wasteland, baby!

33

heads up! this chapter is very dark and mentions blood, vomiting, and guns. proceed at your own risk,,,,

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Surprisingly, another person shows up at the little convenience store they intended on camping up at. They'd been out for a walk to see what else had been around, but when they found nothing else, they made their way back to the store.

Jungwon's complaining about the cold again and Jay's laughing, but it immediately dies down as he pushes the door open. He holds a hand out to Jungwon's chest to stop him from walking any further. He slings the gun into his hands and points it towards the bleeding teenager on the floor.

The kid's eyes are bloodshot. Blood is smeared all over his clothes and his face, and he's covering a bleeding wound on his side. Jungwon's stomach clenches at the sight of the dark red spilling over his hands and onto the floor. The room smells so much like death and copper, it makes him a little nauseous.

Jay still has the gun pointed towards the kid when he speaks.

"What happened?" Jay asks slowly, moving closer and Jungwon wants to tug him back. Maeumi growls lowly from behind him, safely tucked inside the backpack, and Jungwon reaches back to pat at his head, understanding the sentiment completely.

The kid is breathing raggedly and he has tears streaming down his face.

"I was... I was with my sister and then," the kid hiccups and reaches to wipe the tears from his eyes. "They came out of nowhere... She couldn't get away and then, I— This was the only place I could find, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the kid repeats.

Jungwon sees Jay hesitate before slowly crouching down next to the kid, slinging the gun off and placing it on the ground next to him. Jungwon immediately steps forward to be next to them, watching hesitantly, ready in case something goes wrong.

"Can I see?" Jay asks softly, pointing towards the wound the kid was covering up. The kid shakes his head at first, but Jay tries again. "Hey, kid, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you. I just want to see if there's something we can do to help."

"There's nothing you can do for me now," the kid answers brokenly and Jungwon steps back a little, breath quickening when the kid removes his hand to reveal the deep bite in his thigh. A chunk of his skin had been ripped out, but the teeth mark around it were completely distinguishable.

The kid chokes back a sob and looks into Jay's eyes and then to Jungwon's pleadingly, asking for answers Jungwon can't give and a miracle he can't make occur.

"Hey, it's okay," Jay continues to try and soothe the kid down, but this just causes the kid to break down even more and Jay's own voice starts to waver.

"Please," the kid begs again. He grabs at Jay's arm and shakes it. "Please, shoot me." Jay doesn't say anything. He looks absolutely terrified, a look Jungwon's never seen on him and Jungwon feels like he got punched in the gut.

It feels like the whole room stopped breathing altogether, or maybe that was just Jungwon, but Jay still isn't responding. He just keeps searching the kid's face, shaking his head slowly.

"I- I," Jay says, but his breaths are beginning to come out quicker and he shakes his head again, grabbing at the kid's shoulder. "No, we can- we'll find another way. We can help you!"

The kid is shaking his head, already knowing that there was nothing to be done for him. Jungwon doesn't think he'd ever have that much bravery.

"Please," he asks again, and this time he looks over at Jungwon. "Please, I don't want to become one of them," he whispers.

Jay seems to be frozen. He's still holding onto the kid's shoulder tightly, but all the color has drained from his face. He looks far away, like all those nights he's woken up to find him staring off a million miles away.

The kid is still looking at Jungwon, pleading with his eyes and Jungwon can't look away.

He doesn't want to do this. Would rather do anything else BUT this, but he knows the kid is right. Has seen up close and personal what terrible things zombies are capable of. There's nothing they can do to help him, but this. A last, fucked-up little promise they could help this kid with.

Jungwon slings his backpack off, careful not to jostle Maeumi around too much, and sets it down gingerly next to the opening of the store. He turns back and picks up the gun that still on the ground next to Jay.

Jungwon freezes when he picks up the gun and he almost sets it down again, but the kid is still looking at him. Images of zombies ripping apart his friends and countless more innocent people flood his mind and he doesn't want this kid to suffer the same fate as them. Doesn't want him to become a monster like that.

Jay's still frozen. His breaths aren't coming out as fast as before, but his chest is rising up and down heavily as he continues to look into the kid's face, pleading in his own way. The kid looks back at him for a while, reassuring Jay that it's better this way, that he's thankful that he was willing to try and do more but they both knew this was it.

He turns around to look at Jungwon. He smiles sadly, nods once, gives Jay's hand one last squeeze, and says thank you before closing his eyes.

Jungwon empties out his stomach as soon as the bullet goes through the kid's head. Maeumi's barking, but the sound sounds far away. The smell of blood is heavy in the air and Jungwon has nothing more in his stomach but he keeps dry heaving, wishing he could empty out every bad feeling swimming inside him.

He hears the door open and close and Jungwon turns around to see Jay's gone outside, gun with him. Jungwon dry heaves a couple more times and averts his gaze from where he knows the kid's body lies as he rushes out to follow after a Jay quickly.