Z APOCALYPSE

CHAPTER 19: Warmth

☣️☣️☣️

ANONYMOUS POV

"You know that hurting him won't do any better," Suho exclaimed as he sat right next to the taller. They are now seated on the made-up guard shed near the gates.

Chanyeol looked up at Suho before heaving a sigh. After he ended up apologizing to Baekhyun, he started getting the smaller's attention again like it's his nature to get drawn to him but there's a big problem because Baekhyun started totally ignoring him. From eye contact up to possible interactions. It's all gone like they never existed to each other. Like they were total strangers.

And it frustrates him even more. It made him hate himself even more because he regretted his actions, those times when he became so harsh at Baekhyun that he never really thought that he could hurt the boy with his own words and especially with his own hands.

I was just concerned about his fucking well-being, Chanyeol spat in his mind, not daring to speak out loud.

"I hate it when it comes to him, I'm always the one who ends up apologizing." He grumbled as he inhaled an old cigarette in between his fingers, drawing smoke in the chilly surroundings. His eyes trained on the snow-draped on the ground.

"I know that you like him. Don't lie. If you don't like him, from all the disrespect and the rules he'd broken, you'd probably exiled him in this camp a long time ago." Suho smiled thinly as he folded his arms on his chest as cold swept through his body.

Chanyeol diverted his eyes to the watchtower where Baekhyun is located.

"I don't like him." He stood up and brushed the snow that fell on his pants.

"Go inside your tower now. It's already freezing cold. If anything happens, you just have to signal us with your guns. And tell the others that no one leaves their towers till the sun rises." Chanyeol instructed as he bid goodbye.

Suho watched Chanyeol walk straight across the snow without even covering his head from the continuous fall of it. Sighing as he knew Chanyeol was in denial of his feelings.

He got up soon and ran to their own tower before the night bites in and the wind ripped through the air.

Chanyeol has his thoughts twice about whether he's able to face Baekhyun under one roof or not, or whether he could just go on one of the other towers. Realizing that the other towers could be a bit more crowded including him, he opts to knock on the cold metallic door.

After two knocks, the door opened revealing Jungkook on the other side with proper clothing such as a hick jacket and a piece of cloth recycled as a scarf.

"Where have you been? We are finished eating, there is some leftover boiled sweet corn upstairs." Jungkook shivered as he quickly closed the metal door. Chanyeol suddenly felt better as the warmth crept into his senses. A lamp is enough to light up the small area using the gas that they collected from the bus tanks. But it isn't enough to warm the seemingly freezing place.

He examined the first floor of the watchtower. The square area is just a couple of feet and not so spacious and wooden stairs are directing upstairs.

"I just made sure that everyone is safe. You can go upstairs and take a rest, I'll just stay here for a while." Chanyeol spoke as he heard murmurs from upstairs, he could smell the faint fragrance of the boiled yellow corn that made his stomach grumble.

"You should, it's so cold out here, Jungkook stated. His arms folded tightly on his chest as he walked upstairs.

Chanyeol sighed as he sat on the floor in the corner where a small hill of rice hay and a blanket were carefully waiting for him. He could feel the cold burning his skin. He doesn't want to face Baekhyun just so he can earn nothing but silence from him.