𝐳𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐮!
In a quarantine zone, life can feel like a slow rot, but Melody yearns for more. With a desire to explore the harsh world outside military control, she discovers purpose among fellow survivors. Now, armed wit...
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I walked through the abandoned streets filled with rusty crashed cars with Jimin, keeping a distance from him. He doesn't look intimidating, but I'm keeping my guard up just in case. Since this place was quite the populated zone back then, the shops had been raided long ago, along with the pharmacies. Best luck finding anything here is discarded scraps of strange sources. These buildings were no more than just shacks on their foundations, soon enough they will crumble to gravity. As I was concentrating on the sounds of our footsteps echoing between us, he looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "I don't mean to ask you something personal already but why'd you leave?"
I didn't know if he was asking me about a future goal or my life story but either way, I did not feel like saying anything other than "Felt like it" which is true, the reason I left was boredom and curiosity. If I stayed longer, I'm sure I would've lost my mind hearing the same guard yell at the speakers day and night about regulations and severe punishments, and the pleading screams of those who are accused of breaking them.
He hummed and diverged his attention to the road ahead, fidgeting with his sleeves. "I wasn't in one, the zones I mean, but I was with a bunch of my university friends surviving in this campervan. As much as it sounded like a good idea to just move when things went wrong" he paused, pursing his lips in a thin line "eventually we ran out of fuel to gather and in a dire situation, we split. Been a year"
It makes me hesitant to grow attached to anyone I meet. Look at what happens, we split, they died, someone got infected, I was betrayed. This apocalypse just brings the worst out of people. I'm no hypocrite, I am not the same kid I once was. Yet, the thoughts of "what could" never leave me at peace whether they're extremely optimistic or severely negative. I still can't figure out how to control or even understand my emotions, it's not like it will do you any good to show them around the QZ.
"You there?" he asked with concerning eyes. I seemed to have zoned out when he was talking.
"Yeah, just" I blew some air out of my nose "university huh? Must have been nice" I said while looking at the dimming sky above me.
"I can tell you all about my time there although I've only been there for like 2 years" he let a small chuckle "let's find a place to stay in, roads quiet and we don't wanna ruin that" and as if on cue, a distant yell of one of the infected can be heard to emphasise their presence.
We settled in an apartment above a laundry mat and we were piling up sheets from washing machines that were left forgotten. I miss the smell of fresh detergent. While Jimin was talking about the university parties he attended and the long essays about the dozens of movies he and his classmates analyzed with a smile that made his eyes squint, my head started to feel like a bowling bowl against the stacked and folded sheets and for once, night has been passed with no thoughts about what could have been, or the loss I experienced.
Crumbs of biscuits and oat bars fell on the floor as we ate our breakfast the next morning. We planned to heat some soup cans later this afternoon when we get to another place. I wiped some bits of the energy bar from the corner of my mouth then asked him about his plan because I sure as hell didn't have one.
