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minhyun slams the doors behind him, pressing his entire weight against the handles. he moves just in time for jonghyun to shove a large bureau where he was standing moments ago and turns to push a nearby nightstand against the doors. they move quickly to move any of heavy furniture towards the door to strengthen the barricade, working in sync with few words exchanged. they've made it this far enough to know what is needed of each other without needing such communication. they step away to assess the state of the room they've hidden themselves in and minhyun notes bitterly that they had inadvertently caged themselves in a bedroom on the third floor of the house they ran to for refuge. there's dust covering every surface and if the circumstances were different, minhyun could imagine himself immediately wiping away the offending mess. he sees jonghyun collapse against a wall and makes his way over to the man, lowering himself to sit down.
only a few moments pass until they hear the loud pounding on the doors, harsh discords of moans following after. minhyun hears jonghyun let out a small whimper beside him and instinctively reaches out to interlock their fingers. jonghyun squeezes back reassuringly before turning to look at minhyun.
"this is it, isn't it?" jonghyun whispers, fear evident in his voice. minhyun feels a piece of himself break before shaking his head furiously.
"don-don't say that jju-yah. we'll make it, we'll find a way," minhyun responds, only half believing his words. he knows that jonghyun believes the same. the luck they had to keep them alive for so long was running towards its end.
jonghyun suddenly lets out a pained noise before grabbing his side, sweat beading his forehead. minhyun attempts to squash the extreme panic that rises in his chest to remain calm but fails, staring at jonghyun in concern. he lets go of his hand and places both of them on jonghyun's shoulders to keep the man up.
"well...it may not be the end for you, minhyun-ah, but it definitely is for me," jonghyun responds sadly before lifting the side of his shirt.
minhyun looks down at the exposed wound in horror. there are the unmistakable indentations of teeth on the edges with too much blood already soaking into the waistband of jonghyun's jeans. the skin around the wound that normally possessed a tanner complexion already turning pallor and purpling, signifying the beginning of decay. minhyun looks back up to jonghyun's eyes and sees his lover's eyes full of sadness and regret. "i accidentally tripped up the stairs and one of the fuckers got to me."
he feels the apology before the words fall out of his boyfriend's mouth. no i should be the one apologizing, i couldn't protect you.
he reaches out and cups jonghyun's face, hands shaking as he wipes away the tears that fall down the other's cheek. wordlessly he leans forward and jonghyun meets him halfway, their lips crashing together in desperation.
soon minhyun's own tears mix together with jonghyun's in a salty mess as their kiss becomes more frantic, the ominous clock behind them ticking away the seconds they have left together before the end.
jonghyun pulls away abruptly and minhyun immediately takes in the immediate change in his skin tone. "minhyun...you have to do it now. i-i can feel the change coming," he whispers. minhyun's eyes break his gaze and follow the other's hand reach into the waistband of his jeans, pulling out a pistol. jonghyun quickly checks the chamber for bullets and slides the gun into minhyun's hand, his own shaking in the process.
minhyun retreats from jonghyun slowly, wishing desperately that this was all a cruel nightmare that his mind conjured.
"minhyun-ah," jonghyun starts, a gasp punctuating his words. "i love you. i wish i could've told you that more."
minhyun shakes his head, feeling the sting of incoming tears, all of the what if's swirling in his head. "it's okay, i love you too."
jonghyun cracks a wry smile before he shuts his eyes in pain as his body starts shaking with the sudden onset of organ failure. he opens his eyes one final time and minhyun waits until the stars that have always lived in jonghyun's eyes dim.
he watches as the feral nature of the change overtakes the man he loves (loved) before raising his arm, gun in hand. jonghyun- no the zombie- lunges towards minhyun before he pulls the trigger, hitting his mark exactly despite the tears blurring his vision. his boyfriend's body falls in a slump and minhyun lets out a loud sob, letting the gun clatter to the floor as he reaches for jonghyun's face. he keeps sobbing as he pulls the body of his love towards him, caressing his face over and over again.
minhyun smiles a little as he takes in peacefulness that settles over his love's face, the corners of his lips slightly lifted as if he's dreaming of better times.
minhyun pushes back jonghyun's dark fringe and leans down to place a soft kiss on his forehead, already feeling the warmth leaving the body under his lips. he gently places him down on the ground, getting up to retrieve a sheet from the bed in the room. he returns and carefully covers jonghyun's body, placing a final kiss on his cheek before lifting the sheet to cover his face.
a loud bang startles minhyun from behind and he turns to see the force from the horde of undead had managed to shift the barricade of furniture. one zombie, in particular, was successful in slamming hard enough to create a hole in one of the doors. minhyun knew it was too late to run. one glance out of the window would tell him jumping would be futile. once one managed to smell potential food, more would immediately follow. minhyun knew that even if he achieved escaping the group inside, he would never make it three blocks outside before being attacked.
he was trapped, a fact he was well aware of before but now he was forced to face it with a sense of finality.
with a heavy sigh, minhyun reached down to pick up the gun from the ground. he feels strangely light as if all of his pressures from the past three months since the plague spread lifted from his shoulders. he slowly raised the gun to his temple, fear completely expelled from his mind, and pulls the trigger as the bedroom doors finally burst open.