It seemed like hours that they waited for Cheong-San and Suhyeok to return from getting the phone. Sa-Na had sat beside Nam-Ra, twisting the box of pills in her hand as she anxiously awaited the return of her best friend. They'd tried having short conversations to take their minds off the two missing, but they just couldn't figure out what to say.
"I heard that in some countries," Nam-Ra began, "they mourn adults more than they do with children. And in others, children more than adults. Which do you think our country is?"
Everyone shared a look with each other while Sa-Na tapped her finger against the desk anxiously. "What do you mean?" Dae-Su asked her.
"When kids die, you lose hope, but..." Joon-Yeong began, "when adults die, you lose their wisdom. Hope and wisdom. Which do we value more?"
Nam-Ra looked out the window, looking at the helicopter flying straight past the school, without any intention to come save them. "They've been flying all over the place since yesterday," she explained to everyone. "They would have already saved us if they really wanted to. But even if they do come to save us, we won't get out first. We're just not important enough for that. We're students. That's it."
Sa-Na knew the truth to her words; there was a high chance that only a couple of them would
make it out, maybe not even some. All they could do was survive as long as they could, try, and make it until tomorrow.
"Suhyeok," Dae-Su called out, snapping Sa-Na out of her thoughts. She ran over to the window as he jumped into the room. She instantly wrapped her arms around his torso as everyone bombarded him with questions varying from 'is he okay' and 'where did he put the phone' or even 'did he get the phone'.
"Where's Cheong-San?" On-Jo asked, walking over to the window, expecting him to be close behind.
Suhyeok unlatched himself from Sa-Na and turned to face On-Jo. "We got separated in the teacher's office. I'm sure he'll be fine," Suhyeok announced, although he didn't look too certain.
"Are you serious? Oh, shit!" Dae-Su looked out the window again while Suhyeok looked back at On-Jo.
"I'm sorry for coming back alone," Suhyeok told On-Jo while the girl just sighed and looked down.
"Hey!" Sa-Na called out, kicking Suhyeok on his ankle. "What were you thinking? You could've been bit."
"But I wasn't." He grinned at the girl. She just gave him an unimpressed look, punching his shoulder before moving to sit back down.
Have you taken the pills yet? "
"Not yet," she mumbled, the box still pressed tightly in her hands.
"Come on, Sa-Na. You know this by now; you need to take them every day." Suhyeok scolded her while she waved her hand.
"What are you, my mother?" She scoffed as he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. "Real mature."
Hearing whispers, Sa-Na turned her head to the side, noticing Ji-Min gossiping about her friend. "What do we do? On-Jo and Cheong-San are really close."
"They're going out," Ji-Min confirmed, and Sa-Na rolled her eyes. Now was really the time to be discussing this.
"But On-Jo told me they're not."
"I'm telling you, they are," Ji-Min whispered to her friend. "Same with Suhyeok and Sa-Na; they're always together."
"Are you done gossiping about people when they're literally five feet away from you yet?" Sa-Na asked, irritability lacing her words. Ji-Min looked away, embarrassed, while Sa-Na scoffed. "And for your information, I'm not dating Suhyeok; he's like a brother to me, and if On-Jo says she and Cheong-San aren't dating, then they aren't dating.
The two girls nodded and placed their heads down while Sa-Na stood up, walking over to the window.
It was silent for a couple of minutes until On-Jo turned around, thinking of something that could possibly help them. "Joon-Yeong, didn't you mention that your science club made a drone?" She asked him suddenly.
The boy was startled for a moment but nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed, seeing what she was hinting at. "You want to look for Cheong-San with it?"
"Could we?" she asked him eagerly.
"Well, yeah. But it's in the science lab," Joon-Yeong told her, recalling where they left it.
"We can go get it," she offered, willing to find anything to help her best friend.
"How would we get it?" He asked, not seeing anyway they could go get it. "It's crawling with zombies out there."
She looked around for a moment until her eyes found the rope of the hose they had used to get into this room. "That." She pointed towards it.
"You want me to climb up on that?" He asked in disbelief, eyeing the rope.
But there are zombies in the science lab too."
"There weren't any in the supply room, right?" On-Jo asked, willing to do anything to find her friend.
"That's true, but..." Joon-Yeong paused and looked down.
"We have to find Cheong-San." On-Jo persisted. "There's no one else besides us to start looking for and rescuing people.
"She has a point," Sa-Na commented, looking up from her box of pills.
"Yeah." Nam-Ra agreed. "It would be good if we had the drone. We can find Cheong-San, and then we can see how things are outside. We might even be able to send an emergency message and ask for help."
"Sure, that would be really great, but who's going to go?"
"I wanna go," On-Jo instantly announced. "I took a fire recuse class, and I've climbed ropes before."
"I'll go," Sa-Na told the group. "I do gymnastics and dance, so I think I'm the most athletic person here."
"No, I'll go." Suhyeok looked over at Sa-Na as she raised her brow.
"You already went out there. You can't keep putting yourself in dangerous situations, dickhead," Sa-Na replied, shaking her head.
"The drone isn't finished yet," Joon-Yeong interrupted. "We need to find a few more parts to run it. Do you know what to get?" He looked over at the three who had volunteered to go. "Then I have to go anyway, I guess." He thought about it for a minute, sighing. "I'll go with On-Jo."
"No way," Dae-Su announced. "I'm actually going this time, so stand back."
"But you can't," Wu-Jin told him. "The rope won't hold you."
"It was fine when I came down. But it'll snap if I climb up, right?" Dae-Su asked as he nodded.
"Yeah. Right."
"Yeah. It'll snap."
"Right. Good boy."
"Joon-Yeong, come with me," On-Jo told him as he nodded and stood up.
The two prepared to head out the window when Suhyeok grabbed On-Jo's arm, stopping her from going. Sa-Na raised her brow, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked in between the two with an amused look. "It's too dangerous," Suhyeok told the girl. "I'll go."
"Thank you," On-Jo replied. "But I don't want you to be put in danger anymore."
"I'm going," Joon-Yeong announced, ruining the couple's moment.
"Try not to die," Sa-Na told him as he nodded and began climbing up the rope. On-Jo followed behind him and left the rest in the classroom, anxiously awaiting their return once again.
This was becoming a common theme, and Sa-Na was sick of it.
7♡7
On-Jo and Joon-Yeong returned, yet Sa-Na had fallen asleep. They set up the drone, and it began to fly around the school grounds. Suhyeok looked worriedly at his best friend, taking off his blazer and wrapping it around her shoulders before turning back to the group. They found Cheong-San in a classroom, relief flooding through them as they realized he was still alive.
With the small flicker of hope they had left, they moved the drone outside of school grounds, pausing upon noticing the state of their city. Ji-Min had discovered her parents had been turned into zombies, shocking the group. Additionally, Suhyeok had noticed a familiar face in the crowd of zombies: Sa-Na's mother.
She wore her usual suit, yet her hair was a mess. Something the two girls had in common was their hatred for their hair being ruined. It was scary to see the woman not in pristine condition. She had been bitten, and blood dripped down her chin as she looked around the streets with a far-off expression.
A tear slipped down his cheek as he stared at the woman who had been like a second mother to him. He didn't know how he was going to even begin to explain this to Sa-Na, and his eyes moved over to the sleeping girl.
After the realization, an unsettling silence settled over the group as they all processed what they had seen. Suhyeok moved and took a seat beside Sa-Na's sleeping form, constantly checking that she was okay and nothing had happened to her. The only sound heard in the room was Ji-Min's cries of loss and longing for her parents.
In a moment of panic, Sa-Na had been woken up by Suhyeok lightly shaking her until her eyes fluttered open. "Hey," he whispered softly. "You were thrashing around and mumbling. Are you alright?"
She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the light. She couldn't form words, so she just nodded. Sa-Na noticed a blazer around her body—a blazer that wasn't there before she fell asleep. "Is this yours?" She motioned to the blazer as he nodded.
"You were shivering, so I guessed you were cold," he responded, waving it off nonchalantly.
"Thanks," she mumbled, pulling it tighter around her body. "What happened while I was asleep?"
"We found Cheong-San and Nam-Ra came up with a plan for us to escape; I came to wake up and explain it to you when you started moving in your sleep," he told her, frowning as he wondered what could've caused that reaction from her. "Bad dream?"
"I don't remember." She lied. She did remember.
She remembered every second of it, but she didn't want him to worry about her more than he already did. "Now, what's the plan?"