too quiet ⁀➷ chensung [ ✓ ]

CHAPTER TWO

jisung expects his mother to call him and he'll answer everything she asks halfheartedly and hear the same things from the news that he already heard.

he might be annoyed but it's nice to talk to someone when no one else wants to nor is around. he lives alone and it never bothered him before because he could still see his friends. but now? now he can't. he's forced to stay stuck inside and can't see and talk to anyone. the thing is — he had his mother, his dear mother to talk to, to provide his need for socialising, and now she's gone.

infected. she's infected. so, in a way, not truly gone, but now she's all green skinned and... like those people out on the street. they're not human anymore and bite people. she's not human anymore... and his father? he was already infected at that point.

jisung had stopped doing his daily checks by peeling back the curtain to peer down into the street below. he'll see the same thing he always see, the number of infected people seemingly growing every day. even if he had stopped that, jisung hadn't stop crying. even if he had confined himself only to his room for the most part, he still slowly made his way out to the kitchen for food and to stand beside his phone for a few moments, staring at it with the hope that it'll ring again. empty hope.

as he was doing right now, holding his cup of ramyeon that was starting to cool as he held it in his hand. tears were starting to build up in his eyes as he stared, watched, his eyes aching to hear that annoying ringing noise that he had grown accustomed to. but as the moments come and pass, never to be gotten back, jisung starts fully crying again when it's silent, filling the quiet with his sobbing.

it... it hadn't been that long, hasn't it? one day it was all normal and the next his world turns into one with infected, human-eating people and without his parents. what about his friends? his online friends? did they get infected too? his other family members he wasn't as close with? did they go greenish skinned and hungry for flesh with their skin rotting away to reveal their bones?

they may as well be, jisung thinks hopelessly. he didn't like to picture it, seeing his mother and father as monsters that would happily eat him. remembering the news, he looks away toward the television with his teary eyes, seeing the warning signs of someone turning that always remained on the screen constantly as a reminder.

his eyes read the words as they always do:

- any sort of huge wound, especially bite marks. they may not be from an infected, but always be cautious.

- slowed movement (this depends, however. if they are immediately dead from their injury, this is not a sign to look for.)

- when they die, they start twitching after a few minutes and their skin starts to turn a slight green colour. if you see a supposedly dead body whose fingers start to move again, immediately leave for your safety.

- the dead body starts to move fully again (standing up, walking towards you, etc.), immediately leave for your safety. they want to bite you.

- if they start growling sounding like an animal, immediately leave for your safety.

jisung diverts his eyes away from that list to see the rules to follow for the sake of keeping them alive, continuing to silently cry. those words — immediately leave for your safety — was burned into his mind. the second list mentioned to stay inside at all times and only leave when needed to avoid turning. keep in contact with your family at all times to ensure their safety. when encountering an infected, immediately leave for your safety.

there goes that phrase again.

seeing someone turning is a sign to leave. they could bite you or someone else, which effectively starts an outbreak. jisung shutters, thinking of the attacks he witnesses on the pavement below. seeing that person get bit right in the neck was hard to watch yet to look away from as well. jisung sinks down to the floor again, still holding onto his ramyeon, and continuing to cry.