Liam isn't letting me go outside, I'm panicking so much about Eve's safety. It's at sundown now, so hours after the run-in with those rabid dogs.
I hear stumbling and watch as Eve collapses to the floor panting. "Eve! Are you okay? We were so worried!" I ask her to try to help her up. "I-I'm fine" She coughs clearly out of breath. "Hey, Where's Junsu?" Olivia asks amongst the confusion.
We all turn to look back at Eve waiting for an answer, her face grows dark and she looks down. "Eve, where's Junsu?" Sophia questions his voice becoming sterner. The atmosphere has shifted rapidly, the tension in the air is suffocating.
"He-His leg, it got worse, we managed to stay clear of the dogs. I-I tried my best to help him walk and support him. We didn't know where to go, we stumbled into a small group of zombies. He couldn't - I couldn't help him. We were surrounded" Eve stutters.
A silence has been cast over everyone creating an eerie ambiance. "You left him to be eaten alive?" Seungmin asks, clenching his fists. "I couldn't do anything, I'm sorry" She sobs. "He suffered didn't he?" Liam asks while his body trembles.
Eve stands up and is embraced by Olivia and Sophia. I don't know what to do. It seems the group numbers are depleting and due to us, "He would've been alive if you four never stumbled into our lives." Liam says while staring blankly outside. "All you have to seem to bring is trouble, mostly Rina," Seungmin says laughing out a rough laugh.
What could I say to that? It was true, all I brought was trouble. That's all I've ever done, with my eating disorder, my protectiveness over Sammy, my sharp attitude - everything. "You're right" I reply, Liam and Seungmin turn to look at me.
"I am the cause of all that's happened to us. Maybe it's better if I leave you - I don't want to be the reason for someone else dying. If you want me to leave I will with Sammy and never come back" I say to them both.
"Yes. I want you to leave." Liam speaks up. "Look Liam we can't keep pushing-" Seungmin is cut off by Liam saying "The answer is yes, leave in the morning". "Okay".
Night...
I can't seem to find the strength to fall asleep, I'm so anxious to leave everyone tomorrow. I'm going to leave early before Sophia, Eve and Olivia wake up - I can't bring myself to say goodbye to them. It's for the best though - they won't be in as much danger following my absence.
I found a crossbody bag large enough to fit Sammy in comfortably, I decided to at least take him too - it would be unfair for everyone to be burdened by taking care of him, he is my cat anyway.
I somehow still feel hurt by Liam wanting me to leave, I know he deals with death very aggressively but still. I feel an aching feeling from leaving him and Seungmin. Do I love them? How can I love them both?
Morning...
I open the door and start walking. "Rina?" I hear Liam's voice making my eyes shoot open. "Liam?". His eyes look heavy and his skin looks paler, "Can I speak to you for a minute?" He asks, I nod and follow him to the storage room.
"I'm sorry for telling you to leave, I'm sorry for everything. It was never your fault, it never is." He sighs looking at the ground. "I understand, I know I'm a troublemaker. I know most of this is caused by me" I say my throat becoming tight.
"It's not your fault." His voice sounds strained as he stalks towards me. "But-" I'm cut off and my words become stuck in my throat from Liam's lips pressed softly against mine.
Liam pulls away and cups my face in his hands, "I can't let you go and leave us". "I'm fine," I reassure him with a smile. We walk out of the room and I notice Sophia is talking to Seungmin and Olivia is sitting alone as is Eve.
"What's up with Sophia and Olivia, I can sense the tension?" I ask Eve. She sighs in response to my remark. "Ever since the whole thing with Olivia and Sophia's ex came out Sophia has been pissed. Also, things are still awkward now everyone knows about the "Makeout" thing" Eve explains.
I walk towards Olivia and sit down, "Okay so tell me, what's with you and Sophia?" I smile slightly. "You know that I've liked her for so long and that I dated her ex just to feel closer to her. I know it's stupid and doesn't make sense. I tried to explain it to her, she doesn't feel I'm genuine anymore and doesn't want anything to do with me." She says while pulling on her hoodie strings.
"She'll come around and will understand, you just have to give it time" I give her a reassuring rub on her arm.
Evening...
We've spent hours just talking about random shit, the girls explained how they all ignored Liam after they found out that I left with Sammy.
Speaking of Liam he's been in the storage room for a while, I don't know why. Maybe I should check on him. I start to get up until I feel a tug on my arm, I turn around and see Seungmin tugged on my arm. "He's fine. stay" he says with a smile.
"Okay," I comply and sit with Seungmin. I lean against his shoulder, my mind drifts to the events of what Noah and the intruders did. He tried to make me choose between them. I love them both but I need to decide which one of them I love more.. such trivial problems to have during the apocalypse. Which handsome boy should I be with?
"Guys!" Liam bursts through the door with a huge on his face. I jump away from Seungmin and head towards him. "What is it?" I laugh.
"I found a frequency on a radio and found a message!" He jumps around. "What radio?" I am confused.
"I found a radio in the storage room. It was pretty broken down but I tried to fix it up and see what I could do with it. I fixed it and found a channel!"
"Why didn't you tell us you found a radio?" Sophia glares slightly. Liam shrugs "I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up".
"That's not all though, I heard a message on a channel. I was so excited I didn't get the frequency right so let's all listen now." He suggests setting the radio down on the counter messing around with the dials and buttons.
At first, it's static but after around ten minutes of changing dials, we find a blurred message tone. "August 22nd, 2150... static .. -founders Grove static, waterways.. static for survivors" A toned voice roughly spits out.
Everyone is silent and listens to the message a couple more times trying to work out exactly what the message is saying. We find it says the date and in Founders Grove by the waterways there are large boats administered by the government that is accepting survivors.
"But guys this is October, this message was recorded a few weeks after the outbreak, what if they are no longer accepting us or not there anymore?" Olivia questions.
"We have to try, we have nothing else left" Eve states.
"We could be saved. We could be saved from this nightmare!" Sophia screams and cries happy tears. All of us huddle together hugging each other.
I turn to see Liam, "Liam you genius!" I grin and run to hug him tightly.
After hearing that message it brought all of us in a good mood. We are currently packing up everything that we can bring - which isn't much.
It's gonna take a while to get to Founder's Grove due to the fact we don't have a map. The girls and I know where Founder's grove is but only roughly, we went there for a dumb party.
That memory seems so distant now. We have to get to the city's border in order to reach the grove. We take the Honda, not all of us can fit so Sammy and I have to squish in between Olivia and Sophia.
"Everyone ready?" Seungmin asks me in response, anxious to get going. To get out onto the road is a journey in itself which gives me time to think.
My eating disorder has been getting better, I've noticed that everything that has been happening I don't have time to stress over my eating. As a result, I've gained a little weight which bothers me. "You're looking good, Rina" Eve nudges me smiling.
"What do you mean?" I ask confused, "You look... healthier" She responds. "healthy" I hate that word, I feel panicked as I want to be slimmer but I know I can't be.
"This is going to be a long journey," Seungmin said. "How much longer?" Liam whines, irritating Seungmin. "Shut up!" Seungmin growls. I laugh, it's nice to see them both like this again.
"Guy's I think we should talk about what happened with Noah" Olivia speaks up with a serious look on her face. "What about it?!" Sophia snaps.
"Let's just talk about everything," Eve states. Since everyone else found out about what Eve has done they haven't been acting the same around her - only I knew about what she had done.
"Eve, you don't need to explain yourself, it's in the past-" Eve cuts me off mid-sentence saying "I do need to explain myself, don't think I haven't noticed everyone treating me differently." She says looking ashamed.
"I-I know what I did was wrong and it's perfectly fine if you don't want to be around me anymore if we get saved." She sighs and continues "I just want you all to know I was not mentally stable at that time, the drugs really messed me up and I wasn't in control of myself".
"That's still not an excuse to murder someone" Seungmin speaks. "It was an accident Seungmin, drop it!" I glare.
"What about what happened in there between us?" He mumbles, "What about it?" I ask, getting irritated.
"Who would you have chosen?" Liam asks I don't want to answer or be put in that position again. "Would you have chosen Seungmin?" Liam asks. "I'm not doing this right now" I cross my arms. "I'm tired of being strung along! You need to choose one of us! I'm in love with you, and so is he!" Seungmin yells.
I look at the girls for help, "Leave her alone, now is not the time for this!" Eve speaks up. "I can't do this anymore, I need to know if the girl I love wants me too!" Liam shouts. "Who would you have chosen to die that day?" Seungmin asks bluntly.
"I was going to choose me. I.. I ..I love both of you" I breath out with my head getting dizzy. "Who do you love more?!" Liam groans. "Seungmin! I love Seungmin more!" I scream at him panting and heaving.
We were in the car in silence for an hour or so until Seungmin told everyone we needed to get out of the car.
"What is it now?" Sophia moans. "We ran out of fuel, we need to go on foot," Seungmin explains. We are now in the city which is surprisingly quiet with the exception of a few stray zombies.
Gradually as we keep going deeper in the city the density of the zombies thickens. We have been avoiding them by running in between the alleyways where most of them don't both go. A few random zombies have tried to follow us but they are incredibly slow so fail in doing so.
I take this time to look around at this now unfamiliar city, the buildings have started to moss and the grass is thicker. It looks so unrecognizable without the hoards of people rushing to the latest sale or rude businessman pushing past to con the next sucker.
"Rina, hurry up!" Sophia whispers to me to quietly sprint and catch up to them.
We are around an hour away from Founder's Grove but we still need to make it to the waterways. We keep heading deeper and deeper into the city the zombies are getting harder and harder to avoid.
They've started getting close enough where they are reaching for us and trying to grab us.
"This is getting too dangerous, we need to do something," Eve says. "We need to run past them, we are so close to the Grove. If we sprint for 10 minutes we'd be there." Seungmin suggests.
"But it's too dangerous," Olivia argues. "We don't have a choice, they aren't fast enough to keep up. There's too many of them. They will get us if we don't run." He says sternly.
"Okay" She agrees, everyone else nodding in response and agreeing with the plan. Without thinking about it too much I run and everyone else starts running.
The herd has noticed and has started to follow us and try to grab us. I keep my arms tucked in holding the bag Sammy is in making sure the zombies are unable to grab onto Sammy or pull me.
I look in front and notice we are Founder's Grove. We're so close I look at seeing the waterways and see a giant ship a small distance away.
How do we get there? there's no way we can swim all that way. Plus Eve can't swim. I look around, still running and spot a small boat. I rush towards the small wooden boat. I climb in and Seungmin and Liam jump in right behind me, I look and see Eve and Olivia nearly there and Sophia a little further away.
"Shit!" Seungmin gasps. The herd looks like it has been collected up and is following religiously behind Sophia.
"I don't think she's going to make it!" Liam shouts.