Two Words

"Ahem."

Y/N whipped her head towards Eunhyuk who was looking at her. Her eyes went down at their hands clasped together and realized how tightly she has been holding him. She slowly removed her hand and moved back.

Eunhyuk walked away and noticed the people around talking about plans to block the exit. Seo Yi and another man who wore a military outfit meanwhile moved the body of the dead man to another room.

"Alright, we should take whatever we can to block the exit!" A man shouted, followed by nods of approval. Y/N decided to take her time and work with the others. She didn't want to think of what was going on outside. Most importantly, she wanted to block out every single thought about her family and their whereabouts. Any kind of thoughts involving them will only weaken her. She got up and went to a room, took a folding chair and proceeded to place it near the exit, when a woman, Cha Jin-Ok came shouting towards them.

"My daughter isn't back yet! You can't block the exit!" she ran towards them, trying to pull them away from the exit, "If anything happens to Min-ju, it's all your fault!"

The people around her started to surround her and stop her, telling her to calm down. When they heard a clear voice say, "Block it."

Jin-Ok ran towards the voice of Eunhyuk and pushed two men away, who were bringing a machine to block the exit. She tapped on her mobile, and put it in front of him. A red dot blinked on the map as she explained, "She here! I'll go get her quickly. Open it, please?"

Knowing the kind of man he is, Y/N expected him to volunteer to go along with her. It felt like a bad idea. The streets were filled with monsters and to come back alive in that atmosphere felt like an impossible task. Some kind of fear made her decide against it. Even though...it meant loss of a human life. She was about to tell him about it being a bad idea when she heard him, "No."

What?

It almost felt like a shock.

Ofcourse.

She merely knew him for a few months, and they rarely talked to each other to know everything about themselves. Eunhyuk was probably....a lot different than she imagined.

"Who are you to say no? Do you know who I am!" Jin-Ok yelled.

The comment made her flinch. It brought back memories that she didn't want to recall. "Your status won't make a difference when we are fighting for survival," she said. Feeling Eunhyuk's eyes on her, Y/N looked away at the exit in embarrassment. Maybe he felt like she was trying to defend his actions which wasn't the case. Atleast....it wasn't the main point of her words.

"I can't let this place fall into danger," Eunhyuk said looking back at the woman before him and started pushing the machine towards the door. As Jin-Ok and Eunhyuk were having their little fight, Y/N realized something.

If the woman was still able to show the map, then the internet was still available right? She quickly took out her phone and sent a number of texts to her mother -

"Things are weird.

Monsters are all over the city.

Are all of you okay?

Please reply.

I'm fine.

Make sure to stay safe.

And keep a weapon in case."

She stared at the screen of her phone, waiting for any kind of reply but there was nothing. She sighed and suddenly heard her phone beep. Eagerly, she opened the lock.

But it wasn't her mother.

Looking around the room, she heard a series of beeps coming from everyone's phone as she looked back at her mobile.

It was an emergency alert.

' THOSE WITH THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS MUST BE QUARANTINED IMMEDIATELY: NOSEBLEEDS, BLACKOUTS OR SUDDEN AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. '

[ TIME SKIP ]

Y/N was sitting on a chair quietly, staring at her phone and hoping there to be some kind of signal from her parents, Eunhyuk quietly walked and sat on the opposite side. It finally made her look away from her phone. She realized that his eyes were still on her, which made her blush. She looked back at her mobile, trying to control her facial expressions.

"Don't use your phone more than required," he said. Y/N locked her mobile and looked up at him as he continued, "Don't waste your battery charge. We might need it later."

"I know...I just want to..." she muttered in a quivering voice, "know where my parents are..."

He nodded in response and looked around. "Where's...Eun-yu?" Y/N asked.

"In our apartment."

"....I'm sure she can handle herself. She's.." she chuckled, "going through her rebellious phase. She's strong."

A small smile appeared on Eunhyuk's face. "Don't you find her unbearable?"

"What?" she laughed, "No, she's annoying sure. But she's cute, trying to act careless and all."

A guy, Ryu Jaehwan, suddenly started shouting in frustration, "We should all go home. What are we all doing sitting here?"

"Won't the rescue squad come?" A nervous guy with glasses spoke up.

"Don't you see this? We're all screwed."

"Our country won't go down like this. Right Military man?"

The boy wearing a military outfit turned and said hesitantly, "Yes, right. If you stay calm and wait-"

"I can wait at home!" Jaehwan yelled.

"Ah! There must be an emergency shelter nearby!" Byeongil said.

"Where exactly?"

"If we drive-"

"The underground parking lot is blocked too! We have to go up!"

"Then go alone," Y/N said.

"Does anyone live on the seventh floor?" The nervous guy asked getting up.

"Me. Hey, we can go up together." Jaehwan suggested.

"Wait a minute! If you two are going, we should all go up. Don't you agree?" Byeongil said.

Several people got up and went towards the staircase door to open it when another group of people stopped them, trying to reason how they should wait down in the ground floor. As the bickering went on, suddenly the handle of the door started moving.

Y/N who was lazily watching them fight, came to her senses pretty quickly. Is it possible for a monster to have the intelligence of opening a door? The door opened and the thug of the building came forward. When he turned to leave to another room, everyone observed how a part of his shoulder was bit. Fearing that he might be infected, Seokhyeon came forward acting as the leader and used a taser on him, which was actually enough to make him fall unconscious.

Oh. Another person entered the room.

"Eunyu," Y/N whispered as she and Eunhyuk went forward. It didn't matter how close they were but...she wanted to check if his sister was bitten like him. Observing her appearance, she was partly relieved that there were no bite marks. Eunhyuk put his over-shirt on her and Y/N was about to touch her face, which had a few bloodstains when Eunyu slapped her hands away. She rolled her eyes and took off the shirt her brother offered and went ahead towards the restroom.

Eunhyuk looked down at the ground. Y/N stared at him for a moment and decided to go ahead to check on Eunyu.

"Stop," Y/N stopped moving hearing his voice, "she doesn't need pity right now."

"No I was just checking on her. She had blood on her face-" Y/N tried to explain but Eunhyuk interrupted her.

"Give her some space," He sighed and went ahead in the control room, looking at all the surveillance monitors. His eyes then set on the computer screen.

It felt like he called out on her actions. Sure, she was trying to take care of both of them but...she didn't mean to come off as an extra or barge into their privacy. Unable to decide what to do, she walked into the control room.

Y/N halted by her steps, realizing how she blindly followed Eunhyuk in the room. A blush covered her face as she groaned in embarrassment. She was about to go out, but stopped seeing the contents displayed on the screen of the computer. Quietly, she took a chair and sat beside him. He ofcourse, noticed her presence but continued reading the website.

The page had some kind of information written on the disease which felt like a kind of information the government tried to hide: 'IT'S NOT A DISEASE. IT'S A CURSE. They complained of frequent nosebleeds and auditory hallucinations. The cause could not be determined. They weren't from here originally. They came here because they showed symptoms. They turned into miserable, desperate beings. Every prediction was wrong. It suddenly begins one day ..and it never stops. I was consumed by it, too. Humans will not be able to overcome this. If you have symptoms, kill yourself before it's too late ....because being alive will harm others. But if you decide to live to the end, there's...'

Y/N's mobile beeped again. Her head whipped down as she stared at the message she received. It was a message from her mother. She smiled and sighed in relief. It didn't matter how much they quarreled but...in the end, she did love her family. She knew that her mother scolded her mainly because she thought about what the best option will be for her daughter.

She opened the text but it was just one sentence. Two words specifically, that took her breath away.

' Take care. '

It...it wasn't bad right? It can't be. It might mean a lot of things. Her hands started shaking and she looked up at Eunhyuk who was staring at her, again. She felt tears slide down her cheeks.

But..well, coming to reality.

That text can only mean one thing. The only thing that would be possible.

"I guess I don't need to waste my charge anymore," she whispered in a tiny quivering voice and dashed out of the room.

Eunhyuk stared at her retreating figure disappearing towards the bathroom. He knew what it felt like.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any sympathy to spare.