#jaebaebie

To say I was disgusted was an understatement. His voice echoed in my head, repeating it more than necessary and making my stomach turn into a nervous knot. He spoke to me as if he knew me, the familiarity in his eyes easily noticeable. But I didn’t know who he was. If I had met him in the past I would’ve easily recognised him simply because his face was just too hard to forget.

We carried on with our hunt once the three uninvited guests were out of our sight. Levi and I entered one of the smaller stores, separated from the rest as they explored another store nearby.

“What was that about?” He asked me, looking through a cabinet of medications. The pharmacy store we were in was surprisingly stocked with a decent amount of medical supplies,, including antibiotics and ibuprofen which tend to come in handy.

I shrugged my shoulders as he passed me a box of pills. Stuffing it into my bag, I replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never met him before.”

I’ve only heard stories about the Right Arm from one of my previous camps,, the one who threw me to a hoard of walkers. Horrifying stories that emphasised how inhumane and evil they were. Despite having the number advantage earlier on, I still felt intimidated by the smaller group.

Levi opened his jaw to say something, only for him to shut it when Minho’s shouts from outside startled us.

We raised our brows, confused as to what the commotion was about. Minho was out on the pavement, both his hands in his hair as he glared at the end of the street,, fuming in anger.

I stepped out of the store, following his gaze. He was staring at our army van driving off. All five of us were here, there was no one who could’ve possibly taken it.

“The assholes stole our fucking ride!” Minho cursed, ruffling his hair in frustration.

While Minho explained to the others, my focus remained on the army van which had made a U-turn at the end of the road, driving back in the direction towards us.  The thieves were coming back for us...?

All my hope was thrown out of the window when my eyes landed on the same man in the passenger seat. His lips curled into a smirk as his eyes playfully narrowed on me. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as they drove past us, the sound of the cars motor roaring in my ears. Hawkeye gave me a wave, bidding me goodbye as a rifle peeked out from the back window of a car.

“Get down!”

Before I could react to the repeating cracks of the gun being fired, I was knocked off of my feet and sent crashing into the shelves behind me. I cursed, feeling an ache spread on my lower back as I tried to catch my breath. When I opened my eyes, I met Hyunjin’s brown ones and he immediately dragged me behind the counter, barely avoiding a bullet to my leg.

Shot were being rained upon us, shattering the glass windows of the shop which sent glass shards dropping on us. Hyunjin buried me into his chest, shielding me from the flying shards as I covered my ears, hoping the block the immense volume of the gun shots.

It lasted for a long minute before the sounds of shots were finally silenced. Hyunjin pulled away, sending a short look towards my direction before he jumped out of our hiding. He sprinted back onto the road, holding his gun out as he prepared to shoot. But the army van had already gone too far, leaving us in a shaken and panicked state.

Hyunjin groaned in frustration, watching as the van drove away. Once I had calmed down enough, I straightened myself out, checking on everyone.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, sighing in relief when I saw Han and Minho emerge from the back of a run down truck with a thumbs up.

“Well, that was fun.” Levi remarked, coming up from behind me. His face had a few, small cuts,, probably from the flying glass shards.

“Hyunjin, you’re bleeding.” Han pointed towards Hyunjin’s side, just below his rib cage, revealing a torn part of his shirt and the patch of red that seeped through it.

“It’s nothing. The bullet just skimmed it.” Hyun Jin replies, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly,

“Their aim was just as bad as Era’s reflexes.”

I bit my lower lip, giving him an apologetic and worried look. He got hurt pushing me out of the way because I was stuck in a trance, unable to react quick enough. But of course, Hyunjin wouldn’t be Hyunjin if he didn’t respond with his classic eye roll.

The multiplied groans of walkers filled our ears, snapping us out of our little conversation. Sounds attracted walkers out of their hiding no matter what time of the day it was. And the gun shots that were fired just minutes before were surely and effectively very loud. If their shots didn’t kill us, then the large hoard of walkers would.

“Run Run Run Run..” Han repeated as our legs took off into a sprint. The walkers snarled, following immediately judging by the thundering footsteps behind us.

Han grabbed my hand, forcing me to match my pace (nananananana na na na nana) with his much faster one and we slipped past the gates into an alley just before Hyunjin and Minho slammed it shut.

The cyclone gates rattled as the walkers rammed against it, slipping their arms through the small holes and clawing at Minho, Han and Hyunjin who tried their best to keep it shut. It wasn’t long until five walkers accumulated into many more, causing the three guys at the gate to struggle holding them back.

The walkers at the gate weren’t our only problem as more appeared from the corner of the alley we were in.

I dodged one with the help of Minho’s warning, driving my dagger through it without any hesitation. Levi did the same, shooting any of the walkers that ran towards us.

The guys were straining to keep the gate closed, their shoes dragging along the rough cemented floor. The walkers managed to create a small opening in between the gates, one of their heads popping through and snapping towards Hyunjin.

I raised my gun, panicked. I hadn’t shot a gun in months and Hyunjin’s head was just too close along my aim for my comfort. The walker managed to squeeze half of its body through, flailing its arms around.

Just as it managed to grab Hyunjin’s arm, I pulled the trigger unknowingly, only realising that I had finally taken a shot when I felt my arms buzzing from the recoil. It went directly through its head, causing the walker to go limp and allowing the three to close the gap.

“You guys have to go! We’ll hold them back for as long as we can!” Hyunjin yelled amidst the chaotic moans and screeches of the walkers.

My eyes widened, “Are you crazy? Hell no! That’s insane!” I exclaimed back, shooting another shot just beside Minho’s face as a walker’s teeth came into view.

“Now’s not the time to be nice, Era! Clear the way for us and fucking go! We’ll be right behind you!”

My jaw dropped, finding his idea unbelievable. We had a better chance fighting the walkers as five than three. My eyes met with Han’s and I was reminded of his promise. How they’ll protect me. How they’ll put their lives before others. This was what he meant, and I was just not used to it. Han broke our eye contact as he turned to Levi, “Take her with you. We’ll follow after.”

Levi nodded, grabbing my arm as he began pulling me with him. I stared at the three guys apologetically, shooting one last shot at the gate before Levi and I took off running deeper into the alley.

We did as we were told, shooting any walker that came along our way to make sure that the guys we left behind would have a clear path to run into. Once they let go of the gates, they would have no time to deal with other walkers in their path because they had a whole lot of other hungry corpses running after them.

I didn’t look back, making sure I didn’t lose sight of Levi and also because I didn’t want to see a deserted alley without the three we had just left behind for our own sakes.

Like I said, this world made you selfish.

So unbelievably selfish.

Just as we thought we cleared the path enough, Levi turned at a corner, immediately sliding into a stop with the sound of his shoes dragging onto the floor.