The Good Land: No More | TWICE & ITZY Book 2

5) Inconspicuous House

The door was easily opened, a horrible stench filled their noses. The crying stopped and instantly an audible gasp was heard, there as they looked up on the stairs was a girl with long black hair pointing a gun. She shook her head and trembled with the weapon unsure whenever to pull the trigger.

"Hey, we're not here to harm you." Jihyo raised her hands.
"S-Stay back! You're... one of them!" She cried.
"I assure you we're not." Nayeon said.
"I-I don't believe you!" She stepped further back, clutching even harder.
"If we were, we would have attacked you by now. We are not one of them." Jihyo took a step forward.
"Plus we can still talk, none of them can." Chaeryeong spoke.

Jihyo took another step, Mina touched her arm giving her a concerned look.
"Jihyo... be careful."
She kept her hands visible to the girl and every step she took she kept smiling.
"I promise we're not here to hurt you." Jihyo stopped as the girl hesitated. Her finger so close to the trigger, yet she froze.
A hard drop clashed onto the floor and the girl let her grip out of the gun as she sat onto the stair. Sobbing and weeping, she covered her eyes.

Everyone sighed in relief and entered the house. Momo, Yuna and Dahyun went to the girl checking up on her whilst Jeongyeon took her gun.
As for the others, they didn't dare to take another step in the living room, they understood why there was a rancid smell. Two dead bodies laid in the middle, both were unidentifiable.

"Dammit..." Tzuyu mumbled under her breath.
The girl sobbed even harder and gripped onto Momo's arms.
"I-I... couldn't save them—." She cried, "I was a coward!"
Momo caressed her hair, "It's not your fault."
They carried her outside to catch their breath, they let the girl have some space before speaking to her.
Her pale face, stained with the tears and hair clumped up into a ponytail. She looked at each and one of them as they gave a reassuring look.
"What's your name?" Chaeryeong asked.
"Uh—Lia, my name is Lia."
"Well, Lia. You're with us now, we'll keep you safe." Jihyo smiled.

Chaeyoung shrugged her shoulders, "Eh, more or less so."
Her friends gave her a sharp look.
"Hey! I'm just joking."
Ryujin came closer to Lia, "Do you remember what happened?"
"It just happened in a blur, those creatures came bursting into the door and started attacking my... parents and I just hid away. Before I knew, they were dead. I was scared to leave the house, so I stayed." Lia sighed.
"When did this happen?" Sana questioned.
"Two days ago—or something."

"So they were here." Jihyo said.
"What do you mean?" Mina spoke.
"There were piles of bodies packed into a freezer all met the same fate as her parents, some of them must have scattered around." Jihyo explained.
"We must go quickly before we meet more." Chaeryeong exclaimed.
They all stood up, before Lia pointed at Jeongyeon specifically her back pocket.
"That gun, there's more in the basement."

Jeongyeon, Nayeon, Mina and Momo volunteered to go inside as they found the basement door wide open. It was dark as usual, but the natural light was bright enough for them to see gun racks. Only four guns were placed on the walls.
"I wonder why her parents have these many guns." Momo's eyes widened seeing an assault rifle.
"We should take what we can, most of our group can't handle a gun." Nayeon said.
"Like Tzuyu." Jeongyeon chuckled.
Mina growled, "Hey! Literally six of you guys broke into our shed, of course she would be scared."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be joking about that." Jeongyeon said.
Mina nodded and kept searching for ammunition.
"Our group is getting quite big." Momo said, "We may not be able to have enough supplies during our journey."
"Don't worry, Jeongyeon and I found a stash of dried beans and bottles of water around some sheds." Nayeon replied.
"That would last us for two days I suppose." Mina smiled.

"Jokes aside, we can't keep getting new people. Thirteen people is enough." Jeongyeon sighed.
"You tell yourself that, but you were a part of the Outsiders." Nayeon scoffed, "Look how many people there were."
"That's not relevant."
"Oh, but this is?"
Nayeon kept making faces, mocking her stance.
"I'm not saying big groups are bad, I'm looking out for the possible problems."
"Like what?" Momo asked.
"It would be hard for a group to come to an agreement, food and water shortages, and more weight on our hands." Jeongyeon said.

Momo smiled and placed her hand on her shoulder, "Even though I agree with what you are saying, I say being in a big group can do more good than harm. Take my settlement for example, we got along with each other meaning morale was never low. We hunt and scavenge together and we stuck by each other." Sue paused, "It's done us good... but yeah, there was more weight on our hands. We lost good people and seeing those people you've spent a long time with disappear... it's—it's just like there's a void within you."

Mina rubbed Momo's shoulder before hugging her.
"I'm sorry for being so emotional, let's take these weapons." Momo cleared her throat carrying the assault rifle she found first.

As they resurfaced, the others waited for then patiently.
"What did you find?" Jihyo asked.
"Two assault rifles and a pistol." Jeongyeon held the first rifle with Momo as Mina kept the said pistol.
Nayeon brought out a bag found in the basement with all the ammunition they had gathered.
"Are you all skilled with those weapons?" Ryujin asked.
"More or less so, and if you're asking to hold one, you're not getting to." Momo teased.
Ryujin rolled her eyes as she pouted.
"Let's go before sun down." Sana commanded.
.
.
.
They kept walking as the sun was high in the sky, shining upon them.
Jeongyeon, with her newly found gun, kept her weapon close to her chest surveying the area.
"You don't have to become all cop-like on us." Chaeyoung chuckled.
"Do you not want to be safe or not?" Jeongyeon flailed her gun.
"I don't know if I trust you with that weapon." Chaeyoung stepped a bit back.
"I agree with Chae." Dahyun spoke.
"Have you ever held a gun?" Chaeryeong asked.
"Yes."
"Have you ever used a gun?" Tzuyu asked.

"Okay! Why are you all asking me questions when there's like two other people with gun?!" Jeongyeon shouted.
"She didn't answer the question." Nayeon smirked.
Everyone burst out into laughter, even Jeongyeon, who was still annoyed, joined in with their fun.
That's when Yuna saw at the back of the group, Lia following behind silently.
She stayed back and walked besides her.
"Are you okay?" She said.
Lia shook her head, "You all seem so comfortable with each other, I don't even think I fit in."
"It's okay, Chaeryeong and Ryujin joined our group recently and they felt the same way as well before they knew it, they acted as if we were all friends before." Yuna smiled.

Lia slightly smiled, "That... does make me feel better."
But Yuna knew there was more than she was leading on.
"That's not the only thing that's going through your head, is it?"
Lia shook her head.
"I don't know if I could move on with my parents... I can't live myself knowing I was useless." She cried.
Yuna stayed silent, but mustered up the courage to speak, "I also lost my parents recently too by those monsters, I ran away helpless knowing I couldn't save them."
"You're telling me this as if it would lift my spirits." Lia sighed.
"Well, I'm not. I'm telling you because it's how life is I guess. We just have to keep on going to survive. This was how human beings live." Yuna wrapped her arms around her shoulder.
Even if Lia was a bit uncomfortable, she still accepted her affection.
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