Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jiseok's gaze flickered to the clock hanging above the board. It was the fourth time in just a minute that his eyes had returned to the old hands and Jiseok bit his lip as he realized that there were still twenty minutes left before the exam ended.

His eyes searched for Yuchan sitting two rows in front of him. The other has his head down, pencil moving across the sheet at an alarming speed. Jiseok would be surprised at the other if he didn't know he was in the same boat as Jiseok. A snort almost escapes him before he manages to get it under control and refocus on the question in front of him.
Jiseok is racking his brain trying to remember the formula to answer the question. He's sure they saw the last class, something about microbes and how it affects the human body. He even remembers Yuchan making a joke about it and the whole class laughed, including Jiseok. 

Jiseok's forehead throbs with a headache about to start; he glances at the clock again and lets out a resigned sigh when he realizes that it's only been three minutes since he last looked at the time.

'If only I had paid more attention during class' First thing in the morning, Professor Kim arrived in the classroom and deposited a handful of sheets on the desk. Jiseok feared the worst, thinking it might be some kind of pop quiz, but tried to reassure himself by remembering that the last exam was three weeks ago and there couldn't be another one for another month.
His body began to relax until the teacher spoke and Jiseok's fears were realized. 

"Today we will have a pop quiz" The room erupted in whispers, the students turned to look at each other and motioned to each other. The teacher shushed them. "The topics are what we've been looking at for the last few classes, so it's very simple. It will count for ten percent of your grade, so don't be overconfident." 

Now Jiseok was fifteen minutes away from the end of the exam and he had only answered one sheet of the three he had been given. And that answer sheet Jiseok was ninety percent sure the answers were wrong.

He sighed again giving up. 

'I did the best I could' With that thought in mind he decided to stop suffering and dropped his pencil next to the sheet, he looked around and felt a little more optimistic that his classmates were doing no better than him.

His gaze returned to the clock. It was thirteen minutes to the end of class. Deciding he didn't want to waste time inside the classroom, he raised his hand and raised his voice.

"Professor, may I go to the restroom for a moment?" Jiseok's voice echoed loudly inside the classroom in silence, none of his classmates looked up. 

Professor Kim was writing something in his book, he looked up and fixed his gaze on Jiseok for a moment.

"Sure, but don't be late." The professor looked down again and Jiseok wasted no time. He got up without dragging his chair and walked towards the door.

Before he left, he could see Yuchan turn his head and look daggers at him. Jiseok just smiled and waved his hand over his neck. Yuchan laughed and imitated Jiseok's gesture by going back to his own examination.

Jiseok opened the classroom door and stepped out into the hallway.

He walked down the hallway, enjoying the silence, occasionally turning into the classrooms to see the other students studying or paying attention to class. The high school consisted of five floors, each floor was divided into grades and the last two were for extracurricular activities. The restrooms were located on the first, third and fifth floors, so Jiseok didn't have to go downstairs or upstairs to go.

 But what Jiseok wanted was to waste time, so he walked straight past the third-floor restrooms and quietly down the stairs to the second floor.

The huge windows let in rays of sunlight and tinted the stairs with light. Clouds abounded in the sky, fluffy white pillows adorned the sun and the wind blew delicately rocking the trees and releasing their delicate leaves. Jiseok sighed happily as he watched the birds fly outside.

"Today is a good day" He said aloud to himself as he watched a squirrel climb a tree and get lost in its branches. He wouldn't let the pop quiz ruin his morning, he was going to enjoy the sun and the weather. y el clima.

He continued down the stairs with a little skip in his step.

Today would be a good day.

******______******______******

"Tra la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la..." The humming was the only thing that could be heard inside the restrooms, Jiseok was rinsing his hands while singing a song he heard in the morning while passing by a restaurant when the light above him flickered a couple of times and went out.

Jiseok turned around in confusion, then a few seconds passed and the light returned to normal. Shrugging his shoulders he continued washing his hands, turned off the faucet and picked up a piece of paper.

He leaned against the sink and counted the tiles on the floor. If he had his phone with him he'd be playing a game, but the teacher took them all away when class started. School rule or something. 
The voices of the soccer players could be heard outside. 

All students were to enter an extracurricular activity in the first week of the first school year. They were given a general run down of every activity there was to choose from, from sports activities like soccer, swimming and tennis to artistic activities like dancing, singing and photography. It was mandatory to choose one in order to acquire the extra points and not fail the year.
Most students would go for sports activities as a way to release stress or to spend some time getting in shape, only a few would go into sports as a way to get a scholarship and get into a good university without the need to take the entrance exam.

Others, like Jiseok himself, preferred more artistic pursuits. Jiseok had decided to take up photography along with fifteen other students. It was not the most exciting activity, but it was good for keeping Jiseok's mind busy.

He was now in his last year of high school before he had to take his exams to get into a good university. He honestly hadn't been thinking much about the entrance exams five months from now.
Sure, college was important in order to get a future job and live comfortably in the busy life of Korea. But Jiseok was not the most industrious in his class, far from it. He just did his homework on time and tried not to fail his exams, he didn't spend day and night glued to a book on the human body until his eyes burned.

He just aspired to an ordinary university, without any prestige on the side. 

That's why he wasn't worried about today's exam. As long as he didn't fail the year his parents would leave him alone. 
Jiseok finished counting the floor tiles for the fourth time when he noticed the silence. Like a real silence. The voices outside had quieted down a while ago and he couldn't hear much from the bathroom.

"Time to go back" Jiseok had no clock with him to mark the time, but he figures if voices could no longer be heard outside it was because the class was over and likewise the exam that wasn't over.

"Upstairs" With a jump he peeled himself away from the sinks and shook the imaginary dust off his gray pants. The day was too hot to wear the dark blue uniform sweater, but not so hot that he couldn't wear the vest of the same color. He rubbed his hands together and took one last look at himself in the mirror.

His white shirt was pressed and spotless, the buttons all the way up and his wrists buttoned. He ran his hands through his bleached hair and tried to pull down the small hair at the nape of his neck. She'd been in so much trouble because of her shade of hair, but in the end she'd managed to get out with a report and a call to her parents. He smoothed his vest and nodded at his reflection. 
Let them not say he couldn't dress well.

He opened the bathroom door and had to squint at the sudden sunlight. It took him a few seconds to adjust until he could see again without feeling his eyesight burn.

What he saw was... nothing. There wasn't the normal hustle and bustle of athletes training, or the voices of the occasional student sneaking out of class and down to the second floor. 

'Strange' Jiseok shrugged and took way. There was a restroom inside the school, but Jiseok preferred to take the long way and go all the way to the restrooms that were located behind the school across from the soccer and baseball fields.  They were usually alone because the jocks had their own bathrooms inside the locker rooms, so it was the perfect place to waste time without being noticed.

Jiseok shuffled his feet on the grass as he walked around the corner, his eyes fixed on his pair of gray tennis shoes stained with grease on the soles and a little chipped on the sides.
'I have to throw them away' As soon as he got home he would throw them in the trash and on the weekend he can go to the plaza to buy others just like them.

He was lost in his thoughts when he suddenly bumped into someone standing in front of him. Jiseok had deja vu at that instant and his skin crawled. He took a few steps back and laughed awkwardly, rubbed his nose where it bumped into the person in front of him and spoke to him.

"Ah, sorry... I didn't notice where I was walking are you okay?" he tried to sound as apologetic as possible, completely avoiding any future fights and turned his attention to the person.

The boy in front of him still had his back to him, he was hunched over with his head down, his sweater was stained with something, Jiseok could see how it was darkening at the bottom and he grimaced in disgust inspecting himself to see if it wasn't stained.

He spoke to him again when the other didn't respond. "Dude, are you okay? I didn't hit you too hard did I?" He reached out to touch his shoulder, but the boy's sudden jerk surprised him. 

The boy jerked from head to toe, like, literally a full body shake and lifted his head. Jiseok took a step back, unsure if the other was in all his right mind and opened his mouth to ask him again.

"Dude, are you..." The boy slowly turned around and Jiseok closed his mouth. The other's uniform was full of dark stains all over his sweater and part of his gray pants, the sleeves of his shirt were ripped and of a dark liquid that Jiseok could only think of as blood. His face was no better, full of the same red stains, some of the skin on his neck was disfigured, shredded pieces of flesh falling off and his mouth was wide open showing dark teeth. Its eyes were what frightened Jiseok the most, they were a dull gray color; as if they were wrapped in a thin layer of cloth. Lifeless.

Jiseok gasped sharply and took a large step backwards. The other stood still, a gurgling sound ringing from deep in its throat.

Jiseok watched in horror as blood began to pour out of the other's mouth as he continued to make the sound and soon the boy's entire chin and the front of his uniform were filled with blood.
Jiseok was going to scream, but managed to cover his mouth with both hands, cutting off any sound he might make. The other was still standing in the same place, only making noises, looking around as if he couldn't see anything. Jiseok soon realized it was because the other couldn't really see anything. 

Jiseok took a few more steps backwards trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to alert the other of his presence. 

He was almost to the corner to turn around again when he tripped over a can. He let out a loud yelp and fell flat on his face managing to put his hands up to break his fall.

"Shit" He hissed as he saw the other boy suddenly turn his head back to where he was on the ground, and cursed again as the other started walking towards Jiseok.

"Damn, damn, damn" He tried to get up but fell again. The other was two meters away from Jiseok, it was roaring and gurgling, blood kept pouring out of its open mouth, as if it was ready to eat Jiseok alive.

Jiseok cursed again when he was finally able to get up and tried to turn around to run, but the other one caught up with him from behind and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Agh!" Jiseok cried out as the other's hand touched him. The strong grip on his shoulder stopped him completely and he turned sideways before the other lunged, narrowly avoiding his head.

"Dude what's wrong with you! Get off me!" he shook the arm that held him hostage with all his might, raised his fist and struck the other's temple. The boy jerked and finally let go of Jiseok, he staggered back a few steps and that was all it took for Jiseok to turn and run.

"What the hell was that?" Jiseok yelled as he ran, he could hear the other follow a few steps behind him and hurried his pace so he could lose him. Jiseok had no idea what was going on. It wasn't Halloween, the last time he checked it was still two months away and at school they didn't allow dressing up like that. Maybe it was someone who had something against him, but as Jiseok jumped the fence and ran in the direction of the baseball fields he dismissed the idea. Since the Bomin incident in freshman year no one else had messed with him.

He turned behind him to see if he had lost the other one and let out a sigh of relief when he didn't see him anywhere. He kept running anyway.

His white shirt was stained where the boy grabbed him by the shoulder and he snorted angrily. Now he would have to put on the sweater and suffer through warm-ups or spend all day with the stain.

When he was a few yards from the corner of the school he stopped running and started walking. It was strange to him that in all this time he hadn't seen any other students, apart from the one who attacked him. Even with all the commotion they made a few minutes ago, with all the screaming, no teacher came out to see what was going on.

A shiver ran down Jiseok's back as a thought crossed his mind, but he dismissed it immediately.

"This isn't World War Z, no one is as handsome as Brad Pitt to save us" He tried to lighten his mood by making a joke. Cold sweat ran down his back and small tremors shook his hands, but he clenched his fists and continued walking towards the corner.

As soon as he turned the corner he would go to the school entrance, climb the stairs to the third floor, open the door to his classroom and go straight to Yuchan to tell him about the strange event that happened to him so he could laugh all day long.

With the plan decided he turned the corner and was about to let out a sigh of relief when he stopped dead in his tracks.

In the narrow hallway there were eight people a few feet away from him, walking as if they had no fixed direction between the garbage cans on one side and the fence on the other side. Their uniforms revealed that they were members of the baseball team, so at least one question Jiseok was asking was answered.  

He was about to open his mouth to ask them what they were doing there when one suddenly turned around and Jiseok's breath was cut off.

They looked exactly like the boy who had chased him just minutes ago. Even worse. His sports uniform was ripped all the way down the front of his chest, pieces of cloth were falling down his torso full of dirt and clotted blood. His pants were stained with grass and dirt, Jiseok could even see from that distance the shape of a red hand on his right thigh. His mouth was wide open, black teeth poked out, small yellow spots painted his cheeks and forehead. He had the same gray eyes as the other boy.

Jiseok took a step back shaking from head to toe. He didn't know if they were also part of the joke they were playing on Jiseok. 

Summoning up his courage he raised his voice and shouted as angrily as he could, "Listen. If this is a joke you can stop now who paid you to do this?" he squared his shoulders and tried to keep his voice from wobbling, failing on the last syllable. His gaze wavered as the other seven players turned around. They looked the same as the first. All their uniforms were torn, blood stained every part and their faces were painted different shades of purple, yellow and green. They all had that same look.

Jiseok hunched over. Either they were very dedicated to his joke or maybe it wasn't really a joke at all. The players walked up to him quickly, blood spurted from their gaping mouths and slight grunts could be heard in the hallway.  

Letting out a curse, he turned around and ran back the way he came, almost tripping over his own feet. He ran as fast as he could, turning back every three seconds, the players following him, closing the distance with alarming speed. They swarmed over each other and pulled, some falling flat against the concrete and those behind them stepping on them to get past; none wasted time on their own injuries, it was as if the only purpose in their minds was to catch up with Jiseok.

Jiseok was about to cross the baseball field when he stopped in his tracks and watched in alarm as the same boy who had been following him at first ran toward him followed by four others. 

"Fuck. Fuck, what the fuck is going on?" He put his hands to his head and muttered angrily, turned and cursed again as he saw that the players were a few feet away from him.

He turned in circles in place so he could find a way out. He had nowhere to run, his exits were obstructed and the only thing he could do was run across the open baseball field, but Jiseok immediately dismissed that idea. He couldn't run in the open field, there were too many openings and nowhere to hide.

He wanted to scream, his hands were sweating and tremors were running through his body. At any moment he felt he might fall, but he tried to concentrate and form a plan. He didn't know what these people would do to him if they caught up with him, he didn't know what was happening or why this was happening, he just knew he had to find a safe place and get back to his teammates. 
Just when the players were a few meters away from him he took a few steps back, his last option was to run straight to the field. And he was about to do so when he felt a hand grab his left leg and pull him backwards. He didn't have time to scream because his face was filled with dirt and a sharp pain crossed his forehead. 

He fought the pulling hand, kicking it and clawing at the grass, but it was useless; the hand was stronger than him and Jiseok was soon pulled down.

"What the...?" Another hand closed over his mouth and shut him up. Jiseok's heart was pounding inside his chest, his ears rang with rushing blood and his gaze was still not used to the slight darkness inside the small hiding place he was in.

He fought the hand again, turning his head and pulling it away. The hand only pressed harder against his mouth and Jiseok hissed in pain. 

"Quiet, the others you're on top of us. You don't want them to find us do you?" Jiseok froze as the soft whisper of the voice sounded in his ear. It was a man's voice, he felt like he recognized it from somewhere and Jiseok shivered as the lips touched his lobe.

Jiseok shook his head and the other sighed over his ear. Jiseok shuddered again. "Very well. I'm going to let you go, but you mustn't scream, okay?" Jiseok nodded in confirmation shaking again. It must have been all the nerves he had in his body.

The other slowly pulled his hand away from Jiseok's mouth, very slowly, as if daring Jiseok to scream. But Jiseok remained silent, not a sound came out of him as the hand came down and returned to its owner.

Jiseok's eyes had long ago become accustomed to the dim darkness so that he could see that they were in the dugouts of the baseball team. The dugouts were a little lower to the ground to avoid being hit by balls when they hit or deflected balls; a small five meter room where there were only two chairs and a few bats along with their balls and gloves. Jiseok hadn't even realized this existed, let alone seen it when he was running.

He cocked his head to the side so he could visualize the guy behind him, but shadows danced around his face. Jiseok turned around and squinted, trying to see the other guy.

He had long hair, Jiseok could see a lock of dark hair reaching up to the other's neck, he was wearing the typical school pants and white shirt, but he was wearing a thick gray sweater and black tennis shoes. 

"There you go" The other spoke, brought his hands to his face and rubbed them together. Jiseok took a step forward, wanting to see the other's face. It looked familiar.

"Who..." The hair obscured his features, so he took another step forward. The other brought his hand to the front and combed his hair, pulling it back and it was at that moment that Jiseok realized.

"Lee Jooyeon!!!" Jiseok shouted without thinking, he pointed in surprise at the other in disbelief and Jooyeon suddenly took a step forward and smacked his mouth with his hand. His eyes flashed menacingly and panicked. 

"I told you not to scream!" Jooyeon hissed inches from his face, but Jiseok didn't hear him. Lee Jooyeon saved him and was now standing in front of him. For the second time.

Chapter Text

"Lee Jooyeon!" Panic flooded Jooyeon as he heard the other boy scream when he clearly told him not to make any loud sounds. He acted as fast as he could, he stepped forward to cover the other's mouth and his body flooded with rage. 

' Didn't he know that zombies were prone to noises?' Jooyeon kept silent as he fixed his eyes on the other. He waited to see if the zombies had heard them and came running towards them. 

For two minutes there was no noise other than the other's quickened breathing and Jooyeon's calm one, he could hear the clicking of teeth above them and the shuffling of feet, but it didn't seem like either had heard the boy's outburst, so he let out a sigh and looked back at the other.

The boy in front of him had his eyes open in shock, Jooyeon could see the glint within them and how the brown color dissolved around the pupils into more caramel shades. His eyebrows were raised in surprise.

Jooyeon whispered to him "No yelling this time okay?" The other nodded slowly and Jooyeon removed his hand slowly, expecting another outburst, but the boy kept quiet with the same shocked expression on his face. 

Then Jooyeon remembered what the boy shouted. 

"Do I know you?" he didn't remember seeing him around school in his three years, he doesn't even remember having a conversation with the other; but Jooyeon wasn't well known for his good memory if he himself is honest, so maybe they had met once and Jooyeon just didn't remember. 

The other came out of his stupor and quickly shook his head.

____****____****____****____

"Do I know you?" That question puzzled Jiseok, even wounded him slightly, but he soon regained his composure and shook his head. Their interaction had been many years ago, when they were still freshmen and Jiseok had then brown hair. In two years they had changed so much; now Jiseok had changed his hair to a bleached purple and had grown a few inches longer.
Even the other boy had changed in those two years: his cropped hair now reached below his neck, his features looked more mature, he had grown a lot in those two years and had even gained some muscle. 

Not that Jiseok had noticed him enough during those two years to notice the slightest changes, he just had a very good memory.

And in that time their interaction wasn't that long, it's understandable that Jooyeon couldn't remember it, it's just that it marks an important moment in Jiseok's life and it's something he couldn't forget very easily, even if he wanted to. That little conversation two years ago was what gave him the courage to be able to change and break free from the literal and metaphorical strings that held him captive. It was his inspiration.

But Jiseok was doomed if he said that to the other. So he shook his head again and tried to sound as confused as possible.

"Oh! Sorry, I don't really know you. It's just that you're kind of famous in this school you know?" And it was true. Jooyeon had a sort of reputation within the school, but not like everyone would think. The students knew him as the "lucky bum."

Jooyeon was what the teachers call a "derailed student," the students themselves call him a "lucky student," and in school he is famous for being a lazy bum who usually skips classes and sleeps through classes but surprisingly always manages to pass the year even with passing grades. No one knows how he does it, but some have their theories. Some range from him being the principal's own son and others that he is a gangster who has the school's top brass under threat. That theory is a bit out of thought, if you ask Jiseok.  The only class that Jooyeon seems to have top score is physical education.

"Ah, right," Jooyeon shyly scratches his head and looks away. Jiseok doesn't even think he's cute. Not at all.

"Let the introductions begin" Out of nowhere Jooyeon stands in front of Jiseok and raises his hand. "My name is Jooyeon, but it seems like you already know it" Jooyeon smiles and Jiseok feels short of breath all of a sudden. It must be because he ran in just five minutes what he would have run in two weeks. "And you are..." 

Jiseok rubbed his hands against his pants, trying to wipe off as much sweat as he could and raised his hand. "I'm Jiseok. Kwak Jiseok" He grabbed Jooyeon's hand and swung it firmly in a gesture of formality. Jooyeon smiled wider and squeezed his hand.

"Nice to meet you Kwak Jiseok" Jiseok liked the way the other said his name.

"Nice to meet you too, Lee Jooyeon." 

"Too bad it was under these circumstances" Those words were like a bucket of cold water on Jiseok. Reality suddenly rushed over him and the previous fifteen minutes came rushing back to him.

"About that... Do you know what's going on out there?" Jiseok still couldn't put a name to the events he was party to, and he honestly didn't want to put a name to it. The situation was too surreal.

Jooyeon continued to squeeze his hand, his eyes suddenly taking on a serious edge and beckoned him closer. Jiseok approached with uncertainty, the other's seriousness took him by surprise.

"Those who followed you are zombies" Jooyeon said it with such certainty that Jiseok was almost tempted to believe him, the way his eyes flashed and the whisper that emerged between the small space, a secret that no one but Jiseok can hear.

"Zo- zombies..." Jiseok had to repeat what the other said, not sure what the other said. He almost expected Jooyeon to laugh in his face and go along with the overly elaborate joke the others were making, but seconds passed and Jooyeon nodded. No smirk, no giggle or sneer. This was for real.

"Zombies?" Jiseok asked, his eyes searched Jooyeon's face.

Jooyeon nodded once more. "I saw with my own eyes how one of those players tore a piece of skin off a boy. It made him like this" Jooyeon pulled Jiseok towards him and Jiseok's body stiffened, taken by surprise by the other. He let Jooyeon take him in his hands and his head came within millimeters of Jiseok's neck, he could feel the other's breath on his skin.

"He took him by the neck and put his teeth here" Jooyeon touched his skin for a second with his lips and Jiseok's heart skipped a beat. "And then he bit him, as if he had been a piece of marshmallow" Jooyeon gently bit his neck and Jiseok felt his legs go weak for an instant. "I watched as he tore off a piece of skin without even blinking. It bit him until the other stopped struggling and the blood soaked him all over" Jooyeon pulled away and Jiseok was thankful for the darkness of the room and that he didn't blush so easily. "I watched as it ate the meat in one bite and left" The seriousness in Jooyeon's voice made Jiseok swallow hard. "If that's not a zombie, then what is it?" 

____****____****____

"Tell me once more the plan" The two had formed a plan to get out of there after a while. They came to the conclusion that they couldn't hide in that room any longer, they had to go to a teacher and see what was really going on. But first they had to find a way to get out of there without being eaten by the "zombies" (Jiseok still had trouble believing it was true).

"Mmm" Jooyeon turned around the room looking for something. Jiseok also turned around, not knowing what he must have been looking for until Jooyeon gasped and ran to the corner where all the players' sports equipment was. "I know! We use these to get them off our backs and run to the school entrance" He grabbed a baseball bat and with the other hand he grabbed a mitten. He raised them in the air in a sign of success and nodded, as if proud of his idea.

Jiseok had to admit it was a good idea. And the only option there could be in that situation. They could only run as fast as they could trying to drive the zombies away and get to the entrance. Simple and easy. Of course, if they weren't eaten first by the zombies.

"Okay. How do we do it?" Jooyeon rummaged through the lockers trying to find something. He hummed when he finally found it. Jiseok realized it was a black vest.

Jooyeon tossed it to Jiseok and Jiseok caught it with a little difficulty. "Put it on" Jooyeon ordered him as he pulled out another one again and grilled it through his arms. Jiseok put it on in confusion.

"What for..."

"For if we get caught, they won't be able to bite our chest or back. We're more protected" Jiseok had to admit it was a brilliant idea, it would never have occurred to him to do something like that himself. Jiseok wondered if Jooyeon was as dumb as the others thought he was, or if he was just smart in his own way. 

Jooyeon grabbed his baseball bat and gloved his other hand. He turned to look at it. "In case they get too close, I put my hand like this and distract them so I can hit them with the bat" He made a demonstration as if there was a zombie in front of him, he raised his arm and covered his face with his glove, with the other he raised the bat and punched the air. He smiled at Jiseok and Jiseok cocked his head in embarrassment.

"You know how to act in these particular situations very well" Jiseok tried to sound ambiguous with his compliment, not wanting to compliment the other directly. Jooyeon smiled wider and ran his gloved hand through his hair. 

"Yeah well. I've seen too many zombie movies to have an idea what to do" He laughed at himself and passed another gloved hand to Jiseok to glove.

Then Jooyeon stepped forward towards the small transparent entrance.
Not much could be seen from where they were, only a bit of blue sky and mostly grass could be seen, but in all that time they hadn't seen a single person pass by, so there was a small chance that the zombies were gone. Jiseok didn't want to sound hopeful.

"I'm going to count to three and open the door. Then we'll run to the entrance and look for a teacher okay?" Jooyeon turned to Jiseok and looked at him questioningly. Jiseok nodded, waiting for the other to start counting.

Jooyeon agreed. "Very well. One..." Jooyeon gripped the door with his gloved hand, the other firmly gripping the bat. "Two..." Jiseok gripped his own bat tightly, praying that the sweat wouldn't cause it to slip. He took a deep breath of air and mentally prepared himself to run.

"Three" Jooyeon burst open the door and ran out at an alarming speed. Jiseok ran beside him and tried to catch up. He almost crashed into Jooyeon's back when he finally caught up to him.

"¡Get down!" Jooyeon yells and Jiseok ducks down covering his head with his hands. The blast of air shakes his hair, Jooyeon tends the bat behind Jiseok and hits the zombie's head with all his might. Jiseok flinches as a crunch is heard, he doesn't have time to turn back because Jooyeon is already pulling him.

"Come on, come on, there are more of them than before" And Jooyeon is right. There are a lot more zombies than there were. Now there are not only the baseball players, but also the soccer players and several students in their uniform. Jiseok runs to Jooyeon's side with his heart in his throat.

"Shit, shit, shit. There are too many of them. I don't think we're going to make it" He passes by a twitching body on the ground, Jiseok gasps as he realizes both of his legs are missing. Pieces of gnawed flesh form a path from where he crawls and there is a pool of blood behind him, even Jiseok can reach to visualize pieces of bone. He feels like he is going to vomit.

Jooyeon continues to hit anyone who comes near them. A girl comes from his side and Jooyeon punches her chest. The girl falls sideways with an angry gurgle and rolls around trying to get closer to them. 
Jiseok slams a boy who comes too close behind him against his shoulder and knocks him down. Jooyeon shouts over the gasps and fatigue "Don't be a pessimist! We're just getting to the entrance" And Jooyeon was right. At that distance Jiseok could see that the entrance of the school was getting closer and closer. They only had to cross the concrete path and climb the stairs.

Jiseok quickened his pace, hitting the soccer coach hard on the head, the cracking of the skull echoed in Jiseok's ears for a longer time, but he refused to feel remorse. He was protecting himself.

"It's almost over!" Jooyeon sounded fine, as if running away had no effect on him, as if the herd of zombies around them was a common everyday occurrence and as if beating up students was their daily bread. Jiseok was surprised and curious about their attitude. Envy surged inside his chest but he soon quelled it, he wanted to be just as optimistic and determined as the other.

Jiseok hopped over some small bushes at the corners of the entrance and punched another girl in her side. "Open it!" Jiseok yelled at Jooyeon as he continued to push the zombies away. Jooyeon gasped a little as she grabbed the door with one hand, but it wouldn't budge. Jooyeon grunted, trying to pull it with his strength, but it only rattled. 

"Shit" He cursed, an arm grabbed him from behind and Jooyeon turned around quickly, the zombie grabbed him again now by the shoulder and pulled him, it was going to bite his hand but Jooyeon was faster. He slammed his foot into the other's leg, causing him to fall to his knees and swung his bat against the zombie's temple. The zombie gasped angrily as it fell backwards into the bushes.

"What's wrong?" Jiseok was tired, he had never exercised this much in his entire life and he had never fought someone like this. The last time he'd had a "real fight" was in first grade high school. And that had been two years ago.

"The door is locked. I can't open it" Jooyeon growled, stepped forward and punched another zombie in the stomach.

Jiseok felt like screaming, but restrained himself. This wasn't the time to panic, any more than he already had.

"What now?" a zombie entered Jiseok's space without Jiseok noticing. Jiseok screamed, reached to bring his arm up in front of him before the zombie bit down on the gauntlet. The zombie settled its black teeth into the thick brown cloth and tried to rip Jiseok's glove off. Jiseok pulled it back and forth, he couldn't get away from it.

"Get off me" Jiseok hissed through gritted teeth, he could hear the cloth rip. He moved it again, but the other had its teeth well embedded in the gauntlet and wouldn't budge. 

Then the zombie's weight disappeared in an instant and Jiseok watched as Jooyeon slammed the zombie back into his skull. Again. And again. The zombie stopped moving on the floor and Jiseok exhaled loudly.

"Come on" Jooyeon raised his hand and Jiseok took it gratefully. He jumped up and saw the zombies that were following them were on the ground panting like dying dogs. "We don't have time, more are coming" And it was true. Jiseok watched as seven more zombies came trotting towards them. 

"Where are we going?" Jiseok felt like pulling his hair in despair, but Jooyeon's hand was still clinging to his own. 

"There's a window leading to the freshman bathrooms. Let's go in that way" Jooyeon pulled him to the right and they went down the stairs. Jiseok followed him willingly, the glove had ripped when the zombie grabbed it and Jiseok could see that Jooyeon wasn't wearing his own glove either. Blood stains splattered his white sleeves, but Jiseok ignored it. He squeezed Jooyeon's hand and ran.

They ran down the concrete path leaving the zombies behind and dodging the incoming ones head-on. Jiseok tried his best to fend them off with one hand, but at no time did he let go of Jooyeon. 

"Come on, come on" Jooyeon stopped at a part of the building and released Jiseok's grip. 

Jiseok felt disappointed, but his disappointment was soon forgotten as three zombies arrived behind them. 

"Where is he?" Jiseok couldn't see any windows. Jiseok feared that Jooyeon has lied but then Jooyeon crouches down and gropes the wall in front of him.

Jiseok anxiously holds his breath, watching as Jooyeon moved his hands back and forth, the red of his hands leaving stains on the whiteness of the wall. Then he gasps excitedly as he finds something.

"Here it is" And Jiseok watches in amazement as out of nowhere Jooyeon picks up a small handle of the same white color and as if by magic, a window opens wide and Jiseok can see the bathroom sinks.

"But what..." Jiseok can't finish his thoughts because Jooyeon is already pulling him by the hand and rushes him inside.

"Come on. Get inside before they come" Jiseok feels Jooyeon's hands on his hips helping him down over the window. He throws his bat inside the bathroom and Jiseok grimaces at the noise the aluminum makes against the floor tiles. It swings with his hands and lands with a thud on the bathroom tiles. He turns quickly And grabs Jooyeon's bat so that Jooyeon can get in.

"Quick, quick" He grabs his hand and pulls it, but Jooyeon slips on the window and falls backwards as a zombie comes behind him and pulls him.
Jiseok screams and holds his breath as Jooyeon disappears from his sight. He stares at the window like a fool for five seconds and is about to leave to find the other one when Jooyeon reappears at the window.

Jiseok rushes forward and grabs the other's hand again, pulls him and Jooyeon falls with both his feet against the tiles. He turns around and slams the window shut. Instantly he hears loud bangs crashing against the wall.

Jiseok rushes over to see Jooyeon's condition. The other has more blood than before on his hands and white shirt, but everything else looks normal. 

"Were you bitten?" he can't help but ask as he tries to find some wound on the skin. Jooyeon lets himself be manhandled, tousles his hair and sighs. 

"No, I just got scratched when the zombie knocked me down from the window, but it didn't bite me" Jooyeon shows him his hand and Jiseok sees the scratch on the torso of his hand. Jiseok sighs in relief and feels his heart stop beating painfully inside his chest.

"Good, good. That's good" He doesn't know who the words are for, Jooyeon or himself, but he still says them. He runs his hands through his hair and tousles it, exhaustion hitting him hard.

Jiseok leans back against the wall beside the cubicles and slowly falls on the floor. "Can we get some rest? Before we go out again" Jiseok tries not to sound desperate, but feels he fails when Jooyeon looks at him gently and sits down beside him.

"Sure, let's rest for a while." Silence envelops them as Jiseok closes his eyes and leans his head against the wall.

Chapter Text

Time passed with a slowness, as if there was no apocalypse outside those four walls. Jiseok had no way of counting the minutes that had passed inside the bathroom, but from the time he sat next to Jooyeon he could deduce an hour.

Unlike his expectations, Jooyeon was a good company to be in silence with. Half the time they were just leaning against the wall, the silence wrapped them in a protective blanket, every now and then they could hear the drops of water falling from the faucets or shouts outside the bathrooms.

After a while of being silent Jooyeon started humming a song. He hadn't stopped since that time. And Jiseok couldn't find it in him to ask the other to stop either, he found calmness in his humming and soon enough he closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away by Jooyeon's voice and trying to calm his mind.
He didn't know what he was going to do next, he didn't know where to go, he didn't know how he was going to get out of that bath; what he did know was that he was going to survive. He was going to get out of this hell even if it cost him everything. He was not going to die here today.

 The bathrooms had only three cubicles with toilets and four urinals next to the three sinks. It was a small room for the sole purpose of relieving oneself.  The lights were on, but they were dim, they needed to be changed as soon as possible.

"Why were you in the baseball team locker room?" Jiseok asked with the purpose of filling the air between them, he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts any longer. That and he was genuinely curious as to why Jooyeon was there.

Jooyeon stopped humming and fixed his gaze on the lights. "Ah" He took his time to reply, but Jiseok waited, giving the other time to settle his thoughts. "I had skipped the morning class."

Jiseok smiled sideways "I don't believe you" He joked and Jooyeon chuckled, her hair falling over her eyes. 

"Believe it or not, I didn't feel like taking the arts class. I'm not very good with it" Her hand reached up to arrange her hair. "And I decided to go to the soccer fields to watch practice. But halfway through practice I could see how a girl came up to the fields, her clothes were dirty and torn, as if she had crawled on the ground several times. Then she went straight to the coach, the coach talked and talked, told her to go to the infirmary, but the girl didn't listen to him. She went straight to him and in the blink of an eye she had bitten him in the stomach" Jooyeon's gaze is fixed on Jiseok and he can't look away. "I watched as the trainer collapsed screaming and crying for help. The girl clung to him like a leech, tore his flesh and ate it without chewing. Then I saw how within minutes the trainer came to life and got up as if he was a living corpse, went to a player who was worried and bit him" Jooyeon's eyes were warm, a potent brown color, like bitter chocolate. Jiseok was reminded of home.

"At that moment I remembered the baseball team's lockers that they hardly ever used and went to hide. I was going to wait for things to calm down a bit so I could come out" Jooyeon had very long eyelashes, as she blinked they brushed against her dirt-stained cheeks and Jiseok felt the urge to reach up and wipe them away. He didn't. "Until you came running in and cursing everyone" His smile was huge, Jiseok's stomach lurched when he saw Jooyeon's teeth, they were so white and shiny, like sea pearls. 

Jiseok snorted indignantly and raised his voice. "Sorry, I was a little desperate back there." 

"I saved your life" Jooyeon smiled wider and walked closer to Jiseok.
Jiseok swallowed saliva and tried not to move away, he wanted to show her that he wasn't intimidated by her. "Do you want me to thank you?" Jiseok found himself whispering in the space that separated them.

"A thank you would be nice" Jooyeon whispered back, their noses were mere inches away from each other, Jiseok's gaze found itself drifting down to the other's lips. Jooyeon smiled. They were beautiful lips, soft pink, full.

"If we get out of here alive maybe I'll think about it" Jiseok's gaze returned to the other and Jooyeon smiled again, now mischievously.

"What about you, what were you doing at the baseball fields? I can tell you're not that type" Jooyeon's gaze went down to his body and Jiseok got hot when the other ran his gaze all over his body. 

"I don't have to tell you" He turned around without answering.

"Aw come on. I told you why I was in the lockers, it's only fair that you tell me what you were doing there" Jooyeon pulled him by the shoulder, stubborn.

Jiseok ignored him for a good five seconds until he exhaled and looked at him defeated. Jooyeon stopped swinging him, but didn't let go. "I was taking an exam, but I hadn't studied. I asked permission to go to the bathroom."

Jooyeon nodded wisely, put a hand under his chin and in his deepest voice said, "Wise decision. You used the oldest method to escape: permission to go to the bathroom" One second they were looking at each other seriously and the next they were laughing loudly. Jiseok felt his stomach convulse with the effort.

The laughter subsided until only exhalations remained and Jiseok looked softly at Jooyeon.

"You're funny" Jiseok smiled at the other and Jooyeon smiled back.

"I know."

Jiseok snorted and shook his head "And humble too" His gaze returned to the white window.

A question he wanted to ask the other ever since they arrived at the baths. "How did you know that window? You can't see it from the outside and from the inside it's impossible to recognize it." 

Jooyeon hummed and focused his gaze on the window. Her head tilted and her gaze became sly. "Let's just say I had a lot of free time during my years" Eyebrows raised suggestively and Jiseok laughed again. His chest felt lighter and his body had long since stopped shaking.

"You're amazing" Jiseok whispers, not wanting the other to hear and inflating his ego. Jooyeon hums in acknowledgement and stands up with a small "phew".

"Did you get enough rest?" Jooyeon stretches his arms above his head and Jiseok tries not to fix his eyes on the small strip of skin that opens as Jooyeon's shirt and sweater ride up. He fails miserably and finds himself glaring at the tanned skin.
Jooyeon turns and looks at him questioningly and Jiseok realizes he asked him something. "Uh yeah. I already recharged my energy" It was a lie, he was still just as tired or but as he was an hour ago, but he wasn't going to say that.
Jooyeon smiled sideways and put his hands on his hips. "Perfect. Because now we're going to go to the third floor."

Jiseok's eyes widened and he jumped up, not as gently as the other. "To the third floor? Why?"

Jooyeon shrugged and went to the sink, took off his sweater and rolled up his white shirt sleeves. "My phone is in the living room next to my backpack. I'm going to call emergency from there and wait for someone to answer and call for help" Jooyeon turns on the faucet, water runs down his hands and dried blood starts to drip against the sink, soon enough the water turns red and Jooyeon diligently rubs his knuckles. Jiseok watches as the red and grime on his hands gives way to sun-kissed, calloused skin. 

Jooyeon's fingers are long, slender and strong, attached to large, veiny hands. Jiseok feels his ears heat up at her observations.

Jiseok clears his throat and nods, follows Jooyeon into the other sink and turns on the faucet to wash his own hands.

"Good idea" He rubs between his fingers and under his fingernails. He's never liked being dirty, but under these circumstances he'll work with what he's got. "What's your salon?" 

Jooyeon rubs his wrists and does the same treatment with his forearms. "Third D" He makes a small puddle with his hands and tries to clean some stains on his sweater. "What about yours?"

Jiseok rubs his cheeks hard getting as much dirt out as possible. "Third G."

They finish cleaning themselves and Jooyeon walks to the other end of the bathroom where they left the bats, picks up his and, without warning, throws the other one up in the air. Jiseok catches it with slight difficulty taken off guard.

"Concentrate Jiseok" Jooyeon smiles nonchalantly at him and laughs in his face. Jiseok grumbles and sticks his tongue out at him playfully.

"Any plans out there?" Jiseok feels the need to ask, he put his vest back on over his uniform vest and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. 

Jooyeon cocked his head to the side and stood thinking for a moment looking out into the void. "The only way up is up the stairs, we'll have to be quick so we don't get caught. I'll take the front and you take the rear" He adjusted his vest and ran a hand through his hair again. He stood in front of the door and smiled hugely at Jiseok "Take care you don't get bitten."

Jiseok smiled back and stood behind the other. "Same here" They shared a look, nodded their heads and Jooyeon took the handle. 

"On the count of three" Jooyeon squeezed the handle hard. "One" He moved it a few millimeters and squeezed his bat tightly. "Two" Jiseok took a deep breath and patted his chest. He wasn't going to die today. "Three."

Jooyeon burst open the door, wasted no time and turned right running towards the stairs. The hallway was long, there were nine classrooms per floor and the stairs were all the way to the other end of the bathroom, so it was going to be a suicidal run. 

Jiseok ran on Jooyeon's heels, his head was pounding with all the blood rushing to his brain and his feet felt heavy, but he was doomed if he fell behind.

As soon as they came out of the bathroom the zombies came running towards them. There seemed to be no survivors on this floor, all the students were turned into the walking dead, walkers as they called them in the movies. Their faces had different degrees of deformity, some had cuts on their faces and others on different parts of their bodies; a girl came out of the first classroom crawling because she didn't have both legs, another boy arrived behind her without an arm and Jiseok caught a glimpse inside the classroom of one who had his stomach open and his guts were scattered on the floor. Jiseok will have nightmares for weeks.

In front of him Jooyeon stops abruptly because there are four zombies blocking his way and walking straight towards him.

"Cover my back!" Jooyeon yells in front of him and Jiseok nods, he turns around and sticks his back to the other's, he braces for impact when he sees another five zombies running towards them from the hallway.
Jiseok raises the bat and hits the first one that comes knocking him to the ground and causing the other four to fall as they trip over the one on the floor.
He can hear Jooyeon in front of him grunting and panting. "They keep coming, I can't shake them off" The loud thuds of aluminum against skin could be heard loudly above all the zombie noises. Jiseok cursed and continued to shake the zombies off.

"Well think of something! More are coming from the entrance" And it was true, Jiseok could see another five zombies pass the door leading to the library and come rushing in. 

"Shit!" Jooyeon swears and hits another zombie in the head hard, The zombie crashes into the living room window hard and a roar sounds as its head hits the window, shattering it into pieces. A few even graze Jiseok's hands, but he couldn't care less as he continues to try and push the zombies away.

He kicks one in the chest with his foot and knocks it aside, kicks another again and sends it backwards, he is so distracted by a girl who has a disfigured face and bruises all over the middle d of her face that he doesn't notice when the zombie he had kicked crawls up to him and with a red inked hand grabs Jiseok's right ankle making him stumble.

"Agh!" Jiseok falls hard against the ground, the zombie pulls at his pants but Jiseok hits him with the bat trying to shake him off.

"Jooyeon!" Jiseok yells, the zombie doesn't seem to want to let go, he tightens his grip on Jiseok's ankle and Jiseok hisses in pain at the strong grip, Jiseok kicks him in the face several times before he can throw him aside. Two others come in from his right side and Jiseok rolls sideways, narrowly avoiding the teeth.

Jooyeon grits his teeth, slams one with a closed fist into a zombie's solar plexus and kicks the side of another. "Shit, shit, shit" He knew it would be hard to make it all the way to the stairs, but he didn't think they wouldn't even make it halfway down the hallway without being eaten.
A zombie manages to squeeze through an opening to his left and scratches his left shoulder. Jooyeon gasps and elbows it against its face, the zombie falls with blood spilling from its nose. 

They were running out of time, at this rate all the zombies would come for all the noise they were making and completely surround them.

But they couldn't go back to the bathroom either, there were about ten zombies behind them and another ten in front of them. They were caged in.

Jooyeon cursed for the fourth time and was about to apologize to Jiseok for dragging him into it when the door to a room ten feet in front of them opens. Jooyeon feels his face darken, more zombies were coming.

But someone else comes out of the hall, a boy, he had the same disheveled look as the zombies, dirty and torn with blood stains, but Jooyeon could see he was carrying a stick with a sharpened tip between his hands and most importantly, his eyes were a soft cinnamon color and glowed in the sunlight.

The boy struck the zombies that cornered Jooyeon and Jiseok creating a small but very timely opening.

"Come!" Jooyeon heard the boy shout and Jooyeon wasted no time, he grabbed Jiseok by the hand, Jiseok cried out in alarm and Jooyeon felt a dull pain in his shoulder blades as Jiseok swung the bat at him, but Jooyeon gritted his teeth harder and pulled him with him so he could run and get to where the boy was.

They reached the boy's side and the boy said urgently. "Get in" The stick got stuck in the forehead of a zombie and it stopped moving, the boy swung the stick back and forth to get it out and the zombie fell lifelessly backwards.

Jooyeon stepped forward with Jiseok behind him and soon they were in the living room. The boy hit a zombie one last time and locked the door just before a zombie slammed into it. He pulled back the window curtains and fell with a gasp to the floor.

Jooyeon was breathing heavily, his ears were throbbing and he leaned back on his knees trying to suck in some air.

Jiseok also leaned back on his knees, his left hand still in Jooyeon's grip, the warmth of the other and the light sweat holding them together, Jiseok can feel Jooyeon's racing pulse and it's the only thing keeping him afloat.

Then he remembers how he had panicked and hit Jooyeon with the bat on his back and pulls him in alarm. "Jooyeon are you okay, did I hit you too hard?" The panic in his voice was palpable, guilt settling in his chest. He couldn't believe he had hit Jooyeon with the bat. He touches Jooyeon's back over the vest trying to feel if anything was out of place. Jooyeon didn't move, he let Jiseok inspect him all he wanted, he just hummed and shook his head.

"Nah, it just grazed me" It was a lie, his shoulder blades burned horribly, the right side of his back was numb and Jooyeon didn't a felt, but he wasn't going to tell Jiseok that, he didn't want to worry him more than necessary. It was Jooyeon's fault anyway, he caught him off guard and Jiseok was just trying to defend himself. He couldn't blame him. "But my left shoulder hurts a little" But he could play the martyr a little. 

Jooyeon saw Jiseok's gaze shift from his back to his shoulder and his eyes widened wider if that's possible, the zombie that had scratched him had only left three wounds of no more than three centimeters, it didn't even hurt that much, just a slight sting from the blood and the way it stuck to his clothes, but Jooyeon liked the way Jiseok's hands touched him so gently, Jiseok's smaller hands groping around the wound as if he was afraid of hurting him more, the way his concentration was focused only on him and how his eyebrows furrowed, his lips formed a small pout of worry and his eyes glistened. Jooyeon felt warm inside.

"Were you bitten?" the voice snapped them out of their little moment and Jiseok remembered the boy who helped them.

He jumps up and looks around the room. An ordinary classroom, the armchairs had been moved out of the way and placed as a makeshift barricade in front of the windows and the desk now facing the door where they had previously entered. Three people were inside, the white-haired boy who had helped them and two other boys in the corner. One had black hair and Jiseok recognized him immediately as the student president. The other boy had brown hair and Jiseok didn't recognize him, but maybe Jooyeon did because he could hear a gasp next to him and how Jooyeon shouted in surprise.

"Jungsu hyung, are you alive!!!" Jooyeon stepped forward beside him and ran to the chestnut, took him in his arms and inspected him from head to toe with his mouth open. The way he touched the chestnut, Jungsu sent jolts of something that Jiseok failed to identify through his stomach. Jooyeon's large hands feeling the other's chest, his arms, even reaching up to his hip, Jiseok didn't like the sight and decided to turn his eyes away, it was more entertaining the blackboard behind him. 

"Jooyeon..." It seemed Jungsu was also surprised because his voice came out a little high pitched, his eyes were wide open and his caramel brown irises too big. "You're fine too, I'm glad..."
Jooyeon stopped examining him and took a step back "Amazing... How did you manage to survive?"

Jungsu ran his hand over his neck sheepishly and pointed to his left side "I had a little help." Jooyeon looked in the direction Jungsu pointed and shouted again "Gunil hyung!"

Jiseok furrowed his brow in confusion, the way Jooyeon was talking to the student president was too casual, as if they knew each other from before.

"Gunil hyung, are you okay" Jooyeon ran to the other and hugged him, Gunil was caught off guard but still took the other in his arms and pressed him to his chest.

"Good to see you Jooyeonnie" The student president looked completely different from the typical image. His pressed and wrinkle free uniform, clean and without a hair out of place had been left behind, now his uniform was ripped on one sleeve and three front buttons were missing from his sweater, his white shirt ripped in pieces and his hair messy all over. He was not the model president Jiseok remembered. But people change when there's a zombie apocalypse happening, so he downplayed it.

"No hug for me too?" the white-haired boy in front of the door speaks with a mocking tone and feigns pain. Jooyeon gasps audibly and jumps out of Gunil's grip, turns around and shouts for the third time in less than five minutes. "Seungmin!" He runs until he reaches the other boy and wraps him in a tight hug, he lifts Seungmin a few millimeters off the ground and Seungmin laughs as he wraps Jooyeon in a hug.

"Good thing you're okay Jooyeon-ah" Seungmin whispers against his ear and Jooyeon smiles tightly.

He unwraps himself from the tight hug and Jiseok sees his face light up. "Thanks for helping us guys." 

Seungmin releases Jooyeon but keeps an arm around his shoulders as a form of a half hug. "Gunil hyung heard some voices above the zombie noises outside and thought they were survivors. He wanted to help."

Jooyeon laughed and sent a thumbs up to the red-haired man. "As expected from the student president, always looking out for others" Gunil blushed and stuttered a reply.

"I just felt I had to do something if anyone was still alive. So what I sent Seungmin to take a look" Then Seungmin gasped in offense.

"You used me?" Arguments began to be thrown back and forth and Jooyeon for an instant felt like it was a normal day, surrounded by friends and throwing jokes at each other. He smiled wistfully, he couldn't believe everything that had happened in the day, it felt too surreal. He shot a glance at Jiseok and watched as the other looked up at the blackboard with a small smile on his lips.

He broke away from Seungmin's side and walked over to him, put his arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards him.

"Guys, meet my dear soul friend, Jiseok" She patted his shoulder and introduced the others. "The white haired one is Seungmin and the brown haired one is Jungsu, they are third years too and love to dance. You know Gunil I hope" He pointed to each and they responded with a nod and a greeting of their own.

"Ah, nice to meet you I'm Jiseok. I met Jooyeon just six hours ago" Jiseok replies with an expressionless face. Jooyeon groans beside him and Jiseok stifles a smile that threatens to burst out.

"Aw, we've known each other for six hours but we've shared so many moments together that we're bound by something stronger than just friendship" He shakes him slightly and Jiseok tries not to laugh at the other's expression, but it's really hard when others are laughing.

"Typical Jooyeon, making friends at the most inopportune times" Jungsu replies in laughter and Jiseok loses it when he hears Gunil's laughter. He had never heard the other laugh before and the way he gasped at every laugh as if he had asthma made it too hilarious. Jiseok let out a laugh and closed his eyes.

"How do you know Jooyeon?" taking a breath Jiseok asked the others, he was curious how Jooyeon had managed to meet these people, and more so the president. 

"Long story long, I'm just saying Jooyeon is very persistent" Seungmin replies leaning on Jungsu's shoulder and smiling. Jooyeon sticks her tongue out at him and pretends to be offended, pulling Jiseok closer. Jiseok feels his heart skip a beat.

"I understand" Jiseok says as he leans against Jooyeon. Silence falls between them with the growls of the zombies in the hallway.
"What were they doing in the hallway?" Gunil breaks the silence as he took a step forward and fixes his eyes on the windows. The others nod and look at them curiously.

"We were going to the third floor. That's where I have my cell phone so I can call emergency and ask for help" Jooyeon replies as he rests his head on Jiseok's, Jiseok feels his heart skipping another beat and fears that he is suffering from some undetected illness. All day long he has been having these little skips and fears that his poor heart has something.

Gunil nods and looks at the window again. "I don't think they could even make it twenty feet with at amount of zombies outside" Jiseok nods because he is right, they couldn't even make it more than five feet and they had been surrounded by zombies. They would never make it to the third floor.

"We'll think of something" The confidence in Jooyeon's voice never ceased to amaze Jiseok. Even when it was noticeable that there was no way out, Jooyeon still had the confidence in him and it made Jiseok admire Jooyeon a little more.

"I knew you would say that" Seungmin sighed and leaned back against the wall on the other side of the room. They fell silent again. Seungmin looks up to the ceiling and visualizes something in its periphery. In the corner of the room next to the windows is a metal slit. Seungmin jumps up.

"Guys, there's a slit there" He points with his finger and the others look where he points.

"In every classroom there is one of those Seungmin" Jooyeon answers him carefully, as if explaining to a small child that the clouds were not cotton candy. Seungmin rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What I'm saying is that if every classroom has a slit of these, we can use it" Jungsu gasps and nods frantically.

"Seungmin you're a genius!" The others nod and Jiseok sees Jooyeon's expression. He can see that the other hasn't gotten the memo. He punches his side and Jooyeon groans.

"We can squeeze through the ventilation ducts and we can get all the way to the third floor without having to go out to the hallway" Jooyeon's face lights up and he smiles at Jiseok tightly. Jiseok feels his knees weak so he leans on Jooyeon with the excuse to tease him.

"You're too slow" He puts him in a headlock and Jooyeon groans, tries to break free from his grip and repeatedly slaps his open palm on Jiseok's arm.

"I'm not the most applied in class" He tries to joke but Jiseok can see his expression drop a little, so he lets go and smiles at him instead.

"You're more of an action person" Jiseok tries to be subtle with his compliment but Jooyeon changes his expression and now smiles arrogantly.
"We can go in one by one and go up to the third floor" Seungmin speaks as he grabs an armchair from the barricade and puts it right under the ventilation duct. 

"Will it really take us up to the third floor?" Gunil is a little unsure about the plan but still follows Seungmin and helps him stabilize the armchair.

"Everyone is connected" Seungmin assures him by asking Jungsu for help to guard the other side and climbs up so he can remove the slit.

"Wait" Jooyeon suddenly stops and the others turn to look at him. "Are they really going to go with us? They don't have to, they might get hurt" He doesn't want to be responsible for more people getting hurt, with Jiseok he has more than enough.

Seungmin sneers at him and passes the slit to Gunil "Did you seriously think they would go without us? I don't trust you can take two steps without hurting yourself. Someone has to take care of you" Jiseok wanted to retort that he could keep Jooyeon safe just fine, he had already done it for half a day, but he knew where this was going, so he kept silent.

"Hey I can take care of myself just fine, thanks for your vote of confidence" Jooyeon replies half offended half amused. Jungsu laughs with his fist in his mouth.

"Besides, we were also thinking of getting out of here. You're a good excuse for us to leave" Jooyeon throws his head back and laughs at Seungmin's comment. 

"Alright then, after you."

Chapter Text

The first one to go up was Seungmin. They discussed who should be in front, but in the end Seungmin said that he had the best guidance among the five, no one argued after that and they let Seungmin go first.

Then Gunil followed him because he was the least fast among the others and the one who could give Seungmin some directions on where to go, be part of the council and know the facilities and all that. Then Jungsu followed him, with Jiseok next and at the end Jooyeon.

"I don't mind going last" Jooyeon had said with a shrug and that closed the discussion. 

The four of them watched Seungmin climb the bench and go up the chute. They waited patiently until Seungmin shouted above them.

"All clear!" Gunil then climbed up, within minutes Jungsu followed and as Jiseok waited for his turn, watching Jungsu struggle to get his legs in, he tried to sound as casual as possible as he said to Jooyeon.

"Don't be late" He avoided looking him in the eye, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Jooyeon smile.

"Are you worried about me? How cute" Jiseok's ears turned pink, he disguised it by grunting in annoyance.

"In your dreams, I don't want to go through the trouble of coming back for you" he growled as he watched Jungsu disappear and prepared to go upstairs.
"Don't worry Jiseok, I've got your back" He will always deny how those words reassured him immensely and he climbs onto the couch, takes Jungsu's hand and with some difficulty climbs up the slit. He climbs up the chute and crouches down on all fours.

He goes to turn around to help Jooyeon but sees how the other climbs like nothing through the slit and settles behind him. He smiles sideways at her and Jiseok blushes again, looks to the front and shouts.

"All set" He can hear Seungmin thanking him and watches as he slowly starts crawling down the chute in a straight line.

When Jungsu starts to crawl he follows, so a few minutes pass, crawling slowly but surely through the ducts, he can feel the vibrations of Jooyeon's movements behind him, every now and then he hits Jiseok's feet and Jiseok tries not to think about how his butt is right in front of Jooyeon's face.

His face burns.

Seungmin turns right and soon stops again. "This is where the conduit ends. There is a small room with a had that leads to the second floor" Jiseok nods in place and waits for the other's orders.

"We go one at a time a few meters down the pipe. Be careful" Everyone nods and Jiseok waits watching the others go up the tube.

"Don't fall" The sudden whisper in his right ear startles Jiseok so much that he winces and jumps in place. He curses in place and angrily turns to look at Jooyeon.

"Shit Jooyeon. Don't do that" Jooyeon looks satisfied for scaring Jiseok and Jiseok wishes he doesn't feel butterflies in his stomach from that look. It looks good on him.

"Your turn" He sees that Jungsu has crawled up to the tube and is starting to climb up with small movements. Jiseok sticks his tongue out at him and crawls up to stand in front of the tube.

"Same here, don't fall" He smiles at Jooyeon and hears the other nod. The pipe was a thick rusty thing, Jiseok can feel it scrape against his hands and the color sticks to his palms. He's lucky his hands aren't sweaty. Carefully he picks up the tube and looks down. Darkness greets him. Jiseok doesn't know what's down there and doesn't feel like finding out. The small space is full of moisture and he can see how mold and some insects walk along the walls, he shudders and looks up. He estimates that it is about three meters before he reaches the other duct.

He takes a deep breath and carefully places his feet on the tube, hugs the tube tightly and carefully climbs up.

He doesn't mind taking as long as he needs, Jooyeon can wait. When he is halfway up he hears Jooyeon shout below him.

"Alright Jiseok, you're almost there" He grits his teeth and keeps climbing. In one piece his foot slips with the pipe and Jiseok's heart flips, he squeezes the pipe tightly in his grip and nails his foot again. 'Come on Jiseok you can do it' He says to himself when he sees Jungsu's hand inside the duct and gratefully takes it.

He steps into the duct and breathes hard. He made it. Now all that was left to do was to do it one more time. He turns to see Jooyeon climbing up the pipe; he rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and Jiseok could see the veins bulging from the effort: thick veins ran from his wrists to his elbows. Jiseok's insides suddenly grew hot and he clamped down. He couldn't believe he was thinking about that at this very moment.

Jooyeon climbed up without so much as a grimace, he was like a gorilla, his palms firmly placed on the rusty pipe and his feet pushing it effortlessly. He reached the duct faster than Jiseok made it halfway up it and threw him a thumbs up.

"Good job" Jiseok looked at him attentively as he raised his eyebrows. Jooyeon wiggled his left eyebrow and tossed him a pistol with his fingers. 

Jungsu started to crawl in front of him and Jiseok turned around again. He crawled for several minutes in a straight line following the others, his knees were starting to go numb, his wrists hurt from so much time walking around leaning in the same position and he felt his back creak from time to time, but this was definitely better than walking down a zombie infested hallway.

In the ducts you couldn't hear anything, every now and then you could hear muffled thumps below them, but they only lasted for a few moments and then disappeared. The lighting inside was very bad, only the outlines of the others and some features could be seen, but the path was the same, so there was not so much inconvenience. 

Seungmin turned left and a few meters further to the right. Then he stops and tells them loudly "This is the last tube. After this one we will have to find Jooyeon's hall" They all nod and wait for Seungmin to go up the tube to the third floor.

This time it's faster, they already know how to hold on and push each other so they can get there smoothly. When they all make it up to the third floor Seungmin speaks again. "Jooyeon what's your class?" 

Jiseok answers automatically before Jooyeon can do so "D" Immediately Jiseok chides himself for speaking before time and his cheeks redden. Seungmin thanks him and can hear Jooyeon's giggle behind him.

The classrooms are in alphabetical order, starting with A, so before long they reach Jooyeon's classroom grid and stop again.

"I'll get out carefully to see if there aren't any zombies here. Wait for me to let you know" Seungmin touches the slit and before moving it Gunil stops him by the arm.

"Be careful" Seungmin smiles at him and nods. He lowers his head so he can listen for some noise in the room. Nothing is heard. He waits a few seconds but still nothing is heard, either the zombies weren't moving or there were none.  He takes the bars between his fingers and carefully, without making any noise moves it. Seungmin can see that the floor is empty, but he can't see any further in, so he gives the slit to Gunil to guard and pokes his head through the gap. The room was completely empty, chairs were scattered all over the room and armchairs in different places, but there was no zombie that Seungmin could see.

He lifts his head and turns to look at the others. "I think it's clean. I'm going down" Gunil throws him a thumbs up and the others nod. Seungmin takes a deep breath and grabs the ends of the duct, strains to be able to carry his weight and lowers one foot down the opening. Carefully he lowers the other and his arms tighten, he lets the air out with a snort and keeps his hands firmly braced as he pulls the lower half of his body out. He continues to lower until he is hanging and roughly calculates the distance from the floor to where his feet are. It can't be more than a meter, so he tries to sway a little and falls with a thud with his feet firmly on the ground. He feels a shiver run from the soles of his feet and travel down his legs to his head. He grimaces.

He looks up and around the room. There is no one inside, everyone must have left when the chaos happened so no one had turned in there. He lets out a sigh of relief.

"Seungmin are you okay?" he can hear Gunil call out to him from upstairs and Seungmin stands up and calls out to him.

"I'm fine. It's clear, you can come down" When he hears Seungmin, Jiseok lets out a sigh of relief and waits for Gunil and Jungsu to come down. He hears Gunil groan in pain as he falls and Jungsu's body slams against the floor.  Jiseok follows the same steps as the others, he holds on tightly to the ends of the slit and swings his feet to get out, when he is completely out of the duct he lets go and groans in pain as he falls. His knees hurt from the impact but he gets up and says to Jooyeon.

"You can come down" He watches Jooyeon's body go down the slit and how he sways when he is outside. The sweater is pulled up above his belly button and the skin of his stomach is exposed, even Jiseok can see a thin line of hair from his belly button all the way down his blue pants. Jiseok chokes on his own saliva and his breath escapes him. He coughs a couple of times and plays it down when Jungsu looks at him with concern.

Jooyeon falls with a thud and a "hof" and gets up, wipes the dust on his pants and smiles at them.

"We're here" He then walks straight to a bench and tries to look for his backpack. "Can you help me find my backpack? It's green with a painted smiley face" Jiseok smiles at the description, matches the owner of the backpack and searches the floor with his eyes.

The whole place is in disarray, there are no blood stains but there is evidence of a hasty exit, some benches are down and chairs are scattered all over the 'floor. Even Jiseok can see some half-eaten lunches on top of the benches. 

He takes a few steps when he sees something right next to the desk and speaks to Jooyeon. "Jooyeon, I think I found it" THE red-haired man turns to where Jiseok is pointing and runs over to the backpack.

Just as he goes to grab it a tan hand comes out from behind the desk and Jooyeon yelps in surprise. He falls on his butt and stares in shock at the hand. Jiseok runs to where Jooyeon is, panic rises in his throat at the thought that they didn't see right, the zombie was hiding from them. The others are hot on his heels.

"But what the..." Then the hand gives way to an arm, the arm to a torso and a boy with fluffy hair steps out from behind the desk and looks at them in fright.

"Jooyeon...?" The boy asks in a whisper, his hand trembles and Jiseok can see their eyes run down each of their faces and fixate on Jooyeon.

"Jun hannie..." Jooyeon replies in surprise. He jumps up suddenly and crashes into the other's body. "Jun hannie! My god, are you okay..." Jooyeon tightens his hands on the boy's back and hides his face in the other's soft curls. Jun han hugs Jooyeon back and buries his head in the other's neck.

Jiseok feels a sort of deja vu, the same scene he saw an hour ago, but this time it feels more personal and Jiseok's chest burns as if he swallowed acid and it traveled down his throat, burning it raw and settling in his chest squeezing it and making it hard to breathe. He doesn't like what he sees. He doesn't like the way that Jun Han guy hugs Jooyeon as if they are very close, he doesn't like how he buries his head in the red-haired man's neck and what he likes least is how Jooyeon leaves him.

He doesn't want to name the emotion he is feeling even though he already knows what it is. He clears his throat hard and that does the trick because the two bodies in front of him separate and turn to look at each other.

Jiseok can even see how the curly haired boy's eyes glisten with unshed tears and Jiseok feels like throwing up.
Jooyeon stands up and pulls the boy with him. "Guys this is Jun han. He's my classmate and a good friend of mine" He introduces the boy, Jun han and the boy raises a hand shyly and lowers his gaze. 

The others greet him back and Jiseok greets him reluctantly. "This is Jiseok, Seungmin, Jungsu and Gunil" Jooyeon introduces each of them and Jun han nods, still with his head down.

"Have you been hiding all this time there?" Jooyeon asks Jun han and Jun han nods, plays with his fingers and turns to look at him shyly.

"When all this happened we were in class. Suddenly the fire alarm went off all over the building and we were asked to stay calm so we could leave in order. But we heard someone screaming outside and suddenly this kid came in all bloody and fell to the floor. Everyone panicked and started running to the door, the teacher followed them but I stayed here and locked the door and closed the windows. I have been staying here" Jun han explained as Jooyeon took his backpack and placed it on top of the desk.

"It's the same as us. Jungsu and I were in dance class when we heard the fire alarm and warning. Everyone ran out and we followed, until we ran into a few outside and along the way we ran into Gunil and stayed on the second floor" Seungmin comments as he sits down on an empty chair and lets out a sigh. 

Jungsu nods in confirmation and sits on another chair "And that's where we met Jooyeon and Jiseok. And now we are here so we can get help."
Jun han nods his head and wobbles on his feet back and forth, Jiseok gets even angrier because Jun han is too cute.   

"Get help?" The question hangs in the air as everyone watches Jooyeon search through her backpack.

"Jooyeon was planning to call for help with her cell phone by calling 911" Jiseok replies to Jun han and watches as the other opens his mouth in a small "o" and nods in understanding.

"However, I already tried and no one answered. The line went down along with the internet since this all started. We can't communicate with anyone outside" Everyone's faces fall. It was the last hope they had to be able to get out of there, if there were no ways to communicate with anyone, there was nothing else.

Still Jooyeon took out his cell phone and dialed. Everyone waited while Jooyeon bit his fingernail and kept silent with the cell phone to his ear. Jiseok held his breath watching Jooyeon's face expectantly.

Jooyeon's eyebrows furrowed and his lips dropped. Jiseok slumped his shoulders and closed his eyes.

"They don't answer. They say there's no service" Collective sighs can be heard and suddenly the room feels too oppressive. Hopeless.

Jooyeon falls against the desk and hides her face in her hands. Jun han looks at them all and remains silent.

Then an idea pops into his mind.

"Maybe..." Five pairs of eyes are on him immediately and Jun han feels his face burn. "In the electronics workshop there is an old radio that works without the satellite signal and the internet that modern devices use. It can pick up frequencies if you can get the right channel. We might be able to use it so we can call for help" Jooyeon's once drooping face comes back to life like the sky after a storm and he jumps up, hugs Jun han tightly and twirls him around.

"You're such a genius Jun hannie! I knew you were the best at electronic stuff. I never doubted you" Everyone celebrates excitedly and squeezes around Jun han hugging him.

Jiseok feels a new flame grow inside him, a small hope is born again and he clings to it with all his might. They will make it, the six of them will be able to get out of there and get to safety. They will be able to see the sun one more day.

Chapter Text

"We won't be able to go through the ventilation ducts" They were all sitting in different parts of the classroom. Jun han was still half hiding at the desk, Seungmin and Jungsu were sharing an armchair in front of the door, Jooyeon sitting on the floor in the middle of the classroom with Jiseok next to him Gunil was in front of the huge windows. "The machine shop doesn't have a slit like the other classrooms" Gunil spoke observing the chaos outside the facility. There were zombies everywhere running around in the fields and tripping over each other.

"Damn, now what?" Jungsu threw his head back and sighed. Seungmin patted his shoulder in sympathy. Jooyeon was more interested in playing with a piece of paper he found in his backpack and Jiseok watched him play out of the corner of his eye.

"We'll have to think of another way to get up to the fifth floor" Gunil ran a hand over his chin, his gaze clouded as he thought of something.

"I..." Jun han raised his hand and shrieked trying to get the attention of the others. Gunil lowered his hand turned to look at him, smiled encouragingly at him and waited for him to continue. "There is a way to get to the workshop without having to climb the stairs" They all raised their heads and looked expectantly at Jun han. 

Jun han felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. "There are some emergency stairs that hardly anyone uses that lead directly to the machine shop hall. Each hallway has a small door connecting them. There's one at the end of the hallway" Jun han looked down in embarrassment and kept silent.

"All the way to the end?" Seungmin asked for confirmation and Jun han nodded.
"We're practically halfway down the hallway, we don't have to cross far. And from what I hear there aren't many zombies on this floor" Gunil muttered aloud, his hand back to his chin, his eyes flitting around the room.

"All settled then" Jooyeon stood up and tossed aside the paper he was playing with. Jiseok followed him, he hurried to stand up and wiped his butt from the dust. It might be full of blood, but not dust.

"How are we going to get through?" Jun han asked nervously, sweat kept falling from his forehead.

"Easy, we run as fast as we can and if we run into a zombie we hit it" Jooyeon nodded satisfied with his plan and cracked his knuckles smiling. Jiseok bit back a smile when he saw Jun han's panicked expression. He was used to Jooyeon's glib buns.

"But..." Jun han stood up and took his sweater in his hands. Out of everyone present, he was the only one who was still completely clean. He wouldn't last much longer like this.

"Relax Jun han, it's not too far and we can protect each other if something happens" Gunil calmed Jun han's rising panic. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Don't worry Jun hannie, I'll protect you" Jooyeon patted Jun han's shoulders and looked at him with the most serious look he could do, the determination in his voice was palpable.
Jun han didn't respond, he just nodded his head and hugged himself.

The others rose from their seats and nodded in agreement. Jungsu went to the windows overlooking the hallway and stood waiting for some activity outside. As Gunil had said, there weren't too many zombies in this hallway. Jungsu could only see two several meters away from the hall where they were and from what he could hear, they weren't particularly angry, just growling softly at each other and walking from one end of the hallway to the other. I couldn't see further down the hallway, but I hoped there weren't more.

"I can only see two about four meters from the hall" Jungsu turned and looked at them closely. Seungmin nodded. Jooyeon stepped forward again to his backpack and searched for something. Jiseok came up behind him, curious about what the other was looking for.

"Here it is" Jooyeon muttered and from his backpack he pulled out a 'small black thing, it looked like a Swiss Army knife but this one had two small handles with holes all over it, when Jooyeon opened it wide a blade about a hundred millimeters long came out and it glowed against the light.

"Why do you carry that in your backpack Jooyeon?" Jiseok wanted to know, fear flooded his body, he didn't know why Jooyeon would carry something like that to school.

"The butterfly knife?" Jooyeon asked as if he didn't know why Jiseok was asking. "I've always carried it with me everywhere. It's for when accidents happen" Jooyeon swung the knife in the air with a precision that shocked Jiseok.

"Accidents of what kind..." Jiseok took a step back and shot him a suspicious look. Jooyeon decided to ignore them and tucked the knife inside his sweater, he walked to where Seungmin was talking to Gunil and Jungsu.

"We should hurry, it's starting to get dark and I don't want to be surrounded by zombies when it's completely dark" Jooyeon came behind Seungmin and hugged him from behind. Seungmin whined and moved him back and forth, finally giving up when he saw that Jooyeon wasn't going to leave and leaned his head on the other's head.

"Jooyeon is right. The sun is already setting and in a few hours it's going to get completely dark" Gunil went to the back of the room where all the cleaning supplies were and picked up the broom, he planted his foot halfway down the pole and forcefully stepped on it until a loud crack was heard and the broom snapped in half.

Gunil smiled at them and lifted the stick. "We'll need something to defend ourselves" Jungsu followed suit and picked up the mop, snapped it in half and passed it to Jun han who was a few steps behind him. Jun han thanked him and Jungsu smiled at him.

Jooyeon let Seungmin also went to where the dustpan was and removed the bottom part leaving only the tube.
Jiseok stepped forward and tried to look for something he could use.  Then Jooyeon shot him a glance and pointed to something behind an armchair. "There, there's a leg of a bench that broke. You can take it" Jiseok thanked him and ran straight to it. He grabbed it and smiled at Jooyeon.

"What are you going to grab?" Jun han asked Jooyeon and the other just shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands. 
"My fists are my best defense" He joked throwing a punch and feinting. Jun han smiled and shook his head. Jiseok stepped forward and threw a punch jokingly at Jooyeon, Jooyeon ducked and raised his fist hitting Jiseok's stomach without force. They continued playing like this for a while and laughing at each other until Gunil stepped forward and separated them.

"There, we got it. We must move on" Seungmin grabbed Jooyeon's arms and caged him, Jooyeon tried to break free by struggling but gave up after a few seconds.

"We must hurry, it's starting to get dark" The sun was setting, the last rays of sunlight illuminated the room orange, the shadows were starting to get bigger and hide the objects, the atmosphere felt like a movie. They had to hurry before they could see nothing.  

The six looked at each other. Jooyeon took a step forward and grabbed Jun han by the elbow "I'm going to go first and you'll go behind me. You're the one who knows where the door is and which way to go. Seungmin can go behind you and Gunil, at the end let Jiseok and Jungsu go" Jiseok didn't like the accommodation Jooyeon said, he didn't feel comfortable being so far away from each other. His body electrified and he shook his head hard. He can't believe he feels panic about being so far away from each other. 'Put it together Jiseok' He mentally scolded himself and patted his cheeks.

The others nodded and settled into position. Jooyeon took the door in his hands and unlocked it, Jun han stood behind him, too close for Jiseok's liking; he could see how his body was shaking and even the stick was moving back and forth from the tremors. Seungmin behind him with his eyes fixed on the door, Gunil clenched the stick between his hands so tightly that even his knuckles were white. Jungsu smiled sideways at him and raised his fist, Jiseok bumped his own fist and smiled back.

The tension was palpable between the six of them, so thick that it was even hard to breathe, the coolness of the metal in his hand calmed him a little, at least he wasn't completely unprotected.

Jooyeon signaled them to be silent and the others copied it, then he pointed to the door and held up three fingers. Anxiety coursed through Jiseok's veins. Jooyeon lowered his ring finger. Sweat ran down Jiseok's back and made his shirt stick to his body. He lowered his middle finger. Jiseok lifted the metal pole and braced himself. The index finger came down and the door opened.

Jiseok ran after Jungsu hard, he could see how three zombies were behind them, as soon as Jiseok came out of the room the three zombies shook their heads at the noise and growled, they ran after them and Jiseok prepared to push them away.

He could see that in front of them there weren't too many, only about four if he counted correctly. What worried him was that Jooyeon was unarmed (he had the butterfly knife) and could get hurt at any moment.

"There it is!" Jun han shouted above the noise of the zombies, Jiseok caught a glimpse of a white colored door, it was so narrow that only one person could fit through at a time. There were only a few more meters to go and they would arrive.

Jiseok saw how the first zombie impacted against Jooyeon, he ducked before the zombie bit his head and forcefully tackled him with his whole body, the zombie flew until it collided with the other one that was running towards them and they fell to the ground in a sea of limbs.
Jiseok couldn't see the other two because the zombie had reached them and almost grabbed him by the neck, swung the stick and hit him in the knee. Jiseok hears a sickening crack as the metal hits against the zombie's kneecap and he goes down with a gurgle, not standing up again. 

"Quick quick!" Jiseok yells pushing Jungsu forward. Jungsu yells back but Jiseok doesn't hear him because another zombie is coming and he has to punch it in its stomach. 

Jooyeon reached the door, lets Jun han through first and hits the zombie on the right with his fist. The zombie staggers back, rejoins and goes after Jooyeon once more, the red-haired man punches him in the face again and kicks him in his solar plexus.

Seungmin follows Jun han through the open door, right away Gunil. Jooyeon grabs the zombie by the neck and applies a headlock to let Jungsu through.

"Come on, let him go" Jiseok rushes Jooyeon trying to pull him in the door too, but Jooyeon pushes him and points at him. 

"You go in first, I'll follow" Jiseok wanted to protest, but the sound of running feet made him throw one last glance at Jooyeon and walked through the door to a small space where there was a pair of stairs in front. Jooyeon punched the zombie in the stomach again and ran to the door closing it as he passed.

He leaned against it and let out a loud gasp. "Piece of cake" He threw them a thumbs up, they were all breathing heavily, adrenaline coursing through their veins.

Jun han walked up the stairs and the others followed him careful not to make any noise. There was no light so it was hard to tell where they were stepping or what was around. They could only make use of the steps in front of them and lean against the wall.

Jiseok waited until Jooyeon came up and followed him.

It didn't take them long to reach the fifth floor, there was a door identical to the other one and Jun han looked at them nervously.

"We've arrived..." It was obvious that Jun han didn't want to be the first to leave, so Seungmin gently patted his shoulder and thanked him. He stepped forward and slowly opened the door, the others waited attentively.
Seungmin tilts his head, peeking half his face between the door and trying to see as much as he could through the workshop. 

"I think it's clean, let's go" He opened the door fully and stepped forward. Jiseok could hear Jun han mutter a 'That one I think didn't give me much confidence' but followed him inside anyway. 

The room was much larger than a normal classroom, there were five tables in a row in the middle of the room and they were full of technological gadgets and things that Jiseok had no idea what they were. A huge screen lit up from the ceiling and there were five computers, one for each table. There was even a mini refrigerator. The room was very spacious, but because of all the tools and tech stuff the electronics workshop used it felt more cluttered and cluttered than it normally would.

"Where's the radio Jun han?" Gunil leaves the stick leaning against the wall and walks into the room. You can't hear anything inside and if there were any stray zombies you would have been out long ago with the noise. Gunil took a look around the room, but found nothing resembling a radio.

"It must be around here somewhere, I remember the week I saw it" Jun han walked over to the first table, this one had mostly car parts like an engine, a steering wheel and several boards that frankly Jiseok didn't know what they were used for. Jiseok followed him and tried to look for something that looked like a radio, he had never seen one in physical, he only had an idea of what it must have looked like because his grandfather has told him old stories of when he was young and used them. He didn't even know if they should be big or small.

"What shape is Jun hannie?" Jooyeon asked as he searched the third table. That one was filled with green boards with lots of guns and buttons, an old computer in the middle of the table disassembled.

"It's a box about fifty centimeters long, it must not be very tall. Gray and with a lot of buttons on the front" Jun han was concentrating looking. "It also has a small microphone on the side" A very cryptic description according to Jiseok, but he'll work with what he can.

There was nothing on the second table that could look like that, just a lot of colored wires and screws. He moved to another table where Seungmin was digging, on this one were purely tools: tweezers of different sizes, soldering irons, screwdrivers and a small yellow box.

"It's gone" Seungmin said and Jiseok patted his shoulder in sympathy. 
"It must be around somewhere..." Jiseok caught the murmur of Jun han a few steps behind him. Jooyeon decided there was nothing at the third table and went to a small door at the back. Jiseok didn't know what that door was for, he had never been to this workshop before, he didn't even know it existed.

He followed Jooyeon to the door, they stood silently looking into each other's eyes, Jiseok raised an eyebrow and Jooyeon shook his head. Jiseok nodded silently and Jooyeon opened the door.

Dust flew out of the room as soon as the door was opened. Jiseok coughed as he inhaled the dust and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The room was also crowded, but in a different way than the other one. This one was crammed with boxes, sheets covered the large objects that were strewn about the place and a thin layer of dust settled all over the place. No one had entered for some time.

Jooyeon walked in with Jiseok hot on his heels. "Something as old as a radio must be around here somewhere" Jiseok couldn't find fault with Jooyeon's logic and started looking for something like Jun han's description. Jiseok's nose started to run a little and he wiped it angrily. 'Damn allergies.' He searched through the boxes but found nothing but electronic tools and lots of papers.

Jooyeon removed the sheets from the objects. They were old televisions and one or two broken mini-fridges. There was nothing, just dust and mold.

"It's not..." Jiseok wiped his hands on his pants and got up. "Let's go" He called out to Jooyeon and went to the door when Jooyeon stops him.

"Jiseok, I think I found something" Jooyeon was crouched under a sheet at the back of the room and had something in his hands. Jiseok walked to the other and squatted down squinting to see what it was.

A small gray box with buttons of different sizes and shapes in front of it and a radio connected to a coil. It looked a lot like what Jun han had described.

"Do you think it's the radio?" Jiseok asked to confirm and Jooyeon shrugged.

"I don't know, I don't even know well what a radio is. But jun han will know" He wrapped his hands around the radio and stood up, He motioned for Jiseok to follow him and together they walked out of the small room and back to the workshop.

"jun hannie I think we found something" Jooyeon called out to the brown man at the fifth table. He set the recorder down on the third table and everyone else huddled around the table.

"I don't know if it is but it looks a lot like what you told us..." Jooyeon sat on a bench and Jiseok sat next to him, they let Jun han check the device for a moment.

"Where did you find it?" Jun han asked as he fiddled with it. Jooyeon shot Jiseok a look and Jiseok opened his mouth.

"In the back room where the stuff is stored" Jiseok pointed with his thumb behind him and Jun han nodded.

"Let me see if I can turn it on" There were five large buttons and five smaller ones. Jun han pressed the largest button and turned it around. The radio beeped and the small screen in the corner lit up. The number five appeared.

Then static was heard throughout the room. Jun han moved some small buttons as if he was turning something on and green and red stripes appeared on the other small screen.

"On the screen the channels appear where he managed to intercept the signal, on this one that was turned on is to manage to connect with the signal from another radio, what I am doing is moving the frequency until I find the government or police channel so I can send them a signal with the radio and ask for help" It sounded too complicated, but Jiseok nodded as if he understood and stood quietly watching Jun han move the buttons back and forth for a good five minutes. He knew because he counted them in his mind.

Jun han sighed in frustration and bit his lip nervously. "I can't seem to hook up with any signals."

"What does that mean?" Jungsu asked quietly. He was leaning against the table.

"I can't call anyone over here, I can only receive the signals they send" Jun han put down the recorder defeated and turned to look at them.
"We'll have to wait until someone gets through."

They all hunched their shoulders in defeat and Jiseok lowered his head. 

"What now?" Seungmin asked, got up from the bench and ran his hands through his hair.

"Right now we can't do anything else, it's already dark outside and we should rest. Maybe tomorrow we will manage to get lucky and someone will communicate with us" Gunil tried to be the voice of reason, he pointed to the window and sure enough, the sky had darkened with the telltale sign of night.

They will have to sleep here.

"Fine by me. I ask for the floor to sleep on" Jooyeon got up with a groan and stretched his arms. He walked to a corner of the room where it was mostly clean and laid down with a snort.

Jiseok's stomach growled and he remembered that he hadn't eaten anything since ten hours ago. He dejectedly got up from the armchair and went straight to the mini fridge. He wasn't so hopeful of finding something edible, but it was worth a try.

He opened the fridge and scanned its contents. There were four bottles of water and an aluminum wrapper. There were even milk jellies. She took the wrapper and opened it, almost screaming with joy when she saw that it was a chicken slice.

"Guys, I found food and water, you want some?" Shouts of joy echo from behind him.

"Hell yeah, I haven't eaten all day and if I go another hour without anything to eat my stomach will start eating itself." Seungmin sighed in relief when he saw Jiseok bring out the seven jellies and water bottles. 

"There are only seven jellies, four bottles of water and a slice of chicken" He put everything down on the table and passed them each a jelly. "I think it would be better if we took half a bottle each and left one for emergencies. The lunch we can share" Jiseok spoke up.

Gunil nodded "I agree, tomorrow we can try to find more food" Gunil helped pass them the water bottles and they all sat in a circle on the floor.

Jiseok took his jelly and water bottle and sat down next to Jooyeon. The latter thanked him with a smile as Jiseok passes him a jelly and gives him the water. 

"You first" Jooyeon thanks him and takes a huge gulp from the bottle. He must have been really thirsty if he doesn't even take a break. He passes it to Jiseok and Jiseok thanks him.

"Let's eat." 

******______******______******______

He doesn't know why Jiseok woke up. It's been a few hours since they had all gone to sleep and by the moon high in the sky it couldn't be more than one in the morning. Jiseok shrinks in place and closes his eyes again, rest was very important if he was going to want to be fully energized for the morning. He is about to fall asleep and almost succeeds but a noise a few meters away from him wakes him up again. 

He opens his eyes tiredly and looks around the room, darkness filled the room; it took him a moment to adjust to the darkness. He immediately realizes that Jooyeon is not in the place where he went to sleep and his mind suddenly wakes up alert.

Maybe...

No, they locked the door and windows when they went to sleep and Jiseok doesn't think Jooyeon is suicidal enough to go out alone at night. Clumsy and too reckless yes, but not suicidal.

He gets up from his lying position and very carefully tries not to wake up Seungmin. He can see how Jungsu and Seungmin are curled up on top of each other and Gunil behind them lying on his back like a statue. Jun han was still asleep in the same position, he assumes that next to him would be Jooyeon, but he only finds an empty space.

She scans the whole room with her eyes, but can't find him anywhere. She even goes too far to look under the tables. Nothing.

He sees the small door and an idea crosses his mind. Very carefully and channeling his ninja skills he crosses the room to the small room where all the old things were.

He opens the door trying to make as little noise as possible and takes a look inside. Right next to a box and sitting on the floor is Jooyeon. Or well, the outline of Jooyeon's form. 

Jooyeon's body is leaning forward, Jiseok can see the other's broad back and disheveled hair, from that distance Jiseok can't see what he's doing, so he tries to get closer without making noise. His lower lip trembles at the thought of how he might surprise the other.

When he is a meter away from the other he raises his hands and opens his mouth, ready to scare him. But at that short distance he can hear the little snorts the other one lets out, the shadow transforms into Jooyeon's crisp body and Jiseok sees how his shoulders shake and his hands cover his face.

Jiseok lowers his hands and closes his mouth in worry, his idea of scaring him forgotten. Jooyeon is crying. Jiseok's heart squeezes inside his chest and worry floods his body.

He gently touches Jooyeon's shoulder gently and speaks. "Jooyeon-ah, are you okay?" He didn't intend to scare him, but he still feels Jooyeon's body tense and jumps in place. He clears his throat and rubs his eyes hard, runs his hands through his hair and clears his throat again. 

"Jiseok, I didn't hear you come in" Jooyeon tried to speak as casually as possible, but his voice broke at the last and he grimaced. The lighting was very bad, he could barely see his own hands, so he couldn't catch a glimpse of Jooyeon's face, but Jiseok imagined the red, swollen eyes, his quivering lips and even the red nose. 

"You weren't around when I woke up, I thought something happened to you" Jiseok shrugged and sat next to each other, as close as possible but not touching. 

"Sorry if I worried you, I couldn't sleep" Jooyeon pulled his arms back and leaned back on them, he threw a smile at Jiseok and focused his gaze on the wall in front of them.

"Lots of thoughts in that mind of yours?" Jiseok gently tapped Jooyeon's forehead and the other chuckled, not the normal chuckles he always did when they joked with each other, but a small, quiet one. Jiseok didn't like the sound of it.

"You could say so" Jooyeon's voice sounded far away, as if his body was here beside Jiseok, but his mind was somewhere far away, a place where Jiseok couldn't reach.

He wanted so badly to ask her what was wrong, why she had been crying, but he didn't have the guts for that. 

There was no need to ask because Jooyeon broke the silence. 

"Are you afraid?" Jooyeon's voice sounded too quiet in the room, quieter than the room's own silence.

"What?" the question caught Jiseok off guard, but he pulled himself together. "I mean... Of course it is, this whole situation is too scary, zombies are really scary" He didn't know why Jooyeon had suddenly asked but he decided to be as honest as possible, he was scared shitless.

Jooyeon hummed and nodded his head, he didn't say anything else and they fell silent again. Jiseok ducked his head and followed the lines on the floor, the dream had been forgotten a while ago, he hadn't been able to sleep well anyway, he was too alert to fall asleep.

"I..." Jooyeon's whisper would have gone unnoticed if Jiseok wasn't so focused on the other. "I'm scared" The statement shouldn't have been so shocking to Jiseok, but it was. Realistically thinking there can't be any person who didn't feel afraid of zombies, but at no time had it crossed his mind to a scared Jooyeon.

It's just, the way Jooyeon carried himself, like there wasn't a care in the world, like there was nothing to be afraid of, it was the confidence in whatever he did, it was the smiles on his face when they were forming a plan, it was his voice and his words when they were fighting the zombies, it was his movements, like he had done that a thousand times before.

It was simply Jooyeon. Jiseok had admired him so much for that, the way he would put a face to any situation calmly without panicking. He was a pillar to lean on at all times and Jiseok had desperately wished to be like him, so brave and strong.

Now Jiseok felt foolish for thinking so; sure, Jooyeon was brave, strong and fearless, but he was not made of steel, he had also been put into a horrible situation without any preparation or any warning. At the end of the day he was just a simple human like anyone else.

"I'm scared" Jooyeon's whisper echoed in the room. "I'm scared Jiseok" His voice began to rise with each word. "I'm so scared I don't know what to do" Jooyeon's voice cut off at the end and soon enough sobs flooded the room. 

Jiseok's heart broke and his throat closed up, he wanted to comfort Jooyeon, he wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay, he wanted to hold him and take care of him. He didn't move, he didn't even utter a word, it would be a complete hypocrite to tell him everything was going to be okay when clearly nothing was going to be okay. He clenched his fists at his sides and gritted his teeth hard.

"Every time I see a zombie my body freezes, when I see someone I knew my chest fills with pain and my arms shake every time I kill them. I feel like shit when I have to kill a classmate, a friend or an acquaintance. I'm a killer." Jiseok hadn't thought like that, he had been lucky that he hadn't run into any acquaintances or friends all day, so he hadn't bothered to kill the students. He didn't recognize any of them. 
But it was different for Jooyeon, he hadn't even thought about whether he knew any of them. He thought of Yuchan and Jiseok's chest tightened painfully. He didn't think he could go on living if he killed his friend. 

"I'm so scared all the time, but I can't show it you know?" Jooyeon's voice sounded watery, his shoulders shook again and Jiseok heard tears fall to the ground. Jiseok's own eyes misted over. "Everyone sees me as the carefree, cool kid who isn't afraid of anything. Everyone sees me as the lucky kid who can handle anything" Jooyeon's whole body trembles and Jiseok's hands itch to take him in his arms and hug him until he can take away all the pain he feels.

"I want them to see me as someone strong, to lean on, but it's so hard to remain that person. I feel like I'm falling apart and it's horrible" Jiseok's tears fall freely down her cheeks, trace a path down her jaw and fall to her neck. His body feels numb, his hands cold and his chest compressed.

"And I'm so afraid of becoming a zombie. I don't want to be like the others, I don't want to be a monster who only thinks about eating, I don't want to hurt them" The tremors make Jooyeon's voice hard to hear. His body slouches forward and his arms wrap around himself.

Jiseok forces his body to move and wipes the snot running down his nose. With effort he lifts his hand and places it on the other's knee, a small comforting touch.

"You won't become a zombie Jooyeon, I won't leave you" Jiseok's voice is shrill, but he doesn't care.

"Promise me that if I turn into a zombie you will kill me" Jooyeon's head pops up between his hands and Jiseok's heart stops inside his ribcage.  

"No..." Jiseok whispers shaking his head.

"Promise me Jiseok. If I turn you will kill me" Jooyeon turns away and begs him between sobs. Jiseok shakes his head again, his voice got stuck inside his throat and he feels thousands of ants running through his body.

"No... No" Jiseok turns away from the other as if on fire and looks at him in horror.

"Promise!" Jooyeon's scream startles him and he opens his eyes, his tears flowing down his cheeks at an alarming rate and he can see Jooyeon's own running down his cheeks. "Promise me...please, I don't want to become one of them. I'd rather die" Jooyeon's earlier outburst is snuffed out just as quickly and his eyes close, defeat can be felt in his words and Jiseok steps forward to take him in his arms and squeeze him tightly against his body.

"No. Nothing will happen to you. You won't become one of them, I won't allow it" He speaks desperately, he doesn't know if the words are for Jooyeon or for himself, he can feel the fear on his tongue and the panic in his words, he clenches his fists against the other's sweater and feels Jooyeon's hands wrap around him just as tightly. He buries his face in Jooyeon's neck without worrying about his wet face, inhales the other's warmth and scent. He smells of sweat and mint.

"Jiseok... Jiseok" Jiseok shakes his head, he doesn't want to look him in the eyes, he knows he will collapse if he does. "Jiseok, look at me please" Jooyeon's plea makes him turn his face away from the other's neck and looks up. He sees Jooyeon's expression and feels something crack inside his chest. "Promise me please, that's all I ask" Jooyeon's eyes are soft, he is trying to take care of Jiseok and Jiseok curses himself, they are not supposed to comfort him, but the other way around. 
Jiseok wishes with all his might to refuse but nods his head, he can't speak. That's all Jooyeon needs as confirmation because she smiles tenderly and hugs him again, less tightly now.

"Thank you" The whisper next to his ear makes him let out more tears and he buries his face in the other's neck again.

"I won't let anyone turn you. You won't" It's a poor excuse for him, but still Jooyeon hums and nods. 

"Thank you for listening to me and not making fun of me" Jooyeon sounds much calmer, but he still feels the drops falling on his sweater. Jiseok reaches for Jooyeon's hand and squeezes it firmly, the other one wraps around the other's neck and speaks against his skin.

"I would never make fun of you. Thank you for talking to me, it must have been hard" Instead of Jiseok's admiration for the episode diminishing, it grew by leaps and bounds until it increased tenfold. He feels special to have been the one to witness that side of Jooyeon, and his heart races at the thought that he is the only one who has seen him like that. He feels his cheeks blush and gently touches the nape of Jooyeon's neck, delicately combing the newborn hair.

"It was, a little" Jooyeon's dry laugh echoes and Jiseok feels the other's chest vibrate. "It was" His arms trace patterns against Jiseok's back and Jiseok relaxes in his grip. "I know others think I'm a lucky, lazy boy, that I never get into classes and am always wasting time. I won't deny that I do, but I also don't want you to think of me as worthless. I don't want you to think of me that way" Jiseok denies before Jooyeon finishes speaking.

"Of course you don't. I would never think of you like that. I don't believe in other people's gossip." 

Jooyeon lowers his hands towards the other's lower back and sighs. "I don't want to justify my actions, but my home life wasn't always the best. I got caught up in a lot of trouble inside my home and carried it with me everywhere. But I always try to get better" Jiseok wants to ask what's going on at home, what difficulties he has at home, he wants to know the other guy more, he wants to know his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, he wants to get to know him. But that's a talk for another time and place.

"You don't have to tell me anything, I believe in you. That's all that matters" Jiseok's lips brush against the other's sweaty skin as he speaks and feels the other's body tremble.

"Thank you" Jooyeon's arms wrap around his waist and he feels lips brush against the crown of his head. Jiseok blushes more and smiles against the other's skin, tightens his grip and closes his eyes.

"Anytime" They stay silent for the rest of the night, wrapped around each other and with each other's soft breaths like a personal melody, hearts beating in sync and time passing slowly.

Chapter Text

They decided to wait a day to be able to pick up some signal from the radio.

"The government should send out an emergency alert on all channels, we just have to be aware of the channel they send it on" Jun han had suggested and they all agreed because why not, Jun han was the smart one of the group and the one who knew about such things.

So the first part of the morning was spent resting or sniffing around the room. Seungmin very soon became fond of Jun han and was pestering him most of the time with questions related to the gadgets in the room. Jungsu was talking in whispers with Gunil, from Jungsu's upright posture and how tense the other looked, Jiseok could tell it wasn't a very good talk.

He, on the other hand, kept glued to Jooyeon all day, not daring to move more than a meter apart. He felt that they had made a connection, he could feel the atmosphere around them lighter, any awkwardness that there was before vanished first thing in the morning and Jiseok swore that Jooyeon looked at him with different eyes. There was a softness in them when they rested on Jiseok that wasn't there the day before.

And Jiseok liked it. He liked the way things were, liked the ease with which they could talk or touch each other without any awkwardness. Pretty soon he realized that Jooyeon was affectionate, like, really affectionate.

As soon as they woke up in the small room Jooyeon took him in her arms and gave him a tight hug, they walked out holding hands and, if any of the others found it weird, they didn't comment on it, they just greeted them with a good morning and started their day. 

Even now, Jiseok was leaning against the wall with Jooyeon next to him, their bodies touching from shoulders to thighs, Jooyeon was playing with his index finger while humming a song. Jiseok felt at ease for the first time in what seemed like days. All the tension that had been on his shoulders since the zombie thing happened melted away in that simple moment with Jooyeon beside him and playing with his fingers.

He could take a breath of air without his lungs clogging with fear.

But nothing can last. Jiseok watches as Jungsu gets up from the chair along with Gunil and they walk towards them.

Jooyeon hasn't noticed yet, her eyes are still closed and he keeps humming the song. Jiseok gently touches his palm to alert him. Jooyeon opens his eyes and stops his singing when he sees the others.

"Hello you two" Jooyeon smiles tiredly at them, he never stops playing with Jiseok's fingers and Jiseok feels his cheeks blush as Gunil's eyes drop down to his hands, but he overlooks it and looks at them earnestly again.

"We have a problem" The seriousness in his voice alerts them both in an instant and they turn their backs.

"What is it?" Jiseok asks cautiously.

"The food" Jungsu steps forward and waves his hands nervously. "We have no food and I don't think we can last any longer without eating. Since yesterday we haven't eaten anything and I can tell some of us are starting to be affected" His eyes drift behind him and Jiseok follows his gaze. Seungmin is playing with a soldering iron, he's asking Jun han a few questions when his hand shakes and he drops the soldering iron against the table. Jun han rushes to pick it up but Seungmin just smiles downplaying it.

Jungsu is right, Jiseok has had this dull ache in his stomach since last night from the lack of food, he has never lasted this long without eating and he knows they must have strength if they want to continue.

"What do you two propose?" Jiseok asks because he is sure Gunil must have already anticipated and made a plan.

He watches as Gunil licks his lips and pulls them apart. "I suggest that two people go to the third floor where the kitchen is located and bring everything they can so they can last a day" Jiseok is about to retort but Gunil beats him to it. "Two people are the right people so they can be faster. They can go through the ventilation ducts as we came in, if they go straight ahead and down the pipe three floors they come straight to the kitchen. They should just stuff what they can into the backpack" Gunil sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I know it's risky and I don't want to put anyone in danger, but we need to do it. Jungsu volunteered to go" Jungsu smiles nervously beside him and Gunil pats his shoulder.

Before Jiseok can say anything Jooyeon stands up beside him and as casually as possible says. "I'm coming" Jiseok turns to look at him with piercing eyes and feels his breath catch for a moment.

"Joo-"

"I can go, I'm the fastest of everyone here and I can defend myself well. I even know which foods aren't about to expire" He smiles at Gunil and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Gunil smiles back but at that moment Jiseok interjects.

"Jooyeon what are you doing" Jiseok hisses in panic. Jooyeon tilts his head and looks at him sideways.

"I can go get the food with Jungsu hyung, the others can wait here."

"But..." Jiseok doesn't want Jooyeon to go, he doesn't want to leave his side.

"Don't worry Jiseok, I know how to take care of myself" Jooyeon shoots bullets at him with his hands, Jiseok knows very well that he can take care of himself, but he also knows very well that he is too reckless and his pulse is racing.

"Then I'm coming with you" Jiseok clenches his fists and fixes his gaze on the other.

Jooyeon's smile loses strength and he shakes his head. "You can't, you must stay here. Jungsu hyung will come with me."

"I can go too" Jiseok can't let Jooyeon out of his sight, he needs to know that he's okay.

"No" Jooyeon's expression changes, his eyes become darker and his lips fall into a thin line. "You stay here while we forage for food. Whether you like it or not" Jiseok digs his nails against his palms until he feels his skin split open. He doesn't give Jooyeon an answer, instead he fixes his gaze in front of him.

"Anytime you want to leave hyung" Jooyeon's tone returns to his normal jovial tone and he trots towards the backpack across the room.
Jungsu shoots him an apologetic look and follows Jooyeon, the two start talking to each other.

"Don't worry Jiseok, they will be fine, they can protect themselves" Jiseok knows that they are very capable of protecting themselves, but it still doesn't make the worry inside his stomach grow.

 *****_____*****_____*****

Three hours had passed and they had not returned. Gunil had calmed them down by saying they must have taken a break or they were on their way back, but Jiseok couldn't say for sure.

In the first hour he had been lounging against a chair trying to focus on the conversations going on around him without much success, his mind drifting back to worries and the welfare of the others.

In the second hour he could no longer sit, so he stood up and began to glance around the room, trying to waste time with something.

In the third hour was when he almost lost it, he had been pacing around the room with hurried steps for the past ten minutes. Seungmin had tried to calm him down.

"Maybe they just fell asleep in the ducts, knowing Jooyeon he must have taken a break" Seungmin tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but Jiseok got more upset at the other's name, started walking faster and biting his nails.

As it turned out, three hours turned into four, the others gave up trying to calm him down and instead went about their own business. Jiseok couldn't sit still, he went to the window on the other side of the room and tried to calm his growing panic. He made use of the meditation skills he learned from a video some time ago, took in air through his nose holding it for ten seconds and released it in small puffs through his mouth. He repeated the procedure for a while, the simplicity of the action calmed him enough to keep concentrating.

'They're fine' he mentally repeated to himself as he continued to breathe, 'they're fine, they'll be back any minute now'.

*****_____*****_____*****

The sun had long since gone down, daylight had slowly given way to darkness and the others had not yet returned. Jiseok had not left his place in front of the window, he had watched with weary eyes as the zombies walked aimlessly around the soccer field for an hour straight when a knock against the door startled him.

He stood up in his place and turned towards the door, the others had been dozing in different positions without falling asleep but not fully awake.
When some knocking sounded against the door again Jiseok waved them off, the others jerked up and looked at him with alert eyes.

Jiseok motioned to Jun han pointing to the door, but Jun han shook his head fervently and waved back. Jiseok frowned in annoyance but walked toward it with slow steps.

He knew logically that it must be Jungsu and Jooyeon behind the door, no zombie has the ability to reason like that, but he still took precautions, maybe they could be other survivors who had made it that far and wanted to get in.

The person behind the door knocked again, now with an unmistakable sequence of knocks and Jiseok rushed forward to grab the handle, ignoring the concerns of the others and pushed the door open.

There, in front of Jiseok stood Jooyeon with the same smile she had last seen him with five hours ago and the same bright eyes. His clothes were more stained than five hours ago, Jiseok quickly notices, there are blood stains all over the other's white shirt, his pants are torn from the knee and his hair is more disheveled, he can even see a fresh scratch along his right cheek, but otherwise he looks unharmed.

"You took long enough to open up on us" Is the first thing Jooyeon says and Jiseok feels like crying.

"You took long enough" Jiseok bites back and swallows hard, he steps aside to let them pass. Jungsu looks the same as Jooyeon, Jiseok notices. His sweater is full of blood stains and even his pants are torn at the ankle part.
"What took you so long?" Seungmin steps forward and inspects the two of them carefully, touching their bodies trying to find any wounds they haven't noticed.

"Sorry for taking so long. There were more zombies than we thought in the kitchen" Jooyeon absently rubs the back of his neck and lets out a chuckle. Jiseok feels the urge to punch him and hug him at the same time.

"We had to wait in the ducts until the kitchen cleared out a bit" Jungsu catches Gunil's eye and the other steps forward to help him with the backpack. Jiseok hadn't noticed but they were both carrying a black backpack on their backs. He remembers perfectly well that they had only come out with one.

"We found a backpack on our way and decided to use it to bring more food. Who knows how much we will need" Jooyeon seems to have read Jiseok's thoughts, the other lowers the backpack and opens it.

Everyone crowds around him as they see what he had found. Bottles of water and a few cans of soda, bread wrappers, kimbap, rice, sausage, dried meat and even mochis. Jun han gasped behind him taking a bag of mochis and thanking them.

"This is all we were planning to bring that didn't have to be cooked with force or it would spoil right away" Jungsu apologized sheepishly but Gunil told him it was perfect, it was more than they could ask for and it was true. Jiseok would even eat cold ramen if it was to satiate his hunger. But this felt like heaven.

They decided to eat the food they had in one backpack and keep the other in case they had to wait longer.

It was already dark outside when everyone had been satisfied and content. Jiseok watched with satisfaction as Jun han seemed more cheerful with a full stomach and Seungmin had stopped shivering, even Gunil had gained a little more color. He wandered his eyes trying to find Jiseok's favorite black tuft of hair, but he didn't see it anywhere. Frowning he got up and crossed the room, Jungsu shot him a glance as Jiseok passed him, hummed in acknowledgement and pointed his head towards the storage door. Jiseok silently thanked him and the other smiled at him, he returned to chatting with Jun han and Jiseok headed for the door.

He entered the small room and waited a minute for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, a deja vu ran through his body, he stepped forward towards the figure at the other end of the room and dropped down with a snort.

"Having fun?" He playfully bumps into Jooyeon and the other hums. Jiseok leans against the other. "Next time, I'm going with you."

Jooyeon clicks his tongue. "Were you worried about me?" he jokes bumping his shoulders again and Jiseok replies more serious than he thought.

"Yeah, I thought something happened to you guys" The seriousness in his voice made the other stop his games and look down guiltily.

"Sorry, there were too many zombies and we had to wait for them to leave."

"It was five unbearable hours of not hearing from you" He watches as Jooyeon fiddles with his fingers, he takes Jooyeon's bigger hand between his hand and squeezes it. "Next time I'll go with you" he repeats again leaving no room for argument and Jooyeon nods his head, entangles his fingers with Jiseok's and they stay like that for the rest of the night, in the darkness of the small room, with each other's soft breathing and hands clasped together.

******______******______******

"I swear, I once rode a cow but fell instantly into a mud puddle" They all laughed out loud at the story Jooyeon was telling them when they got the message. They had woken up at the same time as the day before, decided to have a light breakfast so they could ration their food and sat in a circle on the floor telling stories of their years at school. The one with the most stories to tell was Jooyeon, and the most fun to listen to.

"I don't believe you..." Seungmin wiped away a tear that fell down his cheek and laughed again. 

"Seriously, even after I fell I slipped on the mud and fell back into the same puddle" Seungmin fell backwards from how hard he was laughing and the others followed suit.

Jiseok felt his stomach hurt from laughing so hard, his cheeks ached and he was starting to get short of breath. Jooyeon was about to tell another story when the radio on the table above them emitted a static sound that froze everyone.

Jun han was the first to react, he stumbled up and picked up the radio with trembling hands. The others followed him and huddled around him, tension settled on their shoulders and they looked anxiously at the radio.
Jun han fiddled with the buttons for a few seconds, trying to connect to the channel, a distorted voice managed to be heard over the static and Jun han exhaled loudly, he moved the button clockwise slowly until the distorted voice managed to gain volume.

"message follow instructions." 

"Wait!" Seungmin shouted making Jun han jump in place, but he stopped his hand and everyone remained silent waiting for the voice to speak again.

"Attention all survivors, this is a communique from the Korean government" The male voice spoke over the radio and everyone held their breath, Jiseok bit his thumb, hope fluttered in his chest like a butterfly. "People who are not infected by the virus should take shelter in Kosin Hospital, I repeat, people who are not infected by the virus should take shelter in Kosin Hospital. The government will provide them with basic necessities, the military will be surrounding the perimeter keeping the area secure. I repeat..." The man's voice was the only one that filled the room for the next two minutes with the same message until the communication cut off and static filled his place again.

Jooyeon's hand snatches the radio from Jun han's grip and turns it off leaving it on the table with a thud. The loud sound echoes through the room and makes the hairs on Jiseok's neck stand up.

He walks over to the wall where the empty backpack is, grabs a bottle of water from the floor and a few packs of food.

"What are you doing Jooyeon?" Seungmin asks in confusion. 

"I'm leaving" Jooyeon's answer alarms everyone and they look at each other in panic. Jiseok looks at him in surprise.

"You're leaving, where to?" Jiseok asks and walks over to the other, he grabs his shoulder and Jooyeon stops his movements, he takes a second before turning around and pinning his eyes on Jiseok.

"I'm out of here, no one will come for us, you heard him" His face is blank, he doesn't show any feelings, he turns back to the backpack but Jiseok pulls him again.

"Where are you going to go? Outside is full of zombies, you won't be able to get far" The panic is palpable in his voice but Jiseok doesn't care, he can't let Jooyeon go alone.

"And what do you want to do Jiseok! Do you want to stay here and wait for a miracle to come and save us? No one will help us, we're alone in this" Jooyeon's shout scares Jiseok, but he grits his teeth hard and digs his nails into the other's shoulder.

"You're not going alone" Jiseok replies calmly.

"You can't force me to stay, I'm going to go whether you like it or not" Jooyeon bares his teeth angrily and tries to wriggle out of Jiseok's grip.

"I'll go with you" Jooyeon's face turns from angry to surprised and stops his attempt to run away.

"What?"

"You heard me, I'm going with you" Jiseok fixes his gaze on the other. "I'm not going to let you go alone, the two of us will go out together." Jooyeon opens his mouth in surprise, stops trying to wriggle out of the other's grip and stands in place.

"We're going too" Gunil steps forward followed by the other two and Jooyeon opens his mouth wider.

"Really?"

Seungmin shrugs his shoulders. "I can't let Jooyeon wander outside alone, he wouldn't survive a day" Jiseok wants to protest but keeps silent when Seungmin smiles and sees Jooyeon's small smile appear. "Besides, I was already starting to get bored of being cooped up here, I'm starting to go crazy." 

Jooyeon sweeps his gaze to Jungsu at Seungmin's side and Seungmin nods, a soft smile gracing his face.

"I can't let my little Jooyeon go alone."

Jun han just nods his head and shyly averts his gaze.

Jooyeon, still surprised, manages to twist his lips. "Let's all go then."

******______******______******

"What's the plan?" all eyes fix on Jooyeon, he just shrugs uncertainly, averts his gaze and coughs into his fist. 

"I didn't have a specific plan, I just thought I'd leave the school and get to the hospital downtown" Jiseok rolls his eyes and hears Seungmin tease Jooyeon, but Gunil saves the moment.

"I was thinking..." Everyone focuses on the school president, Gunil clears his throat and speaks a little louder. "We can go down to the second floor through the ducts like we got here. On the radio they said the Kosin hospital would house all the refugees, but we are a week away if we go on foot. We can go through the woods behind the school and cross the bridge, they said they would be patrolling the perimeter right, we just need to find the military and we can get there. We are a two day walk from the school to the bridge."

Jooyeon rushed at Gunil and hugged him tightly laughing. "That's our president! You always have a plan for everything, that's why you were the best in class!" Gunil starts laughing and takes Jooyeon in his arms, hugs him back and caresses his head.

"When are we leaving?" Jiseok asks interrupting the moment. Gunil shakes Jooyeon until Jooyeon manages to escape his grip.

"We must take all the food we have and be careful. Between all of us we'll watch each other's backs, got it?" a chorus of 'Yes sir' answers Gunil's question and everyone scatters around the room to grab what they need. Jungsu picks up the backpack and fills it with all the leftover food, Jun han follows Seungmin who is muttering under his breath something and Jiseok sees Jooyeon take a metal iron about thirty centimeters long and three centimeters wide. He hides it under his sweater and returns to them.

"Ready?" Gunil stands in front of the door and the others nod their heads, they stand behind Gunil waiting for him to open the door. "Then let's go."

They all quietly walk out into the dark hallway, carefully walk down the steps and wait a few minutes so they can listen for any zombies behind the door. From what Jiseok manages to hear there are only two zombies, but he's not sure.

They let Jooyeon go ahead with Jungsu behind him and Jiseok at the end of the line. He hears Jooyeon whisper. "I think it's only two or three zombies. We can get to the end of the hallway without making any noise and not be noticed. Stay behind me and don't make any noise" They all whisper their agreement and wait for Jooyeon's countdown.

The door opens and Jooyeon pokes his head out, everyone waits silently for him to stick his head in and throw a thumbs up in the air and give them the "3" sign with his fingers.

Three zombies, Jiseok can handle that, they just need to go quietly without making any noise, zombies are blind, they are only guided by loud sounds. They can do that.

Jooyeon walks out into the hallway followed by Jungsu, then Gunil, Jun han, Seungmin and at the end Jiseok, he closes the door carefully as he walks out and follows Seungmin who walks sticking to the wall on tiptoe.

It's not that hard, they only have to cross a few meters until they can reach the crack and enter the duct. Jiseok sees the zombies and feels nausea fill him. One is facing the window with its back to them, another farther away is pacing back and forth with its head down and letting out choppy noises, the last one is the one that makes Jiseok's face turn green and he covers his mouth to avoid making a noise. The last zombie is a girl judging by the skirt and long hair, she's crawling on the floor, her legs are missing. Like, literally no legs, there are only chunks of bitten flesh sticking out from under the skirt and crawling down the hallway leaving a path of blood, the skin is torn and mutilated, even Jiseok can catch a glimpse of a piece of bone under the skirt and decides to avert his eyes, or at any moment he might throw up.

They reach the end of the corridor, just a few more meters. At that moment the zombie that was turning to the wall turns around with a growl and Jiseok's heart stops in his chest, they all freeze against the door and make no movement or noise. Jiseok watches as the zombie growls and gasps in front of him, he crosses his eyes over Jiseok's body but doesn't see him, he continues to growl until he turns back to the window and Jiseok walks back with a sigh stuck in his throat.

The first to arrive is Jooyeon, Jungsu helps him up towards the crack and carefully lowers it down, gives it to Gunil to grab and Jooyeon climbs up the duct with the dexterity of a cat. Without making any noise. Jungsu is next and Jiseok stays at the end of the line standing guard, he feels the sweat running down his back and his anxiety multiplies, he turns to see Jun han climb up the slit and lets out a sigh.

As Seungmin climbs up Jiseok takes the offered hand from above, jumps up and climbs through the slit without giving the zombies in the hallway one last look.

"Everyone ready?" Gunil asks from the front, Jiseok gives him a thumbs up and they start crawling. This time it's easier and faster to get to the second floor than the first time, in less than what Jiseok thinks is an hour they've gone down the tube about four times and made it to the fifth floor.

He doesn't know if it is because he has exercised more in these three days than he has in his entire life that he has started to gain stamina or if it is the fact that he has just eaten but Jiseok doesn't feel as tired as the first time he climbed the five floors up the duct.

When they reach the second floor Gunil leads them down a path where they turn around about three times and Jiseok is tempted to believe they are lost when he bumps into Seungmin's back and grunts an apology to him.

"We're up the direction. We must get out into the hallway and run to the entrance so we can get to the back of the school and go straight to the forest. Be very careful, it will be crawling with zombies once we get out of here" Gunil speaks to them as seriously and calmly as possible, but Jiseok's pulse once again quickens. He absentmindedly thinks that if he keeps this up in a few years he will suffer from high blood pressure.

Once they get out of the ventilation duct there is no turning back. Gunil is giving them one last chance to think about the decision, but Jiseok has nothing to think about, he knows Jooyeon will not step back and Jiseok will follow Jooyeon wherever Jooyeon goes. 

Once they get out of the duct there won't be a second that they don't have to fight for their lives, at all times they must be on alert and mentally prepared to fight the zombies, but Jiseok already knew all this from the moment he said he was going to go with Jooyeon. And everyone else also knew the consequences, he sees how everyone's heads move vertically in confirmation and Gunil makes room for Jooyeon and Jungsu to pass in front of him.

He sees Jooyeon and Jungsu communicate with their eyes for a moment before taking the ventilation slit and setting it aside. Jungsu pokes his head through the space, gauging the danger of the room below them.

"It's about five zombies that are in the direction" Jiseok hears Jungsu say to Jooyeon, he counts in his mind to keep the fear at bay and waits patiently.

"That's five zombies in the room. First me and Jungsu hyung will go down first to try to drive them away while you guys go down too, from the moment we open the direction door and go out to the hallway it will be a long run until we get to the forest. Try not to fall behind" Jooyeon levels them all with a determined look, determined to get out of that place with everyone else and Jiseok feels that determination settling in his body.

He opens the door and does not wait for another instruction, he runs straight into the corridor closely followed by the others. He had expected there to be more zombies in the hallway, but he could only see five others a few meters away from them, maybe during these days they had dispersed and left the place.

"Come on!" Gunil spoke to him as he passed him and Jiseok snapped out of his stupor, he ran after Jun han down the hallway. The hallway was wide, it connected to the kitchen and to the freshman hallway at the other end, it also connected to the stairs to go up to the second floor and to the exit to the outside.

Jooyeon stood before everyone, a fresh bloodstain on his cheek and the metal stick he had previously kept stained with dark, rotting blood.
He threw the door wide open and shot outside. Jiseok was following close on his heels, he was determined not to be left behind, only turning around every now and then to see if the others were following them or if the zombies were behind.

Jun han and Seungmin were walking beside him dodging the zombies that crossed their path, behind Jiseok was Gunil and Jungsu taking the zombies off their backs.

Jiseok saw Jooyeon's back and ran faster.

Outside was a completely different story, as soon as they got out of the school they ran into seven zombies wandering around the steps of the entrance, Jiseok ran stuck to the school wall, jumping over the bushes and crashing into a tree trunk. He grunted in pain but kept running. They had to go around the school in order to get to the forest.

Jiseok tried to search through the grass for something he could use to ward off the zombies, his eyes found a sturdy piece of branch a few meters in front of him, he grabbed it as he kept running and as soon as he had it in his hands he hit the zombie behind him narrowly avoiding hitting Seungmin.

"Thank you" The other said to him breathlessly and Jiseok kept running. The zombies were coming like animals after them, they were hitting each other and trampling each other trying to catch up.

Jooyeon turned left and Jiseok followed him, he again hit another zombie who tried to grab him by the arm, he stumbled over his own feet but balanced again at the last minute with Seungmin's help, he punched the zombie and kept running.

"A little more, a little more" Jiseok gritted his teeth and ordered his feet to keep running, his thighs were starting to burn but he kept running, they were already half way there, they only had the other half to go.

When they reached the back of the school Jiseok turned away from the wall and started to cross the dirt road that led straight into the forest.
The sun burned on the back of Jiseok's neck, sweat fell hard against his body and he felt the earth give way under his steps, but he kept running. He did not turn back.

Soon they reached the end of the road and saw the fence separating the school from the forest.

"Don't stop! Keep running!" Jiseok heard Gunil shout behind him and held on a little longer.

He watched as Jooyeon hopped over the fence with ease and stood on the fence. Jiseok ran a little faster trying to gain momentum, he threw the branch to the side and when he was a meter away from the fence he jumped, his hands slipped on the cement of the fence but Jooyeon's hand grabbed him by the elbow and held him, he helped him up by pulling his body up and Jiseok grunted with effort, he levered his feet against the fence and with his other hand he grabbed the edge to climb up. He manages to climb up and falls to the other side with a groan.

His hands burn and the soles of his feet throb with pain but he still pulls himself up with effort and turns around to catch a glimpse of Jun han falling along with him with a scream.

He helps to lift Jun han up and the other tosses him a small "Thank you". He waits anxiously for the others to make it over the fence.

Compared to the other side, here Jiseok does not see any zombies, only huge trees towering above him, so sturdy and abundant that they manage to block out the sun and keep them in a shadow. 

He makes it across Seungmin, Jungsu and when Gunil crosses Jiseok drops to the ground and lets out a sigh of relief.

They had all made it across, made it to the forest without any losses, Jiseok's hopes grow and for the first time he allows himself to hold on to them. He feels the taste of hope on his tongue and smiles. They were going to make it, in two days they would reach the bridge where the military would pick them up and arrive at the Kosin hospital all together.

Jooyeon jumps up and lands on the ground with a loud snort, he raises his arms to the sky and shouts. "We did it!" Jiseok allows himself to catch her joy and raises his arms to the sky as well.

"We did it!" he shouts and smiles brightly at Jooyeon, they shout again and the others complain about them. Until the third time Seungmin joins them.

"We did it!" and the others laugh at them. They turn to look at each other, a smile on each of their faces, they all raise their arms, open their mouths and shout.

"We did it!".

******______******______******

They had been walking for about two hours without a rest. Gunil had told them that they should walk as far as they could before dark, but Jiseok feels that he won't be able to last more than ten minutes walking. His thighs have long since gone numb and he feels as if a thousand ants are walking under his pants, he begins to feel welts growing on the soles of his feet, but he refuses to be the first to ask for a break.

The trees do a good job of blocking out the sun, so at least they don't have to be walking around with the heat and direct sun in their faces, a breeze constantly sweeps through the forest and even Jiseok hears the distant, random sounds of birds instead of the moans and grunts of zombies and every now and then he catches a glimpse of a squirrel scurrying through the leaves. It's a welcome sight after continually seeing blood and dead bodies, smelling rotting flesh and the metal of blood. He takes a breath of fresh air, savoring the earthy tones and wood.

They continue walking for another hour, they have no way of knowing what time it is, not even the position of the sun helps them, they only know it is starting to get late as the shadows of the forest grow thicker and the birds are replaced by owls and nocturnal animals.

"One more hour of walking and we can find a place to sleep" Gunil speaks ahead of them and they all nod. 

Hardly anyone has spoken since they made it across the fence, every now and then Jooyeon comments on something next to him, a squirrel climbing the log or a bird's nest a few trees ahead of them, but for the most part they walk in silence. And Jiseok is not particularly bothered by it, if anything he feels at ease. Just the sound of shoes against leaves and dry branches, the heavy breathing of the others and the constant humming of Jooyeon at his side.

When another half hour passes it is Jooyeon who breaks the silence.

"Guys, I have to pee" Jooyeon throws an apologetic look and points with his thumb a few meters to the left, where there are several trees. "It's just a few minutes" Gunil nods and smiles at him. Jooyeon smiles back and trots towards the makeshift hiding place created by the trees.

Jiseok is more than happy to let Jooyeon relieve himself, he sits down on a piece of fallen log and sighs in satisfaction as his feet get a well-deserved rest from letting go of carrying all his weight. The others follow suit, letting out sighs of their own as they sit on the log or against the earth.

The snort escapes his mouth, they were all exhausted but they all had too much pride to ask for a break. Seungmin shot him an annoyed look and Jiseok raised his hands in a sign of surrender.

He tilted his head and looked at the place where Jooyeon had disappeared. It was indeed a good hiding place, no trace of Jooyeon could be seen, the tree trunks were too thick and close together.

They waited for about five minutes, Jiseok had closed his eyes and was swinging his legs when Jungsu's worried voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Jooyeon is taking too long" And it was true, Jiseok doesn't think Jooyeon would take five minutes to pee, moreover, it would become too much for him if it took three.

He opens his eyes and sees Gunil's worried look.

"But we haven't heard anything, let's wait two more minutes and if he doesn't come back let's go look for him."

 Two minutes passed and Jooyeon did not return, the worry could be felt in all five bodies. With worried looks they got up, just when Jiseok suggested going in the direction Jooyeon had disappeared the long haired one comes out from between the trees.

"Sorry for taking so long guys, there was a family of squirrels on a log and I lost track of time" They all let out a collective sigh, Seungmin stepped forward to smack Jooyeon's head for scaring them so much and Jiseok shook his head.

Typical Jooyeon, losing track of time with the simplest of things.

When Jooyeon apologized to everyone and came crestfallen to Jiseok's side, the bald-haired man slaps Jooyeon's shoulder and scolds him.

"We thought something happened to you idiot" Jooyeon groans pitifully and rubs the place where Jiseok hit him.

"I'm sorry" He gives him a kicked puppy look. "I won't do it again."
Jiseok massaged his temples and started walking behind Jun han with Jooyeon at his heels. When a few minutes had passed he muttered.

"I was worried, don't do it again please" He said it quietly, intending for Jooyeon not to hear him but the other was too close to Jiseok, he purred like a contented cat and gave him a half hug.

"So my little Jiseok was scared to death for my well-being."
"Idiot."

******______******______******

It happened when no one expected it, they were still walking through the forest trying to find a place to spend the night when it happened.

Gunil and Jungsu were talking to each other as usual when making decisions, Seungmin and Jun han were showing something to Jooyeon when Jiseok saw everything in slow motion. It was like those videos that you slow down to see everything sharper, he saw how the zombie appeared from between some trees as if it materialized out of nowhere, it ran straight towards Jun han who had his back to it while showing a piece of leaf to Seungmin. He watched as Jooyeon looked up at the sound, how he shouted something to Jun han and Jun han turned around in alarm, how Jooyeon stepped forward and pulled Jun han to the left a few meters away from the zombie, how, protecting Jun han's body, the zombie grabbed Jooyeon's right arm with its hands full of dirt and black and lowered its head to sink its teeth into Jun han's right arm, how the zombie was able to grab Jun han's right arm with its hands full of dirt and black, how Jooyeon was able to grab Jun han's right arm and lower its head to sink to sink the teeth into the flesh. He sees how Jooyeon screams in pain and tries to pull his arm from the zombie's grasp.

He sees everything frozen in place, it is as if he is inside the water and he cannot move, he feels nothing, he smells nothing, he can't even feel the air. But Jooyeon's scream of pain is like a switch that pulls him out of his daze, it pierces his ears and with a full body shudder he finally manages to take a step forward, and another, and another, and another, and another until he is running and he stamps himself against the zombie that still has Jooyeon pinned down.

"Jooyeon!" It's Seungmin who screams, but he can't see it because he has the zombie underneath him and slams it against his jaw. Jiseok feels the bone sink in with his fist and hits it again. And again, again, again, again, again; all he can see is how the rotten teeth sunk into Jooyeon's sweater, how Jooyeon's scream echoed through the forest and blood dripped down his arm, even the small piece of skin the zombie managed to tear off was still in his mouth. 

He hit it again until the zombie underneath Jiseok stopped moving and the anger gave way to a dull numbness.

"Jooyeon!" he heard the other being's name shouted again and he finally lifts his head from the inert body of the zombie beneath him.

The other four surround Jooyeon who is lying on the ground, cradle his arm and talk softly to him, Jiseok can see a small tear fall down his dirt stained cheek and Jiseok's chest compresses until he feels like air won't enter his lungs.

He stands up numbly leaving the zombie's dead body on the ground, takes short steps to the others and makes his way to fall to his knees beside Jooyeon's body.

"Good hits Jiseok, I didn't know you had it in you" Jooyeon jokes and Jiseok feels his chest compress even more, tears blur his vision and he lets them fall freely down his skin.

"Jooyeon, you're going to be fine, it's not that bad" He cradles Jooyeon's head in his hands and the other lets out a dry laugh.

"Only the zombie bit me and I'll turn into one, nothing serious" Jooyeon's laugh dies giving way to a grimace and his lips tremble.

Jiseok's heart breaks.

"You won't become a zombie, I won't allow it" The words escape him before he can think them and Jooyeon smiles tiredly.

"Everyone becomes a zombie Jiseok" Jiseok's chest hurts so much, but it hurts more to see Jooyeon's sad smile.

"I won't allow it."

"Do you remember what I told you the other night?" Jooyeon asks and Jiseok's eyes burn. He remembers perfectly what Jooyeon had asked him to do if he ever became a zombie, but he also remembers the promise Jiseok made to him. He would never allow him to become a zombie.

"You won't become a zombie, you're going to live" Jiseok's voice shakes uncontrollably and his hands squeeze the other's face, Jooyeon doesn't protest, just looks at him with kind eyes.

Jiseok feels like he is going to die.

******______******______******

An hour has passed since the zombie bit Jooyeon. An hour since it got dark and they decided to rest on that very spot, not caring about the zombie's body a few meters away or the rotten smell.

"Kill me or leave without me. I mean you no harm" Jooyeon had said when Jiseok had stopped screaming and the others had calmed down enough to hear him.

Jiseok shook his head as soon as he heard the red-haired man's suggestion.
"No. We're not leaving you here, you're going with us" He spoke desperately. Jooyeon groaned in pain.

"It's not your decision Jiseok, the others don't want to be with a zombie" Surprisingly it was Jun han who shouted.

"You are not a zombie! You would have already turned into a zombie long ago when the zombie bit you. Don't you remember how the others turned? In a matter of seconds they would start to lose consciousness and turn into zombies. You've been there for ten minutes and nothing has happened to you, you're not a zombie" Jun han finished his tirade breathing heavily and everyone looked at him in surprise, it was the most Jun han had raised his voice since Jiseok had known him, but he was right.

Jooyeon still hadn't lost his reasoning, he hadn't even started to change, he was still the same, he still felt hot underneath Jiseok.

"But he bit me" Jooyeon feels the need to emphasize it.

"I know, and I don't know why you haven't turned into a zombie" Jun han answers now with his voice low.

"Maybe you are immune" Seungmin shrugs as the pairs of eyes land on him.

 "In the movies there have been people who we immune to the virus and live with zombie bites, haven't you ever seen the movies?" Jiseok wanted to tell him that it only happened in the movies, but likewise, zombies had only lived on screen until three days ago, so anything was possible.

"Seungmin is right, you might be someone immune to the virus" Gunil tests the waters.

"But we don't know if I'll be immune forever or just the contagion will be delayed for a few hours. It's best if they go without me and leave me here."
Jiseok digs his nails into the other's shoulder, ignoring Jooyeon's hiss. "We won't leave without you and that's final. We'll all leave together." 

"Jiseok..."

"Shut up" Jiseok digs his nails harder against the other's shoulder. "You're a complete idiot and stupid if you think we'll leave you here alone, you're coming with us whether you want to or not" Jooyeon stops hissing and looks at him in surprise, his mouth opens in a small 'o'.

Jungsu clears his throat next to him and Jiseok's cheeks turn pink, he angrily looks away from Jooyeon's surprised gaze. "Jiseok is right, we won't leave here without you."

Jooyeon closes his mouth and turns with Jungsu.

"I can hurt them..."

"You really think you can hurt us?" It is Seungmin who answers.

"Because I don't think so, I can defend myself at any time from a weakling like you if you try to eat me, but I know you won't because you're still Jooyeon and the Jooyeon I know would never hurt his friends."

Jooyeon opens his mouth again and Seungmin interrupts him again. "A friend never lets a friend down, that's what you taught me Jooyeon. You're coming with us" Seungmin tangles his fingers in Jooyeon's dark tresses and Jooyeon's eyes moisten, Jiseok's own also cloud over.

"We'll rest here."

From that another hour had passed and the forest had darkened enough to hide the shadows to its surroundings and bring with it the nocturnal animals. Owls and coyotes could be heard in the background, the temperature had dropped a few degrees, Jiseok felt his hands were incredibly cold but he held in the cold and snuggled into Jooyeon's space with the excuse of body heat.

Since they had bitten Jooyeon his temperature had gone crazy, if Jooyeon felt warm before now he was like a living furnace, warmth was constantly pouring out of him and everyone took turns at random times to snuggle next to him so they wouldn't freeze.

Now it was Jiseok's turn and he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could. He took Jooyeon's larger one between his hands and rubbed his palms over his own, soon enough his fingers stopped feeling numb and the blood ran inside them again.

The others were huddled together in a small ball a few feet away from them, in an hour he would have to call Jungsu to stand guard and cuddle with Jooyeon, but for now he purred against the red-haired man's neck and sighed contentedly.

"Aren't you afraid?" Jooyeon's question brings him out of his bliss and he has to lift his head from his hiding place in the other's neck to look him in the eyes.

"What do you mean?" Jiseok doesn't understand Jooyeon's question.

"I mean, aren't you afraid of being cuddled with a zombie?" realization dawns on Jiseok's mind and he sighs.

"You're not a zombie."

"How do you know?" Raising his voice, Jiseok watches Gunil's body move and shushes Jooyeon. "How do you know I'm not a zombie?" he speaks again now lower.

"Because you're still Jooyeon."

"But-" The frustration is palpable in his voice and Jiseok waits patiently for the other to find the words as he continues to rub his hands against the other hot one.

"At any moment I could turn into a zombie and bite you, or bite someone, aren't you afraid I'll bite you?"

"No" The answer comes so easy that it surprises Jooyeon, Jiseok continues. 

"I'm not afraid of you biting me because I know you would never do it, and if for some reason you turn into a zombie, which I doubt, I would still take you with me." The answer seems to confuse the other more and he shakes his head.

"Why?" Jiseok takes his time to answer, playing with Jooyeon's slender and long fingers. 

"Because it was you" No other explanation comes to Jiseok's mind, but Jooyeon doesn't seem to like his answer because he asks again.

"But why?" he pushes.

Jiseok shrugs and squeezes the other's hand.

"I already told you, because it's you. I have no other answer. Now shut up I want to rest while I cuddle with my personal warmer" Jooyeon grumbles an incoherent reply but Jiseok ignores him, he goes back to hiding his face in the other's neck and sighs contentedly with the warmth he finds there. He discreetly sniffs the musk between the other's ear and rubs his nose there.

Silence engulfs them again as they listen to Gunil's snoring.

******______******______******

The next day they ate a light meal and started on their way again first thing in the morning much to Jiseok and Seungmin's dismay. 

Jooyeon had been unusually quiet most of the morning, but when the trees had stopped being so dense in the forest and you could catch glimpses of light antlers in the sky he became talkative again and made jokes as usual. He frolicked with Seungmin and teased Jun han, quarreled with Jungsu and talked animatedly with Gunil. But he never left Jiseok's side, all along the way they were holding hands, if anyone found it strange they didn't comment on it, at times Jooyeon would swing his arms back and forth, sometimes he would point to something that caught his attention without letting go of his hand and Jiseok had to twist himself into strange positions to get to see what it was that Jooyeon wanted to show him but at no time did he complain.

If anything, he willingly tolerated a clingy Jooyeon and played along.

At one point he even helped Jooyeon prank Jun han by scaring him with a fake spider on his back and they spent a good ten minutes laughing together at Jun han's face, Jun han didn't speak to them for half an hour until Gunil made them apologize to Jun han.

Everything was going well, as if what happened less than thirteen hours ago hadn't even happened. Jooyeon hadn't shown any symptoms of turning into a zombie, he hadn't even started to smell bad, he still smelled like oranges and his natural musk. 

"Come on Jiseok, you're getting too slow" Jooyeon pulls him by the hand and drags a grumbling Jiseok behind him.

"I literally walked for three hours without resting, my feet are baking inside my sneakers" Jooyeon laughed loudly at an annoyed Jiseok and dragged him with him down the road.

According to Gunil's inner compass they only had another hour more to go before they could reach the bridge and cross it. Jiseok didn't know, he had never been to that part of town, but he trusted Gunil and his insight.

"When we get there what are you going to do?" Jooyeon asked after a moment of listening to Jungsu and Seungmin's fights to see who would eat the last remaining mochi. Jiseok hummed as he thought, there was so much he wanted to do, but he preferred to give a common answer.

"I'm going to take a hot shower and change my clothes, I've been wearing the same uniform for four days now and I feel like it's sticking to my skin from so much dirt" Jooyeon laughed along with Jiseok for quite a while until only the quick little gasps remained. "And you?"

Jooyeon's answer came out softly, almost carried on air "I want to go back to eating the tteokguk my mom makes" Jooyeon's gaze was set on the sky, but Jiseok knew he was seeing something only he could see and no one else could reach. They stood in silence once more, hands clasped together and footsteps soft as they listened to Jungsu triumphantly eating the mochi and Seungmin complaining to Jun han.

An hour after walking on was when they finally reached the bridge.

"It's over there!" Gunil shouted in front of them and they all shouted excitedly, Jiseok could catch a glimpse of where the trees end and instead gave way to a piece of free field where a huge bridge connected and they could hear the water running underneath it.

Jooyeon pulled Jiseok's arm again and they hurried their pace, they were only half a kilometer away from being able to cross the bridge and reach safety. Jiseok could almost taste it in his teeth the taste of warm soup and the softness of a blanket.

"Let's go, let's go" Jooyeon was hurrying the others, Jiseok could hear Jun han's excited shout and Seungmin's laughter.

When they were less than three hundred kilometers away Jiseok saw something move between the bridge and slowed down, Jooyeon stopped beside him confused.

"What's wrong Jiseokkie? We're just about there" Jooyeon pulled him again but Jiseok shook his head and pointed to the bridge.

"Something is moving across the bridge, I think it's zombies" Jooyeon turned to see where Jiseok was pointing and cursed loudly alerting everyone's attention. The others turned to see the same thing and shouted in alarm.

"Seriously...there can't be a place where we won't run into a zombie" Seungmin cursed loudly and they stood in place. Jiseok couldn't get a good look from where they were, but he estimated that there were about ten zombies hovering around the entrance of the bridge, if not more in the middle.

"Now how will we cross..." Jun han anxiously bit the nails on his hand and Seungmin pulled him into a side hug.

"We can't wait for them to move away nor can we swim across, we'll have to dodge them, but how..." Gunil repeatedly tapped his chin with his index finger as he weighed the options. Jiseok also thought of a way to get to the other side without running into the zombies, but he couldn't think of any.

Jooyeon raised his hand like when you ask for the floor in a classroom and clears his throat. "I have an idea." Everyone waited attentively for Jooyeon to continue speaking. "I can be the bait." 

"..."

"What?"

No!"

"Are you crazy?" Everyone's voices echoed in the forest and it was hard to understand each other, but Jooyeon raised his hand again now with his palm pointed at them.

"I'm not done yet, remember I'm technically a zombie? I can approach them and lure them until you guys can pass safely and I'll follow" Jiseok couldn't believe Jooyeon's thinking, he was either too dumb or it was done.

"They will eat you alive." 

"Technically I've already been eaten alive and I'm still fine. Sure, I'm hungry all the time and my temperature is that of a volcano but I'm still almost human."

"You don't know if it will work, you might get hurt" Gunil stepped forward being the voice of reason.

"Or maybe they won't actually hurt me and you guys will be able to get over the bridge without any trouble. We lose nothing by trying" Jooyeon shrugged and Jiseok felt frustrated, it was a solid plan and the only one worth trying, but he didn't want to jeopardize Jooyeon's safety.

"And hey, the zombie bite gave me some skills I want to try. Maybe the zombie was my spiderman's spider and I'll become a zombie superhero."

 Now they are about fifty meters away from crossing the bridge and they are grouped in a line. The plan is for Jooyeon to go in front of the line with everyone else behind him, they will try to go quietly like they did in school, hide in any cars they find and move slowly. If it gets difficult that's where Jooyeon comes in and becomes the bait for the others to run to the end, he will follow soon after, much to Jiseok's dismay.

The bridge is huge, about fifty meters wide and so long that it is hard to see the end of the bridge. On the bridge there are six zombies moving with heavy steps and limping across the bridge, four more about ten meters from where the first ones are. They are lucky that there are several forgotten cars all over the bridge where they can hide, there is not as much debris as they thought at the start, so it is relatively easy to cross without making much noise.

"Behind me" Jooyeon whispers to them and starts walking. Jiseok keeps pace with Gunil behind him, they leave Jun han in the middle and to the end Seungmin and Jungsu to cover the rear.

Jiseok takes Jooyeon's sweater as an afterthought, holding him back from going too far or doing any stupid actions. They walk along the edge of the bridge leaning against the metal bars and taking care to watch where they step. The first few meters of the bridge are easy, they manage to elude the first ten zombies undetected, hide between the cars and wait until the zombies turn around.

So they make it halfway across the bridge, the further they walk the more zombies they encounter more frequently, but they continue to use the cars as shields and remain silent at all times. 

"We're almost there, hold on a little longer" Jiseok hears Jooyeon say in front of him and tightens his grip on the other's sweater, there are about ten zombies about ten meters in front of them making it impossible to cross without being seen by them. They stop behind a black car and huddle together to whisper.

"There are too many zombies in front of us, we won't be able to cross without being seen. I'm going" Jiseok stops Jooyeon before he leaves.

"We can all cross together, we just have to wait for them to leave" Jiseok whispers urgently, he tries to talk some sense into Jooyeon but the other just shakes off his grip.

"They won't leave that place for a while and we can't waste too much time hiding here, we must act now."

"But..."

"A van is patrolling just on the other side of the bridge" That information makes everyone alert and they unconsciously turn to look down the road, trying to spot the mysterious van.

"How do you know?" Jun han asks skeptically.

"Enhanced ears" Jooyeon touches his earlobe and smiles. "I can hear the tires against the gravel and the military talking to each other. They're taking turns with each other to keep the perimeter clean and in about half an hour they'll change teams and head back to the hospital. It's our best time for us to act now" Jooyeon speaks in rapid whispers and swings his hands back and forth.

"You'll just distract them long enough for us to gain distance and come with us right?" Gunil reaffirms the plan and Jooyeon nods with a thumbs up, but Jiseok sees the other's lips tremble a little and alarms ring in his head.

"Alright, let's do it" Seungmin brushes the imaginary dust off his knees and stands up so he's half hunched over. The others follow suit and switch cars to another car that is about ten feet away from the zombies, they wait for a signal from Jooyeon who is a little ahead of them so they can run.

Jiseok steps forward beside Jooyeon and the other looks at him in confusion.

"Jiseok go with the others, I..."

"You're not coming with us are you?" The question throws Jooyeon off balance enough to make him stumble over his words and shut his mouth. 
Jiseok wishes with all his might to be wrong, wishes Jooyeon would laugh at him and deny, wishes he would tell him that he will go with them and they can all get out of this together. But Jooyeon stays silent avoiding looking at him.

"Will you come with us Jooyeon?" Jiseok presses, desperation is heard in every word that comes out of his mouth and he takes Jooyeon's hand between his own. Jooyeon averts his gaze and retracts his hand.

"Jooyeon, please..." Jiseok's hands start to sweat and he grips the other's sweater tightly.

"Jiseok, I can't go with you guys."

"Yes you can!" Half whispering half shouting trying to keep his composure as best he can, he squeezes Jooyeon's bicep.

"Do you think they'll take a zombie with them?" The venom in Jooyeon's question surprises Jiseok but he squeezes his grip tighter.

"You're not a zombie-"

"Yes I am!" Jooyeon shushes him with his eyes and Jiseok closes his mouth, he feels a lump in his throat as he sees the pain in the other's eyes. "I'm a zombie, asymptomatic or not I was bitten and I'm a zombie. I won't be able to set foot inside the hospital before they kill me or take me for a lab rat."

"We won't let-" 

"You think you guys can stop the government from using me as an experiment?" That shushes Jiseok and he feels his hands shaking. "They won't be able to do anything, they'll use me to find a cure or something completely insane. I can't let that happen to me."

"Then we're staying with you..." Jiseok can't think of continuing if not with Jooyeon.

"I can't drag them with me, they must survive and live again" Jooyeon's smile is painful to see, Jiseok bites his lip so hard he can taste the metal on his tongue and doesn't let go of Jooyeon.

"Jooyeon please..."

"Jiseok, I've already decided" Gently he manages to pull his arm out of Jiseok's now weakened grip and takes his cheeks in his hands. "Please take care of them all for me okay?" he feels his eyes start to burn from unshed tears and shakes his head.

"Go on, go and tell the others as soon as I scream to run to the end of the bridge."

"Jooyeon" Jooyeon releases her cheeks with one last smile and takes a deep breath, she throws him a salute and Jiseok can see her eyes sparkle.

Before he can say anything again Jooyeon stands up and gets out behind the car, he runs a few steps towards the zombies and shouts.

"Let's go!" It's Gunil who yells in return and they all jump up to start running towards the end of the bridge. Jiseok trips over his feet as he tries to get up, it's Jungsu who grabs his arm and pulls him to run together. Jiseok turns back to see how the zombies run towards Jooyeon and cage him, but he doesn't manage to see what's going on because he turns back to avoid tripping over the debris.

"We're close, we're almost there" Seungmin shouts above them, and it's true, he can see how the small figure of an armored truck gets bigger and bigger the more they run.

"Look out!" Jooyeon's shout makes Jungsu turn around and curses loudly.

"They're coming after us!" Half of the zombies forgot Jooyeon and chased after them, Jiseok lets out a scream as he sees the distance getting shorter and shorter between them and the zombies.

"Help! Help!" Seungmin shouts at the top of his lungs to get the military's attention. Jiseok sees the military pointing guns at them. 

"Help! We're being chased by zombies!" Seungmin shouts again and Jiseok groans in surprise as a hand grabs him from behind and trips him. The zombie had caught up with them.

But the hand suddenly releases him and Jiseok manages to regain his balance. Jooyeon had come running and knocked down the zombie that had touched Jiseok, watched as the zombie fell against the cart with a groan and stood up again.

"Code 10-14! Survivors in sight, ready to perform procedure" Is what they reach to hear before the military man takes a small ball between his hands and throws it hard towards them. Jiseok sees how it swings in the air until it falls against the concrete, as soon as it hits the ground it opens and a white smoke starts to come out of it. Soon the bridge is completely filled with the white smoke and it is impossible to see anything.

"Where-"Jiseok feels dizzy, he feels his head spinning and his balance starts to fail him.

"What's going on..." His feet start to go numb and he falls to his knees, the world spins around him and it is impossible to focus on anything.

"Jiseok, are you okay?" He manages to hear Jooyeon's voice a few meters to his left and Jiseok raises his hand in front of him, trying to reach the other.
"Jooyeon, where are you..." Jiseok blindly takes in air in his fist.

A clump of black hair appears before his sight and Jooyeon's face appears in front of him.

"Jooyeon..." Jiseok's tongue feels heavy, he finds it hard to even pass saliva and feels consciousness slipping away.

"Jiseok, stay healthy and eat well when you get to the hospital" Jooyeon's voice is heard as if he is meters away when he is only about two meters away.
"Jooyeon."

"Please try to sleep for eight hours and take care of the others, stay together" Jooyeon turns into two and then three and Jiseok has to shake his head to manage to focus.

"Jooyeon don't..."

"Please take good care of yourself and live happily."

"...I can't live happy if you are not with me" Jiseok feels like thousands of ants are walking on his tongue, he feels it too big for his mouth.

"...Live Jiseok" He can't see Jooyeon's face clearly, but he can imagine the small smile that is always on her face, how her cheeks become like two small ripe apples and her eyes shine like stars, her hair falls over her forehead and she has to run her hand through the black locks to tuck it behind her ear.

"I love you" It's now or never, Jiseok thinks. There is no other better time to confess to Jooyeon, or there will be no other time. "Jooyeon, I love you."
He fails to see Jooyeon's expression but manages to clearly hear what the other says before he falls into unconsciousness.

"I love you too Jiseok. Live for me" Jiseok swears he can see a drop of water fall from Jooyeon's eye and it's the last thing he hears as he falls into total darkness.

Chapter Text

"Wake up! It's time to eat" Jiseok tosses and turns on the gurney for a good two minutes until he reluctantly gets up with a grunt, walks out of the room where there are thirty other people so he can join the line.

It had been two months since they rescued Jiseok and the others, two months since they had been living with two hundred other people, sleeping in a hospital room sharing a stretcher, eating their allotted portions of rice per day, two months since they had not seen a single zombie, two months since Jiseok had not heard from Jooyeon.

He had awakened for the first time in a medical wing intended for injured and endangered people. When he opened his eyes he was greeted by yellow light and white walls. He had not seen the others all day, until the next morning.

"It's for your safety, we must make sure none of you are infected or showing symptoms" A doctor in a white coat and glasses had told Jiseok and left him to attend to other patients.

All day long he was lying down and resting, not managing to eat more than a simple soup broth and small gulps of water. His stomach was killing him.

"They say they were sleeping bombs that scientists created for zombies" Seungmin had told him the next morning when Jiseok could finally see the others.

Luckily they were all intact, a few light scratches and cuts, but otherwise they were all fine. They were also clean and with a fresh change of clothes.

"It's too weird to see them in anything but the uniform full of blood and dirt" Jiseok joked when he saw Jun han in a gray sweatshirt and Gunil in a plaid dress shirt.

"The bombs work for both humans and zombies, that's why we fainted as soon as we smelled it" Gunil explained. "It's supposed to be like some kind of sleeping gas, when it comes in contact with the human smell they pass out, but zombies are not affected, so they modified it so that it could stun the zombies and they lose their senses and it's easier to eliminate them" Gunil sat at the small table in the common dining room where the others were sitting. All the other tables were filled with other survivors, some eating quietly and others talking amongst themselves. Jiseok watched everyone in silence.

"Did you eliminate all the zombies that were on the bridge?" Jun han's question made Jiseok square his shoulders, his senses alert as he watched a mom comfort her daughter.

"According to what I caught a glimpse of from the military, they eliminated ninety-eight percent of the zombies. You can't give a full figure because of protocol stuff or something" Silence fell over the table, everyone knew what that implied and Jiseok refused to believe they had eliminated everyone.

"Jooyeon must be out there enjoying some good alone time" Jiseok turned his eyes away from the mother and turned to look at the others with a smile and closed eyes, he couldn't see the expressions of the others, because if he saw them his confidence would waver and he couldn't afford that.

"We just have to be patient and we'll be able to see him again very soon."

Two months have passed and things do not seem to be getting better. The government had announced that they were looking for the cure to end the virus, had asked for patience and understanding from the people. That was two months ago and things had not changed, survivors were still arriving from everywhere, there were still zombie attacks, there were still infected people and things were not changing.

Jiseok hadn't been out of the hospital in two months and he was starting to go crazy, he felt that if he spent one more day inside those small four walls of no more than six meters with thirty people sharing the space he was going to lose his mind.

Things were not getting better and Jiseok was getting worse and worse.

It had been two months since he last saw Jooyeon.

Jiseok walked down the narrow corridor, the tiles were marble and the white walls typical of a hospital, there were eight rooms in each corridor and four floors. He was lucky to be in a room with the others, he didn't think he could have survived this long if he only had the company of seventy year olds or three year old children.

"Sorry" He apologized as he bumped into one gentleman, the other made an ugly face at him and ignored him. Jiseok sighed and turned the corner to head to the common room.

It was a small room with several armchairs, a television that had not been used since his arrival, and a water dispenser for free use; it used to be the waiting room of the hospital, but was converted into a common wing for anyone who wanted to leave their room and socialize with others.

Jiseok sat in the farthest armchair of all, it was a single one in a small dark corner where the heating didn't reach, so it was always cold in that part, but it was always alone and the silence was peaceful, so Jiseok sat in his usual place and did his favorite activity since he arrived at the hospital: remembering.

 Tongues were wagging and gossip was flying around the place. Jiseok recalled a conversation he overheard a few days ago between some military men resting in that very room. They hadn't realized that Jiseok was also there or simply didn't care, but Jiseok didn't want to make his whereabouts known either.

"Did you hear that there is a place where zombies live with humans" A small fat military man asked the other taller one with cropped hair. The tall one just shook his head as he bit into the granola bar in his hand.

"I heard from my commander that they have had rooms from a place where people are infected, but they don't act like normal zombies. They say they behave like any other human, but they are infected, their eyes are red and blue veins stand out all over their body."

"It's all bullshit, asymptomatic people don't exist. Everyone turns sooner or later" exclaimed the tall guy with a laugh. The shorter one shook his head at once.

"I'm telling you the truth, the general reported to the lieutenant on his last scan. The general went with three others to the northern part of the city and they found a small group of people" The short guy was talking with his hands as if it would make the other guy believe more easily what he was saying.

"In the north there is only forest" The tall guy exclaimed dryly.

"The general saw how this group of people lived in tents and had the basic necessities. I'm not lying, he even gave the coordinates of the exact location" Jiseok almost jumps out of his half hiding place at the mention of the coordinates, but keeps his cool.

"Why would you know the coordinates?" the tall guy asks hesitantly.

"Because I was entrusted with that highly classified information," the other struts. "Anyway, the coordinates were-"

"Attention all assets, there is a 15-20 two kilometers from headquarters. Prepare for immediate departure, over" A voice is heard from the radio of the taller guy and the two curse as they run off, Jiseok watches them go with a scowl and a slight pout on his lips.

He found where Jooyeon is located, now he just needs to go to him.

******______******______******

"Are you saying that Jooyeon was in that place where you heard?" Jungsu asks to confirm one night while everyone else was asleep. The five of them were at the hospital dining table, the lights were off and only a lamp illuminated the room.

"They didn't specifically say his name, but I know he's there," Jiseok says encouragingly.

"How are you so sure that Jooyeon will be there? He might have decided to go somewhere else" Or he might not be there anymore, Jiseok knows Jun han didn't mean it that way, but Jiseok wasn't particularly in the mood.

"Because I know. I can feel it" Jiseok squared his shoulders and leveled each with a glance.

The others looked at each other, Jiseok could see the uncertainty in their gazes and became angrier.

"If you don't believe me I don't care. I just wanted to tell you this because in three days I'm going to leave here and head north" With a certain satisfaction he saw how everyone turned to look at him surprised and even confused.

"Are you leaving? Are you going to look for Jooyeon? You don't know what you'll find out there Jiseok, you may die" Seungmin suddenly stood up from the chair and pointed at him shocked. The others showed their agreement but Jiseok silenced them.

"I know Jooyeon is out there and I know I promised I would take care of myself. But I also promised I was going to be happy and here I can't be happy" Seungmin sits silently with a guilty look on his face. "I can't be happy here knowing that out there somewhere is Jooyeon, I owe him so much that I can't let him enjoy a false salvation while he's still out there."

"And I'm also already bored of being cooped up all day, I feel like I'm getting fat since I don't move more than ten steps to go to the room" That gets a laugh out of Gunil and the others look at him carefully, they are silent for a few seconds.

"How do you plan to get north?" Gunil asks with concentration.

"I'm not planning that part yet" Jiseok scratches his head nervously. "But I do know that in three days I'm leaving and I wanted to see if they wanted to accompany me" Jiseok wished that the others would accompany him, he felt that they were an important part of him and he doesn't think he could live without any of them, but judging from the answers about his exit plan the chances of them accompanying him went down. He didn't want to leave them here, but he also didn't want to continue living here without hearing from Jooyeon. He wanted, no, he needed to see him again, to hear his voice again, to touch him again. I wanted Jooyeon. And he would go looking for him with or without the others, no matter how much it hurt.

******______******______******

Jiseok packed his things in a backpack. A couple of changes of clothes, bottles of drinking water and most importantly, food to last a week if he knew how to ration it properly. He debated whether to take his toothbrush with him, but in the end decided not to take it, he had no idea where he could brush his teeth in the middle of the forest anyway.

He closed his backpack and let out a sigh. He was going to miss sleeping in a bed, no matter how small the space he had, he would miss the warmth at night (although he took his blanket with him) and most importantly, he would miss the hot water when he took a bath.

He glanced at the bunks a few beds away from his own and looked sadly at the empty beds. He hadn't seen Gunil or Jungsu all day, and even Seungmin and Jun han hadn't shown up at breakfast time.

He wanted to at least say goodbye to them first and leave.

Sadly he takes his backpack and slips out of the room. He walks down the hallway greeting the occasional person he meets, but before he reaches the door leading to the common room he turns left and comes to a narrow, poorly lit hallway, opens the door with the restricted to sign and finds himself in another hallway much darker than the previous one.

There are no staff in this area because it is too damaged and no one has access to this area. Jiseok found it one day by chance when he was browsing around the hospital, he went inside and realized that it led straight to a small hidden back exit of the hospital.

He walks down the stairs two at a time and upon reaching the second floor takes a light breath before grabbing the lock on the door and opening it.

"You took long enough, we were going to leave without you" Seungmin's voice surprises Jiseok so much that he lets out a scream (male, no matter what Jungsu has to say about it). Seungmin laughs at him and pats his shoulder with a smile.

"Come on champ, we don't have all day before the others realize we're gone" Seungmin shakes him and moves him forward, Jiseok stumbles over his feet as he gawks at the other.

Then he rethinks what Seungmin said. "Wait, who are we?" Seungmin just points ahead and Jiseok looks up to shout again (again, a perfectly masculine shout, thank you Jungsu).

"Guys!" Jiseok couldn't believe it, in front of him stood Gunil, Jun han and Jungsu with their own backpacks on their backs and smiles on their faces.

"Did you think we would let you go alone? I want to see Jooyeon again too" Jungsu struts in front of him and winks at him, Jiseok feels that the world is moving too fast.

"We wouldn't let you go on your own" Gunil smiles warmly at him and pats Jiseok's shoulder.

"Even if we're terrified to go, we're coming with you" Jun han groans a few feet away from him and shakes off his sweaty hands.

"Yes, I also have a few words to give the idiot when I see him" Seungmin pats Jiseok's back and pulls him towards the others.

"But..." Jiseok feels like the words have escaped his mouth.

"Come on, let's go. Before the sun sets, maybe we can get to the bridge at a good pace" Seungmin pulls him by the arm and wraps him in a half hug. Jiseok willingly follows him and feels his eyes fill with tears.

"Thanks guys, I don't know what I would have done without you" Jiseok subtly wipes his eye and clears his voice.

"Die, obviously, now come on" Seungmin laughs loudly at his own joke and lets it out.

Jiseok looks up to the shining sun high in the sky and smiles brightly. Soon they will be able to see Jooyeon again. Jiseok looks forward to it.

...

...

...

"Jooyeon, is that you?"