Later Never Comes | Lee Eun-Hyuk|

You Can't Catch Me

It had been a few minutes since anyone spoke. After Hyun-Su told Ae-Cha what Eun-Hyuk told him, she hadn't said a thing. She just sat in her self assigned sleeping space and mulled things over. Her far off stare made Hyun-Su concerned, so he spoke up.

"Are you okay?"

No response.

"Ae-Cha?"

Her head slowly rose so that she was looking straight at him, but she still didn't say anything. She looked like her consciousness wasn't in her body, she was just going through the motions of what people should do when their name is called.

"Can I do anything to help?" Hyun-Su asked softly. Again, Ae-Cha said nothing. It wasn't like there was much he could do anyway, he just shattered the image of someone she trusted the most. He wondered if Ae-Cha was reconsidering her positive outlook on people in general just from what he told her.

The quarantine room was drowning in silence for the rest of the day, even Seok-Hyeon had no effort to speak. No one paid him any mind, even though he was slowly getting worse with his symptoms. At one point, his nose was gushing with so much blood that it trickled past the gaps of the shutters and trailed all the way down the concrete wall, staining it a deep red.

The next morning wasn't much different, Seok-Hyeon had very little energy anymore, Ae-Cha hadn't slept, and Hyun-Su was staring at her in concern. It was all silence until an interruption came to summon the two infectees that still had some form of life in them.

The door opened just enough to let a person enter the room, which they did. Eun-Hyuk walked in with Hyun-Su's weapon and Ae-Cha's newly modified bat, now with sharper and more stable spikes. There was a noticeable notebook in his back pocket.

"There are some supplies that others are requesting you get." He said as he handed Hyun-Su his weapon. Once he took it from him, Eun-Hyuk pulled out the notebook. "All of the requests are listed in here, along with the apartment number you should find it in. It's alright if you don't get all of them, it just means that you'll have to go back tomorrow."

He handed Hyun-Su the notebook before turning around to give Ae-Cha her bat. It was only then that he noticed that she hadn't moved, she barely acknowledged him coming into the room. He wanted to question it, but with everything that happened with Sang-Wook, he didn't have time. All he did was place the bat next to her and leave the room, leaving the door open for the two of them to begin their supply run.

"You are coming with me, aren't you?" Hyun-Su asked whilst he grabbed his backpack. He stood up and walked closer to her, but not close enough to be standing directly next to her.

She nodded before grabbing the bat and a backpack for herself. She stood up and immediately left the room. Hyun-Su sighed and quickly followed her, closing the door behind him.

"You can't act like this forever. I get that it hurt to hear that but–"

"No, Hyun-Su, it doesn't just hurt to hear that. It's made me see that I can't trust anyone now." She began as she cut him off, fully stopping their journey to turn and look at him.

"He was someone I put my entire trust into, even when he screwed people over, I trusted him. But I never expected him to even consider letting children die. Like–how–I trusted him! Who the hell am I supposed to trust now!?" She said, her eyes welling up with tears.

It hurt Hyun-Su to hear her say that, he tried to tell himself that she was only saying it because she was hurt and not because it was the truth.

"Me," he responded softly.

Ae-Cha sighed and turned back around. "We need to keep moving." She said quietly and continued walking. She could feel the guilt building up inside her.