Apocalyptic Romance (JIKOOK)(ONGOING)(ON HOLD)

Chapter 3: The Surface

As Jimin was walking to the fallout shelter's entrance, he began to make a scheme in his mind about what to expect.

His mind began racing through all the different branches of how things could look, smell, feel, play out. After a few years of sitting all alone underground, he began to grow somewhat ecstatic about what could be up there in the Surface.

After a few years of being underground, Jimin eventually decided to just call the outside The Surface, as he hadn't known what or who to expect on The Surface.

Bracing for things he didn't expect, Jimin had begun breathing, pacing his breaths in order to keep himself calm.

It was now or never, Jimin knew this. But it was the thought that something out there could possibly harm or kill him that had him so agitated, wondering if the second he stepped foot outside the shelter's entrance, that he'd be the prey of some unholy creature or murderous, ill-intent man.

It was only after a couple of minutes that Jimin finally began to psyche himself up, remembering his reasons for doing something that could bring harm so quickly to him.

So he had taken the last few steps up to the entrance of the shelter, willing his heart to calm down, and had worked the lever to the right that was on the door itself, pushing it up and to the right, bracing himself for what lay beyond the cold metal sheets, separating himself from his safety net and the cold, harsh ways of the grey world outside.

Upon pushing the metal sheet up and out, Jimin had met, just as he'd suspected, a sky full of grey, overhanging clouds and a burnt smell in the air, which had obviously been from the missile.

Upon taking in the grey, charred scenery, Jimin realized just how bad the damage had been and hoped that Jihyun and his parents were safe.

But there was no time for that right now since he knew he had to get out of here and center himself, hope for the best while he only had a knife to protect himself with.

Finally coming to terms with his anxiety of leaving such a safe place, Jimin gathered his courage, what he'd had left anyway, and took the steps one at a time until he was standing on grey concrete, burnt grass surrounding the near area he'd just come up from.

Once he'd stood on greyed cement, he began shifting his eyes around, gazing at everything from the destroyed ruins of the houses to the broken down rusting of many cars and realized just how much damage the missile had caused.

Jimin mentally awed at the horrid sight he'd practically been forced to take in, let the reality wash over so shock wouldn't set in and make him want to scamper back down to his bunker, where he knew he would feel safe but wouldn't get anything done.

Once he'd finished taking in the wretched sights all around him, he figured it was time to get a move on and find a place to settle down for the night.

He began by taking small steps on the charred, darkened grass, and moved in the general direction of the way the bus had gone.

Jimin had remembered watching the bus run off and had immediately thought of where it could be heading to, he just hoped the journey would be mostly smooth and go mostly how he planned.

He hadn't really thought of any particular place that the bus had driven off to, except one place.

And that was the Seoul Help Center.

That was the place where people would go to in case of emergency, just like this, and the SHC would gladly provide the basic necessities like food, water, and clothing, but could be of absolutely no help when it came to financing and automotive help and services.

It was just simply a place for those who were less fortunate and were in need of major help in the first few terms.

Jimin had thought it through for a few moments, deciding if he really should go there, but then was held back by the thought of how far away it had been, considering the SHC was situated literally right smack dab in the middle of Seoul.

He knew then and there that he would have to make the trek if he wanted to at least try and find his family, that he would only stand a chance at finding them if he was able to ration everything he had on him, not minding what was left inside any house because of the fear that radiation could get to him.

And he definitely didn't want that.

So he just steeled himself and began walking, heading in the general direction of Seoul, where he largely assumed everyone would be cooped up at.

Though he wanted to get to Seoul Help Center as fast as he could, he knew it'd take a couple of days, maybe even up tona week or two, considering he would likely have to walk since the missile and radiation would be a big part of everything not working.

And as he walked, alone and somber, he washed his eyes around what was one his beloved neighborhood, a place that once was vibrant, full of color and life, now was the exact opposite, with buildings covered in ash from who knows what to grey skies hanging above him and the faint smell of sulfur, and no signs of intelligent life.

Everything has turned grey and ashen, but Jimin tried to not let it affect his mind.

Particularly because he didn't want to be a sourpuss the whole time he was travelling.

However, he didn't get very far before he stumbled upon an ashen corpse, completely dusted over with the potent ash, riddled with all kinds of rodents that had made their way to the decomposed body, ready and willing to flee if there was even so much as a posed threat by something else hoping to get a taste of the dead body.

Upon looking at the decomposed body for the first time, Jimin washed his eyes over the eroding body, taking in all of it's disgusting proportions and the absolutely disgusting, potent smell of the body evaporating into the already putrid air.

After witnessing such a disgusting sight, Jimin had the horrible, strong urge to gag, thinking about who else or what else looked like this, or was even in the path of destruction that the missile had taken.

But he'd forced down the terrible urge and kept walking, taking staggered steps while watching the ground around him so as not to stumble, avoid anything like that.

He gradually began moving again, after forcing himself to get away from that scene that he had accidentally stumbled upon.

After about a minute of just silently walking and lamenting, Jimin actually began thinking about the possibility of maybe, just maybe, another person surviving such a horrible event and what the chances could be that he might stumble upon them and hopefully forge a friendship through all of this craziness.

But he wasn't about to hold on to false hopes, so he just disregarded that thought, pushing it to the side and just hoping for the best as he kept walking along the asphalt of the road, hearing the sound of the ash groaning underneath him from the pressure he was exerting.

He knew it would be a long ride, so he took a deep breath through his mask, and started walking.

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Heres the next chapter. Please let me know your thoughts and how you feel about everything so far.

Till the next💜💜