Baby my heart beats for you (if it could) (2/?)
Title: Baby my heart beats for you (if it could) (2/5)
Characters: SHINee, Jaejoong, Jo Kwon, Jaebum, Chansung, Heechul and Taecyeon in this chapter
Previous Chapters: (1)
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour, Horror
Pairing: slight OnewxKey
Summary: AU. Jinki is all alone in a zombie infested world and Key is a member of GLEE
1.
Jinki finds himself back in school, back in Korea. That pretty girl Gwiboon who sits beside him is checking her hair and makeup (as usual), Siwon hyung is on his way to Chapel for weekly organ lessons, and the teacher is writing differential equations on the blackboard. Jinki sighs happily and copies them down neatly, line by line, taking great care to colour-code the different symbols. He beams in glee as the teacher passes by and gives him an approving nod; he almost dies when Gwiboon looks at him (he pretends it’s not in disgust) and almost hugs his sheet in glee. But of course he doesn’t, because that would mess up his hard work. The sun shines through the window and he basks in the glow, inhaling a deep breath of fresh Seoul air. Surprisingly he doesn’t break into a hacking cough but Jinki brushes this off in favour of staring at the beautiful bird that is now warbling at him.
“Wake up~”
Jinki smiles dreamily and looks around for something to feed it with. If he’s sneaky the teacher won’t notice…
“WAKE UP! JESUS!”
No, thinks Jinki, Siwon isn’t anywhere near here. The bird is hopping closer and its eyes are expanding, until they bug out of its head...Hey, says Jinki’s brain, This bird can change colours too!
“Oh for the love of me,” says the bird, “WAKE UP!”
Jinki jolts back to reality, flailing, crying out for the bird to please stop bitch-slapping him.
Rather, instead of a talking bird, he sees the same boy from earlier stuffing various food items into his backpack.
“Stranger danger, stranger danger!” Jinki shrieks and the boy gives an even harder back-hand, knocking him into state of temporary confusion.
“Come on; help me get as much stuff as possible. I haven’t got all day you know, we only have about two hours of sunlight left.”
Seeing Jinki was still in a daze the other frowns.
“Move it!”
Jinki dodges the packet of chips, grins happily as he does, and falls through a half-open door.
“What’s wrong with you?” asks the other boy from outside, still grabbing things. From where he lies, Jinki sees him raiding the refrigerators. Looking up Jinki sees a low ceiling, a shelf upon which are buckets and a mop. He determines he is in the janitors closet and tried to get up but his arms won’t move. Jinki sighs-the mops must have fallen on him or maybe he’s knocked another shelf off. Except…Mops don’t feel so…Clammy. Jinki freezes and tries to stop breathing but it’s too late, his adrenalin levels have sky-rocketed and he can practically hear his heart pumping blood. In his mind he envisions the cyborg version of himself, fuel tanks ready and body adjusting so he grows into an awesome piece of cube technology-OPTIMUS PRIME his brain screams-but oh God. Something shifts beside him. Jinki’s lower lip wibbles and he peeks out of one eye to his left. Maggot filled sockets gaze into his own and Jinki swears one of the worms sneered at him.
“Jinkies, “ he mumbles before screaming.
2.
Kibum has almost finished organizing all the food and canned drinks he could cram, into his backpack. Looking at the other boy’s tiny bag, he snorts. How the hell did he survive for so long? And why the hell is he taking so long to come out of the closet? Nice one, says his consciousness, you’re too funny. Kibum smirks, he is awesome after all.
A loud scream comes out of the supply closet and Kibum drops the backpack and runs for it, knife in hand. The other boy is kicking and trying desperately to come out- Kibum’s brain laughs-of the closet whilst using a mop to fend off the eyeless zombie attached to his arms.
“Help meeeee,” he wails, thrashing wildly against his captor. Kibum swears; he can’t use his knife if that idiot is in the way. Grabbing a can of soda he shakes it hurriedly before letting it rip. A wave of fizzy, carbonated drink shoots at the pair and the zombie lets out a low moan as it lets go of the boy. The other stumbles out of the closet, pushing his wet bangs out of his face. Kibum resists the urge to face-palm as he watches the boy trip, his legs entangling with the mop.
“Give me that,” snaps Kibum, and pushes him behind. Something wet is on his forehead, shit, he’s perspiring. He makes a note to grab more hair-gel after he kicks this zombie’s ass.
The zombie lurches to its feet, remnants of a convenience store uniform hanging off its grey, rotting frame. Kibum launches the mop, javelin style, and unsheathes his knife as it pierces the zombie’s leg.
“Get me some alcohol, now!” he orders and the other boy looks puzzled.
“Is that really appropriate? I mean you’re underage right? And the situation”
“JUST GET ME SOME!”
The boy jumps to attention and disappears into another aisle. He reappears as Kibum slices and dices a hand with ease, stops, and watches with morbid fascination. Kibum senses him and holds out a hand as the other continues cutting through zombie flesh.
“The alcohol?”
The boy nods and passes him a six pack of beer. Kibum jams his foot down and pushes, the mop rips through the torso of the zombie. This one is weak, thank goodness.
Jinki watches as the other boy rips open the beer cans with his teeth, his heart skipping a beat.
“Amazing,” he breathes and a hint of a smile shows on the other boy.
“Quick, get me a lighter or something!” shouts the other, dousing the zombie in beer. Jinki rushes to the counter and grabs a bunch of colourful lighters and narrowly avoids tripping on the ones he drops. He scans the pile and throws the boy a pink one. The boy leaps back like a cat and drops the lighter onto the zombie which is letting out horrible moans.
“Shit,” cries the other boy, when the zombie staggers to its feet despite being inflamed. Jinki grabs the nearest bottle of alcohol and smashes it on its head. He whines in pain as a shard of glass cuts his finger. It does the trick though and the zombie collapses onto the floor, twitching.
“We gotta get out of here, it’s getting dark,” says the other and grabs his backpack. Jinki reaches for his and they run out of the store, chests heaving. Suddenly the other boy turns back towards the store. Jinki stops and blinks. The boy comes back out at break-neck speed, hits him on the head as he races by.
Jinki doesn’t ask and Kibum doesn’t tell but later when they’re back in the bank (Jinki’s safehouse! :D), Jinki has a plaster on his finger.
3.
“So…” begins Jinki, “What’s your name? How old are you?”
No response. The other boy continues to check Jinki’s make-shift shelter on the second floor of the bank.
“Where are you from?”
The other boy huffs.
“Korea obviously.” He turns back to studying the security cameras.
“I’m born in 1989, how about”
“1991.”
Jinki makes a :O face.
“So you have to call me hyung!”
The look he receives makes his friend down south shrivel. Jinki fingers the hem of his school shirt nervously.
“No, I meant where were you before you got here. I was in the rainforest!”
He tries to give a friendly smile but when he gets no answer he pouts and curls up into a ball. The other boy continues to make a parameter of the room and barricades the door with chairs and a table before kicking a potted plant in front of the table for extra support.
“Have you heard any news?”
Jinki brightens up.
“Two days ago I heard people were moving South. My classmates and I…We were going to try to reach the airport with our teachers.”
“I heard the same. Though I don’t think there are any pilots left here. Everyone with half a brain left at least five days ago when this started.”
Jinki feels his spirits sink. Five days ago….That was when he was still in the rainforest. Three days ago they arrived in KL, late at night. The next morning…He didn’t want to think about that.
4.
Jinki watches as the other boy prepares dinner (cup ramyun), chopping scallions he’d produced from his backpack with comfortable ease. He had forbidden Jinki from coming near- “You’re a walking accident”-and so Jinki sat, salivating. He hadn’t even noticed the kettle in the room.
“Sooooo,” Jinki begins. The frequency of chopping increases and the boy’s eyebrow twitches ever so slightly. Jinki pretends not to notice.
“I was wondering…Since, you know, we’re in this together and all and I believe in getting to know each other since it’s an important time in our lives in which we may both perish or get turned into mindless zombies…”
The kettle starts whistling and the other boy grabs it, pouring out the water with a look of forced concentration.
“I mean, it’s been proven scientifically and I heard they did this experiment in Germany a while back with chimpanzees which had a 99% success rate with the 1% due to the fact one was sexually confused…”
“….”
“So, since we’re trying to make it out alive and we’re comrades,”
“I’m not a fucking communist!” snaps the other and points the knife at Jinki’s jugular. He gulps and speed-rambles.
“Ijustwantedtoknowyourname?”
A bowl of ramyun gets shoved before him and chopsticks land beside them.
“Thanks!”
Jinki attacks the bowl with vigour having eaten only two energy bars and a packet of raisins for breakfast, plus some weird energy drink called “Tongkat Ali” he’d found outside an abandoned club. That one made him feel happy. Very happy. The smell of the cup ramyun made him realize just how hungry he was and he was halfway through shoving the noodles down his throat before-
“OW, it burns!”
Wordlessly the other hands him a bottle of cold water.
“Mmph?”
A finger points to a mini-fridge hidden in a corner that Jinki swears was never there before. When he regains the power of speech he declares the other boy is like a walking convenience store and that he’s definitely sticking with him ‘til death by brutal zombie do they part.
“Go quickly and quietly, asap,” mutters the other but Jinki doesn’t notice, too busy sucking the plastic pot dry.
“Sooo,” starts Jinki, again.
“It’s Kibum.”
“Oh.”
Jinki shuts up. The other boy looks immensely relieved and chucks the empty ramyun containers at him.
“I cooked, you clean. I get first dibs on the dinky little bathroom here, you reinforce the door and windows, got it?”
He sweeps out of the room and the bathroom door slams shut. Jinki blinks. Kibum…
5.
One week ago, hours before the freaking apocalypse happened, Kibum was sunning himself alongside other members of the GLEE club on a nice beach in Phuket, Thailand. Kibum was pleased for this beach was fat-free (literally) and fabulous (like himself).
“Man, this is the life,” said the GLEE leader, one Park Jaebum. Kibum silently admired his pink swimming trucks (“Fuck you Chansung, real men wear pink!”) and sipped his Long Island iced tea pensively as he turned to spotting the number of fake items (so far he’d counted 15). Another senior member, Kim Heechul, was shamelessly ogling the blond lifeguard and stroking his bow thoughtfully. Kibum chose to ignore the placement of said bow or waste time wondering why the hell he’d even brought that to the beach. In the water, vice-president Kim Jaejoong was flailing about like some retarded sea lion; secretary Jo Kwon was trying to push him under whilst also trying to stick a sea cucumber….Yeah. And Chansung… Hwang Chansung was chasing crabs with his Italian towel.
“God, why can’t you all shut up?! I’m trying to relax!” cried Jaebum, chucking his spade at Chansung who giggled and scuttled away towards the coconut trees. Kibum sighed and lay back down, re-adjusting his vintage Chanel sunglasses for men. Zhoumi hyung had given them as an early Christmas present in addition to a do-it-yourself cocktail set complete with shaker and mini bottles of various alcohols.
“Dinner time!” announced Jaejoong, brandishing a gigantic picnic basket. Kibum could practically taste the food inside-Jaejoong-hyung was his cooking role model, the Julia to his Julie, the Martha Stewart to….Kibum wasn’t a housewife. Heechul scurried over looking smug (he must’ve gotten the lifeguard’s number) and held his hands open to receive a plate.
“Hey, where’s the chicken?” Jaejoong’s brow creased as he stared at the empty plate.
“There’s no chicken?!” Jaebum’s stomach growled.
“Oh mai gawd,” said Jo Kwon, “It’s gone.”
Jaebum gaped, then turned slowly to look from left to right.
“That pig…I’m going to kill him.”
There was a shuffling sound beyond the shadow of the jungle.
“You fucking bear, come back here with the chicken!”
Jaebum leapt to his feet, grabbing Heechul’s bow and arrows on the way (ok, Kibum really wanted to know why he had those here) as he sprinted as gracefully as one does across sand, into the trees.
There was some swearing, a whole lot of shouting and then Chansung was running helter-skelter across the sand back towards them.
“Oh,” said Jaejoong happily, “It was under the pudding.”
Dinner was cleared off in the space of about five seconds and they were walking past one of the usual party bon-fires other tourists had lit, Heechul flitting off to his lifeguard, a scary grin on his face. Jaejoong said something about returning the picnic basket before he and Jo Kwon disappeared into the darkness; Chansung following in the hope of joining the all-you-can-eat buffet in the hotel restaurant. Jaebum bobbed his head along to the music before breaking out in full b-boy mode, dragging Kibum into the crowd with him. The flames flickered and light shone on writhing bodies as beer was passed around and layers were peeled off in the tropical heat. Kibum had just jumped over Jaebum when a girl staggered out of the jungle, screaming. Her top was ripped and there were cuts all over her bare legs, blood streaming down them as she clutched the ribbons of skin to her face.
“Help, please, he attacked me!” A group of people who looked to be her friends ran over to her but most of the crowd continued to party, fueled by alcohol and the heat.
Kibum stopped to watch and one guy lifted her up and the group started towards the hotel when there was a load groan and someone else emerged from the jungle. From a distance it looked like another tourist, a male tourist, but the girl noticed and began to scream louder, pounding her friend’s chest furiously, urging him to go faster, run.
“Dude, what the hell is your problem?”
One other male friend-another b-boy who’d had a dance-battle with Jaebum earlier-approached the hunched figure, shoving his chest angrily. The figure groaned and gripped his arms before-and here Kibum felt like throwing up-biting one clean off.
“Shit,” exclaimed Jaebum, turning wide-eyes to an equally terrified Kibum. The man howled, using his one good hand to try and punch the other, legs kicking furiously at his torso. Kibum gagged when one kick broke some ribs, the sound of cracking bone and the sight of the protruding rib too much. Chaos broke out, people calling for police, others attempting to break them up physically with hands and feet, sticks and stones. Another figure crawled out of the forest and attacked a man holding a branch, leaping onto his back before grabbing his neck and-
“We’ve got to run, now,” said Kibum, starting to sprint. Jaebum was right beside him as they made a break for it, bonfire long forgotten as they stampeded with other tourists towards to hotel and the bright lights. They were on the fringe of the crowd, skirting around a narrow bend when a girl vanished from beside Jaebum; a boy tripping over a root and being dragged into the forest before Kibum’s eyes.
“Shit shit shit,” said Jaebum, increasing his speed, “This isn’t normal.”
“We should get in the middle,” said Kibum and they both pushed their way into the centre of the panicking crowd, watching grimly as one by one, those on the edges vanished. Kibum wanted to help but the screams that came after followed by the crick-crack, the snapping, the moans…He wanted to get the hell out.
“Fuck, I’m never trusting Taecyeon again on holiday destinations,” said Jaebum, panting.
“We need to warn the others!” said Kibum, looking as far as he could for Heechul. Inwardly he swore, the red-head was nowhere to be seen. Kibum sincerely hoped he hadn’t been doing it au naturel in the forest because if he became like one of those…Whatever they were…He didn’t even want to think about that.
“Shit,” breathed Jaebum as they reached the hotel. It was totally overrun with those things, they were everywhere and leeching onto everyone.
“Room first, got to find the others!” ordered Jaebum, grabbing a decorative oar, Kibum grabbing a discarded mop. Luckily their room was on the ground floor and in the melee they made it to their balcony. The sliding door was open, curtain shifting with the breeze and there was blood and-God, was that a finger?-clothes were strewn everywhere and Jaejoong’s favourite bag was torn to shreds. Jaebum entered cautiously, signaling for Kibum to close the sliding door. Holding the oar he made his way to the half-open bathroom, peering inside before he collapsed, half in relief, half in fatigue.
“Nothing, they’re not here. They took their weapons with them though.”
So Jaejoong, Jo Kwon and hopefully, he really hoped, Chansung-hyungs were somewhere out there and alive.
Next Jaebum pressed his ear to the door which connected the two rooms the club had booked, before slowly opening it. He looked through the small crack-nothing. The room was as they had left it.
“Quick, grab your bags and let’s get out of here.”
Kibum was already shoving clothes and supplies into his backpack, tossing the bottled water from the fridge to Jaebum. The fire alarm sounded and the loud-speaker crackled to life.
All hotel guests please stay in your rooms, the police and extra security forces are on the way; please remain calm.
They kept packing-Kibum mentally smacked himself as he almost forgot his toiletries. Jaebum loaded his gun and strapped the extra bullets to the vest hidden beneath his hoodie. They both froze when they heard shuffling noises outside-something was moving outside their window. Jaebum inhaled deeply, sinking down beneath the cover of the bed. Closer to the window, Kibum chose to hide in the cupboard, keeping watch through the rattan wood-work. One of those horrible figures was outside, no doubt trying to find a way in. From what he could see, it seemed to be looking inside through the gauze-like curtain. Seeing there was nobody inside, it moved on. From what seemed like an eternity later, Kibum heard a yell, clanging and then silence.
“We’re getting out of here, no matter what they said. I’m not staying here to be eaten alive or whatever the hell those things do.” Jaebum adjusted his cap and hoodie one more time before looking through the peephole in the door. Kibum shoved the rest of the luggage they couldn’t bring into the cupboard, praying silently they’d be able to come back and get them.
“What about Hee”
“He’ll be fine.”
Jaebum didn’t look at him. The hotel corridor was eerily quiet but once they reached the lobby they were back into the chaos. Police were shooting frantically at the things, who shuddered as the bullets hit their body before recovering. Kibum felt bile rise in his throat as one policeman knocked a head clean off, watched it bounce across the marble floor. The thing-once a man-was grey, ashen, like there was no blood in its veins. Come to think of it, none of them seemed to bleed.
“Zombies,” Kibum gasped, “Holy shit, they’re undead.”
“Come on!” cried Jaebum, “Get in!”
He was sitting at the wheel of a pick-up truck, waving at Kibum furiously. A zombie launched itself at the truck and he pressed the accelerator, crushing it. Kibum tore across the remainder of the lobby, dodging policemen, tourists and zombies as he dove through the passenger door, slamming it shut and Jaebum sped off.
“Airport,” panted Jaebum, “We’re going back where everything is sane, and normal and not like a really bad version of Thriller.”
“But Jaejoong, Kwon”
“No,” Jaebum’s voice was hard, “We can’t. They know the drill, they know how to survive. We’re all members of the fucking Guns, Leather, Explosives and Espionage (“Who the fuck made this club name? Oh wait, Boom-hyung did in ‘97”) club, they’ll be fine.”
Jaebum’s eyes were hard and his throat sounded choked. Kibum felt like punching someone, especially a zombie. The road was quieter than they expected, but filled with speeding cars in both directions. Jaebum turned on the radio, cursing as nothing but Thai came out. Finally, Kibum found an English station which was playing a gay pop song by some band called 2PM (“What kind of stupid name is that?” snarled Jaebum, twisting the wheel to avoid a motorbike).
Everyone who can hear this, head for the airport. The government is dealing with the outbreak and requests for all tourists to head for the airport where emergency planes are being organized. It is safe. For those who cannot reach the airport, use whatever you can to get out of Phuket. The government is trying to solve this. Bangkok is currently safe but we are evacuating all citizens until further notice.
Kibum drummed his fingers on the seat nervously, watching the signs leading to the airport.
“Thank God,” said Jaebum as the pulled into the departure zone, “We can get out of this.”
Kibum’s phone buzzes and caller ID says Jaejoong-hyung.
“Hello?” Kibum holds his breath, Jaebum watching from the corner of his eye.
“Kibum? Are you ok, where are you?!” Jaejoong sounds tired, worried. Kibum pictures him biting his lip nervously, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
“I’m with Jaebum-hyung heading for the airport. We got a pickup truck, where are you?”
“With Kwon in a police car, also headed for the airport, we’ll meet you there.”
“The other hyungs?”
There’s a pause before Jaejoong continues.
“I saw Heechul leave by speedboat with that lifeguard and some others…I don’t know where Chansung is. We lost him leaving the hotel.”
Silence fills the line and Jaebum’s jaw tightens. Kibum forgot he was on speakerphone.
“Ok…Meet you at the airport then.”
“Stay safe,” pleads Jaejoong, Jo Kwon sniffling softly in the background and the line goes dead. Kibum stares dumbly at his Chloe Sevigny wallpaper.
“We’re getting out of here,” whispers Jaebum softly, giving a cracked smile to Kibum. It looks more like a grimace but somehow, he manages to give one back.
One day later Jaebum lies dead in a Bangkok hotel room as Kibum sobs, holding the gun in one hand and a plane ticket to KL in another. The curtains flicker as the flames dance, and Kibum leaves forever.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who commented last time...This chapter turned out longer than expected -__-;. Comments are love!
Edit: Also to clarify, Tongkat Ali is a herb drink which is supposed to improve men's virility..