Fleeting Touches
Fleeting Touches"Joohyun, stop." Yonghwa begs softly, his voice sounding beyond strained. Joohyun turns around, putting down her gun, thinking Yonghwa's legs have given out and needed her to carry him. She is about to crouch down when Yonghwa stops her from moving towards him. He leans against a tree trunk for support, pausing to catch his breath. "I can't stand it anymore." Joohyun lifts her hands, bring them to Yonghwa's face, clinching when she realises he is burning up.
"Yonghwa, you-"
"Kill me." Yonghwa tells her, gasping for breath, clutching his bleeding side tighter. She is at a loss of words, she does not know what to say, how to convince him she would not survive without him, not when they are catching up to them. She wants to tell him to endure it, hold on a little longer until they get to the headquarters to get help, but how? It is better than him being infected by those flesh-eating vultures, however, how is this any better? They spend two days wandering around without any food or water; they are desperate.
"I- I can't." She cannot bear to look him in the eyes because once she does, she knows she will fall apart. She cannot stand watching him in pain, not after he saved her from getting her ribs ripped apart. She shaker her head, "No, I won't kill you! No, no!" She screams out, pulling her hair in frustration.
He reaches for Joohyun's hands, but the younger instantly pushes him away. "Joohyun!" He yells, grabbing her arms. "Listen to me, okay? I can't carry on like this anymore, I can't, especially after," His voice starts to shake, sounding even more unstable. "I'm not going to make it with this huge burden on my back. I can't, I just can't."
Joohyun did not know Lee Jonghyun as well as Yonghwa did. They had been traveling together, the three of them, with promises of camping outside in the wild without any kinds of technology with them; they did not hear the news regarding the vultures. The first attack happened when they interrupted their dinner. Jonghyun had been sleeping, they did not have time to wake him up - they ate him alive. They were selfish, they had no other choice. They had to run before they caught up to them. Karma occurred two days later when a young vulture attacked both of them in their hideout. Joohyun saw the look on Yonghwa's face when he realised what they had just done, he would have stayed there if it were not for Joohyun who pulled him away from the vultures.
"You can't use your ammo, they'll arrest you if they found my body with the bullets. Just- just strangle me." He says with tears b in his eyes, letting of his tight grip on her hands, softly caressing them. "Please, I'll only slow you down."
"Yonghwa, you can make-"
"I can't!" Yonghwa screams, tearing the side of his shirt that is stained with his own blood, a makeshift bandage from Joohyun's sweater to keep the blood from seeping through. "This ing wound will kill me if not the ing vultures. I beg you, please kill me. I don't want to be killed by anyone else."
She does not answer, instead she falls to the ground, drowning her cries in the sound of the bombing from their left, leaving them to wonder how long before humanity-
"Joohyun, we have no time." He touches her shoulder, pulling her up, placing her hands around his neck. He is scared, Joohyun looks into his eyes, tears immediately falling down her cheeks. His pupils dilate as Joohyun nods, tightening her grip around his neck. "Do- do it whike you're kissing me. I want to feel you before I die."
Joohyun leans in, feeling his gasps when she tightens her grip. He stays still, feeling her lips moving against his. "I'm sorry." Joohyun whispers, cutting his supply of oxygen, taking note of how his body trembles from her actions, his body struggling under his, he tries to pry her hands away, leaving marks upon Joohyun's bare arms. Joohyun wants to scream, scream for anyone to help her because she cannot do this, not to the one she loves. He is the reason why she bothers learning how to pitch a tent because in fifth grade his tent collapsed during a storm, why she bothers getting up in the morning because days are hard and she just wants to give up at times, why she smiles because he cracks lame jokes to see her break into fits of laugh.
Then it all stops.
"I love you." She cries, letting go of his neck, watching his body collapsed to the ground with his eyes looking blankly up into the night sky. She turns to her gun, "Yes, I can atone for my mistakes." He mumbles to himself, hearing the screeching coming from beyond the bombing site. She glances over to Yonghwa. "Wait for me." She croaks out, pulling the trigger.
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