+ warnings: violence, le killing of le zombies, some swearing
+ summary: after months of travel, you, yoonbin and your group finally arrive at a community. rumor has it, it is one of the safest in the country, but are those just rumors?
+ parts: pt.1 | pt.2 | —
+ notes: i’ve been wanting to writing a zombie!AU for the LONGEST time and i finally got around to doing it! also: i know for sure that there will be 2 parts, but after that im not sure,, it depends on how many people want more parts!
You tredge behind your group, worn leather boots silent despite the forest ground being covered in fallen branches and crunchy autumn leaves. Your calves are beginning to ache due to the steep incline.
“Y/N!” Jihoon calls back to you, “C’mon, catch up!” You cringe. His voice is startlingly loud in the cautious quiet you had fallen into since you got to the woods. The others whip towards him and shush him.
Yoonbin is behind the group as well, but still several paces ahead of you. He turns and gives you a meek smile. Despite the pulse of pain going down your leg, you return his smile. He falls behind until he’s walking next to you. His presence is familiar, calming.
“We’re almost there,” he says, taking your hands in his. “Hyunsuk says it should be just over this hill.”
You nod, relieved. Your group had been walking through this forest all day. You first left camp at the crack of dawn. The sun was just rising over the far horizon, it’s orange and gold rays threatening to spill over the edge of the world. Now, it was behind you, and you were afraid that it would set before you made it to the new community.
If there is a community at all, that is. It was, of course, only a rumor. A rumor that had been passed on from person to person for who knows how long. Realistically, it could have gone down months ago and no one would have really known it.
You were so preoccupied in your thoughts that you didn’t noticed you were on the top of the hill until you bump into Doyoung. He doesn’t care, his eyes fixed on the land below the hill.
“It’s real,” he says, his voice nothing more than a soft whisper. “It’s actually real.”
You look up and your breath leaves you. At the bottom of the hill, there was a community. From this angle, you could see dozens of buildings, with up to three storeys. You could see a large patch of green, which you could only assume was a garden. All of this was surrounded by two rows of barriers — concrete, then wire fencing. It was an impressive setup.
You were was close enough that you could see a few people walking around, so small they could have been ants.
Behind the wire fence, patrolling the entrance attached to a rough, narrow road, were armed guards. There were three from what you could see.
One of them— a man, you could tell— froze when he saw your group. Even from this distance you could see his rifle shift in his hand. Yoonbin, noticing this at the same time as you, quickly lifted his hand in the air, a signal of goodwill. A moment passed and you held your breath.
You didn’t know these people. You didn’t know what they were like. It was a stupid idea, you thought, to go into the community head-on, completely blind. You should have scouted the place first, before you made your presence known.
You curl your fingers around the bottom of Yoonbin’s black windbreaker and are just about to pull him away when the man lifts his hand in return.
The boys around you grin. They start heading down the hill towards the tall fences.
Yoonbin looks at you, amused at your hand still on him. “Hey, it’s gonna be fine” he says calmly, seeing your frown.
You chew your lip, anxiety creeping up your neck. “What if it’s not?”
He rubs your arm softly, trying to calm you down. “Then we get out of there. If anything happens, or we sense that something’s off, we leave.”
You stare up at him, eyebrows creasing. “You say that like its easy.”
His smile is gentle, but his voice is only mildly exasperated. “Y/N.” He kisses your forehead. You close your eyes and lean into his touch. “We don’t know what it’s like until we go there and find out. If we need to leave, we’ll find a way out. We always do.”
You nod into the curve of his neck, mumbling an “okay” into his jacket.
Together, you make your way down the hill.
When you get to the gate, the man from before meets you at the entrance. You’re shocked at how young he is. From up close, you can tell that he was only around your age, maybe a year or two older. You were expecting a man far older than you. For some unknown reason, the sight of someone in their youth patrolling an area with a weapon still shocked you, despite being nearly a year and a half into the apocalypse.
He approaches your group cautiously, rifle in hand. “Here for sanctuary?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Hyunsuk answered, stepping forward.
He frowns, looking your group over. You suddenly feel insecure.
You knew that your camo pants were splattered in mud and was stained in blood no matter how hard you scrubbed. Your face was probably covered in sweat and dirt and blood. You also knew that everyone else in your group looked like that, too. You probably looked like a group of frenzied children who had been living in the woods for years, away from modern civilization. In a way, you kind of were.
This boy, on the other hand, could have passed for a completely normal kid, if it weren’t for the bulletproof vest and gun in his hand. You could tell that his clothing was decently clean. The only scuffed up part of him was his combat boots, worn for months, probably, and covered in blood and mud. At least you had that in common.
But he seemed completely unfazed by your appearances, rather taking in your statures, the way you all stood with your shoulders barely touching, the way your hands rested on the handles of your weapons, ready to jump to action the second it called. The way you glanced at one another, reading one another’s expressions with ease.
You thought you saw him nod in approval. Maybe he’d been there, too— once a part of a group who had been through hell together, quite literally. Who supported and protected each other no matter what.
“Alright, then.” He gestured to the other guard. She was tall with short cropped blonde hair, a mean scar running down her throat. She eyed them suspiciously, but helped him pull the fence aside. “Come on in. I’m Junkyu, by the way. We have safety precautions we have to follow before you enter the community.”
“Like what?” Yoonbin asks.
Junkyu doesn’t answer. He leads you through the entrance. In the middle of the concrete wall is a single heavy metal door. As he approaches it, it buzzes, and he swings it open. He holds it, waiting for you to move.
Everyone is visibly hesitant. You chew your lip nervously, your hand gripping the knife strapped to your thigh. Hyunsuk strides forward, trying to look as confident as possible, and goes in first. The rest of your group follows.
As you walk through the door, you make eye contact with Junkyu. He smiles kindly.
On the other side of the wall, the sun seems to shine brighter. Maybe it was just you, but the colours looked more vibrant, and you could hear distant chatter and laughter.
A man approaches you, far older than Junkyu. “Weapons before entering.”
You look at him incredulously. “You’re taking our weapons?” You exclaim.
”Those are the rules.”
Junkyu is beside the man now. “In order to keep the citizens of our community safe, all weapons are prohibited. We’ve had too many incidents where fights break out between armed men, and you know how they always end. Nothing personal.”
“Hyunsuk?” Jihoon says. You will only follow those rules if Hyunsuk says to.
After a moment of thought, he sighs. He begins unstrapping his holster. “Their community, their rules.”
Mildly disappointed, you take off your weapons. All you had on you was your pistol and a combat knife. You handed that over. After they passed a metal detector over you, you were deemed “clean” and allowed to pass through the final gate. You waited for the others.
You felt naked and vulnerable without your weapons. You were now faced with the fear that if anything were to go wrong, you didn’t have anything on you to defend yourself. Except maybe your belt, and that was a big maybe.
And, of course, your group. You, Yoonbin, Hyunsuk, Jihoon and Doyoung. You could protect each other. It was times like this, you realized, that having strong bonds with the people around mattered the most. This eased your mind.
You watched in amusement as Yoonbin proceeded to basically empty his pockets of weapons. The semiautomatic strapped to his back came off first, then the machete on his chest. He pulled his holster off, containing his pistol, then fished his combat knife out of his boot. Finally, then came the derringer. He placed it all on the table, and stood beside you.
You hear the metal detector go off.
Jihoon smiles nervously at the young girl with the detector, who gives him an exasperated look.
“All of your weapons, please and thank you.”
“Would you believe me if I told you they put metal in my hip when I was a baby?”
“No, I wouldn’t.” She says. When Jihoon does make a move to remove whatever it is that set off the device, she stares him down. Despite being a head smaller than him, her eyes could pierce.
“Fine, it’s my belt!!” Jihoon exclaims. He lifts up his jacket to reveal a thick chain wrapped in his belt loop. “It’s literally just a belt.”
“Take it off!”
“If you want me to undress for you, you could just ask.” Jihoon flirts back.
She is clearly unimpressed. With one hard stamp of her metal-toed boots, Jihoon yelps and clutches his foot. Finally, he unwraps the chain. Turns out, the chain was very long, maybe three feet in length, and very much a weapon. He drops it in her hand.
He sheepishly shrugs at you, and you roll your eyes.
“Okay! I’ll give you the grand tour.” Junkyu suddenly appears at your side, gesturing outwards.
You swallow the hard lump in your throat and follow him. There was no turning back now.
