"Where are we even going?" Chenle asked calmly as they walked down the street, pausing to pick a small weed that was growing in the cracked concrete. He heald it up to his eyes and observed the flowers pure white petals before running to catch up with the others, giving the flower to Jisung. The younger added it to their growing collection with a satisfied hum, bending over to pick a yellow flower from the ground next to the sidewalk. Renjun watched them fondly before looking to Jeno, also curious of the answer.

"Anywhere that's not here.." Jeno answered lowly. Renjun sighed and turned back to the younger boys.

"Somewhere wonderful. And safe." He assured. Chenle smiled, looking up from the pill bug on his finger with a fond smile towards Renjun.

"Do you really think we can ever find somewhere safe.." He asked softly, turning his attention back to the small bug as it crawled on his finger. Renjun slowed his pace to match Chenle's, stroking the boys hair gently.

"Of course. Jeno will find somewhere for us. He always does." He insisted. Jaemin watched them interact carefully, noticing how Renjun was like a mother to all of them. He must've taken up the role of caretaker after the apocalypse..

Looking at it, many of them seemed to fit a role. Jeno seemed like the defender, Renjun was the caretaker who did the cooking and such, Chenle and Jisung seemed to be the gatherers of the group while Mark and Donghyuck seemed to be like less powerful versions of Jeno and Renjun. They were like the basic Pokemon while Jeno and Renjun were stage two evolutions. Jaemin smiled to himself.

All those years of Pokemon were paying off.

"Hey, Jaemin," The said boy looked up, his smile fading as he heard Jeno's voice. He picked up the pace to be walking beside the boy. He felt like this was special, like everytime he got to talk to Jeno it was an honor. Honestly thinking back to it, he felt honored that he got a smile out of him before, because he didn't seem like the smiling type.

"Yes Jeno?" He responded. The older sighed and continued to look ahead as they walked.

"Well, I was wondering about your story I guess. Like, where did you come from, how'd you get here.. We're there any survivors where you were?" He asked. Jaemin nodded slowly, clutching the straps of the two backpacks between his fingers. He had offered to carry Jeno's bag since the olders back hurt.

"Well, I come from a small town a little ways away from here. Nothing very exciting happens there but you know.. The apocalypse doesn't care. My uh... My parents died and so I fled, of course. And I just kinda ended up here." He said, finishing with a shrug. Jeno nodded, turning to look at him with a small smile.

"Well, welcome then.. To our group I mean. We aren't much but," he paused, looking one by one at all of them including Mark and Donghyuck. "We're all we have left." Jaemin smiled gently, nodding his head as they continued down the street.

"Jeno! Look!!" Chenle yelled excitedly, running ahead of them.

"Slow down! And lower your voice, please." Jeno scolded as he walked faster after the boy. He froze when he saw what Chenle was pointing at, slowly raising his head to look up at the large building towering in the distance before them. Chenle had stopped in his tracks allowing the others to catch up to him.

"Holy shit.. What is that place..." Jaemin asked softly. Jeno smirked at him.

"That my friend, is our best chance for survival.."

"Well what is it?" Mark asked sternly, crossing his arms. Renjun turned to him with a warm smile.

"That's central. It's the largest building in the city- and as the name suggests, the central area. It serves many important purposes. They host important meetings there, house many important people, it even serves as the visitor center. It's our best chance at survival because-"

"That's where the government put our fallout shelter." Jeno finished, turning to look at them with a sigh. Chenle moved back to Jisung's side and they all looked at Jeno expectantly. "We have to go there. It's our best chance at survival even if there are other survivors there. The Zombies cant get into the fallout shelter and the government keeps a significant stash of food down there, all non perishable. They have medication, food, water, safety..." Jeno trailed off as he turned back to look at the large building in the distance. "Safety." He repeated before turning back to look at them, a determined smile now on his face. "For now, we need to find somewhere do spend the night. Any ideas?"

Chenle immediately raised his hand.

"Ooo! Jeno! Me! Me!" Jeno sighed and looked around.

"Anyone?" Chenle groaned.

"Jeno!" He whined. The older rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Alright then Chenle. Lead the way."

- 🏢 -

That's how they ended up standing in front of a crumbling Target, fire littering the crushed cars in the parking lot around them.

Jeno sighed.

"Chenle, this wasn't exactly my idea of safe." The younger shrugged at Jeno's words before running to the doors.

"Come on! If we're lucky, we might find some food of something in-" Chenle was cut off by a loud scream as a pair of arms reached out and grabbed him, wrapping around his body and placing a hand over his mouth to silence him before he was dragged into the darkness.

"God fucking damnit.." Jeno muttered, turning to Jaemin with a sigh. "Gun." He said, hand outstretched. Jaemin nodded, reaching in the bag and getting out the required item. He handed it to Jeno before getting out his own, setting the bag on the ground.

"I'm coming with you." Jeno shook his head.

"Hell no. You didn't even know what a shredder was when it was running full speed after you." Jaemin scoffed.

"So? You can teach me then."

"Exactly, I can teach you. Wait out here with the others." Jeno said before walking away into the building, not letting Jaemin say another word. The younger huffed, shaking his head and rolling up his sleeves before running after Jeno, leaving the others to stand in the parking lot and wait.

The building was left in complete ruin, floors covered in smears of dirt and blood, shelves completely emptied, the only light coming from seemingly purposeful holes in the roof.

Jeno scanned the area carefully, flinching to the side when he heard a high pitched giggle echo in the darkness.

"Damn Joy.. His friends are cute too." One voice said.

"Yep. And just as foolish." Jeno growled and pulled out his gun, ready for one of them to come out from the darkness.

The silence was becoming deafening when suddenly someone lunged at him, pushing him to the ground. He looked up to see a short girl with long brown hair had swung a bat at the position he hand once been. Hovering over him was Jaemin who gave him a crooked smile.

"I'm a physical learner. Kinesthetic." He remarked, tapping his forehead before rolling off of him. He stood up quickly and picked up his own gun which he had dropped before lunging to push Jeno out of the way. Jeno watched as Jaemin stood up, shooting at her but nowhere vital- mostly at her feet to try and handicap her in a way. She jumped back, growling at him and running forward again. With a chuckle and a shrug, Jaemin leaped away, firing more shots towards the girl. One ended up hitting her foot and she screamed, wincing and falling to the ground. When she did, two more girls emerged, one running to her side and the other going to stand in front of Jaemin.

"Why are you trying to shoot her?" The women asked, her long black hair shining in the dim light.

"Why was she trying to beat my best friend with a bat!?" Jaemin fired back. The lady furrowed her brows and turned.

"Is that true Joy?" She asked. The girl on the ground gave a whine at the pain in her foot.

"He had a gun.." She whined, pointing to Jeno who stood up and began to walk over to Jaemin. The younger grabbed his hand and pulled him over.

"Are you hurt..?" He whispered to the older, looking him up and down. Jeno shook his head.

"Well just because he has a gun doesn't mean he's gonna shoot." The lady remarked, walking over to stand in front of Joy. She sighed and looked at the other girl. "Yeri, take Joy back, Wendy can take care of her foot." She said with a sigh before turning back to the boys. "My names Irene. Why are you two here?" Jeno and Jaemin exchanged a glance.

"Well, one of our friends was standing outside and got dragged in by someone." Irene nodded slowly at Jeno's words, tapping her chin a bit.

"That must be the new boy that Joy brought to us. Don't worry he's safe. Would you like to stay for a while? Maybe have a warm meal, spend a night or two?" Jeno and Jaemin exchanged another glance, the younger nodding.

"Well.. We have some more friends outside so if they can come in to rest as well..." Jaemin asked. "And we wouldn't stay longer then one night. We have somewhere we're heading anyways." Irene nodded.

"Alright. Well, I'll come with you to get your friends, then I'll take all of you to our base. We'll have all of you comfortable in no time!" She said with a smile. A smile formed on Jaemin's face at the sight, but Jeno remained emotionless.

He didn't trust her.

Then again, he didn't trust anyone.

I mean, it's the fucking apocalypse so, makes sense.

"Alright, let's go."

-TBC-