It Follows {Book One}

11

Sunday, August 12
19 days

•Jaehyun•

Jaehyun sat silently at the table across from Taeyong. Doyoung, Kun, Yuta, Yukhei, and everyone else were with them too, some sitting at the sides of the table, some standing against the wall. Everyone was there, except for two.

Jaehyun wanted to speak, but he couldn't think of anything to say that the others weren't already thinking. Taeyong slowly reached his hand across the table and gripped Jaehyun's. He lowered his head down to the table in a desperate attempt be hide his tears until he was able to pull himself together.

Jaehyun was impressed that Taeyong hadn't broken sooner. He was the one running the place, he was the one taking care of everyone, holding it together to keep everyone calm . . . who else could do that?

Jaehyun felt his chest swell with pride. That was his boyfriend. Under different circumstances, he would've smiled. He would've laughed. Taeyong-his better half since freshman year of highschool, the one Jaehyun was sure he would marry, was perfect in every way. Not in the sense of, 'Taeyong never does anything wrong, oh, he's better than everyone!', but in the sense that he cared more, tried harder, worked harder than anyone he knew. And Jaehyun couldn't imagine a life without him. He was almost relieved that now, he never had to.

Less that twenty days left. Almost three weeks, and that was it. Almost three weeks, and they were already starting to go.

Of course, none of them were surprised. Taeil had been struggling a lot for a while now, struggling to breathe in the air, but he had broken into a coughing fit every few minutes. He cried, and Jaehyun was never sure if it was from lack of oxygen, or the pain of his throat starting to tear from constant strain. Either way, he was glad Taeil didn't have to deal with that anymore.

Jaehyun hated to think it, and he wouldn't ever say it outloud, but he was happy. Sort of. Taeyong would smack him for that.

But the suffering was over. Now it was everyone elses turn, and Jaehyun found himself looking foward to it. A bit morbid-actually, a lot morbid, but he didn't want to deal with it.

Jaehyun was sick and tired of hearing his friends suffer. Just last night, he was sure that Sicheng was going to die. It went on for hours, his coughing and wheezing and crying and gagging and choking, and Yuta crying and holding him because there was nothing he could do. But Sicheng was okay, if you could call it that.

Jisung was the first to show any signs, but others followed soon after. Even Jaehyun's lungs felt tighter than usual, and he could hear his own breathing much louder than he used to.

Jaehyun looked around the room at their faces. Jaemin, who had previously been leaning against Jeno was now curled up on the floor wheezing. Every breath sounded incredibly painful, and there seemed to be even more phlegm with each cough (the opposite of Jaehyun would expect). Jeno knelt beside him, eyes wide in fear as he rubbed Jamein's back. That's all he could do.

Renjun stood alone, holding his laptop against his chest. He bit his lip, eyes shifting around the room, and Jaehyun hoped he was starting to believe that maybe the world really was ending. Maybe now he'll stop rolling his eyes everytime someone mentioned it.

Kun's face was red and splotchy, and Jaehyun felt especially bad for him.

Johnny looked angry. His jaw was clenched tightly, and every few minutes he'd let let a loud sigh.

Finally, like Jaehyun was expecting, Johnny spoke up. "Is no one going to say anything?"

Kun hiccuped.

Doyoung looked up from the table. He traced his fingers along the grain of the wood, locking eyes with each person individually, but they didn't say anything.

"What do you want us to say?" Mark asked softly after a long silence.

"Oh, I don't know, how about we talk about how Kun found Taeil in the fucking freezer?"

Jaehyun cringed as Taeyong shouted in protest and covered Chenle's ears. Chenle didn't need to hear that, and neither did Sicheng—who looked even more scared and upset than Chenle did.

Only twenty minutes ago, Kun had gone into the freezer to pull out some meat, since they were running low on what was already thawed out. Jaehyun came running when he heard Kun cry out, thinking maybe he slipped or something. Jaehyun almost ran atraight into Kun's back. He stood in the doorway, staring down at the floor.

It looked like Taeil had the same idea, he had gone in to get food, and that just happened to be the time that his lungs gave out. It didn't look like he had been there long at all, only a few minutes.

"There's nothing to talk about, Johnny." Taeyong hissed angrily, his hands still on either side of Chenle's head. "This was going to happen eventually. It's going to keep happening, and you need to get over it."

"I am over it. I know we're all going to die, and I also know that none of us can do anything about it, but we can't just pretend this isn't happening!"

Jisung stepped into the room, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He had been sick all morning, and hadn't been able to leave the bathroom until now.

"He deserves a proper burial." Donghyuck said, lifting his head up from Mark's shoulder. "He's still in the freezer. That's not okay, he deserves better than that."

Yuta shook his head. "It's too hot. We wouldn't last ten minutes outside. We'll put him downstairs." Yuta started to walk away, only letting go of Sicheng's hand when their fingers could no longer reach. "Someone help me get him."

After a moments hesitation, Jaehyun and Ten followed Yuta to the freezer.