Morning...
"Ugh" I groan out of tiredness. After the arguing was over we all headed to the ranger's station to stay the night there, surprisingly enough no one was there. All of the girls and Sammy slept in the Ranger's room, Sophia took the bed. I get up and open the door and start walking to the entrance. I look around and see Seungmin and Junsu talking. I walk up and approach them.
"Hey..." I croaked, "Hi..." Seungmin starts "We are going to go to the camp to check if anything survived the fire that we can salvage" I hear steps coming from behind me and see all of the girls walking up to us. "Liam isn't in the right state of mind to go right now, Rina do you mind staying behind and watching over him?" Seungmin asks. "No-No, that's fine," I replied. "Great the rest of us let's go, is Sophia well enough to go?" Seungmin questions, "Yeah I'm fine, let's leave" Sophia adds.
It's been about 30 minutes since everyone left and Liam is still staring at the wall in a trance. I sigh and kneel down to him, "Liam... "I get no reply in return, "Liam, you need to drink something, come on" I look at him and place the water down. He doesn't even look at me, "Liam... look at me" I sigh.
He snaps his eyes looking deeply into my ones. "It hurts, it hurts so much, Rina" He whispers. I sit down in front of him in an attempt to listen. "I-I know," I say softly in an attempt to reassure him, my gaze goes downwards and I'm now playing with my thumbs. "No!" He demands, Liam lifts my chin up with his hand ensuring I look at him. "No, you don't know!" He yells at me.
I jump away from my position on the floor and Liam stands up, "How could you possibly know!?" He yells even louder. Liam takes a step forward to me and I take one back, he continues to take a step forward and I keep backing away until I collide with the wall behind me. By now Liam is a few inches away from me, "He was like a brother to me! And now he's dead!" He screams. I try to put my hands on his chest to create some distance between us and to calm him down. "Liam calm down".
"NO! Whoever did this said it was because of you!" Liam says while putting his hands on either side of me stopping me from escaping. "I want to make you feel as miserable as I do! But at the same time, I don't! Everything about you is so alluring and frustrating!" Liam shouts while pinning my arms up above my head. I look at him in his eyes, I see hurt and pain, I don't see Liam. He looks exhausted. He is looking deeply into my eyes and suddenly his gaze drops to my mouth, "Liam I-" I'm cut off by his lips colliding with mine. My eyes widen at this sudden action.
After 30 seconds or so Liam pulls away dropping my wrists, he pants and keeps looking into my eyes. I am in a state of shock until I'm zapped out of it when Liam tries to leave the station. "Hey-Liam, come back!" I yell, I start to try and follow him but I see Seungmin coming towards me, "Don't worry he'll come back" He says and with that, I walk back inside with the others.
Later...
Liam came back a few hours later and hasn't been talking much, a million questions have flooded my mind but went unanswered. The main one being, why did he kiss me? It was my first kiss, I never really thought about what it would be like but I definitely didn't think it would happen during the apocalypse.
Seungmin and the others barely could salvage anything, a few fishing rods and a couple of bows are all they could salvage.
Night...
Everyone else was asleep but I just couldn't seem to get to sleep. I walk out into the main room and see Liam standing just outside of the station. I know I should give him some space but my feet make their way over to him. He doesn't even look at me when I come outside.
Instead, he just acknowledges my presence by a simple "Hello Rina" He says with a small smile. "Hi..." is all I can offer him. "How are you feeling?" I ask after an awkward pause. He laughs a little, "Better". It goes awkward again for a minute until I break the silence. "Look Liam I-I'm going to cut to the chase, why... why did you kiss me?" I stutter looking at him nervously.
"Because... I like you, Rina" He says in a serious tone snapping his head in my direction. "What?" I question his answer. "I like you, and not like a friend" He offers a small smile. I stay silent not knowing what to say, He sighs. "I'm sorry for kissing you - I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I wasn't really myself at that moment". "Um... it's okay it was a memorable first kiss" I laugh.
"That was your first kiss?" He asks me with furrowed eyebrows. "Yes," I state. "Shit," He says while running his hand through his hair. He hugs me suddenly, I wrap my arms around his neck in response. "Sorry" He mumbles, I just giggle. He lifts his head up and looks at me again. He leans in and kisses me softly. Suddenly we hear a throaty groan, I pull away and see a cluster of zombies coming our way. We jumped away from each other when we heard Seungmin say "shit! Get in!" We rush into the station. Seungmin starts to border up the door and I am confused, it was only a few zombies. I look outside of the window and see a giant herd coming for the station around 100-200 zombies. "Shit" is all I can say.
I started to grab things to use to barricade the door, I then remembered the desk in the Ranger's office, "Liam help me move the desk!" I yell and we both sprint to try and pull the desk at the door. Junsu is running around and gets everyone else.
Eve looks outside of the window and her eyes widen "Where did they come from?!" She questions. "We don't know!" Liam says. The desk seems to hold the door combined with everything else Seungmin put at the door. We are all panting and looking at each other.
"Can someone explain what happened?!" Olivia asks. "I woke up because I heard a noise and mumbling, I went outside of the station and saw Rina and Liam outside then all of those things started to approach us" Seungmin explains wiping sweat from his forehead.
"How are we supposed to get out?!" Eve panics, "We'll figure something out, what if we wait them out, they're bound to wander off we can just wait until they all disperse out" Junsu suggests. "And how long will that take, there's so many of them!" Eve shouts and storms away into the Ranger's room.
I follow Eve into the room and see her sitting on the bed, "Eve, everything is going to be okay" I say, hugging her, "It won't though... I-I wish I was dead" Eve sobs. I look up at her and freeze. "Eve, I need you, we need you. Please don't leave us" I hug her again for a few minutes. "I think I should get some rest now Rina," she says. "Okay".
I close the door and walk out of the room and suddenly I feel someone tug on my hand. I look up and find out there person is Seungmin. "Can I speak to you a minute?" He asks. I nod and glance up to find Liam looking at our hands.
Seungmin takes me to the hall, just when I think we are talking in here he leads me to the archive room - which is incredibly cramped. "Seungmin, why are we talking in here?" I question. He shrugs then starts "Rina what were you doing with Liam before I came?" He asks. "Uh.. We were talking" I shrug not knowing why he was asking. "I only ask because I saw you two hugs and you looked close," He says with a small blush creeping over his face.
"Oh," I say. "Are you two a thing?" Seungmin asks searching my face for answers. "No. It's just earlier when you left us here Liam... He... Uh... He kissed me." I blurt out "What?!" Seungmin gasps. "Yeah and we were talking about it and he kissed me again then those zombies came. He was my first kiss" I continue. Seungmin's expressions hardens.
"Seungmin? What's wrong?" I try to grab his arm but he shakes it off. Seungmin storms out of the archive room and I quickly rush after him. I watch as he rushes towards Liam and punches him in the face causing Liam to fall backward.
"What the hell man?!" Liam yells getting up. Everyone else just stares in shock. Seungmin lunges for Liam again and they both get into a fistfight. "Junsu! Pull them apart!" I yell at him, he quickly snaps out of it and pushes Seungmin away from Liam.
"Chill bro what happened?!" Junsu asks. "He kissed Rina! He was her first kiss!" Seungmin growls trying to escape Junsu's grip. Olivia and Sophia are now looking at me with a shocked expression.
"Okay? Why do you care?" Junsu questions, Seungmin ignores his question. "So what if I was her first kiss, I like her," Liam says with a slight smirk forming. Seungmin jumps out of Junsu's grip and lunges for Liam again before he can I grip Seungmin's arm and drag him away.
Seungmin grins smugly at Liam as if he has just won a game. I turn Seungmin around so he is facing me and say "Calm down, you just hit your best friend for no reason!" Seungmin's expression softens into a blush again and he looks down. Suddenly I hear a blood-curdling scream.
I rush to it and find Olivia on the ground clutching Eve who is unconscious. "What happened?!" I yell and rush to the ground. I look at Eve's other hand and find a bottle of pills, some scattered on the floor. "Omg, she tried to kill herself!" I cry.
By now everyone is in the room, we don't have access to a medical facility or have any idea as to what we are supposed to do to help someone who has overdosed. We are all silently huddled around Eve hoping for the best and praying.
It was as if all the drama that had just happened disappeared. I haven't stopped crying. "Where did she even get the pills?" I question. "I don't know," Sophia cries.
"This is all my fault! She told me she wanted to die before I left. I thought of giving her a little reassurance and rest would be enough. God! I'm so stupid! I should have stayed. This is all my fault! My best friend killed herself and it's my fault!" I sob loudly. I put my head into my hands and feel people hugging me. I look up and see Olivia and Sophia hugging me.
"No, it's not your fault. You didn't know. None of us did, you tried to help her" Sophia cries and mumbles her words while Olivia nods her head in agreement. "What have I done? I was busy caught up in stupid drama while she was suffering by herself! I'm not in high school and need to remember that. I'm in the fucking apocalypse we don't have time for this crap!"
"We are trapped here with hundreds of zombies surrounding us, Eve has tried to kill herself and may have succeeded - we don't know how to help her because we are in the apocalypse. And we have a stalker who tried to kill us all in our sleep!" I yell tears spilling out my eyes.
Night...
It's been hours and I'm still sitting in the same position next to Eve hoping she'll wake up. We checked her pulse, it was very slow - but it was there. My cheeks are stained with dried tears, I feel as if I'm in a void.
The herd of infected is still surrounding the station, the groans of the zombies haven't stopped, surprisingly enough they haven't been able to get in.
Sophia, Olivia and I haven't gotten any sleep. We're all too distraught after what happened to Eve. Junsu is asleep however, Liam and Seungmin are still awake, and they aren't speaking. I feel my limbs are stiff, "I can't take it anymore." I say aloud. I keep seeing memories of Eve and me in my head playing over and over again on a loop.
I stand up and walk to the window. I look outside and see slow zombies drifting around and hovering outside. I walk back up to Eve and sit back with her.
Morning...
"Hey" I hear a soft voice trying to pull me out of my sleep. I furrow my eyebrows and keep my eyes closed. "Wake up, Zen" the voice giggles. My eyes shoot open and I'm met with Eve's angelic face. "Eve!" I scream and hug her tightly.
"Ar-Are you okay? I-I... I'm sorry" I stutter. "It's not your fault if anything I am sorry. As soon as I swallowed those pills I regretted it" Eve says with teary eyes "I don't think I swallowed enough to kill me..." Eve sobs lightly.
"Eve?" Olivia says curiously and jumps up to hug her as does Sophia.
So maybe the four didn't become a three, well not yet anyway...
Later...
"We're running out of food, we barely have any water as well" Junsu states with a worried expression. I stand up and look outside of the window, there are significantly fewer zombies outside, but I don't think it would be safe enough to go outside. I mean where would we go anyway? We have nowhere to go. This is all we have.
I look over at Eve, she is still quite weak and needs sustenance, Sammy as well. "I'll go out to look for food," I say, turning around to the group.
"I'll go too!" Sophia says brightly "Me three!" Olivia says. "Then it's settled al-" I start and cut off by Junsu "Rina, can I speak to you a moment?" He asks. I shrug and follow him to another corner of the room.
"Look Seungmin and Liam are still on bad terms, I know this isn't the best time but they both won't listen to me. Could you just go with them and try to sort things out?" Junsu asks. "Junsu! This isn't the time to play counselor, we have to get food and cooperate together, and bear in mind we still have a stalker!" I reply.
"More like you do..." Junsu mutters, "I know, they will work well. Please just take them, you owe us considering you're the one causing all of these problems. I don't want the group to be divided any more than it is because of your love triangle with them"
"What are you talking about? You sound like Noah! We don't have a love triangle!" I say gradually getting more and more irritated.
"Oh come on, it's quite obvious that they both like you. You kissed Liam and Seungmin got annoyed because he has feelings for you. Just go with them today, sort it out, just choose one of them and be done with it" Junsu says, shaking his head and face-palming his forehead.
I roll my eyes, "Seungmin and Liam, you both have to come with me on the supply run. Before you try to argue, now hurry up!" I say looking at both of them back and forth.
"Close the door immediately after we leave and only open when you hear us knock" I say to everyone. Junsu moves the desk enough to have the door open a crack, I slip through quickly following me is Liam then Seungmin.
There're around six zombies just floating around outside so each of us swings at them. It's been about ten minutes of walking in silence in the forest and the occasional sound of a skull-cracking for each of us killing zombies.
"Where are we going? After we get to the stream and fill up the water where do we go for food?" I ask them and look back and forth between them.
"If I remember there's a small convenient shop at the bottom of the road you take to get here. It's on the other side of the forest, I just remembered now" Liam says and smiles, I smile back and keep my gaze to him. "Tsk" I hear from Seungmin, making me break my gaze from Liam.
"Oh my God. Right, you need to sort out your problems. Both of you - right now. Seungmin, what is your problem with Liam that you struck him for?" I demand. Seungmin just turns away. I sigh. "Okay, Liam you start, what is your problem with Seungmin?"
"I don't have one other than the fact he punched me." Liam replies, shrugging his shoulders.
"Seungmin..?" I say while placing my hand on his arm to get his attention. He sighs. "I-I didn't like that he kissed you - especially when it was your first kiss" a small blush creeps over Seungmin's features, it looks adorable. "Why do you care if I kissed her?" Liam questions.
"Because I do!" Seungmin growls. "Okay, Okay, stop both of you. Makeup, shake hands, hug, kiss or have sex I don't know just makeup!" I laugh. "Fine, we're good but you're still an asshole" Liam laughs and they both do a weird bro-hug thing. "Now kiss!" I giggle. They both look at me annoyed. "Hey, is that the convenient store?" I ask and Liam nods signaling it is indeed the store.
We walk towards it, it looks very run down and old. We walked up to the front door. Seungmin tries to pull the door open but it fails to budge, "Ha! Let me try you, weakling!" Liam laughs, shoving Seungmin out of the way and trying to pull the door open.
The door still doesn't move an inch, "Oh my God! Move you idiots!" I roll my eyes, I push the door and it opens easily, the look on both of their faces is one of bewilderment I walk into the store, the shelves look pretty empty, a few of them broken. The floor is sticky for whatever reason and there is dirt and mud scattered around it in patches.
The store is actually relatively small, I wonder how Liam ever came across it? Then I hear a low appreciating whistle, I look up and see Seungmin reading the label on a bottle of alcohol. I approach him as does Liam, "This is a good bottle" Seungmin says smiling.
Later...
"I told you not to bring it!" I yell at Liam and Seungmin.
We were now about ten minutes away from the station, we had to start whacking zombies with our bats - I actually forgot for a moment the colossal amount of zombies that are still surrounding the forest. Yes, there is a significant decrease in their numbers - but still a lot.
Seungmin knocks on the door and Junsu quickly opens the door ushering us in.
"They got what?" Eve giggles, I just roll my eyes again. "How are you keeping up, I elbow her lightly."Better." She says looking down at the ground, I pull her in for a hug.
"Let's eat!" Sophia laughs, believe It or not we actually managed to find some food, mostly tinned soup - but nonetheless a success!
I stare down at my small portion of tinned tomato soup and slowly sip it. I keep trying to eat more because I know how dangerous it is for me continuing my eating habits in a dangerous survival situation. But I can't - I feel as if I'm addicted to starving myself.
I see Liam is away by himself by the corner. I am clearly done with my food and walk towards Liam and it down. I lean my head against his shoulder, "What's wrong?" I ask.
"I miss him, it's just wrong without him. He was... He was..." He trails off "Too young" I finish lifting my head from his shoulder to look at him. "You're very pretty" He says with a serious expression and stares into the dark abyss that is my eyes.
"Hey!" A voice yells. We both look over at Seungmin who is gesturing us over into the circle the group has formed. Junsu is smoking weed out of a makeshift bong. "Hey! What are you doing - Stop!" I try grabbing the "Bong" out of his hand. Junsu takes a long drag and laughs, "Don't worry about it".
Suddenly he produces the bottle of Vodka and takes a sip passing it to Olivia along with the weed. I look at her worriedly. "You don't have to do that, Olivia" I reassure her, she shrugs "Yolo" and proceeds to take a drag and drink. I facepalm myself as Sophia, Eve, Seungmin and Liam all start getting high and drunk.
Everyone went crazy, Seungmin was laughing in a corner, and Liam was dancing around. Junsu and Eve were sobbing in holding each other. I don't even know where Sophia and Olivia went.
"Rina!" Seungmin yelled laughing, "What?" I responded annoyed, "Come here!" He laughed again. I made my way towards him, I looked at Liam who had decided to fall asleep next to Sammy. Sammy is now crawling on top of him sleeping on his back.
"What?" I ask, "Can I have a hug?" He smiles, I comply. "Okay, I'm going to find Sophia and Olivia now" I say getting up.
I opened the ranger's room and peeked inside, my jaw dropped to the ground.
Olivia and Sophia are making out, I quietly shut the door in absolute shock.