It Follows {Book One}

22

Friday, August 31
1 day

•Yuta•

Yuta paced through the store. Jisung looked up at him without saying a word. A few days earlier, Jisung had started eating again, and gained a little bit of his strength back. He had been walking around earlier, with Chenle at his side.

Kun had been the most recent death only a few nights before, and Yuta carried him away by himself. He found it strange though that there hadn't been any deaths since.

Sicheng had finally fallen asleep, after several restless nights before where he spent his time in the bathroom dry heaving. He had thrown up everything he had eaten days before, until nothing but stomach acid came up. Sicheng couldn't even cry, he didn't have enough water in his body to form tears. 

But it seemed to stop, all of a sudden. He still felt like shit, but he could breathe, and he didn't feel the need to sit next to a toilet for the rest of the day. Yuta had carried him to the middle of the store, where the others were staying. He had taken unused blankets and quilts from the plastic packages of bedding, then grabbing as many pillows as he could find to make a sleeping area big enough for all of them. They only had a few hours, or at least, he thought. He didn't know for sure, but it was around the time scientists and the government had both announced the end. 

He had left Sicheng with Jisung and Chenle. Sicheng was bundled up in several blankets, because at least, the temperature had dropped from the record high, and he was able to turn the lights back on. Yuta was ecstatic.

He walked for what seemed like hours, just pacing the aisles. Things were too quiet. He didn't like it.

He finally came to the basement door. The one he had only walked through a few times, when he was helping Jaehyun or Johnny carry bodies down the stairs, and again that morning. The basement was full of merchandise, things that were going to take the place of what had sold.

Now, layed out between the wooden pallets wrapped in saran wrap, we're the decaying bodies of his friends.

The door was normally closed with boxes stacked in front of it to prevent it from coming open on it's own, since the door didn't stay latched all the way. But the boxes had been pushed aside and the door fell ajar.

The bottom of the stairs glowed slightly with a light that came from further into the room. Yuta sighed as he pulled his shirt up over his nose, and descended down the wooden steps.

Jeno sat in the middle of the room, cradling Jaemin in his lap. Jeno looked up when he heard footsteps approaching. "Oh, hi."

Yuta gestured at the bodies around them, some of the older ones barely recognizable. Yuta refused to turn in Taeil's direction. He let his shirt fall away from his face, and the stench of decay crashed into him. He felt bile rising in his throat as he gagged, but he forced it down. Flies buzzed in his ears, all around him things were crawling with bugs and maggots. "Jeno, what are you doing?" He asked, more out of concern than actual wonder. Yuta really didn't want to know.

"I don't know," He shrugged, running his fingers through Jaemin's hair. Strands of hair detached from his head, getting stuck in Jeno's hands. He tossed them aside, going back to touching Jamein. His fingers traced over his cheekbones, his jaw, his eyelids, and his lips. His death was recent, so he was still in relatively decent shape. "He doesn't feel the same."

Yuta squeezed his shoulder. "Go back upstairs, Jeno."

"I miss him."

"I know," Yuta said as Jeno stood up. "We'll all be together again soon." Yuta didn't believe in an afterlife, but he figured Jeno needed all the comfort he could get.

"Yuta," Jeno grabbed his hand when Yuta started back towards the stairs. "I feel fine."

"That's good."

"I mean . . . I feel normal. You feel it too, don't you? The air is different."

Yuta blinked. "Maybe it's like a 'calm before the storm' thing."

"Or maybe the world fixed itself."

Yuta couldn't hold back a laugh. "Right. The world's been fucked for ages, Jeno. Hate to burst your bubble, but we're gonna fucking die."

Before Jeno could respond, heavy footsteps ran down the stairs at full speed. Chenle bounced off Yuta, but he barely reacted. "You have got to see this." His cheeks were flushed bright red, and his breathing was heavy.

"What, did someone else die?"

Chenle didn't respond, instead he tugged Jeno and Yuta up the stairs and ran to the front entrance. The blockade that Taeyong, Johnny, Kun, and Jaehyun had put up had been torn down, most likely by Chenle himself (which was later confirmed with a proud grin).

Jeno struggled to pry the sliding doors open, as they hadn't been used in what seemed like forever, but was really only twenty-something days.

Sunlight poured in, momentarily blinding Yuta. Behind him, he heard a gasp from Jisung, and silence from Chenle and Jeno. Yuta rubbed his eyes with his fists, forcing his eyes to adjust to the sudden bright light. 

People were in the streets. A group a few blocks away was grilling, giving out food to people who passed by. Yuta took a deep breath. Setting aside the stench of rotting flesh, nothing caught in his chest. The air was clear.

"Is it over?" Sicheng asked from behind Yuta, hugging his arm to his chest.

"I don't know," Yuta said slowly. "Maybe Jeno was right. The world fixed itself."

-End