Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 11 : Red Dawn

Seonghwa knew it was bound to happen. He even knew it was bound to happen soon and had mentally prepared himself for it. But even then, nothing could have prepared him for the sight behind him as the last few survivors drove away from the base that was still spewing out smoke and dead creatures walking around the fenced courtyard. There might have been fifteen of them that made it, maybe if they were lucky twenty.

Only two jeeps drove far ahead of him, the burning red dawn sun was blinding him as he poked his weak body out of the backseat door to try and see what was happening. The home he came to know was overrun and infested with the very thing they swore to keep out. The dark cloud of smoke was very easy to see in the morning sun, the shape it made above the concrete prison was mocking.

"You know what they say about a red sun?" Hongjoong muttered next to him, his voice hoarse and exhausted.

Seonghwa turned to look at him, seeing the way the younger was leaning his head back against the headrest with his eyes closed and his chest heaving for air. Seonghwa's eyes caught the deep gash on his upper arm again, the ripped cloth was soaked with his blood. Hongjoong had pulled the belt off that Seonghwa had tied tightly around him to try and stop the bleeding, and now that it was gone, the wound seemed to struggle to clot.

"What?" He found himself asking, his eyes unable to look away from the younger's wound. His nose burned, the smoke had probably burned his nasal cavity raw and when he brought his hand up to press against the throbbing skin, he let out a loud hiss at the pain. Had he broken it? He couldn't tell if the blood on his face was his or someone else's, but the pain had his gut twisting with a bad feeling.

Hongjoong coughed, his left arm lying limp by his side as he did his best to smile.

"They say," he sucked in a deep breath, his eyebrows pinching together. "A red sun at dawn means that blood has been spilled. I'd say... that myth is pretty spot on."

Seonghwa could only stare. "How could you- How can you even joke about that right now? We just lost everything- and you're sitting here bleeding out and making stupid fucking jokes about the sun?!"

Hongjoong just pressed his lips together, his body jerking when the jeep rolled over large cracks in the dirt road.

"No..." He exhaled, his head lolling to the side. In the sunlight, his usually tanned skin looked pale and clammy, something that made Seonghwa's fingers twitch with worry. "I'm just trying to stay awake. I think if I were to fall asleep right now... I won't wake up."

Seonghwa's eyes darted down the wound, the amount of blood that Hongjoong had lost was very alarming. From what he knew- Yeosang was in one of the other jeeps- he wouldn't be able to help Hongjoong and Seonghwa didn't even know what condition the blonde was in.

"You should..." Seonghwa gulped, his hands reaching out but hesitating to touch the younger man. He licked his dry lips, his eyes still burning from the smoke and when he looked up to the front seats to see Wooyoung and Yunho sitting up there quietly, blood splattered all over them, Seonghwa knew they wouldn't be able to help. He cursed silently to himself, his head and nose ached terribly and he wished the red sun wasn't so bright because it was making it all worse. "You shouldn't have taken the belt off- you're going to bleed out without it. Why did you-"

"I tried to save that little girl," Hongjoong forced out, coughing again and wincing at the movement. He finally opened his eyes, no doubt irritated from the smoke too, and he looked up at Seonghwa who was nearly leaning over him. "The belt was the only weapon I could use. I tried to strangle that zombie and pull it away from her. My gun was jammed."

"Did it... Did it work? Is she- okay?" Both Seonghwa and Hongjoong looked to see Wooyoung looking back at them, his body twisting in a weird way over the seat. The sunlight caught the wet blood on his skin perfectly, almost blinding him.