As the train came to a halt, Minseok began to break out into a cold sweat. The detective came into the occupied train car and began talking over everyone.
"I have decided that I am going to get off here and see if it is safe... I do not expect anyone to come with me, but you are welcome to join me." Seojun stated. "I will come back when I am sure it is safe. If I am not back within an hour, feel free to leave without me..." he paused, "Does anyone want to come with me?"
"I have been your partner for two years, and you've always had my back. I'll be coming with you until the very end." Hanwoo stepped forward first. Minseok was perfectly content remaining on the train, where it was safe. His eyes drifted to his blonde friend who was also remaining silent amongst Yeongsu, Taehyun, and Kittichai.
"I'll come." The foreign woman who had been silent most of the time decided to participate.
"Why?" Both officers questioned. Anyone would be wondering the same thing, Why did she want to go? After all she was a civilian and nobody knew her, for all they knew she had ill intentions. In response to the question she simply shrugged her shoulders. Hanwoo visibly looked at his superior, but Seojun appeared to ignore the look and nodded his head at the girl.
"I'll come too!" Jiwon suddenly shot up. There was no time to question the model as Kittichai also joined in. Once Kittichai decided to go, so did Yeongsu and Taehyun. The fireman's participation surprised Minseok, as he knew the man much rather sleep.
"Let me come too," another man said. Minseok didn't know the man, but knew that he was the only survivor from one of the other train cars.
A few minutes passed before Seojun spoke up again, "Alright, thank you. Let us be on our way." He turned in the direction of the door. Minseok watched as the group made their way over to the door and exited the train car. He noticed how Jiwon gave him one last glance as he passed him and exited the train. When they closed the door behind them, the other passengers rushed to the window except for two. The other two ran towards the front of the train causing Minseok to gain some suspicions. He stood and looked out the window as the group disappeared up the stairs.
"Sorry, but I am afraid we won't be waiting for the return of those people. We will be departing for Seoul immediately." Someone said over the intercom. Some of the other people gasped, but didn't protest. Minseok contemplated as he looked at the remaining people, he didn't know any of them. He looked back out the window. As the train started he decided there was no way he was staying with a bunch of strangers in this crazy situation. Minseok ran from his spot and over to the door, he quickly opened the door and jumped from the slow moving train. He looked back at the train before rushing up the stairs to find the group. His footsteps echoed quickly down the empty station, only slowing when he neared the group of eight. They all had heard him coming and stopped, waiting for him to catch up.
"Hyung, you came!" Jiwon exclaimed.
"Y-y-yeah," He panted as he spoke. "They... decided..t-to leave.." He said between breaths. "Not waiting!" He got out finally.
"Those bastards!" Yeongsu exclaimed frustratingly.
"It's fine, I guess." Seojun stated doubtfully.
"W-well how likely is it that Daegu was also infected?" Minseok asked nervously as they neared the stations exit.
"Not likely." Seojun responded, Minseok could tell that the detective was trying to sound confident.
"Not likely, but most likely, likely." Taehyun mumbled a little incoherently.
"What?" Jiwon queried, his face scrunching.
"He is saying that even though it wouldn't seem likely that Daegu has gotten infected, it most likely already has been overrun." Kittichai reinterpreted Taehyun's weird way of saying things.
"What makes you think that it has already been infected?" Jiwon asked
"We haven't seen a single person since we stepped foot off the train, even if it is relatively late at night what city station is already asleep by now?" Kittichai made a valid point, the city station was completely deprived of any form of life.
"They probably heard about Busan, maybe they were put on lockdown or quarantined." Minseok tried to stay positive.
As they approached the end of the station they all cautiously examined the streets. There were no moving cars and no people anywhere in sight. Some cars appeared to be abandoned in the middle of the road.
"There really is no one around..." Jiwon muttered.
"I don't think that's true." The girl stated, catching Minseok's attention as she slightly tilted her head to gesture towards a convenience store. All the members of the group turned their heads to the store, there was in fact a moving shadow inside of the store.
"If someone is in the convenience store, that means that there isn't a quarantine in effect," Kittichai said to Minseok.
"Come on, let's go." Seojun stated. Minseok observed as Seojun went to continue down the street going directly into the city, but was quickly stopped by the woman's hand grabbing his sleeve. "What?" He turned to the foreigner.
"Don't go into the center of the city or you'll most likely be setting yourself up." She stated while still holding the detective's sleeve.
"What do you mean?" Hanwoo queried drawing Minseok's attention as he stepped towards the girl, almost in a threatening manner.
"I think we are being hunted." The woman said vaguely, causing Minseok to widen his eyes in shock while glancing around the area nervously.
"Sure... they got smarter or something." Hanwoo grumbled at the girl. Minseok couldn't help but notice the look the pink haired detective was getting from Jiwon, it was a look even Minseok couldn't figure out.
"I believe her." Jiwon mumbled.
"She's right. Maybe if you tried to be less suspicious of her, you'd realize we are being watched." Kittichai lightly snapped at Hanwoo and then pointed to multiple buildings that had silhouettes peering from the windows. "Even if we are simply being watched right now, it doesn't feel far off from the word hunted" Kittichai accented the last word. After Kittichai had pointed it out, nobody could argue anymore because everyone could clearly see the figures watching from the windows.
"What do you suggest we do then, miss...?" Seojun trailed off.
The foreigner, obviously ignored the hint to say her name and spoke her thoughts, "We should just travel the outer parts of the city, only go inwards if necessary." She seemed to contemplate her next words, "I suggest we find someplace decently safe, it's not safe to move around too much at night since it is hard to see. We are being watched right now, but I rather not stick around to figure out what happens when they are tired of simply watching." She stated it in a way that left no room for any arguments. Minseok looked around at the group and noticed that the three youngest men all nodded their heads in agreement, but Minseok still wanted to remain positive about the situation.
"Are you sure that those aren't just normal people who are looking out their windows trying to figure out what is going on?" He questioned.
"Even if they are people like us, I rather not find out today." Taehyun was the first to respond.
"After seeing what happened to that poor kid that got thrown off the train... I don't think I am ready to find out either." Jiwon muttered.
"Alright, I think we all can agree that we should find somewhere safe for the night." Seojun stated before leading the group down the road to the left.
They all walked down the street as quickly and cautiously as possible. Seojun and Hanwoo leading in the front. Yeongsu stood on the outside of the group to the left, while Taehyun walked next to him on the inside. Kittichai was on the outer part opposite of Yeongsu. Jiwon walked between Kittichai and Taehyun. Minseok walked behind Taehyun, while next to the tall man he didn't know. The foreigner followed at the very back. It was a pretty secure formation. They made it about two miles from the station, but they didn't see anything yet aside from abandoned vehicles and a lot of silhouettes peering out of windows.
As they made their way towards the end of the road Minseok watched as Jiwon turned to look behind him more than once and suddenly stopped causing the tall man to bump into him.
"S-s-sorry!" Minseok observed silently as the tall man nervously glanced at Kittichai, stuttering an apology.
"Why did he apologize while looking at Kitt when he ran into Jiwon?" Minseok wondered to himself.
"It's fine Yongrae-seonbae." Kittichai answered for Jiwon who still appeared to be focused on what was behind him. Minseok turned to find that the girl had lagged behind. She had stopped and was staring down an alleyway with an alarming expression. A few moments passed by before she turned and waved her hand, gesturing for them to hurry back over. The few who saw her quickly got the rest of the groups attention and quickly rushed over to her.
A/N: The Korean word seonbae (선배) translates to "senior" and is used to refer to someone who has more experience or a higher rank than you. Most commonly used in a school environment.
"This way, follow me." She didn't give anyone time to question her. She had told them not to go into the city, now she was taking them in.
She led them down the alley at a jogging pace, Minseok kept glancing around as he followed the group. She then came to a stop at the corner of a building and peered around it. It felt like forever to Minseok before she finally continued straight down the alley. Straight towards the heart of Daegu. It was already dark out, but the street lamps provided a minimal amount of light, just enough to see their surroundings. The alleyway didn't have many lights though, and that made it much more difficult to see.
The foreigner stopped at another corner. Peering around it for a long period of time. Jiwon was the first to move next to her and glance around the corner to see what she was looking at. Minseok noticed how she put her arm on Jiwon's chest, pushing him back slightly so that his head didn't stick around the corner. The rest of the group decided to look around the corner as well, each finding a position that worked for them. Minseok's position was lying on the ground next to Jiwon's feet. He watched as a couple came out of a convenience store with backpacks filled with stuff. One held a baseball bat and the other had a metal pipe.
"Look." The foreigner whispered to the group and slightly pointed with her hand to something moving around the corner of the far end of the store. Minseok eyed the creature as it stood in place for a while, awkwardly moving its head to see around the corner occasionally. After a while it finally stepped from around the corner and stood in plain sight. The man noticed it quickly and visibly prepared himself, lifting his bat ready to attack it. The woman stood behind him with her pipe at the ready, but the two were so focused on the creature in front of them that they failed to notice the one approaching from behind. The whole group's eyes widened in shock as one came from around the opposite end of the building and latched on to the woman's neck ripping a large chunk out. She choked out a silent scream before she collapsed to the ground, the small thud from the women drew the man's attention. He turned to the attacking creature and went to beat it with his bat, but when he turned around he met his end as the one who hadn't been moving quickly lunged. The creature bit into the man's neck and tore his artery, the man suffering the same brutal end as the woman.
Minseok gagged silently at the gruesome sight. He looked up at Jiwon who had covered his mouth, then to Taehyun who had turned his head away. He knew every one of the group members had felt a heavy heart as they were forced to watch the horrific scene unfold. They couldn't risk moving and being seen, so all they could do was sit back and watch.