Home; I Found With You // Ryeji FF

hold on.

"Ryujin!"

In the middle of the arising turmoil, a familiar van halted to a stop like a beacon of light in the middle of a bottomless ocean. Seulgi's voice brought her back to the surface of the water. A drop of sweat stabbed her eye as if it were mocking the chilly air engulfing the scene.

"Hold onto me tight."

She wasn't sure if Yeji could catch her murmur, but a cold arm soon wrapped around her shoulder said otherwise. Her body slumped limply against her own, leaving the crimson-painted snow to splatter all over the ground.

Under the watchful protection of Chaeryeong and Yuna, Ryujin safely reached the van, carefully placing the unconscious woman on the seat as she arrived at the door.  Immediately, Lia tore off her tank top to cover the wound. Despite the snow's apparent relief from the searing heat of the blade, she could still sense the warmth of blood saturating the fabric beneath her hand.

A sigh escaped her lips, followed by a cloud of vapor that soon vanished into thick air.

"I shouldn't have told her that stupid idea in the first place..." Lia uttered just as the van's door shut with a bang.

"We're alive, that's what matters."

The group fell silent after Chaeryeong's remark, only heavy breathes accompanying the quiet. Nevertheless, the world outside indicated a contradiction to what they had just achieved.

Countless of the undead chased the living, ripping them apart like a useless page from a book. It was a horrible feast of carnage. The winter air wafted the smell of human flesh blazing together with the ruins of the buildings. The screams of inescapable pain seeped into the van, causing the lieutenant to step on the pedal harder.

Hell was an understatement, Yuna thought. Holding Chaeryeong's hands in hers, she caressed the red stripes that were becoming more distinct on her wrists. Letting out a deep puff, she wandered her eyes to Ryujin.

The short-haired woman held herself up by leaning onto the glass window, a pair of heavy-lidded eyes resting on her face. Despite the weariness steadily consuming her body, she told herself to never miss a beat of Yeji's unstable breaths. The sight was pure torture. But she needed this picture to be imprinted in the hollow of her mind.

"For fuck's sake! You just pushed us away, you keep pushing me away, Ryu..."

She cursed herself for everything.

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The sun was high in the sky when they reached home with the morning glow creating glitters on the snow-covered woods.

"Yuna," Seulgi called the soldier who was talking to the fox-eyed woman in the back of the van. Lia dashed into the cabin in a rush even though the car hadn't parked properly.

"We have to go get the Humvee."

The youngest nodded. She then planted a kiss on Chaeryeong's forehead which the latter accepted with a faint smile. Seulgi reflected the same gesture before darting her eyes to the others.

Ryujin was lost in her own world. Her own world that revolved around a woman whom she swore to protect till her last breath. Yeji lay there in her arms, face and lips pale. She had completely fallen into a deep slumber which Ryujin found relief in. Her body required a deserving amount of rest, Ryujin wasn't blind to not notice a scratch on her cheekbone that would be later formed into a bruise. And she had no clue of what she had to be faced with once Lia checked the woman's body for further injuries.

Cautiously, she lifted Yeji off the seat, shutting out the voices swimming inside her skull. She hated the way Yeji's body and the ground beneath her shared the same temperature.