why someone would tear this place apart but not take the food.”

“That’s stealing,” Daesung muttered.

“We’re not going through that again, are we?  There’s no one here and the place is destroyed.  What does it matter?”

“It’s the principal of the thing.”

“I’m sorry, hyung, but I’d rather eat than worry about principals,” Seungri said.  He looked sympathetically at Daesung, he understood what he was saying, but he felt like that line of reasoning really didn’t stand anymore in this situation.

“Shouldn’t we be worrying about our own survival?” Jiyong interrupted.  “It won’t hurt anything.  And it’s not like we’re taking valuables or anything, right, Dae?”

Daesung shrugged, knowing he was outnumbered and defeated on the matter.  Maybe he was still stuck in a world where the rules applied and he was having a hard time realizing that.  He knew he should be worried about his own skin, but there was just something about rummaging through complete stranger’s belongings that seemed inherently wrong to him, even if it was just their refrigerator.  These things belonged to someone, just because they were now gone didn’t mean everything they had was up for grabs.  At least that was the rule before the world ended.  Daesung was having a hard time getting over that.

Seeing the tension that was starting to form, Seunghyun put his hands on Daesung’s shoulders and steered him towards the door.  “We’ll wait for you guys on the street, okay?”

“Just don’t stray too far or anything.  It’s really getting dark,” Youngbae warned.

“Trust me, that won’t be a problem.”

Seunghyun pushed Daesung out of the apartment and back through the main doors that led to the street.  It was barely light out now, the sun had almost completely dipped below the horizon.  And with no streetlights to provide any light, it was as if the city was dead.

“We better find a place soon or we’re going to be stuck out here in the middle of the night,” Seunghyun muttered, taking out his phone to use as a light as he sat on the steps outside of the complex. 

Daesung had stopped moving as soon as Seunghyun stopped pushing him.  “You voted to come out here.”

Seunghyun looked up at Daesung standing next to him.  He was upset, he could tell from the way he held himself.  The way he shifted his weight back and forth on his feet, his arms crossed over his chest, the way his lips were pressed into a thin line, and especially how he looked away from Seunghyun, refusing to meet his gaze.

“I only picked the option that sounded the most reasonable, Dae.  You know that.”

“You still think this is the most reasonable option?”

Seunghyun was not at all happy with the tone of Daesung’s voice.  He had never heard him speak like that before, not to him or anyone else.  He was always so sweet, he went out of his way to make others happy.  He didn’t understand what this tone meant or where it was coming from.  Was it anger?  Fear?  Or maybe something else?

“Are you mad at me?”

“No.” 

“Because it’s not my fault the world ended-”

“I know.”

“Boyfriend or not, I’m still your hyung and I don’t really care for the tone-”

“So don’t listen to it then,” he said, starting down the steps. 

Seunghyun grabbed his hand though as he tried to walk by and pulled him back into his lap.  Daesung didn’t really put up a fight, he fell into Seunghyun’s grip easily enough.  “Now isn’t the time to be wandering off mad.  Since when do you have such an attitude?”

“Since now,” he grumbled.  “I’m not allowed to have an attitude?”

“Not if you’re using it to push me away.”

He hugged Daesung close, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and burying his face into his chest.  He stayed like that, breathing in that subtle scent that belonged only to his Dae.  Slowly, he felt an arm wrapping around his neck and then fingers rubbing soft circles on his shoulder.  It was an unspoken apology that Seunghyun understood even before Daesung spoke.

“I’m sorry, hyung.  That’s not what I meant to do.”

Seunghyun pulled away and looked at Daesung who was now sheepishly returning his gaze.  At least he was trying to, his eyes kept looking at him and away before darting back.  He was feeling guilty.

“I understand being angry, Dae, I do.  But if you’re going to use it to push me away, I won’t let you do that.  Hanging onto you is the only thing that will help me survive.”

“I didn’t know I ranked as high as food and shelter on the survival list.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, that you’re just as pushy as ever.  And clingy,” he smiled, when Seunghyun tightened his grip on him.  But his smile quickly faded and turned serious again.  “But I think, that maybe, you’re more cut out for this type of world than I am.”

“What, are you kidding?  Me?” he scoffed.  “I’ve been terrified the moment we left the dorm!  It’s only because I have everyone around me that I keep going.”

“Maybe,” Daesung smiled sadly.  “At least you can wrap your head around what’s going on and make rational decisions.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on any better than you do.”

Daesung had removed his arm from around Seunghyun’s neck and was picking at his thumbnail with his other fingers.  “Seungri and Jiyong are right, though.  I should be more worried about surviving than about rules that no longer exist.”

“But if we all forgot how to be decent, moral human beings, wouldn’t that kind of existence be worse than just surviving?”

Daesung didn’t say anything for a moment, he just stared at his hands.  But then all of a sudden he let out a small laugh and shook his head with a smile.

“What?  Did I say something funny?”

“No,” he grinned.  “It’s just, the world ends, I develop an attitude and you become a wise old man.”

Seunghyun slapped his thigh lightly.  “Yah!  Who are you calling an old man!?”

“I’m sorry,” he smiled, leaning into Seunghyun and giving him a soft kiss.

Seunghyun smiled back, taking hold of Daesung’s collar to hold him against his lips before he tried to pull away.  “I suppose I can forgive you, then.”

“You suppose?”

“Mmhm,” he murmured brushing their lips together.

Seunghyun then moved to kiss him again but Daesung turned his face away so Seunghyun’s lips met his cheek instead.  Slightly annoyed he was about to tell him off when Daesung pointed down the street.

“Did you see that?”

Seunghyun looked to where he was pointing, but there was barely any light left in the day for him to see more than the outlines of the nearby buildings.  Anything beyond that just blurred into one black mass.  There wasn’t enough star or moonlight to make much of a difference.  Either way, he couldn’t see what Daesung was pointing to.

“I don’t see anything.  What’d you see?”

“Lights,” he said, standing up.  “I saw lights, hyung.  They looked really faint but there was definitely something there.”

Seunghyun once again tried to peer into the darkness but saw nothing.  “Are you sure?  Maybe it was just a reflection.”

“Of what?  Everything’s out.”

Seunghyun made a split decision.  “Let’s check it out.” 

“Have you lost your mind?  We don’t know who or what it is.  And you promised Youngbae-hyung we wouldn’t wander off-”

“The whole point of leaving was to find other survivors.  What if those lights you saw were people just like us?  Come on, it’ll be fine.”  He grabbed Daesung’s hand and started to pull him along even though he was adamantly digging his heels in. 

“And what if they’re not people?”

“Then we’ll deal with that possibility when the time comes.”

Not about to stay behind or let Seunghyun go off alone, Daesung clung to him, one hand gripping the back of his shirt tightly in his fist.  “You remember you said you’d take a zombie bite for me, right?”

Seunghyun rolled his eyes even though it was too dark for Daesung to see.  “Don’t you have any faith in me?”

“I did until about two seconds ago,” he grumbled. 

Seunghyun was actually a little amused despite knowing that they were potentially walking into danger.  He felt kind of confident as they slowly made their way up the street, using his phone as a flashlight, though maybe it was just because Daesung was clinging to him in such a way that he felt like the big strong hero.

They walked a couple blocks to an intersection where Daesung was sure he had seen the lights.  But there was nothing there.  Not a single thing except deserted buildings and cars blocking the intersection.

Daesung released his grip on Seunghyun and wandered out towards the street.  “I swear I saw something, hyung,” he said, looking around and eventually turning back to look at Seunghyun, his face illuminated by the faint light of his phone.

“I believe you.  But whatever or whoever it was must be gone now.  It’s really weird, though, isn’t it?”

“What’s that?”

Seunghyun shrugged as he shined the light into a nearby car.  “Yesterday was so chaotic.  You guys barely made it back, there was all this talk of monsters, and now look,” he said.  “It’s just quiet.  I’m not sure which is more disturbing, the silence or the screaming.”

Daesung felt a shiver go up his spine and he started to rub his arms against the goosebumps that were forming across his skin.  “I’d love to tell you, but I have no idea what happened.  All I know is what I saw.  I don’t know what happened to all those people.”

Seunghyun decided to drop the subject.  There wasn’t much point in discussing the matter now, not when they were standing in the middle of a deserted intersection and he was sure Youngbae was furious with him for wandering off.  All that mattered right now was getting back to the others and finding some place to stay.  He was about to grab Daesung’s hand and make that very suggestion when the sudden sound of glass shattering broke the silence.

They stared at one another between the light of Seunghyun’s phone as the sound came more than once, as if someone was just around the block and breaking the windows on the buildings or the cars as they passed by.  It was getting steadily closer and louder and with each sound of exploding glass, Seunghyun felt like his heart was stopping. 

It was Daesung who finally took action, grabbing Seunghyun by the hand and pulling him into the nearest safe haven they had: the stairs leading down to the underground train station.  It was the last place Seunghyun really wanted to be.  There was something about the dark entranceways that had been bothering him all day. 

They stopped on the first landing, mostly because Seunghyun refused to go any further unless they had to.  They pressed themselves back against the cool concrete, holding their breath as they watched the entrance for some sign of life, Daesung’s fingers intertwined with Seunghyun’s.    

All was dark for one hesitant moment, the sound of breaking glass had ceased.   There were a thousand questions running through Seunghyun’s mind.  Had they been seen?  Who was out breaking windows?  Why were they breaking windows?  Were they even people?  There was only two things he really knew for certain.  One was that whoever was out there, he had a pretty good feeling that he didn’t want to meet them.  The second was that he really didn’t want to find out what was at the bottom of those stairs leading to the train platforms. 

And then there were voices, too hushed for either of them to make out what they were saying, but the cold laughter that followed sent chills down his spine and made Daesung grip his hand like a vice.  It wasn’t until they heard something metal scrapping across the concrete and then a flash of light shine across the entrance that they descended further into the train station.  They weren’t about to stay and find out if these people were friendly or not.

Safely away from whoever was up top, they were now in complete darkness within the train station, the only sound that of their breathing.  It was Seunghyun who tightened his grip on Daesung’s hand now.  The darkness was stifling as if it was physically beginning to press in on him.  It was quickly becoming claustrophobic.

But as he calmed down, as the frantic beating of his heart began to slow a little, Seunghyun realized that he was hearing more than just breathing in the pitch blackness of the station.  There was movement coming from somewhere.  At times it sounded like the scurrying of mice, at others like someone was shuffling their feet, and then at some points it sounded like someone was scrapping their nails along the walls.  It felt like the entire place was a living breathing thing all of a sudden and Seunghyun completely froze, flattening himself up against the wall as much as he possibly could. 

Seunghyun slowly brought his phone up to his chest, pointing it out into the darkness.  He didn’t want to look, he really didn’t, but he had to see what was making those awful noises, what was making the darkness feel like it was alive.  

He closed his eyes as he pressed the button on his phone.

The sudden intake of air from Daesung was what made him finally open his eyes again. 

There was a woman, not a foot from his face, just standing there.  Her eyes, though they were looking directly into Seunghyun’s, were bloodshot, glassed over and completely vacant.  Her skin was almost the same color as the man they had found earlier on the street, gray like ash.  But this woman was still alive, at least she appeared to be.  She swayed a little on her feet but her gaze never left Seunghyun’s like she was in some kind of trance.  It wasn’t until her thin lips stretched into a smile that Seunghyun fully felt the panic that had been slowly building up within him. 

Her vacant stare was harmless, but that smile was anything but.

He wasn’t sure what happened then.  The next thing he knew, they were running back for the entrance, Daesung once again suddenly the one in charge.  They had momentarily forgot why they had gone down into the train station to begin with and were only reminded when they heard breaking glass, followed by a car alarm and laughter. 

They froze halfway up the stairs.  Up top they were confronted with psychotic laughter and now behind them they heard the shuffling of hundreds of feet and Seunghyun was sure that wicked smile was at the forefront.

Seunghyun and Daesung looked at one another in the light from his phone.  It was decided mutually without even a word spoken that they would just make a run for it.  It wasn’t as if they had much of a choice anyways.  And that’s what they did, taking the rest of the stairs two at a time and running back onto the street, not taking the time to see the group of people they were running past, just knowing that what was behind them was worse. 

But they didn’t get far.       

Seunghyun wasn’t sure what happened, only knowing that he suddenly found himself pushed against a wall, the impact nearly knocking the wind out of him.  The same must have happened to Daesung because he was still holding firmly to his hand and he heard the groan that came from him when he apparently was shoved against the building as well.

His phone still in his hand, Seunghyun managed to catch a glimpse of the man holding him, a flash of dark pink hair, dark eyes and full lips, until it was ripped out of his hand and they were left in darkness again.

And then in a hushed, but deep voice laced with anger they heard in Japanese:

“What’re you two, stupid?  Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

_______________

A/N:  Welll...that went in an entirely different direction from what I had planned...O_o

I just want to say thanks to everyone that has subscribed and commented! :D  I try to reply to all comments, but if I don’t, I’m super sorry!  Been a busy week with school unfortunately T^T I will try to do better!