✧𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝✧

𝐨𝐧𝐞

  All that is felt is numbness, the bitter cold being the least of his worries as the boy crouches on the ground of a once busy gas station, gripping onto a butcher knife like his life depended on it. Felix's head was pounding too much and eyes too achy from crying to care about anything, even though he can barely move his limbs due to the cold.

His emotions became too overwhelming and loud that he barely noticed the sounds of a shelf nearly falling and a faint "shit" from a boy with a kind of raspy voice. Felix quickly stood up and grasped his knife as if he possibly could any tighter and waited for this other boy to notice him.

With a small gasp, this mystery boy looked quite startled to see another person, especially seeing the knife Felix held, but soon his facial expression softened up realizing how shooken up the other boy looked.

Changbin put on a confused face and said, maybe too loud that he startled the boy,''Felix?''  

Felix flinched because of the volume of the other boy's voice and rubbed the blurriness out of his eyes. ''C-Changbin..?''

Changbin and Felix knew each other from school. Felix being the one with lots of friends, and Changbin being the one with a comfortable three, they didn't get around to talking much. Although, Changbin could admit that the charm of the Australian kid did get to him, so he developed a slight crush.

Changbin felt extremely relieved for finding someone he knew, but it seemed that Felix still kept up his guard as Changbin started walking closer.

''Hey.. Hey i'm not going to hurt you..'', Changbin said in a much softer voice,''..so can you put that knife down?''

  Felix responded with an unsure look but slowly lowered the knife to his waist. Changbin watched as Felix backed up so much that he tripped over himself and stumbled towards the wall.

   He's trembling, obviously scared out of his mind, Changbin thought. There were visible tear stains and blood on Felix's clothes from god knows what. He looked like a sad puppy, and Changbin can tell how broken the boy is.

  ''Uhm, are you alright?'', Changbin questioned. Of course he isn't. He started to feel dumb for even asking that at all.

  Felix didn't answer, instead burst out in tears and ended up back on the floor like he has been for probably hours. This caused Changbin to panic just a bit. What do I do... What do i do...

   Changbin didn't particularly know how to comfort people like this but he decided to bend down and let Felix's head rest on Changbin's chest as he continued to sob. Changbin didn't think he would ever see his fellow classmate like this.

   "Hey.. wanna tell me what's wrong? Maybe you'll feel a little better?'', Changbin suggested as Felix's sobs settled down a bit.  All that came out of Felix's mouth was a hushed,''Jeongin...''

  Jeongin? Like, Yang Jeongin? The kid who literally everyone loves and the only people that hate him are jealous? The kid that spreads contagious happiness? The not only super smart but super talented junior student?

  Afraid to hear the answer, Changbin muttered,''W-what happened to Jeongin?''. Felix yelled, much different from the way he hesitantly spoke before,''He's dead! I saw him get killed right in front of me! He's probably out eating someone right now!''

  Ah, he's a zombie right now. Poor kid, he really didn't deserve that...

--

  Felix woke up from his friend plopping on top of him and telling him to wake up. He's always wondered how that kid could almost always be cheery in a situation like they're in.

  "Wake up lazy!! I'm gonna try to get some food, wanna come with me?"Felix declined with a groggy voice, which would turn out to be the biggest mistake he's ever made.

  Yang Jeongin is Felix's best friend, they've known each other ever since Felix moved to Korea. Ever since "the end of the world", Jeongin didn't leave Felix's side and neither did Felix to him. They've kicked ass together, fighting of all the living dead that came their way.

  Felix felt odd that Jeongin's been gone for more than an hour, he usually returns quickly with at least something to last them a few days. A gut feeling made Felix get out of their small apartment him and Jeongin found shelter in to look for his friend.

Not long after, Felix found a few crawlers seemingly heading in the same direction, following each other. He wondered why they were doing so when curiosity got the best of him. As soon as he got to the destination, his stomach dropped and his heart started racing.

  "Jeongin!"Felix immediately yelled once he spotted the boy being cornered."Felix, don't yell! They'll follow you!", disobeying Jeongin, Felix started yelling for the zombies to come after him as he started fighting them off.

  He kept hearing "Stop! Run!" from a screaming Jeongin that couldn't bare to see his friend get hurt. Felix got too into trying to get to Jeongin that he didn't notice that the screaming stopped. He didn't bother to consider the one single shrill scream that would be the last one Felix would hear.

   Felix stood there completely frozen, unable to properly register what was happening. After a few seconds he finally got the adrenaline that he needed the whole time, so he pushed through the monsters like they were nothing. By his feet laid a bloodied Jeongin, choking on blood that wasn't even a normal color anymore.

  Felix slowly bent down to lift Jeongin's torso, not believing his eyes. "Jeongin I... Jeongin I'm sorry.. If I came with you this wouldn't have happened and if I didn't get so focused on getting them away from me what do I do now I-" he was shut up by Jeongin weakly hitting him in the chest.

  "Don't be.. d-dumb Felix.. Go, before I might hurt you.." Felix rapidly shook his head before getting a stern,"Go now, please" from his dying best friend. "He gave Jeongin one last hug before slowly getting up and stumbling away.

  Without thinking, Felix ran until he couldn't anymore. He ended up finding an abandoned gas station and stayed in the same spot for hours.

  He didn't care about what life would bring him; being eaten, dying of starvation, freezing to death, he thought he deserved it.

--

  ''I'm sorry Felix..'', Changbin sincerely uttered as he rubbed Felix's back, he didn't know what else to say. Felix let go of Changbin and apologized for breaking down so much. ''Well, if this makes you feel a little better, I have somewhere we can go, I wouldn't like to see you alone.''

  Felix brought his face up to look at Changbin, and boy did his expression make Changbin's heart break a bit. ''Really?'', Felix's voice cracked.

  Changbin nodded with a reassuring smile that probably looked awkward and helped Felix to his feet. He held Felix's arm as they started walking. Changbin noticed that Felix was limping.

  Changbin also noticed that the boy didn't hesitate on coming with him, he could be an axe murderer or someone that'll feed him to zombies but it's almost as if Felix didn't care what happened to himself.

  The walk was quiet, but eventually the two boys arrived at a run-down mini mart. As Changbin let Felix inside, he explained how there are some convenient old mattresses, some food, and even an almost completely functioning bathroom.

  ''Thank you.. For this..'', Felix broke the silence with a mutter, Changbin waved him off with a ''No problem, just go to sleep, you need it.''

  Changbin swore he saw a slight smile come from the other boy and his stomach did a thing. He couldn't predict what would come out of taking in a traumatized classmate, but he did know that he wanted to protect this boy with the smile that never failed to make his heart skip a beat.

—
I decided to not quit on this story and re-publish it! I'm quite proud of it and i'm excited to finish it🥰