Lurking || IZ*ONE Zombie AU

3.1 Case #485

"I- what the fuck is this?" Yujin asked with her eyes wide open, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Why are they here... especially in this state?" Eunbi asked to no one in particular.

Deciding that they have no choice but to investigate the place, they formed small groups. Yena, Chaeyeon, Minju, Yujin and Hyewon would go down the car and observe while the others remain on the RV.

"Guys be careful" Nako reminded with worry "And the very moment you find something odd, rush back here okay?"

The girls reassured her as they stepped down onto the damp forest floor one by one, with their weapons and flashlights in their hands to see through the mist.

Walking closer to the lying corpses, Hyewon squatted down to take a closer look. She cautiously observed the bullet stuck on the zombie's head while keeping her guard up.

"The shot is pretty accurate" Hyewon informed to the others "This is done by a professional".

"Same here" Chaeyeon agreeded as she kicked a headless zombie's body "From the looks of it, whoever did this is pretty skillful in handling swords as well as guns".

"Let's move on to the house".

The girls slowly walked around the lake, being careful not to slip. However, little did they know that someone was closely monitoring each and every one of their movements from in between the trees.

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Back on the bus, Yuri was diligently reading through the files regarding Operation Lurking. In there were hundreds of data logs regarding the dead people the experiments were carried on.

"Case #481...... sensitive to sounds....... Case #483 develops visions after a few hours....." Yuri mumbled to herself as she read through the files.

Every single case she read about was exactly the same. All their recorded behaviors were similar to the zombies they had encountered before : Emotionless walking corpses whose abilities develop over time and attack any living creature.

Yuri sighed as she felt like she was running around in a circle and lazily turned the page. Just then, something caught her eye.

"Case #485?"

She slightly slapped herself awake and focused on the profile of Case #485.

"An exceptionally strong soldier who died in war.......... Like the other cases, she cannot feel pain but shows emotions and have memories of her life before she died.......?" Yuri muttered in disbelief before continuing to read on "This may be our very first successful case......"

Concentrating excessively, she lifted up the files booklet from her lap to take a closer look. At that moment, a small piece of paper fell down from between the files. Yuri tilted her head in confusion as she picked up the paper that fell and read its contents.

There was a sketch of a lake surrounded by trees and a wooden cabin beside it. On it a few words were written.

Scanning through the words and the sketch, her eyes opened wide the moment she realized what it meant. Abruptly, she stood up from where she was sitting and ran out of the caravan after grabbing her katana.

"Wait Yuri where are you going?!" Sakura asked in surprise at the girl who had already left the van.

"Aish I don't know what's gotten into her but we have to follow her" Eunbi announced before picking up her weapon and going after Yuri.

The other girls quickly took their weapons as well and left the caravan.

"This is not like Yuri to act rashly" Chaewon thought to herself "She probably found out something important".