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No one really knows how it started.
It happened suddenly and quickly, the deathliest way.
One summer morning, people got sick. Something that seemed like a simple flu evolved into bronchitis, pneumonia, encephalitis and organ failure.
Hospitals were packed, and people couldn't get treated because the medical staff was sick too. It was a hopeless situation and not even a week later the sickness turned to death.
Jeongyeon was confused. She had gotten sick too, and she watched as the world came to a stop from one day to next one.
She saw her parents die in front of her, and held her dying sister in her arms as she joined them too.
"I don't want to die, Jeongie." her sister whispered, tears streaming down her face.
"You're going to be okay, unnie, we're going to be okay." Jeongyeon felt like shit, like she would collapse at any moment, but she needed to reassure her sister in her last minutes.
She was gone seconds later.
Jeongyeon waited for the disease to take her too. She waited and waited, alone in her room, the only sound that could be heard was the chirping of the birds outside. It was comforting in a way, that at least the animals didn't seem to be affected by it.
Jeongyeon thought about her dog, Bbosong. He passed away earlier that year, she missed him dearly, but if the puppy was alive right now, Jeongyeon would be devasted knowing he would be left all alone in this dying world, with no one to look after him.
With the thought of her family and her dog in her mind, she fell asleep.
And was surprised when she woke up hours later.
She wasn't feeling worse, if anything, she was starting to feel better, well rested and slowly gaining energy again.
Was she supposed to still be alive?
Why was she recovering when no one else did?
She wanted to go outside, check if someone else was there, but she was scared of what she would find. She couldn't check on the TV or her phone, because everything down.
Her stomach growled, and she realized she hadn't eaten anything in almost 2 days.
Jeongyeon made her way to the kitchen, but passing by the corpses of her family on the way there made her insides twist and want to throw up.
She wasn't hungry anymore.
So she decided to try to give them a proper burial. She got a shovel and started making a big hole. Her backyard had been used to grow fruits and vegetables, and since she wanted to keep the mini farm there, she choose the front yard. Going outside felt weird, like a movie. Everything was too quiet.
She tried not to look around too much, not wanting to see any more dead bodies laying around, and focused on digging.
After hours of hard work, she finished. She was careful when she settled the bodies and covered them with the blanket her mother had made her as a gift when she was a kid.
"I don't know why I'm still here. And I don't really know what to say, everything feels surreal, like I'm going to wake up from a nightmare in a bit." Jeongyeon has never been good at expressing herself, and she felt extremely numb. "I love you, mom, dad and Seungyeon. I'll see you soon."
After finishing her short speech, she began filling the hole. She covered the top with some rocks and got three big ones for each of them, she added an fourth one for her oldest sister. None of them had been able to reach her after the communication systems fell, but Jeongyeon could guess how she must've ended.
-
After 2 weeks of just staying there doing nothing at all, she decided to head outside. She had ran out of food, and sadly the garden didn't have anything ready to eat. She wasn't even sure why she was still eating. There was really no reason to stay alive. She had no family, no friends, no classes to attend, no job, nothing at all. She was just existing for the sake of it, and also because she was too scared to try and end her life.
She wasn't sure what she would find outside, she'd peaked through the windows many times, but the only movement she could see were animals passing by, no sign of another person was seen.
Getting ready to leave the house for the first time since everything started, she secured her backpack on, and knowing it was a possibility to find wild animals, she armed herself with the baseball bat her dad used to keep in his room.
She took one last breath and opened the door, with slow steps, she left her only safe place.
Everything outside was a mess, there were bodies on doorsteps, some inside cars, most of them were rotting and the rest looked half eaten by dogs. If she wasn't on a empty stomach she's sure she would've thrown up right there and then.
She made her way to the closest supermarket, she tried looking inside the houses, hoping to find someone, anyone, that managed to survive like her, but had no luck.
When she reached it, she was surprised to find the door broken, and after getting inside, she saw that a lot of stuff was missing. She knew it was more than likely that it happened before all the chaos, but maybe, just maybe, there was someone else alive like her, that had taken the supplies from the market.
She brushed the hopeful thoughts off, she didn't want to get excited over nothing.
Looking around, Jeongyeon walked to the isles with non perishable foods. She packed as much as she could in her backpack. She considered getting water bottles too, but figured it would be better to just focus on food, since water systems were still working and she could boil it at home because she had a lot of coal.
When she was about to leave, she heard what sounded like footsteps. But could very well be just a dog or any kind of animal.
There was movement on her left. She grabbed her bat and slowly got closer to the source of the noise.
A figure appeared at the end of the isle. Jeongyeon's eyes went wide. It was a person! A living human!
"Are you real?" the person asked, after seconds of both them staring at each other.
"What?"
"I haven't seen anyone alive. I don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me."
"No, no, I'm real." Jeongyeon waved her arm awkwardly. "100% real."
"Then get out. This is my area." the guy spat.
Jeongyeon got scared, but the shock didn't allow her to move from her spot.
The guy stomped his way towards her. And after finally gaining control over her body again, she tried to turn and flee, but tripped over something on the floor, dropping the bat in the process.
She attempted to stand up but felt a hit on her arm, the force of it causing her to fall on her back.
The guy lifted the metal bar in his hand, ready to hit her again. But this time and thanks to the adrenaline rush, Jeongyeon managed to slide past him and grab the bat from the floor. She used it to stop the next swing aimed at her, successfully doing it and taking the chance to knock the weapon out of the man's reach.
While he tried to recover it, Jeongyeon turned around and ran as fast as her legs allowed her to, considering all the weight she was carrying.
Once she felt like there was no way the guy was following her, she slowed down to catch her breath, she was almost home anyway, back in her safeness.
Suddenly, a beige small, furry creature ran past her and stopped a few feet away.
"Hi, there." she kneeled to take a closer look at the tiny dog.
It looked at her curiously and with quick steps got closer to her. Jeongyeon used her good hand to pet it's head, earning a tail wag from the puppy.
She recognized him after a while, she doesn't remember his name, but she's seen him many times around the park she used to take Bbosong. A faint memory of it's owner crossed her mind, a girl probably around her age, with dark hair and bangs. She'd her dancing there too, with what Jeongyeon assumed was a dance crew.
"Are you alone too?" She asked the dog, who only tilted his head at her.
"You must be hungry." despite the pain in her arm, she searched for something that the dog could eat, taking out some crackers and offering one to him.
As he ate it, Jeongyeon checked if he had a collar. She found a small plaque hanging from the collar, it had his name and a contact number which surely wasn't useful anymore.
"Hi Dobby. I'm Jeongyeon." She scratched the animals head and stood up, lifting the dog carefully. "I think I still have some dog food for you at home. Whatcha think about that?"
The dog seemed content enough in her arms, so Jeongyeon took it as a good sign and continued her way home with her new found friend.
-
Jeongyeon had to walk further than usual, the small market she usually visited had ran out of supplies, and there was absolutely no way she would return to the first supermaked she visited, she was not going to risk crossing paths with that crazy guy again. So she walked for hours in the opposite direction until she found a gas station with a very well packed store.
The glass door was easily broken by her bat, and she quickly grabbed all the necessary stuff that fit in her two backpacks, one filled with water bottles, the other with food. She made sure to grab a bag of dog too, it would make the way back a lot slower but Dobby had to eat too.
She chugged an entire water bottle before deciding to leave the store, fully packed for at least a week.
First she took the dog food and put it outside, then she took both backpacks and settled them next to the food. She went back inside to get another bottle, and briefly considered waiting for the sun to set before returning home, but decided against it because walking at night would be a lot more dangerous.
Jeongyeon had barely made a few steps outside when she heard noises behind her, she turned around quickly, but it was too late. The wild animal was too close, she tried to hold the bat in front of her for protection but the bear crashed into her, making her fall backwards.
She felt the kick of adrenaline and tried to push the animal off her, but it's weight overpowered her. She tried to use the bat to hurt it, but everything was useless, a bear is stronger than her. She struggled against it, not really knowing what to do, she felt a pinch on her arm, and she was about to give up when she heard it.
A gunshot.
The animal fell back, by the time Jeongyeon looked up, it was running away right where it came from, leaving a frozen Jeongyeon lying on the floor, panting and grabbing at her bleeding arm.
"Hello? Are you okay?"
Jeongyeon was too shocked to realize that someone had to fire the weapon that scared the bear away.
After a minute of trying to catch her breath, she turned to face her savior.
Or maybe not?
There was a girl standing there, yes, but said girl was pointing a gun at her.
Out of instinct, Jeongyeon backed away ignoring the pain in her whole body and trying to get back into the store, at least she felt a bit of protection inside the closed space.
"Hey stop! You're going to hurt yourself more."
"You're pointing a gun at me!" Jeongyeon reached one of the walls and supported herself on it, she wanted to stand up and get inside, but truthfully she was too tired, so she just sat there, trying to catch her breath again.
"Well, I don't know if I can trust you!"
"I'm fucking bleeding, what kind of thread do I represent?" to say Jeongyeon was frustrated is an understatement.
"I don't know, maybe this is a trap."
"And what? I hired a bear to attack me so I could rob you or something after you save me?"
The girl slowly lowered her gun. And Jeongyeon was surprised when she started laughing, it was a loud laugh, but also somehow comforting.
Jeongyeon thought it was the most magical sound in the world.
Can you blame her, though? She hasn't had any form of human contact without getting injured yet. And yes, she got injured /again/ but this girl saved her from almost being killed.
"I'm going to come closer, okay?"
"No, wait."
"What?"
"You have a gun."
"I'm not pointing it at you anymore."
"You could kill me to steal the food."
"There's an entire store behind you, I don't need to do that." She raised her hands in a dramatic way. "And you're the first person I've met since everyone died. I'm not going to hurt you unless you try to hurt me first." She lowered her hands and looked straight into her eyes. "I'm going to help you, okay?"
Jeongyeon nodded slowly and watched as the stranger took cautious steps toward her.
"Can I see?" She kneeled down to be at her level.
Jeongyeon let go of the wounded arm, and looked down at it for the first time.
It looked gross.
And as the effect of the adrenaline started wearing off, the pain she felt increased.
"You need stitches"
"Thanks, I didn't realize." she scoffed.
The girl brushed off her comment and slid off her own backpack, opening it and looking for something inside.
"Just leave me here to die, there's enough food in there to sustain you for a good couple of months."
"You're very dramatic, did you know that?" She took something out and the blonde was surprised to see a small first aid kit. "It's not a big wound, so you're not going to bleed out, and I don't know if that's a bite or a scratch, but you need antibiotics because there's risk of infection. I'm going to clean it now, and it's probably going to hurt, but if I don't there will be a bigger risk of it getting infected. " She opened a small bottle and looked at Jeongyeon before letting out a sigh and pouring it's content on the open wound, using a clean cloth to rub on the nasty areas.
Jeongyeon winced when her arm started to burn, and almost kicked the girl off of her.
"Sorry. I need to make sure it's completely disinfected before I can stitch you up."
"You're not getting any needle near me."
"It's not going to close on it's own. I'm a nurse. Well, almost. I was studying to be one before the world ended." There was a pause. "You can relax, I know what I'm doing."
"Fine." She watched as the so proclaimed almost nurse got the needle ready, and Jeongyeon grabbed onto the hem of her shirt, preparing for the inevitable suffering that was about to come.
Her held tighten when the brunnete started working on the stitching, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
"The world didn't end, though." Jeongyeon words came almost inaudible.
"What?" she answered without looking away.
"You're alive, so am I."
"I didn't know there were more people alive." she keep talking to try and take the other girl's attention away from the pain she was probably feeling as she stitched her up without analgesics. "I assumed there could be, since I survived. But I didn't get lucky until today."
"Or unlucky. I met a guy once, he tried to kill me."
The stranger looked up at her incredulously for a second, before returning to her work. "What happened to him?"
"Don't know, I ran away and never returned to that part of the city."
"Smart." She finished the job and used the burning liquid from the bottle to clean the now perfectly stitched up injury. "Now take this." She held her closed fist in front on her, and Jeongyeon received a couple of pills in different colors and sizes. "It's for any infection, and for the pain." She opened a water bottle and handed it to her too.
Jeongyeon silently swallowed the pills and took a big gulp from the bottle. "Thanks."
She watched as the girl took a set next to her, and they both stayed in an oddly comfortable silence for a while.
Jeongyeon doesn't know when she fell asleep, but as she rubbed her eyes after the nap, she was surprised to find that her savior was still there.
"Good sleep?" she asked.
"Yes, I feel a lot better. Thank you, for saving me and for taking care of my arm." she's never been good with words, so she's not sure how to thank her properly.
"You're welcome." the girl send her smile and Jeongyeon realized she resembled a bunny with her cute teeth. "So, where do you go now?"
"Home. I have a dog, I need to go back and feed him."
"I'll come with you."
"What?"
"I need to check your arm, don't want you dying out of a poorly taken cared of wound." she shrugged.
"Okay."
The girl stood up first and helped Jeongyeon get on her feet too.
"Wait, I should probably get that bandaged."
She looked through her backpack again and took out some bandages. Jeongyeon wondered how many medical supplies she had inside there.
"Thanks again. I'll make it up to you." She watched as the girl covered the stitched part of her arm.
"And how are you going to do that?"
"I'll cook something."
"You cook?" The brunette took the time to clean the scrapes on Jeongyeon's elbows too, applying the disinfectant gently.
"I'm a chef. Well, almost." she copied the words said to her earlier, which earned her a playful slap in the arm from her new companion. "I'm serious! I was about to graduate. And my dad had a restaurant, so I've been around kitchens my whole life."
"How do you cook without electricity? I've been living off of canned food."
"I have a grill, coal wasn't affected, so it works perfectly. And my family grew vegetables in our backyard, so I have fresh stuff." She winced slightly when the girl used a cloth to wipe the small scrape on the left side of her face, probably from when she fell down.
"I expect this to be the best dinner ever, and considering I haven't had a decent one in a while, the bar isn't that high."
After finishing her job of cleaning the minor injuries and bandaging everything, the girl stuffed everything back in her bag.
"It'll blow your mind." Jeongyeon couldn't help but smile.
It felt good, to have a conversation with someone after such a long time spent by herself.
"I'm Nayeon, by the way." the girl said with a small smile, extending her arm.
"Jeongyeon." She shook her hand, looking into the warm pair of brown eyes staring at her.
And after months of darkness and loneliness, Jeongyeon found hope.