█ Chapter 14: Raindrops

Thirty-six hours. Thirty-six hours had passed since Jongin's group had been cooped up in the office.

Everyone had at least one meal a day, that ration usually shared amongst five out of one can of processed vegetables and fruit from their supply run the other week. They had to be resourceful now that they had two extra mouths to feed and no way of increasing their stock of supplies.

The good news was that the biters had gone dormant and were no longer swarming the first floor like they had a day ago; now, they were trudging aimlessly, waiting for the slightest movement from their next prey. Sometimes, they wandered too close to the office for comfort and some peered in, but the group was quiet and avoided detection like church mice.

The bad news was that the two extra mouths to feed were soon becoming only one.

Baekhyun's fever worsened after every hour, almost to the point where even Baekhyun physically couldn't joke about it anymore. He was pale, his bitten leg had gone completely numb an hour ago, and he was breaking out in a cold sweat when the office was nowhere near warm. Chanyeol was unfazed by the obvious signs and guarded Baekhyun's side, diligently wiping the sweat from his boyfriend's brows and neck.

Kyungsoo thought it was pathetic.

He thought it was pathetic how wasteful and narrow-minded they were for choosing a slow, agonizing death over losing a foot. But, the truth was that Kyungsoo thought Chanyeol was being pathetic for emulating him the exact way he had responded to his own younger sister being bitten. If Kyungsoo hadn't been so... stupid, she would have been alive. Now, Baekhyun had an invisible timer ticking above his head, and Kyungsoo was only waiting for the inevitable, giving Baekhyun and Chanyeol space because... well, they needed it.

Kyungsoo was human enough to acknowledge the fact that Chanyeol loved Baekhyun very much, whereas he was less invested in emotions simply because it was easier that way. No friends and no lovers meant no heartbreak, no pain.

Chanyeol pushed back his sweaty fringe, the purplish bags under his eyes even more visible. Worrying sick over Baekhyun had literally gotten him fatigued and ill. "His fever's not going down," he spoke softly, almost in defeat. He took Baekhyun's cold, clammy hand and tried to warm it between his own, kissing each knuckle gingerly. "God damn it, Baekhyun, we shouldn't have left. We didn't need this."

A haughty "I told you so" threatened to slip from Kyungsoo's silver tongue, but he swallowed his words. Every situation had an appropriate time and place, and this was not the time nor the place to be an .

Chanyeol was weeping silently, but nobody could tell, really, not unless they listened for the deflated sniffles and occasional whimpers muffled between the cracks of his fists. "I'm so sorry," he whispered against the milky skin of Baekhyun's hand and pressed the back of it to his damp cheek. "I'm so sorry, I can't... I-I can't lose you, too, please don't leave me."

Kyungsoo rested his head against the wall and stared blankly at the opposite end of the room.

Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic. There was nothing more disappointing to hear than the selfish plea of someone begging the dead to stay alive, for their sake. Kyungsoo quickly grew bored of the overdramatic scene before him and glanced over, at Jongin and Sehun who had been sleeping on each other for the last five hours. At least they didn't have to sit through this. How much longer did Baekhyun have? An hour? Two?

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol hiccuped, his face flushed, sticky, and snotty. "Baekhyun?"

Chanyeol felt his boyfriend squeeze his hand, albeit weakly. Baekhyun was still alive, but the rosiness had drained from his lips and cheeks long ago and the only semblances of life he had left in him were his steady breaths lifting his chest. The boy's pupils twitched behind closed eyelids, almost as if he was trying to open them, but couldn't.

"The sea..." Baekhyun weezed.

Chanyeol blinked away his fresh tears. "Huh?" he coaxed Baekhyun to talk, just a bit longer.

"When... when we met... at that beach party..." Baekhyun chuckled softly at the memory glowing dimly behind his closed eyelids. "I still remember... how h-handsome you looked over the glow of the... fire... and how the... wind carried... your cologne... how I thought... I-I'd do anything to keep that smile on your face... f-for as long as I could."

Chanyeol squeezed Baekhyun's hand and said nothing because he knew exactly what party Baekhyun was referring to, and how Chanyeol had already had his girlfriend at his side then. It was even possible that she hadn't really left him at all, even now, and he had a feeling that Baekhyun knew.

"Don't be sorry," Baekhyun sighed. It hurt to breathe. "It-It might... have been one-sided... but..." he grinned more like himself, possibly for the last time. "I god-damn loved you the best I could."

"I know. I know you did, Baekhyun," Chanyeol bit his lower lip. He hated that Baekhyun was talking like this, talking without the usual banter integrated into his words. It really felt like the last. It hurt, but he leaned forward and kissed Baekhyun's sweaty forehead. "You don't have to love alone anymore, Baekhyun. Let me love you. Let me fill my breaths with you. You don't have to do anything anymore."

Baekhyun had been waiting years for those words, and they brought him solace as he slipped away, into the air, into the sky, into Chanyeol's breaths.

Chanyeol was the one to slip the pocket knife into Baekhyun's temple, right behind his ear, to permanently lay him to rest.

They wrapped Baekhyun's body in a fire blanket stored in one of the closets and buried him outside, behind a flower shop where the wildflowers had flourished and the trees provided the perfect shade over Baekhyun's grave. The group had a brief memorial service that mostly involved taking turns as they laid assorted flowers over the grassy dirt of Baekhyun's resting place. Chanyeol understandably took longer to leave, saying nothing, even though the tears that streamed down his face said everything he couldn't express in mere words.

It started raining only a few minutes into the memorial service. Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Jongin took shelter under the flower shop's roof, but Chanyeol stood soaking in the rain for what seemed like hours before he knelt and pat the dirt where Baekhyun lay. "You don't have to do anything anymore, Baekhyun. I know it must have been difficult. Rest easy." A small smile lit Chanyeol's face, even if his heart was tearing from the inside. He knew Baekhyun wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

The other three kept their distance from Chanyeol as they headed on foot to their next stop. They still had several miles left to cover before reaching Busan but the terrain was open and biters were very few in the area.

They came to a long stretch of asphalt road and Sehun stopped, lifting his hands palm-up towards the sky to catch the falling raindrops. He closed his eyes and felt them tickle his bare skin, pitter-pattering gently against his tongue when he opened his mouth. It was relaxing for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Chanyeol dragging behind them in the back, Kyungsoo staring at the ground as he walked, and Jongin trudging on with the most miserable look on his face.

"Ah," Sehun suddenly exhaled and dropped to the floor, rolling himself on the wet asphalt. He grinned widely. If he had tried this any day prior to the apocalypse, he would have had an angry driver honking their horn at him, so when else was he going to lie flat against an open road and catch the raindrops in his mouth?

"Sehun... what are you..." Jongin sighed. "Get up, you're being ridiculous."

"I want to lie here a bit," Sehun pouted and took off his tattered Vans, tossing them unceremoniously beside him. It felt too good to lie barefooted in the puddles. He stood up only when Jongin tugged on his sleeve. "Oh, come on, Jongin," Sehun smiled, splashing Jongin with a well-aimed kick in a large puddle. He repeated this until Jongin gave and splashed him right back.

Sehun's shoes hooked in one hand and a heavy gun strapped to his opposite shoulder, Jongin chased Sehun through the rain, their bubbly laughter drowned by the thick rainfall. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so heartily, so sincerely, nor could he remember the last time he had seen Sehun's eyes twinkle so brightly.

When Sehun lost his footing and slipped on a patch of mud, Jongin's arm looped around the other male's waist and the two nearly toppled over hadn't the latter tightened his grip. Sehun's hands naturally pressed against Jongin's chest as he laughed.

They both snorted at how close that was, although secretly Jongin was more amused by how adorable Sehun looked when he was embarrassed. "Be careful," Jongin chuckled.

"I will," Sehun swallowed after a soft laugh. "Will you let me go now?"

"Yes, please," Kyungsoo sighed in exasperation as he tore the two apart to make a path for himself between them. "Kill me before you two make me watch something like that again."