After the Collapse i.
Titel: After the Collapse
Pairing: Kai/Sehun, Kai/Kyungsoo
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Angst, Action
Warning: gore (?), people will die
Summary: It seemed as if even the sun had extinguished. As if the sun mourned over the Collapse that destroyed her earth. Nowadays her sunrays would only show more of the disastrous place, pointing out all the flaws that could not be seen at night.
“Clouds floated around, dark grey and dangerous. Just like how the human race was best described. Whole the earth had turned into wasteland, whole the people wished they’d be dead. Or so some thought. Because there are still survivors. The ones who will do anything, the strongest and the fittest. If you are granted a life on this earth, you should fight to keep it. That mindset had brought some very far, far into the life of survival and nothingness, far into abandoned cities and collapsed buildings. Only once you might find the Living, but more likely you will find the Dead. The encounter won’t be nice, with neither of those two. That’s why survival on one’s own might be the best. I have rarely seen a Living in the time of the Collapse. And when I did, my gun was faster than my mind. Every moving thing triggers me to do something, to run and flee. Since the first signs of the Collapse, I’ve been travelling through whole the country. There is not one town I have not seen. But in all those months, I have seen only three Living. An old couple I left to drown in misery in the leather seats of a half collapsed bar and a man almost my age, with an indifferent expression that never leaves his face. Despite my believes in surviving best on my own, I do know that food is very scarce and that I need help to find it. The man also had medicine, which was the main reason I accepted his begging cries for his life. A Living who didn’t want to be Dead or dead, was welcome enough for me.”
He retracted his gun slowly. He didn’t want to give the man any ideas, even though he had no weapons on him. The man lay on the ground with his hand over his chest. Kai could see straps of a backpack around the man’s shoulders. The content could be important. “Get up.” He commanded. The man quickly searched for purchase on the dirty ground and got up to a standing position. His face was still the same, but there was a glint in his eyes that told the truth. “Give me the backpack.” Kai said, stretching out his hand. Every movement the man made was hastily, trying to please his attacker without making him angry. Little did he know that he didn’t really give a shit about how fast he could give him his stuff. The backpack had indeed some good content. He owned a few cans of conserved food, some bottles of antibiotics, painkillers and a pocketknife. Kai nodded in approval, pursing his lips. “Well then. I’ll get going.” He said, swinging the backpack over his shoulder and walking away. The man was left behind, dumbfounded. “Wait!” He screeched, running over to Kai, trailing behind him like a dog. Kai just continued, not bothering to answer. He began to get annoyed with the man and if he would not leave within a minute, Kai would pull the trigger on him anyways. “We can form a pack.” The man said then. That put a halt to Kai’s walking. He didn’t turn around, but waited for the other to continue. His gun was still in his hand and he could end this whenever he wanted. “You’ve probably noticed that it is getting harder to find food as the amount of Dead keeps increasing. Large groups of survivors have formed to search for food together. I assume you are not one of the group animals, and neither am I. But two isn’t that bad, right? I have a shelter where I have some guns and other weapons.” The man said it slowly, almost sounding afraid of his own words. Kai considered it carefully. It was true what the man said. Kai had eaten one can of food in three days and was almost starving. There wasn’t any food left to find in this town. That’s why he had planned on searching for victims to steal from, had planned on leaving the town to go to the woods, where there would maybe be some animals left to eat. It sounded appealing to make it easier for himself. Of course there would be another mouth to feed, but twice as much food. Kai pursed his lips as he thought. “Alright, bring me to your shelter. But I will keep your stuff and my gun ready, so don’t try to do anything.” The man nodded quickly, turning around to leave without another word.
Once outside the typical wind of a cold autumn hit them. Their clothing wasn’t as thick as it should be for these kind of circumstances, but stealing from the Dead who had been shot would be too dangerous. It wasn’t clear how the Dead came to exist. All Kai knew was that they used to be people, used to be alive, but were now creatures with a thirst of blood to quench. It was said to be an infection, being spread by touching a Dead’s saliva or blood. Which was the reason why Kai stayed as far away from them as possible. The man ahead of him was silent as they walked through the small town. The air became thick with an upcoming thunderstorm and the danger of encountering a Dead made them rush a bit without actually knowing. “I’m Sehun, by the way.” The man introduced himself, shaking his brown hair out of his eyes, peaking at Kai from the corner of his eyes, who still had his gun pointed at him. “That’s great.” Kai said, not ready yet to commit to something he could not keep. The Collapse had made Kai even more cautious, deeming everyone as not trustable. Maybe, after Sehun had brought him to his shelter, he would just grab some weapons and leave. He didn’t want to promise anything to himself yet. Sehun didn’t say anything after that. So they walked in silence.
After a while, rain started pouring down so rapidly, that they had to hide in a building not to soil the only clothing they owned. This was a misfortune for Kai, as he wanted to get over with all these social things. Sehun went to look around the top floor, while Kai looked around the ground floor. All conserved food had already been taken or hadn’t been there in the first place. But there was a fire place in the living room and enough wooden furniture to burn. The house was nice over all. It reminded Kai a little bit of the neighborhood near his street in his hometown with the expensive houses, where the children would be brought to school by a Mercedes. The living room consisted of a large sofa with leather coating and a coffee table. Next to the fireplace stood a rickety little stool. It was easy to break in pieces. By the time Sehun came down again, Kai had put up a nice fire. “What are you doing?” He said, his eyes wide, eyeing the smoke coming from the fire. “Keeping us warm, drying our clothes, taking care of us. That kind of stuff.” Kai said. He searched in his pocket for the last cigarette he owned and lit it. Taking a long drag, he sat back against the sofa, putting his feet on the coffee table. “It will attract the Dead!” Sehun said as he tried to put the fire out with some sand. “Apparently you are not smart enough to have discovered that the Dead are attracted by sound and not by smell.” The man took another drag from his cigarette. He cherished these last few drags, for he surely would not smoke in a few weeks. Sehun was torn between his instincts and what Kai had just told him. In the end he decided that Kai must be right. He too, sat down on the sofa. “So, what is your name?” He tried again. He hoped that maybe this time he would get an answer. “You should dry your clothes.” Kai threw his cigarette on the floor and crushed it under the sole of his boot. Sehun sighed, doing as he was told.
Sehun hadn’t lied to him. His shelter was nicely hidden, with a few traps set up to protect it from the Dead. The shelter was made out of planks and corrugated iron, but it had enough furniture. How Sehun had managed to get a table, all these weapons and a bed into his shelter, Kai would forever question it. Before entering, Sehun stopped to throw a rock into the door opening. An alarm sounded in the distance, about a mile away. “If walkers go into my shelter, they will go to the sound of the alarm instead. And I am not smart enough?” Sehun huffed. Kai had to admit he was a bit impressed by that, but didn’t let it show as they entered the man’s shelter. “Here it is. Ready to form a pack?” Instead of answering, Kai looked around. Sehun let him. He sat down and watched as Kai looked at the weapons, stacks of food and the traps Sehun had yet to install near his shelter. “Okay, but on one condition.” Sehun nodded. “No stealing once we’ve claimed something for ourselves.” Sehun nodded again, putting up his hand as if swearing a pledge. “I promise not to steal anything you’ve claimed as yours.” Kai narrowed his eyes at him. “Good.” He looked at Sehun from where he was sitting on the bed, fixing a thing that seemed like a little smoke bomb. He was lanky, but with arms that looked strong enough to carry something heavy. His skin was slightly tanned, due to constantly being outdoors during the months after the Collapse. Because of his built, he seemed like a fast runner. Or someone who could easily go through small places. That must be how Sehun had collected so many cans of food, while Kai had been unable to find a thing. Forming a pack wouldn’t be too bad. But Kai had yet to see his fighting techniques. “Are you from the south?” Sehun pointed at Kai’s tanned skin, which was darker than those of the people who lived in the north. Kai didn’t answer. “That must’ve sucked, seeing the first signs of the Collapse.” Kai did his best to inhale and exhale slowly, without showing his emotions. He did not want to tell the other anything about himself, and found the way he spoke to him, as his elder, slightly enraging. “I’ll go make us some food.” Sehun said, standing up from his place on the bed. He took a can from the rows of cans on the table, where he also had a cooker. “Are you staying in this shelter?” Kai asked, picking up a stick from the ground and breaking it. He needed something to busy his mind with, so he could not think about cigarettes. “I guess so. I have enough food here, and there are barely any Dead out here. It’s quite close to home too, which is nice.” Kai pursed his lips. He himself had wandered around the whole country, trying to get as far away from his hometown as possible. He wondered how long Sehun had stayed here, how he had managed to survive. Because even though there might not be many Dead, there were still the patrols of the safety districts. His shelter was nicely hidden, but he would not be able to keep his place a secret for longer. “I don’t think we should stay here any longer.” Kai said as he broke the stick once more. “It’s not safe to stay at the same spot for a long time. It’s best if we avoid getting close to safety districts.” Sehun looked up from heating up the can. “Safety districts?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. Kai sat up, looking him dead in the eye. “Are you fucking stupid?” He half asked, half said. “You don’t know about the safety districts? Those are the only places where there aren’t any Dead. They’re protected by the army. Some miles to the west and you’ll bump into district 20C, counts about forty-three alive Citizens, excluded the soldiers in the patrols.” Sehun stared at him for a while. “Hm.” He said then, stirring the content of the can. “Sounds like one big black market without proper ammo and weapons.” He turned the cooker off and handed the can over to Kai, together with a spoon. “It is. The army takes it all.”
They lay together in the bed, as Kai had not slept properly in ages and Sehun didn’t want to give his comfy bed away. Kai was okay with that, all he wanted was sleep and he could not care less who was sleeping beside him. They were silent as they waited for sleep to take over. Sehun had installed the trap on the entrance again, so no Dead could come in. “Kai.” Kai said, sighing softly. “What?” Sehun asked, turning to look at him. “I’m Kai.” Sehun smiled at him, his eyes twinkling in the light of the candle. “Let’s head to the city tomorrow.” Sehun nodded. “I was first heading to the woods, but coming to think about it, maybe the city is better.” With the food Sehun had collected, they could survive to go to the nearest city without dying if they didn’t find any food on their way.
The next morning, Kai was the first to wake up. He kicked Sehun awake, commanding him to pack as much stuff as he could. Kai’s backpack had been almost empty, except for some ammo for his gun, a short knife, a vest and a bottle of alcohol. So he took as much guns and ammo as he could fit in his backpack. He didn’t want guns that were too long, only a shotgun was acceptable for that kind. He attached the shotgun to the side of his backpack with a strap, putting a little gun with pretty good aim in his backpack for emergencies. Sehun apparently fancied a bow and arrows, which he attached the same way as Kai did. “Ready?” Kai asked as he adjusted the straps of his backpack. Sehun nodded. He quickly undid the trap on the entrance and stepped out. “I’ll keep the rest of the traps installed, so someone won’t come to my shelter too quickly.” Kai nodded. He hadn’t really paid attention to what Sehun was packing, but he had seen flashes of metal, which looked like tools. They went through the streets side by side, weapons in hand in case of a sudden attack. The air smelled fresh, if that was even possible. The stench of putrefied skin wasn’t near them. The only thing in the air were the chemicals of collapsed industrial buildings, ash from the many fires and dust that covered the streets. The sun was slowly making its way above the horizon, casting the street in a red light. The horizon looked like it was on fire, colors burning, flames licking at the ground, trying to grab onto something. Within the heart of the sun did not shine any more bright colors. It seemed as if even the sun had extinguished. As if the sun mourned over the Collapse that destroyed her earth. Nowadays her sunrays would only show more of the disastrous place, pointing out all the flaws that could not be seen at night. Kai preferred the night because of that reason. It was calm and dark. Nothing could be seen. No life, no dead, no beauty, no dreadfulness. The night was a mask that hid all what he wanted to forget. The sun made him remember.
Sehun didn’t seem to be having any trouble with forgetting and moving on. He smiled as he collected bullets from the ground that could still be used, tripping over some planks and boulders and unnecessarily jumping over low fences. Sometimes, during his adventure of stealthily creeping along the walls of buildings, he would look over his shoulder to see Kai stare at certain things he could not see. Every time Kai directed his eyes at something, his face would falter just a bit and Sehun wondered what he looked at, what he thought. He accepted that the man was someone who was more one to be on his own, but he was curious. Maybe Kai did not know how to let go of a time that had passed, a time they could not turn back to. Every memory was a thought of somewhere they could never be again. And he would have to focus on now, instead of the past and certainly try not to look into the future. “Come on, Kai, cheer up!” He yelled, running up to him and swinging an arm over his shoulder. Kai shrugged it off, the smile didn’t do anything to him. “You’re attracting Dead.” Sehun sighed. He would have to get over it himself.
They reached the end of the town not long after, walking side by side as they passed the half broken sign telling them goodbye. What was ahead of them made them stop in their tracks and stare, their mouths agape. The view was marvelous. The bridge that connected the two shores of the town and the big city, skyline adorned with skyscrapers, was covered in wild vegetation, having taken it upon itself to cover all the cracks and crevices in green plants and little yellow flowers. The sun shone just above it, casting it in a heavenly light, bringing all the bright colors of the flowers forward. Sehun was the first to be awoken from his trance, blinking once, twice, before finally shutting his mouth. “Let’s go, Kai.” He patted the other’s shoulder, who shut his mouth quickly. It would take a while to cross the bridge and they also needed to find shelter for the night, so they needed to hurry up. Kai followed after Sehun’s form, who was lazily walking along the side of the road, his right hand grazing the metal railing, his left hand clutching the strap of his backpack. The air was even fresher there, because a river flowed under them calmly, taking all sorts of trash and human remnants with it. The side was originally meant for cyclists, but it was at some points blocked by cars, which had tried to precede the Collapse by leaving their hometowns. Just this had been a mistake, leaving safety to flee was futile as Dead walked around seeking their meals. Sehun’s fingers glided over the railing, sometimes hovering just above it to avoid the screws. Every now and then, he would gaze down at the river, smiling to himself. Kai trailed behind him, boots scraping over the asphalt, hands in his pockets. All he saw were the cars that had crashed into one another, their windows and doors open, blood tracks around the passenger seats and on the windshields. Even around the skeleton of the car grew plants, circling their way up to the roof. The ground was covered in blood, mixed with sand, remnants of skin and flowers. Out of the dead, grew new life. And as much as Kai appreciated this fact, that the earth still did her best to let there be life, the cruelty of the dead was far more apparent. Even children, who now lay lifelessly in the backseat with blood covered faces and gigantic wounds all over their little bodies, were the victim of the Collapse. Kai finally ripped his eyes away from the sight, instead looking at Sehun, who looked back at him. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He said, his eyes drifting towards the river once more. “If you consider corpses covered in blood and millions of families ripped apart by Dead beautiful, then yes.” Sehun narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re such a pessimist.”
“I am not, I’m merely a realist.” Sehun scoffed at that, his fingers slipping off the railing to hang beside his body. “I actually went here with a girl once, during the summer. I must say that even though dead seeps through every pore of the earth, beauty cannot be destroyed.” He clucked his tongue. “You need to learn how to appreciate the simplistic things in life, you are lucky that you still have one anyways. We are the past, present and future. We can build it to our liking.” Kai shook his head. “Without the ones I loved most.”
“It’s better to let go, Kai.”
“I know.” He sighed as he took his hand through his hair.
He knew.
By the end of the bridge, Kai knew about all the girlfriends Sehun had had, which were quite a lot. Kai just listened as Sehun kept rambling on and on about his life before the Collapse. He said that when the Collapse was there, his girlfriend of that time called him to dump him, because she didn’t want to die knowing that he would be her boyfriend in eternity and Sehun couldn’t stop laughing. “You should’ve been there.” He sighed, hiccupping between his words. Kai nodded as they walked over the sill separating land from bridge. The city had suffered most, he decided. Most buildings, which used to be one of the tallest of the country, had collapsed and fallen into a heap of glass, concrete and sand. Some buildings were still standing, but leaned a bit towards the side, as they balanced on nothing but air. Kai didn’t know exactly where to go, as he had never been to this side of the country before. So he walked in a direction that seemed logical to him, towards the centre of the city, where the skyscrapers made way for a giant square, or something like that, because the buildings stood more apart than in the rest of the city. “Where are we going, leader?” Sehun asked, following Kai close on his heels. “To the museum, thought we could make a fun daytrip.” Sehun raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question Kai’s hidden ideas behind a visit to the museum. “Have you been there before, perhaps?” Kai asked as they went up low stairs to a higher part of the city. “One time, with my parents. There was an art exhibition at the time, it was pretty boring.” It seemed as if Sehun wanted to continue, because he inhaled for his next sentence, but he didn’t. Without making a noise, he turned his head around slightly, mostly his eyes searching around. Kai fell quiet too, pricking up his ears to hear better. There was a rumbling sound coming from a building near them, together with slow, dragging footsteps of shoes shaving over the ground. They both knew what it meant. They rushed over to the nearest obstacle that could shield them from coming into a Dead’s sight. “Use your arrows.” Kai whispered, pointing at the bow attached to the other’s backpack. Sehun nodded, unfastening it with a little rustling of fabric and some difficulty. Meanwhile, Kai dared to look over the concrete block, which they were hiding behind. At a few feet away from them, stood a Dead. Its, previously her, body was covered in blood and dirt stains, its skin putrefied and torn open around the throat. Its walk was slow, feet dragging over the floor as its hands were extended a little outwards, as if imitating a begging cat. Not far behind that Dead, were also several others. One gunshot and they would all come rushing towards them. They had to stealth their way through them, maybe kill them with arrows or knifes. “Attack the one far one the right first, if they notice it, they’ll go towards there so we can sneak past them.” He instructed, sitting back down next to Sehun, who had readied his bow and arrow. “That one?” He asked in confirmation as he directed his arrow towards one of the Dead. At Kai’s ‘yes’ he let loose of the string, the arrow flying through the air and hitting the Dead in the head. It made some pained noises, before falling down into a heap. The other Dead didn’t notice anything. They continued to stroll around, grunting and moaning their despair. “It’s like I’m killing families or people I used to know.” Sehun sighed, getting ready to shoot another arrow. “They’re not people anymore.” Kai said. If they managed to get another one out one the right, they could creep along the sides of the buildings towards the square. And if the Dead they hit made a noise, they could go the other way, which was a part of the city was narrow alleys. They could get through there without making a noise, but if they met a Dead, it would be the end. Sehun slowly rose above the concrete block, pointing his arrow at the Dead blocking their way to the square. The next Dead hit the ground without making a noise, infected blood flowed over the ground. “We can go.” Sehun said, taking another arrow just to make sure. Kai got up, knife in his hand, and backed up against the wall of one of the offices.
They got to the square safely. Sehun had picked up one of his arrows while they walked past the Dead he hit, wiping it off on a piece of cotton and putting it away. Just like Kai had expected, in the middle of the square stood a pillar with directions. “What way to?” Sehun asked, looking up at the pillar as well, staring at the places with the absolute distances next to them. “Guess we’re heading that way.” Kai said, pointing at a broad road. It wouldn’t be far by foot. Though the road was covered in debris and bodies they had to avoid. “Won’t there be soldiers around?” Sehun asked, cautiously looking over his shoulder to where they left the Dead grumbling and dragging themselves forward. “Probably.” As this was one of the biggest cities in the country, there would be a safety district nearby, which also meant soldiers. The soldiers protected the improvised fences around the districts, the three gates and strode around the area to clear it from Dead or intruders. As neither of them had an identification to get away from those soldiers, they would be forced to get one at the centre of the district or be shot. Because soldiers weren’t fond of Tourists. And that’s what they were, they were merely Tourists trying to survive on their own, too stubborn to register at a safety district.
They chose to go through the buildings, as they were all built close to each other and there was always a fire escape they could climb onto. They picked up ammo and other supplies on their way, avoiding the Dead by being as quiet as possible. The first signs of Living came from the stairs, boots clashing down on the wood. Voices followed soon after, saying things to each other about clearing the area. The soldiers also picked up some stuff, for the stock in the district. “You stay there, I am going to check the upper floor.” One of them said, walking up the next fly of stairs, while the other stayed where he was, gun in hands. His feet stood next to each other, like a well-trained soldier, but his stance was a little off. The man should be tired of running errands for the higher ranked military. The best would be to give him a quick death so they could silently jump out of the window onto the next building. Kai motioned towards Sehun, who was sitting behind a fallen table, following the soldier’s every move. The man nodded, licking his lips slowly as his eyes went back to the figure standing there, with his back turned to them. Kai rounded the block of fallen rubbish towards the soldier. With a swift movement, he put his arm around the man’s neck, pressing it tight over his throat to cut off his income of oxygen. With his free hand, he silenced the man’s attempts at calling his colleague. He kept kicking at the ground and shimmying out of Kai’s hold, but to no avail. Within a few seconds he lay lifeless on the ground, his eyes still opened in shock. Sehun rushed over as well, still low to the ground and clutching his bow and arrow. Luckily the soldier had carried some shotgun ammo with him, which Kai gladly took over from him to load his weapon with. The other soldier was still rummaging around the furniture upstairs, so Sehun and Kai crawled to the window, where Kai broke the glass with the grip of his shotgun. The glass fell down, apparently onto some soldier’s head, because he screamed and fell to the ground, blood gushing out of several wounds. The soldier upstairs ran down just as Sehun and Kai jumped to the other building, sneaking around the wall to the other side, the soldier following suit. “Hold me.” Kai said. And Sehun did as he was told, one hand gripping onto metal railing of the fire escape, and his arm around Kai’s waist. Kai took his small gun, leaning forward to peak around the corner. Behind the broken window stood the soldier, checking up at his colleague on the ground and then looking around to search the offenders. Just when he stuck his head out of the window, Kai shot, the man falling limp in the frame and he himself losing his balance on the narrow bricks. Sehun climbed onto the metal stairs, hauling Kai with him and dropping the man there. “Thanks.” Kai said, smiling a bit. Sehun rolled his eyes.
The museum was huge, and Sehun didn’t even know the directions. As they entered via one of the windows, they went downstairs first, to the hall, to fetch a map. There was still a stand with maps and leaflets of the museum and its exhibitions. Sehun unfolded the map. “Ancient weapon collection is on the third floor room F.” He said, pointing at a green colored room with numbers in it. “As it says here, there are Japanese, Chinese weapons and several swords from the Middle-ages. But as it says in the leaflet, those are very heavy.” He kept quoting sentences from the leaflet as they went up the stairs. Sometimes he chuckled, when he read something ridiculous like how to some chose to be beheaded with wood instead of a sword and that it actually worked. When they were halfway up the stairs, Kai stopped him. He made a shushing sound, while holding his finger in front of his puckered lips. Sehun raised an eyebrow at him. Maybe Kai had heard a Dead. But as they continued, there was no one there and Sehun got the feeling that he should be offended by what Kai just did. He narrowed his eyes and pouted, but let it slip because the man had just saved both their lives. “Here we are.” Kai adjusted his pants, which had bagged a bit due to walking so much. With the sleeve of his plaid blouse, he wiped away some dust from the displays. He hand Sehun a gun, instructing him to break the glass with those. “We have to check their quality, but some seem pretty usable.” They broke all the displays, taking out the weapons and testing them out on the walls to see if they were fine. At this time, ancient times and the world before the Collapse didn’t really matter anymore. Even as they demolished the country’s most valued items, there was not even a spark of guilt flickering inside Kai’s stomach. He actually felt some proud. “This one’s good. You’ve found one for yourself?” He asked Sehun, who was still playing around with the bent sword he had read about. “This one could be handy to behead someone!” He exclaimed, making a threatening move towards the other man with his newly found weapon. He giggled like a girl. Kai didn’t think it was that much of a useful weapon, but let the man have it anyways. Just because it made the other happy. As long as he wouldn’t go around pretend to behead air and make noises. Because Kai didn’t like adults who used their maturity as a mask for their inner child. “Let’s go.”
When they went outside of the room, Kai heard something. He put the other man to a halt by putting his hand in front of Sehun’s face. Sehun almost walked into it, making a disgusted face and stumbling backwards. Once more, Kai put a finger in front of his lips, sneaking along the walls towards the source of the sound. It had been almost inaudible, but he had heard it nonetheless. Shuffling of feet. In the other exhibition room. Sehun trailed behind him, with his new weapon in his hand. He was clearly determined to use it. The door to the room was open, so they could go in without making a noise. The person was probably hiding behind one of the displays, trying to hold the air in his or her lungs. While Kai stayed where he was with his gun ready, Sehun went around the display in the middle to the back, spotting the person, who shot up from his position. Because he was apparently unprepared for an attack, despite having heard them, he was roughly pulled into a lock by Sehun, who had his weapon on the man’s neck. The man looked frightened to death, his eyes wide and droopy and he was trembling wildly. He swallowed hard, his Adams apple bobbing and his skin scraping against the metal of the sword. He stared at Kai with begging eyes, his lower lip stuck between his teeth. When Kai said nothing and nor did Sehun, the man shut his eyes tightly, waiting for his end to near. Sehun was about to do so, when; “Mine.” Sehun looked up, his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. The man in his arms opened his eyes slowly. “Mine.” Kai repeated, his tone commanding. Sehun frowned, but let go of the man, making him fall onto the floor. Which he didn’t seem to mind as he crawled up into a bowing position. As Sehun stomped back to Kai, he kept whispering thank yous, sobbing meanwhile. “Get up.” Kai said, making the man scramble to his feet. He believed that if he did anything wrong, he would die anyways. “Give me your cigarettes.” The man looked up to him, then to Sehun who shrugged. Without any hesitation he grabbed the two packs of cigarettes out of his backpack and handed them over to Kai, who nodded approvingly. “Welcome to the club…” The man looked up at him with those big doe eyes again. “Kyungsoo.” He whispered. Kai smirked. He turned around, going off the stairs to the other floors. “How did you?” Sehun asked, running behind him. Kyungsoo did so too, trying to keep up with the leader of the pack he suddenly belonged to. “I smelled cigarettes and heard shuffling of feet.” Sehun groaned. “You got to be fucking kidding me.” He said, looking behind him to see the small man hurry down the stairs, tripping over the steps and keeping his eyes fixated on them as he tried at least not to fall.
Kai was happily smoking his cigarette by the window. They had find a house which was abandoned, free of Dead with a good lock and out of the reach of the soldiers of the district. Kyungsoo sat on the couch fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, nervously staring at both Sehun and Kai, who were discussing something while hanging out of the window. Kai tapped on his cigarette, the ashes falling down and blowing away with the wind. The streets seemed empty, save for the lost Dead passing by their building sometimes, and it was dark out. Kai finally felt save, in slightly more familiar surroundings. “Kyungsoo.” He spoke up, said man standing up to follow any coming order as quickly as possible. Kai strode over to the man, taking another drag of his cigarette and blowing it to the side. Kyungsoo just stared at him as he did so, glancing over his shoulder to see Sehun still hanging out of the window with his whole upper body. “Yes?” He uttered under his breath. The man who still hadn’t said his name stood very close to him, as if inspecting him. He suddenly became very conscious of the fact that his hair was not too dirty, and was cut enough to not fall into his eyes like the other’s had and that his clothes looked fresher than theirs. It made him feel very uncomfortable to stand there, with one single weapon in his backpack that he couldn’t reach. He wondered why he had been so stupid inside of the museum, wondered why he hadn’t defended himself. Because he thought it would all turn out okay. “Kai.” The man said, before walking around him and checking his backside. His shoes were still intact, except the sole which had started to come loose at his heels, his pants were just a little dirty and his backpack looked like it wasn’t even rained on. Kai put the cigarette between his lips, pulling at the straps of the backpack. Kyungsoo let him, his eyes directed at the ground and his arms hanging at his sides. Kai sat down on the couch. Sehun lifted himself from the window frame, strolling over to them to sit next to Sehun. Kyungsoo didn’t sit with them, he stood in front of the couch, standing as still as he could. Kai was happy to find another pack of cigarettes. Besides that, it seemed like the man was very unprepared for strolling around the zone of Tourists. Kyungsoo had only carried one little knife with him, a map, a bottle of self-refined water and another bag. Sehun took it out as Kai blew some smoke out of his mouth, hair falling into his eyes. Maybe claiming him hadn’t been his best option as the man didn’t have anything useful on him, but Kai needed his cigarettes. Sehun unzipped the little bag, finding some money and an expensive gun. Sehun raised his eyebrows, glanced at the man standing in front of them and then continued, until he found some papers. He looked through them not really interested to see it were documents to verify legal possession of weapons, which made him snort. Kai stood up, placing the backpack next to the armrest of the couch, and walking over to the window again, where he tapped the ash away and crushed his cigarette against the window frame. He blew out the last puff of smoke.
“Shit.” Sehun said from his place on the couch, making Kai turn to him with raised eyebrows. “He’s a Citizen.”
a/n: this took forever to finish tbh. but i'm kind of happy with the result. will be multi-chaptered, don't know when the next will be up. all depends on if i'm inspired enough.
Pairing: Kai/Sehun, Kai/Kyungsoo
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Angst, Action
Warning: gore (?), people will die
Summary: It seemed as if even the sun had extinguished. As if the sun mourned over the Collapse that destroyed her earth. Nowadays her sunrays would only show more of the disastrous place, pointing out all the flaws that could not be seen at night.
“Clouds floated around, dark grey and dangerous. Just like how the human race was best described. Whole the earth had turned into wasteland, whole the people wished they’d be dead. Or so some thought. Because there are still survivors. The ones who will do anything, the strongest and the fittest. If you are granted a life on this earth, you should fight to keep it. That mindset had brought some very far, far into the life of survival and nothingness, far into abandoned cities and collapsed buildings. Only once you might find the Living, but more likely you will find the Dead. The encounter won’t be nice, with neither of those two. That’s why survival on one’s own might be the best. I have rarely seen a Living in the time of the Collapse. And when I did, my gun was faster than my mind. Every moving thing triggers me to do something, to run and flee. Since the first signs of the Collapse, I’ve been travelling through whole the country. There is not one town I have not seen. But in all those months, I have seen only three Living. An old couple I left to drown in misery in the leather seats of a half collapsed bar and a man almost my age, with an indifferent expression that never leaves his face. Despite my believes in surviving best on my own, I do know that food is very scarce and that I need help to find it. The man also had medicine, which was the main reason I accepted his begging cries for his life. A Living who didn’t want to be Dead or dead, was welcome enough for me.”
He retracted his gun slowly. He didn’t want to give the man any ideas, even though he had no weapons on him. The man lay on the ground with his hand over his chest. Kai could see straps of a backpack around the man’s shoulders. The content could be important. “Get up.” He commanded. The man quickly searched for purchase on the dirty ground and got up to a standing position. His face was still the same, but there was a glint in his eyes that told the truth. “Give me the backpack.” Kai said, stretching out his hand. Every movement the man made was hastily, trying to please his attacker without making him angry. Little did he know that he didn’t really give a shit about how fast he could give him his stuff. The backpack had indeed some good content. He owned a few cans of conserved food, some bottles of antibiotics, painkillers and a pocketknife. Kai nodded in approval, pursing his lips. “Well then. I’ll get going.” He said, swinging the backpack over his shoulder and walking away. The man was left behind, dumbfounded. “Wait!” He screeched, running over to Kai, trailing behind him like a dog. Kai just continued, not bothering to answer. He began to get annoyed with the man and if he would not leave within a minute, Kai would pull the trigger on him anyways. “We can form a pack.” The man said then. That put a halt to Kai’s walking. He didn’t turn around, but waited for the other to continue. His gun was still in his hand and he could end this whenever he wanted. “You’ve probably noticed that it is getting harder to find food as the amount of Dead keeps increasing. Large groups of survivors have formed to search for food together. I assume you are not one of the group animals, and neither am I. But two isn’t that bad, right? I have a shelter where I have some guns and other weapons.” The man said it slowly, almost sounding afraid of his own words. Kai considered it carefully. It was true what the man said. Kai had eaten one can of food in three days and was almost starving. There wasn’t any food left to find in this town. That’s why he had planned on searching for victims to steal from, had planned on leaving the town to go to the woods, where there would maybe be some animals left to eat. It sounded appealing to make it easier for himself. Of course there would be another mouth to feed, but twice as much food. Kai pursed his lips as he thought. “Alright, bring me to your shelter. But I will keep your stuff and my gun ready, so don’t try to do anything.” The man nodded quickly, turning around to leave without another word.
Once outside the typical wind of a cold autumn hit them. Their clothing wasn’t as thick as it should be for these kind of circumstances, but stealing from the Dead who had been shot would be too dangerous. It wasn’t clear how the Dead came to exist. All Kai knew was that they used to be people, used to be alive, but were now creatures with a thirst of blood to quench. It was said to be an infection, being spread by touching a Dead’s saliva or blood. Which was the reason why Kai stayed as far away from them as possible. The man ahead of him was silent as they walked through the small town. The air became thick with an upcoming thunderstorm and the danger of encountering a Dead made them rush a bit without actually knowing. “I’m Sehun, by the way.” The man introduced himself, shaking his brown hair out of his eyes, peaking at Kai from the corner of his eyes, who still had his gun pointed at him. “That’s great.” Kai said, not ready yet to commit to something he could not keep. The Collapse had made Kai even more cautious, deeming everyone as not trustable. Maybe, after Sehun had brought him to his shelter, he would just grab some weapons and leave. He didn’t want to promise anything to himself yet. Sehun didn’t say anything after that. So they walked in silence.
After a while, rain started pouring down so rapidly, that they had to hide in a building not to soil the only clothing they owned. This was a misfortune for Kai, as he wanted to get over with all these social things. Sehun went to look around the top floor, while Kai looked around the ground floor. All conserved food had already been taken or hadn’t been there in the first place. But there was a fire place in the living room and enough wooden furniture to burn. The house was nice over all. It reminded Kai a little bit of the neighborhood near his street in his hometown with the expensive houses, where the children would be brought to school by a Mercedes. The living room consisted of a large sofa with leather coating and a coffee table. Next to the fireplace stood a rickety little stool. It was easy to break in pieces. By the time Sehun came down again, Kai had put up a nice fire. “What are you doing?” He said, his eyes wide, eyeing the smoke coming from the fire. “Keeping us warm, drying our clothes, taking care of us. That kind of stuff.” Kai said. He searched in his pocket for the last cigarette he owned and lit it. Taking a long drag, he sat back against the sofa, putting his feet on the coffee table. “It will attract the Dead!” Sehun said as he tried to put the fire out with some sand. “Apparently you are not smart enough to have discovered that the Dead are attracted by sound and not by smell.” The man took another drag from his cigarette. He cherished these last few drags, for he surely would not smoke in a few weeks. Sehun was torn between his instincts and what Kai had just told him. In the end he decided that Kai must be right. He too, sat down on the sofa. “So, what is your name?” He tried again. He hoped that maybe this time he would get an answer. “You should dry your clothes.” Kai threw his cigarette on the floor and crushed it under the sole of his boot. Sehun sighed, doing as he was told.
Sehun hadn’t lied to him. His shelter was nicely hidden, with a few traps set up to protect it from the Dead. The shelter was made out of planks and corrugated iron, but it had enough furniture. How Sehun had managed to get a table, all these weapons and a bed into his shelter, Kai would forever question it. Before entering, Sehun stopped to throw a rock into the door opening. An alarm sounded in the distance, about a mile away. “If walkers go into my shelter, they will go to the sound of the alarm instead. And I am not smart enough?” Sehun huffed. Kai had to admit he was a bit impressed by that, but didn’t let it show as they entered the man’s shelter. “Here it is. Ready to form a pack?” Instead of answering, Kai looked around. Sehun let him. He sat down and watched as Kai looked at the weapons, stacks of food and the traps Sehun had yet to install near his shelter. “Okay, but on one condition.” Sehun nodded. “No stealing once we’ve claimed something for ourselves.” Sehun nodded again, putting up his hand as if swearing a pledge. “I promise not to steal anything you’ve claimed as yours.” Kai narrowed his eyes at him. “Good.” He looked at Sehun from where he was sitting on the bed, fixing a thing that seemed like a little smoke bomb. He was lanky, but with arms that looked strong enough to carry something heavy. His skin was slightly tanned, due to constantly being outdoors during the months after the Collapse. Because of his built, he seemed like a fast runner. Or someone who could easily go through small places. That must be how Sehun had collected so many cans of food, while Kai had been unable to find a thing. Forming a pack wouldn’t be too bad. But Kai had yet to see his fighting techniques. “Are you from the south?” Sehun pointed at Kai’s tanned skin, which was darker than those of the people who lived in the north. Kai didn’t answer. “That must’ve sucked, seeing the first signs of the Collapse.” Kai did his best to inhale and exhale slowly, without showing his emotions. He did not want to tell the other anything about himself, and found the way he spoke to him, as his elder, slightly enraging. “I’ll go make us some food.” Sehun said, standing up from his place on the bed. He took a can from the rows of cans on the table, where he also had a cooker. “Are you staying in this shelter?” Kai asked, picking up a stick from the ground and breaking it. He needed something to busy his mind with, so he could not think about cigarettes. “I guess so. I have enough food here, and there are barely any Dead out here. It’s quite close to home too, which is nice.” Kai pursed his lips. He himself had wandered around the whole country, trying to get as far away from his hometown as possible. He wondered how long Sehun had stayed here, how he had managed to survive. Because even though there might not be many Dead, there were still the patrols of the safety districts. His shelter was nicely hidden, but he would not be able to keep his place a secret for longer. “I don’t think we should stay here any longer.” Kai said as he broke the stick once more. “It’s not safe to stay at the same spot for a long time. It’s best if we avoid getting close to safety districts.” Sehun looked up from heating up the can. “Safety districts?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. Kai sat up, looking him dead in the eye. “Are you fucking stupid?” He half asked, half said. “You don’t know about the safety districts? Those are the only places where there aren’t any Dead. They’re protected by the army. Some miles to the west and you’ll bump into district 20C, counts about forty-three alive Citizens, excluded the soldiers in the patrols.” Sehun stared at him for a while. “Hm.” He said then, stirring the content of the can. “Sounds like one big black market without proper ammo and weapons.” He turned the cooker off and handed the can over to Kai, together with a spoon. “It is. The army takes it all.”
They lay together in the bed, as Kai had not slept properly in ages and Sehun didn’t want to give his comfy bed away. Kai was okay with that, all he wanted was sleep and he could not care less who was sleeping beside him. They were silent as they waited for sleep to take over. Sehun had installed the trap on the entrance again, so no Dead could come in. “Kai.” Kai said, sighing softly. “What?” Sehun asked, turning to look at him. “I’m Kai.” Sehun smiled at him, his eyes twinkling in the light of the candle. “Let’s head to the city tomorrow.” Sehun nodded. “I was first heading to the woods, but coming to think about it, maybe the city is better.” With the food Sehun had collected, they could survive to go to the nearest city without dying if they didn’t find any food on their way.
The next morning, Kai was the first to wake up. He kicked Sehun awake, commanding him to pack as much stuff as he could. Kai’s backpack had been almost empty, except for some ammo for his gun, a short knife, a vest and a bottle of alcohol. So he took as much guns and ammo as he could fit in his backpack. He didn’t want guns that were too long, only a shotgun was acceptable for that kind. He attached the shotgun to the side of his backpack with a strap, putting a little gun with pretty good aim in his backpack for emergencies. Sehun apparently fancied a bow and arrows, which he attached the same way as Kai did. “Ready?” Kai asked as he adjusted the straps of his backpack. Sehun nodded. He quickly undid the trap on the entrance and stepped out. “I’ll keep the rest of the traps installed, so someone won’t come to my shelter too quickly.” Kai nodded. He hadn’t really paid attention to what Sehun was packing, but he had seen flashes of metal, which looked like tools. They went through the streets side by side, weapons in hand in case of a sudden attack. The air smelled fresh, if that was even possible. The stench of putrefied skin wasn’t near them. The only thing in the air were the chemicals of collapsed industrial buildings, ash from the many fires and dust that covered the streets. The sun was slowly making its way above the horizon, casting the street in a red light. The horizon looked like it was on fire, colors burning, flames licking at the ground, trying to grab onto something. Within the heart of the sun did not shine any more bright colors. It seemed as if even the sun had extinguished. As if the sun mourned over the Collapse that destroyed her earth. Nowadays her sunrays would only show more of the disastrous place, pointing out all the flaws that could not be seen at night. Kai preferred the night because of that reason. It was calm and dark. Nothing could be seen. No life, no dead, no beauty, no dreadfulness. The night was a mask that hid all what he wanted to forget. The sun made him remember.
Sehun didn’t seem to be having any trouble with forgetting and moving on. He smiled as he collected bullets from the ground that could still be used, tripping over some planks and boulders and unnecessarily jumping over low fences. Sometimes, during his adventure of stealthily creeping along the walls of buildings, he would look over his shoulder to see Kai stare at certain things he could not see. Every time Kai directed his eyes at something, his face would falter just a bit and Sehun wondered what he looked at, what he thought. He accepted that the man was someone who was more one to be on his own, but he was curious. Maybe Kai did not know how to let go of a time that had passed, a time they could not turn back to. Every memory was a thought of somewhere they could never be again. And he would have to focus on now, instead of the past and certainly try not to look into the future. “Come on, Kai, cheer up!” He yelled, running up to him and swinging an arm over his shoulder. Kai shrugged it off, the smile didn’t do anything to him. “You’re attracting Dead.” Sehun sighed. He would have to get over it himself.
They reached the end of the town not long after, walking side by side as they passed the half broken sign telling them goodbye. What was ahead of them made them stop in their tracks and stare, their mouths agape. The view was marvelous. The bridge that connected the two shores of the town and the big city, skyline adorned with skyscrapers, was covered in wild vegetation, having taken it upon itself to cover all the cracks and crevices in green plants and little yellow flowers. The sun shone just above it, casting it in a heavenly light, bringing all the bright colors of the flowers forward. Sehun was the first to be awoken from his trance, blinking once, twice, before finally shutting his mouth. “Let’s go, Kai.” He patted the other’s shoulder, who shut his mouth quickly. It would take a while to cross the bridge and they also needed to find shelter for the night, so they needed to hurry up. Kai followed after Sehun’s form, who was lazily walking along the side of the road, his right hand grazing the metal railing, his left hand clutching the strap of his backpack. The air was even fresher there, because a river flowed under them calmly, taking all sorts of trash and human remnants with it. The side was originally meant for cyclists, but it was at some points blocked by cars, which had tried to precede the Collapse by leaving their hometowns. Just this had been a mistake, leaving safety to flee was futile as Dead walked around seeking their meals. Sehun’s fingers glided over the railing, sometimes hovering just above it to avoid the screws. Every now and then, he would gaze down at the river, smiling to himself. Kai trailed behind him, boots scraping over the asphalt, hands in his pockets. All he saw were the cars that had crashed into one another, their windows and doors open, blood tracks around the passenger seats and on the windshields. Even around the skeleton of the car grew plants, circling their way up to the roof. The ground was covered in blood, mixed with sand, remnants of skin and flowers. Out of the dead, grew new life. And as much as Kai appreciated this fact, that the earth still did her best to let there be life, the cruelty of the dead was far more apparent. Even children, who now lay lifelessly in the backseat with blood covered faces and gigantic wounds all over their little bodies, were the victim of the Collapse. Kai finally ripped his eyes away from the sight, instead looking at Sehun, who looked back at him. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He said, his eyes drifting towards the river once more. “If you consider corpses covered in blood and millions of families ripped apart by Dead beautiful, then yes.” Sehun narrowed his eyes at him. “You’re such a pessimist.”
“I am not, I’m merely a realist.” Sehun scoffed at that, his fingers slipping off the railing to hang beside his body. “I actually went here with a girl once, during the summer. I must say that even though dead seeps through every pore of the earth, beauty cannot be destroyed.” He clucked his tongue. “You need to learn how to appreciate the simplistic things in life, you are lucky that you still have one anyways. We are the past, present and future. We can build it to our liking.” Kai shook his head. “Without the ones I loved most.”
“It’s better to let go, Kai.”
“I know.” He sighed as he took his hand through his hair.
He knew.
By the end of the bridge, Kai knew about all the girlfriends Sehun had had, which were quite a lot. Kai just listened as Sehun kept rambling on and on about his life before the Collapse. He said that when the Collapse was there, his girlfriend of that time called him to dump him, because she didn’t want to die knowing that he would be her boyfriend in eternity and Sehun couldn’t stop laughing. “You should’ve been there.” He sighed, hiccupping between his words. Kai nodded as they walked over the sill separating land from bridge. The city had suffered most, he decided. Most buildings, which used to be one of the tallest of the country, had collapsed and fallen into a heap of glass, concrete and sand. Some buildings were still standing, but leaned a bit towards the side, as they balanced on nothing but air. Kai didn’t know exactly where to go, as he had never been to this side of the country before. So he walked in a direction that seemed logical to him, towards the centre of the city, where the skyscrapers made way for a giant square, or something like that, because the buildings stood more apart than in the rest of the city. “Where are we going, leader?” Sehun asked, following Kai close on his heels. “To the museum, thought we could make a fun daytrip.” Sehun raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question Kai’s hidden ideas behind a visit to the museum. “Have you been there before, perhaps?” Kai asked as they went up low stairs to a higher part of the city. “One time, with my parents. There was an art exhibition at the time, it was pretty boring.” It seemed as if Sehun wanted to continue, because he inhaled for his next sentence, but he didn’t. Without making a noise, he turned his head around slightly, mostly his eyes searching around. Kai fell quiet too, pricking up his ears to hear better. There was a rumbling sound coming from a building near them, together with slow, dragging footsteps of shoes shaving over the ground. They both knew what it meant. They rushed over to the nearest obstacle that could shield them from coming into a Dead’s sight. “Use your arrows.” Kai whispered, pointing at the bow attached to the other’s backpack. Sehun nodded, unfastening it with a little rustling of fabric and some difficulty. Meanwhile, Kai dared to look over the concrete block, which they were hiding behind. At a few feet away from them, stood a Dead. Its, previously her, body was covered in blood and dirt stains, its skin putrefied and torn open around the throat. Its walk was slow, feet dragging over the floor as its hands were extended a little outwards, as if imitating a begging cat. Not far behind that Dead, were also several others. One gunshot and they would all come rushing towards them. They had to stealth their way through them, maybe kill them with arrows or knifes. “Attack the one far one the right first, if they notice it, they’ll go towards there so we can sneak past them.” He instructed, sitting back down next to Sehun, who had readied his bow and arrow. “That one?” He asked in confirmation as he directed his arrow towards one of the Dead. At Kai’s ‘yes’ he let loose of the string, the arrow flying through the air and hitting the Dead in the head. It made some pained noises, before falling down into a heap. The other Dead didn’t notice anything. They continued to stroll around, grunting and moaning their despair. “It’s like I’m killing families or people I used to know.” Sehun sighed, getting ready to shoot another arrow. “They’re not people anymore.” Kai said. If they managed to get another one out one the right, they could creep along the sides of the buildings towards the square. And if the Dead they hit made a noise, they could go the other way, which was a part of the city was narrow alleys. They could get through there without making a noise, but if they met a Dead, it would be the end. Sehun slowly rose above the concrete block, pointing his arrow at the Dead blocking their way to the square. The next Dead hit the ground without making a noise, infected blood flowed over the ground. “We can go.” Sehun said, taking another arrow just to make sure. Kai got up, knife in his hand, and backed up against the wall of one of the offices.
They got to the square safely. Sehun had picked up one of his arrows while they walked past the Dead he hit, wiping it off on a piece of cotton and putting it away. Just like Kai had expected, in the middle of the square stood a pillar with directions. “What way to?” Sehun asked, looking up at the pillar as well, staring at the places with the absolute distances next to them. “Guess we’re heading that way.” Kai said, pointing at a broad road. It wouldn’t be far by foot. Though the road was covered in debris and bodies they had to avoid. “Won’t there be soldiers around?” Sehun asked, cautiously looking over his shoulder to where they left the Dead grumbling and dragging themselves forward. “Probably.” As this was one of the biggest cities in the country, there would be a safety district nearby, which also meant soldiers. The soldiers protected the improvised fences around the districts, the three gates and strode around the area to clear it from Dead or intruders. As neither of them had an identification to get away from those soldiers, they would be forced to get one at the centre of the district or be shot. Because soldiers weren’t fond of Tourists. And that’s what they were, they were merely Tourists trying to survive on their own, too stubborn to register at a safety district.
They chose to go through the buildings, as they were all built close to each other and there was always a fire escape they could climb onto. They picked up ammo and other supplies on their way, avoiding the Dead by being as quiet as possible. The first signs of Living came from the stairs, boots clashing down on the wood. Voices followed soon after, saying things to each other about clearing the area. The soldiers also picked up some stuff, for the stock in the district. “You stay there, I am going to check the upper floor.” One of them said, walking up the next fly of stairs, while the other stayed where he was, gun in hands. His feet stood next to each other, like a well-trained soldier, but his stance was a little off. The man should be tired of running errands for the higher ranked military. The best would be to give him a quick death so they could silently jump out of the window onto the next building. Kai motioned towards Sehun, who was sitting behind a fallen table, following the soldier’s every move. The man nodded, licking his lips slowly as his eyes went back to the figure standing there, with his back turned to them. Kai rounded the block of fallen rubbish towards the soldier. With a swift movement, he put his arm around the man’s neck, pressing it tight over his throat to cut off his income of oxygen. With his free hand, he silenced the man’s attempts at calling his colleague. He kept kicking at the ground and shimmying out of Kai’s hold, but to no avail. Within a few seconds he lay lifeless on the ground, his eyes still opened in shock. Sehun rushed over as well, still low to the ground and clutching his bow and arrow. Luckily the soldier had carried some shotgun ammo with him, which Kai gladly took over from him to load his weapon with. The other soldier was still rummaging around the furniture upstairs, so Sehun and Kai crawled to the window, where Kai broke the glass with the grip of his shotgun. The glass fell down, apparently onto some soldier’s head, because he screamed and fell to the ground, blood gushing out of several wounds. The soldier upstairs ran down just as Sehun and Kai jumped to the other building, sneaking around the wall to the other side, the soldier following suit. “Hold me.” Kai said. And Sehun did as he was told, one hand gripping onto metal railing of the fire escape, and his arm around Kai’s waist. Kai took his small gun, leaning forward to peak around the corner. Behind the broken window stood the soldier, checking up at his colleague on the ground and then looking around to search the offenders. Just when he stuck his head out of the window, Kai shot, the man falling limp in the frame and he himself losing his balance on the narrow bricks. Sehun climbed onto the metal stairs, hauling Kai with him and dropping the man there. “Thanks.” Kai said, smiling a bit. Sehun rolled his eyes.
The museum was huge, and Sehun didn’t even know the directions. As they entered via one of the windows, they went downstairs first, to the hall, to fetch a map. There was still a stand with maps and leaflets of the museum and its exhibitions. Sehun unfolded the map. “Ancient weapon collection is on the third floor room F.” He said, pointing at a green colored room with numbers in it. “As it says here, there are Japanese, Chinese weapons and several swords from the Middle-ages. But as it says in the leaflet, those are very heavy.” He kept quoting sentences from the leaflet as they went up the stairs. Sometimes he chuckled, when he read something ridiculous like how to some chose to be beheaded with wood instead of a sword and that it actually worked. When they were halfway up the stairs, Kai stopped him. He made a shushing sound, while holding his finger in front of his puckered lips. Sehun raised an eyebrow at him. Maybe Kai had heard a Dead. But as they continued, there was no one there and Sehun got the feeling that he should be offended by what Kai just did. He narrowed his eyes and pouted, but let it slip because the man had just saved both their lives. “Here we are.” Kai adjusted his pants, which had bagged a bit due to walking so much. With the sleeve of his plaid blouse, he wiped away some dust from the displays. He hand Sehun a gun, instructing him to break the glass with those. “We have to check their quality, but some seem pretty usable.” They broke all the displays, taking out the weapons and testing them out on the walls to see if they were fine. At this time, ancient times and the world before the Collapse didn’t really matter anymore. Even as they demolished the country’s most valued items, there was not even a spark of guilt flickering inside Kai’s stomach. He actually felt some proud. “This one’s good. You’ve found one for yourself?” He asked Sehun, who was still playing around with the bent sword he had read about. “This one could be handy to behead someone!” He exclaimed, making a threatening move towards the other man with his newly found weapon. He giggled like a girl. Kai didn’t think it was that much of a useful weapon, but let the man have it anyways. Just because it made the other happy. As long as he wouldn’t go around pretend to behead air and make noises. Because Kai didn’t like adults who used their maturity as a mask for their inner child. “Let’s go.”
When they went outside of the room, Kai heard something. He put the other man to a halt by putting his hand in front of Sehun’s face. Sehun almost walked into it, making a disgusted face and stumbling backwards. Once more, Kai put a finger in front of his lips, sneaking along the walls towards the source of the sound. It had been almost inaudible, but he had heard it nonetheless. Shuffling of feet. In the other exhibition room. Sehun trailed behind him, with his new weapon in his hand. He was clearly determined to use it. The door to the room was open, so they could go in without making a noise. The person was probably hiding behind one of the displays, trying to hold the air in his or her lungs. While Kai stayed where he was with his gun ready, Sehun went around the display in the middle to the back, spotting the person, who shot up from his position. Because he was apparently unprepared for an attack, despite having heard them, he was roughly pulled into a lock by Sehun, who had his weapon on the man’s neck. The man looked frightened to death, his eyes wide and droopy and he was trembling wildly. He swallowed hard, his Adams apple bobbing and his skin scraping against the metal of the sword. He stared at Kai with begging eyes, his lower lip stuck between his teeth. When Kai said nothing and nor did Sehun, the man shut his eyes tightly, waiting for his end to near. Sehun was about to do so, when; “Mine.” Sehun looked up, his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. The man in his arms opened his eyes slowly. “Mine.” Kai repeated, his tone commanding. Sehun frowned, but let go of the man, making him fall onto the floor. Which he didn’t seem to mind as he crawled up into a bowing position. As Sehun stomped back to Kai, he kept whispering thank yous, sobbing meanwhile. “Get up.” Kai said, making the man scramble to his feet. He believed that if he did anything wrong, he would die anyways. “Give me your cigarettes.” The man looked up to him, then to Sehun who shrugged. Without any hesitation he grabbed the two packs of cigarettes out of his backpack and handed them over to Kai, who nodded approvingly. “Welcome to the club…” The man looked up at him with those big doe eyes again. “Kyungsoo.” He whispered. Kai smirked. He turned around, going off the stairs to the other floors. “How did you?” Sehun asked, running behind him. Kyungsoo did so too, trying to keep up with the leader of the pack he suddenly belonged to. “I smelled cigarettes and heard shuffling of feet.” Sehun groaned. “You got to be fucking kidding me.” He said, looking behind him to see the small man hurry down the stairs, tripping over the steps and keeping his eyes fixated on them as he tried at least not to fall.
Kai was happily smoking his cigarette by the window. They had find a house which was abandoned, free of Dead with a good lock and out of the reach of the soldiers of the district. Kyungsoo sat on the couch fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, nervously staring at both Sehun and Kai, who were discussing something while hanging out of the window. Kai tapped on his cigarette, the ashes falling down and blowing away with the wind. The streets seemed empty, save for the lost Dead passing by their building sometimes, and it was dark out. Kai finally felt save, in slightly more familiar surroundings. “Kyungsoo.” He spoke up, said man standing up to follow any coming order as quickly as possible. Kai strode over to the man, taking another drag of his cigarette and blowing it to the side. Kyungsoo just stared at him as he did so, glancing over his shoulder to see Sehun still hanging out of the window with his whole upper body. “Yes?” He uttered under his breath. The man who still hadn’t said his name stood very close to him, as if inspecting him. He suddenly became very conscious of the fact that his hair was not too dirty, and was cut enough to not fall into his eyes like the other’s had and that his clothes looked fresher than theirs. It made him feel very uncomfortable to stand there, with one single weapon in his backpack that he couldn’t reach. He wondered why he had been so stupid inside of the museum, wondered why he hadn’t defended himself. Because he thought it would all turn out okay. “Kai.” The man said, before walking around him and checking his backside. His shoes were still intact, except the sole which had started to come loose at his heels, his pants were just a little dirty and his backpack looked like it wasn’t even rained on. Kai put the cigarette between his lips, pulling at the straps of the backpack. Kyungsoo let him, his eyes directed at the ground and his arms hanging at his sides. Kai sat down on the couch. Sehun lifted himself from the window frame, strolling over to them to sit next to Sehun. Kyungsoo didn’t sit with them, he stood in front of the couch, standing as still as he could. Kai was happy to find another pack of cigarettes. Besides that, it seemed like the man was very unprepared for strolling around the zone of Tourists. Kyungsoo had only carried one little knife with him, a map, a bottle of self-refined water and another bag. Sehun took it out as Kai blew some smoke out of his mouth, hair falling into his eyes. Maybe claiming him hadn’t been his best option as the man didn’t have anything useful on him, but Kai needed his cigarettes. Sehun unzipped the little bag, finding some money and an expensive gun. Sehun raised his eyebrows, glanced at the man standing in front of them and then continued, until he found some papers. He looked through them not really interested to see it were documents to verify legal possession of weapons, which made him snort. Kai stood up, placing the backpack next to the armrest of the couch, and walking over to the window again, where he tapped the ash away and crushed his cigarette against the window frame. He blew out the last puff of smoke.
“Shit.” Sehun said from his place on the couch, making Kai turn to him with raised eyebrows. “He’s a Citizen.”
a/n: this took forever to finish tbh. but i'm kind of happy with the result. will be multi-chaptered, don't know when the next will be up. all depends on if i'm inspired enough.