#hye-in

"Since my eyesight didn't get worse again, I'd say monster-same," he said and looked around, scratching the back of his head.

"We should make some food plan... and a plan in general. How to stay safe–" he said, not giving his change much attention but got interrupted by his sister.

"You destroy monsters by touch, right? So... if you stay sane, you are keeping us safe, no?"

He gave her a long look and gave out a quiet 'hm'.

"What? Am I wrong? And what do you do exactly to them? You said you're gonna tell me later."

"Uhm... Do you remember the first monster we encountered?" Eun-Hyuk asked.

"The lady monster with that nasty tounge?" Hye-In said.

"Yeah... she ate people, right? I... eat other monsters," he added quietly.

"You eat monsters? That's great! You're basically superior to them? With that scream and all," Eun-Yu said in excitement, sensing some sort of hope for them.

"Maybe... but I shouldn't eat them so much. It changes me."

"How?" Ji-Su wondered.

"I... I am not sure yet. But then again, that's the only way I know how to properly get rid off them and keep you safe," he said in a low voice.

"Maybe it's like a power boost? No? That would come in handy," Eun-Yu said.

"Even if... even if it was like that... what if it comes with a cost? I don't want to lose my sanity," Eun-Hyuk admitted. Ji-Su stood up and approached him, touching his shoulder gently.

"I bet that if you stay with us... you can stay the way you are, huh? Like Cha Hyun-Su... he was also able to come back."

Eun-Hyuk looked her in the eyes without a smile but nodded, appreciating what she said.

"That's another thing... I need to find him. But I am not sure how."

"Let's do that together then. We have the van-" Eun-Yu said but stopped when she noticed her brother staring at her, "What?" she cried out angrily.

"He could be anywhere...," Hye-In said.

"Honestly, I don't know what's the best decision to make... we could be looking for him for a long time... can we really live in a small van?" Eun-Hyuk asked and looked at the children who have been silently sitting on the mattress and then looked down at his hands. I need to find out if I can control my turns. Why am I suddenly like this again?

Ji-Su noticed how Eun-Hyuk watched his hands curiously and asked: "Are you in control of the changes happening to you?"

He looked up at her and stayed silent for a bit before saying: "I... need to figure that out."

"Alright, so... let's have breakfast, pack and then figure out if you have it under control, alright?" Ji-Su said.

Everyone agreed with Ji-Su's suggestion, mainly because everyone was getting pretty hungry already. All of them also properly washed themselves since they haven't had the opportunity for a while and probably won't get one for the time being.

After all that, they got all their bags and supplies into the van, as well as the children and the dog.

"So... what now?" Hye-In asked, glancing at Eun-Hyuk who warily looked around.

"I think we aren't alone," he said quietly and his gaze stopped at the opposite house, "we should-"

Eun-Hyuk didn't finish his sentence because a very thin looking but quite tall monster jumped from behind the building and was now standing in front of them.

"Fuck!" Eun-Yu cursed and quickly jumped into the van, "Eun-Hyuk, get rid of him!"

However, he didn't know what was wrong, but he couldn't draw his claws out, let alone find the strength for his monster-scream.

"I... I think... we gotta just bounce. Get in! Quickly!" he commanded and ran to the van and sat down into the driver's seat, Ji-Su sitting down next to him. Eun-Hyuk quickly started the engine and stepped on the gas, driving away from the monster.

"So, you don't know how it works, then?" Ji-Su asked with an alarmed voice.

"Well," Eun-Hyuk said but a loud thud on the van's roof made him look up, "shit."

Something looking like a hand clawed its way through the roof and was now hanging in between Eun-Hyuk and Ji-Su, trying to reach at least something.

"You've got a weapon?" Eun-Hyuk asked and tried to shake off the monster by driving from side to side of the road.

"I... a knife in my backpack," she said and quickly opened her red backpack, looking for it. The monster's hand was jiggling around and came close to grabbing Eun-Hyuk's head.

Eun-Hyuk's first instinct was to bite into the palm agressively which made the monster give out a distorted cry. Ji-Su stared at it in disbelief, noticing that Eun-Hyuk's teeth didn't resemble anything a human would have in his mouth.

Eun-Hyuk quickly glanced at Ji-Su and then back at the road and tried to encourage her with a :"Cmmhn."

Ji-Su shook away the stupor an stabbed the monsters wrist, trying to cut through it, however the knife got stuck in the arm and didn't move at all.

"I can't cut it off!" Ji-Su cried out. Eun-Hyuk quickly grabbed her hand and put them onto the steering wheel and then got a tight grasp on that monster's arm. He felt that his jaws and teeth have changed and hoped that he could rely on them for now, biting deep into the monster's arm, ripping it off with ease. The arm fell down with an unpleasant squishy noice. Eun-Hyuk then grabbed the steering wheel and made an unexpected turn, shaking off the monster off the car.

Ji-Su watched Eun-Hyuk's focused eyes and his face which was now covered in the monster's goo-ish blood.

"What about the arm?" she asked weakly.

Eun-Hyuk's eyes landed on the monster's arm and picked it up with his right hand.

"Throw it out?" he suggested and handed it to Ji-Su who then opened the car door and with a fast movement, threw out the arm.

"So... do you know now how to change?" Ji-Su asked after a while and looked Eun-Hyuk.

"As you can see," he said, showing her his teeth which still were very inhuman, "not really, no. It's still somehow instinctual... and that sucks."

Ji-Su didn't answer and the silence was kept until Eun-Yu violently opened the blackened window that separated them and the back of the van.

"I want to see what is happening over here, jesus fucking christ. That was a monster, right?" she said and looked at Eun-Hyuk, noticing the slowly-drying goo on his face.

"Yeah, it was a monster," Ji-Su calmly answered and looked back at her.

"We should find a gas station and get some gas," Eun-Hyuk said as his eyes landed on the blinking gas symbol in front of him.

"You should probably clean off first, you look disgusting," Eun-Yu answered, relying on her attitude to cover how frightful she just felt from the whole situation.

"Yeah, that, too," he said and gave her a quick glance before returning his gaze to the road. "I have a bad feeling, though..."

"What feeling?" Ji-Su asked alarmed.

"I... I can't really explain it but I think we aren't that far from other monsters. Like a lot of them," Eun-Hyuk replied.

"So, turn the fucking van around!" Eun-Yu said angrily.

"That's no good, either. The monster that attacked us just before brought attention to us as well. What I am saying is that we'll just have to drive through somehow. We are basically surrounded."

"You better get that abysmal scream back, young man," Hye-In commented from the back as she nervously patted her dog. Meanwhile, Su-Yeong and Yeong-Su were clutching onto each other, sensing the gloomy atmosphere in the van. Eun-Hyuk did not answer, though, and only kept on driving.

It didn't take long for them to see multiple monsters ahead of them. A few of them seemed a bit agitated and tried to attack each other. Eun-Hyuk stopped the car and looked at Ji-Su.

"Take over the driving, I'll get their attention so you can pass them, alright?" Eun-Hyuk said, undoing his seatbelt. Eun-Yu quickly grabbed his shoulder and dug her nails into it which made her brother turn his around.

"Are you CRAZY? You aren't going anywhere!" she said loudly.

"Shh, Eun-Yu," he tried to get her hand off his shoulder but she would not let go of his t-shirt, "I will be fine," he added.

"You said that the last time!"

"And I am here, aren't I?" he said and opened the door a bit.

"If you leave, I'll really hate you then!" she exclaimed, not having enough time to think of a proper argument. She only received the smile he always gave her. The smile that meant that whatever she said to him, he did not take it personally and only saw the message in between the lines. He jumped out of the van and began jogging to the monsters.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Eun-Yu cried out, feeling her eyes tear up. Ji-Su climbed over to the driver's seat and watched Eun-Hyuk who already won the monsters' attention.

"Jesus, this doesn't look good," Ji-Su said under her breath, staring at Eun-Hyuk who now stood in front of the approaching monster and didn't seem to be turning into one to save himself. It didn't take long before one short but very bulky monster jumped Eun-Hyuk, pinning him underneath him. The other monsters seemed to copy the first one and tried to get to Eun-Hyuk as well.

Eun-Yu couldn't hold in her whimpers anymore and let the tears flow down her cheeks heavily. "It's so many of them," Eun-Yu whispered.

"We better get the hell out of here," Ji-Su said quietly, remembering that Eun-Hyuk said that the monsters are also behind them and stepped on the gas, driving fast pass the hoard of monsters, climbing on each other just to get to Eun-Hyuk. Hye-In watched the bloodcurdling scene they have been passing.

"Why are they so into getting him, though?" Hye-In asked in a weak voice as they finally passed the monsters. "Isn't that weird?"

"Who the fuck cares?!" Eun-Yu yelled at her and sat down next to Yeong-Su who started crying, too.

"I guess it is weird, yeah..." Ji-Su commented, not able to take her eyes off the road in front of her, feeling stunned from what had just happened. What would I give to hear that haunting shriek, again, Ji-Su thought.

In a few minutes, they have reached something that resembled a gas station and decided to stop there. "Eun-Hyuk said to get gas... would somebody come with me if they have any canisters left?" Ji-Su asked in a faint tone, looking back at the gang.

"I'll go with you," Eun-Yu said shortly and opened the back door, jumping out of the van. Ji-Su followed her outside as well. The gas station was pretty wrecked, but it seemed that inside the shop, there were still some supplies.

"We should get everything we can get our hands on," Ji-Su said. Eun-Yu started marching towards the shattered door but Ji-Su's hand stopped her. "Wait," she whispered, "let's be careful, monsters can be in there."

"I don't care," Eun-Yu shook off her hand and walked right into the store.

"Jesus," Ji-Su rolled her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the knife handle and went inside, too.

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13825734/4/

I need to escape. I don't feel safe at all. I have no idea where Cha Hyun-Su is... where Eun-Hyeok is.

She knew that her chances to survive out there are low. She didn't know how to fight, let alone properly run because of her ankle. But she didn't want to survive alone. She wants to at least try.

Eun-Yu always encouraged others in a very mean way, especially Eun-Hyeok, to be active and not just sit around. However, she didn't feel that brave and despite her desire to leave, she didn't think that she'd be capable of leaving a military base. The bunch that was rescued from Green Home was kept together for some time now because they were cut off by monsters. So, they were basically stuck, hoping that the army would be able to fight them off or to get help from somewhere else.

One late evening, Eun-Yu was sitting on her bunkbed, watching Son Hye-In who was petting her dog nervously.

"What's with you?" Eun-Yu couldn't hold it for her anymore. Hye-In sent her an awful look and said angrily: "Don't you see him? He's all worked up. Something is wrong!"

"Nonsen-"

Eun-Yu was interrupted by a deafening sound of the alarm going off. It took only seconds before everything turned into chaos. Lee Joon-Woo suddenly appeared at their door with a horrified expresion on his face.

"The monsters got in! They are killing everyone, fuck. I saw one in the corridor! We gotta hide!" he hollared but the moment he finished his sentence, something grabbed him by his back and threw him on the other side of the hallway.

Hye-In's dog began to bark loudly at the threat.

"Shut him up! Jesus!" Eun-Yu snapped, "I am outta here!"

Eun-Yu rose to her feet and tried to sneak out of the room. "Wait for me!" Hye-In whispered loudly and followed the girl quickly, not wanting to be left behind.

Gun shots were echoing through the building as the two women crept throught the hallway, trying to be as silent as possible. They had to pass the now dead corpse of Lee Joon-Woo which made Hye-In give out a weak whimper.

Eun-Yu tried to look around the corner to see what's ahead but that was a grave mistake since a monster just looked that away and started charging into her direction.

Cold sweat was dripping down her forehead as she started backing away.

"What?! What's there?" Hye-In cried out as she saw Eun-Yu's frozen expression while she was walking backwards slowly.

I have no weapon. My leg won't work. I am dead.

Hye-In wanted to follow Eun-Yu in her retreat but was stopped by a sudden appearance of a large figure. It didn't look like a monster nor a human, though. Hye-In wanted to shriek out but the moment, Eun-Yu bumped into it with her back, she stayed silent.

Eun-Yu's heartbeat rose, not only because she noticed the thing's claws on her shoulder, but also because the monster from before had caught up and was now standing in front of them.

Now did Hye-In give a proper scream out of her lungs, trying to run away pass the new creature that appeared but before she was able to escape, a firm grasp on her arm pulled her next to Eun-Yu. They both were let go, though, as the newcomer walked around them and fiercly attacked the monster that had multiple arms and very capable, strong legs. Overall, the monster seemed more likely to win. The other creature didn't seem fazed by the monster's dangerous looks, though, and the only thing he did was to give out a horrendously monstrous roar that made Eun-Yu and Hye-Im cover their ears while Bom, the dog, hid behind Hye-In.

Then it just stopped and with it, everything else went quiet. Even the shooting. And the multiarmed monster was lying on the ground, almost as if it was kneeling while shaking heavily.

With that, the tall human looking creature bend over to grab the monsters neck and smashed it against the wall, creating a huge crack in it.

Eun-Yu wasn't sure what the creature had done to it, but the monster seem to shrink slowly and then just fell apart. Hye-In found Eun-Yu's hand and tightly squeezed it.

The creature in front of them didn't turn back, as if it was hesitating.

"Who the hell are you?!" Eun-Yu's attitude made its way onto the surface yet again which made Hye-In squeeze her hand even tigher and gave her a panicked look. Eun-Yu shook her off, though, and walked closer to the tall 'creature'.

"What? Why did you save us? What's your deal?!" she cried out again angrily but was taken aback by a familiar chuckle.

"I am sorry I lied," he said sadly, still not turning around. Eun-Yu's eyes burned from the tears cummulating at once. No way.

"You bastard!" she cried out and started pounding into his back which made Hye-In yell out in surprise and also fear and run to tear Eun-Yu away.

Now, he turned around, looking down at Eun-Yu with compassion, trying to touch her shoulder again but Eun-Yu shook him and Hye-In off.

"Don't you touch me! Neither or you. Fuck," she screamed at them and wiped away her tears from the cheeks.

Hye-In finally looked up and after watching his face for a bit, she understood, too: "Lee Eun-Hyeok?"

He only nodded, keeping his well-known calm face which was now decorated by silver cold irises.

"How are you like this? You don't look like-" Hye-In began but her dog's unstoppable barking interrupted her, so she picked him up and continued: "You don't look like them..."

"Yeah, I know. What about we talk some more after we're somewhere else?"

"Leave the army?" Hye-In wondered.

"You can stay, if you want. But I can protect you better as it seems. And I also want to find Cha Hyun-Su in the meantime."

Eun-Yu raised her head at Cha Hyun-Su's mention and swallowed her tears. "You want to find him?"

His eyes landed on his sister as he nodded: "Of course, he always helped us out. He has to feel lonely now. I don't want that for him."

"Uhuh. The children are here somewhere...," Eun-Yu said, "Yoon Ji-Su probably, too..."

"What about Seo Yi-Kyung?" Eun-Hyeok asked as he was looking around.

"She stayed outside. She didn't come with us here," Hye-In informed him, receiving a small nod from him.

"Alright, let's go when the monsters are still tamed," he said and started walking away from them. The two women hurried to catch up.

"How did you do it? Tame them?" Hye-In wondered.

"Hm, it's just a thing I can do. Don't ask me why."

They walked along the hallway when suddenly Eun-Hyeok stopped.

"What?" Eun-Yu asked angrily as she almost bumped into him again.

"I think they are here somewhere," Eun-Hyeok said quietly and looked right to the damaged cabinet standing on the floor.

"Su-Yeong? Yeong-Su? Are you in there?" he bend himself down and almost wanted to open the cabinet, however the sight of his own fingers stopped him and turned back to his sister.

"Could you? I don't want to frighten them," he said quietly and stepped back.

Eun-Yu gave him a long look, finally taking in everything that was different. Somehow not wearing his glasses made him seem even more emotionally distanced than before. And I thought it's the glasses. His features in the face didn't change that much, not at least in comparison to his body which was just generally bigger and then of course, the clawed hands were something of an eyecatcher.

And when talking about an eye, his silvery eyes kept staring at her patiently which made her nervous a bit.

The cabinet door opened itself, though, and a small head popped out.

"Eun-Yu?" Su-Yeong said in a weak voice, holding onto her younger brother whose eyes were swollen up.

Eun-Yu sat down on her haunches and smiled at the children. "We're here to take you somewhere safe, okay? You remember my brother, right?" she gestured to her left.

"What happened to Oppa?" Su-Yeong asked carefully.

"Nothing much, just a change of style, come on out."

The children slowly got out of the cabinet and looked around.

"Where is Ji-Su? She told us to hide and then run away," Yeong-Su asked.

"We should look for her," Eun-Hyeok said and looked down at the kids.

"Hey," he said and lowered himself to be at the same height level as them, "I know I look a bit weird now but you'll forgive me that, right?"

The siblings looked at each other and the older sister nodded.

"Great, thank you. And just for moving faster, would you mind if I carried you so we can find Ji-Su as soon as possible?"

Yeong-Su replied with stretching out his arms towards Eun-Hyeok which made him smile.

"I am sorry, I got myself these ugly fingers, I hope it's alright," he said, his voice cracking a bit as he lifted the children, one locked in each arm.

Eun-Yun watched her brother how he carefully held the children so he wouldn't harm them with his claws and quickly looked to the side, trying to hide her glassy eyes. He went through such a change alone.

They walked around for a while, encountering a few monsters that have crouched away when Eun-Hyeok walked passed them. Both and Eun-Yun and Hye-In watched the monsters' reactions in awe.

"If he only turned earlier," Hye-In commented, remembering the lives they have lost. Eun-Hyeok stopped and turned around and looked straight at Hye-In, visibly sighing. He understood, him losing his humanity could've saved many lives. But it's too late to fix it.

Hye-In interpreted his reaction negatively and rose her hand in defense: "I didn't mean to off-"

"No, you are right, it's fine," he interrupted her and nodded to the metalic door in front of them, "I think she's in there."

"How do you know?" his sister asked suspiciously.

"Well, with those pretty eyes came also upgraded ears and my nose picks up specific smells, too. And I smell puss."

"Ew," Eun-Yu furrowed her brows at Eun-Hyeok who gave her an innocent smile in return.

"Kids, you stay here," he said and lowered himself so he could put them down.

"What are you going to do?" Su-Yeong asked anxiously.

"I'll go get her," he answered and smiled at them. His sister was faster, though, and was already trying to open the door.

"It's locked," she said angrily.

"Eun-Yu," her brother said calmly, "you shouldn't be this rash. She's not alone in there, the soldiers are with her. If you opened the door, they could've had killed you."

"Why would they shoot me, I am not a monster!" she said but immediately regreted her words. He is a monster now, too.

"Yeah, I know. But they are afriad. They won't probably act reasonably," he said and laid his hand on the door.

"We are here in peace, we just want to take Ji-Su. Are you there, Ji-Su? It's me, Eun-Hyeok," he said loudly and turned his ear to the door, waiting for a response.

"Why aren't they answering?" Hye-In asked nervously. Eun-Hyeok turned to her and shrugged. "They all seem to be tense."

"Alright, I'm going in, so please, save yourself the bullets," Eun-Hyeok informed them and looked at his sister, "you all go away from the door. They'll definitely be shooting."

"No, don't go! They'll kill you!" Yeong-Su ran to his calf and hugged it.

"Don't worry, I'll make it. And I'll bring Ji-Su, too."

Eun-Yu started at her brother who gently pushed the boy away from him and then continued to the metalic door. He slid his hand on it up and down, as if trying out the material and in a swift movement of his hand, he made its way through it. The shooting, of course, began as soon as he dug his sharp claws through it and the bullet shower continued as he ripped the door out of the frame, using it now as a shield against the bullets.

Eun-Hyeok didn't bother to say anything. He knew what the fear could do and he also knew how he had to look like to them. He focused only on the smell now - the heavy smell of puss.

How could've they leave it like that? She has to have it infected for days.

He located her promptly and looked to his right. They were holding her, covering her mouth so she couldn't have yelled out when he first tried to talk to her. With a few unnaturally fast and strong jumps, he was standing in front of the two soldiers who have been holding her down, not minding the wound they were opening with it.

"I'll be taking her off of your hands now," Eun-Hyeok said as politely as he could but still was hit by multiple bullets in his back. He couldn't help himself but to let out an animalistic grunt that made everyone feel more uneasy.

"Ji-Su," he said softly as she watched him with teary eyes, "God, look guys, I really-" a headshot stopped him from talking. He fell forward onto his door-shield, swearing: "Fuck," as he spit out the bullet that came into his head from behind.

Ji-Su started jerking around with her body, making it harder for the soliders to hold her down.

"Okay, okay," Eun-Hyeok rose to his feet again and grabbed each soilder by their arm, throwing them aside as if they were teddy-bears. Quickly, he pushed his hands beneath Ji-Su and lifted her up as she watched him in silence but her eyes were asking all the questions for her.

"Yeah, I know," he said and pulled her closer to his chest as he prepared to jump his way out of this storage room. A few bullets hit his back but otherwise nothing serious.

He met his sister's eyes who couldn't hide her worrisome look.

"We should probably head out," he said and balanced Ji-Su on his right arm as he dug his claws into a tall metalic cabinet, throwing it in front of the door frame.

"Could you carry the boy?" he turned to his sister who was still staring at the cabinet that he threw with ease at the door frame. She only nodded and automatically picked Yeong-Su.

They all headed to the garages where they found a big black van into which they all climbed in after Hye-In found the keys in a cupboard in a CCTV room.

Eun-Hyeok laid Ji-Su in the back and uncovered her wound. "Don't they have here some medicine? Or alcohol at least?" he asked.

"They told us that they have almost nothing left," Ji-Su said weakly.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be here only temporary. But the monsters were all around, we couldn't get out safely," Hye-Inn explained.

"Hm, I will have to get something for this later, then. Could you drive?" he asked the woman who was still holding tightly onto the dog.

"Me?" she said in shock, "why me?"

"Well, my sister is probably worse at driving than me, Ji-Su isn't feeling the best... and as you said before, there's a lot of monsters out there. I should be on the outside, taking care of them."

"Can't you just do the creepy scream?" Eun-Yu asked.

"That's what I am planning. But it won't reach that far. I'd have to scream all the way."

"Why don't you?"

"Try screaming for 5 minutes yourself, Eun-Yu," he said and stepped out of the car, about to close the door.

Eun-Yu quickly grabbed his wrist, looking up into his eyes. "Are you sure you can fight them alone?"

He smiled at her and put his other hand on hers. "I have to try, you guys can't fight them."

She looked away but didn't let go of his wrist.

"Please, don't leave like last time. Be creepy as you want. Just don't leave," she said quietly, surprising Eun-Hyeok with her honesty and nodded.

"I'll do everything to survive. As I did until now," he said, slipping out of her grip and closing the door. He opened the garage door. It was suspiciously quiet. He looked back at the car and sent them a smile, heading out first.