Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 14 : The Infected

"So how did you expect it to end?"

"So how did you expect it to end?"

"What?"

"You heard me, how did you expect it to end? The apocalypse dummy."

Seonghwa turned his head to gaze at Wooyoung, the younger looking at him with a genuine expression despite his rude name-calling. He shrugged his shoulders and did his best to brush off the question.

"I'm not sure, but it doesn't really matter does it?"

"Of course it matters!"

"Why?"

Seonghwa heard Wooyoung huff next to him, their steps along the dirt trail becoming some sort of lullaby. Who knows how long they had been walking for at that point, the hot sun was high in the sky and Seonghwa was almost sure they had left the day before- but no one could really be too sure when all the days would blend together in one giant monochrome color.

"Because," Wooyoung kicked at a rock in front of him, readjusting his bag over his shoulder. "Well, I'm not really sure. I just wanted to know what you would've thought it'd be. I'm sure we all had our own ideas- and I just wanted to know what you thought about it. You've been quiet ever since those people in the trucks came- besides that fight with Hongjoong about leaving- and I just wanted to know what's going on inside your head."

Seonghwa peeked at the younger one out of the corner of his eye, a quick look to confirm the downward pout on Wooyoung's lips.

"You said we all had our own ideas," Seonghwa re-directed yet again. "What was yours?"

And as smart as Wooyoung was, he fell for the bait easily, his smile widening even though Seonghwa didn't have to look at him to know that. They walked steadily side-by-side towards the back of the pack, the gun strapped to Seonghwa's back suddenly felt way heavier than it did just a minute ago.

Maybe the heat was already getting to him.

"I thought the end of the apocalypse was going to be something grand if I'm being honest. I'm not sure how to put it into words- like whether I expected explosions or sirens or whatever- but it wasn't like this. I never imagined it would be like this, when we were out in the middle of nowhere and weren't even present to witness it. I wanted to see the fire, I wanted to see them burning to the ground, I wanted to witness everything that happened so someday I could explain in detail to my kids or my friend's kids how the apocalypse ended. But I wasn't even there to see it," Wooyoung answered, getting more animated as he explained. "It all happened so suddenly, I couldn't believe it at first. It was like my brain delayed for a few hours and then it really hit that we were finally safe."

Seonghwa stayed quiet, his jaw tightened just like his hand around the strap that kept his gun wrapped around him.

"You still don't believe it, do you?" Wooyoung asked softly next to him, leaning closer so his thought was not heard by others. "Even after the conversation you and Hongjoong had, you don't think it's over?"

"How can something that destroyed our lives be over in a matter of mere months Wooyoung?" Seonghwa continued to look straight, though he lowered his voice to not disturb those around him. "How did those people find us- there is no way that military from overseas wiped all of the zombies out in just months. And why did it take them so damn long to get here? It's been years Wooyoung, eight fucking years and they haven't sent any help. You know what that means don't you?"

Seonghwa finally turned his head to look at Wooyoung who had his head tilted down to the ground as they walked forward.

"What?" He asked, sounding like a child who had gotten caught up in a lecture when they just wanted to tell their mother a funny story.