Promise; Lee Su-hyeok

008. Homemade Skydiving

1661 words

"Okay?"

I face Su-hyeok, his eyes are watery. Mine probably are too.

"Come on, man up," I mutter.

He frowns, "Hey! Men can cry. Plus, you're crying too."

I wave my hands, "No, no, no. I was saying that to myself."

"Mhm, sure."

I follow him into an art room full of zombies and hide behind a drawer. "What were you going to tell me earlier?"

I press my lips into a line. "Was-" I look down, avoiding eye contact. "Do you think Hyeon-ju was a zombie?"

He looks at one of the zombies in the room. "I think so," he nods. "Why do you ask?"

"Don't you remember?" I unwrap the bandage on my arm. My left wrist has teeth marks on both sides. There's also green and purple veins popping out strangely. The wound is really deep, I'm pretty sure it's still bleeding. That's definitely concerning.

Getting weirded out, I quickly rewrap the bandages.

"I got bitten." I study his face for a reaction, but he doesn't react.

"I should leave. If I turn I don't want to bite you or anyone else in our group. I can distract them," I gesture to the zombies, "and you go find them."

He grabs my wrist before I can stand up, "But you haven't turned. Maybe Hyeon-ju wasn't a zombie, maybe she was something else."

"Stop trying to reason with me. I got bitten, I can't stay with you."

He stays still, "No." He has this look that would make anyone weak in the knees so I can't really argue. I try anyway, "But-"

His brown eyes burn into my shit colored ones, "No buts. You're staying. That's that." He peaks his head behind us, "We need to get out."

"Don't you understand? I'm putting you all in danger if I stay."

"Gummi, not now. We can't be here for long."

I give up. I can just run away later, right? I scan the room and spot an open window. "Look, right there," I point.

He nods, "We're going to slide behind the stool, okay?" We scoot quickly and hide. Since it is a small stool, we have to be pretty close together. I can feel his breath on my neck.

Gross.

He's about to move but I stop him, grabbing his shoulder. "There's a zombie behind us." A pencil still falls onto the floor, due to the movement, causing noise.

"Fuck," he breathes out. We gain an armless zombie's attention and Bare-su throws a clay head at it, missing completely.

"Go, go!" I push tables to block zombies and we reach the window.

He stops in his tracks, "Oh..."

I climb next to him on the windowsill, "What? Oh, shit." I almost slip off, not expecting there to be no balcony.

"Look, just do this," he demonstrates and I follow.

I inhale sharply. "Damn this is high," I say looking down.

He scoffs, "You've been higher."

I roll my eyes, "Are you accusing me off doing drugs?" I lift one of my feet. "I'll jump. I'll do it."

I can hear his breathing stop for a second, and his eyes go slightly wide, before he hides it with a chuckle. "Do it, I don't care. Less stress for me."