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°°Kai swung his Katanas with a smirk of his, displayed on his plump lips, a lollipop stick poking out the left corner, he was in a combat attire, out in the open with several eyes trained on him and the boy who stood just a few meters away from him, equally in the same outfit, same set of weapons and mirroring the older's actions. It had only been two days since their encounter at school and also the same two days they had been staying in the camp or shelter or community... whatever ZICO; the leader of the community calls it.



"That kid sure is bold... thinking he could stand up to kai"



"I know right....if he could get kai to bleed, even if just a drop of blood, I swear on my entire existence I would bow to the kid immediately and make sure I serve him for as long as I live"



"Then you better be prepared to be a servant all your life Shawn"



Jungkook glared down at the slightly shorter male, mirroring the same expression to the other one beside Shawn who was the first to start the whole conversation.



"Oh kook!!...I almost didn't see you there!!"



The shorter gave a nervous chuckle at the end, getting intimidated by the glare thrown towards him.



"It's jungkook for you!!.and remember to add in a Hyung too...cuz last time I remembered I AM older than you are, and that includes you too shea"



Shea and shawn; the devil twins....they had been in the community for about 8 months now, just roughly between the ages of 18 and 19, always going around causing one or two mischief whether intentionally or not, they weren't generally what we could call evil or bad, just kids that needed a lot of scolding on daily basis. They didn't really have any rank or importance to the community, they were just part of the people ZICO decided to create an entirely different base for, but still in the same area, they were just more of like, the regular people, not constantly worrying about their well-being because they had enough people to protect them, bring them food and provide them with basic needs...but they were still always allowed to roam freely and even participate in matches held every end of the week..they could even sometimes get promoted to a rank and officially get to live in the base of their protectors, them finally getting to be one...but it happened on rare occasions mostly.



"You really think you can stand up to me kid?"



Kai had a sly grin on his lips, staring Jake down as he took his stance, ready to pounce on the younger immediately the whistle goes off, but the thing was...



He didn't know Jake sim, not a single thing about him apart from his age and name, there wasn't any need to anyways.



The younger took his own stance too, equally ready to pounce on the older and watch him bleed beneath him, quivering in fear and pain as he pictures himself smirking triumphantly at the beaten face of the older..but obviously..



He knew zero about the older too, the only known thing been his name and age also...the two were like goats; stubborn to the marrow, even when knowing what they were doing was maybe wrong and displeasing, they'd still go back to it anyways after been chased countless times just so they could annoy the living daylight out of the other. Kai truly took a huge liking to the boy from the moment he stood up to him in the grocery store, they were so much alike yet you could still tell the big difference in the way they carry themselves around. It wasn't any sort of romantic attraction he had towards the younger, it was somewhere in between brotherhood and platonic, he just felt the need to put the boy under his wings and protect him at all cost, but that couldn't stop him from agitating the younger, it was something he had found himself enjoying the past few days.



"I can't wait to drain every last bit of your blood"



This time around, kai smiled, the venom that dripped out of the boy's tone was weirdly amazing, sparking more interest he had for the boy.



"Let's see you try then"



As if waiting for the last word, the whistle went off, the whole community became as silent as the Mary Celeste, the only resonating sound been the clashing of steel.



Kai swinged one of his Katanas at Jake who immediately dodged it with half his body thrown back and quickly going for the older's leg but getting stopped by his second Katana that clashed with his halfway...they stopped for a while...not out of breathlessness or surrender, but because they were just having too much fun with each other....they both skillfully took their stance back with Jake immediately aiming for kai's neck but swerving mid-way and going for his abdomen instead, but as usual there was always another Katana to block his attacks, it was like kai could calculate every one of his moves and know just when was the right time for him to block the attacks...but Jake knew better than to lose his cool and suddenly go haywire. 



Kai pushed the younger back a little with one of his swords and tried getting it to cut his face, but just like he had been blocking Jake's every attack, the younger was doing the same....



They could read each other.....know when the other was gonna raise one Katana in the air and bring the second to stab at the same time...it was like an endless game, constantly failing at some point, getting back to the start and failing again, wondering when and how the whole thing was gonna end when in reality, it wasn't...



But in the end of the little game they were playing with each other, a triumphant smirk was both displayed on their lips, as kai had managed to cut Jake's shoulder it wasn't a big cut, but deep enough to make him bleed. While Jake on the other hand had managed to cut his cheek, also not big enough but deep enough to make him bleed, it wasn't what he pictured the end of the battle been, but it was a starter, he would get better, he just needed to train harder, but for now and only now..he had to accept that the older was in fact strong, stronger than him to be precise, yes he got him to bleed, but he and he only he knew what he had to go through to inflict just that small deep cut on the older.



Jungkook was equally proud of the outcome of the game, mostly because of the little bet Shawn had with his twin sister.



"You should go to him now Shawn, remember your bet?"



Jungkook smiled innocently at the younger, eyes glistening with nothing but mockery and excitement, it wasn't like he didn't like the twins, in fact they were closest to him among all the regulars, let's just say that was his way of taking care of them.



He watched as the boy went up slowly to Jake, face void of any emotion one could understand, he watched as the boy went on his knees and bow his head, before getting back up and giving Jake a wide grin..all in front of all to see, while Jake on the hand just stared at the boy with the most ridiculous look ever, jungkook heard his twin sister burst out into a laughing fit and who was he not to mirror the action and on and on it went, the laughter virus spreading it's wing and enveloping half of the community.



It only took the single blow of the same whistle to bring the whole community back to order.



"Seeing as you and kai are almost matching each other in swordsmanship, and also the fact that you also almost brought down the others, I think you're gonna fit in the SKILLED, I see potential in you Jake..."



ZICO patted the younger boy in the shoulder as he had walked up to him after blowing the whistle.



"....Keep close to kai, I want you to receive more training from him, alongside taeyong too"



Jake merely gave a meek nod, returning his Katanas back to it's place crossed at his back.



"Go to beomgyu to get stitched up, the cut looks deep"..........



...⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ...⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ



Sunghoon; when testing his archery skills was concluded to have some sort of infinite strength when dealing with bow and arrows, even when he practiced with his dagger skills, it brought the same result..but he chose to join the 3rd rank; fighter, because to him, he wasn't skilled enough yet..



Heeseung was sure he belonged to the intermediary, no hesitation, he didn't even let himself partake in any tests and just concluded he was only fit for the rank, same went for jungwon who chose to stay as a beginner.



"Don't use it..."



Beomgyu stared confusedly at the ones in the medical room before bringing his eyes back to Jake, he was about injecting a substance close to the cut on his shoulder so he would feel little to no pain when stitching it, but the younger telling him not to use it perked his interest a bit, he was the second person that rejected such a thing.



"Are you sure?... it's gonna hurt pretty bad"



"He's sure, he doesn't need that"



Sunghoon answered for him, an emotionless expression plastered on his face.



Beomgyu shrugged and just went straight to stitching up the cut, getting Zero sounds from the boy, not even a slight whimper as if he was used to pain, he had several scars littered around his upper body so maybe he got used to pain from getting used to how each and every scar on his body was inflicted.



"Seriously...it's a fact Hyung!!"



"I beg to differ, it's not....how can that be possible!?!?!"



"I know what I read....what else could be to it than that"



"You trust in those stupid books too much jeno, it's not a guarantee..."



"But it was written by Tess Braham himself, the first to discover the virus"



Soobin rolled his eyes, sighing in displeasure as he shook his head at the ones that just barged into the medical room, always an endless bickering from the two...all the time.



It was like jeno and jimin had no other duty in the community than to bicker, they were like the older versions of Shea and Shawn, having somethings up their sleeve all the time or bickering..it was rare to find them agreeing on something, the only times been when they always go meat hunting alongside jungkook.



"Ok here's the deal guys....you know how it is said that the Alpha's blood could either kill or heal?..yh...I was trying to tell jimin Hyung here that it only had the power to heal- "



"And how are you so sure about that jeno?"



"Because I AM sure 100% sure to be exact"



"Listen here you, just cuz some stupid sicko that claims to know about the virus wrote in a stupid book that the Alpha's blood could heal doesn't mean it could, there ain't even no proof or guarantor "



Jeno scoffed, rolling his eyes at jaehyun, he was a hard headed fellow anyways, so there was no way he was letting the others win and he was sure gonna get proof for them.



"What if I show you an evidence that it's in fact true"



"From what source?... Google?...chrome?...opera?...where?"



Funny how the table had turned just by jaemin uttering those words, it was like a big slap on jeno's face, because yes, he had actually thought of those...almost forgetting they were in an apocalyptic world, meaning there was no reception whatsoever.



"Whatever....I read books anyways"



"Those books guarantee nothing except it has been experimented and it hasn't...."



"That's where you're wrong yeosang, tess had already started the experiment, but he and his team suddenly died that same night"



"And how are you so sure he wasn't the one who actually created the virus?"



"Seriously guys...okay let's look at it this way, why would he wake up one fine morning and the first thing to run through his mind is to create a virus that he was supposed to be well aware it wouldn't do humanity any good and then a few days later he starts looking for an antidote for it, from the virus itself...it doesn't make any sense"



"But it does Hyung...."



Now everyone's attention was turned to Jake.



"Firstly Tess was a scientist...no offense but we all know how crazy and dumb scientists could be sometimes, always coming up with crazy thesis and ideas that sometimes aren't even true....so there was absolutely nothing stopping Tess from creating a virus out of impulse, it could be something he didn't even know it's capabilities...just did it out of fun or whatever..and then when he realised the virus was deadly he decided to try create it's antidote from the already manifested virus but ended up dying that night...ever wonder why he died?.... obviously maybe there was no more test subjects, maybe he decided to use his own team, maybe something went wrong along the line and cost them their lives and maybe because he couldn't take in the deaths of his own team, he decided to take his own life, plausible...."



The entire room became silent after Jake's theory, faces showing nothing but bewilderment, it was as if Jake suddenly rendered all of them dumb.



"How the fuck did you gather all those in just a few seconds?!?!"



"It's just logical soobin Hyung"



"I don't think anything you have to say can beat that again jeno"



Jeno pouted a bit because deep down, he knew Jake was right, there was just no other explanation that could quench their curiosity apart from that....



Truth be told, no one actually knows how the virus started, everything was just thesis upon thesis, spreading rumours that couldn't be differentiated between fallacy and truth.... guess they just choose to believe what they want to believe.







°°°°



A/N;



Note; ZICO was the one who created the community...he then divided it into two divisions, the NEO CULTURE COMMUNITY for the ones able to stand up for each other and protect against the undead, while the REGULAR for the people who have no interest in combat life and only want to live a close-to-a-normal life. He also made sure they had separate bases, but still in the same vicinity and protected by the huge black gate...the regulars aren't allowed to leave the base without any Neo culture member...



Tess Braham was actually a character from my imagination, if it tallies with reality, then I didn't mean to... including the slight offensive words I used against scientists....know it was only because of the story and doesn't mean I see scientists like that.