After

───── ❝ 3: Jeno ❞ ─────

⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 – 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

Ⰶ║ April 23 2020. Mark Lee ║Ⰶ

Mark had been walking towards Incheon for 5 days now, and his hope of finding someone else was slowly going away. It was silent wherever he went, even the few squirrels he saw were quiet. It was deafening, and slowly leading Mark to insanity. If he didn't find anyone soon then he would go mad.

"I'm not the only one. I can't be. It's statistically impossible for me to be the only one left....right?" Mark sighs and sits on the ground, holding his head in his hands. In the past 6 days, there had been no change in the weather. The sun was still bright and red. The clouds still moved across the sky, and the temperature stayed a steady 65ºF [18ºC], and it was starting to get to Mark's head. His food was almost out and his arm had a giant cut on it thanks to a branch. The only thing he knew is that he had to get to a hospital so he could treat his arm, and hopefully find a still-in-tact grocery store. He was close to Incheon, but he knew it would still be a long walk.

Ⰶ║ April 23 2020. Na Jaemin ║Ⰶ

Jaemin hurried into the abandoned hospital, grinning happily at all the medical supplies. He figured that if he was going to survive out here, then he would need plenty of medical supplies. Food wasn't really a priority for Jaemin, he would eat what he found; it was enough to live off of so he wasn't complaining.

Jaemin hadn't left Incheon, hoping that if he stayed in the city, then he had a higher chance of seeing someone else. But so far he has had zero luck. It wasn't so surprising, not even his family had made it. He had checked the first day, crying softly when he saw his sister, Hayoon, had been completely crushed by the fallen house.

He tried not to think about it too much.

Jaemin wanders around the first floor of the hospital, grabbing whatever caught his eye and putting it into his satchel. It was annoyingly silent, so much so that Jaemin just needed to start whistling, just to hear something...anything. He hummed an old song his sister used to sing to him, he couldn't remember the words now, but the tune stayed stuck in his head forever; reminding Jaemin of his precious older sister.

Jaemin freezes when he sees a body slumped over on one of the medical beds. It was too far away and too dark to tell if the person was alive or not; but in fleeting hope, Jaemin still ran to the person, shaking the guy's shoulder, asking if he was awake. All he got in return was a half melting face, rotten skin, and a toothless, dead grin. He was dead. And it made Jaemin scream.

"Oh my god!" He jumps, quickly wiping his hands on his coat. He had continued to see dead bodies here and there, but this guy looked like a zombie. His skin green and peeling, his eyes gone from his sockets, leaving black pits of nothingness in their place. Jaemin calms himself down, taking deep breaths and sitting on a different medical bed. He runs his hand through his hair, sighing softly and waiting a moment.

*thomp*

Jaemin's eyes widen, and he looks up to the end of the hall. He heard it again, a quick thumping sound, echoing through the twisting halls of the hospital. Like the sound of someone running.

"Hey! I heard a scream! Is anyone there?!" A figure comes into view at the end of the hall, much to Jaemin's surprise. He rubs his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating. But no...there was someone else...alive.

"Hey! Is anyone there?!" The boy –or at least Jaemin thought it was a boy because his voice was deep– called again.

Gaining his composure once more, Jaemin stands and runs to the other guy, shouting. "I'm alive! I'm here!" He smiles, tears stinging his eyes in relief. He wasn't alone. They weren't alone anymore. There was someone else out here, surviving, functioning, living. The silence that once suffocated him fell away, brightening him up, making him cry in joy. And from what Jaemin could see through his tear filled eyes, the other boy was crying as well.

"Oh my god....I'm not alone..." The stranger smiles, grabbing Jaemin's shoulders, as if to check if it wasn't a dream. The boy begins to laugh, and Jaemin joins him, hugging the guy tightly. "I have no fucking idea who you are but I am so happy to see you." The black haired boy says, joy evident in his voice. Jaemin just nods along, too happy to speak. The boy brings them both to sit on the floor, cross-legged, facing each other. They both take a moment to calm down and wipe their tears before Jaemin speaks.

"I'm...I'm Na Jaemin."

"I'm Mark Lee. Do you know what happened to us?" Mark raises a brow in hope, but his face falls as Jaemin shakes his head.

"No, I didn't see what happened. I woke up on the floor of my college classroom, I guess some force had literally thrown me from my dorm to the classroom. I'm not sure how I'm even alive..." He pushes his glasses up on his nose.

"Same here. I had fallen asleep and woke up 2 days later to my bedroom ceiling on top of me and my whole house destroyed. I don't know how I'm alive either...But boy am I glad to see you." He chuckles, and Jaemin just smiles.

"How old are you? I'm 18, born August 13, 2000."

Mark hums. "I'm older than you then. I'm 19, and was born August 2, 1999."

Jaemin nods and begins to stand, bringing the older male up with him. "Do you think anyone else is alive?" He stretches slightly, hands on his hips. 

"Well, I'm saying yes seeing as we found each other...but there's only one way to really find out." Mark glances at Jaemin, who just sighs.

"Yeah...walking..." Mark laughs at the boy's grim face, finding it amusing. Jaemin scowls at him but says nothing.

"Yeah, but first I need to take care of my arm." Mark gestures to the cut on his arm, making Jaemin's eyes widen. "I got it a couple days ago and didn't have anything to clean it with so I came here."

"I'll take care of it, I'm a medical student. We need to clean it before it gets infected." Jaemin takes the boy's wrist and leads him to one of the medical rooms. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Ⰶ║ April 27 2020. Lee Jeno ║Ⰶ

Jeno's head hurt. A lot. And his legs were extremely cramped. In fact, just about everything hurted, and at this point, Jeno wasn't sure if he wanted to even open his eyes. But alas, he knew he needed to because those two voices by his ear were getting annoying.

"Do you think he's alive?"

"I hope so...He doesn't look like a Peeler and his skin is intact."

Jeno raises a brow in confusion and fully opens his eyes, making the two strangers gasp.

"No fucking way...He's alive!" The boy with honey-colored hair begins to shake the other boy's arm, a smile creeping onto his face. The black-haired boy nods his head, still staring at Jeno.

"Who the fuck are you two? And why is my car windshield smashed?" Jeno asks, only now noticing that he was still in the driver's seat of his car. Or, what was his car, now it was completely destroyed. The dashboard was broken open, the windows chipped or just fully gone. It also explained why his legs were so cramped, they were pushed up against the steering wheel.

The black-haired male sighed and smiled softly. "I'm mark. This is Jaemin. Welcome to the end of the world."

⋘ Tʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴛʀʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ. ⋙