Trigger ↬ [ P.JS ]

Chapter 33:

Jisung groaned in pain, realizing that he might have been napping longer than he wanted. He saw the moon already up, glistening in the middle of the night sky. The only source giving them life was it, itself. He looked around, feeling Astrid's head on his lap. Wincing when she moved towards his wound, he hissed something under his breath.

He stopped breathing for a moment.

She's conscious. Oh my god, she's conscious! He rejoiced in his mind, thanking every god he can think of. He lifted her head up a bit, feeling the now flaky blood on her head, he tried gently stirring her awake. He scanned her figure, pausing on her hips.

She has a huge piece of glass stuck just below her waist, the blood not flowing as freely. He took this as a good sign knowing that she can't die of blood loss, but that's the only positive he can think of. She must've been in a lot of pain. Well, she currently is.

Astrid hesitated opening her eyes, feeling her vision shake because of Jisung. Her first instinct was to get up but once she did, all the pain she can get from all her injuries shot right onto her body. A stinging sensation on the back of her head made her hiss, it was burning. She touched her nape going upwards, afraid that it was worse than it felt. Her eyes scanned her body. She audibly gasped after seeing a chunk of sharp glass on her hips.

"Oh my god."

Jisung observed her movements. She was moving slowly, as if sensing her environment and keeping in check for threats. She turned to look back after hearing another person's slow breathing, only to find Jisung smiling lightly at her.

"Oh my god!" she shrieked. "What happened to you?" she said, reaching out her hands to touch his face. Her thumbs ran across the scratches on his face, the weight so gentle as if Jisung was a broken glass needed to be cautious of. "What happened to us? Where's the rest of the crew?" her hands left his face and Jisung couldn't help but feel the lost of warmth she brought even just for a brief moment.

He leaned back, trying to think of how to start his story. Before he knew it, Astrid was already panicking to her marbles.

"Oh my god! Donghyuck, really! He just had to do that, huh? Oh god, everything hurts. It hurts so, so bad," she focused her gaze but her head was spinning. She was feeling a little nauseous but she pushed that lingering sensation aside. "I'm not- I'm not believing that I survived a fucking freefall from a plane. A freefall! Kilometers up in the sky! And I'm still intact." she laughed dryly. She wiped her forming sweat with the back of her hand, taking the opportunity to scan her only companion. She noticed a huge deep cut on his leg, still spewing a bit of blood, nothing to be alarmed for.

The boy just held her hand for support, not really knowing how to comfort her with words. He's starting to regret the decision of them splitting up. He exhaled a huff of air before finally taking to you.

"How much do you remember?"

"What, after the crash, before the crash? During the crash?" she imitated Jisung, also pressing her back against the rough brick wall. It took her a while to notice that it's actually colored mauve. She stared at it closely, distracting herself as much as possible from the incoming questions the other has to attack her with. She sighed, "The last person I see was Donghyuck wrapping me in his arms like a magic blanket while saying 'sorry'."

"Who? You?" Jisung scrunched his nose.

"No? Why would I say sorry? Donghyuck apologized just before we hit the ground. Then I felt something hit the back of my head and I passed out. I didn't even know that I was assaulted by this dirty piece of little shitty glass." Astrid gritted her teeth, implying to the stubborn glass in her hips, an awkward place honestly. "I felt someone dragging me earlier but I was hard knocked off. That's the only thing I remember. And besides, where's the others?" she raised her brows to Jisung, expecting a vague answer.

"Well, to make the story short, we were running from bad guys. We had to separate since the car was driving crazy fast, and us as well, it was driving us insane, anyways, yeah. We had to separate. I was carrying you so you obviously didn't have a choice on who to be with. Not that it matters, hm?" he picked the skin on near the wound on his leg but Astrid smacked his hand away from it. "I'm sure they're smart enough to be sheltered. Not like us. Out in the open, ya know?" he laughed to himself.

Astrid looked at him like he was the craziest person alive, but she quickly readjusted her expression. "Don't say 'us'! It was literally you who decided to stay here." she defended herself and her ego. "Oh my god-"

"You've been saying that for the past five minutes."

"-where the hell is the kid? Where the hell are the kids? Oh my-"

"Stop saying that."

"-god."

Jisung rolled his eyes, tempted to just knock her off to sleep. He sighed, closing his eyes again to calm down. He felt Astrid shuffle beside him, he didn't mind. He thought that she was just adjusting her position but when he opened his eyes, she's already meters away from him, walking alone to wherever she planned to go.

"What are you doing!?" Jisung hissed. He stayed quiet, aware that though maybe South Korea has the least amount of cases, they should be careful for zombies. "Where the hell are you going?" he stood up feeling his legs shake a little. The chase was still taking a toll on him. He tilted his head, wondering what he did wrong to be treated like this.

Astrid limped while walking away from the guy. "Well, I'm doing what you should've done," she snarled back. "I'm going to find the others." Astrid started to brisk walk, she was desperate to feel the company of her friends rather than what she referred to Jisung as an ugly potato.

"Hey! You're injured!" Jisung catched up to her, still speedy after his wound. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry! I told them to split up," he scanned her face for any reactions. "If we didn't, we would've been captured or worse, dead. We don't want that, do we?" he held her other shoulder, turning her body to face him.

"What if that's what I want," Astrid whispered. She was facing down and by the tone of her voice, Jisung thought that she was crying. "What if I'm tired of running, Jisung?" she looked up, her eyes glossy. She felt Jisung's thumb run circles over her shoulders. It wasn't comforting. "What if- what if I want to just rest?" she removed his hands attached to her body.

The boy shook his head, pulling Astrid closer to him. "Astrid, no. We're almost there, okay? We're almost there. We just need to find each other, find where Hwayoung's parents are, and we'll figure out your situation-"

"No," Astrid swallowed, her throat was scratchy while she tried her best not to cry. "I have this feeling that- that they're dead. And if they're not, they don't even care about me."

"What do you want to do then?" Jisung sighed, gently engulfing her in a hug. He was soft, and warm, and cozy, Astrid almost fell asleep in his arms. The girl rested her forehead on his shoulder, finally letting her tears fall. His shirt absorbed the wet drops while she cried silently cradled in his grasp. She shook her head, implying her answer.

"I don't know."

"Then that's okay. We'll figure it out, together." he whispered, rubbing her lower back slowly. He hummed, looking for a response. He only got a short nod, but that was enough for him because he knew that she's the most broken person he met, and this night just proved it. He continued to hold her for what felt like the rest of the night. He softly placed a kiss on her forehead, whispering, "I won't let you down. I promise."