do or die | yang jungwon

stage 5: fight or flight

FOR ALL OF HER CLUMSINESS, BAE NARI PRIDED HERSELF ON HER INTELLECT - AND HER INTELLECT'S ABILITY TO COUNTERACT HER LACK OF SHEER SURVIVAL SKILLS. however, when the only thing that's running through her mind is how to escape her own high school with her friends, she realizes that her intellect will fail her in favor of her heart. 

nari watches as a horde of zombies move in the direction of the cafeteria, where haruto, jeongwoo, riki, and dani were undoubtedly trapped. which meant that hiyyih, who she had been separated from when nari had left the classroom to use the bathroom before the next class, and jungwon were still unaccounted for.

she tried not to think about what unaccounted for meant in situations like this.

"don't even go there," nari whispers to herself, stalking across the hallway, holding her breath as she tries to move as lightly as possible. she could outrun a zombie but she was pretty sure she couldn't fight one if she didn't have any weapons to fight with so her best chances of survival were just sheer espionage.

a stray zombie straggling behind the crowd suddenly pauses, turning towards where nari is standing, frozen and holding her breath to avoid making a singular excuse for the zombie to come anywhere near her.

she could faintly see movement inside the classroom where she was heading back to, to try and find jungwon and hiyyih before trying to find the rest of her friends. nari didn't even dare entertain the thought that perhaps she was the only one who was looking for her friends. her friends were more loyal than that. and to be frank?

the zombies were way too fast, strong, and lethal for them to survive without each other.

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nari had discovered early on that confined spaces were pretty safe. even when she had almost left the bathroom, having finished what she had came to do, once she heard the screams from outside, and various students had come rushing into the bathroom, nari didn't need too much more to fully understand the extent of what was going on outside.

"tell me everything." she had said, her voice low and dangerous. she didn't mean it as a threat or a fear tactic but the poor second years who had darted into the bathroom were trembling and shaking in their shoes. although, nari couldn't completely isolate the factor of the zombies that had undoubtedly chasing them before they sought refuge in the restroom.

"zombies," the braver one of the group whispered. she was a tiny girl, definitely no taller than nari - who was considerably shorter than the other girls in her friend group. 

"zombies?"

"zombies. they're students, staff, whatever the zombies can turn. it seems like they're faster than whoever they used to be and helluva lot more persistent too. no matter how big or strong you are, it's hard to take on more than maybe three or four at the very maximum on your own. we can't really tell how they see, since their eyes are completely black. it could be smell, touch, hearing; we don't know. all we know is that they don't have any of the human logic that they used to have. its like they've been reduced to animals. like the most primal versions of humans to have ever existed. and the worst part is? they used be our friends."

nari had taken in all of the information with a stoney face before nodding grimly. 

"alright. thank you for the information. i have got to get out there to find my friends - if my friends even exist anymore." nari didn't say the last part out loud but she didn't really need to. the poor second year grabbed her arm desperately, shaking her head.

"they - they can't open doors! wait in here with us! you could be killed if you go out there!" the second year exclaims, tears welling in her eyes. nari smiles, squatting so that she was eye to eye with the girl and holds her hand in her own, trying to transfer all of her will into a single grasp.