Short Stories- Kai ships only!

Yeonkai- Video Game

Kai was bored. It was the middle of summer which meant he didn't have college. His friends were all working and unfortunately for him, it was his day off. His laundry was tumbling in the dryer, nothing caught his eyes on youtube, so he decided to play a video game. Because he gamed a lot, he finished all of the ones he had.

Since he got paid yesterday, he figured it was time to buy a new one. The catalog had 20 new choices from the last time he checked. An indie one named "Breakout" caught his eye. The description read "your character is trapped in their old high school. You realize the building is the same but the students inside are different. They were bitten by zombies. Help your character break out before they're infected too!" Seemed easy enough. He played zombie survival esque games before and it was highly rated. The best part was the price. It was only $20.00.

Once it finished downloading, he pressed start. The character he designed was blonde, had a round face, intense almond shaped eyes, tall, slim, and had plump lips. Now he had to choose what kind of character he would be. Would he be an attacker, an escapist, a healer or a protector? Kai chose the escapist.

The game asked "are you sure? Because you choose to escape, your survival odds are higher but your friends odds are lower."

He thought that was fine. He could play the other modes once finished this one.

The game started with a short montage of kids being bitten. It then showed his character running away. He was shown the basic controls as he followed his friends to the safety of the storm shelter. His escapist skills had him running faster than everyone else. As a consequence, he lost a friend who fell behind. The character watched their friend be eaten by the zombies.

Kai thought that was really cool. The graphics were detailed. You could see teeth sinking into their skin as chunks were being ripped away. The volume of the screaming was quite loud. He had to lower it out of respect for his neighbors.

The next scene had the character talking to his friends. Kai learned they were actually 23 years old but were there for their class's 5 year reuinion. That was all the proof he needed high school sucked. The friends kept mentioning how legendary his character used to be and how successful he is now. Kai mumbled "he's a stock broker now? That's so lame."

A hoard of zombies started banging on the door. The sudden noise made Kai jump in reality. Several of the windows in the classroom started to shatter. His character was looking for an escape. Kai had him use a chair to break the back window. He rapidly pressed the button to make the window shatter faster. His character escaped just before the zombies were able to get into the classroom. Another friend was lost because he didn't pull her in in time.

Now his character was running down the hallway as a flood of zombies enterred the window he previously shattered. Kai had him dodge the jumpscares coming out at him. One zombie managed to tackle him to the ground. His character kicked the woman until her skull caved in. Then he ran again.

Zombies chased him and his friends to the gym. He had a choice to escape out of the emergency doors or cut to the front doors. Kai noticed his character's friends yelling to help hold the group back. The blonde looked between the two doors instead. He ran out the back door.

Immedietly he was met with more zombies running towards him. Kai could see the sweat detail on the blonde's forehead. The growling from the TV speakers got louder as he ran past new hoards.

There was a car at the end of the block. He hoped his character knew how to drive. He watched his character's fist bleed as he punched the driver's side window open. Kai gasped when his character sat down and a zombie hand bursted into view. He and his character yelled "SHIT!" as he hit the gas pedal.

The car frantically drove down the street. Kai noticed a damage bar to the car with each zombie that he hit. That made him worried so he tried to dodge every zombie since.

On a very unlucky turn, the blonde crashed the side of the car into a building. A timer appeared on the TV screen. It was counting down the time until the car exploded. The blonde had blood dripping down his forehead. A large gash on his left arm had him scream. Kai could almost feel his pain. The blonde got out and ran. The explosion behind him made him fall for a moment. He picked himself up and kept running some more.

"I need to find shelter. Fuck, where is some fucking shelter?" Kai kept complaining that none of the doors seemed to open. Zombies kept chasing his character down. The blonde began to grow tired. He was slowing down. Kai had him turn another corner. Another car was finally visible in sight. The keys to the car were in the dead driver's hands. The body got pulled out and dumped into the street. His character hit the gas pedal and off they went again.

Kai got freaked out when he saw his character look into the camera and say "help me. Give me shelter! I'm going to die out here!" He dismissed that thought when a bunch of zombie preschoolers jumped onto the moving car. The character drove erratically trying to get them off. Kai felt bad when he had to run over a little girl. She deserved it though.

After a few more minutes of panic filled driving, the character arrived at a familiar neighborhood. Kai sat up when he recognized it as his own. He heard the engine of the car in real life. It seemed to be getting closer to his house. He looked back at the screen and saw the objective point literally was his house. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Kai shut the TV off then threw his controller across the room. He no longer heard any car engines. He picked his controller back up and mumbled "get ahold of yourself Kai."

When the screen turned back on, he saw the blonde limping towards his front door. Terrified, Kai looked out his window. There was a blonde leaving a blood trail, crawling towards his house. He shut the blinds. "This isn't real. I'm just dreaming. This isn't real!"

Kai looked back at the screen. He saw his character crawling towards his front door. There was a knock at his actual one. He shut all the lights off and prayed whoever it was would go away. They knocked again with more force. The person behind yelled "I NEED SHELTER! YOU HAVE TO LET ME IN!"

The knocking kept going. The door began to shake. The guy outside yelled "PLEASE! THEY'RE COMING TO GET ME!"

Kai dialed 9-1-1. He told dispatch everything. The woman on the line said to quit wasting her time or they were going to fine him.

The window next to him shattered as a rock was thrown into it. The blonde used another rock to push the rest of the glass out of the way. Kai hid in the closest closet. He watched a blonde crawl through his window. The face was his character. It was impossible yet it was real. Blood began to stain his carpet.

Kai realized he was breathing too hard when the blonde turned to look in his direction. He held his breath, hoping he would go away. The man continued to walk towards him. He peaked through the slits and they locked eyes. The closet door got pushed open. The blonde offered his hand and pleaded "we need to get out of here! They're coming!"

"THIS ISN'T REAL!" Kai screamed. "YOU'RE JUST A VIDEO GAME CHARACTER!"

"My name is Yeonjun! Get ahold of yourself! You helped me escape before! Help me escape now!"

Kai heard the growling of zombies coming towards their direction. He rocked himself back and forth, repeating that none of this was real.

Yeonjun had enough with the waiting. He grabbed Kai's hand and they ran together.

Kai looked behind and saw very real rotting zombies, running towards their direction. He froze. There wasn't any way this was real. Yeonjun slapped him hard. The blonde yelled "SNAP OUT OF IT! YOU NEED TO HELP US NOW!"

Together, they ran. Kai led him towards the apartment garage. He got into his car and drove. Yeonjun looked at him from the passenger seat like he was the safety of the world. Kai looked over, still unable to grasp this was actually happening. The blonde looked out the window as blood started to dry on his forehead. Kai held his hand as he continued to drive. They didn't know where the hell they were going but now they were bound together for life. Only time would tell if they would make it.