paranoia / gyuricky

09: zhang hao, the survivor

The pounding on the door becomes more intense, prompting Matthew and Gunwook to use their bodies as barricades due to their muscular physiques. Gunwook considered the whole affair ironic—just moments before, he and Matthew had advocated for using Ricky as a sacrifice, but now they're protecting him with their lives. How the tables have turned, he thought.

"Yo!" Yujin shouts, flipping through a rather thick book. "Zhang Hao is in the phone book! Call him! Now!"

Gyuvin fumbles with his phone, his hands badly trembling as he dials the number after Yujin gives it to him, impatiently tapping his foot while the other line rings. It went directly to voicemail, much to his dismay, but it did confirm that they were calling the correct person. Gyuvin hesitates, but gives in when he sees Ricky's desperation, prompting him to start talking. "Hello, Zhang Hao? My name is Kim Gyuvin, and we really need your help. You saw the witch, right? How the fuck did you survive? We have a bunch of killers after us, and we'd really appreciate it if you fucking answered! Thanks."

"This shit is not holding!" Gunwook shouts worriedly, his face inches away from an axe being lodged into the door. A hand leaps through a hole, grabbing onto Gunwook's face, causing him to let out a shout due to the hand feeling slimy against his skin. "What the fuck? What the actual fuck?!"

Matthew grabs the hand of who he assumes is the Camp Planet murderer, trying to pry it off the younger's face. "Just hold on!"

Yujin examines the situation and notices a pair of scissors on the floor. He snatches it and rushes towards Gunwook, closing his eyes as he stabs the murderer's decaying hand, freeing his brother.

"He died," Ricky mumbles under his breath, still holding the newspaper clipping. "He fucking died!"

"What?" Gyuvin questions, pocketing his phone as he walks over to Ricky. "No, he's alive. That's the whole point!"

Ricky runs a hand through his blonde hair, nodding. "Yeah, he survived, but first, he died."

"'Zhang Hao was found in the woods,'" Gyuvin reads from the article. "'His heart had stopped but a local boy performed CPR.'"

"What if this is it?" Ricky asks, looking up at Gyuvin, who only had concern written on his face. "What if that's how he survived? His heart stopped. He survived by dying."

Gyuvin's eyes light up as if he just realized something. "Of fucking course! The stupid nursery rhyme. 'She'll take your blood, she'll take your head. She'll follow you until you're dead.'"

"So, we have to kill Ricky... then bring him back to life?" Taerae asked, a tinge of hesitation behind his words.

"You know what, fuck it," Ricky says, "I'm dying tonight either way, so let's just fucking do it."

Gyuvin smashes a hole in the classroom's window with a chair, as it was stuck when he tried to open it. Everyone flees through the broken glass, with Gunwook and Matthew being the last ones to do so to make sure they can hold the door for as long as possible.

"Let's fucking go!" Gunwook shouts with a chuckle, pumping his fist into the air as the group runs towards Taerae's van.

Now safe in the van, Matthew lets out a huff. "I work at the Grab & Bag nearby. There's something there I think we can use."

"Let's go." Gyuvin nods. "Anything to make tonight end, honestly."

The group gathered around Matthew at the grocery store counter and listened closely to what he had to say. He had collected as many medications as he could from the shelves and placed them on the counter.

"A few months ago, my brother had an unfortunate experience in which he ingested too much of a certain substance," he explained as he carefully unscrewed the caps from each medication bottle. "He was dead for two minutes. We got him back, so it can work, just... I don't know what he took."

Gunwook cracked his knuckles, letting out a chuckle as he stepped forward. "Allow me," he says. "I'm trying to go to med school, so I got this."

Matthew raises an eyebrow but steps back anyway. "It's all you, man."

"You need to take these in order," Gunwook explains, raising his head up to confirm that Ricky understood what he was saying. "Pile one takes the edge off." He puts together a pile of around five pills that vary in colour. "You're gonna feel like you're being fucked by a unicorn."

Ricky is taken aback by the sudden comparison, sharing a glance with an equally concerned Gyuvin. "Excuse me?"

"You'll understand once you take them, don't doubt the expert!" Gunwook exclaimed, defending himself with a frown. He dispenses additional pills, this time from larger bottles. "Pile two is gonna bring your core temperature way down. You may feel slightly sick. You need to take a five-minute interval between piles two and three. That's really important, okay? Pile three brings you in and out, so you gotta take that "take five" or else it's all gonna go to shit!"

Yujin reappears after disappearing momentarily, carrying as many EpiPens as he could possibly hold, dumping them onto the counter in front of him. "How many of these do you need?"

"This should be okay for now," Gunwook replies before turning to Matthew. "You guys have more of these though, right?"

"We have tons. Like a thousand."

Gyuvin, who was carefully taking all the information, suddenly felt confused. "Wait, EpiPens?"

Taerae, after staying silent for quite some time, lets out a sigh of disappointment. "Do you not pay attention in school? This is Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. It's what brings Ricky back!"

"Okay," Ricky lets out, still digesting the overwhelming amount of information, yet not wanting to waste any time. "Let's do it."