All Of Us Are Dead - Su Hyeok

2

The world spun around Shinae as she opened her eyes. The cold, hard surface of a metal bed beneath her was the first thing she registered. Her head throbbed with a dull ache, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. She was parched, her throat felt like sandpaper.

"Where am I?" she croaked, her voice barely a whisper. She looked around, her eyes squinting against the harsh fluorescent lights. The room was empty, devoid of any human presence.

With a grunt, she pushed herself up, her muscles screaming in protest. She was alone, strapped to a bed in an unfamiliar place. Panic bubbled up inside her, but she forced it down. She needed to escape.

She managed to free herself from the restraints and stumbled towards the door. The corridor outside was dimly lit, casting long, eerie shadows on the walls. She turned a corner and found herself outside. The cool night air was a welcome relief.

A man was walking down the street, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the night. She approached him, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Excuse me," she called out, her voice shaky. "Can you tell me where I am?"

But as she neared him, a strange scent hit her. It was intoxicating, alluring. It was the scent of blood. Before she knew what she was doing, she lunged at him, her teeth sinking into his flesh. She drank until he was dry, until he collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.

She gasped, pulling away. What had she done? She had just killed a man. Fear and guilt washed over her, but there was no time to dwell on it. She quickly buried him and fled the scene.

She found refuge in an abandoned building, the dilapidated structure offering some semblance of safety. As she settled down for the night, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her. What had she become?

But those were questions for another day. For now, she needed to rest. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

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The morning light filtered through the cracks in the abandoned building, rousing her from her sleep. She got up, her body still aching from the previous night's ordeal. She needed to get home.

She made her way to her house, a small, unassuming building tucked away in a quiet neighborhood. She punched in the password and the door swung open. The familiar scent of her home washed over her, a stark contrast to the sterile environment she had woken up in.

She was alone, just as she had always been. No one in the neighborhood knew she was gone. She was just the quiet girl who kept to herself.

She made her way to the bathroom, stripping off her dirty clothes and stepping into the shower. The warm water was a welcome relief, washing away the grime and the fear.

After her bath, she found her phone in her room. It had been two weeks. Two weeks since she had been kidnapped, experimented on, turned into... whatever she was now. She shuddered at the memory of the man she had killed, the taste of his blood still fresh in her mouth. She pushed the thought away. She couldn't afford to dwell on it.

She found her school uniform, neatly folded in her drawer. She dressed quickly, applying a minimal amount of makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes. She brushed her long hair, tying it up in her usual style.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized the girl staring back at her. But she had to keep going, had to keep pretending. She had to find out what had happened to her, and more importantly, how to reverse it.