28 | CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT HEARTBEAT " we're not leaving each other "
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AS THE GROUPcontinued their walk through the woods, Yu-ri trailed behind everyone else. Not just because she still felt obligated to watch after all of them, especially considering everything that's happened, but also because she needed some space to think.
Think about what exactly? She had no idea. Ever since the outbreak started, it felt as if she'd done all the thinking possible. However, recently her mind was a jumble of worries and fears that she couldn't seem to break free of. She'd hoped that with some alone time, she'd be able to muster up enough courage and strength to become the leader that she once was for the group. The person she was before Gwi-nam left that dreadful scratch on her arm.
She perked her head up and glanced at the trees around her. Maybe she was just exhausted but she swore she'd seen that specific part of the forest before. "Guys," she spoke up.
At the sound of her voice, everyone halted in their steps and instantly turned around to face her. It was as if they'd all been waiting for her to say something.
"We've been here before," she motioned around. "I think we're walking in circles."
Collectively, everyone sighed at the realization and immediately started cursing out Min-ju who had been acting as line leader.
"Wait," Wu-jin said, pointing to a tree. "Ha-ri, look."
Everyone's eyes followed to the direction he was pointing only to find a single gold ribbon tied to one of the branches. Curiously, with Ha-ri leading the way, they approached the tree.
"Someone must've left it here." Ha-ri fiddled with it.
Yu-ri stepped forward and furrowed her brows. "On accident?"
"Oh yeah, that makes sense and who would do something so kind?" Min-ju said with a grin on her face. "A ginseng digger?"
"I was being sarcastic." Yu-ri rolled her eyes at the girl and shoved past her to look at another one of the trees in front of them. "Look, there's another one."
This time, Yu-ri led the way, carefully making her way down the steep hill and to the next tree that had ribbon wrapped around its trunk, then to the next one, and then to the next one. The group followed the trail of ribbons down until it led them directly to an abandoned town.
The streets were empty of people but the ghost of them existed all throughout the town as everything was kept exactly as it was left. It looked as if it'd been completely untouched by the horror of the outbreak.
"Didn't he say go to Yangdong?" Dae-su questioned from where he trailed behind the group as he was carried by Su-hyeok and Wu-jin due to the injury on his leg.
"You don't think there are zombies here too, do you?" Hyo-ryung asked in general, rather than to just one person.
"No way," Su-hyeok said. "Maybe they evacuated because it's next to Hyosan."
