"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.

~~~ 8 ~~~

| Y/n's POV |

I slowly opened the door, knife in hand. I was expecting zombies, but instead, I was met with people. The tall girl in white immediately jumped up and grabbed her bow.

She was quick to assume we were dangerous.

I put my hands in the air, still holding onto my knife, but not in a threatening way. "We aren't bit!"

The tall lady didn't move.

Gwi-nam saw my reaction and got irritated. He pushed me out of the way and opened the door fully. He walked out and yelled, "Hey! The hell you think you're doin'?"

The girl shifted her bow to Gwi-nam.

"Relax, Gwi-nam!" I scolded. He still gave the girl a sharp look. "Hey! You came because of the flickering, right? Sorry, I don't remember morse code, but uhh... I'm sure we can work together!"

Gwi-nam turned to me. "You invited them??"

"Yeah. I thought it'd be nice to have more people to work with.."

"Our supplies are limited."

I shook my head and waited for the girl in white to reply.

Eventually, she said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Y/n. L/n Y/n. And this spicy one here is Yoon Gwi-nam. Sorry about him, please don't take it personally." Gwi-nam didn't say anything.

"It's alright." She lowered her bow. "You're both seniors?"

I nodded as I walked over to her. I could see three more people with her, two boys and one girl. Only two were dressed in white, so I assumed that those two were the archers.

There was a slim, tall boy in white, a real cute short girl who had a lot of energy, a chubby younger boy who seemed to be complaining about something, and of course, the tall girl in white.

"Who are you guys?" I asked the tall girl in white.

She didn't respond, but instead waved Gwi-nam and I over to the rest of her group.

The cute short girl stood up and waved at me.

I awkwardly waved back.

The tall girl started, "This girl and her friend want to meet us. Please get along." This girl looked like the stressed mom friend.

I nodded. "So, what are your names?"

"Ahhh, you don't remember me? I'm so offended!" the cute girl in white dramatically exclaimed.

"Hm?" I said.

I thought for a moment, but then I remembered. I was friends with this girl back in middle school. Her name was Park Mi-jin.

I used to have a crush on her if I'm being honest.

She had changed so much.

"Oh, Mi-jin, right? How are you? It's been a while since we talked," I told her.

"Yeahh! You remember me after all!" She looked real excited, just how I remember her. "I'm good, what about you?"

"I'm alright. This situation sucks." I turned to the two archers. "What are your names?"

"You don't know us?" the tall boy asked.

"Oh, I usually keep my headphones in and I don't usually talk to people outside of my friend group."

"I see. I'm Jung Min-jae. The chubby one who's by himself over there is Yoo Jun-seong. The quiet one here is Jang Ha-ri. We are looking for her brother, Wu-jin. Have you seen or heard from him?"

"No, I'm sorry. The only survivor I've met so far is Gwi-nam here." The girl by the name of Ha-ri seemed to be shooting bullets with her gaze at Gwi-nam. I could feel the tension. "Thank you for telling me this, though, Min-jae." I smiled at him.

Mi-jin pulled me over to her side by my arm. "Hey soo.. Do you still smoke?" she asked.

"Oh. No, I don't. I quit last year, but I could totally go for one right now. This is hell on earth," I responded.

"Riiiight??"

Ha-ri shifted her gaze to me. It was almost unreadable. She looked maybe... jealous?

Gwi-nam also looked at me. "So how do you two know each other?" he asked me.

Before I could respond, Mi-jin blurted out, "We were best friends in 7th and 8th grade! Right, y/n?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Good times."

Mi-jin placed her arm around my shoulder and sighed. "We're stuck together, so you two be nice." She pointed at Ha-ri and Gwi-nam.

Ha-ri seemed to lighten up. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Usually, I have to tell YOU to be nice." She turned around and started walking away, but I saw her try to hide a laugh.

Mi-jin removed her arm from around my shoulder and nudged me forward. "Let's go meet Jun-seong! Though, he's kind of annoying, but Ha-ri always tells us to get along."

I chuckled at her. We walked over to this Jun-seong boy to say hi. Gwi-nam followed me.

"Oh, hello!" the boy says. "Are you the people Ha-ri was freaking out over?"

"I guess," Gwi-nam said.

"Yeah, we are. Sorry about that. And I'm sorry if I put you or any of your friends in danger," I told the boy. "So you're Jun-seong?"

"Ehh, it's alright." He looked around. "Yeah, that's me. And you are?"

Gwi-nam cut me off before I could say anything, "I'm Yoon Gwi-nam. She's L/n Y/n."

"Oh, you're y/n? I heard about you. Class Prez's best friend, right?" He looked up at me.

"Mhm."

"I thought you would've been with Su-hyeok and Nam-ra," Jun-seong said.

"Ohh, that's right! What happened?" Mi-jin added.

I lowered my head. Gwi-nam gave me a sympathetic look, and then answered their question. "She lost them. They're alive, we saw a note from Nam-ra to Su-hyeok, and we were going to look for them."

Mi-jin and Jun-seong both lowered their heads as well. "I'm... so sorry," Jun-seong said empathetically.

"We saw your arrows," I added. "I did archery in my freshman year, so I knew you guys would likely come to the gym for restocking. But I saw the breaker box first and got that idea."

Min-jae had overheard our conversation and walked over to us. "Nam-ra and Su-hyeok are alive?"

"Most likely," Gwi-nam replied.

"We should start looking then."

"Let's just think about our options!" Jun-seong whined. "Please, we just got here!!"

"Oh, stop being such a pussy," Mi-jin told him off as she put her arm back around my shoulder.

"You know her?" Jun-seong asked, confused by why we were so close.

"Middle school," I replied. "We were best friends. She's just clingy." I shrugged her off with a smile on my face.

"Oh come on!" Mi-jin told me and she lightly smacked my arm, which made me start laughing.

Eventually, everyone was laughing.

Well, except Gwi-nam. He almost seemed jealous of the fact that I have friends.

"Yooo!! Ha-ri!!" Mi-jin called out.

"Shh!! They'll hear you..." Jun-seong scolded. Mi-jin just gave him a look, and moved on.

"Ha-ri! Come teach me and y/n how to shoot arrows."

"What??" I asked.

Mi-jin turned back to me, "What? It's better than nothing."

Gwi-nam walked up to me on the other side of me. "Maybe she's right," he started. "Try it, maybe it's your hidden talent." He smirked at me.

Ha-ri walked over to us having heard our yelling. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She looked at me.

"Alright, fine. I guess. No promises, though," I warned.

"YES! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Mi-jin exclaimed, hugging me. I, of course, hugged her back.

And with that, I put on a white jacket of my own and grabbed a bow. Mi-jin did the same while Ha-ri gave me an arrow and started to teach us how to shoot.

~~~ 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 :)