Seoyoon woke up with a banging headache. She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids were too heavy to lift. She tried to move her limbs but they were equally heavy and on top of that, they were hurting.

She groaned and decided to rest her body a bit more. She couldn’t remember why she was so tired, though. Did she stay up late yesterday? Had she been watching movies again till dawn?

The brunette breathed in and out, she felt restless. As if she was forgetting something … Seoyoon's eyes shot open in a flash. She felt fear tickle her cells. The horror of yesterday night flooded her mind. She forced her body up with trembling hands. The brunette watched the room she was in, she knew she was in the living room. However, it didn't look a bit as it did yesterday. 

Both, the door leading to the backyard and the porch were missing, again. Seoyoon was starting to see a pattern. The windows were all shattered- she  even sat in glass shards. The  furniture had been completely demolished. Seoyoon couldn't even recognise what had been a table and what a closet. Seoyoon let out a shaky laugh as she stood up.

What a sick joke.

Seoyoon decided to go over her memories of the past night. She remembered that black thing…and… Haruma?! Seoyoon's heart accelerated as she suddenly sprinted through the hole to the garden. She ran pass Akira’s unconscious body near the remains of the couch.

She desperately tried to find her missing brother. She was on the verge of yelling his name when she reminded herself to stay quiet. Seoyoon didn’t know if those things were still here, and seeing her weakened state she would probably lose against them per default.

Seoyoon felt her tears wet her cheeks. She hated this feeling- she couldn’t do anything! She was powerless! Who knows what had happened to her brother…who knows what they had put him through. Seoyoon didn’t think  he was dead. She firmly believed that Haruma would survive.

He wouldn’t give up.

So, neither would she. Seoyoon would look for him. She would never lose hope. Seoyoon nodded to herself with balled fists. This was it; she couldn’t rely on someone else anymore. She was strong enough to protect herself and Akira from whatever they might encounter. They had already survived a day. That was quite impressive.

A small spark of hope ran through her body. She determinedly eyed the garden, looking for any clues she might have missed, as she slowly returned to the back entrance of the house.

The way the sun shone its warm rays on the green grass, made Seoyoon almost forget the pain her body and mind were in. She needed to sort things out. Everything had happened too fast. She had lost so many people in only one day’s time…

 ‘’Noona, please don’t cry.’’

Seoyoon snapped her head upon hearing Akira’s voice. His eyes were wet and his hair resembled a bird’s nest. Seoyoon let out a fake laugh as she tried to ease his pain, even if it was a bit.

‘’I’m not crying, Akira.’’

‘’Then why are your eyes leaking?’’

Seoyoon chuckled. She felt the warmness of her tears, evidence Akira spoke the truth. Seoyoon ruffled Akira’s hair as she pulled him closer. She rested her head on his and let out a big sigh. Life was going to be hard from now on…extremely hard.

--

Seoyoon's brows were firmly pulled together. Her feet hurt as if she was walking on needles. Her arms were numb because of the heavy backpack and she felt dizzy because of the burning sun. There were too many negative factors in her life at the moment.

The young adults were walking on the side of the main road. A soft breeze blew Seoyoon's hair back. She looked up and hid herself slightly more by walking through the long grass. The greenish colour seemed so peaceful to her. She made sure Akira walked near her so they wouldn’t pull any unnecessary attention towards themselves.

Only an hour ago had Seoyoon gathered all the things in the house she thought she would need. She had found food in the kitchen, worth a few days. She had grabbed all the big knives and she made sure to bring her and Haruma’s stuff with her. Akira had been eager to help out. He convinced Seoyoon to give him half of the weight. Seoyoon turned her head and watched the said boy struggle to keep up with her. She could only imagine his pain judging by the grimace he was wearing.

Seoyoon's mind wandered back to the blood prints in the house. She had found a clear path of blood which led to the other side of the road. She wasn’t sure if it was Haruma’s blood since Akira had managed to kill one of them too…but she knew deep down that the chance was big that it was his blood after all.

‘’Noona, can’t we take someone’s car?’’

Seoyoon sighed as she had to explain him for the third time that they couldn’t.

‘’Look Akira, we can’t. I don’t know how to raid someone’s car. I can only drive if I have the keys. So no; we can’t steal someone’s car.’’

‘’How about a bicycle then?’’

Seoyoon hummed. ‘’Did you see one?’’

‘’No.’’

‘’Then we can’t.’’

Akira let out an annoyed grunt. He jumped up twice to adjust the heavy backpack on his shoulders. 

Seoyoon acknowledged his complaints and blew air out of her nose. ‘’I am tired of walking too but we don’t have a choice…’’

‘’Where are we going anyway?’’ Akira’s voice came out more like a disproving statement than as a curious question.

‘’We’re going back to town. Maybe we’ll find other survivors or perhaps a car…’’

Akira suddenly stopped walking. He dropped the backpack and made Seoyoon turn around.

‘’Are you crazy, noona? Do you want to kill us?!’’

‘’Pshh—!’’ Seoyoon put her finger on as she glared, ‘’—don’t yell. Do you have a death wish?’’

Akira’s eyes widened for a second before he regained his posture. He slightly panicked as he glanced around him. Seoyoon rolled her eyes and continued to walk; the younger boy visibly swallowed and slowly picked up his pace too.

‘’I obviously know what I’m doing. You don’t need to worry.’’

‘’But, noona, that place will be crowded with those things. I'm sure of it! The mall is always camped with people…even on Sunday’s!’’

‘’I know, Akira. But we have no other choice, besides there is plenty of room for us to hide.’’

‘’What about these?’’ Akira jumped up again and made his backpack rumble.

‘’We’ll leave them somewhere safe. I won’t walk around with deadweight on our shoulders.’’

Akira nodded in response.

‘’So what will you do if we actually run into survivors?’’ Akira asked after a while. He looked at Seoyoon with curious eyes. He was adorable, yes, but right now he was plainly annoying.

He was annoying because Seoyoon didn’t know what to do either.

Seoyoon frowned before taking a deep breath. ‘’It depends, Akira. I mean, we can’t assume that they’ll help us. There is a high possibility that they’ll steal our stuff—‘’

‘’—or kill us…’’

Seoyoon snapped her head as she glared at the younger male. ‘’I don’t want you to say those things, Akira.’’

‘’But you know it’s true!’’ He quickly retorted.

Seoyoon didn’t respond anymore. She knew he was right. The chances of coming across people who wouldn’t do them harm was slimmer than people who would. The world was in chaos right now. People would only care about themselves…

Seoyoon hoped that she would run into people she knew…maybe family members she forgot about, or perhaps old friends?

Though, the chances of them helping Akira and her would also be slim. Why would they anyway? It was free for all from now on.

Seoyoon finally saw the mall in the distance. She didn’t know how long she had been walking but judging by the pain in her feet—it had been long enough. Seoyoon eyed Akira from the side. He didn’t seem to have noticed the high buildings yet. His eyes were fixated on the ground. Seoyoon wondered what the young boy was thinking about…

Perhaps, his parents…or his sister? Akira had lost every single member of his family…unlike Seoyoon who still had a small chance of finding her missing siblings.

‘’Akira, we’re