Once On-jo calmed down, she told Suhyeon to go to her brother, as he keeps on peeking at Suhyeon. However, the youngest of the Lee twins only glared at the eldest after sitting next to him before asking for assurance from On-jo that she is better than she was earlier. With Cheongsan and Ha-ri next to On-jo, Suhyeon coerced herself to get up from her feet and sat between Namra and Hyunjae who is sitting close to the edge.

“Mijin,” Ha-ri whispered, getting up from her seat, “Let’s go.”

“Where? Why?”

“Let’s look for a good spot where we can jump off. We’re the oldest.”

Mijin scoffs, “Sure. Whatever. It’s not like we get any respect.”

Ha-ri ignored her comment, examining her left and right, “I’ll go this way,” She instructed as she points to her right side. “You go that way,” Ha-ri added, pointing at her left briefly.

Hyunjae, who is prepared to volunteer was stopped by Suhyeok without uttering a word. Suhyeok glimpsed at his younger sister without her knowing while Hyunjae sighed as he rolls his eyes, before nodding his head lightly.

“I’ll go,”

Suhyeok stood from his seat, blocking
Mijin’s path, “Stay down, kid,” Mijin tried to move Suhyeok from having her way obstructed, so she raises her arm giving the appearance that she’ll strike him. Suhyeok flinched, seizing a step back to his seat then Mijin proceeded to her objective.

Suhyeok breathed heavily, then he sat back to his seat earlier, and then he catches his younger sister glaring at him. “What?”

“I was doing fine with On-jo earlier, then you had to call me here and it hasn’t been five minutes since you wished for me by your side then you desired to leave.” Suhyeon rolls her eyes, ignoring how Namra and Hyunjae snicker from their seat.

“Sorry,”

Suhyeok couldn’t defend himself, his younger sister chose to take a nap on Hyunjae’s shoulder. It didn’t take much longer when his eyes began to get heavy, then he lets himself doze off.

Without the twins knowing, Namra, who is in between the two of them is currently stopping her urges to bite them. But of course, Suhyeok woke up at the right time, he witnessed Namra’s struggles while his sister is sleeping like a baby, along with Hyunjae, his head leaning on Suhyeon’s.

Suhyeon woke up to see Ha-ri come back from looking for an escape and Namra has an eye patch while Hyunjae is still asleep.

While Ha-ri and Mijin were conversing about what they have found out, Hyunjae woke up from his short slumber.

“There’s a door on the first floor that leads to the mountain. We have to go that way.” Ha-ri denoted.

“But, it’s full of zombies out there,” Daesu grumbled.

Cheongsan proposed that someone should use the scaffolding pipes and the windows to reach the roof to make such noises that can attract the zombies that they will follow so that everyone can escape.

And of course, Suhyeok agreed, “I think it can work.”

“I swear to God if he volunteers. If the zombies can’t kill him, I will.” Hyunjae took notice of Suhyeon’s whispers making him snicker.

Suhyeon sighed in solace when On-jo disagreed with. “Please, stop sacrificing yourselves.” She hailed, staring at Cheongsan and then at Suhyeok and Hyunjae.

“Yeah, I agree with you. We said we’d all survive together.” Hyoryung spoke, while Suhyeok was slightly irked by the way Suhyeon was nodding her head like a bobblehead figure.

“Me too, I feel the same way.” Daesu voiced out.

Hyunjae caught Wujin looking at Suhyeon which automatically furrowed his brows. “I’m with you guys too.” His friend stated.

Mijin sighs loudly, “Then we should just wait for now.”

“And then what? Do you have a plan?”

“Maybe if it rains again, they won’t be able to hear us.” Mijin scowled at Hyunjae after hearing him let out a snicker, “Asshat, is there something funny?” She blurted, Hyunjae vigorously shook his head before looking at the clear skies.

“The sun’s too bright, there’s no way in hell that it’ll rain again. At least, not in the next hour.”

“And who asked your opinion, smartass?”

“He’s right, Mijin.”

Mijin groans after hearing Ha-ri agreeing with Hyunjae and then she smacks her junior’s head after she saw him smirking. Her act made Suhyeon giggle.

Hyunjae rubs on the smacked side of his head, playfully glaring at Suhyeon.
“Hey, you shouldn’t be laughing,” He taunted as his lips puckered while Suhyeon continued to laugh.

“Do you hear that?”

The duo heard Namra talk. She is now the one sitting on the edge after Suhyeok requested to exchange places with them earlier after their nap concluded.

“They’re saying to take cover.”

Everyone from the group had their attention on Namra.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Hyunjae murmured.

“Who?” It was Cheongsan who asked.

According to Namra’s heightened hearing, a helicopter announced that they are going to bomb their school.

“Hey, are those fucking soldiers gonna shoot missiles at us?” Wujin exclaimed, bewildered by the news he heard.

“When?” Namra answered Dae-su’s question that the time and date of the supposed explosions weren’t mentioned.

“They are supposed to rescue us, not fucking kill us!”

Suhyeon scoffs, “Obviously, rescuing us is out of their options. We have to get out of here, like right now!”

“They say hide underground or in bathrooms,” Namra answered back to On-jo’s inquiries, after using her heightened hearing.

“Korea doesn’t have nukes. Get a grip.” Daesu shut Hyoryung’s question.
Hyunjae sighed, “Daesu’s right, Hyoryung. I mean, it’s least likely that the South would ask for nukes from the North.”

“We’re going to die here if we stay here,” Suhyeon muttered, ignoring her friends’ silly conversation.

Suhyeok turned to his younger sister, shaking his head, “Not helping, Suhyeon.” He uttered.

Suddenly, they heard someone with an all-too-familiar voice scream Cheongsan’s name. 

“That son of a bitch is still alive?” Hyunjae worded out of frustration.

The bully-turned-zombie can’t merely take a hint. They want him dead or out of their tail. He’s been thrown out from a fucking building how many times and the asshole can’t stay dead. The group is already facing shit tons of problems, now they must deal with their school’s former gopher too.

Cheongsan stood up, at the same time as Suhyeok and Hyunjae. Which made Suhyeon roll her eyes again, for the nth time, cursing on her mind. They can’t really stop themselves from being a hero, can they?

A few seconds later, Cheongsan wandered closer to the edge of the concrete ledge.

Suhyeon noticed Namra walking away from the window they clambered from earlier, making Suhyeon imitate her action, which made Hyunjae and Suhyeok to look at each other.

Just then, the plastic sheet that was waving because of the wind no longer waves it. It swung away, unveiling Yoon Gwi-nam, missing an eye, lips chapped, and with dried blood on his chin and his teeth.

“Here you are.”

Gwi-nam has a menacing smile on his face and it later was lost to sight as Cheongsan sprinted towards Gwi-nam, swinging the bat at him but he was sharp to dodge it.

Cheongsan was snatched by Gwi-nam on his collar, smashing him on the wall and making the shorter guy collapse on the floor while the school bully leapt on the window only to step his foot on Cheongsan’s chest.

As Suhyeok saw Cheongsan being helpless, it was now moment he decided to butt in, hence he attacked Gwi-nam.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t only Cheongsan that failed.

Immediately, Hyunjae rushes to his friend, who’s holding on to the edge of a ledge, after being thrown out as his life literally depends on it.

Suhyeon couldn’t feel her feet or even her hands. She just stared at his brother, being aided by Hyunjae, Hyoryung, Mijin, and Daesu. Her entire body is shaking. She is torn between helping her brother or Cheongsan.

The youngest Lee thought that she should help Cheongsan instead since her friends are already helping her brother. But, her next concern is how can she help her friend when she is much more fragile than Gwi-nam. Even Namra didn’t stand up to help Cheongsan (which is also another question). Questions are running through her mind, what if Suhyeok will hold grudges after he escaped from his life-and death-situation? What if he grew to hate her? What if he will resent her for putting a friend’s life before his life?

Instead of choosing between her two options, Suhyeon shut her eyes, not wanting to witness the chaos firsthand. It sounds stupid and very cowardly of her but, she really can’t think straight. Suhyeon did her best as possible to clear her mind. To calm her nerves. To think rationally. However, she felt somebody hold onto her shaking hand, making her open her eyes again.

It was Wujin. And On-jo was just beside him, scared about Cheongsan, which made Suhyeon turn her head back to Cheongsan and Gwi-nam. There was fresh blood on his arm, and the bully’s mouth is covered in blood.

He bit Cheongsan.

Suhyeon gulped. She was focusing too much on herself and her mind that she did not hear her friend scream from being bitten.

As Gwi-nam tries to bite Cheongsan on his neck, the bully suddenly tumbled to the ground, covering his ears. As did Namra.

Staring at Cheongsan, who is also on the floor wincing because of his nasty zombie bite put a tear in Suhyeon’s eyes.

With Wujin’s loosened grip on Suhyeon’s wrist, she took it as a chance. She paced forward, ignoring his brother shouting her name. And then, she pushed Gwi-nam off the ledge. A few seconds later, she peeked at the ground after hearing a thud, Gwi-nam was there, lifeless—but surely, only for a couple of minutes.

For the first time since the outbreak happened, Suhyeon felt great. Seeing the body of the person who once wronged her and invaded her personal space, almost lifeless on the ground with her own eyes was surprisingly rewarding for her. And if he was a normal zombie, he might’ve been already dead. But he isn’t.

What Suhyeon did, pushing him off the ledge, wasn’t enough, she thought. She wanted to do more. She wanted to carve on his body, take his other eye out of his socket, make him suffer then put an end of his miserable life once and for all.

Hyunjae was beyond flabbergasted by what he just witnessed.

As did Suhyeok. “What the hell was that, Lee Suhyeon?” He shrieked. He was surprised that his younger sister could pull some stunt like that.

The eldest of the Lee twins proceeded to talk, nagging at his younger twin sister, telling her that Gwi-nam could come back from the living and look for her. That she is putting her life on a pedestal. Asking her why didn’t she listen to him and if she has a death wish.

While Hyunjae kept his mouth shut, as did everyone else. It didn’t feel right to butt into their one-sided conversation. What Suhyeon did was a shock for them, but it has to happen. How ironic, the pusher was pushed.

Meanwhile, On-jo was with Cheongsan on the floor, crying.

Kim Hyunjae took a step closer than Suhyeon, who still had her focus on the gopher’s ‘lifeless’ body on the ground. She wasn’t in the right state of mind, he can tell. Actually, he is more worried if it’s triggering for her, but the satisfied look on her face says otherwise. And he doubts she still has consciousness making him put his hand on her shoulder.

Suhyeon turned her head to look over her shoulders, only to find out that it was only Hyunjae. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t get back to her senses. She then noticed the group behind Hyunjae. Everyone was distressed.

Then, Hyunjae’s pupils enlarged.

Suhyeon just threw her arms around him, and what was more shocking was, she sobbed silently while looking delighted at the same time.

“Suhyeon, are you all right?”

Hyunjae felt her nod her head. “Never better.” She mused, “I pushed him. I fucking pushed Gwi-nam like what he did to me years ago,” She broke away from the hug, but not removing her arms around him. “I know shouldn’t feel this way, but I do. I feel wonderful. I feel happy, Hyunjae. Isn’t that sound bad? Isn’t it weird?” She inquired, lines forming on her forehead.

Hyunjae plastered a genuine smile on his face before he pulled Suhyeon in for another hug, “You shouldn’t feel bad about him, Suhyeon, you did the right thing. He did a lot of shitty acts to deserve it.” He hummed.

“You’ll be fine, Suhyeon. I won’t ever leave you.”

Hyunjae’s mind is in a total mess. He doesn’t know what to do. Well—it has been like that for a while, especially since this outbreak happened. He then glanced at his group. On-jo and Cheongsan were hugging while everyone was looking at them, which made him caress Suhyeon’s back before he slowly breaks their hug.

“Let’s go back to your brother, shall we?”

Suhyeon snorts as she nods while Hyunjae was wiping the tears off her face before they walked back to their friends, while Suhyeok hugged his younger sister immediately.

“Are you all right? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m all right, Suhyeok.”

They both pulled away from the hug, putting their attention on On-jo and Cheongsan. “What you did was stupid.” They both said in unison, letting out a snicker at the same time.

On the other hand, Cheongsan carefully pushed On-jo to the twins, after pulling himself away from the wailing young lady, “Suhyeok, go to the first floor.” He stated, and then he received a nod from him. He then glanced at Suhyeon, who has teary eyes, acknowledging each other with a small nod, then a final glance to On-jo before he ran away from his friends.

Suhyeok was holding on to On-jo as she attempts to get away from his tight grip to follow Cheongsan.

Hearing Cheongsan’s screams broke Suhyeon into sadness. Never in her entire existence that it would come to a time like this. That she would witness a dear friend sacrificing himself for the majority.

While Suhyeon silently cries, On-jo was doing the opposite. But no one can imagine how hurtful it must be, to lose three of the most important people in your life in a short span of time. She’s gone through a lot of stress and trauma at the same time too, and with that, Hyunjae was even more impressed with On-jo.

Hyunjae directs his hand to Suhyeon’s head and lets her lean on his chest while putting his arms around her. Hyunjae knew him the shortest but he was glad he met and made a good friend with a man named Lee Cheongsan.

Thanks to Cheongsan’s sacrifice, his friends succeeded to fled Hyosan High School and now, they are in the middle of the woods, when suddenly, there was an explosion. The explosion was announced by the soldiers earlier on, according to Namra. It was bright, loud, and big.

Suhyeon wonders if it’s twice louder for Namra.

“Namra, are you…”

Namra smiled without showing her teeth, “I’m okay, Suhyeon.”

Suhyeon nodded her head, then she looks down at her hand which is glued to Hyunjae’s then they just look at the light that the explosion made. “We have to go farther,” Suhyeon muttered.

“Um, guys, we have to go—” Suhyeon wasn’t able to finish what she was about to say when the blast wave reached them.

•─────⋅☾ 𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔶𝔵𝔳𝔦 ☽⋅─────•

hello everyone! how are you? how’s life and the year of 2023 been treating you?

i can’t believe that we just recently reached 41k reads! thank you for the love and support that this book has been receiving, it means a lot to me, really.

have a lovely day, everyone. you deserve it.