Chater 1 - Welcome to Hukon 

On the neighborhood, Hukon has less activity of zombies, and one specific hotel with a dark atmosphere and very creepy reviews on the internet was the perfect place to hide.

-"What's happening..?" her sleepy voice rang, trembling and slightly panicked, teasing her own ears.

A bang on the metal door next to her room woke her up.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she thought of was to get up and lock the door immediately.

Zombies' scratches and growls were even louder, keeping up pushing and making noises.

The smell drowned the breath in intolerance of pus, blood, and death.

Days in, days smelling it week or stronger with the sense of persistence, the nose decided not to tell the brain to vomit.

Not a long time passed after the apocalypse; it was the 3rd month.

All alone, Jiah Mi together with Jiah Mi, just by herself.

The beginning of the apocalypse wasn't exactly the day she understood how her family felt about the younger daughter.

She knew it all along.

Her mother, a professional lawyer, and her dad, an employee in a firm, both very well-paid. A straight-A+ student being her 17-year-old brother who has always been the parents' favorite.

He is a boy, Jiah Mi is a girl.

They favored him over her.

He is good at school,

Jiah Mi just does her best to pass the year.

She was always busier doing home chores work.

When she didn't do them, they wouldn't let her eat, and that's why she didn't eat on the days when she went to school.

It was difficult at school as well because her brother has more and many friends, popularity, and everyone likes him.

No one in school was aware he had a sister; honestly, it was embarrassing for him to say.

He even made her classmates bully her through rumors, which of course aren't true, and they despised her just for the way she is.

Not surprisingly, her parents made her transfer because the teachers suspected them of child abuse.

Anyway, he can come to the new school and start the old rumors again, right? Since the apocalypse started, she didn't transfer or go to school.

Jiah Mi never got the love of her parents.

Day 1 of the apocalypse:

The family was watching TV and eating breakfast on Sunday. Father put a fried egg in his son's cup of rice. Mother smiled and put meat even though he had so much.

Jiah Mi watched this lovely scene emotionlessly, sitting in the corner of the long table far from them, not interested.

She used her old chopsticks to eat from her small, rusty bowl with leftovers from yesterday's empty rice, just with vegetables.

Old and sticky, she cooked it two days ago and ate the same type of dish today too and every day.

She isn't a vegetarian. But if she asked for some meat, she would only be in trouble.

In fact, she had nothing different to eat.

Understanding everyone's hate, she never pretended.

It was good enough to have this old rice; she rarely ate normally.

-"HAA. How dare you stare at his plate? Do you want to disgust him? If he lost his appetite, you won't get any food until you lose weight!"

The old lady scolded.

Already this young girl was underweight.

She no longer moved her eyes and stared at her trembling hand, not steady.

(Why is it trembling? I'm supposed not to feel anything anymore...)

(What is my body shaking for?)

Jiah Mi felt bitter to have feelings; neither were they unhappy ones that made her ironic because she knew in her situation, becoming an empty bottle happened quickly.

While they all are getting more and more fat.

- "Mom, Dad, why do you let her sit at the same table with us? She is weird."

She looked up at her black-haired big brother's face, showing disgust.

- "Really? I was going to say the same," the woman smiled happily at such harsh words. Both parents normalized the situation.

-"Get up," Mother ordered.

-"DIDN'T YOU HEAR YOUR MOTHER?!" The dad aggressively threw her food and pushed her in order to scare her.

- "MOVE"

which made her fall from her seat to the floor and drop the rice.

Crawling backward with one hand on the floor helping her move, she stared at them with her sharp, wireless gaze.

-"LITTLE BRAT, DIDN'T YOU JUST STARE AT ME?! LOOK DOWN!"

She did move her eyes because she found him too unpleasant to stare at, and his voice was too much irritation.

The short, big, fat man sat back on his chair, happy to put the girl in her place.

She was their servant.

No fatherly love as well. They continued eating unbothered and had a normal conversation like every family...

While the girl just stared at her reflection on the floor, with white rice grains and vegetables around.

(Whatever I did, no one helped me with anything...)

Jiah Mi tried to tell the teachers, the principal, and the police.

But it didn't work. The police didn't believe it, and she changed schools immediately after they started to listen a bit.

Everyone thought she took drugs or was just a bad student because she had bad grades, no one to talk to, and skipped school often.

In other words, a drug-taking loner punk who lies for attention and doesn't want to learn.

Her family had a good reputation and donated money to the school and the police for charity, as well as to many other institutions.

To everyone, it looked like a perfect three-member family with one black spot.

All of a sudden,

The electricity cut off. The city's emergency sirens sounded to warn citizens. Jiah Mi put her hands on her ears not to get deaf. The TV fixed and was on news broadcast nationally on air.

-"Death Alert! All of humanity is in an infected zone! This is not a drill; I repeat, this is not a drill! A new virus turns people into zombies hungry for flesh! We have directly verified information; it happens everywhere! All over the planet right now! We advise everyone to stay home, close all windows and lock doors, do not get any closer to infected people. Any direct contact may cause infection. As far as we know, you can get infected by getting bitten or scratched by zombies. Use weapons if needed and save food and water. Be aware, do not die! The side effects of infected people are weird and impossible body movements, red eyes, nosebleeds, and after a time, their skin rottens slowly, just like living dead bodies! Doctors and scientists don't have a cure, and it is not treated!"

The leading man wore a stressed face, but this did not affect his voice, and he talked professionally while the monsters could be heard.

The noises outside kept getting louder and more chaotic outside the family home too.

- "It can't be real; someone must have hacked the news."

- "Yes, it happened before in America, didn't it?"

-"They must have hacked the alarm as well!"

Suddenly, noises and screams outside got much louder.

-"Those people must be scared and believe what's happening on the news."

Someone started to knock on the door instantly in the middle of the mother, father, and son's conversation, interrupting them.

The mother got closer to the small spy on the door.

-"AAAAAAAAAA!" And she backed away with a scream.

-"Fast!"

-"You!"

-"Open the door."

The father pointed a finger at Jiah Mi.

-"What if they are infected?"

Jiah Mi asked logically.

Her mom pulled her hair and glared at her furiously.

-"m..." She bit her lips, looking at her and didn't show the pain longer than half a second with her bored face.

(Why am I bothering)

-"Do you want someone else to get hurt? Hah, are you telling me you believe zombies exist?"

She didn't really care and opened the door to see because she believed God would protect her.

This neighbor, who is also the manager of the whole company,

Of course, the old father will be nice not to get a bad face or bad name.

They invited him in, giving him comfort, put him in a chair with a pillow to sit, and rushed to take care of his wounds, telling Jiah Mi to get the first aid.

She knew he was infected by the bite and kept her distance, waiting for the first symptoms to show up.

His whole neck had a deep bite and bled instantly.

If she told them to do as well, it wasn't like they would listen to her, and they saw the news on TV seconds ago.

They refused to believe the world is a horror movie from now.

(There is no meaning to even greet them.)

Her eyebrows wrinkled from their stupidity.

So she kept quiet.

-"Not connect line."

-"Not connect line."

-"Not connect line."

The pre-recorded message kept repeating.

The teen boy opened his mouth and said, surprised and disbelieving, holding the phone to his ear.

-"The ambulance is out of line!?"

Father did his best to calm down the manager, not to worry because he would drive him to the hospital.

-"What do you mean? CALL AG-"

-"I called 6 times! My phone signal is not stable! DON'T JUST SNAP AT ME!"

The boy struck the old man with an angry interruption while the man's forehead was sweating, listening to his wife nagging.

-"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO MY SON THIS WAY? DON'T YOU SEE HE IS TRYING??! YOU DON'T HAVE ANOTHER SON, YOU SWEATY ANGRY PIG!"

She kept up and kept up until the manager stopped her.

-"WILL YOU MAKE YOUR WIFE SHUT UP?"

Of course, she hated him and didn't expect him to be rude, but the father begged the woman to understand it was his second boss.

The second boss willingly explained the terrified situation outside.

-"It's insane... cannibalistic... It is... happening... a human, no... a M-O-NSTER bit m-me."

The manager scratched his neck, making the wound deeper with that horrified look on his face. He scratched faster and faster.

The family started to feel chills.

The father took his hand carefully.

"MANAGER, YOU ARE BLEEDING. DON'T DO THAT!"

But the manager's strength felt not human, and the father couldn't pull the hand no matter how much he tried to.

Jiah Mi watched the scene, believing something was wrong, and it started to show already.

Confused, looking for more evidence.

-"It keeps refusing to let go of me... even if I die... from that wound, I REFUSE TO GO BACK!" the manager continued.

The father stepped back, and the mother, son, and he started to feel weird and uneasy. The manager's experience looked similar to soldiers looking only at pain and murders during a war.

-"He may be in shock," the father said in a low voice.

-"BW-Bwr-ug-h."

The son wanted to puke, avoiding watching how the manager scratched halfway to the bone.

-"No! No! No! I won't go back!!! Jjak-jwwj-arr aerrr! Arrr! arrrr!"

His words became hard to understand.

Jiah Mi saw how his eyeballs' sclera became slowly more and more red, then the nosebleed leaked together with blood from his eyes.

Jiah Mi stepped farther, feeling the warm wall behind her back.

She used to have red eyes from crying too much as a kid and not sleeping,

but this red was pure,

strong red.

So much blood came out of his eyes that his black eye color, iris, and pupil disappeared, covered by all that blood.

All of his blood came out.

"Crack crack."

(Is it his bones cracking?)

She guessed right.

The body started to move weirdly, his neck turning with high speed to the back, then again facing them.

-"Oh my dear...!"

The woman trembled, but the old fat man even more, while the son hid behind his mom, holding her tight.

"Psssssssss."

The girl looked at the brother who just peed himself.

(! Did he... just pee in his mom's slipper?)

She didn't have time to realize or had time to.

Things escalated.

The manager went crazy and jumped on the father. They tied him up with a table cover.

But it didn't help. The teen and man took belts to tie him in a hurry.

-"Arrrrrr!! ARRRRRRRRRR! H"

Watching this scene, no one had the nerve to keep with the loud noise outside. Now they had a zombie that attracted more zombies by being loud.

(These belts... they won't hold long...)

Observing the situation, she wondered why they didn't see it too.

The son stared at the zombie with big fear, frozen.

Mother was near the zombie, nagging him. Her motherly heart was painful.

-"WHY DID YOU SCARE MY SON!!"

"HE PEE HIMSELF BECAUSE OF YOU! STUPID NEIGHBOR! EVEN NOT A ZOMBIE, YOU ARE STUPID AGAIN!"

Jiah Mi had a feeling that someone would get hurt. Even she felt embarrassed hearing that kind of nagging.

"You should back away; the belt is going to tear!" Jiah Mi told it loud, but the mother gave her a cold stare and continued with her nagging.

She avoided her clear warning.

(Is she nuts?) The girl couldn't help but think if the mother is having some problem. They could kick the zombie by pushing the chair outside, but there were too many of them outside. The other option was to lock it in the basement, but she wanted it to be scolded before that.

She couldn't help it. The mother was always this way, but even when it was already so dangerous, she wanted to protect her son's dignity, which made the zombie struggle to tear the old, tall, aged, skinny woman apart.

The zombie became more impatient whenever it heard noises. If there was no sound, he just looked at the floor, empty.

-"Mam! MAM!"

But now he was attracted.

The zombie broke itself free.

The son came closer because he listened to Jiah Mi and came back from his trance to reality.

The zombie jumped on the mother, giving her the shock punishment for the nagging and almost bit her, but the boy pushed the zombie.

But Jiah Mi hurried to take a pan and hit it on the face, making it angrier. Luckily, the father ran, and for some reason, the zombie was weaker, making it easy to tie him.

It was okay now.

-"Your hand"

Jiah Mi stared at a little small dot like a thin needle pricking, blood overflowing his palm.

At that moment, her mind played it back when the manager's teeth pierced some of her big brother's skin, but it wasn't something to notice because it happened too fast, and the wound was invisible if there was no blood flowing.

-"It's not serious! I'm okay!"

Mother hugged him and immediately agreed with him.

Father joined them as well.

The boy stared at his sister.

-"Are you scared of me, little idiot?"

Jiah Mi stared at him without expression and a blank mind. Suddenly, she bit her tender lips as if she was angry with herself, looking away, avoiding crying.

She was afraid that he was becoming a monster whose human side was dying.

-"IT'S YOUR FAULT, YOU WITCH."

-"WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT HIM?"

-"YOU SAW THAT THE ZOMBIE WOULD BREAK FREE."

She kept hearing all her mother's words with no power to say anything against them.

-"You have to throw it away when it's not useful," the son said with mockery.

No matter how many days passed,

Parents didn't care their son was infected and refused to believe it. When he turned into a zombie, they locked him in his room, giving and cooking food for him. He didn't eat raw meat or any human food because he wanted fresh human food.

Worried, they decided to feed him with his little sister. Jiah Mi was about to be pushed by them into the room to feed him.

She still remembered the words of the woman who gave birth to her:

-"Don't fight back; we don't want to injure your brother, do we?

Now be a good sister and take care of him."

- "Feed him."

The glare with hope at the end of this sentence wasn't coming out of Jiah Mi's mind, and

the father, who didn't say a word but tied up her hands without thinking twice, obeyed his wife.

Ready to open the door and throw her in,

they were only worried about whether the meat would be enough because the girl was too thin. The door was half open when they fully opened it.

The zombie broke his collar and jumped fast on the parents instead of his sister.

He wanted moving food. Because she didn't move, she wasn't harmed.

First, he attacked the mother.

The father tried to save his wife, but the wife told him

not to kill her child.

Watching her brother eat both of their parents until the screams die and chewing is the only sound,

slowly and slowly while bodies are eaten half alive, somehow the girl manages to untie and run away.

The feeling of your family abandoning you isn't easy to handle.

But when they actually abandoned her and started to hate her was in the beginning.

Nevertheless, she is alone now.

- "..what time is it..I overslept,"

she mumbled to herself quietly with a sleepy voice, rubbing her eyes.

Yesterday she arrived in Hukon and surprisingly there was less zombie activity.

If she had known about it, she would have come earlier. Being the only one in the whole neighborhood has its good sides.

Many bad people are outside as well; she prefers to be here than anywhere else. It was

- "My perfect spot."

Unlike war everywhere with more population, her place won't get bombed by humans and the army.

There is no interest to help with such a low zombie-affected zone. Everyone is going where the real fight is.

The military is busy and can't handle any not-so-big deals. Here is absolutely no one.

Since Jiah Mi became 5 years old, this neighborhood spread rumors,

to today, they are highly valid.

Everything started when a serial killer lived in the region and killed an innocent little girl.

The ghost of this poor soul haunts the whole of Hukon for years. Known to kill everyone putting their foot in the neighborhood.

According to Jiah Mi, the only reason there were zombies was

the only people that may stay here could be foreigners who don't know about rumors and run away to hide just like Jiah Mi wants to.

Probably one of them was already becoming a zombie and bit another one, so everyone of them got infected. If they knew the story, they wouldn't have come too.

People didn't talk nonsense for fun.

Men, women, kids who used to live here died refusing to believe in rumors and not believing ghosts exist.

Soon dead cases increased no matter old or young, sick, rich, or poor. All chose to run away; some chose to be homeless but alive. Houses were empty.

The story became a big deal on the news.

Police explained paranormal phenomena have been seen and experienced by everyone stepping foot there, and some police workers gave interviews about having a chance to run away alive but with the price of becoming mentally sick from shock and never healing and continuing living in fear forever.

No one said any word about their experience during the investigation, but every one of them said the same,

"Don't go there, you won't just die!" It was no longer just rumors, and the place had huge big 99 thousand tables

with warnings

"DON'T ENTER,"

"DANGEROUS,"

"WARNING PARANORMAL ZONE DON'T SEEK DEATH."

Warnings weren't enough; they put a certificate for the scariest place in Korea and placed it as the number 1 forbidden zone for visiting.

Teenagers with no survival skills who came by and used to do rituals to summon the spirit of the little girl ghost died before having a chance to begin it.

Some of the survivors going for the ritual gave the same answers to the police, ignoring questions about how the ghost of the little girl looked like, how did she kill your friends, or any questions.

They would just say 2 sentences, "We didn't finish the ritual and it happened.." "Don't go there, you won't just die!" They came out crazy immediately, and any survivor ended up in a mental clinic to repeat the same sentences.

If you ask them anything about this place, if they were mute, they would write it.

If they had no paper, they would cut their own skin to write a message on it with the same sentences just when it came to warn you.

And other times, they would not talk for anything and watch one point all the time. Some died from starvation, suicide, and they were no longer normal. The only emotions you see are fear, shock, fresh trauma, and no will to live.

Honestly, it looked like all victims begged people to mind their own business, staying far involved in any of Hukon's deals.

The only streets that cars used to drive by for the way to the highway or any other road involved by Hukon were closed, and new safe roads and ways were created very far from the neighborhood of death.

To this day, no one wanted to be killed by the little girl ghost and cursed to die like the people who used to live in Hukon.

Anyway, 10 years have passed since the place was abandoned, just counting it by Jiah Mi's age.

She is in the beginning of her 15th year. For her age, she is too independent and serious.

Just because she has a safer place doesn't mean she is safe; she is highly aware of the risk of living alone. It's not like she has anyone or could trust anyone again.

Days lasted longer. The day she came to Hukon was morning; it happened yesterday.

30 zombies with rotten skin chased her; the first place she saw and found good to run and hide was only one hotel.

And the name of the hotel was simple, just

"Hotel."

She ran from door to door until she found an open one to enter.

All of the doors were locked, broken, or if they had zombies in them, there were traces of a lot of fresh blood.

Only one door, very clean and without damages, was left very slightly open with the key in the lock but unlocked, which grabbed her attention immediately, so she grabbed the opportunity.

She entered and closed the door, so tired from running, and collapsed on the floor.

The zombies lost her; they didn't see which room the human went into. Also lucky, none of them came in to kill her with just a fully closed unlocked door.

Just now she woke up with saliva on her face, listening to the silence in the birds' song.

Zombies chased after them, and already gone, the heavy steps of them felt like an earthquake. She got up, looking at her surroundings, feeling very tired from too much running because of the weak body she had.

Woken up with muscle soreness too, Jiah Mi never had a place to call home.

A place where hate, reparation, gossip, wealth, and benefits are the main and most important popular topics.

She hated to be judged by people who didn't even know her name.

And even each one of them despised her.

Yet she was cold and faced loneliness as a challenge.

Only God understood her pain.

She touched the floor with her finger.

- "Dusty," and smiled.