Chapter Nine:

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Namjoon and his sister, Fei finally pulled apart from their five minute long hug which entertained tears and whispers of endearment. It was a little awkward for everyone else to watch this show of affection as they felt they were intruding on a very private moment.

As the little girl pulled back and pushed a handful of her stubborn black hair behind her perky milky ears, she finally acknowledged everyone in the room.

"Hello," she bowed, "I am Kim Fei and I am thirteen years old,"

Namjoon smiled fondly at his little sister and that was indication enough that this was her normal way of greeting. Sonya gushed and bundled the slightly tall girl into her arms, smoothing her hand through her hair softly.

A round of introductions went by and Fei, with her brows furrowed and her baby brown eyes blown wide, looked like all the information was a little hard to process. Ten names, after all. But she didn't make a move to ask for a repeat as she digested her self into Sonya's arms, just glad this be around her brother and another female.

They all sat down on the blankets, around two or three battery able flashlights turned on as Fei settled her self neatly in between Sonya's legs in the criss cross pretzel styled position the older girl had assumed.

Fei was given food and water and allowed the liberty to gather her thoughts for a couple of minutes. Then came the questions.

"Mom and dad?" Namjoon asked, ever so straight to the point.

Fei inhaled sharply and shook her head, then she opened her mouth to talk. "They came at night when we were least aware. Half of the street was turned by the time I'd put on my backpack. Mom and dad kept me in the basement and told me not to make a sound or come out until it was safe and they asked me to. I was stuck there for days, the snacks in my backpack were going down quickly.

I could hear screams and crashes and moans and I was so scared and alone. The basement was scary and sometimes the light would go out for the longest time and I would just stay still because mom and dad asked me not to make a single sound. On the fifth day, I decided to brave the unknown.

By the time I'd gone up, I couldn't recognise our house or anyone else's for that matter. They'd broken into everywhere, upturned the whole place. Crashed cars and rubbish, black blood, smoky skies, everything was all too much. No one remained on our streets. Mom and dad weren't there, no one really was. For sometime, I walked alone. I scrapped what was valuable in this time from the house and I left. Mom and Dad had asked me to go to your camp if they didn't come get me, they told me to find you. I didn't think I ever would.

I went out on my bike and found a stray cat, he was the only one who kept me company when all else had gone to hell. There were so many bad people, Nammie, sometimes I had to sleep in the open, too. I lost the cat and my bike when I was running from the explosion. I was so scared, Nammie. I thought I wouldn't make it to your camp, I thought I would die alone. But then I made it here and I followed the headlights of your car." Fei completed her tale of survival with unprecedented tears streaming down her face. Sonya hugged the small girl to her chest as Namjoon reached over and stroked her hair, whispering promises that only the two of them could hear.

The room was drenched in a somber silence. Not only for what the thirteen year old girl had to go through but also for the implication of her story.

"So, they're all gone. . ." Hoseok thought out loud,  quiet sniffle escaping his lips.

Fei looked regretful, as if she should not have said that. As if she had killed their hope.

No one remained of our street.

That could mean only one thing. They all lived on the same street. It was a suburban white picket fence neighbourhood with snotty neighbours who only spoke to you to brag about their children's excellence. They all attended the same prestigious highschool and got off the same yellow bus that dropped them off at their respective houses yet it'd only been when the outbreak happened that they really got to know each other and realised that each of them were nothing like the others parents had painted them out to be.

Yes, their parents were snotty and pretentious but that did not take away the element of love. Each and every one of them loved their family with the entirety of their being, so much that the thought of losing them sent a sick feeling down their gut.

No one remained of our streets.

Their families were dead. They were all dead.

That night, flicking the flashlight off, they slept with the weight of this knowledge nestled in their chest, over shed tears steaming in their eyes. Their families were all gone because of a stupid virus that no one knows from whence it came and a stupid virus the government could not even contain. Half of Seoul, gone. Surely the Hosts would have spread to other countries. Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Hawaii, even continents like Europe and Africa. They were all doomed and no one knew when this nightmare was going to come to and end.

They all smuggled closely together as they often did, with Fei tucked nicely between Namjoon and Sonya's arms. She was all that was left of the aching familiarity they'd come to acknowledge as their family. She was only thirteen and she had seen so much. Yoongi wondered if his parents thought of him before they died. He knew he should've kept hope, after all, maybe they escaped. But someway somehow, he couldn't bring himself to indulge that thought.

As the starry bed of clouds watched over them, Min Yoongi cried into the arms of his lover, Jung Hoseok and allowed the distinct sound of ever going explosions lull him to sleep, as it did them all.

They cried. For what they had lost and what they had gained. They cried, for a world gone to nothing and the innocence that had been washed from them.

And they cried, for they knew this was only the beginning.

writers block is killing me ahsnsn. but that won't stop me. i've found that whenever i have writers block, the most plausible solution is to just write. no matter how stupid it comes out to be, just write and deal with the rest later. anyway, i hope you liked this chapter and the eleven more to come. x KJ.

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