The Chest

I tried to roll over and get up, but it seemed like every part of me hurt. I might've broken something on that fall. I'm in big trouble...

*A few months ago*

*Creak~*

The sudden noise broke my sleep away. I quickly lifted my head up only to smack it straight into the table.

"Ouchh..."

"Shh-" said Sangchul. He quickly got up and looked around. Whatever made that noise was nearby. I noticed his jacket was missing, and his white dress shirt made sure to give me sneak peeks of all of his muscles, caught perfectly in its ridges. I blushed. I looked down to find his jacket spread out on top of me. I quickly scattered away from under the table in a panic. Why was it on top of me?

"Jiwon, can you check that side of the cabin?" I slowly crept over to the small room on the other side. I carefully peered out of the window.

*Hiss*

To my surprise, there was a fluffy red fox, hissing at me.

"It's a fox," I said. Sangchul walked up behind me and pressed his body against me.

"Oh let me see!" He had an excited expression all over his face.

"Um Sangchul..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you, I don't know, a bit too close?" I felt my whole body heat up.

"Oh! I'm really sorry Jiwon!" He backed off in a panic.

"C'mon, we can see the fox from outside." I grabbed his hand and led him out the door to the side of the cabin. We kept our distance and crouched down on the ground.The fox was digging a hole on the side of the cabin. She was making a den!

"She's gonna have cubs!" I whispered with excitement. Sangchul smiled. The memory of the jacket came back. "Hey," I began, "why did I have your jacket?" He looked surprised at the question.

"You were cold last night, so I decided to give it to you..." he trailed off, twisting blades of grass between his fingers.

"Oh...but why didn't you wake me up so you could take a turn sleeping?"

"I tried but a princess I happen to know wouldn't budge," he laughed. I smiled.

"I'm sorry. You get dibs tonight!" He sighed. We both looked up at the sky, the sun barely rising.

"We should check out that chest," I said. Sangchul nodded. We made our way inside, careful not to bother the fox. The chest inside was old and dusty. The latch on it was rusty, but locked, and after a while, Sangchul managed to break it off with a rock.

"Alright let's see inside." We opened the lid up to find everything inside practically untouched. There were two large camping backpacks, similar to the ones I've seen before. Inside each was a first aid kit, a small thermos, a pocket knife, a flashlight with spare batteries, and many more survival gear. Along with the two backpacks, there was full body military gear.

"Oh fuck..." whispered Sangchul.

"What the hell..." I said as I started pulling everything out. At the very bottom of the chest was a small piece of folded paper. I carefully picked it up and unfolded it.

"What does -der nk- mean?" I asked. Sangchul took the piece of paper.

"I don't know. Maybe it's in code?" We both thought on it for a while. I noticed that one side of the paper seemed to have been torn out.

"Hey, do you think it might fit in my journal?" We looked at each other in realization. I ran over and grabbed the small journal, and as I turned a couple of pages, I came to one page in particular that was also torn in half. It had the letters -un si- on it.

"Look, it might fit here." Sangchul brought over the piece of paper and lined it up with the one in the journal. UNDER SINK.

"What does unsi dernk mean?" asked a very confused Sangchul.

"Under Sink moron!" I flicked my finger on his forehead.

"Ouch!"

"There must be something under there, c'mon!" Sure enough, the floor boards were loose and easily gave away to reveal a large hole. Inside, two long rifles stood, one a sniper, the other an assault rifle. I started breathing heavier. My chest felt tight and I wanted to throw up. Sangchul continued pulling out bullets, scopes, wireless headsets, and finally, a small box of grenades. I couldn't hold it in. I ran outside and threw up. I cried and cried but the pain inside of me was too much. Dad had lied to me. He always told me he wanted to spend more time with me, that's why he always took me camping. All of those obstacle courses and training weren't for fun, he was preparing me for this. He knew the day would come when those monsters took over. I threw up again.

"Hey! Jiwon! Are you okay?" Sangchul came over and held my hair back. "What's wrong?"

"Everything goddammit! My dad is dead! My mom and Minsuk are missing! Probably also dead! There are actual fucking zombies running around! And..." I sighed, " my dad lied to me... I don't even know if anything he ever said to me was true." Sangchul stayed quiet. All he could do to ease the pain was offer me a hug, a tight never ending hug which I gladly accepted. We stayed in silence for a few more minutes until I calmed back down.

"Do you feel any better?"

"Yeah. Sorry for crying like a baby in front of you." I said embarrassed.

"Hey. You should never feel any less for crying and showing your emotions. If you continue to bottle yourself up, you're gonna hurt yourself." I raised my head up to look at him. His smile made me feel warm and safe.

"Let's head inside. I think it's important that we give that journal a good look before we do anything else. Then we should go out and try to find your mom and Minsuk. Sound good?" He asked. I nodded...