(A/N): Just a heads up, everything in italics is a flashback (unless it's a thought).

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     The parking garage had two floors. Each was equally spacious, and at the moment, equally eerie. They had once been packed with cars, used to transport stars in and out without being noticed. The idea was a sort of the same now, but instead of hiding from the fans they loved, they now hid from beings that could rip the flesh from their bones in a matter of seconds.

     The dim lights flickered ominously, creating changing shadows in the packed van. As expected, it was the only car left in the lot.

     Shin and Hana stared blankly at the bandannas in front of their face.

     Eunhyuk shook the material, "Go on, take them," he said, "You agreed to this, remember?" Shin scratched his head, dandruff falling from his dry scalp like snow.

    Of course I remember, he thought.

     "First off, we call the shots," Eunhyuk said, arms crossed as he leaned on the kitchen counter, "We're letting you join us, okay? Not the other way around."

    "Don't get us wrong, we know we need you guys, " Donghae said, trying to clarify, "it's just a precaution."

    "Second," Eunhyuk resumed with a roll of his eyes, "don't ask questions. Do what we do. Do what we say." Shin began to feel that he was being bound to a contract, not an alliance.

    Now, he and Hana sat in the car, side by side, holding the last rule in their hands. They knew it wasn't smart, probably the dumbest thing they could do actually. But this was what had to happen.

   They had agreed.

    Hana slowly brought the bandana to her face. She could feel the many curious eyes watching her every move, but refused to look around and check for herself. She noticed that Shin still hadn't moved beside her.  Hana nudged his leg with her foot and he finally tied the blindfold around his head.

    Chanyeol sat forward in his seat behind Shin and whispered to the cousins, "This is the only reason he agreed to bring you guys you know." he said, looking at a satisfied Eunhyuk in the passenger seat, "he made a big deal about you guys knowing too much about us. So, he decided that if you saw nothing, you would know nothing."

    Chanyeol was the first to try and get to know the new company.

    Like everything else, it had started in the SM kitchen. When they began to file out, in perfect Shin fashion, the boy slipped on the forgotten greasy floor. Hana reached out to stop him from falling, but Chanyeol's arms were longer, "Woah!" he said when Shin fell into his arms, "Are you okay?" Shin stayed still as he took in the awkward position. Chanyeol looked up at the other stranger, "Is he always this clumsy?" he asked Hana, who was still looking at Shin.

   Hana didn't realize the question was for her until she met the boy's deep, chocolate, brown eyes for the second time that night. Her mind drew a blank.

   He's talking to you! She screamed to herself. Her tongue suddenly felt like sand paper. After a moment of staring at his face for too long, she snapped herself out of her trance. She immediately looked back at the floor and gave a small nod and swallowed. You're so lame...she thought, mentally face-palming herself in embarrassment.

  Chanyeol shrugged and pulled Shin back to his feet, "I'm just kidding, I fell earlier, too."

  At that moment, Chanyeol was definitely Shin's favorite by far.

 While the rest made small talk, Hana moved closer to Shin on the long seat they shared, "You know this is a bad idea, right?" she whispered.

 "Of course. But what could I do? Say no? " he asked.

    "Blindfolding us? Are they kidding? We need our eyes more than anyone, at least we know what we're looking at." Shin muttered as they walked down the maze of halls to the garage. They stayed in the back to talk.

    "Look at it from their perspective, we're two strangers covered in blood and guts. They have to be scared of us." Hana said. Shin saw Eunhyuk turn back to look at them from the front of the line. His eyes were distrustful as he talked to Donghae.

    "Hey, Blue Hair keeps on looking back here. Is it just me or does he hate me?"

    "Well you did almost knock his head off with that pan in the kitchen."

    "Why are you defending him?" Shin's voice rose, and a few of the idols looked back, including Eunhyuk.

    "I'm not." Hana said through clenched teeth, wishing he would quiet down.

    "Look, I know they're famous or whatever, but you can't let that stop you from seeing through their crap. They're no exception to any other strangers we could have met out here."

   Hana looked at the seven backs in front of her, "Yeah," she said, listening to their bright laughter fill the long halls, "I know."

   "Needless to say, we can't completely trust them. They obviously don't trust us," Eunhyuk looked back again, "Well, at least he doesn't. They're ordinary as far as I'm concerned."

  In Hana's world, before the zombies, they were far from normal. They were stars that shined brighter and higher than any other. Then, as they walked the same halls, they had come down to earth and were no longer unreachable.

   But the moment they chose to sit in the last SM van, her vision was put in the hands of those mystified stars. Stars that had yet to experience anything in comparison to what she had over the past four days. 

    While Eunhyuk conversed with Donghae in the front, he saw the blindfolded pair whispering through his rear view mirror. He became anxious, and could only imagine what they could be plotting, "Hey Shin!" he interrupted, "Since you are the all knowing expert on what's going on out there, why don't you enlighten us before we see for ourselves."

   Shin could sense the patronizing nature of his words. He could just imagine the smirk on Eunhyuk's face. Shin sunk back deeper in the seat and crossed his arms, "Well, what do you want to know?"

   Donghae spoke up first, "We saw everything unfold from our windows. The riots, the helicopters, the crowds of people. So...what exactly is wrong with them?" Donghae asked, playing with his hands nervously.

   "Well first of all, did you watch the news?" Shin asked.

  "Yeah, when we had time."

  "Okay. Well everything you heard from them was total crap. You shouldn't have believed any of it. That's why they are the way they are. They believed the lies for too long." Shin stated.

  "It wasn't a lie," Eunhyuk said suddenly from the passenger seat, "There was a virus wasn't there?"

  Shin couldn't believe he had to explain something he thought was painfully obvious.

   You have eyes, is this what they said it would be? he wanted to ask.

   "Yes," he paused, "but have you ever seen a virus do this to almost the entire human population?"

   There was momentary silence as those who were listening took in his words.

  "Then what did it do? What were the lies?" asked Chanyeol.

      Shin turned down the hostility in his voice, "It turned them into monsters. I would describe them as cannibals, but it takes a human to be a cannibal. And that they're not," all of the side conversations had stopped completely, "What, the news didn't tell you that?" Shin added almost jokingly.

   "What are you talking about?" Chen asked, a voice Shin had never heard before.

      He turned around even though he could not see whom he was speaking to, "Those things," he said venomously, "are the reason why my cousin and I look like this. They attack you and try to eat you alive. They're not humans anymore."

     "So you're basically saying that you were attacked by zombies?" Eunhyuk asked in disbelief, chuckling because it sounded so ridiculous.

      Shin didn't find it funny, "Yes. Zombies."

       The car was quiet a while longer. Shin felt stupid being blindfolded, especially while talking about something so serious. He squirmed around in his seat, "So can we take these off of our eyes now?" He asked to no one in particular. Though he had hoped for one answer, he received another.

     "No. Stick to the agreement." said a voice from the front.

     The same thought crossed Shin and Hana's minds, Are you serious?

 Eunhyuk cleared his throat, "Come on Donghae, let's get out of here." he muttered.

 Donghae shook his head to clear his thoughts, "O-okay," he switched gears and gripped the steering wheel tight.

 Hana could feel the tires move beneath them and knew they were finally exiting the garage and going into the elements they had worked so hard to escape.

She couldn't help but wonder if they were working backwards.

 Through her blindfold, she could see the changing color of lights as they passed.

       There was no conversation she could go off of to let her know what was going on. Whether it was from shock or fright, she didn't know. Maybe it was both, but the car was completely silent. Only five minutes into the drive did Chen speak up to give a driving direction.

      "So when I make this left I should be a few blocks away," Donghae said. Once he made the turn, the car came to a sudden stop, "Woah...," he breathed.

       Shin and Hana's ears perked up at the first sound of alarm.

      "What's going on?" Shin asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

      "Just move around them." he could hear Eunhyuk advise nonchalantly.

     "I can't, they're blocking the whole street."

    Shin grew anxious, "What's going on?!" he yelled. No one answered. He quickly took off his blindfold and let it fall by his feet. Shin looked through the windshield to see a couple dozen zombies paused just feet away from the van. Once the headlights shined on them they immediately stopped pacing.

    Eunhyuk was too wrapped up with what was in front of him to even realize that Shin had taken off the bandanna, "Just honk the horn, they'll eventually move."

   Shin's heart nearly stopped, "Donghae, whatever you do, don't honk the- ," but it was far too late. The sound of the piercing horn filled the quiet night. The sudden sound had not only gathered the attention of the zombies in front of the car, but of those they had already passed. Both groups began to make their way over.

   Hana, who was focused on listening the whole time, tossed her own blindfold to the side once she heard sound.

       Oh no... 

       Zombies they had passed yards back then caught up to the car and began to pound on the windows. They growled and wiped their stained hands on the tinted glass. Chen, Sehun, and Kai, who sat in the backseat, turned around to see the source of the new noise and screamed.

      In all of the chaos, time seemed to stand still as more zombies began to engulf the car.

   Shin jumped out of his seat, "Step on the gas!" he yelled. Donghae questioningly complied as Shin quickly grabbed hold of the steering wheel and plowed through the approaching zombies. Some rolled onto the hood, but Shin continued to knock them down like bowling pins. One got stuck there, and locked eyes with a petrified Donghae. He bared his teeth as he continued to scale the cracking windshield. When Shin whipped the corner, it fell off the car and rolled a few more times down the road.

       After clearing the area, Shin turned into the lot of a large brick apartment complex. He calmly told Donghae to hit the brakes, and once the car stopped, he sat back down in his seat, breathing heavily, "Is this the apartment you were talking about?"

     Even Hana turned to the twenty-two year old with wide eyes.

      She had never known him to be so bold.

     "What the hell was that?!" Eunhyuk screamed, "You just ran those people over!"

     Shin held the bridge of his nose and sighed, "I wish you would stop calling them that."

    "They are people! People you just mowed down like grass!"

     "They're dead! And if I didn't do what I just did, we all would have been too!"             

      Donghae continued to look forward, not saying a word.

      Shin broke the accusing silence, "Let's just do whatever we came here to do before more come back."

      Eunhyuk shook his head, "You're a psycho." he whispered as he got out of the car. Shin still heard it.

         Hana took that as a cue for her to leave, too. She grabbed the handle and got out slowly. The sudden cold night air made it hard to breathe. She hugged herself to keep from shivering in her thin grey sweater. The once white van was now covered with dents and splashes of red, not to mention the filthy cracked windshield.

       As the idols get out of the car, they give her questioning looks as they passed, trying to figure her out; something people had been trying to do for as long as she could remember. She saw those looks and couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt. Sure, she had always been an outcast, and was used to those judging stares, but this time it was who was judging her that made her care at all.          

      She felt a hand on her shoulder and she almost jumped at the contact, "I can't believe that I'm being blamed for saving their life!" Shin said when he caught up.

   Hana shrugged, "They don't understand how bad it is yet. They will soon enough, though. They don't have a choice."

    "I just feel like I'm being looked at as a villain," as Shin spoke, Sehun turned around to look back at the pair. Once he realized that Shin had seen him, he hurriedly looked away and walked faster. Shin pointed at Sehun accusingly, "See?!"

    Hana sighed, her breath a visible cloud. It was her job as family to support him, but she felt that the car thing was a little bit too much. Sure, that was probably the only thing he could have done to get them all out of there alive, but she thought he could have handled it better, "You poor baby."

     As usual, Donghae and Eunhyuk stood in the front of the group as they walked to the building,  "I don't trust that guy. He just ran over all those innocent people like it was nothing. 'They're dead', yeah right. They looked pretty alive to me." Eunhyuk ranted.

    "I don't know, I looked at one of them for a while. It was something in their eyes, but they just didn't look...right." Donghae said, not sure of a better way to explain it.

     Eunhyuk looked at his friend and scoffed, "Whatever."

    When the group of nine entered the apartment complex, they found the inside to be as they expected- empty, cold and dark. The group took in their ominous surroundings and Chanyeol pointed to a door nearby, "The stairs are this way."

    One by one, the group climbed to the top. There was the faint sound of panting and many footsteps. Once they reached the second floor, they saw a trail of a dark liquid going down the seemingly endless hallway. By this time, Shin and Hana had reached the top of the staircase, and saw the rest looking at the floor.

    They pushed their way through and saw the group looking at the dark stains. To them, it looked like something big had been soaked in the stuff and dragged down the hall. Through their experience, they didn't have to question what the "stuff" was.

     "Just out of curiosity, which one is the apartment you're looking for?" Shin asked.

    "The fourth one on the right is our manager's apartment." Chen responded.

    Hana's eyes followed the trail and saw that it stopped in front of that very door. She began to steadily back away.

    Shin noticed this too, "Um...maybe we shouldn't go in there."

    Kai turned to Shin, "We came here to find our manager and our friends and that's what we're going to do."

    Eunhyuk didn't miss this opportunity to question Shin, "Why don't you want us to go in there, psycho?"

    Shin ignored his new nickname, "Because I don't know if you're going to find your manager in there."

     "We came all the way here to find them, we promised we would at least try to look here," Amber said.

    Shin looked down at the trail again.

     When Shin was in school, he was at the other end of the social spectrum from his cousin. He always had friends and was often sought after by girls. People never doubted his decision-making and always thought what he said was right. He rarely disappointed- some might even call him a people- pleaser. But for some reason, he was having a hard time pacifying this crowd. He started to fall back into old habits, "Okay..." he said. He knew deep down that he would regret this later.

      He led the way down the hallway until they made it to the manager's door.

      "Hey," Sehun said, noticing three boxes filled with papers outside of the door, "this must be what our manager said he had to get out of his car."

     "That must mean he made it here...,"Chanyeol said.

     As Shin listened to this conversation, he touched the doorknob, only to realize the door was already open.  An alarm went off in his head when he identified the major red flag. He nudged Hana and pointed to the door. She furrowed her eyebrows as if to say, Are you sure we should go in there?

    Shin shrugged in response.

     The door creaked as it was pushed open. The trail continued all the way through the plush carpet and ended at a creme-colored sofa that was also covered in red. The moonlight shined in through a huge window on the opposite wall. That light allowed them to see what terrible condition the apartment was in. Mail, clothes, and books laid everywhere. A bookshelf was overturned and a faucet from the kitchen was still running. A bouquet of flowers sat on the counter with a thank you note lodged in between the petals.

      Someone was about to reach over and turn on the lights, but Shin put out a hand to stop them, "That's not a good idea," he said in a low voice, "Call for your manager and friends to see if they're here." he said, his hand still out to stop them from moving.

   Chanyeol cleared his throat, "Manager Yongmin! Junmyeon! Kyungsoo! Baekhyun! Are you here?" movement could be heard from somewhere in the back, "It's coming from his room!"

    Shin was still wary, "Call their names again."

     Before Chanyeol could make a sound, a figure could be seen emerging from the shadows of the bedroom's doorway.

     "Manager Yongmin!" the EXO boys said. The manager's figure was unmistakable to them.

Chanyeol began to walk toward the man with open arms.

      When Shin realized what the tall boy was doing, he rushed forward and grabbed his arm, "Wait-!" 

       The manager then came forward. The ugly, blood-stained contortion that was his face was only visible when it reached the moonlight. As he snarled he took a swipe at Chanyeol, who had been yanked back by Shin and quickly pushed towards the front door.        

    "Everybody, get into the hallway now!" Shin shouted. A few stood around, still confused by the situation, "GO!"

     Hana stood by the door, knowing that he didn't mean for her to leave. After everyone left the room, Shin pushed the manager hard, and he fell into his glass coffee table. It shattered beneath him as shards flew everywhere. But to their inconvenience, he began to get up easily.

     Shin looked at the monster in horror, "Hana!" he screamed. She pushed the front door closed in a rush, leaving it unintentionally cracked. 

    Shin looked around desperately for a weapon, anything sharp or heavy to kill the walking nightmare. He didn't realize that while he was searching, the corpse was moving in fast behind him. Hana saw this from across the room and her pupils dilated in fear.

     "Shin, behind you!" she cried. The boy turned around, and once he saw what was so close in front of him, he fell onto the soaking wet sofa.

      Once the dead man heard the new voice, he lost all interest in Shin and closed in on Hana. Framed family photos crashed around her as her back slammed into the wall, leaving more glass scattered around her feet. It pushed her there, and she held it by the neck to keep it from getting closer. The skin was squishy, and the more it struggled, the deeper her fingers got lodged into it's throat. Her head couldn't move any farther away, and it's rotting teeth snapped centimeters away from her nose. Saliva dripped from its mouth onto her sweater's sleeve, adding another color to the already ruined fabric.

      As they stood there she noticed a deep gash on his shoulder.

     She could hear Shin's voice, though in the moment, it seemed very far away. It sounded like he was calling her name.

     In the chaos, she looked down at the stool next to her, and on top of a stack of mail laid a sharp letter opener. Without thinking, she picked up the handle and jabbed the object through the middle of its forehead. All of its fight immediately stopped, and he fell limp to the ground with a thud.

    She felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her in a tight hug as her eyes stayed glued to the lifeless body in the middle of the living room floor.

  "Are you okay?!" her cousin asked frantically, grabbing her arms and looking her up and down.

   "Yeah, I'm fine." she said, still looking over his shoulder.

     "I was too far away, and when I got back up, it was already on you and..." he looked behind him at the stilled body, "You did it! You killed one! I told you you would have your chance! That one was all you!"

      Hana didn't want the praise. When she looked down at what was left of her attacker, she remembered how important he was to the boys standing outside. She couldn't help the wave of guilt that washed over her.

       I just killed EXO's manager.

       "Come on, let's get out of here." Shin said. Him kicking the body as he passed was no accident. When they fully opened the door, they were met with the concerned and expectant faces of those waiting outside.

      "What happened? We heard screaming and stuff falling." Amber asked.

      Chanyeol saw the cousins' troubled faces, "Are you two okay?"

       Hana put her bloody hands behind her back. She couldn't even look at Chanyeol. What struck her most was that he was asking her if she was okay after what she had just done.

        You did it to live, she told herself firmly.  

     "We're okay...but we should go now." Shin said, and he quickly walked away from the door and the group, not allowing anyone to ask him any questions.

      The rest followed behind slowly, speculating among themselves on what they thought went on in the room in low voices. The two Super Junior members trailed behind the group to talk, and the main dancer stared daggers into Shin and Hana's backs.

      "I don't like them, Donghae. I don't like them one bit."

     "Them? I thought Shin was the only one you were unsure about."

      "Not after what I just saw."

          Everyone in the hallway had been preoccupied with their fears and questions of what was happening behind the closed doors. There were gasps when glass was heard shattering. Eunhyuk noticed that the door had not been all the way closed, and curiosity got the best of him as he peaked through the space.

         He saw Hana drive a sharp metal object through the manager's head and gave a quick intake of breath. His blood began to boil when he heard Shin congratulating her on the kill. He gritted his teeth and cracked the door once more. There was one thing he was sure of: the girl had just murdered a sick man in cold blood.

         "The girl?" Donghae asked, "No, she doesn't seem like the type that would do that."

       "When we found her she was covered in blood- that means she's done it before!" he insisted. Another thought crossed his mind, "And Shin congratulated her like she had won some kind of game...she's a killer too."

       Donghae walked down each step carefully, "I still think you may have it wrong." he said, too low for Eunhyuk to hear.

      When they all finally made it back to the car, it was eerily silent. The pain in the air was almost palpable. The EXO boys started to wonder if their manager trying to grab Chanyeol really had something to do with what Shin had told them. Someone sniffled.

      Eunhyuk quickly turned around in his seat, a new intensity in his eyes, "Put your blindfolds back on right now. Both of you."

      Shin raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Come on, after what happened earlier I think we need to see too-"

     "It's either that or you can get out of this van right now and go back to where you started, psycho." Donghae looked at his friend. He was being way too excessive.

     Shin tightened his jaw and looked this challenger right in his dark eyes. Shin had pride, but not enough to go back to where he was before just to prove a point. Eyes never leaving Eunhyuk's, he fished around in the darkness until he found the bandanna, only losing his glare once he tied it around his face.

     Hana looked at Shin sadly.

     "You too, killer." the oldest muttered before he turned back to the front.

      Hana paused as she gripped her blindfold, Killer...?

      She looked up in time to see Donghae smack Eunhyuk's chest, "Stop." he whispered, annoyed.

     Was he talking about me?

      She didn't let her mind dive into the topic for too long, and she eventually wrapped the fabric around her own head. Her usual self would have came up with some kind of retort, but she couldn't afford more hate at a time like that, especially when she was so confused why she was being hated in the first place. She looked down at her hands and wiped them on her jeans. She came to the conclusion that she couldn't keep either clean for too long, especially in the life she lived now.

      As the car began to move again, Shin and Hana stayed alert, still paranoid from the last encounter. But after what felt like a few miles passed, they began to relax, their anxiety melting away with every corner that was turned without an accident. It was the same for everyone.

     "Wait," Sehun suddenly piped up from the backseat. That was the first word spoken for that last awkward thirty minutes, and it sounded troubled, "if our manager made it to the apartment..." his voice cracked, "then what happened to the boys?"

     As those words sunk in, the anxiety returned.

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(A/N): 3 a.m. update, anyone?

Yeah I should probably go to sleep now...

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this long chapter!