ISOLATION | JinLia FF

Chapter 10 Who are you?

A young female student with sharp-shaped eyes was walking back and forth as she looks back at the deserted road laid across the checkpoint. She's been with the military a few hours now and she's still hoping that her very close friend will reach this place but for the pass hours, it was nothing and just a street filled with zombie-like creatures.

But after a peaceful worth-while, something caught her hearing. A faint sound from afar and as it gets audible, the student squinted her eyes seeing something moving from the end of her vision. "cars..." she uttered.

As the two vehicles came crashing on the barricade, 2 men; clearly not in their stable form came out rushing to reach the checkpoint but the student completely knew what would happen next as if she had seen it a million times. No one had passed the checkpoint alive.

The moment the bodies dropped on the floor, there revealed 4 girls with the same uniform as hers. Her eyes brightened seeing the person she's been waiting for. And there she stood behind the military and commanded.

"LET THEM IN!"

Due to the crucial and limited time, without further question from the command, the military halted their fire and immediately pulled the girls to cross the barricade , avoiding the zombies to infiltrate and then positioned themselves to kill the infected by an open fire.

The moment Lia stepped inside the quarters of the check point; a warm tight hug welcomed her. A familiar scent "Thank God, you're alive!" it took her seconds for her sight to adjust from the spotlight before entering. "YEJI!!!" Lia abruptly squeezes her friend' s hand, arms, and cheeks just to make sure that she's okay and real. "You're okay! I can't believe this!" Lia exclaimed hugging her friend once more.

"You thought I'm dead?" Yeji questioned which Lia slowly nodded not looking at her friend's eyes, remembering how it felt back outside. It never withdrawn her mind the thought of what happened to Yeji . She held even to a small hope that she's fine and was able to survive just like their group went through. "How... how did you made it? It was crazy out there." Lia stated as her encounters flashbacks in her memory.

A few hours before the outbreak, it was the end of class. As Lia and Yeji fixes their things, Yeji suggested to hang out to eat before going home but Lia was hesitant until she answered. "Yeji... uhmm... I have a confession to make to someone." Expectedly, Yeji's eyes grew wider from what she heard. "CONFESSI--" she was cut when Lia covered her friend's mouth before she could spill it to everyone.

"Yes. The thing is, can we meet up after my confession? If it turns out bad, I need you to comfort me. If it turns out okay. We need to celebrate" acting sad and happy at the end as she explains, imagining the possible scenes. Yeji can see how Lia was nervous about the whole idea but she was proud that her friend would face it alone but on the other hand she was dead curious who it was.

Yeji and Lia decided to meet at a coffee shop near the station which was basically near the border of the town where a checkpoint was planted upon the outbreak. So, Yeji was able to easily walk to the checkpoint but decided to stay believing that Lia would be able to come.

Going back to the present, Yuna took care of Ryujin's head wound as Lia and Yeji continued to talk in the same room. There were no paramedics present in the area and just pure military. "So how was your confession?" Yeji utter which made her friend flustered.

Due to the sudden question, it made Lia nervously looked at her surroundings just to witness that Chaeryoung and Yuna's attention was completely on her with Ryujin showing slight interest without looking at her. "Are you seriously listening?! You really want to know such thing in this kind of situation. Really..." Lia expressed looking down cause by embarrassment.

"We're still students, Ms. Choi Lia. We love this kind of things." Yuna playfully defended along with her bright smile indicating how she loved the reaction from the older girl. "Well, it feels better to encounter normal information than what's in here now" Chaeryoung added, pertaining to the outbreak from her latter statement.

"But I'm more curious about something." Ryujin stood up and walked, stopping in front of Yeji. With arms crossed, she asked "Why did the soldiers followed your command?" because the last thing Ryujin remembered was how she regained her focus upon how the military mercilessly killed the duo before them.

"Oh. I guess I have no choice but to reveal this. I'm a daughter of a colonel." An information that Lia doesn't even know. That revelation lit a fire of hope inside Chaeryoung and Lia but not evidently for the childhood friends. "Then why did those men kill civilians? I thought the checkpoint was a way out." Ryujin threw another question not taking her eyes away from Yeji.

At the same time, in another room, one of the military officers radioed the Head Quarters which was administered by the governor. Informing that a group of students had taken shelter within the checkpoint authorized by the colonel's daughter.

With the governor being selfish and fearing being infected, he directed "Aren't my orders clear? Shoot them dead!". "But sir, they're just students. They also appear to be normal..." the officer tried to reason. "IT"S AN ORDER! WE'RE IN A STATE OF PANDEMIC! PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE!" as his voice agitates, covering the real meaning behind it. They can never let anyone out or else it would be hard to coat this mess with false news.

"By the way, are all the politicians and elite families able to pass perfectly?" irritation was visible on the soldier's face due to the selfish last sentence of the governor.

All elites and politician along with their family were informed and prioritized for evacuation prior the announcement of the lockdown. It felt like it all comes down to business until the end. Preferring their alliances against normal civilians thinking that the government ought to help the community. "I didn't sign up for this" was all the soldier spilled after the heinous conversation.

Going back to the girls' phase, "It was a command that I cannot negate. I'm just a mere student after all and protection was the only clear thing that I can have here." Yeji explained pointing she doesn't know anything with military measures and all. 

The other girls were in shocked with the information. "So basically, the checkpoints were constructed to easily wipe the citizens , infected or not" Chaeryoung could hardly believe her own conclusion. "What a harsh world we have" Yuna whispered to herself caught in a deep thought of reality. 

"In my whole stay here, No one has ever passed this place, ALIVE..." Yeji stated adding to her last dreadful statement.

"In short. It was a 'SHOOT EVERYONE IN SIGHT' command" 

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