While Yongguk, Jenissi, and CL were moving the logs and spliting them up into three piles; Seungho was standing near the gate waiting for Zelo and Hyori. In front of him a wayfarer were desperately reaching to grab him and pull him in as lunch. 

Yoo Jung pushed Kyungsoo out the front door and gestured toward Seungho. Kyungsoo stood near the step and kept wanting to go back in, but she silently pointed toward Seungho with a daring look in her eyes. Kyungsoo gathered all his courage and slowly approached Seungho from behind.

Kyungsoo halted a step away from the younger man and waited for him to notice his presence. When he did he took little steps to completely turn his body around to face him. They looked each other right in the eye until Kyungsoo broke it first. The fresh wound, now a scar, was still on Seungho's face. 

"I.... Sorry for attacking you." Kyungsoo apologize and bit his lip as he tried to think of more to say, "I hope you won't get the wrong idea.... I know we've just found each other after being apart like that but--for some reason I.... I know it's not your fault with the whole thing so don't blame yourself. I-"

"Why are you slurring your words Kyungsoo?" Seungho asked without blinking or looking away from Kyungsoo's rounded eyes. 

"I.... There's something I wanted to ask you...." Kyungsoo started with hesitation, he thought if he asked, Seungho would storm out of there, leaving him behind again. But if he do just that then it meant Kyungsoo's guess was correct. Seungho killed Mark. 

"What?" Seungho asked in a low voice, Kyungsoo broke the locked eye contact first as he hung his head a little. He took a deep breath and gather all of his courage to look up again, but again he was afraid to ask questions.

He knew Seungho has changed. He has changed into a more demonic being, one that won't blink before killing another human being. If Seungho become blind and kill everyone in his way, who knows when he might just kill Kyungsoo? 

Before Kyungsoo could continue, Zelo came from behind Kyungsoo and stood next to Seungho. The taller man looked down on the two elder, "Am I interrupting something?" He asked innocently. Seungho glanced from Zelo back to Kyungsoo, waiting for his question. 

"What did you wanted to ask?" 

Kyungsoo shot his head up and smiled at Seungho, "You'll come back right?" 

Although the answer was obvious, somehow Seungho didn't feel like it was one he can easily answer to. Saying 'yes' would mean he would come back, meaning he'd promise to return. But something else inside him wanted to say 'no', 'I will not come back so stay here and be safe', 'if I never come back, you'll still be alright right?'. But he couldn't bring himself to utter an answer, instead he kept his serious look. 

"Kyungsoo. Don't be afraid when I'm not with you." They shared a long moment of trying to read each other's eyes, but Seungho broke it first as he lead Zelo and soon followed by Hyori out the gate. Seungho pushed the wayfarer's head into the wall, killing it. Kyungsoo watched as Zelo shut the gate after Hyori and smiled at Kyungsoo. 

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we all return." He said in a soft tone which brighten Kyungsoo's smile, the shorter man nodded thus the taller hurried off to join Seungho and Hyori. 

"You didn't kill Mark right? You wouldn't do that." Kyungsoo whispered to himself as he watched them walk away with a faded smile. 

Yongguk stood up tall after he's been spending a certain amount of time bending forward to sort out the logs, he grunted a little as he popped his back while stretching. He looked over to the gate and saw Kyungsoo standing alone, Yongguk heaved a short sigh. "Kyungsoo, come over!" Yongguk called in a happy tone and caught the shorter man's attention. Kyungsoo took one last look at Seungho's back then turned away, just to hurry toward the others. 

In the empty streets, they stopped in front of a market, after walking around for more than an hour. Seungho stood beside Zelo while Hyori kept her distance. Seungho took out his gun and looked over to Zelo, "Take out your bow and arrows." 

"Oh, right." Zelo pulled out an arrow from behind him. Because they haven't spotted any wayfarers so far, Zelo had became more comfortable just wandering around. Zelo turned to look in the back where he saw that Hyori was ready with a knife in her hand. "We're-"

Seungho stepped forward and kicked the door open. Inside the s grew louder as three wayfarers approached them. Zelo took a step back in order to aim, but Seungho smashed the closest in the head with the bottom of his gun, kicked the second wayfarer to the ground and then shot the one behind it. Then he kneal beside the one on the ground and yanked the head of it off with one heavy pull. 

Zelo lowered his bow as he was stunned by the sight. Seungho stood up and spun his head toward them, "Get what you need or think we'll need." Seungho said as he disappeared behind the door of the market. Zelo slowly entered after Hyori, who scoffed at the sight. 

Show off. 

Zelo shut the door and looked around the market. It was indeed small but packed with junk food and snacks. Zelo brushed his fingers across the variety of favors and types in front of him with sparkling eyes. 

Hyori reached for the bags and cleared shelves as she pushed the items into the bag. Cans, packages, and drinks fell to the ground as she tried to push everything off in one go. Zelo grabbed some snacks and anything else that could fit in his pockets, then he retrieve a grocery bag to grab more items. 

Seungho brushed the curtain aside and there he saw a wayfarer tied to a chair. From inside his pocket, Seungho extracted one of the tube with the liquid. He popped the top off and brought it close to the noisy dead wayfarer. 

He watched closely as it slowly calms down and then remained still. Seungho shut the cap and then slide it back into his pocket, then with the gun again he used it to smashed the brains of the dead with one swing to its head. He got some of the dead's dry blood and brains on his gun, he shook it off with a quick drop of his gun. 

"Seungho!" He heard Zelo's cry, Seungho left the room to see what was going on. Outside, Zelo was firing arrows at incoming zombies with the door wide open. Seungho aim directly toward the head of a dead wayfarer getting closer, he fired a shot, the bullet going through its skull. "Hyori, she's outside Seungho!" 

It seemed like they had been ambused after Seungho fired his first shot earlier. He had forgotten that they were attrached to sound. By the door Seungho saw one of Zelo's arrow flew directly into the head of the first dead man entering. Outside they could hear Hyori screaming, probably calling for help. But it wasn't clear whatever she was saying, the large crowd's steps and groans blocked her out. 

Zelo wanted to head out to see how Hyori was doing, but the herd came and passed the front door nonstop. Zelo tried to make his way through the door as he encountered more of the dead wayfarers, "Zelo! Get back!" Seungho shouted when Zelo was blocking him from shooting the dead. 

The tall man whacked the closest zombies to the side using his bow, but he could only swing so much before he was overpowered. They could hear the starting of a vehicle's engine, Zelo tried to fight off the zombies that begin to crowd in front and through the door. 

Seungho pulled him back by the shirt then shut the door as hard as he could to close them out. One's head was chopped off by the sudden slamming of the door. "Hyori's still outside!" Zelo shouted to Seungho as the groanings behind the door grew. 

"Do you want to die? Stay still." Seungho said, then he took a step back. With all his strenght he kicked the door open, knocking some of the zombies over. Zelo was the first to ran out the door when he noticed a truck heading his way. 

It was Hyori, ready to drive over the zombies. Zelo and she exchanged a moment gaze then before Zelo knew it, Seungho shoved him out of the way and got hit by the truck. Hyori turned the steering wheel and quickly drove off. She peeked behind her a few times, then saw that most of the crowd was going toward Seungho and Zelo. 

She looked over to the passenger seat, it was the bags of items, foods, and goods she had cleared from the shelves. Without looking back to see if Seungho survived the hit or not, she continued driving off, panting and shaking. 

Zelo fell onto the side of the road, his hands supporting himself from completely hitting the cement with his face. He quickly got up to his feet and ignored the wayfarers that were around them. "Seungho!" He saw Seungho lying on his back in the middle of the road. "Seungho! Seungho, Seungho!" Zelo called out in a panicked as he rushed to Seungho's side.

He kneal beside Seungho and held the man with both arms, lifting him up slowly, "Seungho!" Zelo shook him a little as tears slid down his dirty cheeks, "Seungho! Get up!" Zelo looked around and noticed Hyori was gone and for whatever reason the dead wayfarers appeared calm. "Seungho, get up, get up, we need to go back hurry!" 

Seungho was motionless. He received a large cut to the side of his head and fractured his bones in his right arm. Zelo's calls shortly turned into cries, "Seungho get up...." Zelo cried as he hid his face near Seungho's chest. "Kyungsoo is waiting for us, Seungho! Get uppp!" Zelo rocked the motionless man as he kept his face hidden and allowed his tears to soaked into the older man's bloody shirt. 

Yongguk was sharping Zelo's new arrows using the logs. Kyungsoo had sharpen both ends to two logs thus far and was working on his next one. Jenissi was placing the logs into a heart-shape as he squatted on the grass. Yongguk sat on the bench and every now and then, he would peek over and smile at Jenissi's sweet and silly creation. 

Kyungsoo who was sharpening his third log was standing by the bench that Yongguk was seated on. He piled his finished logs onto the bench as Yongguk reach over and would confirm whether they were good enough or not. 

CL swung her bat at a tree, on the mark where Yongguk had marked, to represent the head of a zombie. CL had to continuously beat the same area and keep track of her swings. It was a good start to build up some power in her arms, as someone who would need to swing bats to killed dead wayfarers, they felt she was on a good schedule for practice. 

"Should I propose to her?" Jenissi asked out of the blue, but Yongguk and Kyungsoo could guess who he was referring to. Afterall, they all live in one house together. 

"Women usually want diamond rings, what are you going to give her?" Yongguk asked and Jenissi flashed a wide smile. 

", hardcore ."

"No! Not on my bed." Kyungsoo strongly objected but Jenissi only laughed. 

"Just kidding don't worry, we can always do it in Seungho and Yong-" Jenissi stopped himself when he noticed a serious stare from Yongguk, the man chuckled and eyed the bigger man, he clapped his hands together and apologized. 

"Why don't you start making something before Seungho come back?" Yongguk asked after noticing that the latter haven't started working. Jenissi sighed. 

"Man he's so strict, I've been trying not to get involve but can you guys tell me one thing. I've been curious about it." Jenissi said, Yongguk and Kyungsoo stopped working and looked at each other before turning back to Jenissi. 

"What do you want to know?" Kyungsoo asked for them. 

"You're his brother right? Was he always that strict, cold, and somewhat hard to get close with?" 

"Isn't that more than one thing you were curious about?" Yongguk asked, Jenissi was taken aback by Yongguk's sudden coldness. 

"I-I meant to be more detailed with my question so it wouldn't be too broad...." Jenissi explained himself and this time Kyungsoo answered, by questioning. 

"They say people change don't they?" Kyungsoo asked. 

"Yeah." Jenissi answered without any hesitation. 

"Well, Seungho haven't changed." Kyungsoo said bluntly. Jenissi understood what Kyungsoo meant, but it was more than just being strict, cold, and difficult to get close to. Althoug Seungho had become a man who takes the lives of others, Kyungsoo now realize that it was all for the sake of their safety and survival. 

That being said, if they continue to bring in more people then the house won't be enough to fit all, or at least enough for them to get their own space and have some privacy to themselves. 

And with many people it would mean more supplies. With more supplies it would need gathering, and needing to gather would require roaming out there. 

Kyungsoo now realize, even though he had it hard as well, it was really Seungho, who was taking all the headaches, responsibilities, and cold decisions to keep those he was comfortable with alive and well. 

If only he knew before. 

If he knew before. Would he had turned away Jun Gyu at the basement? Then Jun Gyu wouldn't have opened the door and zombies wouldn't have flood in. Then there wouldn't be any reason to move. And without any reason to move, there wouldn't be Yongguk and Zelo. And then Yoo Jung, her father, Hyori, and CL. 

It would have been just him and Seungho. 

Locked and caged together in the basement. 

If time could be reverse, how will Seungho act then. 

He will still act the same. Seungho has always been the dominant in their relationship to begin with. 

And through a short amount of time, they've went through a lot with the others. Kyungsoo couldn't wait to see Seungho come back. With the thoughts of Seungho alone, Kyungsoo went back to sharpening the logs, hoping he would satisfy Seungho when they return from gathering. 

End of Chapter 26.