painkiller // namhyeok

9: RUN

"But I can't just leave you here!" He held her hand. "What the hell is happening to him, anyway?"

"I'll call him!" Daesu emerged from the dining area. "He's in your house, right?" he asked Namra, who nodded as a response. "Okay, I'll be back with him and the adults!" He ran to the door, leaving them behind.

Onjo followed Cheongsan to the stairs, feeling nervous as the boy continued screaming. "His ears-"

"He's turning to a monster," Namra informed them. "Onjo, get down here!" Her friend hesitated at first, but when Cheongsan told her to follow Namra, she follow him, though unwillingly.

Suhyeok ran to the stairs to get Onjo. At the same time, Eun Wang ran to the stairs, pushing Cheongsan and the others with his might in order to get out of the house.

Without Eun Wang blocking their room, Cheongsan finally saw what happened inside.

On the bed was Eun Wang's younger brother, Baek Ah, who has already stopped breathing. Cheongsan noticed the hand mark around Baek Ah's neck, which meant that his brother strangled him to death. Seo Young and Ki Joon entered the room after, the former still crying from what she's seeing.

"I came here to tell them that the food's almost ready," Seo Young explained. "They weren't responding so I thought I'd check if they're asleep. T-then I saw Eun Wang choking Baek Ah."

"You should follow him before he hurts anyone else," Ki Joon told Cheongsan.

Cheongsan nodded and left, just in time to see Namra and Suhyeok leave the house as well. Onjo, Hari, and Mijin were downstairs, waiting for him.

"What happened to his brother?" asked Mijin.

"Strangled to death," he answered. "I'll follow them. Just stay here."

Running outside, Namra and Suhyeok found Eun Wang a few meters ahead of them. He was on top of a woman, eating her flesh like a zombie. On their left, someone yelled, "Jae Kyong!"

Once Eun Wang heard the girl, he stood up and advanced towards her, leaving the half-dead Jae Kyong on the ground.

"I'll follow them," Namra told Suhyeok. "Would you carry Jae Kyong to the house?" Suhyeok nodded without further questions.

Eun Wang and So Ah were already by the subdivision's gate when Namra reached them. So Ah pushed the different chairs they set up as a barricade last night until she reached the small door by the side of the main entrance.

"Don't open that gate!" Namra warned her. She approached So Ah but the woman was too scared to walk towards her, even forgetting that her hand was already exposed outside, where zombies were lurking. "Step away from the gate!"

Unbeknownst to them, Eun Wang has finally given up against the monster inside him. As Namra rushed to pull So Ah from the gate, the monster behind her made a noise that caught their attention.

What horrified Namra wasn't the loss of Eun Wang's ears or the way the black part in the centers of his eyes turned vertical, its irises changing from brown to yellow. Rather, it was Eun Wang's cries. It wasn't like a boy's.

It was as if from a cat.

With Namra and So Ah preoccupied with the sight before them, the zombies began attacking the latters' hands from the small gaps of the gate. At the same time, Eun Wang's distress made him lose control of his movements and reach out to Namra, his hand turning into claws as soon as it touched her hand.

Namra covered her ears, in pain to hear the loud noises from the So Ah, the zombies, and Eun Wang's cry. Her hearing wasn't this sensitive before which made her think that this was all because of Eun Wang. At that moment, she didn't know what to do but walk away and protect her ears.