Lee Cheong-san x Lee Na-yeon | All of Us Are Dead

Flicker

No one had slept after the attack from Gwi-nam, they had all been too wired, frantically checking whenever they heard the smallest sound. 

Na-yeon laid her head on Cheong-san's shoulder watching the fire they had once again reignited as she felt his slow strokes up and down her arm. On-jo had wordlessly moved closer to the two as they all sat down to watch the fire. Some of the group were keeping watch in case any surprises were going to climb up. Nam-ra was bandaged up but they could still see some of the bruises that had been left after the fight with Gwi-nam. She had covered her eye because she kept complaining of how sensitive it had become.

"So what's the plan?" Su-hyeok asked seemingly no one as he stared at the fire, "we have to get out of here" Cheong-san replied as their eyes met across the fire. That much was obvious to all of them, staying on this roof would be them just waiting for death and they could see the gathering zombie horde getting bigger and bigger. "The more we wait the more of them gather and it will end up being impossible to escape" he continued as he looked over the group. "We have to first get down the building then figure out how to get."

He was silenced as Nam-ra raised her hand stopping him, he looked at her confusedly but she just kept her hand raised. Everyone was quiet as they saw the look of concentration on her face before her ears perked up. She stood up quickly running to the edge of the roof and the others rushed after her. She was looking around nervously into the distance. "I hear it" she muttered and Su-hyeok got closer trying to see whatever she saw, "There ... there's a helicopter coming." 

That seemed to spur most of the group back to life as they rushed to the edge of the building waiting patiently with baited breaths. They didn't want to face disappointment again after the day they had, so no one cheered or applauded. The group stood nervously praying and hoping that this time they had finally caught a break. Na-yeon tightened her grip on Cheong-san's hand as they looked on, she could feel him softly rubbing her knuckles as he looked into the distance. He seemed stoic and his face masked any emotion that he was feeling, but she now knew he did it to ease everyone's nerves, because what use was another person that was emotional right now.

There was a flicker in the distance breaking through the dark clouds that had been slowly gathering that night. "What was that?" Dae-su asked but no one in the group replied as their eyes focused on the light as it dipped in and out of the clouds again. They swear none of them took a breath as from above the clouds the light finally came down in the distance and they could see it.

In all its glory as it moved in the distance with a massive searchlight, it was a helicopter. "IT'S THEM OH MY GOD IT'S THEM," Wu-Jin screamed out as he jumped to hug Dae-su. Cheong-san was watching what the helicopter was doing closely but it was On-jo that spoke next to him. "They're running a search pattern again, do they think people are still alive?" that made her so happy to know that they hadn't given up on them.

"EVERYONE GET EVERYTHING READY, WE MUST LET THEM KNOW WE'RE HERE" Cheong-san shouted knocking everyone out of their cheering as they all bolted into action. They lit more fires around the roof and made a bigger SOS sign on the floor then they then lit it on fire. All of them stood anxious as they watched the helicopter searchlight move around the terrain quickly. Then it turned facing directly at them.

The helicopter moved fast towards them and it almost seemed surreal that they had finally found their escape now, Some of the group were crying tears of joy when they saw the searchlight shining on them. Even though they knew whoever was in the plane could see them now, they didn't stop shouting for help jumping up and down. Their signs and some of the fire were blown away as the helicopter hovered above the roof. Cheong-san hugged Na-yeon and then with some hesitation On-jo because he was just so happy that this was all over. 

They heard the speaker blur out "CLEAR OUT BELOW" and they moved away as thick ropes fell from the plane onto the roof before a group of men repelled down. The men had guns pointed at them but they didn't care as they raised their hands with smiles on their faces. The men seemed to be talking amongst themselves and they couldn't hear what they were saying, "Didn't team 6 already extract someone from this roof,"  "seems they missed a few." 

One of the men approached them and took out what seemed to be a thermometer and started measuring each and every one of them. He got to Nam-ra and saw her temperature was low but she looked human, must have been getting hypothermia up on the roof. He took out an emergency blanket warping it around her and then shouted towards the others "CLEAR."

That seemed to be what they were waiting for as the others put hooks on the side of the roof before they repelled down.  

"You're safe now," the soldier said to the group, "Now let's get you out of here." Ji-Min stepped forward first with Hyo-Ryung behind her, as the man gave her another once over before signalling at the helicopter dropping a harness of sorts. She stepped into it and before she knew what was happening, Ji-Min was lifted up towards the helicopter, the others in the group waited for their turn eagerly.

Everyone was now wondering what the others that went down were doing, were they looking for other survivors? It wasn't moments later that they started hearing gunshots sound in the building. 

The group didn't want to know what was going on down there, they had experienced enough of that as is, Joon-Yeong was now waiting for his turn on the harness as it came down. Ji-Min and Hyo-Ryung had already gone up safely but as he made for the harness the soldier suddenly stopped him. He was about to ask what was the reason but as he turned to face him, he found the barrel of the gun pointed at his head, "Step away from the harness." He quickly stepped away back toward the group as the soldier pointed his gun at the group. "What's going on?" Cheong-san asked himself.

They could see that the soldier was talking to someone on his comms they could guess, even shouting before he gave a defeated sigh. The soldier was fighting with his commander because his superior was telling him that some of the infected didn't show symptoms and masked as humans, there had already been an outbreak in one of the safe zones they had set up. His commander was now asking that he shoot these kids ... these school kids because there was a risk they could be infected, but he didn't think he could bring himself to do such a thing. "BRING THEM DOWN" he shouted up at the helicopter, All this happened whilst the echoing of gunfire continued from inside the school.

Ji-Min and Hyo-Ryung were surprised when the soldiers in the helicopter told them to get off, Wasn't this the reason they were here, to rescue people. The soldiers that had gone down came back up with one of them missing and started going up to the helicopter as Ji-Min and Hyo-Ryung were brought down. Cheong-san couldn't stand this, "WHAT'S GOING ON? AREN'T YOU HERE TO SAVE US?" he shouted approaching the soldier angrily and a gun was pointed at him before the sound of a warning shot rang past his ear. That cut off any protest from him and the others, he felt Na-Yeon lace her fingers with his as she steadily dragged him away from the soldier with her hand raised.

They saw the rest of the soldiers repel up to the helicopter and then one stood alone facing them, "I'm sorry" he said, "but at least we're giving you a chance." He said before he repelled up to the helicopter leaving only shock on their faces, some of the group were shouting at them to come back and others just collapsed in despair. They had their escape right in their grasp before fate took it away from them and Cheong-san could only shout in anger at the helicopter as it turned and disappeared into the distance. 

When he finally stopped, he felt hopeless as he couldn't even see it anymore. He felt the steady unsure circles that were being rubbed on his back and as he glanced over his shoulder he locked his eyes with Na-Yeon. She had a small smile on her face but whatever mask of happiness that was supposed to bring was overshadowed by the tears that were running down her face.

He turned to her hugging her and he could feel the presence of someone next to them, It was On-Jo who stood next to the two watching the sky where the helicopter had disappeared. 

Cheong-san knew he had to be strong for them, he had to find a way to get them out of there.