𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 (Gwi-Nam x Cheong-san)

Six

"Cheong-san. It's morning. Wake up." His voice is soft.

"Morning already? Ugh..okay, I'm up. Thanks." I make an effort to smile at him to show I'm not annoyed at him, I'm annoyed that the sun has chosen to rise while I was still sleeping.

I sat up. "How is your scratch? Does it hurt any less?" In the soft morning light, I could see it looked a little less angry.

"It's fine." He turns away from me. I can see that his ears are red. "Thanks." I couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, Gwi-Nam, that was cute. I didn't know that you were such a tsundere!" I patted him on the shoulder as I went past him.

I walked into the small bathroom of the snack shop. After making sure the water was running and clean, I washed my face thoroughly.

I ran my fingers through my hair and laughed a little at how it just became messier. My hair has always been difficult like this.

I do finger guns at myself in the mirror. "Looking good Cheong-san!"

Walking back out of the bathroom, I looked around for Gwi-Nam, and was mildly confused when I didn't see him right away.

I started looking around for him, looking in each booth trying to see if he was just sitting quietly and below the booth. Just as I'm starting to get worried, he comes from behind me, making relief wash over me. He hadn't left me here by myself, he'd just been in the back.

"Are you a vampire or something? Quit appearing out of thin air." I playfully hit his shoulder to mask my worry.

"Sorry. Are you done? We need to keep moving. I found all the edible food and put it in my backpack. There's water too." I nodded.

"Sure. Let's go." I was scared to go outside, but I was energized and felt like it might be alright. I hadn't seen any zombies pass by lately.

But before we go, I tug at his sleeve. "Gwi-Nam. Be careful this time." The image of him being overwhelmed by zombies was still fresh in my head. I didn't want that to happen again. "Don't make me go on without you."

He looks at me for a moment, something flickering in his eyes. Then he turns away. "Sure. But don't be sore if I choose to protect you when and if something happens.

Then we're outside and running. We duck underneath a car at the sight of a zombie stumbling towards us.

He holds his hand over my mouth as the zombie passes dangerously close to my leg and I involuntarily let out a whimper. "Stay quiet. I know you're scared, but please stay quiet." His voice is just barely a whisper.

We both breathe a sigh of relief as the zombie moves on. He gets out first, then helps me up. It's odd but I can still feel his fingers against my lips. I press my lips together and focus on the task at hand.

Surviving. We walk for hours, ducking into empty hiding spots when a zombie comes our way. Once or twice he is forced to kill one. We walk together in uneasy silence for hours, watching the sun cross the sky.

He slows down and once I see what he's looking at, I feel my heart drop. My step-mother's shop. But it's not the shop itself. My mother is a zombie. My eyes fill with tears as I watch her stumble blindly around, snarling.

"I'm sorry. Is that..your mom?" He asks.

"Yes." I feel like my entire world is crashing down as he brings me into an embrace.

His arms around me are keeping me grounded. I hope he never lets me go. "Do you see your father?" I shook my head. "He might still be alive, Cheong-san. Don't lose hope." I look at him, into his eyes. Then I nod.

I smile at him, albeit a bit weakly. "You're right." Together, we go forward into an alley. From there, we climb onto the roof of a building. I slipped a little but he was there to catch me.

He's always..there to catch me, lately. It makes me feel safe. But these feelings were so confusing to me. He and I were so different. Why does my skin buzz when he touches me..? Could it be what I think it is-?

"We can stay here for tonight. Then we'll keep moving. I heard there's choppers that fly over looking for civilians. We just have to hope we're in sight when they do." Gwi-Nam says.

"Help me build a fire. We're more likely to be seen if there's something bright." I didn't argue with him, knowing that he was probably the more experienced of the both of us.

And with that, I moved to help him build our potential life-saver.