Before it Rings (Zombie Apocalypse AU) (NCT127)

Soup Kitchen

Chapter warnings: Mild language

Word count: 1264

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Everyone began to wake up before the morning light grazed the horizon. If he had to guess, Taeyong would say it was around 6:30 or 7 in the morning, judging by the coolness of the air and the still nature of the world around them. He had tried his best not to wake anyone as he maneuvered over sleeping bags, headed towards the van. Sliding the door open, he noticed that Haechan was still inside, lying curled up on one of the middle rows. He was happy that the boy was getting some rest at least.

Finding some miscellaneous items he could use for breakfast, he tried to start the fire on his own, but the clicking began to wake the others. Surprisingly, before long, Haechan was the only one still asleep, off in his remote dreamscape in the vehicle. WinWin took the opportunity to go to the car as well, but for what, Taeyong didn't really know. Jaehyun assisted him in getting the fire going as the sun just barely peaked, giving everything a blue glow.

The boys began sitting up and stretching, backs still not used to sleeping on solid ground. Yuta looked around for a moment, clearly trying to get eyes on Haechan. Thankfully, it only took him a few moments to stumble over- he must have been woken up by whatever WinWin had been doing in the car. He was rubbing his eyes of sleep, exhausted, but still made the effort to greet everyone.

"What woke you?" Yuta asked, worried as he sat down beside him.

"Huh?" Haechan asked with a yawn, not comprehending the interrogative at first. "Oh, WinWin was grabbing food." Taeyong tilted his head slightly.

"We're about to eat." Jaehyun grumbled. "Can't he hold on just a second?" He shrugged.

"I wasn't gonna stop him. He seemed pretty set on it."

"Well, someone go tell him that real breakfast is ready, if he still has room for it." Taeyong muttered, a little annoyed. Mark offered to do so, but Jungwoo wouldn't let him go without crutches. He was very worried about Mark's fragility. Finally, Doyoung got up without a word to go let him know. No one argued, so they all went back to their early morning banter- that is, until Doyoung returned alone.

"I uh... I don't want to interrupt."

"Interrupt?" Taeyong asked incredulously. "Interrupt what?" He was starting to get rather fed up with everyone's antics, so he rose himself to go deal with the situation. Worried about what he was planning on doing, Taeil followed, ready to be his impulse control. When they arrived at the van, though, the sight was far from anything they had expected.

WinWin was sitting, like any normal person would, in one of the van's seats. Littered around him, though, were empty cans, bags, wrappers- any sort of packaging for any type of food imaginable, he was eating it. Things that needed to be cooked, things meant to be combined with other ingredients- if he had found a package of salt he probably would have eaten that.

"WinWin, what are you doing?" He asked, taken aback by the scene. He didn't quite know what to think of it. The boy's head shot up as he laughed sheepishly.

"What, can't a dude be hungry?" Taeil glanced over their leader's shoulder, murmuring,

"Yeah, but... This is more food than any one person could eat."

"Big stomach?"

"Apparently..." Head jerking again, WinWin looked out the window towards the fire.

"Did you guys make breakfast? Sweet!"

"Wait, I-" before Taeyong could stop him, he launched himself out of the car and towards the group. As he approached, though, they looked more confused than happy to see him again. When he had left the circle, it had been dark, but now... he was basically in the daylight.

"WinWin, are you running a fever?" Jaehyun asked, brows tilting in concern. "Do you feel hot at all?"

"Hot? No, not really. Why?"

"You just look a bit... flushed." WinWin brushed it off.

"Whatever. Can we eat?" Jungwoo couldn't stand the thought of eating now. Looking at WinWin, hist stomach dropped, leaving no room for breakfast. WinWin wasn't flushed, it was just difficult to tell in the ethereal, misty morning light. His skin wasn't the red of blood... it was a magenta, soon to be purple.

His entire body was slowly turning into a sickeningly familiar flesh tone. Jungwoo didn't even know how to explain it. Zombies were created by bites, and in those scenarios, the flesh rotted from the bite outwards. This fade? There was no explanation for it, no reason to believe it was even possible, and yet it was also unmistakable.

No, there was an explanation. He just didn't want to admit it. In fact, there was only one explanation. His serum had done this. Somehow, when that substance made contact with his skin and sank into the surface, it began corrupting him. Jungwoo should have seen this coming, should have stopped him. It had worked, and that joy was like nothing he had felt since this entire disaster began, but... Was it even worth it for this? WinWin's senses seemed to be intact, aside from his rabid hunger. Was it that he was suppressing the urge to eat other humans without knowing it? Was he a human brain trapped inside what was going to become a zombie body? Did he even know what was going on?

Coughing, Jungwoo tried to catch the boy's attention as he rose from his panic. Glancing over, he managed to signal that they should break off for a minute. Turning to Taeyong, he gave a passing nod and an amendment to his previous request.

"Hold on, gimme a second." Standing to go a few feet away with Jungwoo so as to be out of earshot of the other members, Jungwoo looked at him closely. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't.

"I..." What to say. What do you say when you've permanently fucked up your friend's body? Unless... was there a way to fix it? He could try at least- there had to be something, there had to be-

"I already know, if that's what you're worried about." WinWin said calmly. This sent Jungwoo spiraling off his whole original plan of action. "I thought I'd be able to deal with it, just live like normal. I don't really want to kill anyone, so that's a plus." Shaking his head, he put a hand to his stomach, continuing on. "I'm just so hungry now, though. I know that it's nearly there. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep acting like a human." Tears sprang to Jungwoo's eyes as he realized how quickly WinWin had come to accept what was going to happen.

"No! You can't say that, we haven't exhausted any options! We can run tests, I can find inverses of the chemicals we used, I-"

"But there's no time." He said, eyes fading in and out of focus as he tried to see Jungwoo's face for a human being's rather than something he didn't want to think about. "I'm not asking you to kill me or anything... God knows I'm not strong enough for that. I need to leave, though, before you all get hurt."

"Please..." Jungwoo said, trying not to seem weak but feeling like death. "Please don't." Sighing, WinWin just walked back past the group and towards one of the few tents. Jungwoo sighed with relief as he saw this. He just needed WinWin to stay long enough to find a cure.