Nuages Gris (ch.3)
Author: shigai
Pairing: YunJae
Genre: AU, drama, romance, horror
Length: 3/?
Rating: nc-17/R
Word count: 6.650 for this chapter
warning: This is a reality based fic, so to say, DBSK members are the way they are in real life now. But please notice this is also fiction, and however I interpreted reality I did so to adapt it to this story. Do not believe anything written here as facts. This is mere fiction. There are deaths, but none from the main characters. Also, please, excuse mistakes!
Summary: In only twenty five minutes, everything that meant anything is taken away from them. Without warnings. Without explanations.
December 7th. Friday.
They have spent almost two days closed inside the remainings of the coffee shop and he has decided it is enough. Yoochun has been listening to all the arguments and valid points of everyone else to finally reach the conclusion that yes, it is a much better idea to just leave the place. Maybe it really is a virus, but it has been proved they are immune; they would be dead like the rest of the people in the cafe if not. Plus, the building is half in ruins and it could collapse at any minute. They do say to go to open spaces in the case of an earthquake, don’t they?
He has been talking with Junsu and Jaejoong about leaving the place and Junsu has been more than convinced since the beginning. Jaejoong has been more reticent, the main vocal seemingly the one who is having the worst time, his mind not really centered. In the end, though, he‘s been convinced too.
Early morning the next day they will move out.
Junsu has been emptying different types of abandoned bags (probably belongings of the victims around them, but he doesn’t want to think about it) and Yoochun has been grabbing stuff he thinks they will need: bottled drinks, some wrapped pastries, extra scarves and beanies lost in the mayhem. Jaejoong has been watching them, saying nothing, not moving, but at least his gaze doesn’t seem unfocused anymore, there is something different in his eyes. Every few minutes Yoochun seats next to him and exchanges a few words. Little by little Jaejoong answers faster, clearer, and sometimes he even snorts at the short haired man’s silly jokes. Not like they are that funny, but it’s the best he can do in such a situation.
They sleep, or try to, until the sky starts turning from deep black to soft shades of pink.
“It’s dawn” Junsu whispers from where he is lying next to him on the hard floor.
“It is” Yoochun answers. He feels Jaejoong squeezing his forearm.The time to leave has come.
Somehow it’s difficult to move, now. In the end, after many discussions and futile attempts to convince the others, the three of them are the only ones decided and ready to leave. Not that ready, maybe, since they are immobile looking out of the windows now, swallowing and breathing slowly. It is a good idea to leave, Yoochun knows it They will find other survivors and help and a way out of this destroyed city. But he also knows that being inside here for a couple of days made him feel secure, probably the other two too. It made him feel as if nothing was really that wrong, it made him feel as if he was in a shelter. It’s stupid because he has been already out there, walking all the way to where he stands now, but... Now, facing the outside, the ‘unknown’ out there, it’s harder than he imagined.
“... let’s go” startled, Yoochun turns to see Jaejoong looking out of the window, gaze determined.
“hyung...” Junsu says.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. I don’t want to die hiding here not even knowing why or from what I am hiding. I want to go out, I want to find people...” Jaejoong turns and looks at their eyes “I want, I need to find hope”. Yoochun swallows painfully.
“Yes. Yes, let’s go”
No more words are said. In the silence of the room where everybody else is just looking at them, they turn, grab the now full bags, walk back towards the windows and open them with difficulty. Slowly they climb down the way Yoochun climbed up the other day, and finally step on the street.
“... now what?” Junsu asks, looking around “where do we go?”
“We should search for people” Jaejoong ads, eyes closed, face lift to the sky.
“Yeah... where do you think we should head?” Yoochun looks at the other two. Junsu shakes his head, Jaejoong keeps his eyes closed. “We should have thought about this before getting out...” he sighs.
“It’s fine, we gave the first step, it’s more than those up there can say” Junsu adds.
“Will they be fine?” Jaejoong whispers. No one answers “I will miss my coffee shop...”
“Let’s go towards the Han” Yoochun offers but starts walking north without waiting for an answer.
The way Jaejoong said that he will miss the place almost undoes him. It is not only the coffee shop, it’s their lives the way they have known until then. It all is gone.
They walk in silence for a long while, dodging debris all around them, eyes scanning every corner of the streets. Yoochun finds himself unable to move his gaze away from some grotesque scenarios: a multiple car accident involving a school bus, a huge hole opened on the grounds of a park, corpses here, corpses there, in strange positions, broken, bleeding. When they reach the river he notices he has been almost running, breathing too fast. This is a nightmare.
“Where are the bridges?” Jaejoong asks behind him.
“They didn’t survive the earthquake, it seems...” he answers.
“We can’t cross to the other shore from here... now what?” Junsu asks. Yoochun just shrugs.
“Let’s keep moving until we find a bridge” Jaejoong offers, and they both agree. There’s not really much more they can do.
Moving to the east now, Yoochun feels a huge sense of dread and oppression suffocating him. He feels extremely vulnerable walking out in the open, but he’s not really sure why. The streets are still and the sky is bright and blue now, nothing is happening and nothing happened since the earthquake, and still he feels exposed and in danger. He just wants to be somewhere safe, even if he doesn’t know what safe is anymore.
Junsu starts singing after another long while in silence. It’s a typical children’s lullaby. Yoochun turns to look at him, but Junsu is just looking out to the river on their right. It has always been as natural as breathing for Junsu to sing, and probably this is his way of calming down. Soon Jaejoong joins him and they start making harmonies, all in some kind of whispering, shy voice, as if they are afraid of singing too loud. Still it’s making Yoochun feel better.
Their voices are, suddenly, the most beautiful thing in the world. They feel warm and safe. They feel like home.
Yoochun starts singing with them, too.
“There’s someone in there!!” Junsu suddenly yells, and all harmonies are broken.
“Huh?” he looks towards the direction Junsu is pointing and sure, someone is walking slowly ahead of them “A survivor!!”
“Let’s go!!” Jaejoong starts running, and they all follow him “Wait, wait!” Once they are a few steps away from the survivor Jaejoong stops suddenly.
“What?” Yoochun asks.
“Look... look at her. What’s wrong with her?” and Yoochun looks.
The survivor ahead seems to be a woman by the body shape, but it’s difficult to be sure since they can only see her back. She is covered in dirt and dried blood and her clothes are practically ripped apart. The woman is walking really slow, dragging one leg that seems has a broken feet by the impossible angle of it; her arms are hanging as if lifeless at her sides; her head lopsided. Yoochun feels a goosebump.
“Maybe she’s hurt and confused?” Junsu offers and takes a few steps forward “Excuse me?” Junsu raises his voice towards the woman. No answer, she doesn’t stop walking. “Hello? Are you okay?” No answer.
“Maybe she’s deaf...” Jaejoong says.
“Maybe she is in shock” Yoochun says and walks towards the woman, followed by the other two. “Hey, do you need any help?” Yoochun grabs the woman’s arm and finally she stops walking. As soon as the woman turns around, though, Yoochun let’s go of her and takes a couple of steps backwards.
Her eyes are white. There’s no pupil, no iris, no anything. White, dead eyes. Her mouth is hanging open and there’s dry blood all around her face and mouth. She stands still transfixed on the direction where Yoochun was before.
“What the...” Yoochun finds himself horrified, but still, this is a victim. Gulping, he gives a tiny step forward “How can we help you, miss?”
“Yoochun...” Yoochun turns to see his two friends at the other side of the lady, horror struck looking at her. “Yoochun, watch this, now” the baritone walks to them and before he can ask what’s happening a horrible urge to throw up arises.
The left side of the woman is ripped open. There is a huge cut from her left breast until her left hip, and some of her inner organs are practically hanging out. Jaejoong retches, and the standing still ‘woman’ turns to face their direction, slowly and clumsy. As soon as her dead eyes are upon them, the three singers start running away. They run as fast as they can and as far away as possible.
That is, as impossible as it sounds, a walking corpse.
××××××××××
Junsu is caressing Jaejoong’s back while the older man throws up. The encounter with the walking woman corpse was just the beginning of a nightmare. While they were running away practically in panic, Yoochun tripped over the remains of an old man that was in a terrible state and got all gore on him. Plus, while trying to help him up, one of those walking corpses appearing from nowhere practically tripped over Jaejoong.
The three of them had never run so fast in their lives.
This is too chaotic, too extreme. Junsu is unable to think properly, thousands of thoughts running at the same time in his head. What is happening, what is this, why are dead people walking, this is a dream, it has to be a dream, does it have anything to do with the earthquake, are there more of them, where do we go, is Jaejoong okay?
Jaejoong is now coughing and seemingly crying at the same time. Yoochun is sitting on the ground, cuddling himself and with his head buried under his arms, not saying a word after he changed into clean clothes and scratched the gore away from his hands at the Han shore in a rush. Junsu doesn’t know what to do, so he is just caressing his hyung’s back trying to calm him. Hilarious, since he is far away from calm himself.
“What. What are those??” Jaejoong looks into his eyes and Junsu feels slapped by a wave of panic and desperation from the other man.
“I... no idea, hyung...”
“They were dead!!!” Jaejoong yells again “Dead people do not walk, they don’t move!!” there are tears running down his face from pure hysteria that Junsu is sure the older man isn’t even noticing.
“Jaejoong, shut up!!” Yoochun’s voice interrupts them “We fucking know that” they both turn to watch the other man standing up, rubbing his eyes and walking to them. He seems furious. “Let’s move”
“W-where?” Junsu asks.
“Anywhere!! I don’t want to be on the street anymore, I don’t want... those things...” Yoochun just grabs his bag and starts walking.
“But”
“Look Junsu, it’s getting late and I won’t stay at night out in the open knowing there’s some kind of hell happening around. You hear? I won’t!” Yoochun doesnt’ stop or even turn to face them while talking. Junsu looks at Jaejoong, who is looking at Yoochun’s back, and nods to himself.
“Let’s go, hyung” Jaejoong offers no resistance and starts walking next to him, Junsu’s hand never letting go of his.
They walk slowly now, in silence, checking everything, paranoid of every small movement. Junsu jumps more than twice thanks to shadows, and Jaejoong’s lip is visibly trembling now. The sun is going down, it’s getting too cold and they are deadly tired from the rush of hysteria and the run. Hungry too, Junsu thinks, since they have barely eaten anything at all, too nervous and then scared to properly stop.
“There?” He hears Yoochun ask, probably to himself. Junsu catches up to him and looks towards the direction the short haired man is facing.
“The stadium?” the younger man thinks the other has gone crazy. The stadium? That place was huge and wouldn’t feel safe at all.
“The gymnasium” Yoochun answers.
“Oh...” now that doesn’t sound like bad idea. It seems to be in one piece from here, and sure it’s huge but also safely closed and with an intact roof. “Okay?”
“We’ll check it once we’re inside and if there’s.... nothing, we will spend the night there. Okay?”
“Okay...” Junsu agrees. Jaejoong nods, and the three of them keep their march there.
It is easier to enter the gymnasium than what they expected. The doors aren’t locked and the building is miraculously in a whole piece after the earthquake. The uneasiness doesn’t go, though. The huge place is silent and dark, even with the still open door behind them to let light in, because the sun is almost gone outside and it is creeping on their nerves.
“Hello?” Junsu speaks in a loud voice, actually trying to yell but too nervous for it to really work. Only silence answers him.
“Seems there is no one here?” Yoochun whispers, seemingly also too nervous (or scared) to talk any louder. Jaejoong is just looking around, eyes wide open to try and see better in the dark, arms crossed over his chest in a gesture that reminds Junsu of a scared animal in need of protection.
“It looks like...”
“Let’s check, I won’t be comfortable until we make sure there is none of... those things” Yoochun whispers again and starts walking down the hall.
Junsu grabs the small flashlight they took from Jaejoong’s cafe and points it all around. They go all around the circling hall, checking bathrooms and what they suppose were wardrobe rooms or storage ones. The hall is empty, even from corpses. That makes him feel a little better. No matter how long he’s been walking around deceased people, it’s impossible to get used to it.
“Let’s go inside” he hears Yoochun say. Nodding and looking back at Jaejoong who also nods, he walks in front of them and pushes the door to the inner compound of the gymnasium.
The place appears completely empty too. It’s pitch black but thanks to their flashlight they can check the bare space. Seems they have been ‘lucky’ and the day it all happened there wasn’t any concert or any other activity in the place, so there’s no one around. When Yoochun proposed coming here Junsu felt a little reticent imagining the place packed, as it was back in their concerts, but now full of dead people or walking things... a shiver runs down his body and the younger boy shakes his head. Better forget that image since, thanks to god, it isn’t like that in here. He hears Jaejoong exhaling behind him.
“Seems it’s safe” the older male says, voice barely a whisper.
“Yes” Junsu turns and nods, trying to send some fake security towards his hyung.
“We should block all the doors so we can rest in here safely tonight. Or for a while at least...” Yoochun looks into their eyes and they both nod again. Without any more words they walk back to the hall ready to walk the whole perimeter of the building for a second time to block all the entrance doors and, at the same time, double-check everything else. Better be sure.
They find a full vending machine with snacks and drinks that becomes a beacon of joy for them. Yoochun breaks the glass with the help of a big plant pot and they all grab everything that can fit their hands and bags.
They block the doors on their way around the circling building using broken wood panels, chairs, empty vending machines, desks, anything they can find big enough to make it impossible to open the doors from outside and let anyone or anything come in. Junsu thinks it’s maybe unfair, that maybe there are other survivors out there who thought about staying safe at the gymnasium like them, and they are blocking that possibility from them. But a second later he remembers the ripped open woman walking, her dead eyes and dried blood, and he thinks this is the best idea they could have, and prays other survivors will find other places to stay for the night. Not like they have seen any survivors since they came out of the coffee shop, either ways.
Walking in silence after they’ve blocked half the perimeter, a loud bang from the outside makes them all jump startled. Junsu takes a couple of steps towards the door to the exterior in front of them, looks back at Yoochun and Jaejoong, and continues until he reaches said door and opens it.
Junsu peeks out, only his head showing out the door, and sees what is probably the source of the noise: a huge advertisement has fallen and now lays broken on the ground. Breathing in relief, he turns to look back at his older friends.
“It’s just one of those huge commercial panels outside that has fallen” he can see how Yoochun breathes slowly and Jaejoong closes his eyes, composing himself. “Seems it’s going to rain...” Junsu adds, looking back outside and towards the sky, now covered in dark and menacing clouds that completely blocked the last of the daylight.
“Probably the wind blew the panel down?” Yoochun walks next to him, opening the door wide now, looking outside
“Probably. It’s good we are inside, it looks like it’s going to be a huge storm” and that brings the uneasiness back. Is it only a normal storm, like the ones they’ve lived thousands of times? Or is it again another weird thing coming their way? Since the sudden massive earthquake, Junsu can’t shake off this feeling that this is something huge, not only mother nature showing her dangerous side. Plus, with the walking corpses, this really feels like a nightmare, hell in earth, the end of the world. What if this is not a normal storm? Junsu gulps and looks at Yoochun, who is looking up to the sky with a frown and biting his lip, probably thinking something similar to him. He looks back at Jaejoong who is shaking his head slowly and walking backwards, eyes closed. “Yoochun-ah... Jaejoong hyung...” he whispers. Yoochun looks at him and then back at their older friend.
“Jaejoong?”
“Close the door” Jaejoong manages to say. “Close the door and let’s block them all and let’s just go in. Please” the main singer is now looking at them with pleading eyes. Yoochun nods and closes the door. Junsu gulps.
Jaejoong is not fine. None of them are, but some reason or other, Jaejoong seems to be having a harder time. He barely speaks a word, he looks around all the time as if expecting the shadows to take him, his hands and arms are always around himself... so to say, he looks more fragile than ever. Yes, his hyung has not really been the same since they parted ways from their old band members, sadder, thinner, somber. He probably was the one who suffered it the most, the one who hurt the most with such a separation, understandably. But still the ‘Jaejoong sparkle’ was there, all the time. In the end he always joked or smiled or cared, and always had something to look forward to, always ready to battle and win their place on the business.
Now not even that sparkle is visible, and Junsu is seriously worried about it. He needs his Jaejoong hyung back, more than ever.
××××××××××
“Really now?” Yunho looks up annoyed at the sky as soon as he hears a thunder roaring loudly. As if it wasn’t enough the way things were, now a storm is upon them.
“We should find shelter, hyung” Changmin is looking at the sky standing next to him.
“Yeah, and fast” looking up at Changmin they both nod and move forward.
They have been walking around for a couple of days, searching for survivors, rescue teams, ways of getting out of the city in general. The only thing they have found so far are ruins and corpses. Not even a living soul. Not even an animal. First they went south, thinking the highway close to their position then would be the fastest way to get out of the destroyed city, but finding their ways blocked all the time by fallen skyscrapers, broken streets or even in one case, a massive gap on the road. A precipice so to say, yes, suddenly formed in the middle of the way. They took shelter after searching for some food and drinks and the next day walked all the way north-west, finding more broken paths, more fallen buildings, more destroyed highways, and of course hundreds of corpses.
Now they are almost back to the starting point of their journey but going all west. Yunho is already desperate, not understanding why they haven’t found anybody or any possible way out. He keeps pushing forward, convincing himself there has to be a way out around, repeating to himself he has to get Changmin out of here safe, but seeing how it all ended in frustrated attempts for days he is starting to lose hope. And to top it all, the storm. It doesn’t sound nice to get soaked and probably catching an immense cold due to the freezing temperatures.
“Why don’t we go there?” Yunho looks towards the direction Changmin is pointing, and sees a road panel indicating Jamsil olympic park. “Maybe all the survivors went there? The installations are huge and... well...”
“Sure, let’s try” Yunho nods and Changmin does the same. His desperation making him check every possibility, as absurd as it may sound.
The older man is sure they aren’t going to find any survivors, but he is also sure he won’t be the one destroying Changmin’s spirit. The younger man has been a great partner in this nightmare, never losing the nerves and always ready to help and do as he was said, offering his own ideas when he found Yunho blocked or unsure. Yes, even if they are trapped in the middle of a disaster zone, Yunho is really glad his companion is Changmin. That train of thought is dangerous since companionship makes him think of other people he is trying not to think of, so he hurries his step and tries to think on something else.
“Hyung, there’s another one there...” he hears Changmin whisper after a while and he doesn’t need to ask to know what’s happening. Another one of those walking people who aren’t people anymore. They’ve found a lot of them during this past day, just wandering around, mostly ignoring them both almost as if they didn’t notice their presence at all. Still, it’s nothing nice to be around of. It hurts his head trying to think on possibilities of why this is happening, and how can it happen.
“Let’s stay away from it”
“No need to tell me twice”
They walk as silently as they can and as far away from the creature as possible. They have discussed what those things can be, and have arrived to the conclusion that they have no idea. Changmin suggested a virus that makes people act like that, as if they lost all their senses, but they are also sure that those wanderers aren’t alive... after much thinking, they decided to not think about it, and try to stay as far away from those things as possible since they don’t know what to expect of them.
“Hyung” Yunho turns to find Changmin not moving, eyes fixed on the ‘creature’.
“What?”
“It’s looking at us” Yunho feels a shiver down his body and turns to look at the thing, not knowing what to expect.
“Damn, it is” one of the supposedly absent creatures that haven’t noticed them until now is suddenly unmoving and ‘looking’ directly at them.
“But... they didn’t seem to hear or see anything...” before Changmin can continue, the thing starts walking towards them slowly and ill-shaped.
“Okay, what the hell, let’s get out of here” Yunho pushes Changmin forward and they both hurry their steps trying to win distance from the creature that has now changed direction to follow them. Luckily, it is really slow.
“How can this be? Seems like it noticed us??” Changmin whispers, his long legs putting a wide distance from the creature, turning from time to time to check if the thing is still behind them or following them.
“I don’t know... they have ignored us until now... I just don’t know”
“Oh woh woh there are more there!” Changmin practically yells and Yunho stops dead in his track. Certainly, there are 3 more of this things ahead of them, and one of them is already looking towards where they are standing. A loud thunder roars scaring Yunho out of his skin while raindrops start falling on his face.
“I’m not liking this at all. Let’s find shelter now!” Yunho practically orders, his heart beating out of his chest.
The two tall men practically run west. The three things move towards them, eyes following their movements, and Yunho is sure that now they can see them, or hear them, or at least sense them. And is it him or are they walking faster? Okay not looking good at all.
Without exchanging more words, they half run half jog until they can see the silhouette of the Jamsil stadium close to them. Yunho is making up his mind to not stay there for even one second if they can’t find any survivors or rescue teams, even if now the rain is falling harder. He doesn’t want to stay in open spaces now that those things seem to notice them. In no way he is going to wait and see what those things will do once they get them. Maybe he is being irrational, maybe nothing will happen and he should wait to understand things better, but there is a survival instinct activated inside him that it’s telling him to run now and think later.
Reaching the olympic park compounds they stop for a second. Now practically soaked, they try to listen for some noise that indicates humanity around. Yunho listens carefully, even closing his eyes, but the rain is now falling heavily and that’s the only noise he can hear. Groaning, he looks around. Where to go? He is freezing and can see Changmin’s lower lip already trembling. They need to get out of the rain and take off their clothes until they dry or they will catch a pneumonia or something.
“Hyung, shall we go to that building? It looks pretty stable” Yunho look at the place across the street that Changmin is pointing to and certainly looks like a place that isn’t going to fall at any second. Nodding, he starts jogging in the building's direction thinking on how nice being under a roof is going to feel when again he has to stop dead on his track. One, two, three, tens of those things come out of said building. And from the right, and from the left of the street. Some are just walking around aimlessly, but others are already looking at them and starting to pace in the singing duo’s direction.
“I think, after all, it’s a bad idea to go there, Min-ah” he takes a couple of steps back and turns.
“Couldn’t agree more” Changmin nods “Okay, where to?”
“No idea” Yunho looks all around them in a haste, this humanoids are starting to walk faster towards them “let’s go back back back!!”
The two tall men run into the olympic compound, splashing water on their way since the downpour is extreme now, forming puddles on the ground. Thunders roar over them and there’s practically no light, while those creatures keep appearing from everywhere, seemingly lost at first but turning towards them as soon as they hear or see or sense them, and then coming towards them. Yunho has never felt this scared before.
“Hyung, hurry!!”
Yunho thanks the heavens since both of them are pretty fast runners and they can keep the distance with those things without much problem. They move faster than the ones they’ve found before, sure, but still not fast enough to catch them.
“There, to the gymnasium!!” Yunho yells to his younger partner. They accelerate towards one of the doors and try to open it when they reach it, finding it impossible.
“It’s closed??”
“okay let’s try another!” Running towards the next one proves useless since this door doesn’t open at all either. They try another one, and this one seems to give way, at least more than the others. “Here Changmin, help me!” Yunho yells to make the younger hear him under the roaring of the rain. Both men push with all their strength and the door yields slowly.
“Hyung, the things are here!!” Changmin’s voice sounds panicked.
“Okay damn, push push!!” if this was a good idea or not doesn’t matter anymore. Yunho just knows they need to get away from those things, and those things are getting too close to them, and the only thing keeping them from safety is this damn door.
They push and push, throwing themselves against the huge double doors, desperate once they are able to hear the splash of the steps of the creatures behind them, meaning they are too close to comfort. With a small run, Yunho throws himself shoulder first against the door. Something snaps loudly inside and the doors open. Yunho lands on the floor but stands up instantly to help Changmin close the doors once they are both inside. He looks around and sees there was a wooden panel of some kind blocking the door. Grabbing the longest part back, he puts it against the double doors. Changmin runs somewhere to come back dragging a desk that seems heavy, made of some kind of metal by how slowly Changmin moves, and the loud noise it is making. Yunho helps him and they put it against the wooden panel, blocking the doors successfully.
Changmin sighs and crouches on the floor, breathing fast and out of rhythm after the run. Yunho also tries to calm his breathing, with a hand pushing his wet hair out of his face and looking around.
“There has to be someone here” Yunho breaks the silence.
“Huh?” Changmin looks up at him.
“The door was blocked from the inside”
Changmin nods. Time to finally find some survivors. He hopes.
××××××××××
Jaejoong is not really sure how to act. Yoochun and Junsu are sleeping, or so it seems, but he couldn’t do so. He is too anxious and scared to sleep, plus the loud noise of the rain hitting the roof of the silent building and echoing everywhere didn’t help. And now, not even a minute ago, he’s heard loud noises coming from somewhere inside the building. First it was like banging noises, and then it sounded as if something fell down. The last thing he heard was the dragging noise of something heavy against the floor, and his heart has been beating erratically since then.
He needs to wake up the other two, but he doesn’t know what to say. ‘I’ve heard a noise’ sounds pretty stupid, and the older man knows he has been acting enough like a pussy to add more to the flame. Still, it’s not like he is that scared, it’s more like... he doesn’t even know. He’s just lost the grasp of reality, probably.
Still, that noise wasn’t something to ignore, and no matter how out of it he is, he knows he needs to do something. Standing up, Jaejoong silently prays for his legs to stop shaking and let him walk. As soon as he takes a step, Yoochun voice stops him.
“Where are you going?”
“Yoochun... I heard a noise” yes. It does sound stupid.
“What kind of noise?” Yoochun sits up. It’s good they decided to create a makeshift campfire with papers, broken wood from chairs, a lighter and other stuff they found around, this way they are warm and Jaejoong can see the other’s face.
“I think someone got inside” he gulps. That is exactly what it sounded like, even if he is trying to ignore it.
“Someone?”
“Or something” and that is the real reason why his legs are shaking. He still doesn’t get what that thing was or why it was moving, but he is sure he has never seen a worst horror than that.
Before Yoochun can add anything else, they hear another loud noise. Jaejoong gasps and Yoochun hurries to stand up.
“Stop the fire, Jaejoongah. I’ll wake Junsu”
And so he does, using a small water bottle next to the fire that they prepared just for that. Junsu wakes up easily, probably he wasn’t even that deep sleeping, and agrees to silently go and investigate where the noise come from. They grab all their stuff in case this becomes the worst scenario and they have to run away. Jaejoong isn’t even sure what the worst scenario is or why they would have to run away, he just knows if there’s another one of those walking dead people inside, he will run. As far away as possible.
They move silently out of the inner compound and into the surrounding hall. Junsu has the flashlight in his hand, but keeps it off. They don’t want unwanted attention. Staying still for a while they listen, and sure enough they can hear someone moving inside. Probably more than one person, or thing.
“What do we do?” Junsu whispers alarmingly
“Let’s just go, let’s get out of here” Jaejoong offers. He doesn’t want to face any more horrors. He can’t.
“Let’s check first, maybe they are survivors” Yoochun offers.
“No, let’s just go!” Jaejoong insists.
“What if that was you, looking for help?” Yoochun adds, sounding a little pissed. Yes, Jaejoong is sure he is pissing everyone, but right now he only wants to be an egoist. He trusts Yoochun and Junsu, sure, but... he somehow knows he has already lost the most important things in his life, so he just wants to run away, hide and save his life.
“What if it’s those things?” Junsu inserts, and Jaejoong nods effusively.
“Those things didn’t even notice us. Let’s check, come on” and Yoochun doesn’t wait to listen to anyone else. He just turns and silently walks forward, towards the direction they can hear the movement coming from.
“I’m not going anywhere” Jaejoong shakes his head, his throat closing in fear.
“Hyung, we can just check from afar and...” he feels Junsu’s hand on his back, but it doesn’t really help that much. “Yoochun is right. You saw that thing, it mostly ignored us, I’m sure...”
“I don’t want to see anything like that thing ever again!” Jaejoong raises his voice and hears the other two shushing him.
His head hurts. He closes his eyes and tried to put some order in his head. Why is he acting like this? Sure he is scared but the other two are so too, and they aren’t acting like stubborn kids. Why is he so against seeing one of those things, since that one they found really seemed harmless? Most of all, maybe it was the only one?
He thinks and thinks, one hand covering his eyes now. Why does he want to get out of Seoul so badly? And then the image of his loved ones cross his vision, and he gets it. He doesn’t want to see their dead bodies. He doesn’t want to find them around, somewhere, just lying, rotting. Or worse, standing. He knows his family didn’t live in this neighbourhood but around here maybe... maybe they were working. Rehearsing. Checking things for a future concert. He can’t imagine finding them. Him. He can’t.
Jaejoong feels tears prickling in his eyes and he hates himself for being like this. Junsu’s hand squeezes his shoulder and he wants to feel reassured but it just doesn’t work.
“Is there anyone there?” a voice that doesn’t belong to any of them startles him. He looks up in the direction the voice came but doesn’t see anything in the dark. “Hello?” the voice repeats.
“Hello!” Junsu says next to him “Are you humans?”
“...What do you think? Of course! What kind of question is that?” A male voice. It sounds familiar. The voice sounds familiar and the way he answered too.
“Don’t be rude now” another male voice joins the first one and Jaejoong holds his breath. That one voice is painfully familiar. He knows it can’t be, he knows it’s impossible, but he also knows he would recognize that voice anytime, anywhere. “Sorry, we needed shelter and...” Junsu turns the flashlight on, pointing towards the direction the voices are coming.
Changmin and Yunho are standing there.
They are soaked, and their eyes are closed since probably Junsu just blinded them with the sudden light. But it’s them. It’s him.
“It can’t be...” Yoochun whispers. Jaejoong doesn’t blink, his wide eyes glued on the two tall men a few meters in front of them.
Yunho is the first to look back. His eyes open wide when he notices exactly who is in front of them. His mouth opens slightly. He is soaked wet, water drops running down his face and falling from his hair that is pushed back from his face. He is trembling, probably freezing.
“Hyungs...” Changmin. Jaejoong looks to him and he finds his heart beating furiously. His maknae looks fine, a little pale and with bluish lips, also soaked and trembling, but fine. Alive.
“Oh my god, this is... this is” Junsu tries to form words but it’s not possible.
Years. It has been years without seeing each other, and now they meet in such a situation. Destiny, Jaejoong thinks, and his eyes go back to Yunho. He is alive. He is well, and alive. Tears prickle in his eyes again, he is so thankful, so thankful he doesn’t know how to react. And suddenly, Yunho’s eyes are on him, and the world disappears.
They haven’t talked for so long, they haven’t seen each other for so long. And it was so beautiful what they had... He has always tried to gain courage to go and fix things. Once the reasons for the fights were forgotten he thought they would patch things up, but it just never happened. He waited, thinking someday they would talk, thinking there would be chances in the future, but then this happened and he thought he had lost him forever. He thought he would never see Yunho again, he lost his chance, he lost everything... but he is here.
“Jaejoongie”
And that is all it takes. In three long steps he is burying his face on Yunho’s chest, his arms around the taller man’s waist, tears running down his face, not sure from what emotion. Probably from too much of them at the same time. He feels Yunho’s arms around him, hugging him strongly against his chest, and he feels Yunho’s face resting on his head. Is he crying? Maybe he is. Who cares. Yunho is alive. Yunho is here. Yunho is in his arms.
He feels more arms around him, and hears Junsu silently crying, Yoochun too, and someone else repeating that this is unbelievable, and he understands he is surrounded by the people he loves the most in the world, and they are all together. He hears Yunho’s warm and deep voice whispering in his ear. ‘I found you’.
The world, suddenly, doesn’t seem that dark anymore.
××××××××××
a/n. So, yeah, here is the chapter where a lot of things happen. The story is practically eating me so, sorry in advance if I take a little long to update. I want to write this as well as I can! I hope you enjoy it and, keep the comments coming, they give me ideas on how to continue (the general plot is more than done, but it's always good to receive some inspiration :*)
Thank you all! <3
Pairing: YunJae
Genre: AU, drama, romance, horror
Length: 3/?
Rating: nc-17/R
Word count: 6.650 for this chapter
warning: This is a reality based fic, so to say, DBSK members are the way they are in real life now. But please notice this is also fiction, and however I interpreted reality I did so to adapt it to this story. Do not believe anything written here as facts. This is mere fiction. There are deaths, but none from the main characters. Also, please, excuse mistakes!
Summary: In only twenty five minutes, everything that meant anything is taken away from them. Without warnings. Without explanations.
December 7th. Friday.
They have spent almost two days closed inside the remainings of the coffee shop and he has decided it is enough. Yoochun has been listening to all the arguments and valid points of everyone else to finally reach the conclusion that yes, it is a much better idea to just leave the place. Maybe it really is a virus, but it has been proved they are immune; they would be dead like the rest of the people in the cafe if not. Plus, the building is half in ruins and it could collapse at any minute. They do say to go to open spaces in the case of an earthquake, don’t they?
He has been talking with Junsu and Jaejoong about leaving the place and Junsu has been more than convinced since the beginning. Jaejoong has been more reticent, the main vocal seemingly the one who is having the worst time, his mind not really centered. In the end, though, he‘s been convinced too.
Early morning the next day they will move out.
Junsu has been emptying different types of abandoned bags (probably belongings of the victims around them, but he doesn’t want to think about it) and Yoochun has been grabbing stuff he thinks they will need: bottled drinks, some wrapped pastries, extra scarves and beanies lost in the mayhem. Jaejoong has been watching them, saying nothing, not moving, but at least his gaze doesn’t seem unfocused anymore, there is something different in his eyes. Every few minutes Yoochun seats next to him and exchanges a few words. Little by little Jaejoong answers faster, clearer, and sometimes he even snorts at the short haired man’s silly jokes. Not like they are that funny, but it’s the best he can do in such a situation.
They sleep, or try to, until the sky starts turning from deep black to soft shades of pink.
“It’s dawn” Junsu whispers from where he is lying next to him on the hard floor.
“It is” Yoochun answers. He feels Jaejoong squeezing his forearm.The time to leave has come.
Somehow it’s difficult to move, now. In the end, after many discussions and futile attempts to convince the others, the three of them are the only ones decided and ready to leave. Not that ready, maybe, since they are immobile looking out of the windows now, swallowing and breathing slowly. It is a good idea to leave, Yoochun knows it They will find other survivors and help and a way out of this destroyed city. But he also knows that being inside here for a couple of days made him feel secure, probably the other two too. It made him feel as if nothing was really that wrong, it made him feel as if he was in a shelter. It’s stupid because he has been already out there, walking all the way to where he stands now, but... Now, facing the outside, the ‘unknown’ out there, it’s harder than he imagined.
“... let’s go” startled, Yoochun turns to see Jaejoong looking out of the window, gaze determined.
“hyung...” Junsu says.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. I don’t want to die hiding here not even knowing why or from what I am hiding. I want to go out, I want to find people...” Jaejoong turns and looks at their eyes “I want, I need to find hope”. Yoochun swallows painfully.
“Yes. Yes, let’s go”
No more words are said. In the silence of the room where everybody else is just looking at them, they turn, grab the now full bags, walk back towards the windows and open them with difficulty. Slowly they climb down the way Yoochun climbed up the other day, and finally step on the street.
“... now what?” Junsu asks, looking around “where do we go?”
“We should search for people” Jaejoong ads, eyes closed, face lift to the sky.
“Yeah... where do you think we should head?” Yoochun looks at the other two. Junsu shakes his head, Jaejoong keeps his eyes closed. “We should have thought about this before getting out...” he sighs.
“It’s fine, we gave the first step, it’s more than those up there can say” Junsu adds.
“Will they be fine?” Jaejoong whispers. No one answers “I will miss my coffee shop...”
“Let’s go towards the Han” Yoochun offers but starts walking north without waiting for an answer.
The way Jaejoong said that he will miss the place almost undoes him. It is not only the coffee shop, it’s their lives the way they have known until then. It all is gone.
They walk in silence for a long while, dodging debris all around them, eyes scanning every corner of the streets. Yoochun finds himself unable to move his gaze away from some grotesque scenarios: a multiple car accident involving a school bus, a huge hole opened on the grounds of a park, corpses here, corpses there, in strange positions, broken, bleeding. When they reach the river he notices he has been almost running, breathing too fast. This is a nightmare.
“Where are the bridges?” Jaejoong asks behind him.
“They didn’t survive the earthquake, it seems...” he answers.
“We can’t cross to the other shore from here... now what?” Junsu asks. Yoochun just shrugs.
“Let’s keep moving until we find a bridge” Jaejoong offers, and they both agree. There’s not really much more they can do.
Moving to the east now, Yoochun feels a huge sense of dread and oppression suffocating him. He feels extremely vulnerable walking out in the open, but he’s not really sure why. The streets are still and the sky is bright and blue now, nothing is happening and nothing happened since the earthquake, and still he feels exposed and in danger. He just wants to be somewhere safe, even if he doesn’t know what safe is anymore.
Junsu starts singing after another long while in silence. It’s a typical children’s lullaby. Yoochun turns to look at him, but Junsu is just looking out to the river on their right. It has always been as natural as breathing for Junsu to sing, and probably this is his way of calming down. Soon Jaejoong joins him and they start making harmonies, all in some kind of whispering, shy voice, as if they are afraid of singing too loud. Still it’s making Yoochun feel better.
Their voices are, suddenly, the most beautiful thing in the world. They feel warm and safe. They feel like home.
Yoochun starts singing with them, too.
“There’s someone in there!!” Junsu suddenly yells, and all harmonies are broken.
“Huh?” he looks towards the direction Junsu is pointing and sure, someone is walking slowly ahead of them “A survivor!!”
“Let’s go!!” Jaejoong starts running, and they all follow him “Wait, wait!” Once they are a few steps away from the survivor Jaejoong stops suddenly.
“What?” Yoochun asks.
“Look... look at her. What’s wrong with her?” and Yoochun looks.
The survivor ahead seems to be a woman by the body shape, but it’s difficult to be sure since they can only see her back. She is covered in dirt and dried blood and her clothes are practically ripped apart. The woman is walking really slow, dragging one leg that seems has a broken feet by the impossible angle of it; her arms are hanging as if lifeless at her sides; her head lopsided. Yoochun feels a goosebump.
“Maybe she’s hurt and confused?” Junsu offers and takes a few steps forward “Excuse me?” Junsu raises his voice towards the woman. No answer, she doesn’t stop walking. “Hello? Are you okay?” No answer.
“Maybe she’s deaf...” Jaejoong says.
“Maybe she is in shock” Yoochun says and walks towards the woman, followed by the other two. “Hey, do you need any help?” Yoochun grabs the woman’s arm and finally she stops walking. As soon as the woman turns around, though, Yoochun let’s go of her and takes a couple of steps backwards.
Her eyes are white. There’s no pupil, no iris, no anything. White, dead eyes. Her mouth is hanging open and there’s dry blood all around her face and mouth. She stands still transfixed on the direction where Yoochun was before.
“What the...” Yoochun finds himself horrified, but still, this is a victim. Gulping, he gives a tiny step forward “How can we help you, miss?”
“Yoochun...” Yoochun turns to see his two friends at the other side of the lady, horror struck looking at her. “Yoochun, watch this, now” the baritone walks to them and before he can ask what’s happening a horrible urge to throw up arises.
The left side of the woman is ripped open. There is a huge cut from her left breast until her left hip, and some of her inner organs are practically hanging out. Jaejoong retches, and the standing still ‘woman’ turns to face their direction, slowly and clumsy. As soon as her dead eyes are upon them, the three singers start running away. They run as fast as they can and as far away as possible.
That is, as impossible as it sounds, a walking corpse.
××××××××××
Junsu is caressing Jaejoong’s back while the older man throws up. The encounter with the walking woman corpse was just the beginning of a nightmare. While they were running away practically in panic, Yoochun tripped over the remains of an old man that was in a terrible state and got all gore on him. Plus, while trying to help him up, one of those walking corpses appearing from nowhere practically tripped over Jaejoong.
The three of them had never run so fast in their lives.
This is too chaotic, too extreme. Junsu is unable to think properly, thousands of thoughts running at the same time in his head. What is happening, what is this, why are dead people walking, this is a dream, it has to be a dream, does it have anything to do with the earthquake, are there more of them, where do we go, is Jaejoong okay?
Jaejoong is now coughing and seemingly crying at the same time. Yoochun is sitting on the ground, cuddling himself and with his head buried under his arms, not saying a word after he changed into clean clothes and scratched the gore away from his hands at the Han shore in a rush. Junsu doesn’t know what to do, so he is just caressing his hyung’s back trying to calm him. Hilarious, since he is far away from calm himself.
“What. What are those??” Jaejoong looks into his eyes and Junsu feels slapped by a wave of panic and desperation from the other man.
“I... no idea, hyung...”
“They were dead!!!” Jaejoong yells again “Dead people do not walk, they don’t move!!” there are tears running down his face from pure hysteria that Junsu is sure the older man isn’t even noticing.
“Jaejoong, shut up!!” Yoochun’s voice interrupts them “We fucking know that” they both turn to watch the other man standing up, rubbing his eyes and walking to them. He seems furious. “Let’s move”
“W-where?” Junsu asks.
“Anywhere!! I don’t want to be on the street anymore, I don’t want... those things...” Yoochun just grabs his bag and starts walking.
“But”
“Look Junsu, it’s getting late and I won’t stay at night out in the open knowing there’s some kind of hell happening around. You hear? I won’t!” Yoochun doesnt’ stop or even turn to face them while talking. Junsu looks at Jaejoong, who is looking at Yoochun’s back, and nods to himself.
“Let’s go, hyung” Jaejoong offers no resistance and starts walking next to him, Junsu’s hand never letting go of his.
They walk slowly now, in silence, checking everything, paranoid of every small movement. Junsu jumps more than twice thanks to shadows, and Jaejoong’s lip is visibly trembling now. The sun is going down, it’s getting too cold and they are deadly tired from the rush of hysteria and the run. Hungry too, Junsu thinks, since they have barely eaten anything at all, too nervous and then scared to properly stop.
“There?” He hears Yoochun ask, probably to himself. Junsu catches up to him and looks towards the direction the short haired man is facing.
“The stadium?” the younger man thinks the other has gone crazy. The stadium? That place was huge and wouldn’t feel safe at all.
“The gymnasium” Yoochun answers.
“Oh...” now that doesn’t sound like bad idea. It seems to be in one piece from here, and sure it’s huge but also safely closed and with an intact roof. “Okay?”
“We’ll check it once we’re inside and if there’s.... nothing, we will spend the night there. Okay?”
“Okay...” Junsu agrees. Jaejoong nods, and the three of them keep their march there.
It is easier to enter the gymnasium than what they expected. The doors aren’t locked and the building is miraculously in a whole piece after the earthquake. The uneasiness doesn’t go, though. The huge place is silent and dark, even with the still open door behind them to let light in, because the sun is almost gone outside and it is creeping on their nerves.
“Hello?” Junsu speaks in a loud voice, actually trying to yell but too nervous for it to really work. Only silence answers him.
“Seems there is no one here?” Yoochun whispers, seemingly also too nervous (or scared) to talk any louder. Jaejoong is just looking around, eyes wide open to try and see better in the dark, arms crossed over his chest in a gesture that reminds Junsu of a scared animal in need of protection.
“It looks like...”
“Let’s check, I won’t be comfortable until we make sure there is none of... those things” Yoochun whispers again and starts walking down the hall.
Junsu grabs the small flashlight they took from Jaejoong’s cafe and points it all around. They go all around the circling hall, checking bathrooms and what they suppose were wardrobe rooms or storage ones. The hall is empty, even from corpses. That makes him feel a little better. No matter how long he’s been walking around deceased people, it’s impossible to get used to it.
“Let’s go inside” he hears Yoochun say. Nodding and looking back at Jaejoong who also nods, he walks in front of them and pushes the door to the inner compound of the gymnasium.
The place appears completely empty too. It’s pitch black but thanks to their flashlight they can check the bare space. Seems they have been ‘lucky’ and the day it all happened there wasn’t any concert or any other activity in the place, so there’s no one around. When Yoochun proposed coming here Junsu felt a little reticent imagining the place packed, as it was back in their concerts, but now full of dead people or walking things... a shiver runs down his body and the younger boy shakes his head. Better forget that image since, thanks to god, it isn’t like that in here. He hears Jaejoong exhaling behind him.
“Seems it’s safe” the older male says, voice barely a whisper.
“Yes” Junsu turns and nods, trying to send some fake security towards his hyung.
“We should block all the doors so we can rest in here safely tonight. Or for a while at least...” Yoochun looks into their eyes and they both nod again. Without any more words they walk back to the hall ready to walk the whole perimeter of the building for a second time to block all the entrance doors and, at the same time, double-check everything else. Better be sure.
They find a full vending machine with snacks and drinks that becomes a beacon of joy for them. Yoochun breaks the glass with the help of a big plant pot and they all grab everything that can fit their hands and bags.
They block the doors on their way around the circling building using broken wood panels, chairs, empty vending machines, desks, anything they can find big enough to make it impossible to open the doors from outside and let anyone or anything come in. Junsu thinks it’s maybe unfair, that maybe there are other survivors out there who thought about staying safe at the gymnasium like them, and they are blocking that possibility from them. But a second later he remembers the ripped open woman walking, her dead eyes and dried blood, and he thinks this is the best idea they could have, and prays other survivors will find other places to stay for the night. Not like they have seen any survivors since they came out of the coffee shop, either ways.
Walking in silence after they’ve blocked half the perimeter, a loud bang from the outside makes them all jump startled. Junsu takes a couple of steps towards the door to the exterior in front of them, looks back at Yoochun and Jaejoong, and continues until he reaches said door and opens it.
Junsu peeks out, only his head showing out the door, and sees what is probably the source of the noise: a huge advertisement has fallen and now lays broken on the ground. Breathing in relief, he turns to look back at his older friends.
“It’s just one of those huge commercial panels outside that has fallen” he can see how Yoochun breathes slowly and Jaejoong closes his eyes, composing himself. “Seems it’s going to rain...” Junsu adds, looking back outside and towards the sky, now covered in dark and menacing clouds that completely blocked the last of the daylight.
“Probably the wind blew the panel down?” Yoochun walks next to him, opening the door wide now, looking outside
“Probably. It’s good we are inside, it looks like it’s going to be a huge storm” and that brings the uneasiness back. Is it only a normal storm, like the ones they’ve lived thousands of times? Or is it again another weird thing coming their way? Since the sudden massive earthquake, Junsu can’t shake off this feeling that this is something huge, not only mother nature showing her dangerous side. Plus, with the walking corpses, this really feels like a nightmare, hell in earth, the end of the world. What if this is not a normal storm? Junsu gulps and looks at Yoochun, who is looking up to the sky with a frown and biting his lip, probably thinking something similar to him. He looks back at Jaejoong who is shaking his head slowly and walking backwards, eyes closed. “Yoochun-ah... Jaejoong hyung...” he whispers. Yoochun looks at him and then back at their older friend.
“Jaejoong?”
“Close the door” Jaejoong manages to say. “Close the door and let’s block them all and let’s just go in. Please” the main singer is now looking at them with pleading eyes. Yoochun nods and closes the door. Junsu gulps.
Jaejoong is not fine. None of them are, but some reason or other, Jaejoong seems to be having a harder time. He barely speaks a word, he looks around all the time as if expecting the shadows to take him, his hands and arms are always around himself... so to say, he looks more fragile than ever. Yes, his hyung has not really been the same since they parted ways from their old band members, sadder, thinner, somber. He probably was the one who suffered it the most, the one who hurt the most with such a separation, understandably. But still the ‘Jaejoong sparkle’ was there, all the time. In the end he always joked or smiled or cared, and always had something to look forward to, always ready to battle and win their place on the business.
Now not even that sparkle is visible, and Junsu is seriously worried about it. He needs his Jaejoong hyung back, more than ever.
××××××××××
“Really now?” Yunho looks up annoyed at the sky as soon as he hears a thunder roaring loudly. As if it wasn’t enough the way things were, now a storm is upon them.
“We should find shelter, hyung” Changmin is looking at the sky standing next to him.
“Yeah, and fast” looking up at Changmin they both nod and move forward.
They have been walking around for a couple of days, searching for survivors, rescue teams, ways of getting out of the city in general. The only thing they have found so far are ruins and corpses. Not even a living soul. Not even an animal. First they went south, thinking the highway close to their position then would be the fastest way to get out of the destroyed city, but finding their ways blocked all the time by fallen skyscrapers, broken streets or even in one case, a massive gap on the road. A precipice so to say, yes, suddenly formed in the middle of the way. They took shelter after searching for some food and drinks and the next day walked all the way north-west, finding more broken paths, more fallen buildings, more destroyed highways, and of course hundreds of corpses.
Now they are almost back to the starting point of their journey but going all west. Yunho is already desperate, not understanding why they haven’t found anybody or any possible way out. He keeps pushing forward, convincing himself there has to be a way out around, repeating to himself he has to get Changmin out of here safe, but seeing how it all ended in frustrated attempts for days he is starting to lose hope. And to top it all, the storm. It doesn’t sound nice to get soaked and probably catching an immense cold due to the freezing temperatures.
“Why don’t we go there?” Yunho looks towards the direction Changmin is pointing, and sees a road panel indicating Jamsil olympic park. “Maybe all the survivors went there? The installations are huge and... well...”
“Sure, let’s try” Yunho nods and Changmin does the same. His desperation making him check every possibility, as absurd as it may sound.
The older man is sure they aren’t going to find any survivors, but he is also sure he won’t be the one destroying Changmin’s spirit. The younger man has been a great partner in this nightmare, never losing the nerves and always ready to help and do as he was said, offering his own ideas when he found Yunho blocked or unsure. Yes, even if they are trapped in the middle of a disaster zone, Yunho is really glad his companion is Changmin. That train of thought is dangerous since companionship makes him think of other people he is trying not to think of, so he hurries his step and tries to think on something else.
“Hyung, there’s another one there...” he hears Changmin whisper after a while and he doesn’t need to ask to know what’s happening. Another one of those walking people who aren’t people anymore. They’ve found a lot of them during this past day, just wandering around, mostly ignoring them both almost as if they didn’t notice their presence at all. Still, it’s nothing nice to be around of. It hurts his head trying to think on possibilities of why this is happening, and how can it happen.
“Let’s stay away from it”
“No need to tell me twice”
They walk as silently as they can and as far away from the creature as possible. They have discussed what those things can be, and have arrived to the conclusion that they have no idea. Changmin suggested a virus that makes people act like that, as if they lost all their senses, but they are also sure that those wanderers aren’t alive... after much thinking, they decided to not think about it, and try to stay as far away from those things as possible since they don’t know what to expect of them.
“Hyung” Yunho turns to find Changmin not moving, eyes fixed on the ‘creature’.
“What?”
“It’s looking at us” Yunho feels a shiver down his body and turns to look at the thing, not knowing what to expect.
“Damn, it is” one of the supposedly absent creatures that haven’t noticed them until now is suddenly unmoving and ‘looking’ directly at them.
“But... they didn’t seem to hear or see anything...” before Changmin can continue, the thing starts walking towards them slowly and ill-shaped.
“Okay, what the hell, let’s get out of here” Yunho pushes Changmin forward and they both hurry their steps trying to win distance from the creature that has now changed direction to follow them. Luckily, it is really slow.
“How can this be? Seems like it noticed us??” Changmin whispers, his long legs putting a wide distance from the creature, turning from time to time to check if the thing is still behind them or following them.
“I don’t know... they have ignored us until now... I just don’t know”
“Oh woh woh there are more there!” Changmin practically yells and Yunho stops dead in his track. Certainly, there are 3 more of this things ahead of them, and one of them is already looking towards where they are standing. A loud thunder roars scaring Yunho out of his skin while raindrops start falling on his face.
“I’m not liking this at all. Let’s find shelter now!” Yunho practically orders, his heart beating out of his chest.
The two tall men practically run west. The three things move towards them, eyes following their movements, and Yunho is sure that now they can see them, or hear them, or at least sense them. And is it him or are they walking faster? Okay not looking good at all.
Without exchanging more words, they half run half jog until they can see the silhouette of the Jamsil stadium close to them. Yunho is making up his mind to not stay there for even one second if they can’t find any survivors or rescue teams, even if now the rain is falling harder. He doesn’t want to stay in open spaces now that those things seem to notice them. In no way he is going to wait and see what those things will do once they get them. Maybe he is being irrational, maybe nothing will happen and he should wait to understand things better, but there is a survival instinct activated inside him that it’s telling him to run now and think later.
Reaching the olympic park compounds they stop for a second. Now practically soaked, they try to listen for some noise that indicates humanity around. Yunho listens carefully, even closing his eyes, but the rain is now falling heavily and that’s the only noise he can hear. Groaning, he looks around. Where to go? He is freezing and can see Changmin’s lower lip already trembling. They need to get out of the rain and take off their clothes until they dry or they will catch a pneumonia or something.
“Hyung, shall we go to that building? It looks pretty stable” Yunho look at the place across the street that Changmin is pointing to and certainly looks like a place that isn’t going to fall at any second. Nodding, he starts jogging in the building's direction thinking on how nice being under a roof is going to feel when again he has to stop dead on his track. One, two, three, tens of those things come out of said building. And from the right, and from the left of the street. Some are just walking around aimlessly, but others are already looking at them and starting to pace in the singing duo’s direction.
“I think, after all, it’s a bad idea to go there, Min-ah” he takes a couple of steps back and turns.
“Couldn’t agree more” Changmin nods “Okay, where to?”
“No idea” Yunho looks all around them in a haste, this humanoids are starting to walk faster towards them “let’s go back back back!!”
The two tall men run into the olympic compound, splashing water on their way since the downpour is extreme now, forming puddles on the ground. Thunders roar over them and there’s practically no light, while those creatures keep appearing from everywhere, seemingly lost at first but turning towards them as soon as they hear or see or sense them, and then coming towards them. Yunho has never felt this scared before.
“Hyung, hurry!!”
Yunho thanks the heavens since both of them are pretty fast runners and they can keep the distance with those things without much problem. They move faster than the ones they’ve found before, sure, but still not fast enough to catch them.
“There, to the gymnasium!!” Yunho yells to his younger partner. They accelerate towards one of the doors and try to open it when they reach it, finding it impossible.
“It’s closed??”
“okay let’s try another!” Running towards the next one proves useless since this door doesn’t open at all either. They try another one, and this one seems to give way, at least more than the others. “Here Changmin, help me!” Yunho yells to make the younger hear him under the roaring of the rain. Both men push with all their strength and the door yields slowly.
“Hyung, the things are here!!” Changmin’s voice sounds panicked.
“Okay damn, push push!!” if this was a good idea or not doesn’t matter anymore. Yunho just knows they need to get away from those things, and those things are getting too close to them, and the only thing keeping them from safety is this damn door.
They push and push, throwing themselves against the huge double doors, desperate once they are able to hear the splash of the steps of the creatures behind them, meaning they are too close to comfort. With a small run, Yunho throws himself shoulder first against the door. Something snaps loudly inside and the doors open. Yunho lands on the floor but stands up instantly to help Changmin close the doors once they are both inside. He looks around and sees there was a wooden panel of some kind blocking the door. Grabbing the longest part back, he puts it against the double doors. Changmin runs somewhere to come back dragging a desk that seems heavy, made of some kind of metal by how slowly Changmin moves, and the loud noise it is making. Yunho helps him and they put it against the wooden panel, blocking the doors successfully.
Changmin sighs and crouches on the floor, breathing fast and out of rhythm after the run. Yunho also tries to calm his breathing, with a hand pushing his wet hair out of his face and looking around.
“There has to be someone here” Yunho breaks the silence.
“Huh?” Changmin looks up at him.
“The door was blocked from the inside”
Changmin nods. Time to finally find some survivors. He hopes.
××××××××××
Jaejoong is not really sure how to act. Yoochun and Junsu are sleeping, or so it seems, but he couldn’t do so. He is too anxious and scared to sleep, plus the loud noise of the rain hitting the roof of the silent building and echoing everywhere didn’t help. And now, not even a minute ago, he’s heard loud noises coming from somewhere inside the building. First it was like banging noises, and then it sounded as if something fell down. The last thing he heard was the dragging noise of something heavy against the floor, and his heart has been beating erratically since then.
He needs to wake up the other two, but he doesn’t know what to say. ‘I’ve heard a noise’ sounds pretty stupid, and the older man knows he has been acting enough like a pussy to add more to the flame. Still, it’s not like he is that scared, it’s more like... he doesn’t even know. He’s just lost the grasp of reality, probably.
Still, that noise wasn’t something to ignore, and no matter how out of it he is, he knows he needs to do something. Standing up, Jaejoong silently prays for his legs to stop shaking and let him walk. As soon as he takes a step, Yoochun voice stops him.
“Where are you going?”
“Yoochun... I heard a noise” yes. It does sound stupid.
“What kind of noise?” Yoochun sits up. It’s good they decided to create a makeshift campfire with papers, broken wood from chairs, a lighter and other stuff they found around, this way they are warm and Jaejoong can see the other’s face.
“I think someone got inside” he gulps. That is exactly what it sounded like, even if he is trying to ignore it.
“Someone?”
“Or something” and that is the real reason why his legs are shaking. He still doesn’t get what that thing was or why it was moving, but he is sure he has never seen a worst horror than that.
Before Yoochun can add anything else, they hear another loud noise. Jaejoong gasps and Yoochun hurries to stand up.
“Stop the fire, Jaejoongah. I’ll wake Junsu”
And so he does, using a small water bottle next to the fire that they prepared just for that. Junsu wakes up easily, probably he wasn’t even that deep sleeping, and agrees to silently go and investigate where the noise come from. They grab all their stuff in case this becomes the worst scenario and they have to run away. Jaejoong isn’t even sure what the worst scenario is or why they would have to run away, he just knows if there’s another one of those walking dead people inside, he will run. As far away as possible.
They move silently out of the inner compound and into the surrounding hall. Junsu has the flashlight in his hand, but keeps it off. They don’t want unwanted attention. Staying still for a while they listen, and sure enough they can hear someone moving inside. Probably more than one person, or thing.
“What do we do?” Junsu whispers alarmingly
“Let’s just go, let’s get out of here” Jaejoong offers. He doesn’t want to face any more horrors. He can’t.
“Let’s check first, maybe they are survivors” Yoochun offers.
“No, let’s just go!” Jaejoong insists.
“What if that was you, looking for help?” Yoochun adds, sounding a little pissed. Yes, Jaejoong is sure he is pissing everyone, but right now he only wants to be an egoist. He trusts Yoochun and Junsu, sure, but... he somehow knows he has already lost the most important things in his life, so he just wants to run away, hide and save his life.
“What if it’s those things?” Junsu inserts, and Jaejoong nods effusively.
“Those things didn’t even notice us. Let’s check, come on” and Yoochun doesn’t wait to listen to anyone else. He just turns and silently walks forward, towards the direction they can hear the movement coming from.
“I’m not going anywhere” Jaejoong shakes his head, his throat closing in fear.
“Hyung, we can just check from afar and...” he feels Junsu’s hand on his back, but it doesn’t really help that much. “Yoochun is right. You saw that thing, it mostly ignored us, I’m sure...”
“I don’t want to see anything like that thing ever again!” Jaejoong raises his voice and hears the other two shushing him.
His head hurts. He closes his eyes and tried to put some order in his head. Why is he acting like this? Sure he is scared but the other two are so too, and they aren’t acting like stubborn kids. Why is he so against seeing one of those things, since that one they found really seemed harmless? Most of all, maybe it was the only one?
He thinks and thinks, one hand covering his eyes now. Why does he want to get out of Seoul so badly? And then the image of his loved ones cross his vision, and he gets it. He doesn’t want to see their dead bodies. He doesn’t want to find them around, somewhere, just lying, rotting. Or worse, standing. He knows his family didn’t live in this neighbourhood but around here maybe... maybe they were working. Rehearsing. Checking things for a future concert. He can’t imagine finding them. Him. He can’t.
Jaejoong feels tears prickling in his eyes and he hates himself for being like this. Junsu’s hand squeezes his shoulder and he wants to feel reassured but it just doesn’t work.
“Is there anyone there?” a voice that doesn’t belong to any of them startles him. He looks up in the direction the voice came but doesn’t see anything in the dark. “Hello?” the voice repeats.
“Hello!” Junsu says next to him “Are you humans?”
“...What do you think? Of course! What kind of question is that?” A male voice. It sounds familiar. The voice sounds familiar and the way he answered too.
“Don’t be rude now” another male voice joins the first one and Jaejoong holds his breath. That one voice is painfully familiar. He knows it can’t be, he knows it’s impossible, but he also knows he would recognize that voice anytime, anywhere. “Sorry, we needed shelter and...” Junsu turns the flashlight on, pointing towards the direction the voices are coming.
Changmin and Yunho are standing there.
They are soaked, and their eyes are closed since probably Junsu just blinded them with the sudden light. But it’s them. It’s him.
“It can’t be...” Yoochun whispers. Jaejoong doesn’t blink, his wide eyes glued on the two tall men a few meters in front of them.
Yunho is the first to look back. His eyes open wide when he notices exactly who is in front of them. His mouth opens slightly. He is soaked wet, water drops running down his face and falling from his hair that is pushed back from his face. He is trembling, probably freezing.
“Hyungs...” Changmin. Jaejoong looks to him and he finds his heart beating furiously. His maknae looks fine, a little pale and with bluish lips, also soaked and trembling, but fine. Alive.
“Oh my god, this is... this is” Junsu tries to form words but it’s not possible.
Years. It has been years without seeing each other, and now they meet in such a situation. Destiny, Jaejoong thinks, and his eyes go back to Yunho. He is alive. He is well, and alive. Tears prickle in his eyes again, he is so thankful, so thankful he doesn’t know how to react. And suddenly, Yunho’s eyes are on him, and the world disappears.
They haven’t talked for so long, they haven’t seen each other for so long. And it was so beautiful what they had... He has always tried to gain courage to go and fix things. Once the reasons for the fights were forgotten he thought they would patch things up, but it just never happened. He waited, thinking someday they would talk, thinking there would be chances in the future, but then this happened and he thought he had lost him forever. He thought he would never see Yunho again, he lost his chance, he lost everything... but he is here.
“Jaejoongie”
And that is all it takes. In three long steps he is burying his face on Yunho’s chest, his arms around the taller man’s waist, tears running down his face, not sure from what emotion. Probably from too much of them at the same time. He feels Yunho’s arms around him, hugging him strongly against his chest, and he feels Yunho’s face resting on his head. Is he crying? Maybe he is. Who cares. Yunho is alive. Yunho is here. Yunho is in his arms.
He feels more arms around him, and hears Junsu silently crying, Yoochun too, and someone else repeating that this is unbelievable, and he understands he is surrounded by the people he loves the most in the world, and they are all together. He hears Yunho’s warm and deep voice whispering in his ear. ‘I found you’.
The world, suddenly, doesn’t seem that dark anymore.
××××××××××
a/n. So, yeah, here is the chapter where a lot of things happen. The story is practically eating me so, sorry in advance if I take a little long to update. I want to write this as well as I can! I hope you enjoy it and, keep the comments coming, they give me ideas on how to continue (the general plot is more than done, but it's always good to receive some inspiration :*)
Thank you all! <3