𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧

  Four people were walking through the corridors, Hyunsoo in the front, kids behind him, and behind them was Soojin. They were at 13th floor, and yet, they didn't meet with any monsters.
   At the end of the corridor, were doors leading to the staircase. Hyunsoo opened them, checking if they are empty. They were.
   He let the kids walk first, then Soojin. When they walked pass him, and he tried to close the door, Hyunsoo felt unexpected pain. He hissed, leaning on the wall. He growled, trying to catch the breath, feeling blood coming out from his nose. He was breathing heavily, trying everything to not turn.

    Soojin heard these weird noises, and then noticed that her friend isn't with them.

"Kids, wait for me" she said to them

The sibling turned around to her confused. Soojin walked to the boy. He was holding his hand to a chest, almost choking on his blood.

"Hyunsoo...."

"Soojin, go" he grunted, "Get away from me"

   The girl was fighting with herself. She promised to the boy, that if this situation would happen, she would take care of kids, and leave him. But she can't just do that.

"Soojin, leave!" he yelled

With one hand, he slammed the doors right in front of the girl.

She clenched her jaw, and turned to the kids. She took Yeongsu by the hand.

"Come on, we have to go"

"What's wrong with him?" asked the little girl

The loud bang was heard from behind. The door, between Hyunsoo and them, were thrown off the hinges, falling on the boy. A big monster looked at kids and Soojin.

He growled with a smile, "Protein"

Monster punched the wall, breaking it without any problem.

"Kids, go!" Soojin yelled at them, raising her machete. The kids didn't move, "Go!"

Suyeong took her brother, and they together run upstairs, leaving Soojin and passed out Hyunsoo.
The girl bit her lip, feeling how she is starting to shake. She can't even use a machete. She tried to move Hyunsoo from the floor on the side, but it was too late. The protein monster crushed the whole wall.

He stomped on the ground with loud bang, pulling his big arm to Soojin. The girl swung her weapon, cutting the finger of his hand. The electricity made it actually fell off. But it was just one finger. He growled at took a step forward. He was moving pretty slow. Soojin took a step back on the stairs, holding the machete in front her.

He tried to move forward, when she slashed him again, but the monster couldn't move. Something was blocking him.

"Go!"

Soojin looked at monster's foot, where Hyunsoo embraced him, holding tightly. His eyes were black.

"Hurry!"

The girl nodded her head, and turned around. She ran to the 14th floor, looking for the kids, but she felt guilt for leaving the boy.
Soojin heard a loud bang, one by one, sounding like hitting on the ground. Her eyes got teary, when she thought about what could happen downstairs.
She took a deep breath, trying to focus on finding kids.

Meanwhile, Hyunsoo was dragged into the apartment by two people. He leaned on his hands, holding his head down. He looked at the man that squatted next to him.

"Soojin," gasped Hyunsoo, when his eyes turned to normal again, "Kids. Where are they?"

"You're infected, huh?" the young woman rushed to him, pointing in his head with her metal baseball bat, "Your nose was bleeding, you fainted!"

"You wanted to save him" said the man, twisting his head to her

"How do you know he won't turn?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure crushing his head in...." he looked at Hyunsoo, "can't possibly be the will of God"

The woman lowered her bat. Hyunsoo looked at the ground, and then at the people he was with.

"Help me, please. They need me," he stopped for a second, and whispered, "She needs me. Help me. Come on"

Soojin was running up the stairs, when she finally found the kids. They turned to her, hearing her voice. The girl put her machete on the ground, leaning on the knees, breathing heavily. She also tried to hide tears, to not make kids worry. She straightened up, taking a deep breath, and wiping her eyes.

"You're here, that's good," she picked up her weapon, "We need to go" she passed them wanting to go

"Nuna..." the girl twisted her head to Yeongsu, "Is he dead?"

Oh Jesus Christ.

Soojin tried to smile, but she couldn't do that so she just grimaced, "Let's go"

The kids took a step forward, but then the door opened with a loud bang. The blind monster looked around.

Soojin twisted her head to the kids, putting a finger up to her lips. If one of them gonna make a sound, she was ready to give up. Suyeong nodded her head, covering Yeongsu's mouth and hers.

    Soojin tried not to breath, waiting for monster to walk away. His nails started scratching metal doors, making a lot noise. He looked around a bit, and then left the staircase.

Brunette still hold her finger up to mouth, but waved her hand, meaning they can go. She didn't even put her foot on the next step, when she heard a loud growl from behind.

  She turned around to see protein monster. Then on the other side came back a blind monster. Soojin pulled Suyeong and Yeongsu on the ground, but her weapon fell out from her hand.
    As the girl expected, the blind guy, extended his arm, hitting the protein monster. A big branch was hanging above them. Soojin poked kids, and mouthed them to go. The little girl nodded her head, and crawled under the branch, taking her brother with her. The brunette girl picked her machete, and followed the sibling.

The protein monster pulled other monster, crushing him into the wall.

   Soojin and kids were running up to another floor. The floor was shaking from the beating. Glass shattered.

   They were on the 15th floor. So not the right one. The corridor seemed empty.

"Unnie, this isn't the right floor," said Suyeong

"I know," Soojin rubbed her eyes, "But we needed to ran away, right? The monsters are fighting there. But don't worry, soon we'll be safe"

   She didn't even try to sound convincingly. The girl took advantage of this moment of silent. She closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

"You have cool sword," she heard Yeongsu

Soojin opened the eyes, and smiled, "Thank you"

"Maybe here will be adults who can help us?" suggested Suyeong

"Sadly, I think there's no one like that in here," the teenager looked around, "Come on"

"Where?"

   Soojin didn't answer to that, because she had no idea where they should go. She tried to focus on kids, but her mind was only thinking about Hyunsoo. Was he even still alive?

  And as they were walking through the corridor, they heard loud footsteps in front. Soojin sighed.

   The protein monster appeared again. But he was walking faster than earlier.

"Go," murmured Soojin to the kids, raising her machete, "Go!"

   She gave a harsh gaze to Suyeong, so the girl ran, pulling her brother with her. They were running back to the staircase, when the little boy tripped. Soojin looked at him and then at protein monster. She sighed frustrated, and ran to the boy, helping him stood up. She was taking a small steps back, ready to slash the monster with her machete. And when he was getting closer, a trolley came in his way.
Soojin looked surprised at the woman with the trolley. She recognised her as a woman who lost her child, and since then she's kinda acting crazy.

"Ma'am..."

The woman walked in front of the monster. Soojin looked at her surprised, but she still held the machete above her arm.

"Please don't touch the children," she said politely to the monster, "You can do that, right?"

   Mr. Protein didn't really understand her, because he hit her with his big fist. The woman dropped on the ground, hitting the wall before, making it collapse a bit. The trolley fell on the side.

   Monster started to walking forward. When he got close to the trolley, and later crushed it, the woman started to screaming terrified.

   The monster stopped walking as he looked at her. The woman got up on her legs.

"Honestly," she was making a break between every word, "I knew that my baby was gone forever"

   Soojin felt her stomach twist. It was even worse.

     The monster raised his arm, and hit the woman, pinning her in the floor. Soojin gasped loudly, twisting her head, not to look at that.

The protein monster took another step forward. Soojin took a deep breath, and raised the machete again. She had no idea what she was doing, but she rushed towards him. The girl took a swing with the machete, cutting deeply his fat skin. Monster growled angry.
She heard footsteps on the other side of the corridor, but she didn't bother to check it. She yelled, stabbing the monster on foot. She pulled out the machete, all in blood. The girl fell on the floor, trying to avoid getting hit.

"Soojin!"

   The girl looked under the monster, between his legs, to see Hyunsoo with two other people, standing at the end of the corridor. She felt relived.

"Hyunsoo...."

     But then, she wasn't paying attention to the big piece of meat she was fighting with. The boy looked terrified.

"Soojin, watch out!"

She looked up to see a big fist, coming closer to her. The girl rolled on the side, avoiding the hit. She gasped surprised.

"Kids, go to them!" she yelled to the sibling

  While she was rolling on the ground, trying to got up, the kids passed the monster, running to others.

    Soojin felt how she lost all her energy. Hyunsoo couldn't stay in one place, without helping the girl.

   He ran to monster, stabbing him on the back with his spear. A loud growl and buzzing, gave Soojin a few seconds to stood up. She brushed her hair off the face, raising the hands with the machete. The monster was trembling a bit, so she stabbed him in the stomach. She tried not to drop the machete, which was very heavy in her tired hands.

    She pulled it out, breathing heavily. Hyunsoo also pull out his weapon from monster's body. And even that, he was still alive and full of strength. He looked at the Soojin and growled angry. He raised his big foot, and kicked the girl. She flew in the air, hitting on the wall, and with loud bang she fell on the ground.  

"Soojin!" yelled terrified Hyunsoo

But the girl didn't answer.

   Angry boy stabbed the monster again. He pulled his spear out, and the monster turned around.

How surprised were all of them, when on his head jumped the same woman that was crashed into the floor earlier. She started choking the monster, as he was trying to get rid of the woman.

"Hyunsoo, take kids and run," said the man

The boy nodded his head. He ran on the other direction, taking the sibling with him. But he didn't want to leave Soojin there.

The protein monster, finally got rid of the woman, smashing her on the floor.

"I'll take care of this," said the man to Jisu, "Even those muscles, can't compete with this"

He swung his katana, pointing it at the monster.

"He'll kill you," murmured Jisu

"We'll see about that"

The man tinkled on the metal, taking the attention of the monster. The protein took a swung with his arm, but he failed. The man started running away, and the monster followed him.

Meanwhile, Hyunsoo and the kids walked to apartment 1408. When Dusik saw two kids, he laughed happy.

"Oh you did that!" his smile dropped, when he noticed that it's only three of them, "Where's your friend?"

Hyunsoo put his backpack on the floor, "I need to came back for her. Take care of kids"

Dusik nodded his head, waving a hand to kids, so they wouldn't be afraid. Hyunsoo picked his spear, and walked out of the apartment. He ran as fast as he could, back to the 15th floor.

    Jisu watched the woman getting up from the ground with the eyes wide open. She noticed the woman's black eyes, meaning she's infected, so she took a step back. The woman looked at Jisu.

"Where'd they go?" she asked

The black veins and eyes disappeared from her face. She looked normally, just dirty from the blood.

"They're safe," said Jisu, nodding her head

She pulled out a hand to help the woman stood up.

Hyunsoo ran to the corridor, stopping when he saw Jisu with this woman who he thought was dead.

He passed both women, rushing to the laying girl at the wall. Jisu let go the woman, and followed the boy, feeling guilty, because she forgot about the girl.

"Soojin," Hyunsoo twisted her on the back, brushing off hair from her face. Her mouth and eyes were closed, making her look like she was sleeping, "Soojin, wake up"

Jisu put two fingers on girl's neck.

"She's breathing," she looked at the boy. His upper lip was trembling, and he was holding the brunette's sleeve of hoodie, "She just passed out"

The boy nodded his head. Jisu tried to calm him down with these words, because she saw how nervous and worried he got.
Hyunsoo put his hands under the girl's back and knees. With a little help of Jisu, he lifted the girl, who wasn't the lightest, or the boy was just weak.

"Take this woman with you," said Jisu, nodding in the direction of the woman with trolley

The boy nodded his head, "Can you take her machete?"

"Sure"

She passed boy's spear to the woman who took it a bit scared, but she was happy to help. Jisu went back to her friend, while Hyunsoo and the woman were walking to the apartment 1408.

The boy looked down at unconscious Soojin. She had a few small scratches on her face, but it didn't anyhow ruin her look. The boy tried to focus on not dropping the girl, but he was scared that at any moment he can turn.

He held girl closer to his chest.