apricate; enhypen imagines

yang jungwon - home

note: apocalypse!au

a/n: sorry if this is bad, i have writers block and it's 3:00am (when i started it, i fell asleep halfway)

tw: blood, zombies

1348 words

- linden

The start of the apocalypse was probably two years ago by now. You remembered feeling small and insignificant as you curled up on the couch, pressed close to one of your moms, watching the news.

At the time, various reports had been coming in about 'undead creatures' and the 'zombie disease'.

It was scary. It was so scary. You'd felt like you were surrounded and you were being crushed in and that the 'zombie disease' could affect you at any moment. Your stamina wasn't good, you couldn't run for long; you didn't know how to fight.

You clung onto your mom's arm and shut your eyes, wishing you couldn't hear the news anchors on tv. School was canceled after that. Not just that week, but forever.

When the government tried to take you to evacuation camps, you got left behind and it became the last you saw of your moms. That was also the last you saw of live human beings for a long time.

The first time you witnessed real human life again was now. Almost two years later and all of a sudden. You'd thought he was a zombie too at first, but the warmth of his skin when he crashed into you and the fact that he wasn't rotting proved otherwise.

This all happened when you were running from a particularly tall zombie with bulky proportions and greasy brown-blonde hair. The zombie was evidently female, but it felt like she was two times your size even if she truly wasn't.

You were running down a long straight street devoid of life and lurking with the occasional zombie in its regular drunken-like state. You jumped over the common hurdle of broken car parts or shattered glass before turning a corner- and running right into a warm body.

From experience that included the gruesome murder of several unfortunate zombies and many frightened tears, you knew that zombies were cold to the touch and their skin was clammy and rough. This person, meanwhile, was radiating the heat of a human body and had surprisingly soft skin marred by the scars that came from living through a freaking zombie apocalypse.

Having greater force, the boy knocked you over so you were on your back. He pushed himself up so he wasn't directly on top of you and, after scanning your bloodied face, took in the situation in no more than a second. He immediately climbed off of you and grabbed your bag and your hand simultaneously while you tried to process the shock of another human being.

In the midst of that, he pulled you stumbling away from the screeching zombies, the one chasing you and the one chasing him, to punch each other in the gut until they realized what they were doing was stupid.

The two of you finally came to a stop in an abandoned shop like every other with its windows shattered in and it's shelves devoid of items or food. There were broken pieces of wood and plaster on the ground from the ceiling that had decided to cave in and no longer provided quite enough shelter.

The boy took a seat with his breaths heavy, but you stayed standing with your breaths even more rushed than his. "Are you okay?" He asked breathily. "My name is Yang Jungwon. You're bleeding."

Slowly, you drew to a criss cross on the ground next to Jungwon. The stare you gave him was blank and glassy, but filled with wonder like a cloudy marble. "Are you real?" You asked. You furrowed your eyebrows and reached out to touch his face. He caught your wrist and laughed awkwardly. Two small dimples showed up in his cheeks. "I'd hope so." He said.

"Oh." You said in a small voice. You drew back your hand. "I'm sorry, I just...I haven't seen a live human being in years."

"It's all right." Jungwon paused and repeated what he'd said earlier. "You're bleeding."

You brought a hand up to your face. "I am." You blinked at the red on your fingers when you pulled them away from the ragged cuts over your cheek and nose bridge.

"Here." Jungwon messed with his bag for a moment before pulling out a couple packages of medical bandages and bandaids. You shook your head. "No, it's fine-"

"The bandaids at least." He insisted. You found yourself wondering why this stranger would care for your well being. Maybe you'd forgotten the meaning of a kind person over the two years you'd been alone.

You nodded and winced when Jungwon brought a cold alcohol soaked cotton pad to your face. You tried to hide it, but couldn't help the little whimper that escaped your lips at the burning the alcohol swab caused. The cuts had already been burning from being exposed to the air, but this was another level of times two pain.

"Sorry." Jungwon whispered. His eyes were soft and you could feel his breath touch the tip of your nose. "It's okay." You assured. Jungwon continued laying bandaids on your face once he'd cleaned up all the blood. He was very gentle and you closed your eyes as you waited for him to be done.

The finished product was an adornment of three or four bandaids on your cheek along with two bandaids over the bridge of your nose.

You gently touched one of the bandaids on your nose. You frowned. "Ow."

Jungwon pulled your hand away. "Don't touch it." He commanded with a frown at your behavior. You nodded in response. "Yes, sir, Jungwon, sir."

The air turned silent, which wasn't unusual considering the lack of human inhabitants. You took that moment to study Jungwon's face. You couldn't lie. He was handsome, he was very handsome. His eyes were kind and his upper lip was shaped like a crown.

A tiny gasp filled the silence between you. "You're bleeding too, you idiot!" You brushed aside some dark hair from his forehead to uncover a small but deep-ish gash sticky with blood.

"You don't call strangers 'idiot' ." Jungwon complained as you found the alcohol swabs and bandaids where he'd put them back in his bag. He stilled his body and winced when you gently dabbed the alcohol swab around the gash.

After a moment of pondering over regular bandaids and Adventure Time bandaids, you chose a blue and yellow Adventure Time bandaid to place over the wound. "Cute." You said. "Where'd you find these?"

"Some abandoned department store, where else?" He gave you a funny smile where only one side of his mouth tipped up. "Also, please don't interact with me like we've been friends for years."

"Sorry!" You bowed your head in embarrassment. "It's just been a long time...I used to talk to my best friend like this. She was awesome." You smiled sadly and Jungwon's smile dipped. "No, I'm sorry. I don't get it since i've had people to talk to."

You gave him an incredulous look. "Really?"

"Yeah." He tilted his head to get the hair out of his eyes and sent a weird serial killer smile in your direction. It was strangely cute. "You wanna come see this old truck we stole? I'll drive you home."

"Home?" You asked. Your eyes were wide like a curious child using a magnifying glass to inspect a shiny little ladybug. You hadn't heard that word in what felt like forever. You hadn't thought that word in forever.

Home.

It sounded warm and fuzzy. It sounded safe where there wasn't safety. In a world taken over and in a world where those left behind were lost forever. A world where people like you were gone with no exceptions. No one was coming back for you.

A world...where human existence seemed alien and unreal. A world where it's only street survivors craved the safety of what had been before.

You nodded and smiled at Jungwon, who's smile grew soft and promising. The future felt bright for the first time since the start of the apocalypse. You hummed. "Yes. I wanna go home."