And now we wait. Sleep is nice...

~~~ 7 ~~~

I slowly opened my eyes. I didn't get very good sleep, but at least I was still alive.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes to get them adjusted to the light quicker. Gwi-nam hadn't woken up yet, so I was trying my best to stay quiet.

I stood up and walked over to the door.

I gently put my ear against the door and listened for any sounds. As far as I could tell, there wasn't any sound. At least, no zombie growling.

There was a bathroom inside the weight room, so I used it and washed up a bit.

After splashing some water on my face to wake myself up, I walked back into the weight room.

I waited for what felt like two or three hours for Gwi-nam to wake up. Which he eventually did, but I got bored in the meantime.

He sat up and groaned. Most definitely wasn't a morning person.

"Good morning!" I said enthusiastically. I was getting stir crazy in this damned room.

"Mornin'." Gwi-nam looks up at me from across the room. "You eaten anything yet?"

"No. I was hoping to save it."

"You have to eat. You'll be weak."

"I'll be fine. I've gone longer without food. I'm not hungry either," I told him.

Gwi-nam stood up, walked over to the backpack, and picked it up. He opened it and dug through it before walking back over to me and sitting on the bench that had been used as my bed.

Gwi-nam handed me my backpack and looked at me again. "Eat."

I took the bag, and right before I was about to set it down, he added, "Most of the food will go bad if we don't eat it soon."

Well, he had a point. I gave in and took a foil-covered ham sandwich out of the bag. I unwrapped the sandwich and started eating. I slid the backpack over to Gwi-nam and motioned for him to grab something too, which he did.

We sat and ate in silence until I finished. I wiped my hands off and headed into the bathroom to wash my hands again.

Gwi-nam did the same a few minutes after I came back.

Once he came back out, I nodded towards the door. "Let's go back out there."

"Okay, but why? You hear somethin'?"

"No, but I want to. I'm getting stir crazy."

He smirked at me before replying. "Jesus, how long were you awake before I woke up?"

Gwi-nam grabs his jacket and throws it on over his shirt. The jacket read 'One Heart' in Korean. I looked up at him and replied, "Long enough."

I stood up and stretched my arms and back a bit. I caught Gwi-nam staring, but I decided against saying anything. He nervously looked away to grab more belongings.

Gwi-nam asked me, "What do you think about holin' up in here?" He looked around the room before his gaze landed back on me.

"I don't know. We have to get outta here. We also can't stay in one place for too long, but I understand your reasoning," I answered.

"We got a bathroom and a bag full of food that we could make last a week."

"And once we run out, we'll be equally as fucked as we would when we did have food."

He straightened up his jacket and looked away. "Fair enough."

I zipped up the backpack full of food and put it around one of my shoulders.

"We should go now," I said.

Gwi-nam nodded at me. We both began to slide things out of the way of the door.

| Ha-ri POV |

The lights flickered. At first, I thought it was just the faulty wires, but I then realized that couldn't be the case. Everything was shut off and on many times in a couple seconds.

Someone was probably messing with the breaker box. I assumed it was because they wanted people to gather in the gym to form a bigger group. I was not against the idea, actually.

However, they could be bitten or dangerous, and I didn't want to put my group in danger.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had made some friends.

I hadn't even known them for very long.

Of course, I already knew Min-jae from archery, but I had never really spoken to any of the other archers before.

But now that I know what my life is like with Mi-jin, Jun-seong, and Min-jae, I know that I could never even imagine a world without them.

I wish that I could do more as their group leader. They count on me for survival.

Anyway, we were in some cleared out math classroom on the second floor for a quick break. We had been moving around too much. Min-jae and Jun-seong were getting tired. Somehow, that little ball of energy, Mi-jin, was still ready to go.

I was almost out of arrows, so I spoke up, unaware if I was interrupting any conversation from being spaced out. "We should go to the gym."

"Hm? Why?" Min-jae asked. "If you're out of arrows, I have some extras."

I shook my head. "There's someone in there. They were messing with the breaker box, probably to tell any survivors to come down there."

"It could have easily just been a zombie bumping into it," Mi-jin added.

"Oh, can we please just stay here?" Jun-seong said, which we all ignored.

"Well, do zombies flick the power on and off several times in the same few seconds?" I asked.

"Well... Okay, you got me. When are we leaving?" Mi-jin replied.

"Slow down, guys! Can we please just stay here? I'm tired of moving and it's sooo late!" Jun-seong pleaded with fear in his voice.

"Well, we can always leave y-" I cut off Mi-jin before she could finish.

"He's actually right. We shouldn't go right now. It's dark, and they probably just got to the gym. I bet the doors are crowded with zombies right now, so we need a better plan than just showing up," I noted.

"What do you have in mind?" Min-jae asked me.

"You guys should get some sleep. I'll keep watch and come up with something tonight."

Mi-jin walked up to me from the side and firmly put her hand on my shoulder. "I'll keep watch with you!"

I looked over and she was smiling at me, so I smiled back. "Thank you, Mi-jin." I scanned the room before continuing. "Min-jae, Jun-seong, get some rest."

They both nodded and set their weapons down as they laid in the flood and got comfortable, ready for sleep.

"Mi-jin, keep it down so they can sleep. Can you do that?"

She nodded at me and we formed a plan for when the sun rose.

- Time skip to sunrise -

I started to wake up Min-jae and Jun-seong. Once they were both awake, Mi-jin and I showed them the plan.

Basically, all we had to do was get down to the first floor and go through a window to get outside. Then, we would make our way around the building to get to the gym and jump through a window. Min-jae and I would kill any zombies that got too close.

It was a solid plan.

We set our plan into action, and reached the gym without a hassle. Well, we did get to hear a lot of Jun-seong complaining.

But once we did reach the gym, there was nobody inside.

Another odd thing was that every single window plus the back door was unlocked.

I mean, zombies can't open doors, but it was still weird for someone to leave it that way.

I scanned the room. Someone had been in here, after all. The breaker box was in fact open, and the gym lights were off.

I walked over and flicked the circuit breaker back on, and all of the lights came back at once.

"There's no one here..?" Min-jae pointed out.

That's when I realized: The mystery person must be in the weight room.

"Well, no shit!" Mi-jin exclaimed.

"Hey. Be nice," I told her.

"Fineee," she reluctantly said.

I pointed to the weight room door. "There. That's where the person who called us here would be."

"Yeah, or dead," Jun-seong negatively added. I shot him a sharp look, which quietened him down.

"All we can do right now is wait for them to wake up. Min-jae, let's restock on arrows." We all got comfortable while we waited for the door to open.

~~~ End ~~~

A/n - Thank you all for reading, once again! Tips and feedback are always welcome, as this is my first book on this app. I love you all!! Have a good day :)