- Sequel to Antidote -
[REPUBLISHED]
"Lie all you want, but in the end it will be the reason for your death,"
"I lied only to protect everyone! If I'll die then so be it!"
In a mountain of lies, where do you stand?
In a world where the dead lives an...
323 days. It had been 323 days since the virus broke out. Ever since then, our lives turned into complete hell.
We arrived in Daegu only a couple days ago, and our only source of transportation had broken down from it already being old and barely held on. We didn't have a way to make it to Busan fast, and it seemed as many cars around were also broken and had no gas to spare. But fortunately for us, the way to the 'Safe Haven' isn't too difficult as long as we followed the train tracks and hopefully not run into more survivors.
Here I was, looking out the window of an abandoned building where our group decided to stay until then. The sunrise in the distance warmed the cold breeze of the night, replaced by the warmth covering the city. The sky had barely any stars left as they disappeared to sleep until the next midnight. It distracted me from the situation we had now.
It had been my turn to be the look out while the others sleep, sacrificing my rest for theirs. It was not a struggle to keep awake at night, although once in a while my eyes begged to be closed. I never gave in, fearing that in a blink of an eye my whole group would be dead while I peacefully submit to sleep. Paranoia kept me awake.
Everyone had been on edge ever since we encountered Yoongi's home and his parents. Nobody dared to talk about the events, scared to feel the regret from the past once more. It was a forbidden subject for all of us. For now, the only thing we should be worried about is our survival and the infected.
Behind me I hear a few voices, all which were familiar much to my relief. From their tone, they were still a bit shaken up from the past week. I couldn't really blame them, I would have acted no different.
"We have to go out to get more supplies. We're not going to survive with only a can of mushroom soup and three bottles of water. Don't get me started with how defenseless we are compared to other survivors out there," from the tone, that was no other than Jin himself. He was the one mostly worried about how much deprived we were from supplies and other essentials after all. But even so, no one likes to argue with an angry Seokjin.
"I know, hyung. But it's a little complicated to go outside now. As you said, we are defenseless when it comes to other survivors. So what would happen if we stumbled into one? We'd all be killed," Namjoon sighed, although used to having small arguments with the other male. The two parent-like members continued to bicker, until Namjoon turned his head towards my direction, his eyes flickered between Jin and I.
"Jimin you can go rest, everyone's awake anyway," he stared at me, probably feeling bad at how little to no rest I had for the couple of days. I felt sleep deprived, something that was all too familiar. I couldn't say I was used to it however.
I didn't reply, my throat refusing to cooperate and my legs began to stiffly walk towards the room where we all slept in. It wasn't too big, with the walls made of concrete and not painted. There was no furniture except that single shelf at the far right corner, and the window was still intact. It was quite a decent place to rest, perhaps because the window kept out the disgusting smell of zombies. I was more tolerant to the smell now, but every now and then the smell would become so strong and revolting I felt like my non-existent food wanted to just explode out of my stomach. To put it in one word; sickening.
I laid on the floor near the window, the sunlight shining through the glass pane. The ray of sunshine gave me comfort through the cold cement floor, soon lulling me to sleep. At last, I let my body rest.
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"Pssst! Hyung!"
I stirred, my mind still dazed and stick in dreamland. However, much to my discomfort, they kept buying me. A pair of hands grabbed my arm, pulling me to wake. Frantic and a bit confused, I jolted awake.
"What?!" I yelled, my voice still raspy. I started at the young boy, my eyes squinting when all I saw the bright light.
"Shhhh! Be quiet. They'll hear us," Jungkook's hand covering my mouth.
I raised my eyebrow, questioning what he was talking about. Surely it looked as if it was already eleven, the sun had fully risen for all to see. The others would be downstairs, probably back from getting some supplies like Jin whined about. But, the look in Jungkook's eyes tell me that something was not right. The people that was downstairs was not our people.
I didn't question further, hearing multiple footsteps outside the building. Some were shouting, and the loud engine of a jeep answered my dying question. Survivors.
I jumped from the hard cement floor, my movements quiet enough not to hear. I jerked my head towards the door, seeing Taehyung also looking a bit nervous. He tilted his head to the side, beckoning to follow.
Once Jungkook and I exit the room, we met with all the other members, their gazes on the stairs, waiting and waiting for anything to happen. It was silent, no words came out of our mouths, our breathing calm yet our hearts pounded against our rib cage. I felt the world around me freeze, my body stiff as I heard the front door of the building we were in creaked open, followed by the loud footsteps from outside. I felt my fingers twitch in anticipation.
In the corner of my eye I saw Jin grab a bag from underneath a broken couch, possibly some supplies they went to get while I was sleeping. He took a moment to get closer to the stairs, his eyes looking straight back at use every now and then. Was he going to look? No, that was something he wouldn't do, he was usually too scared to risk it.
"Hyung what are you doing?" Namjoon whispered as quietly as he can, his hands reaching out to Jin's arm, pulling him back to us.
"Shush, I'm trying to hear what's happening down there," Jin replied, pushing the grip on his arm away, continuing to walk towards the railings. He stopped just enough before anyone could see him from upstairs, his head leaning to the side to get a better hearing from what I assume. He made a face, telling us of how unsure he was. It continued like that for about another minute or so, until he stepped back from the stair railings and to us.
Shaking his head, he spoke, "I can't hear anything. They were really silent, and it scares me,"
"How many people do you think are outside?" Taehyung questioned.
"I think about more than twelve? I don't really know. I saw twelve outside earlier but they could have more since they brought like three vehicles," Hoseok answered, looking back down to the window and inspecting outside.
"I don't think we have a choice but go downstairs. If we don't leave, they'll only find us soon or later," Namjoon finally says, sighing afterwards. He calmly tugged on Jin's sweater, pulling him—along with us with him. We didn't argue however, knowing that it really was our only choice. Going out from the window would be too risky, the people from outside could see us.
With the risk in our minds, we continued to slowly make our way downstairs. The padding of our footsteps continued as we reached the bottom floor, making our way to the corner of the back door. Yoongi still had the knife I gave him a couple days ago, his grip tighter around the handle.
Just when Namjoon touched the handle of the back door, we heard a loud clang of metal from a few meters away. We froze, our heads slowly looking back as I held my breath. Someone was close, and they could see us if we don't move.
"Ah shit! That hurt! That's gonna leave a—" The stranger entered the room, before also freezing still. He made eye contact with me, his expression almost identical as mine. He looked like a young man in his early twenties, possibly as old as Jungkook. From the look on his outfit, he was ready for an attack, with a bulletproof vest and a belt adorned with ammo of all kinds. He however was not expecting us to strike the first thing we do.
Yoongi kicked his shin, resulting in the boy tripping and groaning from the sudden attack. He cursed in pain, but soon his mouth was muffled out by a cloth from Jungkook. His hands were tied at the back, his body laying and struggling to roll back up. Over all, it was a clean take down for people who had barely anything to protect themselves.
As quietly as possible, we circled around the tied up boy, his body wiggling as he struggled to move.
"What do we do with him? His other teammates could be around the corner," I asked, my hands combing through my hair, a habit of mine that never wore off.
"We could kill him," Taehyung suggested, earning a panicked muffle of noises from the boy laying down on his stomach. I continued to stare, finding it somewhat amusing to see him struggle.
