Zero only has one goal, to be human. Escaping from the cell that once contained her, the outside world, which she longed to see for so long, is filled with more darkness than she expected.
She is faced with a world that is determined to label her a...
Namjoon mindlessly fiddled with the safety click of his gun. He sat on the uncomfortable wooden floors of the hallway. After what Hoseok had told him about what Nine revealed about the mutants he had been afraid. Afraid that Zero could turn against them at any moment.
In moments of crisis, blind trust could lead to death. That was a lesson that had been carved into both his body and his mind as a boy living in the streets of the Mines after losing his parents.
Trusting Zero could end up being the group's salvation or their downfall.
So he was always outside her door at night. Not sure whether the person to emerge from within would be a human or a monster like the ones that walked on the street. He wasn't entirely sure why he did it. Maybe he wanted to lessen the guilt he felt for gambling with their safety after Jungkook's reaction or maybe he felt pathetic for being wrong about trusting her.
The buzzing of his phone made him set the gun down on the floor.
'Someone in the hospital has the Feral disease', Doctor Bang's voice on the other side of the phone was frantic. He could hear people screaming in the background.
'Please help us'.
He furrowed his brows in confusion.
'Where are the people I ordered to guard the hospital?', he said in an exasperated tone.
Namjoon had spent the past few days planning how the people from the Mine would survive the outbreak. He set a few barricaded safe zones in the few buildings that they had like the city hall, hospitals and churches.
Most of Bugsy's old members were stationed there as extra protection for the people.
'They all disappeared without a trace and took all the suppressors we had with them'.
'I'll call you back', Namjoon said before quickly hanging up.
He tried to control his breathing so that he wouldn't show a hint of the fear he was feeling as the call to one of Bugsy's old members was connected. Everything he had worked so hard was about to fall apart and he wanted to find out why.
The call connected but no one on the other end spoke. Namjoon could tell they were in a car.
'Where the hell are you people?', he asked through gritted teeth.
He heard the sound of laughter in the background. The same maniacal laughter that was always ringing in his ears, taunting him and reminding him that he was worthless. He loathed when lowlifes like them dared to look down on him.
'We just decided that we don't want to be used as human shields for you anymore', a nonchalant voice spoke.
'If you don't follow the plan I made, the people in the Mines will die', he tried to reason with them.
The laughter got even louder.
'We'll all die anyway, so we decided to make as much money as we can before we die'.
Namjoon could tell that they were planning to sell the suppressors.
He was about to respond but was cut off.
'WATCH OUT FOR THAT ZOMBIE', the scream was so loud it almost shattered Namjoon's eardrums.
He heard loud screeching before the other line went silent and disconnected.
Namjoon dropped his phone. His hands laid heavily between his hands. If they had listened to him, then whatever accident they were involved in would not have happened.
He had failed them as a leader. He feared that the weight of the lives of the people who depended on him was too much. He wished he could go back in time and never kill Bugsy in the first place.
Namjoon put the phone back into his pocket and attempted to bury his emotions. If he didn't think with a clear mind then more people would die. He weakly pushed himself to a standing position.
Before his fist could knock on the wooden door in front of him it opened.
Zero emerged from the room. Bending over while putting on a brown pair of shoes.
'I'll go help the people in the hospital', she said.
Namjoon recovered from his shock quickly.
'Go with Jin and Hoseok', he advised.
She was about to protest but the stern look on his face discouraged her.
'You should get some sleep', she suggested, 'You'll end up dying if you keep this up'.
Namjoon took a breath to compose himself so he wouldn't lash out at her. He had been having vivid nightmares about Bugsy coming back for his crown so he couldn't sleep. Even in death, the man continued to torment him.
'Just go', he told her in a defeated tone.
'If it will make you stop this,' she looked at the gun he had left lying on the floor,' I'll be sleeping in the tool shed outside so make sure to get some rest'.
Namjoon bent over to pick up the gun. He almost wanted to laugh at how paranoid he had gotten.
'That would be better', he mumbled.
He looked at her. Sincerity written all over his face.
'I need to use your strength to protect everyone. I'm sorry'.
It was a vague apology. Was he apologising for seeing her as a monster? Or maybe it was because he was planning to put her in harm's way.
Zero looked taken aback. In her whole existence, no human has ever apologised to her.
'I'm sorry too', she responded before walking out.
Her apology was more vague. Was she apologising for being a monster? Or was it because she had begun to shoulder the burden of blaming herself for ruining their happy life with her existence?
A/N
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