Trigger ↬ [ P.JS ]

Chapter 25:

Though the inside of the store can be seen, the corrupted creatures made no effort in struggling their way in. The people inside remained peaceful, and internally grateful for letting them have a little rest, again.

Astrid peeked over to Mark who's scrolling on his broken phone, trying to get the best of the remaining battery power, which is not a lot. She tilted her head when she saw him trace a dead end.

"So, we have nowhere to go?" she unconsciously mumbled, startling Mark in the process. She smiled sheepishly, glancing at him with an apologetic look. "I was just wondering." she shrugged, leaning to one of the aisles again.

All of them were in the same position, leaning over to the sections and sitting down on the cold floor. Their clothes barely made them warm. The weather was supposed to be hot since it's summer but it was grey and cloudy outside. It has been like that for the past week.

All their clothes were torn or at least ripped. They mostly wore jeans or baggy sweats and plain shirts with oversized flannels. With all the challenges they had to face, the clothing couldn't stand it and they couldn't care less about it.

Mark almost had a heart attack when he heard Astrid say something behind him. He was concentrating too much that he didn't even realize that she was there. She had a few drops of unusual colored blood splatter on her face and on her arms, making her image a little creepy.

"Hey," Mark laughed. "I was just searching for a possible route. Fastest, too, by the way." he pointed at his phone, screen a bit cracked and the visuals a little hard to see.

Astrid nodded. "Yeah, I can guess that," she rolled her neck, feeling a little sore. "Have you found anything interesting?" she continued, raising her brows slightly.

He didn't answer but instead, he shook his head. He disregarded the conversation and went back to searching on his phone again.

The girl chuckled a bit, noticing how stressed he looked. She, once again, peeked over to the phone, studying any possible roads or just tracks they could walk to. She saw a certain highway that's headed to an airport, by a glance.

Highway H.34 V3. n0.

She pointed at it, earning Mark's attention. "Here's.. Highway something something. Looks like a math formula." Astrid shifted in her seat. "It leads to this airport, Neo International Airlines?" she furrowed her brows at the familiar word. "Isn't that the hospital that held the first virus infectant? Neo?"

"Yeah, I think so, that doesn't matter now. Thank you for pointing that out. We can go through each stops we can make to ensure security. I'm pretty sure that the caretakers are having a hard time," he shrugged to Jeno and Rina. "Then we can throw away hindrances, I can ask Jaemin about the kinds, I'm sure we can probably go to the airline approximately 2-3 days minimum."

Astrid looked at him weirdly. "I have never heard anyone speak like that except for my highschool teachers," she shook her head. "Anyways, you're right but we do have short cuts over here." she pointed to a seperate lane.

"Nuh-uh. Have you ever watched a single movie about survival?" Mark scrunched his face. "We'll take the main road, thank you very much." he pressed the power button of his phone and turned it off before fully relaxing. "Thanks."

"You said thank you twice." Astrid just laughed and agreed with whatever he was planning. She trusted him. He was the one who thought for the whole group and whatever his motives are, he still kept them alive.

She looked over to the rest of the people, almost all of them were sleeping. Sighing, she closed her eyes. How much energy do they need to spend just to survive? She can barely hold her feet up anymore. Why does she even want to survive? Mom. Right, her fucking mom. She felt this weird sense of anger towards her.

Her mom didn't even do anything wrong, why is she mad? Maybe because her mom isn't with her right now. Maybe because her mom is just living comfortably in South Korea, not even lifting a single finger to survive. Life isn't fair, is it? Why is it her that has to keep two fucking kids alive? Hwayoung and Hayoon's parents, are they even worrying for their child? Why is the responsibility put on her? Why is it her life that she has to risk just for them, why?

Astrid felt stressed. Is that why her mom flew across the world? Does she know about the virus? No way. She won't leave her like this. She cares about her.

Suddenly remembering something, her eyes shot open and she looked around to spot a certain person. Jaemin. She stood up and went closer to the boy, he was sleeping. She had remembered that he took away the gun. She search for it. Her eyes trailed over his arms, pockets, nothing.

She looked for it on the floor. Spotting it behind his back, she quickly snatched it and went back to her seat.

Scanning the firearm, she held it with so much care as if it was the most delicate thing in the world. The gun had swirls all over the grip. It was designed rose gold, Lia's favorite color. She had a hunch that this was her mom's. The gun was so beautifully created, she wouldn't dare to put a scratch on it.

"Where'd you get that?"

She heard a deep voice say beside her. She knew that it was Jisung. Smiling slightly, she didn't know what to answer. Gray found it, not her. Gray found it at her own house.

"I don't know. My best friend just handed it to me. She said she saw it at my house." she shrugged, passing the gun to Jisung.

He nodded, shoving the weapon to her backpack. "I never knew that this would really happen, you know?" he chuckled deeply. "How could I guess that flesh eating creatures would be the ones who could possibly end my life?"

"Hey, don't say that," Astrid gently punched him in the stomach. "We'll get to SK." she hummed "Wait, why are you going there anyways?" she realized that she didn't know why they're headed there too.

"I'm just following my friends. My mom and dad left just before the apocalypse started, without even telling me. I don't know where they are. I think they're dead." Jisung stopped smiling. He just understood that his parents must not really care about their child.

Astrid just nodded sympathetically. She understood his choice of being with his friends. She would have done that too. "Well, I hope we get to safety soon enough. I want Hwayoung to have a special birthday, even in this messed up world."

Jisung soon turned quiet, and so did Astrid. The day was ending and the sun was starting to hide and settle. Astrid was jealous of the sun. She wished that she also could just disappear and appear as she wanted.

The store was filled with comfortable silence as the darkness filled the space, leaving them into temporary peace. The chaos will soon begin again.

Close enough.

........................................................................

i'll write action scenes soon, i promise :) when they arrive at SK hehehehehe

i've got it all planned