Warning: Angst

They had been wandering around for days. Having abandoned the car when it would no longer move, they travelled by foot, carrying what remained of their food and water in backpacking gear they had looted from a store shortly after they first saw Them. They don't exist anymore, not since the first quake. They had watched as scores of Them fell into a fissure that had appeared almost instantaneously. Had they not been in search of higher ground, they would have been swallowed into the belly of the hungry earth.

They had arrived at the Han river six hours after he picked her up. The sky had never brightened past that of dawn and in the darkness, they sat in the car, waiting for Kwang Soo who had never arrived. They waited though, they had waited until they couldn't. Until the river had frozen up so much they drove across it.

From the front mirror, he watched as tears fell, reminiscent of stars falling from the night sky. He would later regret the metaphor when the stars did fall as burning rocks upon them for as much as it was breathtaking, it was equal in parts of sheer terror. For now though, it was something beautiful and precious.

As they drove on aimlessly, she thought back on how her life had changed irrevocably since he turned up on her doorstep now eight hours ago.
 

The frantic knocking on her front door had startled her out of her dozing. Her hand tightened on the tennis racquet she had fallen asleep holding. She had fallen asleep while sitting on the couch to the news on the television but the news was no longer airing. The only sound emitting from the piece of metal was just that of static and the screen had gone blank shortly after she succumbed to exhaustion. The knocks have grown louder and she could hear her name being called. Alarmed, she leapt off the couch, still holding tight to the only weapon like structure she could find in the apartment. A quick check of the security camera revealed a muscular man and her panic faded into relief. She opened the door to let him in and was rather startled when he quickly locked the door behind him and latched the security chain as well. He was rarely perturbed as he was today and she was starting to worry.

“Its happening. What we talked about all those months ago. The TV station is down and the borders are closing. We’ve to go now.”

She stared at him uncomprehendingly. It was just a theory they had talked about months earlier. The signs had been there. The early migration of the birds, schools of fish swimming against the tide towards the northern hemisphere, animals in zoos across the country going wild trying to escape. It was all but just a theory, and the two along with the other cast members had speculated on what was happening when Kwang Soo, who had watched one too many American series, suggested that the world was ending.

“It’s a zombie apocalypse!” he had shouted in his excitement.

While the other members had shot down his theory, the other two had humoured him and the three had came up with an escape plan in jest days later when they met for dinner. It seemed that the plan was in use now. She was touched that he had came for her first though, when there were other people that he could have picked up first.

He gave her a gentle shove. “Pack up, we have to see if there’s anyone else to pick up. And dress warmly!”

She got moving, never once doubting him. While she was packing, she heard him ransacking through her kitchen. He wasn’t about to find much unless he was willing to substitute alcohol for water on this trip, she thought grimly.

When she exited the room, she was welcomed by the sight of him shoving packages of ramen into a backpack. Now that she thought about it, her unhealthy eating habits certainly paid off during an apocalypse. Chances were, she probably had more non-perishables than he did since his refrigerator was filled with fresh, organic health products. He had even packed up the bottles of water she had kept under the counter she had forgotten about until she saw them once more. He picked up a kitchen knife and handed it to her, which she accepted as gracefully as she could in the situation. Grabbing her bag of clothes, he handed her the tennis racquet she had held on to earlier. It was only then did she realize that he had brought along a golf club that looked menacingly dangerous as he brandished it around at invisible enemies.

The hunter had turn hunted, and he didn’t take to it too kindly.

“Are we going to pick Kwang Soo up?” she asked as they waited for the elevator.

He grunted in assent. “We are meeting him along the river. We aren’t going to the airport. Its going to be crowded and we can’t risk getting infected.”

He threw the bags onto the backseat and she spotted a myriad of sporting equipment that could double as weaponry as well as cartons of water and food. It seemed that had gotten real and she half hoped it was a nightmare that she would wake up from.

The moment they drove out of the basement car park, she understood why he had her dress warmly. It was summer and yet, snow was falling so quickly it could almost be classified a