Hayoon seemed so nice, so genuine that Jooyeon nearly found herself slipping into tried and true habits of socializing. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Jooyeon would’ve sat down and sparked a conversation that could last for hours and gushed about her life with the other girl. She always had a talent for talking about nothing for long periods of time, which helped in her speaking classes, but not so much in real-world applications. But her college classes were the farthest thing from her mind right now. If the state of the world was in complete disarry like she thought, then there would be no hope of returning to a normal lifestyle. That thought alone was enough to spook her, but, thankfully, Hayoon’s presence seemed to give her a bit of courage.
Ideally, she didn’t want to think about other people. It was selfish, but Jooyeon knew it would be a key component to her own survival. If she allowed herself to wonder what happened to her parents, her friends, her classmates, her neighbors… The despair would be too heavy for her to handle on her own and it would only drown her in the end. If she wanted to keep her head above water, she needed to focus on the priorities of survival: food and water.
However, if her sociology classes had taught her anything, it was that humans were a social species and social interactions were also key to her survival. This was the notion she clung to as her logic told her that trusting a stranger was a bad idea. After all, wasn’t everyone a stranger until you meet them? Her best friend was a stranger until Jooyeon spilled chocolate milk on her in third grade. Hell, her own father was a stranger until she first clenched her little fist around his finger. Who was to say that Hayoon couldn’t be trustworthy? And who could truly say that Jooyeon was, either? Who was to say that one of the wouldn’t turn on the other if circumstances came down to it? As a young woman raised in privilege, she never had to wonder about things like that before. Now, though, these were the most important things to consider while trying to survive.
“Yeah, I’ve seen them. It’s not pretty.” She bit her tongue, holding back the information she wanted to give up so easily. It would feel so nice to have the weight of her sins off of her shoulders, but how would Hayoon react to knowing the truth? That Jooyeon had been forced to murder her own neighbors in an effort to survive? Where did the line between moral and logic meet? “My neighbors turned, so..”
She left it at that, hoping that the other girl wouldn’t ask too many questions about it. A part of Jooyeon was jealous that Hayoon hadn’t stumbled across any of the sick yet. With a baby in tow, she could only suspect that running from a horde of seething humanoids wouldn’t be an easy task. And yet, it made her weaker in a way. It meant that, should Hyerin and Hayoon join her for the trek to the store, they would most likely encounter their first undead along the way. With a baby being unpredictable and a human’s natural reactions to fear, having her tag along was a huge risk.
But she couldn’t leave them behind. Not when they weren’t safe. Bringing them with her was dangerous, but so was leaving them here. It was a choice of picking the lesser of two evils and, luckily, Jooyeon didn’t have to think too hard about it. The world was still at the beginning of it’s decline and her morals were still somewhat intact, so the choice was clear.
“This is going to sound silly, but it’s important to answer honesty, okay?” Clearing her throat, Jooyeon took a deep breath. “What kind of baby is Hyerin? I mean, she seems sweet and mild, but.. How is she normally, behavior-wise? Is she colicky? Is she scared of dogs, or clowns, or anything? Basically.. H-How do you think she would react if she saw one of them up close?”
Based off of Hayoon’s answers, Jooyeon would have to figure out whether bringing Hyerin along for the food search was a good idea or not. If the baby cried or gurgled at an inopportune time, it could spell out death for all three of them. Finding supplies was imperative, but so was being quiet.
hayoon really didn’t want to think about the fact that the world she knew was gone forever. logically, she knew this was it. she was never going to finish her phd like she had planned or move to a bigger apartment with her friends that could fit them all better than the one they had. her old life was over -- she knew that, logically. she had seen enough movies to know there was no going back from this. but it was something she was keeping as repressed as possible. she didn’t need any more negativity beyond the here and now. there were more pressing dangers to worry about. and if she started thinking about how much she missed her friends, she might go insane.
and she had the baby to think about. so she couldn’t worry much about her own safety and wellbeing. as long as hyerin was okay, hayoon figured, then she was doing okay as well.
she wanted to believe jooyeon meant well for them both. people were generally good when you gave them the chance to be, she believed. and the fact that jooyeon had stopped to talk to them at all had to mean something. it would have been easy to brush her off or openly distrust her. hayoon couldn’t really imagine that she was malicious.
she listened to her talk about her neighbors with an understanding nod. part of her wanted to ask for more information, but she couldn’t bring herself to. she knew it was horrible, either way, and she understood not wanting to talk about it. especially in the presence of a kid -- not that hyerin was old enough to really understand, but still.
she had come to terms with what it would mean when she first would be forced to interact with one of the dead. she wasn’t overly worried about herself -- she knew what she would have to do, had made peace with it in her mind. but she couldn’t be sure how hyerin would react.
hayoon knew what jooyeon was getting at about hyerin immediately. she had already weighed all the risks of bringing her along and she knew it was a gamble. if she threw a tantrum at the wrong time, it would mean death for all of them. not to mention the practical problems like diapers and food -- babies couldn’t exactly survive on the same range of bare necessities that hayoon could.
but ultimately, every time she thought about it, she came to the same conclusion. she couldn’t just leave her behind. it was either both of them or neither of them.
“she’s not scared of dogs. her neighbor had a dog that they used to bring over to play sometimes and she loved him,” she explained, easily rattling off information about the baby. she’d already thought of most of this, anyway, even though it didn’t change her decision to bring her along. maybe she was being naive, or biased, or something. she wasn’t the best at making decisions for her own survival when other people were involved. “she gets spooked by loud noises, and she’s scared of storms, especially ones with thunder and lightning. i don’t think she’s ever seen a clown.”
“she’s usually pretty chill, honestly. she’s very shy and mild-mannered. but she’s also a rich kid, so she’s pretty privileged,” hayoon continued honestly. “she’s never gone hungry before, so i don’t know what will happen if she doesn’t get food and a nice place to sleep before she gets too cranky.”