The Last Call | An Iz*One Journey

Chapter 22: One of Us

Yena's POV

It's crazy - so crazy how our world has changed after crashing in the mountains of American soil. One day, we were rushing to change into our stage outfits, running up on stage to perform set after set, meeting fellow Wiz*ones, performing in front of thousands and thousands of fans under the spotlight. And here we are, stuck in a hut, surviving from the cold, eating wild rabbits, taking care of the few members who recently fell sick to the disease.

"Yena-unnie! Help me check on Nako! She's not feeling too good." Hitomi spoke those words like an order, pulling me away from my musings. On the bed, she was attending to Eunbi - whose body emerged with rashes redder than the pink blusher we used.

I jogged over beside the smaller Japanese girl, hunched over a bucket with her face stuck in it. Rubbing my hand across her back, I helped her slowly let out all the nausea overwhelming her, as she emptied her stomach into the metallic container.

"Uh... there, there..." Patting my hand over her back, I let her finish. In my hands I passed her a cup of water. She looked up at me, a groggy and sickly face as she thanked me, holding the cup up to her pale-blue lips. "Thank you, *hmm*, unnie."

"Why don't you get some rest Nako, I'll leave a clean bucket next to your bed - just in case."

With an apolegetic look in her eyes, Nako slid back into her bed after an eventful puking session. The bunny slippers on her feet rustled against the wooden floors as she dragged her tired soles back.

"Urgh," I looked at the bucket of Nako's regurgitated food, forcing myself to hold my breath as I hastily dumped the contents into the toilet, flushing it all away. No complaints, Yena - you've seen worse. Especially that time when you puked on the last train back after having a drink too many...

"Yena-unnie!" A shrilly voice emanated from the back door - Yuri's. I skipped over between gaits, watching her intense gaze staring at me from the outside. "Woah calm down tiger, what's going on?"

"We fixed the radio." Sakura popped into the view of the little window, making me jump back a little in surprise. Yuri slapped the mischievous Sakura at her arm in a cast, causing her to wince in pain as she backed away.

"Yea, we have some stuff to tell you, unnie. Can you get Hitomi?"

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"I see. So does that mean..."

"Ne. The virus isn't contagious at all. We can come in now." The voice belonged to Chaewon's - who was eager to come in and take a look at the members' conditions.

"Alright alright." Hitomi acknowledged, then unlocked the door to allow their entry. We all exchanged a greeting of hugs - and I made sure to hold Yuri longer than I needed to. Actually, no, I needed to sweep her off her feet and give her a flurry of pecks on her face - so I did. She giggled in thrill at the sudden motion, then straightening herself as soon as I put her down.

She did not return me a single kiss.

As we gathered around the couch, by the wooden burner, our discussion of what happened over the radio continued. "They managed to get someone who spoke Korean. So apparently they closed off these mountains because of a taint in certain plants..." Chaewon and Wonyoung took turns to recount the series of conversations that went on over the radio. The details included what kind of wild plants to avoid to prevent further contraction of the illness. It was a new disease, with symptoms such as nausea, light-headedness, weakness and blue-lips.

Sounds accurate to what the three girls were experiencing.

"So let's get this straight: all we need to do is avoid those few wild plants, and we won't ever catch the disease, right?" I asked.