Infected

Chapter 2

"What do you mean we only have two days left as a team?" Jisung cried, staring at Seungmin in shock. "Have you lost your mind?"

    "No, I don't think I have," Seungmin said coolly. "I'm just saying that at least one of them is infected."

    He pointed at Felix, Changbin, and Chan, who had gathered together. The others looked from the injured members of the group to Seungmin, their jaws nearly hitting the ground.   

    "Look, just because they're injured doesn't mean they're infected," Jisung reasoned, panic rising in his voice.

    "I know, but we can't risk it," Seungmin argued. "We should kill them now and get it over with."

    He raised his gun, aiming it right between Changbin's eyes. Changbin stared into the barrel of the gun with dull eyes, wobbling slightly on his feet. Felix dashed out in front of him, but Seungmin didn't lower the gun. His finger flexed on the trigger, contemplating when to shoot.

    "Oh no you don't," Minho said, ripping the gun out of Seungmin's hands. "They're staying alive. I don't care if we run low on supplies because of it. If they show signs of being infected, then we'll talk about killing them."

    "Fine," Seungmin said, shrugging as if he didn't just try to kill three of his close friends.

"We'll see if there's an extra room in the house for them. That way, if they're infected and transform, they'll be far away from us and we'll have time to react."

    They walked up the hill in silence, everyone staying as far away from Seungmin as possible. Secretly, they all saw where he was coming from, but they couldn't (and frankly didn't want to) believe that they might have to kill their own friends.

    Once they reached the top of the hill, they were finally able to get a closer look at the house. It was a bit run down and looked like it had been abandoned for a year or so now, but it looked safe enough to live in. The once white paint had turned the color of gunpowder, the windows boarded up with graffitied wood.

    Jeongin was the first to walk inside, surveying the interior of the house. The electricity still worked, and the inside looked to be in very good condition. The only downside was that there was an ant problem.

    "It looks like a good place to stay for now," Chan said conclusively. "There's a forest behind the house too. I'm sure that we can find some food and other supplies there when we need it."

    The others broke up, scavenging the house for any supplies that might be hidden within. They found canned food that had not yet expired, clean and seemingly unused clothes, and most importantly, medical supplies.

    "There's a guest room in the back of the house," Hyunjin said, medical supplies cradled in his arms. "How about you three stay there until we know that you aren't infected. I'll be there in a moment."

    The three obeyed him with no complaints, knowing that it would be for the safety of the others that they remained behind closed doors. Once they entered the guest room and the door was tightly shut behind them, Changbin collapsed to the floor.

    "Hyung, it's going to be okay," Felix said, trying to mask the panic in his voice. "We'll get you fixed up very soon."

    "When is this going to be over?" Changbin asked, looking at Felix with glazed eyes. He had lost a lot of blood and wasn't fully there anymore.

    "I don't know hyung.. I don't know," Felix said honestly, gently laying Changbin down on the bed.

    "How are you feeling, Felix?" Chan asked, his eyes inevitably wandering down to the bloody, mangled flesh on his hand where his pinky and ring finger used to be.

    "Not that good if I'm going to be completely honest with you," He answered. The smile on his face contradicted what he was saying.

    Chan and Felix knelt by the bed, trying to keep Changbin, the most injured of the two, calm. His face was already flushed with fever, infection quickly setting into his untreated wound. After a few minutes, Hyunjin rushed into the room, medical kit in hand.

    "Is Doctor Hwang here to save us?" Felix asked, a weak smile on his face.

    "I don't know if I can save you, but I'll sure as hell try my best," Hyunjin said distractedly. "I'm going to start with you Changbin. This is going to hurt."

    Hyunjin carefully removed Changbin's shirt to get a better look at the wound. Changbin, who was too out of it to notice, didn't protest.

    The wound was deep and didn't look like it would ever fully heal, but he wasn't about to give up. He took a cotton ball, poured some antiseptic on it, and began gently cleaning Changbin's wound. He hissed at the added pain being added to his shoulder and pulled away.

    "Please stay still. I know it hurts, but this is for the best," Chan said calmly, taking the words right out of Hyunjin's mouth.

    Hyunjin continued cleaning the wound before wrapping it in bandages. It was a botched job, but it was the best he could do until he found stitches. He moved on to Chan and Felix, treating their wounds to the best of his ability with the little supplies he had. As he closely inspected the wounds and the states they were in, he began to wonder if they would make it.

~~~

    The world around him was spinning so quickly that he could barely walk. He felt nauseous. No. He had to pretend to be okay. The others would worry. His whole body was in agony. It was almost as if the pain from his wound had spread to his entire body, slowly setting him on fire from the inside.

    Everything was turning blurry. He had to make out the shapes of his friends. Their features blurred together forming shapeless lumps. Who was that again? They all looked the same. His organs felt like they were burning. Is this what it felt like to die?

    Seungmin. Why didn't you kill me?