STAY ALIVE [AOUAD]

17 The Rain

Silence always seemed to find a way within the group as small fractions of thunder somehow managed to reduce the bitterness of the muteness. A huge thunder struck out of the blue, causing Namra to flinch, covering her ears in a startled manner. "You okay?" Asks Su-Hyeok, to which Namra merely shook her head. "My ears hurt" Hearing this, a few of the peers look over, scared and worried at the same time. Su-Hyeok tore his shirt and pressed the parchment against Namra's ears. "This should help"

Another thunder strikes the earth, but the frowns on their faces morph into pure bliss, watching droplets of rain pattering down. "It's raining!" With the availability of water since the outbreak, the group rushes out to the terrace and began to drink and drench themselves in the cold rain. "Wash your hands before drinking! Y'all touched a lot of zombie stuff!" Y/n warns them like a mother, and this immediately results in the others washing up, as getting infected was the last thing on their minds. A few of them shed tears of happiness and maybe perhaps some sadness too. Thunder and lighting continue to come down, unsettling Namra further.

Cheongsan watches Namra for a few seconds, shifting his eyes to Joonyeong. "Joonyeong, you know how zombies follow us if they hear you? What if we move every time thunder strikes and they won't hear us" The suggestion causes a few stirs between them as Y/n found herself intrigued by her friend's idea. "I don't think anyone is coming to save us. Wouldn't it be better to die trying than to die doing nothing?" He quickly put in, showing he was indeed serious about this strategy. "Alright then, what do you have in mind?" With much dismay, asked Joonyeong. Cheongsan looked relieved to have persuaded them, without much argument as he wasn't that well at handling multiple opinions at a time.

"Okay, After getting out we can go to the auditorium, take the back door to the tennis court and then pass right through the English center and to the mountains" Y/n, who was standing between Hyoryeong and Daesu rubbed her chin in thought, pretending to see loopholes in the stated plan, when in reality she had logged off a second ago and wasn't able to keep up. "If we reach the mountains, we can reach Yangdong"

"Even still, isn't this suicide?" Wujin asserted with worry, glancing at the shortest female who was too silent to his liking. "I'm not going. I'm scared" Hyoryeong confessed rather quickly, shaking her head. "What are we gonna do if the zombies catch us?" Asks Jimin, wiping the rainwater off her face. "If we stay here, in less than a week we're gonna starve so much that we'll be fucked up in our minds and turn against each other and then we'll murder others and eat them like a cannibal. To conclude all of us will be dead" A short stillness again settles in, everyone fearfully letting Y/n's words sink in their brains.

Everyone ended up approving in the end, although cheongsan proposed to be a decoy if things go wrong, Suhyeok was quick to deny his suggestion. Like hell, he'll let his friend get eaten. "If anyone has to die tonight, it will be me. Because of the rain, all the scents came to me at once. They got mixed up" Nam-ra spoke up next, attaining the attention of everyone. "If that's what a half-bie says it has to be reliable" Dae-Su states from the side. "What's a half-bie?" Ji-Min inquires, side-eyeing the male. "It's a half-human and half-zomb- it's someone we can rely on" Dae-Su shifts his statement, glancing at Nam-ra who presumably didn't want to be dubbed a zombie.

"We should move our asses now or the rain might end soon" Y/n reminds the party, standing in the rain as she soaked herself. "Wait! What if some of us can't keep up? Not all of us are athletic" Hyo-Ryeong quickly leaps in with her concern, causing them to hesitate, acknowledging the girl was certainly right. Ji-Min, Hyo-reong, Dae-Su, Joon-Yeong, and On-Jo without a doubt fit into that 'some of us' category. Nam-ra was excluded due to the infection's ability to enhance human strength. Cheong-san may not have anything to fight off a zombie-like Gwi-Nam but was still the fastest in the group much like Wu-Jin. Su-Hyeok and Y/n were self-explanatory throughout the story.

Ultimately the students were split into pairs, leaving Dae-Su on his own as Y/n had declared to follow behind last to make sure no one fell out of 'formation'. Though she could not help but worry about letting Hyo-ryeong and Ji-Min as a pair since both were athletically a few steps lower. Then again they were the ones who preferred themselves and Y/n could care less about lecturing kids her age.

As always with their plans, the party unlocks the rooftop door and heads down the stairs. Thunder rifts through the night air, with the noise of rain pattering over the walls and ground. The door is slammed shut by Dae-Su who immediately apologizes for the noise it resulted in. With heavy breaths and racing hearts, they took each step with anxiety. Despite the cold atmosphere, everyone began to sweat with pure nervousness, that nearly felt suffocating. With most of the windows and doors broken in, the rain had begun to pour inside the facility due to the heavy wind that has still not subsided. The scent of freshly moist mud is overrun by the foul odor of blood and decaying bodies that was littered at every turn and every step. Y/n felt herself cringe at the sensation of her boots squeezing against clumps of meat and unrecognizable internal organs. She also swore to have seen an intestine lying around looking like a snake. "stop stop" On-Jo suddenly says as a group of infected students shuffled right around the stairs, shuddering to the racket of the thunder.

"Take slow steps alright? go on" Su-Hyeok says from behind her as they resume their walk. A few of the zombies growled at nothing, compelling Dae-su to almost lose his shit. with one more stairway left to reach the ground floor, they were soon met with the inescapable situation in every getaway plan; the unexpected guest. A stray zombie stood in front of them, facing them with crooked eyes and a nonexistent limp. on-jo gasped lightly and stepped back, bumping onto Su-hyeok and provoking the zombie to twitch toward the muffled voice. The thunder has scarcely ceased. Waiting til the next thunder to strike is uncertain and so was going all the way back up. The inevitable choice was made by Y/n, who took a few steps down, raising her hands and swinging something in her grasp; the body of some girl with her torso missing. Though everyone was more than ready to puke at the sight, they chose to stay alive instead. The body flew over the group towards the left corridor, sprinkling blood and small chunks of meat over the party.

Horde of infected came from both left and right, rushing after the noise when a streak of thunder joined in at the perfect time. The party takes the opportunity and jogs down to the ground floor and straight outside. The school ground was a mess, infected and decomposing peers and staff aimlessly walking around, shrieking and grunting at the deafening storm. taking the pathway proved to be difficult with zombies having a DJ party in the middle of the road. at the right moment, Cheong-san cooked up another suicide plan. "I'll lure that zombie and go over that way. Then you run" As if his plan wasn't insane enough Su-Hyeok spoke up. "no way. I'll distract them, you all run away"

"I'd like to remind you both that you're not Dazai* and Eren Jaeger*. We all can safely go over that wall. okay?" Y/n speaks up next, having enough of their undying passion to accomplish heroism. With everyone informed of the plan, they waste no moment sticking around the wall. A few familiar faces pass them in the rain, some companions and some foes, and some extras in their primary story. At the intersection of the building, a truck was parked or jammed in the wall, acting like a gate between the group and the route to the auditorium. "I'll go over first" Cheong-san the wannabe Dazai Osamu* declared openly before clambering over the truck and calling out to the others. However, he notices someone standing in the rain, bloody, rotten, and snarling hungrily at him with bloodshot eyes. "mom?" 

*Dazai Osamu: a character from the anime - Bungo stray dogs

*Eren Jaeger: a character from the anime - Attack on Titan