carcass
Title: carcass
Author: ajin
Pairing: Jaehyo/Kyung
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Romance, Black Humour, Horror
Word Count: 4,399
Summary: Kyung and Jaehyo visit an abandoned warehouse, and everything goes wrong.
Author's Note of Doom: It’s been a while~ I’m kind of back to writing now that I’m finished with uni and finally free \o/ Anyway, this is a direct sequel to moira which is basically a spin off of contingency. Not having read those two fics (especially “moira”) might result in slight confusion. The higher rating is there mostly because of the language and rather disturbing themes.
Hope you like your belated birthday present jemmy :3
He sat gaping at Jaehyo for a good 5 minutes before taking a deep breath and uttering slowly: “Say that again.”
Jaehyo sighed in the typical exaggerated fashion of his and accentuated each of his words by banging his gigantic, pink notebook on the table.
“You heard me the first time! We’re going there tonight! End of story!”
He thought of laying down on the couch. He would need all possible comforts he could get if he wanted to argue with the pompous prick he had for a boyfriend. After all, Jaehyo had the Notebook of Pain with him. The last time he got hit with it in lieu of a persuading argument, he spent a week nursing a recurring headache.
“We’re not. I don’t recall agreeing to it.”
“Oh, but we are. Unless you know of a better way of getting new cadavers? Are you maybe willing to rob a morgue?”
Jaehyo sat down next to him on the couch and leaned close enough for Kyung to be able to count his eyelashes and notice the mole normally hidden behind his hair.
“Meet me at 10 p.m. in front of the university. Do. Not. Be. Late.”
Kyung felt the wave of irritation rising inside him. He abruptly leaned closer, leaving barely any space between himself and Jaehyo.
“Let’s say I agree. What will I get in return?”
“In return? Idiot, aren’t you going to dissect the cadaver with me?!”
Kyung raised an eyebrow and leaned back.
“Excuse you but as I recall, I’ve been living the life of celibacy for the past month because of that stupid leg accident. If you want me to help you, then swear that I’ll get regular sex again.”
Jaehyo stared at him with disbelief painted all over his face.
“God help me, you’re one crude and perverted idiot.”
“I applaud your accurate judgement but we both know you’ve been more pissy than ever because you’re not getting laid as well.”
His boyfriend groaned and hid his head behind a pillow.
“Fine! Fine. Whatever you say. Just be punctual.”
“Great. See you at 10 then.”
He stood next to his car, playing with the car keys. It was unusually dark and cold considering that it was already the end of May. The clouds had covered the sky completely and the only light he got was from the old lamps scattered around the campus. They were so old though that he could barely see his feet.
The truth was that he really wanted to back out. Sure, the old warehouse they were supposed to go to was abandoned and located literally in the middle of nowhere. It was easy to break into and to get away without being noticed. However, it was definitely not normal that the warehouse seemed to store a dozen cadavers, some of them still in perfect condition. Kyung could not imagine how Jaehyo got hold of this information, not to mention why someone decided to tell him about it. It all seemed extremely fishy and he could not shake off the feeling that maybe the warehouse was used for experimenting on and killing people, or luring cadaver thieves. None of these options appealed to him and if he was not so damn horny all the time, he would have never even considered agreeing to Jaehyo’s ridiculously risky plan. Of course, he could always turn to cheating but as Hanhae liked to say, he was too whipped.
The sound of footsteps interrupted his trail of thoughts. He looked up to see Jaehyo glaring at him. Before he knew it, he was being wordlessly pushed towards the car. Clearly Jaehyo was not so sure about this escapade either.
“Don’t you dare change your mind. We’re going and we’re going now.”
Or not. Kyung sighed and started the engine.
“What if we get ambushed and cut into pieces by some raging lunatic who likes to dissect people alive?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake Kyung! Shut up before I sew your mouth shut myself! I need to be back at 1 a.m. latest so get going!”
Kyung rolled his eyes.
“Yes, of course. Because the condition of your skin is of course the only thing we should be worried about right now.”
It took them a good hour to reach the empty field next to which the warehouse stood, looming ominously above its neighbourhood. Its windows were all broken and pieces of glass covered the bare ground in a suspiciously orderly fashion. Kyung thought it looked almost as if someone arranged them in some bizarre pattern. He refrained from saying anything though, for the look on Jaehyo’s face was enough to assure him that the other was more scared than he himself was.
It took him a few seconds to open the lock. It was rusty and falling apart. Kyung was sure that kicking the doors hard enough would have sufficed but any chance to use Jaehyo’s pin and try to destroy it was a chance not to be wasted. The current pin was a hideous purple thing that made Jaehyo look as if he had a nasty bruise above his ear. While it did survive the doors’ unlocking, it was chipped in quite a few places and thus would definitely end up being thrown away. Even if they died tonight, at least Kyung had managed to successfully annihilate one of his eternal enemies. A small measure of happiness.
They carefully opened the doors and went inside. The warehouse was considerably big with at least 8 metal pillars holding the roof in place. It had no other doors and consisted of one seemingly empty hall. After their eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, Kyung spotted the white cadavers dumped next to the wall at the very end of the warehouse. He switched on his flashlight and crossed the hall as fast as he could.
“Kyung?”
“I’ll look at the corpses on the left, you look on the right.”
He crouched down and leaned towards the nearest cadaver. Its face had been eaten away by fat, white maggots and the rest of its body was in a similar state of decomposition. He sighed and moved closer to the wall. If all the bodies were the same, the trip was just a huge waste of time.
Finally, after looking around for good 10 minutes, Kyung noticed a body lying further away from the pile. It was almost intact. The skin was soft and healthy looking, almost as if the person had been alive just a few minutes ago. Its hair had been shaved but that made no difference to either him or Jaehyo. He touched the long white neck and yelped. It felt as if there was something moving underneath the cadaver’s skin. He stooped even lower and tried to take a better look.
Something black was moving inside the body. It appeared to be around 7 centimeters long and rather flat. Kyung tried touching it again and the object abruptly stopped. Then, the skin started to bulge. He felt the breath catch in his throat. It was absolutely surreal. The bulge kept growing until the skin snapped and a small hole appeared. The blood that began to trickle down the cadaver’s torso told Kyung that the body was rather fresh indeed. The hole grew with every second. Whatever was trying to get out, was doing a successful job.
“Kyung? Something’s wrong?”
He could hear Jaehyo clearly but was mesmerized. A black insect, similar to the big cockroaches he used to play with as a child, covered in blood and pieces of organs was standing unmoving on top of the cadaver.
“Oh fuck!”
He felt Jaehyo tug at his hoodie and finally snapped back to reality. He stood up the moment the insect started moving towards them, grabbed Jaehyo’s hand and run for his life.
He almost dropped the keys while trying to open the car door. His hands were shaking and the world seemed to have tilted to the side. It did not help that Jaehyo was on the verge of hysteria. Rightly so though, because the ugly insect kept following them ever since they had started to run. Once he got inside the car, he started the engine and drove away without even sparing the glance at the warehouse.
“What was that! So disgusting! What if it follows us?! What are you going to do then?!”
Kyung felt a very strong urge to plant his face on the steering wheel. Hard.
“Do I need to remind you that it was all your idea?” he spat the words out as if they were vile.
“But-”
“Shut up Jaehyo. I don’t wanna talk about this.”
They spent the rest of the ride in silence. It was barely 1 a.m. when they arrived but Kyung was not in the mood to tell Jaehyo that his beauty still had a chance of remaining intact. All he wanted to do was bury himself under his duvet and pretend the whole escapade was one, big nightmare.
Jiho kept stealing glances at him all throughout the lecture. Kyung did everything he could to keep a straight face. If his best friend thought he was being subtle, then it was no surprise that the last few girls he tried to pick up had run away before he as much as uttered a word to them.
“So how can I help you?” Kyun drawled lazily.
Jiho’s eyes widened almost comically.
“Damn.”
“Yes, your subtlety knows no boundaries. Now spit it out.”
“Did something happen with Jaehyo?”
Kyung almost choked on his own saliva. It was true that he and Jaehyo had not been meeting much ever since the disastrous night that happened some two weeks ago. Still, it was not unusual for them to take breaks. They clashed so often that their friends were more surprised by the fact that they managed to stay together for so long.
“No?”
“I’ve known you for ages, Kyung. I can tell when you’re lying.”
He sighed and laid his head down on the desk.
“I’m not sure I could explain it even if I tried.”
“Well, try anyway. Maybe I can help.”
Kyung snorted but proceeded to recount everything that happened at the warehouse, while conveniently leaving out the fact that he and Jaehyo ended up there as a result of trying to acquire cadavers. Some things were better left unsaid.
“An insect?”
“Yes. Probably like 7 centimeters long.”
“And it looked like a cockroach?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, it sounds like a parasite. But there are no parasitic cockroaches that use people as their hosts, right?”
“I know.”
Jiho narrowed his eyes.
“You sure you didn’t dream this up?”
“Absolutely. Look, I know it’s hard to believe but that’s what happened. You can ask Jaehyo if you don’t believe me.”
Jaehyo phoned him a few days later. He had talked to Jiho as well and concluded that they both must have been hallucinating. After all, they had just finished exams when they decided to go to the warehouse. Fatigue and stress could trigger the most bizarre things. He even suggested that they go to the warehouse again to make sure. Kyung politely told him to fuck off and hang up.
It took good two weeks more before he reached a truce with Jaehyo. They agreed to forget about the whole incident and move on with their lives. Fortunately for Kyung, the moving on part included putting an end to his dreaded celibacy.
And thus he ended up in Jaehyo’s flat one sunny day. He did not beat around the bush and immediately steered Jaehyo in the direction of the bedroom. He had had enough.
“Is it possible for you to not think with your dick, Kyung?”
He pushed Jaehyo on the bed in response and climbed on top on him.
“Not after two months of not getting any. Now, stop talking. We have no need for that.”
Before his boyfriend had a chance to retort, he leaned down and kissed him hard. Then, he moved to his neck, bit it and licked the wound. He smirked hearing Jaehyo moan and started to unbutton his jeans. Only Jaehyo would wear jeans with buttons rather than a good old zipper. He lived to make other people’s lives miserable.
“Wait!”
Kyung groaned and looked up.
“You must be kidding me.”
“It’s not what you think! Look at the floor!”
Noticing the look of terror on his boyfriend’s face, he moved off Jaehyo and glanced at the floor. There, around half a meter away, three big, black cockroach-like insects were making their way to the other side of the room.
“No fucking way...”
“Kyung, kill them! Come on!”
He stood up abruptly and startled the insects, which increased their speed.
“They’re going for the wardrobe! God damn it Kyung, move it! I’ll never be able to sleep with them in this room!”
“Don’t you have slippers or something I could actually kill them with?”
“For fuck’s sake, just crush them with your feet!”
Jaehyo was on the verge of hysteria once again. Kyung just shook his head and tried to locate the insects. However, by the time Jaehyo stopped shouting, they had managed to hide.
“What now?! You are such a shitty boyfriend.”
Kyung narrowed his eyes and pushed Jaehyo off the bed.
“Less whining, more looking around.”
“What?!”
“They must still be somewhere in the room since the door’s closed. So help me search.”
Jaehyo gave him a meaningful glare that promised a very slow and painful death later in the day but did not protest.
They conquered all three insects thirty minutes later. It involved a lot of shouting and bumping into furniture. As a result, Jaehyo was sporting a fabulous bruise in the colour of a rainbow on his temple, while Kyung almost busted his lip and his elbows were hurting like hell. He literally crashed into everything possible while trying to squash the insects. They were incredibly fast.
Kyung picked up the crushed carcasses and dumped them in a jar he stole from the kitchen. Then, he collapsed next to Jaehyo on the couch in the living room.
“Finally done!”
Jaehyo did not move or say anything in response. He continued to stare blankly at the wall opposite the couch.
“Are you ok?”
Kyung looked at him concerned. Jaehyo was known for being an annoying chatterbox. Him being silent never bode well.
“I...”
Jaehyo sighed and hugged his knees tightly to himself.
“How do you think these insects got here? They’re definitely the same as the one we saw in the warehouse, aren’t they?”
“Yeah...”
“Right. And there are no corpses laying around in my flat, right?”
“True...wait. Do you think you maybe got infected with them somehow?”
Kyung was dumbfounded. No matter what happened, he was sure that that was impossible. Still, he could see Jaehyo’s hands shaking and hear how strained his voice was.
“What else could it be? Do you have a better explanation?”
“Jaehyo, wouldn’t you have noticed three gaping holes on your body? Providing that you actually lived through being chewed inside out. Quite literally at that.”
”Do you have to go into details...”
Jaehyo looked mildly sick but Kyung just shrugged and continued talking.
“Then stop spouting nonsense. I’ve no idea how those insects got here but I’ll find out.”
Finding Hanhae on the campus was a taxing task. Ever since he discovered that entomology was his calling in life, Hanhae had been spending every waking second of his life huddled in one of the old laboratories in the forever-abandoned former zoology building or in the library. If any of his high school friends ever heard of this, they would have undoubtedly responded by laughing their asses off. If they heard that Hanhae now favoured supplementary lectures over parties to boot, they would have declared whoever would have told them about it clinically insane. Still, the fact remained that Hanhae loved his insects just as much as Kyung loved dissecting. They were truly a match made in heaven.
It was pure luck that he stumbled upon Hanhae between book stacks on the second floor of the library.
“Dude, you’re like the proverbial needle in a haystack. By the way, life has called and asked me to tell you it’s been looking for you.”
“Ever the ray of sunshine, aren’t you Kyung? If you came to distract me, get the fuck away. Jiho pestered me for a good hour just yesterday.”
“Nah. I actually want you to take a look at a rather unusual bug.”
“Huh?”
“You see, me and Jaehyo discovered a weird thing a month ago...”
Kyung handed him the jar and waited anxiously for some kind of response. Hanhae stared at it frowning.
“It looks familiar”, he said finally.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I’m sure it’s not your typical bug. I think I saw its photo in an article about genetic alterations in animals.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t really say anything right now. I need to check a few things...”
“Call me if you find something, ok?”
“Yeah...”
Kyung was sure that Hanhae was not listening to him anymore. He seemed awfully taken with the dead insects. If Kyung did not know better, he would swear that his friend had some rather disturbing fetishes.
He slumped against the wall yawning while waiting for his professor to come and open the doors to the lecture room. He was hating every second of the second term with a burning passion because not only did he have morning classes, he had them every freaking day. Kyung was sure that in some universe somewhere there was a law against having classes at 8 a.m.
He was concentrating on memorizing the exact shape of his fingernails, in a desperate attempt to keep himself from falling asleep, when he felt someone crush into him. He looked up only to be graced with the perfect view of Jaehyo’s nostrils.
“What are you doing here at this ungodly early hour of morning?” he spat out and went back to examining his fingernails.
Jaehyo’s cheeks were flushed and he looked as if he run all the way from his apartment.
“Have you read today’s newspaper already?”
“No?”
“Fuck. Stand up. You’re skipping class.”
Kyung chuckled.
“Am I now? And why it that, dear sir? Because you say so?”
“Seriously, Kyung. This isn’t a joking matter. Come on.”
They ended up in the eerily empty main computer room in the library. Before he had a chance to ask what was happening, Jaehyo shoved the newspaper in his face.
“Look! Can you believe this?!”
Kyung ignored Jaehyo’s shrills in favour of trying to decipher what caused his boyfriend to decide that skipping classes was suddenly acceptable. He could still remember the hour-long lecture he was subjected to last year when he decided that getting drunk with Hanhae in a random park was the better alternative to going to uni. The article talked about a potential serial killer being on loose in their city and the discovery of a dozen bodies in different state of decomposition in a warehouse in the suburbs. However, it did not mention anything about the mysterious cockroach-like insects.
“Uhm...”, Jaehyo looked at expectantly.
“You think the police may be keeping the information about holes in the victims’ bodies from the public?”
“I’m not too sure. Don’t they usually disclose such details?”
“I think so?”
“Do you think we might have been really hallucinating then?”
“Jaehyo-”
“No, think about it. Maybe the insects in my room were just your average cockroaches. Why would they appear after a good month otherwise? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I know it doesn’t but if Hanhae decides that they aren’t your usual cockroaches...”
“We can worry then, right?”
Kyung stared at Jaehyo in disbelief. What if the insects were modified genetically? What if they infected people? What if someone knew what they saw? How could they just ignore it all because one stupid article did not mention them? It was reckless and idiotic.
“We can but we might regret that.”
“Let’s take the chances. I wanna start sleeping normally again.”
“I see, I see. So that was your real motivation, huh?”
Jaehyo whacked him with the newspaper in response.
He bumped into Hanhae while trying to to get out of library. He was holding a mountain of books and trying to prevent them from toppling down on some unsuspecting passerby. Hence, the impact sent all the books flying straight into Hanhae. Kyung snickered and pretended to not hear his friend’s cries of pain.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Kyung wiggled his eyebrows, all amused.
“Kyung, you idiotic-”
“Now, I know you’re happy to see me too. No need for such exclamations of joy.”
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Truth if I’ve ever heard any. So you have anything to tell me?”
“I do. I heard the whole story about this escapade of yours from Jaehyo, you know.”
“Jaehyo?”
It took him by surprise. Jaehyo and Hanhae were not exactly known for being best friends. His boyfriend must have been really desperate if he felt the necessity of talking to Hanhae.
“Yeah. Anyway, the insects you gave me are certainly not your typical cockroaches. Whether they have been modified genetically or not, I can’t say. Still, I do think they exhibited a few characteristics typical of parasites. It’s truly mind-boggling. That said, even if they were indeed parasites which use human beings as hosts, you would have had to somehow have consumed their eggs in order to get infected. Since Jaehyo told me you have not even came in direct contact with them, I think it’s safe to say that neither of you could have been infected.”
“Wow dude, trying to use academic English, aren’t you now? You’ve been officially promoted to a full-time nerd now. Congrats.”
“Piss off Kyung.”
Kyung laughed and finally bent down to collect the fallen books.
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“You do indeed and that’s why you’re gonna make Jiho realize he should leave me the fuck alone.”
“I will try my best, dear sir,” Kyung smirked and mock-saluted.
“For fuck’s sake! Go away before I inflict bodily harm on your useless ass.”
After hearing what Hanhae had said, Jaehyo decided that life was worth living again. Kyung, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. He felt as if he were sitting on a ticking bomb that could explode any moment. It was clear to him that the insects he had killed in Jaehyo’s bedroom were exactly the same as the one he saw in the warehouse. That fact itself was enough to drive him crazy. He was sure that even if the insect had followed them from the warehouse and hid under Jaehyo’s bed undetected for a month, it could have not been able to clone itself. Hence, since last time he checked Jaehyo did not have any cadavers hidden in his room, someone must have planted the insects there on purpose. If they did, well, Kyung figured they must have seen them around the warehouse and mostly likely were responsible for infecting that particular cadaver. All of this was enough to drive anyone crazy and he could not comprehend why Jaehyo was so carefree. And that is what he was trying to explain to Jih, whom he had bribed with promises of free coffee. They might be best friends but Jiho was not exactly partial towards listening to Kyung complaining.
Jiho looked away from his coffee and stared at him in silence.
“Well, you can see my point, right?” said Kyung, irritated at his friend taking forever to reply.
“I guess?”
“You guess?”
“Yeah. You know, you sound a bit paranoid. We don’t live in some sci-fi tv show.”
“Which doesn’t mean that such things can’t happen.”
Jiho took to drumming with his fingers on the table.
“Is there something you haven’t told me then?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you go to that warehouse?”
“Uhm...”
Kyung felt the approaching panic attack. There was just no way he could talk about how he and Jaehyo acquired the cadavers for dissection. Everyone firmly believed that Jaehyo knew important people in important places and thus could get things common people could not. Kyung saw no reason to contradict anyone.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then I’m still saying you’re overreacting. Look, wait some more time. If, let’s say, in the next two months you don’t see the insects again...”
“I’ll drop the matter and stop whining. Yeah, I get it.”
“Great. You’re still paying for my coffee though. Don’t even think about escaping.”
He figured it was high time to give up when three months had passed uneventfully. There were no news about the rumoured serial killer, bodies in abandoned warehouses or mysterious bugs. Hanhae lamented the fact because he still wanted to acquire a living specimen of the weird cockroach but he was alone in his misery. No one else wanted big, ugly cockroach-like parasites in their life.
Jaehyo clearly must have thought that the occasion was worth celebrating for the moment they found themselves in Kyung’s room one fine day, he pinned Kyung to the wall and literally attached himself to his mouth. Not that Kyung was complaining, aggressive Jaehyo had always been a huge turn on.
He woke up feeling as if he had the hangover of the century. His head throbbed painfully and he was so dizzy that it took him ages to get himself separated from Jaehyo and his grip of death. His sense of direction was definitely off too since he had a very close encounter with the door before he managed to open it.
“Wow, you look like shit.”
Kyung groaned. Trust Jiho and his perfect timing to make his headache worse.
“Hello to you too, Captain Obvious.”
“You should clean your room.”
“Huh?”
“When I passed by earlier, I saw a huge cockroach getting out of your room. I don’t want to imagine what state it’s in if it gives birth to such monsters.”
Kyung blinked in confusion. This had to be a joke.
“Cockroach?”
“Yeah. You never seen one or what?”
“Of course I have, idiot. How big was it?”
“I dunno. Like half of your hand?”
He looked down at his hands and the only thing he noticed was how much they were shaking.
“Right.”
I watch too much Fringe and Nicki Minaj turns my brain into a mush. Yes. Obviously.
Author: ajin
Pairing: Jaehyo/Kyung
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Romance, Black Humour, Horror
Word Count: 4,399
Summary: Kyung and Jaehyo visit an abandoned warehouse, and everything goes wrong.
Author's Note of Doom: It’s been a while~ I’m kind of back to writing now that I’m finished with uni and finally free \o/ Anyway, this is a direct sequel to moira which is basically a spin off of contingency. Not having read those two fics (especially “moira”) might result in slight confusion. The higher rating is there mostly because of the language and rather disturbing themes.
Hope you like your belated birthday present jemmy :3
He sat gaping at Jaehyo for a good 5 minutes before taking a deep breath and uttering slowly: “Say that again.”
Jaehyo sighed in the typical exaggerated fashion of his and accentuated each of his words by banging his gigantic, pink notebook on the table.
“You heard me the first time! We’re going there tonight! End of story!”
He thought of laying down on the couch. He would need all possible comforts he could get if he wanted to argue with the pompous prick he had for a boyfriend. After all, Jaehyo had the Notebook of Pain with him. The last time he got hit with it in lieu of a persuading argument, he spent a week nursing a recurring headache.
“We’re not. I don’t recall agreeing to it.”
“Oh, but we are. Unless you know of a better way of getting new cadavers? Are you maybe willing to rob a morgue?”
Jaehyo sat down next to him on the couch and leaned close enough for Kyung to be able to count his eyelashes and notice the mole normally hidden behind his hair.
“Meet me at 10 p.m. in front of the university. Do. Not. Be. Late.”
Kyung felt the wave of irritation rising inside him. He abruptly leaned closer, leaving barely any space between himself and Jaehyo.
“Let’s say I agree. What will I get in return?”
“In return? Idiot, aren’t you going to dissect the cadaver with me?!”
Kyung raised an eyebrow and leaned back.
“Excuse you but as I recall, I’ve been living the life of celibacy for the past month because of that stupid leg accident. If you want me to help you, then swear that I’ll get regular sex again.”
Jaehyo stared at him with disbelief painted all over his face.
“God help me, you’re one crude and perverted idiot.”
“I applaud your accurate judgement but we both know you’ve been more pissy than ever because you’re not getting laid as well.”
His boyfriend groaned and hid his head behind a pillow.
“Fine! Fine. Whatever you say. Just be punctual.”
“Great. See you at 10 then.”
He stood next to his car, playing with the car keys. It was unusually dark and cold considering that it was already the end of May. The clouds had covered the sky completely and the only light he got was from the old lamps scattered around the campus. They were so old though that he could barely see his feet.
The truth was that he really wanted to back out. Sure, the old warehouse they were supposed to go to was abandoned and located literally in the middle of nowhere. It was easy to break into and to get away without being noticed. However, it was definitely not normal that the warehouse seemed to store a dozen cadavers, some of them still in perfect condition. Kyung could not imagine how Jaehyo got hold of this information, not to mention why someone decided to tell him about it. It all seemed extremely fishy and he could not shake off the feeling that maybe the warehouse was used for experimenting on and killing people, or luring cadaver thieves. None of these options appealed to him and if he was not so damn horny all the time, he would have never even considered agreeing to Jaehyo’s ridiculously risky plan. Of course, he could always turn to cheating but as Hanhae liked to say, he was too whipped.
The sound of footsteps interrupted his trail of thoughts. He looked up to see Jaehyo glaring at him. Before he knew it, he was being wordlessly pushed towards the car. Clearly Jaehyo was not so sure about this escapade either.
“Don’t you dare change your mind. We’re going and we’re going now.”
Or not. Kyung sighed and started the engine.
“What if we get ambushed and cut into pieces by some raging lunatic who likes to dissect people alive?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake Kyung! Shut up before I sew your mouth shut myself! I need to be back at 1 a.m. latest so get going!”
Kyung rolled his eyes.
“Yes, of course. Because the condition of your skin is of course the only thing we should be worried about right now.”
It took them a good hour to reach the empty field next to which the warehouse stood, looming ominously above its neighbourhood. Its windows were all broken and pieces of glass covered the bare ground in a suspiciously orderly fashion. Kyung thought it looked almost as if someone arranged them in some bizarre pattern. He refrained from saying anything though, for the look on Jaehyo’s face was enough to assure him that the other was more scared than he himself was.
It took him a few seconds to open the lock. It was rusty and falling apart. Kyung was sure that kicking the doors hard enough would have sufficed but any chance to use Jaehyo’s pin and try to destroy it was a chance not to be wasted. The current pin was a hideous purple thing that made Jaehyo look as if he had a nasty bruise above his ear. While it did survive the doors’ unlocking, it was chipped in quite a few places and thus would definitely end up being thrown away. Even if they died tonight, at least Kyung had managed to successfully annihilate one of his eternal enemies. A small measure of happiness.
They carefully opened the doors and went inside. The warehouse was considerably big with at least 8 metal pillars holding the roof in place. It had no other doors and consisted of one seemingly empty hall. After their eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, Kyung spotted the white cadavers dumped next to the wall at the very end of the warehouse. He switched on his flashlight and crossed the hall as fast as he could.
“Kyung?”
“I’ll look at the corpses on the left, you look on the right.”
He crouched down and leaned towards the nearest cadaver. Its face had been eaten away by fat, white maggots and the rest of its body was in a similar state of decomposition. He sighed and moved closer to the wall. If all the bodies were the same, the trip was just a huge waste of time.
Finally, after looking around for good 10 minutes, Kyung noticed a body lying further away from the pile. It was almost intact. The skin was soft and healthy looking, almost as if the person had been alive just a few minutes ago. Its hair had been shaved but that made no difference to either him or Jaehyo. He touched the long white neck and yelped. It felt as if there was something moving underneath the cadaver’s skin. He stooped even lower and tried to take a better look.
Something black was moving inside the body. It appeared to be around 7 centimeters long and rather flat. Kyung tried touching it again and the object abruptly stopped. Then, the skin started to bulge. He felt the breath catch in his throat. It was absolutely surreal. The bulge kept growing until the skin snapped and a small hole appeared. The blood that began to trickle down the cadaver’s torso told Kyung that the body was rather fresh indeed. The hole grew with every second. Whatever was trying to get out, was doing a successful job.
“Kyung? Something’s wrong?”
He could hear Jaehyo clearly but was mesmerized. A black insect, similar to the big cockroaches he used to play with as a child, covered in blood and pieces of organs was standing unmoving on top of the cadaver.
“Oh fuck!”
He felt Jaehyo tug at his hoodie and finally snapped back to reality. He stood up the moment the insect started moving towards them, grabbed Jaehyo’s hand and run for his life.
He almost dropped the keys while trying to open the car door. His hands were shaking and the world seemed to have tilted to the side. It did not help that Jaehyo was on the verge of hysteria. Rightly so though, because the ugly insect kept following them ever since they had started to run. Once he got inside the car, he started the engine and drove away without even sparing the glance at the warehouse.
“What was that! So disgusting! What if it follows us?! What are you going to do then?!”
Kyung felt a very strong urge to plant his face on the steering wheel. Hard.
“Do I need to remind you that it was all your idea?” he spat the words out as if they were vile.
“But-”
“Shut up Jaehyo. I don’t wanna talk about this.”
They spent the rest of the ride in silence. It was barely 1 a.m. when they arrived but Kyung was not in the mood to tell Jaehyo that his beauty still had a chance of remaining intact. All he wanted to do was bury himself under his duvet and pretend the whole escapade was one, big nightmare.
Jiho kept stealing glances at him all throughout the lecture. Kyung did everything he could to keep a straight face. If his best friend thought he was being subtle, then it was no surprise that the last few girls he tried to pick up had run away before he as much as uttered a word to them.
“So how can I help you?” Kyun drawled lazily.
Jiho’s eyes widened almost comically.
“Damn.”
“Yes, your subtlety knows no boundaries. Now spit it out.”
“Did something happen with Jaehyo?”
Kyung almost choked on his own saliva. It was true that he and Jaehyo had not been meeting much ever since the disastrous night that happened some two weeks ago. Still, it was not unusual for them to take breaks. They clashed so often that their friends were more surprised by the fact that they managed to stay together for so long.
“No?”
“I’ve known you for ages, Kyung. I can tell when you’re lying.”
He sighed and laid his head down on the desk.
“I’m not sure I could explain it even if I tried.”
“Well, try anyway. Maybe I can help.”
Kyung snorted but proceeded to recount everything that happened at the warehouse, while conveniently leaving out the fact that he and Jaehyo ended up there as a result of trying to acquire cadavers. Some things were better left unsaid.
“An insect?”
“Yes. Probably like 7 centimeters long.”
“And it looked like a cockroach?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, it sounds like a parasite. But there are no parasitic cockroaches that use people as their hosts, right?”
“I know.”
Jiho narrowed his eyes.
“You sure you didn’t dream this up?”
“Absolutely. Look, I know it’s hard to believe but that’s what happened. You can ask Jaehyo if you don’t believe me.”
Jaehyo phoned him a few days later. He had talked to Jiho as well and concluded that they both must have been hallucinating. After all, they had just finished exams when they decided to go to the warehouse. Fatigue and stress could trigger the most bizarre things. He even suggested that they go to the warehouse again to make sure. Kyung politely told him to fuck off and hang up.
It took good two weeks more before he reached a truce with Jaehyo. They agreed to forget about the whole incident and move on with their lives. Fortunately for Kyung, the moving on part included putting an end to his dreaded celibacy.
And thus he ended up in Jaehyo’s flat one sunny day. He did not beat around the bush and immediately steered Jaehyo in the direction of the bedroom. He had had enough.
“Is it possible for you to not think with your dick, Kyung?”
He pushed Jaehyo on the bed in response and climbed on top on him.
“Not after two months of not getting any. Now, stop talking. We have no need for that.”
Before his boyfriend had a chance to retort, he leaned down and kissed him hard. Then, he moved to his neck, bit it and licked the wound. He smirked hearing Jaehyo moan and started to unbutton his jeans. Only Jaehyo would wear jeans with buttons rather than a good old zipper. He lived to make other people’s lives miserable.
“Wait!”
Kyung groaned and looked up.
“You must be kidding me.”
“It’s not what you think! Look at the floor!”
Noticing the look of terror on his boyfriend’s face, he moved off Jaehyo and glanced at the floor. There, around half a meter away, three big, black cockroach-like insects were making their way to the other side of the room.
“No fucking way...”
“Kyung, kill them! Come on!”
He stood up abruptly and startled the insects, which increased their speed.
“They’re going for the wardrobe! God damn it Kyung, move it! I’ll never be able to sleep with them in this room!”
“Don’t you have slippers or something I could actually kill them with?”
“For fuck’s sake, just crush them with your feet!”
Jaehyo was on the verge of hysteria once again. Kyung just shook his head and tried to locate the insects. However, by the time Jaehyo stopped shouting, they had managed to hide.
“What now?! You are such a shitty boyfriend.”
Kyung narrowed his eyes and pushed Jaehyo off the bed.
“Less whining, more looking around.”
“What?!”
“They must still be somewhere in the room since the door’s closed. So help me search.”
Jaehyo gave him a meaningful glare that promised a very slow and painful death later in the day but did not protest.
They conquered all three insects thirty minutes later. It involved a lot of shouting and bumping into furniture. As a result, Jaehyo was sporting a fabulous bruise in the colour of a rainbow on his temple, while Kyung almost busted his lip and his elbows were hurting like hell. He literally crashed into everything possible while trying to squash the insects. They were incredibly fast.
Kyung picked up the crushed carcasses and dumped them in a jar he stole from the kitchen. Then, he collapsed next to Jaehyo on the couch in the living room.
“Finally done!”
Jaehyo did not move or say anything in response. He continued to stare blankly at the wall opposite the couch.
“Are you ok?”
Kyung looked at him concerned. Jaehyo was known for being an annoying chatterbox. Him being silent never bode well.
“I...”
Jaehyo sighed and hugged his knees tightly to himself.
“How do you think these insects got here? They’re definitely the same as the one we saw in the warehouse, aren’t they?”
“Yeah...”
“Right. And there are no corpses laying around in my flat, right?”
“True...wait. Do you think you maybe got infected with them somehow?”
Kyung was dumbfounded. No matter what happened, he was sure that that was impossible. Still, he could see Jaehyo’s hands shaking and hear how strained his voice was.
“What else could it be? Do you have a better explanation?”
“Jaehyo, wouldn’t you have noticed three gaping holes on your body? Providing that you actually lived through being chewed inside out. Quite literally at that.”
”Do you have to go into details...”
Jaehyo looked mildly sick but Kyung just shrugged and continued talking.
“Then stop spouting nonsense. I’ve no idea how those insects got here but I’ll find out.”
Finding Hanhae on the campus was a taxing task. Ever since he discovered that entomology was his calling in life, Hanhae had been spending every waking second of his life huddled in one of the old laboratories in the forever-abandoned former zoology building or in the library. If any of his high school friends ever heard of this, they would have undoubtedly responded by laughing their asses off. If they heard that Hanhae now favoured supplementary lectures over parties to boot, they would have declared whoever would have told them about it clinically insane. Still, the fact remained that Hanhae loved his insects just as much as Kyung loved dissecting. They were truly a match made in heaven.
It was pure luck that he stumbled upon Hanhae between book stacks on the second floor of the library.
“Dude, you’re like the proverbial needle in a haystack. By the way, life has called and asked me to tell you it’s been looking for you.”
“Ever the ray of sunshine, aren’t you Kyung? If you came to distract me, get the fuck away. Jiho pestered me for a good hour just yesterday.”
“Nah. I actually want you to take a look at a rather unusual bug.”
“Huh?”
“You see, me and Jaehyo discovered a weird thing a month ago...”
Kyung handed him the jar and waited anxiously for some kind of response. Hanhae stared at it frowning.
“It looks familiar”, he said finally.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I’m sure it’s not your typical bug. I think I saw its photo in an article about genetic alterations in animals.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t really say anything right now. I need to check a few things...”
“Call me if you find something, ok?”
“Yeah...”
Kyung was sure that Hanhae was not listening to him anymore. He seemed awfully taken with the dead insects. If Kyung did not know better, he would swear that his friend had some rather disturbing fetishes.
He slumped against the wall yawning while waiting for his professor to come and open the doors to the lecture room. He was hating every second of the second term with a burning passion because not only did he have morning classes, he had them every freaking day. Kyung was sure that in some universe somewhere there was a law against having classes at 8 a.m.
He was concentrating on memorizing the exact shape of his fingernails, in a desperate attempt to keep himself from falling asleep, when he felt someone crush into him. He looked up only to be graced with the perfect view of Jaehyo’s nostrils.
“What are you doing here at this ungodly early hour of morning?” he spat out and went back to examining his fingernails.
Jaehyo’s cheeks were flushed and he looked as if he run all the way from his apartment.
“Have you read today’s newspaper already?”
“No?”
“Fuck. Stand up. You’re skipping class.”
Kyung chuckled.
“Am I now? And why it that, dear sir? Because you say so?”
“Seriously, Kyung. This isn’t a joking matter. Come on.”
They ended up in the eerily empty main computer room in the library. Before he had a chance to ask what was happening, Jaehyo shoved the newspaper in his face.
“Look! Can you believe this?!”
Kyung ignored Jaehyo’s shrills in favour of trying to decipher what caused his boyfriend to decide that skipping classes was suddenly acceptable. He could still remember the hour-long lecture he was subjected to last year when he decided that getting drunk with Hanhae in a random park was the better alternative to going to uni. The article talked about a potential serial killer being on loose in their city and the discovery of a dozen bodies in different state of decomposition in a warehouse in the suburbs. However, it did not mention anything about the mysterious cockroach-like insects.
“Uhm...”, Jaehyo looked at expectantly.
“You think the police may be keeping the information about holes in the victims’ bodies from the public?”
“I’m not too sure. Don’t they usually disclose such details?”
“I think so?”
“Do you think we might have been really hallucinating then?”
“Jaehyo-”
“No, think about it. Maybe the insects in my room were just your average cockroaches. Why would they appear after a good month otherwise? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“I know it doesn’t but if Hanhae decides that they aren’t your usual cockroaches...”
“We can worry then, right?”
Kyung stared at Jaehyo in disbelief. What if the insects were modified genetically? What if they infected people? What if someone knew what they saw? How could they just ignore it all because one stupid article did not mention them? It was reckless and idiotic.
“We can but we might regret that.”
“Let’s take the chances. I wanna start sleeping normally again.”
“I see, I see. So that was your real motivation, huh?”
Jaehyo whacked him with the newspaper in response.
He bumped into Hanhae while trying to to get out of library. He was holding a mountain of books and trying to prevent them from toppling down on some unsuspecting passerby. Hence, the impact sent all the books flying straight into Hanhae. Kyung snickered and pretended to not hear his friend’s cries of pain.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Kyung wiggled his eyebrows, all amused.
“Kyung, you idiotic-”
“Now, I know you’re happy to see me too. No need for such exclamations of joy.”
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Truth if I’ve ever heard any. So you have anything to tell me?”
“I do. I heard the whole story about this escapade of yours from Jaehyo, you know.”
“Jaehyo?”
It took him by surprise. Jaehyo and Hanhae were not exactly known for being best friends. His boyfriend must have been really desperate if he felt the necessity of talking to Hanhae.
“Yeah. Anyway, the insects you gave me are certainly not your typical cockroaches. Whether they have been modified genetically or not, I can’t say. Still, I do think they exhibited a few characteristics typical of parasites. It’s truly mind-boggling. That said, even if they were indeed parasites which use human beings as hosts, you would have had to somehow have consumed their eggs in order to get infected. Since Jaehyo told me you have not even came in direct contact with them, I think it’s safe to say that neither of you could have been infected.”
“Wow dude, trying to use academic English, aren’t you now? You’ve been officially promoted to a full-time nerd now. Congrats.”
“Piss off Kyung.”
Kyung laughed and finally bent down to collect the fallen books.
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“You do indeed and that’s why you’re gonna make Jiho realize he should leave me the fuck alone.”
“I will try my best, dear sir,” Kyung smirked and mock-saluted.
“For fuck’s sake! Go away before I inflict bodily harm on your useless ass.”
After hearing what Hanhae had said, Jaehyo decided that life was worth living again. Kyung, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. He felt as if he were sitting on a ticking bomb that could explode any moment. It was clear to him that the insects he had killed in Jaehyo’s bedroom were exactly the same as the one he saw in the warehouse. That fact itself was enough to drive him crazy. He was sure that even if the insect had followed them from the warehouse and hid under Jaehyo’s bed undetected for a month, it could have not been able to clone itself. Hence, since last time he checked Jaehyo did not have any cadavers hidden in his room, someone must have planted the insects there on purpose. If they did, well, Kyung figured they must have seen them around the warehouse and mostly likely were responsible for infecting that particular cadaver. All of this was enough to drive anyone crazy and he could not comprehend why Jaehyo was so carefree. And that is what he was trying to explain to Jih, whom he had bribed with promises of free coffee. They might be best friends but Jiho was not exactly partial towards listening to Kyung complaining.
Jiho looked away from his coffee and stared at him in silence.
“Well, you can see my point, right?” said Kyung, irritated at his friend taking forever to reply.
“I guess?”
“You guess?”
“Yeah. You know, you sound a bit paranoid. We don’t live in some sci-fi tv show.”
“Which doesn’t mean that such things can’t happen.”
Jiho took to drumming with his fingers on the table.
“Is there something you haven’t told me then?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you go to that warehouse?”
“Uhm...”
Kyung felt the approaching panic attack. There was just no way he could talk about how he and Jaehyo acquired the cadavers for dissection. Everyone firmly believed that Jaehyo knew important people in important places and thus could get things common people could not. Kyung saw no reason to contradict anyone.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then I’m still saying you’re overreacting. Look, wait some more time. If, let’s say, in the next two months you don’t see the insects again...”
“I’ll drop the matter and stop whining. Yeah, I get it.”
“Great. You’re still paying for my coffee though. Don’t even think about escaping.”
He figured it was high time to give up when three months had passed uneventfully. There were no news about the rumoured serial killer, bodies in abandoned warehouses or mysterious bugs. Hanhae lamented the fact because he still wanted to acquire a living specimen of the weird cockroach but he was alone in his misery. No one else wanted big, ugly cockroach-like parasites in their life.
Jaehyo clearly must have thought that the occasion was worth celebrating for the moment they found themselves in Kyung’s room one fine day, he pinned Kyung to the wall and literally attached himself to his mouth. Not that Kyung was complaining, aggressive Jaehyo had always been a huge turn on.
He woke up feeling as if he had the hangover of the century. His head throbbed painfully and he was so dizzy that it took him ages to get himself separated from Jaehyo and his grip of death. His sense of direction was definitely off too since he had a very close encounter with the door before he managed to open it.
“Wow, you look like shit.”
Kyung groaned. Trust Jiho and his perfect timing to make his headache worse.
“Hello to you too, Captain Obvious.”
“You should clean your room.”
“Huh?”
“When I passed by earlier, I saw a huge cockroach getting out of your room. I don’t want to imagine what state it’s in if it gives birth to such monsters.”
Kyung blinked in confusion. This had to be a joke.
“Cockroach?”
“Yeah. You never seen one or what?”
“Of course I have, idiot. How big was it?”
“I dunno. Like half of your hand?”
He looked down at his hands and the only thing he noticed was how much they were shaking.
“Right.”
I watch too much Fringe and Nicki Minaj turns my brain into a mush. Yes. Obviously.