In The End [2/5]
Pairings: HoMin
Rating: R
Warnings: boyxboy, some gore, might have adult themes in the future.
Summary: It's a normal day when life pushes them together. Who would have known a few hours later they would only have one another?
A/N: Sorry if there are any formatting mistakes... or mistakes of any sort. Enjoy~
=August 20, 2011=
”This morning, recent reports arrived talking about a state of alarm inside the city hospital. The facilities are being evacuated but the personnel have refused to explain anything to the media. There is no news about the victims of the previous reports, including Mr. Cho Gun Woo, the man that came back to life-“
It is the sound of the TV that woke Yunho up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he tried hard to remember why he had not turned off the TV the night before. He pulled the covers away and stepped out of his room, his naked feet slapping against the cool linoleum on the hallway.
When he reached the living room the first thing that greeted him was the sight of his neighbor’s son sprawled on his couch, the blanket tangled between his Changmin’s long legs and the pillow he had brought for him covering his head completely, probably in attempts of escaping the noise of the news channel.
Yunho remembered then the events from the night before and chuckled as Changmin unconsciously pressed the pillow harder against his ears. He wondered if Mrs. Shim had called after all.
“You’re going to suffocate,” he whispered and grabbed the remote, intending on turning off the TV so Changmin could sleep better.
”It seems we’re getting a call from our correspondent at the hospital. Ji Eun what is going on down there?”
Yunho’s finger hovered over the power button, but then the image changed to a live transmission from the hospital. There was a petite woman in her early thirties standing before the gates to the hospital, surrounded by equally confused reporters and bystanders.
”While the official report is that the hospital has been evacuated in its totality, strange noises are being heard from the emergency room. These sounds, which are horrifying in nature, sound like terrified screams from people. Authorities and hospital personnel alike are still refusing to make a statement; however, police have arrived at the scene and are asking everyone to leave the premises. We’ll try to figure out more information about the mysterious victims and what’s going on inside the hospital. Back to you, Min Jun.”
Worry crept up Yunho’s stomach, and he swallowed, debating whether he should wake Changmin up or not. He decided to check the phone first for any messages, but the last recording in the phone record was from two days ago.
He shook the younger man’s shoulder.
“Changmin-ah.”
He felt Changmin stir and poke his head from under the pillow, sleep-clouded eyes struggling to focus on his kneeling form.
“Huh?” the man mumbled, running a hand over his face.
“Did your mom call last night?” Yunho asked, something telling him he already knew the answer.
“Hm, no. No, she didn’t,” Changmin replied once he was a bit more awake. He yawned. “What’s the matter, hyung?”
“The hospital was evacuated, perhaps you should check your home; see if your parents are there.”
Yunho watched as Changmin stood from the couch and walked towards the door. He was still in his pajamas when he put on his sneakers and left Yunho’s apartment, leaving the door open behind him.
With a sigh, Yunho went to start the coffee machine. The TV was still on and he sat down on the place Changmin had been laying, staring intently at the glowing screen. Reports about the economy and the newly appointed Korean ambassador in the United States were delivered without the enthusiasm the mysterious attacks story got and Yunho became restless waiting for further news about his neighbor’s family.
Mrs. Shim could be obnoxiously talkative but she was nice to Yunho, preparing him homemade meals without him asking and offering to iron his shirts, saying she knew how hard it was for a man to live alone. He also liked Mr. Shim, a serious man with a passion for sports that showed in short conversations he had with Yunho during an elevator ride.
Five minutes later Changmin came back, wearing clean clothes and a blank expression on his face.
Yunho looked questioningly at him.
“They’re not there,” Changmin answered the unasked question.
“Try their cell phones,” Yunho suggested.
Changmin fished his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed some buttons before bringing the phone up to his ear.
Yunho went into the kitchen and filled two mugs with coffee. He went back into the living room and set one on the low table, signaling to Changmin that it was for him. The younger man mouthed his thanks while he held the phone to his ear.
When the dial tone ended without anyone picking on the other end, Changmin brought the phone down and pressed the call button again before starting to pace nervously around the room.
Again, his call went unanswered and he cursed, punching a different set of numbers and pressing the phone against his ear again. It was to no avail; his father’s phone had probably been turned off as soon as he got to the hospital and his mother was not picking up on hers.
”We’re getting another call from the team at the hospital. What do you have for us, Ji Eun?”
Both Changmin and Yunho turned to the TV. Changmin soundlessly went to sit next to Yunho, his coffee mug left forgotten on the table.
On the screen the same woman from before was standing to the side so the camera could focus on the hospital gates behind her. A lone figure in a white hospital gown was standing there, swaying softly from side to side.
“As you can see, behind me is no other than Mr. Cho Gun Woo, the man that has surprised the nation by coming back to life after being pronounced dead. What is even more astonishing is that the official report was that the hospital was evacuated and here we have a person that was still inside. We’ll try to approach him to get his statement.”
The camera follows the reporter as she makes her way through the main gates, completely disregarding the yellow “keep out” tape. Halfway through she is stopped by a couple of men in a black uniform, both armed with rifles.
“You are not authorized to be here. Step behind the gates please.”
“Why is that man there if the hospital was evacuated?”
“Step back, miss. This place is being quarantined and only authorized personnel can enter the grounds.”
The reporter started to walk away but at the last moment she turned around and sprinted, stepping around the uniform-clad men and hurrying towards the swaying figure of Cho Gun Woo.
”Mr. Cho! Mr. Cho! Tell us why you are being kept here. Are there more people inside? How did you come back from the dead? What were you doing when you got attacked?”
The petite woman shot out answers as she ran, the guards going after her while the camera shakily followed the action.
The guards shouted warnings behind her while at the same time calling for back-ups through their radio.
”We have an escapee and two unauthorized individuals within the grounds. We require back-up and further instructions-“
“Mr. Cho!”
“Do not touch him, miss!”
“Mr. Cho?”
The moment the reporter touched the man’s arm he turned towards her. The camera focused on him and Yunho could tell there was something terribly wrong with him.
The white of his eyes was yellow, his irises looked lifeless and his skin was pasty. He almost looked…
…like a corpse.
Yunho and Changmin watched horrified as Cho Gun Woo opened his mouth and bared his teeth which were stained red with blood. The reporter screamed as the man lurched forward, arms outstretched towards her. She tried to run but the man got a hold of her arm and brought it up to his mouth, growling inhumanely before biting down on it.
The woman shrieked in pain when a chunk of flesh was torn from her arm, blood spraying from the wound and splattering everywhere.
A couple of shots were fired, the scene turning into chaos with men in black uniforms running around the place. One tripped the camera man and the camera went flying through the air before hitting the ground and turning off, cutting the transmission.
The screen showed the news channel studio again. The reporter’s eyes were opened wide and terrified. When he spoke his voice was shaking.
”W-we’ll get back to them as soon as the technical p-problems have been resolved.”
Changmin grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. He stood up, almost knocking the coffee mugs with his knees and looked at Yunho, who couldn’t take his eyes from the screen.
“Do you have a car?” Changmin asked.
Yunho looked up at him and frowned.
“Yeah, why?”
“Will you lend it to me? I’m going to the hospital; see if my parents are still in there.”
At his words, Yunho stood up hastily.
“Wait. Calm down, Changmin. We don’t even know where they are and you saw for yourself, it’s dangerous to go down there. Besides, they most likely won’t let you inside.”
“I still have to try, dammit,” Changmin said, his temper rising. Seeing that Yunho was not going to budge his voice turned pleading. “Hyung, please.”
Yunho sighed and turned around, his back to Changmin. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, messing it up. He seemed troubled but then he turned around to face Changmin again and his eyes looked determined.
“You’re not going alone,” Yunho said. “Let me get dressed.”
The hospital was as good twenty minutes away from their building but the large amount of traffic made the trip even longer. Yunho had tried to loosen up the tension by turning the radio on but eventually the music grated on his strained nerves and he turned it off, settling for silence.
Changmin was restless in the passenger seat. To the outside observer he looked calm but he was constantly wiping his sweaty palms on his jean-clad thighs. He looked outside the window and watched people go on with their day normally. Changmin wondered if they even knew what was going on.
As they got closer to the hospital the mood on the streets changed. The streets were packed with cars moving away from the hospital’s general direction and everything was quiet except the impatient honking of cars on the opposite lane.
“Why don’t you try calling them again?” Yunho said; eyes on the road.
Changmin took out his cell phone and dialed his mother’s phone. Yunho felt his muscles tense as he heard the faint sound of the dial tone ring again and again, the seconds tickling by without any answer.
“She’s not picking up,” Changmin muttered darkly before pocketing the phone.
Yunho nodded. They would have to go to the hospital after all.
A couple of blocks before arriving to their destination they noticed the city was deserted. Not even cars were around and to Yunho the whole idea of going was starting to seem extremely dumb.
Whatever that Cho Gun Woo guy had become was not human. He shuddered as he tried not to think about all those videogames he played in which flesh-loving zombies would pop out at the turn of every corner. It looked too similar but he tried to reason with himself. That is fiction, Jung. You must be exhausted from the trip if you’re imagining something like that would come true.
He was about to turn into the street leading to the hospital gates when he had to step on the brakes. Before them was a horrifying sight. A wreckage of cars blocked the street. There was fire where a pool of gasoline had caught flame, probably with the friction of metal against the wet pavement.
There was nobody inside the cars from what they could see and there seemed to be no movement either.
Yunho parked his car on the corner and turned to Changmin.
“Are you sure you want to go?”
Changmin nodded and unfastened his seat belt, opening the door and stepping outside. Yunho followed suit, locking the car as they walked towards the hospital.
The gates were open and the yellow tape had been yanked out. There were some bodies lying around, blood pooling around them from several lacerations.
Vile rose up Yunho’s throat as he recognized the reporter from earlier as one of them. Another one seemed to be the camera man, since next to him laid a large, broken camera. The third body was of a uniformed man.
That’s when Yunho realized there were no other guards around.
Changmin walked towards the main entrance to the hospital. The door was cracked open and when he looked inside he could not see anything but endless darkness. He looked at Yunho who was observing the corpses with morbid interest, once in a while looking around, searching for something.
“It’s too dark inside, hyung. Let’s go see if they have flashlights in there,” he said, pointing to a security post next to the gates.
Yunho nodded and went inside the small building, opening cabinets and going through all sorts of pointless archives. Changmin followed moments later, helping with the search.
Near the very back they found a tool shed. There they found a couple of flashlights and extra batteries. They took those, pocketing the batteries and trying the flashlights. At the last minute Yunho went back and grabbed a crowbar. Looking around he found an abandoned baton and handed that one to Changmin.
“Just in case,” he told Changmin. The younger man swallowed thickly and nodded, grabbing the offered weapon.
They walked outside, trying to be silent in case there were still people there. They were almost done walking around the corpses when Yunho stepped on a branch, its wooden body cracking under his weight.
Changmin looked back at him in reprimand and Yunho was about to mouth an apology when they heard a gargled moan not too far away.
They froze; then they heard it again. They turned in the direction of the noise and their eyes widened in horror as they watched the reporter try to stand. There were several bite-sized chunks of flesh missing from her arms and legs, and a wide bullet hole going through her middle, but she still stood on her feet.
When she turned around they saw the same lifeless eyes the first victim sported on TV and when she lunged at them Yunho did the only thing he could think of: He struck her across the head with the crowbar, hitting her repeatedly until he heard her skull crack and blood splattered out, covering the end of the weapon.
It was not until her body was lying lifelessly on the floor that he stopped. Gray-colored tissue seeped through the cracks of her skull and mixed with the blood that matted her hair. He breathed harshly, his arms trembling as he tried to keep yesterday’s dinner down. He turned to look at Changmin, who was rooted on his spot, eyes wide and fingers holding the flashlight and the baton tightly.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Before Changmin could reply there was another moan, this one coming from the hospital’s entrance. When they turned around they saw about a dozen of those things pouring from the opened doors, arms outstretched and heading towards them with barely coordinated movements.
Next to them the bodies of the guard and the camera man started to move. Changmin looked from the door to Yunho, understanding, resignation, and a raw sense of self-preservation filling his eyes.
“Run!!” he screamed with all his might, dropping the flashlight and grabbing Yunho’s hand before sprinting towards the gates, the undead creatures following after them.
In no time they were standing outside the car, Yunho frantically fumbling with the keys while Changmin tugged at the door desperately until the older man unlocked the car.
They climbed inside, locked the doors and sped away as the undead poured into the streets, the tires screeching when they turned around the corner.
Yunho took a longer route to get back home. Most of the more direct roads were blocked with too many cars trying to get away and he wanted to avoid being trapped among those fleeing. Changmin seemed pretty shaken; his fingers trembled as he turned on the radio and switched to a news station.
”-is under a state of alarm. Authorities urge those living within a five kilometer radius of the hospital to evacuate their homes immediately. We urge the public to avoid any major roads and to contact family and friends outside the city and ask to stay with them for a few days. Government officials estimate this crisis will be under control in no more than a week-“
Changmin slammed his fist against the dashboard and Yunho jumped, foot stepping on the brakes. There was some angry honking behind them as the driver behind them almost crashed his car into Yunho’s.
“Shit. What is wrong with you?!” Yunho asked, watching as the angry driver flipped him off as he passed next their car before turning to Changmin.
“They haven’t said anything about the evacuees or where they were taken. How am I supposed to know if my parents are alright?!” Changmin retorted angrily.
Yunho’s expression softened. He tried to understand what Changmin was going through but he could only imagine what he must be feeling.
“We’ll call the other hospitals when we get back to our building, see if they were taken to any of those.”
He placed a reassuring hand on Changmin’s shoulder before taking the wheel again.
Changmin turned away from him, facing the window. Yunho swore he heard a faint sniffle coming from the passenger’s seat.
Yunho parked the car in his designated spot in the underground parking lot. He climbed out of the car and waited for Changmin to do the same.
He was pleased when he found the elevator working again and the two stepped into the mirror-walled box, pressing the button to Changmin’s floor first to check if his parents had gone back.
Yunho looked at Changmin out of the corner of his eye. His mismatched eyes were red, either from crying or from holding back the tears and he was impatiently tapping his foot against the floor as he watched the numbers on the top of the doors change slowly.
He must have felt Yunho’s stare because he turned to look at the older man, but soon the curious glance turned horrified as he took in Yunho’s appearance.
“Hyung, you’re covered in blood,” he said, looking at Yunho’s shirt.
“Huh?”
Yunho looked down and sure enough, his shirt was sprinkled with blood and there was even some going down the front of his pants and dotting his white sneakers. He grimaced when he saw the skin of his arms had blood on them as well.
“I’ll clean up as soon as I get home,” he said, taking his eyes away from his clothes and staring straight ahead, forcing himself not to think about his current state.
Not long after that they reached Changmin’s floor, the taller male stepping outside the elevator before the doors opened completely.
“Perhaps you want to go clean up now,” he said, looking straight at Yunho’s face to avoid looking at the blood on his clothes.
Yunho shook his head. “I’ll go with you.”
Changmin nodded and led the way, opening the door with a jingle of keys.
“Mom? Dad?” he called out as soon as he stepped into his home, not even bothering to take off his shoes.
Yunho followed after him and when Changmin entered the living room he went to check the kitchen.
“Mrs. Shim?” he called out but there was no answer.
Looking around he noticed the Shim’s kitchen felt a lot warmer than his, with a family portrait on the refrigerator door and a tidiness that a young bachelor living alone could only dream of. The cabinets were filled with spices, pans and pots, instead of instant soups and alcohol bottles, and a bowl filled with fruit stood in the middle of a round table where the Shim’s most likely had their everyday meals.
He tore himself away from the room and went to help Changmin search the bedrooms. Finding nothing they decided to go back to Yunho’s apartment to figure out what to do next.
While Yunho took a shower Changmin tried to contact every hospital he could think of. The phonebook was opened on the coffee table and next to it was Changmin’s laptop, a search engine showing on his browser with links to the latest news regarding the incident at the hospital.
He scrolled through the latest ones, none of which said anything about the evacuees, while he waited for his call to go through. He had called all the hospitals in the city already and he was trying with the ones in the nearby cities to no success.
Nobody knew what had happened to those evacuated from the quarantined hospital, and he was starting to fear they had not been evacuated at all.
The TV was on as well. He hopped to catch some report about his parents and the rest of the patients in the hospital but every channel was either transmitting instructions to leave the city or showing bone-chilling footage of the monsters roaming the streets, some of those sent in to the news channel by scared viewers filming from their windows.
He heard the shower being turned off and minutes later Yunho appeared through the door. He was wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, his hair still dripping wet. On one hand he held a black trash bag filled with what Changmin imagined to be his soiled clothes.
“I really liked those pants,” Yunho mumbled, tying the bag closed and setting it on the corner to throw away later. He sat next to Changmin, watching as he hung up the phone and dialed a new number. “Still no luck?”
Changmin shook his head.
“I’m starting to fear they were inside the hospital all along,” he said, his voice starting to break at the end.
The call seemed to go through because Changmin cleared his throat and spoke into the phone, inquiring about his parents. Yunho watched as hope drained from his eyes before thanking the speaker on the other line and hanging up.
Changmin’s shoulders slumped over and he cradled his face into his palms. Yunho watched Changmin crumble before his eyes, not being able to do anything to ease the younger man’s pain.
“We’ll keep trying,” he attempted to comfort Changmin, but the latter brushed Yunho’s hand off when he tried to touch him.
“Could you leave me alone for a while, hyung? Please,” Changmin requested without lifting his head.
Yunho nodded, even though he knew Changmin could not see him and stood up, taking the black bag with him and leaving the room.
=August 23, 2011=
Three days was all it took for the city to be consumed. The TV was constantly on and Yunho and Changmin sat in front of it every day, watching as the news changed from recommendations to leave the city to survival guides and updates on the government response to the situation.
By now they knew the whole thing was the product of some experimentation with a new virus gone wrong. A well-known pharmaceutical laboratory got governmental permission to use the patients of the psychiatric ward No. 5 as guinea pigs for a new biological weapon being developed with government funds.
What they developed was something they could neither control nor understand and eventually one of the experimentation subjects was left unwatched for a second too long.
That’s when the attacks started.
Changmin got some dark amusement at the groups of outraged people standing outside government offices, protesting against the inhumane treatment of the patients of the ward and demanding the resignation of every single government official.
Funny how some still thought of that when there were flesh-eating corpses roaming the streets.
His family was never found. He tried calling every relative he could, but most were not picking up their phones and those that did had no idea where his parents might be.
Yunho tried to keep him distracted from the loss of his parents, plastering on a smile and reminding Changmin to eat, even making an effort to cook for the younger man even though he was not very good at it.
But Changmin never noticed when Yunho sneaked off to his room every couple of hours. He would sit on the edge of the bed, phone pressed against his ear for a few seconds, only to bring it down and toss it angrily on the bed moments later.
He would then look out the window for a few minutes, sometimes spotting one of the undead roaming around the street below, their uncoordinated movements giving them away.
Whenever that happened he closed the curtains to block the sight and went to look for Changmin, waiting a few hours before trying to call again.
Rating: R
Warnings: boyxboy, some gore, might have adult themes in the future.
Summary: It's a normal day when life pushes them together. Who would have known a few hours later they would only have one another?
A/N: Sorry if there are any formatting mistakes... or mistakes of any sort. Enjoy~
=August 20, 2011=
”This morning, recent reports arrived talking about a state of alarm inside the city hospital. The facilities are being evacuated but the personnel have refused to explain anything to the media. There is no news about the victims of the previous reports, including Mr. Cho Gun Woo, the man that came back to life-“
It is the sound of the TV that woke Yunho up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he tried hard to remember why he had not turned off the TV the night before. He pulled the covers away and stepped out of his room, his naked feet slapping against the cool linoleum on the hallway.
When he reached the living room the first thing that greeted him was the sight of his neighbor’s son sprawled on his couch, the blanket tangled between his Changmin’s long legs and the pillow he had brought for him covering his head completely, probably in attempts of escaping the noise of the news channel.
Yunho remembered then the events from the night before and chuckled as Changmin unconsciously pressed the pillow harder against his ears. He wondered if Mrs. Shim had called after all.
“You’re going to suffocate,” he whispered and grabbed the remote, intending on turning off the TV so Changmin could sleep better.
”It seems we’re getting a call from our correspondent at the hospital. Ji Eun what is going on down there?”
Yunho’s finger hovered over the power button, but then the image changed to a live transmission from the hospital. There was a petite woman in her early thirties standing before the gates to the hospital, surrounded by equally confused reporters and bystanders.
”While the official report is that the hospital has been evacuated in its totality, strange noises are being heard from the emergency room. These sounds, which are horrifying in nature, sound like terrified screams from people. Authorities and hospital personnel alike are still refusing to make a statement; however, police have arrived at the scene and are asking everyone to leave the premises. We’ll try to figure out more information about the mysterious victims and what’s going on inside the hospital. Back to you, Min Jun.”
Worry crept up Yunho’s stomach, and he swallowed, debating whether he should wake Changmin up or not. He decided to check the phone first for any messages, but the last recording in the phone record was from two days ago.
He shook the younger man’s shoulder.
“Changmin-ah.”
He felt Changmin stir and poke his head from under the pillow, sleep-clouded eyes struggling to focus on his kneeling form.
“Huh?” the man mumbled, running a hand over his face.
“Did your mom call last night?” Yunho asked, something telling him he already knew the answer.
“Hm, no. No, she didn’t,” Changmin replied once he was a bit more awake. He yawned. “What’s the matter, hyung?”
“The hospital was evacuated, perhaps you should check your home; see if your parents are there.”
Yunho watched as Changmin stood from the couch and walked towards the door. He was still in his pajamas when he put on his sneakers and left Yunho’s apartment, leaving the door open behind him.
With a sigh, Yunho went to start the coffee machine. The TV was still on and he sat down on the place Changmin had been laying, staring intently at the glowing screen. Reports about the economy and the newly appointed Korean ambassador in the United States were delivered without the enthusiasm the mysterious attacks story got and Yunho became restless waiting for further news about his neighbor’s family.
Mrs. Shim could be obnoxiously talkative but she was nice to Yunho, preparing him homemade meals without him asking and offering to iron his shirts, saying she knew how hard it was for a man to live alone. He also liked Mr. Shim, a serious man with a passion for sports that showed in short conversations he had with Yunho during an elevator ride.
Five minutes later Changmin came back, wearing clean clothes and a blank expression on his face.
Yunho looked questioningly at him.
“They’re not there,” Changmin answered the unasked question.
“Try their cell phones,” Yunho suggested.
Changmin fished his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed some buttons before bringing the phone up to his ear.
Yunho went into the kitchen and filled two mugs with coffee. He went back into the living room and set one on the low table, signaling to Changmin that it was for him. The younger man mouthed his thanks while he held the phone to his ear.
When the dial tone ended without anyone picking on the other end, Changmin brought the phone down and pressed the call button again before starting to pace nervously around the room.
Again, his call went unanswered and he cursed, punching a different set of numbers and pressing the phone against his ear again. It was to no avail; his father’s phone had probably been turned off as soon as he got to the hospital and his mother was not picking up on hers.
”We’re getting another call from the team at the hospital. What do you have for us, Ji Eun?”
Both Changmin and Yunho turned to the TV. Changmin soundlessly went to sit next to Yunho, his coffee mug left forgotten on the table.
On the screen the same woman from before was standing to the side so the camera could focus on the hospital gates behind her. A lone figure in a white hospital gown was standing there, swaying softly from side to side.
“As you can see, behind me is no other than Mr. Cho Gun Woo, the man that has surprised the nation by coming back to life after being pronounced dead. What is even more astonishing is that the official report was that the hospital was evacuated and here we have a person that was still inside. We’ll try to approach him to get his statement.”
The camera follows the reporter as she makes her way through the main gates, completely disregarding the yellow “keep out” tape. Halfway through she is stopped by a couple of men in a black uniform, both armed with rifles.
“You are not authorized to be here. Step behind the gates please.”
“Why is that man there if the hospital was evacuated?”
“Step back, miss. This place is being quarantined and only authorized personnel can enter the grounds.”
The reporter started to walk away but at the last moment she turned around and sprinted, stepping around the uniform-clad men and hurrying towards the swaying figure of Cho Gun Woo.
”Mr. Cho! Mr. Cho! Tell us why you are being kept here. Are there more people inside? How did you come back from the dead? What were you doing when you got attacked?”
The petite woman shot out answers as she ran, the guards going after her while the camera shakily followed the action.
The guards shouted warnings behind her while at the same time calling for back-ups through their radio.
”We have an escapee and two unauthorized individuals within the grounds. We require back-up and further instructions-“
“Mr. Cho!”
“Do not touch him, miss!”
“Mr. Cho?”
The moment the reporter touched the man’s arm he turned towards her. The camera focused on him and Yunho could tell there was something terribly wrong with him.
The white of his eyes was yellow, his irises looked lifeless and his skin was pasty. He almost looked…
…like a corpse.
Yunho and Changmin watched horrified as Cho Gun Woo opened his mouth and bared his teeth which were stained red with blood. The reporter screamed as the man lurched forward, arms outstretched towards her. She tried to run but the man got a hold of her arm and brought it up to his mouth, growling inhumanely before biting down on it.
The woman shrieked in pain when a chunk of flesh was torn from her arm, blood spraying from the wound and splattering everywhere.
A couple of shots were fired, the scene turning into chaos with men in black uniforms running around the place. One tripped the camera man and the camera went flying through the air before hitting the ground and turning off, cutting the transmission.
The screen showed the news channel studio again. The reporter’s eyes were opened wide and terrified. When he spoke his voice was shaking.
”W-we’ll get back to them as soon as the technical p-problems have been resolved.”
Changmin grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. He stood up, almost knocking the coffee mugs with his knees and looked at Yunho, who couldn’t take his eyes from the screen.
“Do you have a car?” Changmin asked.
Yunho looked up at him and frowned.
“Yeah, why?”
“Will you lend it to me? I’m going to the hospital; see if my parents are still in there.”
At his words, Yunho stood up hastily.
“Wait. Calm down, Changmin. We don’t even know where they are and you saw for yourself, it’s dangerous to go down there. Besides, they most likely won’t let you inside.”
“I still have to try, dammit,” Changmin said, his temper rising. Seeing that Yunho was not going to budge his voice turned pleading. “Hyung, please.”
Yunho sighed and turned around, his back to Changmin. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, messing it up. He seemed troubled but then he turned around to face Changmin again and his eyes looked determined.
“You’re not going alone,” Yunho said. “Let me get dressed.”
The hospital was as good twenty minutes away from their building but the large amount of traffic made the trip even longer. Yunho had tried to loosen up the tension by turning the radio on but eventually the music grated on his strained nerves and he turned it off, settling for silence.
Changmin was restless in the passenger seat. To the outside observer he looked calm but he was constantly wiping his sweaty palms on his jean-clad thighs. He looked outside the window and watched people go on with their day normally. Changmin wondered if they even knew what was going on.
As they got closer to the hospital the mood on the streets changed. The streets were packed with cars moving away from the hospital’s general direction and everything was quiet except the impatient honking of cars on the opposite lane.
“Why don’t you try calling them again?” Yunho said; eyes on the road.
Changmin took out his cell phone and dialed his mother’s phone. Yunho felt his muscles tense as he heard the faint sound of the dial tone ring again and again, the seconds tickling by without any answer.
“She’s not picking up,” Changmin muttered darkly before pocketing the phone.
Yunho nodded. They would have to go to the hospital after all.
A couple of blocks before arriving to their destination they noticed the city was deserted. Not even cars were around and to Yunho the whole idea of going was starting to seem extremely dumb.
Whatever that Cho Gun Woo guy had become was not human. He shuddered as he tried not to think about all those videogames he played in which flesh-loving zombies would pop out at the turn of every corner. It looked too similar but he tried to reason with himself. That is fiction, Jung. You must be exhausted from the trip if you’re imagining something like that would come true.
He was about to turn into the street leading to the hospital gates when he had to step on the brakes. Before them was a horrifying sight. A wreckage of cars blocked the street. There was fire where a pool of gasoline had caught flame, probably with the friction of metal against the wet pavement.
There was nobody inside the cars from what they could see and there seemed to be no movement either.
Yunho parked his car on the corner and turned to Changmin.
“Are you sure you want to go?”
Changmin nodded and unfastened his seat belt, opening the door and stepping outside. Yunho followed suit, locking the car as they walked towards the hospital.
The gates were open and the yellow tape had been yanked out. There were some bodies lying around, blood pooling around them from several lacerations.
Vile rose up Yunho’s throat as he recognized the reporter from earlier as one of them. Another one seemed to be the camera man, since next to him laid a large, broken camera. The third body was of a uniformed man.
That’s when Yunho realized there were no other guards around.
Changmin walked towards the main entrance to the hospital. The door was cracked open and when he looked inside he could not see anything but endless darkness. He looked at Yunho who was observing the corpses with morbid interest, once in a while looking around, searching for something.
“It’s too dark inside, hyung. Let’s go see if they have flashlights in there,” he said, pointing to a security post next to the gates.
Yunho nodded and went inside the small building, opening cabinets and going through all sorts of pointless archives. Changmin followed moments later, helping with the search.
Near the very back they found a tool shed. There they found a couple of flashlights and extra batteries. They took those, pocketing the batteries and trying the flashlights. At the last minute Yunho went back and grabbed a crowbar. Looking around he found an abandoned baton and handed that one to Changmin.
“Just in case,” he told Changmin. The younger man swallowed thickly and nodded, grabbing the offered weapon.
They walked outside, trying to be silent in case there were still people there. They were almost done walking around the corpses when Yunho stepped on a branch, its wooden body cracking under his weight.
Changmin looked back at him in reprimand and Yunho was about to mouth an apology when they heard a gargled moan not too far away.
They froze; then they heard it again. They turned in the direction of the noise and their eyes widened in horror as they watched the reporter try to stand. There were several bite-sized chunks of flesh missing from her arms and legs, and a wide bullet hole going through her middle, but she still stood on her feet.
When she turned around they saw the same lifeless eyes the first victim sported on TV and when she lunged at them Yunho did the only thing he could think of: He struck her across the head with the crowbar, hitting her repeatedly until he heard her skull crack and blood splattered out, covering the end of the weapon.
It was not until her body was lying lifelessly on the floor that he stopped. Gray-colored tissue seeped through the cracks of her skull and mixed with the blood that matted her hair. He breathed harshly, his arms trembling as he tried to keep yesterday’s dinner down. He turned to look at Changmin, who was rooted on his spot, eyes wide and fingers holding the flashlight and the baton tightly.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Before Changmin could reply there was another moan, this one coming from the hospital’s entrance. When they turned around they saw about a dozen of those things pouring from the opened doors, arms outstretched and heading towards them with barely coordinated movements.
Next to them the bodies of the guard and the camera man started to move. Changmin looked from the door to Yunho, understanding, resignation, and a raw sense of self-preservation filling his eyes.
“Run!!” he screamed with all his might, dropping the flashlight and grabbing Yunho’s hand before sprinting towards the gates, the undead creatures following after them.
In no time they were standing outside the car, Yunho frantically fumbling with the keys while Changmin tugged at the door desperately until the older man unlocked the car.
They climbed inside, locked the doors and sped away as the undead poured into the streets, the tires screeching when they turned around the corner.
Yunho took a longer route to get back home. Most of the more direct roads were blocked with too many cars trying to get away and he wanted to avoid being trapped among those fleeing. Changmin seemed pretty shaken; his fingers trembled as he turned on the radio and switched to a news station.
”-is under a state of alarm. Authorities urge those living within a five kilometer radius of the hospital to evacuate their homes immediately. We urge the public to avoid any major roads and to contact family and friends outside the city and ask to stay with them for a few days. Government officials estimate this crisis will be under control in no more than a week-“
Changmin slammed his fist against the dashboard and Yunho jumped, foot stepping on the brakes. There was some angry honking behind them as the driver behind them almost crashed his car into Yunho’s.
“Shit. What is wrong with you?!” Yunho asked, watching as the angry driver flipped him off as he passed next their car before turning to Changmin.
“They haven’t said anything about the evacuees or where they were taken. How am I supposed to know if my parents are alright?!” Changmin retorted angrily.
Yunho’s expression softened. He tried to understand what Changmin was going through but he could only imagine what he must be feeling.
“We’ll call the other hospitals when we get back to our building, see if they were taken to any of those.”
He placed a reassuring hand on Changmin’s shoulder before taking the wheel again.
Changmin turned away from him, facing the window. Yunho swore he heard a faint sniffle coming from the passenger’s seat.
Yunho parked the car in his designated spot in the underground parking lot. He climbed out of the car and waited for Changmin to do the same.
He was pleased when he found the elevator working again and the two stepped into the mirror-walled box, pressing the button to Changmin’s floor first to check if his parents had gone back.
Yunho looked at Changmin out of the corner of his eye. His mismatched eyes were red, either from crying or from holding back the tears and he was impatiently tapping his foot against the floor as he watched the numbers on the top of the doors change slowly.
He must have felt Yunho’s stare because he turned to look at the older man, but soon the curious glance turned horrified as he took in Yunho’s appearance.
“Hyung, you’re covered in blood,” he said, looking at Yunho’s shirt.
“Huh?”
Yunho looked down and sure enough, his shirt was sprinkled with blood and there was even some going down the front of his pants and dotting his white sneakers. He grimaced when he saw the skin of his arms had blood on them as well.
“I’ll clean up as soon as I get home,” he said, taking his eyes away from his clothes and staring straight ahead, forcing himself not to think about his current state.
Not long after that they reached Changmin’s floor, the taller male stepping outside the elevator before the doors opened completely.
“Perhaps you want to go clean up now,” he said, looking straight at Yunho’s face to avoid looking at the blood on his clothes.
Yunho shook his head. “I’ll go with you.”
Changmin nodded and led the way, opening the door with a jingle of keys.
“Mom? Dad?” he called out as soon as he stepped into his home, not even bothering to take off his shoes.
Yunho followed after him and when Changmin entered the living room he went to check the kitchen.
“Mrs. Shim?” he called out but there was no answer.
Looking around he noticed the Shim’s kitchen felt a lot warmer than his, with a family portrait on the refrigerator door and a tidiness that a young bachelor living alone could only dream of. The cabinets were filled with spices, pans and pots, instead of instant soups and alcohol bottles, and a bowl filled with fruit stood in the middle of a round table where the Shim’s most likely had their everyday meals.
He tore himself away from the room and went to help Changmin search the bedrooms. Finding nothing they decided to go back to Yunho’s apartment to figure out what to do next.
While Yunho took a shower Changmin tried to contact every hospital he could think of. The phonebook was opened on the coffee table and next to it was Changmin’s laptop, a search engine showing on his browser with links to the latest news regarding the incident at the hospital.
He scrolled through the latest ones, none of which said anything about the evacuees, while he waited for his call to go through. He had called all the hospitals in the city already and he was trying with the ones in the nearby cities to no success.
Nobody knew what had happened to those evacuated from the quarantined hospital, and he was starting to fear they had not been evacuated at all.
The TV was on as well. He hopped to catch some report about his parents and the rest of the patients in the hospital but every channel was either transmitting instructions to leave the city or showing bone-chilling footage of the monsters roaming the streets, some of those sent in to the news channel by scared viewers filming from their windows.
He heard the shower being turned off and minutes later Yunho appeared through the door. He was wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, his hair still dripping wet. On one hand he held a black trash bag filled with what Changmin imagined to be his soiled clothes.
“I really liked those pants,” Yunho mumbled, tying the bag closed and setting it on the corner to throw away later. He sat next to Changmin, watching as he hung up the phone and dialed a new number. “Still no luck?”
Changmin shook his head.
“I’m starting to fear they were inside the hospital all along,” he said, his voice starting to break at the end.
The call seemed to go through because Changmin cleared his throat and spoke into the phone, inquiring about his parents. Yunho watched as hope drained from his eyes before thanking the speaker on the other line and hanging up.
Changmin’s shoulders slumped over and he cradled his face into his palms. Yunho watched Changmin crumble before his eyes, not being able to do anything to ease the younger man’s pain.
“We’ll keep trying,” he attempted to comfort Changmin, but the latter brushed Yunho’s hand off when he tried to touch him.
“Could you leave me alone for a while, hyung? Please,” Changmin requested without lifting his head.
Yunho nodded, even though he knew Changmin could not see him and stood up, taking the black bag with him and leaving the room.
=August 23, 2011=
Three days was all it took for the city to be consumed. The TV was constantly on and Yunho and Changmin sat in front of it every day, watching as the news changed from recommendations to leave the city to survival guides and updates on the government response to the situation.
By now they knew the whole thing was the product of some experimentation with a new virus gone wrong. A well-known pharmaceutical laboratory got governmental permission to use the patients of the psychiatric ward No. 5 as guinea pigs for a new biological weapon being developed with government funds.
What they developed was something they could neither control nor understand and eventually one of the experimentation subjects was left unwatched for a second too long.
That’s when the attacks started.
Changmin got some dark amusement at the groups of outraged people standing outside government offices, protesting against the inhumane treatment of the patients of the ward and demanding the resignation of every single government official.
Funny how some still thought of that when there were flesh-eating corpses roaming the streets.
His family was never found. He tried calling every relative he could, but most were not picking up their phones and those that did had no idea where his parents might be.
Yunho tried to keep him distracted from the loss of his parents, plastering on a smile and reminding Changmin to eat, even making an effort to cook for the younger man even though he was not very good at it.
But Changmin never noticed when Yunho sneaked off to his room every couple of hours. He would sit on the edge of the bed, phone pressed against his ear for a few seconds, only to bring it down and toss it angrily on the bed moments later.
He would then look out the window for a few minutes, sometimes spotting one of the undead roaming around the street below, their uncoordinated movements giving them away.
Whenever that happened he closed the curtains to block the sight and went to look for Changmin, waiting a few hours before trying to call again.