Song to mention when I was thinking of what to name this chapter:
Ateez - be with you
3rd Person's POV
Getting to the quarantine zone was easy when men with big heavy guns led the way, but Chae Rin couldn't help but think of the many ways they could kill her, torture her, experiment on her if they came to know of her current condition.
So she never muttered a word, getting into the building they were all handed a basket with some basic needs to quarantine in a room.
Chae Rin had stayed in the back with On Jo as they walked quietly into their designated room until a voice called out their names.
On Jo's father's partner in a cell, now standing up near the bars as he stared at the two girls.
"Fireman, U Sin" the two say, turning to look at him.
"Are you two okay? You're not hurt?" He asked the two, as they walked closer to the bars of his 'cell'.
The two girls nod, implying their wellbeing.
"What about your dad? Did you meet your dad? He went to find you" The man told the smaller girl, eyes focused on her face, which turned slightly sour, eyes deprived of happiness as she stood quiet in her place, her eyes slowly dropping to her basket where her father's flashlight was.
The man gulped, blinking a few times, hand dropping from the bar as he took in the information. Unable to mutter a word to console the girl.
"Have you..." Chae Rin gulped as she faced back into the man.
"Is my mom here?" She said in a whisper.
"I haven't seen her. I'm sorry" He replied, furrowing his eyebrows at the girl, who nodded understanding his current situation of quarantine.
With a small goodbye, the two girls walked away, into their supposed 'room'.
Which they weren't able to stay in for long before a group of soldiers barged in with intentions of bringing them to a room to be questioned by a female commander.
Sitting in chairs, the group of 9 stood in silence as they were one by one asked to sit in a chair closer to the bars, the woman behind the window and bars as she questioned them.
"Do you know the teacher, Lee Byeong Chan?" The woman question the first, senior Ha Ri.
"I only took morning classes because I had training. So, no. I don't" She responded.
"Then, has he ever said anything weird or acted strangely?" she continued, now question the other senior, Mi Jin.
"That isn't important right now. I'm a senior. What about the CSAT?" She changes the subject leaning into the table, but the woman gave no response.
"If there's anything you want to say, say it"
"You left us for dead, and what? Cooperation? If it weren't for ourselves we would've died at the school due to the explosions" Chae Rin sneered, tone filled with venom as she got up from the seat at the front and headed back to her seat between Wu Jin and Su Hyeok.
"How many times do I have to tell you? He kidnapped a student from our class named Hyeon Ju" Dae Su replied, already annoyed.
"It is true that I saw her the day before, but I didn't know where she was missing" Joon Yeong said.
Wu Jin and Hyo Ryeong kept quiet during the entire questioners, they despised the people in the room for leaving them to die.
They didn't regret it either, nor apologize. So, why should they speak for their own interests?
"I heard he gave Kim Hyeon Ju some sort of injection" The woman continued, ignoring our words and questions.
"Why did you abandon us? You abandoned us." Su Hyeok stated calmly.
"If you cooperate - "
"No." On Jo cut her off.
"I won't ask adults for anything ever again. So... don't ask for my cooperation" She states.
The group was soon dismissed, after everyone had been interrogated.
Everyone knew the newcomers would not dare to speak a word after the whole ordeal with bombing the school whilst they had been left in the roof of the same.
So they let them go.
"Is my mother here?" Chae Rin questioned a soldier, positioned near her 'quarantine cell'.
"Who is your mother?" He asked back, turning to face her.
"Nurse Kang Ae Rin" She says, eyes pleadingly.
"Stay here, I'll ask for a list of names and get back to you" He instructed, the girl nodded.
A few of the people in the friend group besides her trying to comfort her and tell her that she would be fine.
Although it helped, she couldn't stop to worry about the 'what if's'.
So many people, so many of her friends had died due to this virus, and it had been getting harder and harder to stay positive and think of ways to distract herself from what was going on.
Especially with herself being undercover infected.
Thankfully due to her new cells, it had become impossible to notice that she had been bitten.
The skin had grown over, and not even a scar was noticeable on her right palm from when Nam Ra had bitten her, the left wrist where she had saved Joon Yeong, nor her right wrist where it had all began.
With Gwi Nam's bite.
Her mind was filled with possible scenarios of how the soldiers would react to her being infected and a possible danger to everyone there.
From torture, to killing her, to even experimenting on her.
She was afraid to be found, as her temperature was always down, despite the amount of blankets she used to keep herself warm.
But thankfully they hadn't asked for her temperature since she had entered, and they had simply said that she had a cold from being out for so many nights.
"Chae Rin, I think that's the man from before" On Jo calls out to the taller female, too distracted in her own thoughts to notice the man walking towards them.
Snapping away she stares as the man approaches, stopping in front of her.
"She's here" his voice sounds.
She saw as his mouth moved from under his mask, his voice was blurry as the girl felt tears brim her eyes, joy overwhelming her as she collapsed to her knees thanking him over and over again.
Around her the people were surprised to see such a reaction, but were happy to be able to reconnect the two people and in just a few minutes the friend group had accompanied Chae Rin into a different, special room where her mother had been working since the quarantine space had been created.
"Ms. Kang, you have a visitor..." the man's voice informed her, turning around the woman dropped the cup in her hand, hands reaching for her mouth as she began to sob.
Stuck in her spot, Chae Rin had done the exact same movements as her mother.
"Mom" She called out in between sobs, the group sneakily wiping their tears at their meeting.
"Chae Rin" the mother cried as she hurriedly cradled the girl into her arms.
"I'm so glad that you're okay. I tried to call you but -"
"They take our phones during classes. I'm sorry" Chae Rin sobbed.
The woman's eyes opened as they landed on the group, softening as she caught sight of a full on sobbing On Jo, being comforted by Ha Ri.
"On Jo" The woman called, Chae Rin smiled as she turned to her friend, laughing at her crying face.
"You look so ugly when you cry" she poked fun of her smaller girl.
"So do you, Shrek" She argued back, the three women sharing a laugh as On Jo hurries onto the hug.
"So, who are your friends?" Her mother asked.
"That's Ha Ri and Mi Jin. And then, well you know the others, Joon Yeong, Bare Su, Dae Su and Wu Jin" she said pointing at each as she introduced them.
Her mother's eyes went back and forward between the group before she looked at the two girls and then at the door.
"Are you hiding them?" She wondered.
"Who does she mean?" Su hyeok questioned.
"Cheong San, Gyeong Su and Nam Ra. Didn't they come with you? Cheong San's dad texted me, he said he was looking for his wife and son." She said trying to peek around the door.
"Cheong San's dad... said that ?" On Jo questioned, the woman hums.
"He texted me when the news came on the tv, his wife went to the school, didn't you see her?" She asked the group.
They all kept quiet, each swallowing hard as they recalled the time when they had seen Cheong San's mother outside the school.
"She's dead... they all" Dae Su began.
"They all died, mom" Chae Rin said, voice barely audible.
"Cheong... Cheong San too?" She asks bewildered, they nod.
"Mom... I have a secret. I need to talk to you privately. They know, it's okay. But you should too" Chae Rin says, changing the topic, her mother raised her eyebrows.
"Chae Rin-" Joon Yeong said unsure.
"It's her mother. I doubt she would kill her" Wu Jin said, bumping his elbow into the other's rib cage.
"Could you excuse us, please?" Ae Rin spoke towards the soldiers who nodded, one by one leaving the room.
"Come, sit down" She said, as she began to sit on the floor of the medical room, having insufficient chairs for everyone they all followed her lead.
"What is it that you want to tell me?" She wondered.
"I'm not... human" She began, her mother's eyes widen.
"What do you mean with that? It's been hours since you got here. Were you bitten?" she hurriedly checks her daughter.
"It's not like that, I-" Chae Rin huffed, confused on how to explain to her mother, her current situation.
"She can't die" Ha Ri stated.
"She has bitten, trying to save me and Nam Ra... and she fell, from the fourth floor of the school" Su Hyeok explains.
"I have since, been bitten two more times... I'm not a zombie, but I'm not... me, either" she finished.
Her mother nods unsure, her hands going to her daughter's arms as she checks for wounds.
"So you mean... that the bite marks?"
"They're gone. You can't see them." she sighed. Nod.
"It's not all that bad, really. I can smell, hear and feel much stronger than before. I know when zombies are coming, and I know how to differentiate people's smells. It's really not bad at all" she said, shaking her hands as she tried her best to explain to her mother.
"How did you get bitten the other two times?" she wondered curiously.
"Well, the first was Gwi Nam"
"The bully?" she hums in response.
"The second was trying to save that idiot" She said pointing at Joon Yeong, laughing shyly as he waved his hand.
"And the third?"
"I was trying to help Nam Ra"
"Help her?" Su Hyeok wondered, him too confused.
"She was hungry... But it didn't exactly help" she muttered.
"Is anyone else like you?" Her mother said grabbing onto her hand that had began to nervously findle with the other.
"No, not anymore. Nam Ra ran away, she thought she was dangerous" She replied.
"I won't tell anyone. But, you can't do anything to put you in the spotlight, okay? We'll keep this all to ourselves. Whatever concerns you all have. Talk to me.. I'll be like a mother to everyone here" She smiled warmingly at the group, who smiled back, finally able to relax and find comfort within the situation.
"Now everyone, go to your rooms, take a shower and put on some new clothes. You all stink" she joked pinching her nose.
"It's bare su! He hasn't changed shoes since this whole thing happened. And he's been bare foot the whole time too!" Dae Su complained.
"You smell too" Hyo Ryeong counteredback at the boy.
"Everyone smells, go on. I'll be here if you need me" The woman hurried them with a laugh, patting On Jo and Chae Rin in the back as she lead them out of the room.
Once alone, the woman slid down the door, back against it as she stared out the window in her office.
"How am I going to tell Cheong San's father..." she muttered to herself.
"How am I going to keep Chae Rin safe too..." she sighed, hiding her face in her hands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 months 17 days after the beginning
"The national assembly hearing on the bombing of hyosan has been postponed indefinitely upon agreement. The party leaders announced today in a joint statement today they won't hold the hearing until the epidemic situation has been completely resolved.
The national security council announced they will end martial art in Hyosan today. This comes 3 months and 17 days since martial law was imposed due to the outbreak. However, as a precaution, Hyosan residents will continue to be quarantined. Although it has been more than four months since the outbreak started, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has failed to identify the virus. Since it is impossible to know its incubation period, the angecy opposed ending the quarantoine of Hyosan Residents.
Donations are pouring in from across the nation for the Hyosan Residents who have been living in quarantine for four months."
It was finally over, or well, it wasn't over but, they were finally let free.
A soldier at her room had opened the door, she had her own clothes on, a pair of new clothes which she had put on especially for the day that she would get released from quarantine.
It had taken her 3 months to finally be able to wear the outfit, and nothing could have made her more happy than to head outside for the first time to see some familiar faces.
Her eyes almost instantly searched for On Jo, although the two had seen eachother very often, she couldn't help but want to actually hug her outside.
Instead, her eyes landed on Wu Jin who was released, a few rooms over hers.
"Chae Rin!" He enthusiastically called out to the girl who raced into his embrace.
Lifting her off the ground as he tightned his hold on her waist.
"Have you been lifting Jang?" She poked at his arm once he had placed her back down.
"Can you tell" he smirked playfully.
"Let's go, let's find the others" she cheered lacing her hand with his.
Three months could change a lot, but not everything.
Chae Rin was still hung over on Cheong San, who hadn't given a single sign of life, but the girl just couldn't give up until she went back once more to the school and the construction site.
But, that didn't mean that she couldn't tell that the boy, whom she had her hands with, liked her. And she couldn't deny her attraction for him either, being one of the few people she actually stuck with through quarantine.
"Have you seen On Jo, yet?" He questioned her.
"Not yet, have you seen your brother-in-law?" he chuckles.
"Not yet"
Once outside the two wandered around, watching tons of people go around getting food and just talking to eachother, and then she saw it.
A little hole on the side of a building, and she already knew what she would be doing at night time.
And when it finally came, Chae Rin had excused herself from the talk with Dae Su, Wu Jin, Mi Jin and Ha Ri and left.
She hadn't been discovered thankfully, and somehow it was easy for her to control her hunger as she didn't feel the need for human blood.
And today she would be going outside the walls of the quarantine zone.
Going behind the building as a notice about the curfew time played in the background, that's until she noticed another person already there.
"On Jo?" She whispered in shock, the girl turning around to face the other, eyes widened as she raced to hug her.
"Why are you here?" She asked once the two separated.
"I was going outside. Why are you here?" she imposed.
"I'm... also, going outside" she replied, the two laughing at eachother.
"Let's go, I'll help you" Chae Rin offered, a smile on her face mirroring On Jo's.
Grabbing onto a rope that On Jo had built, Chae Rin threw it over the tall wall at once, securing it nicely and using a fence against the wall the two climbed over.
"Be careful, don't hurt yourself" Chae Rin's voice said tenderly as she used her hand to push the shorter girl up.
Using her father's flashlight, On Jo flashed light onto the trail she had taken, a tree she had caught sight of and strapped some strips into with some messages to their friends.
"Is this where you run off to?" Chae Rin wondered as she read the different messages.
"I don't 'run off', I just, miss them and I come here often to see it" she justified.
"I get it... I didn't know you had done this" She sighed, grabbing onto the strip with Cheong San's name.
"I'll come with you more often now. Hope you don't mind annoying old me" She laughed.
"I'm never annoyed at you. Come on let's go back" On Jo smiled sadly at the girl as she finished laying the gifts under the tree.
"Go ahead. I'll catch up soon" Chae Rin smiled gently, at the girl who shook her head, lacing her hand with the other.
Sitting on the ground the two watched the night sky, staring off at their school at a distance, until something caught her eye, making Chae Rin stand up abruptly.
"What is it?" On Jo asked confused.
"Look there" she points.
"Where?"
"A fire... in the school's roof" she muttered
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~