⊹ restaurant.

@kim mingyu. There had been many stories about Ansikjeo when Ten was a young boy. Newspapers wouldn’t stop reporting about the ‘safe haven’ and the updates on it. Government being built, civilisation being gathered, order being restored — everything on the progress of this sanctuary had been recorded with each announcements released, and any healthy men who came across the articles would be given directions to the safe city without fail.

Back in Unmong, it didn’t seem necessary for locals to move to Ansikjeo. With the small population, it was easy to tell apart the dead from the living. Everyone knew everyone there, so if someone seemed out of place, they could tell instantly. Not only that, according to the map, Ansikjeo was a long way out. Why should they risk their own safety to get to this big city when they could just stay here where very few corpses come about to maul them?

Of course, that was before the biggest outbreak five years ago, but even before then, they were pretty much safe, so they didn’t see a need to go on a trip to this sanctuary and possibly be attacked by walking dead along the way.

As Ten walked through the ruins of the once lively refuge, he took in the sight of what had been the remaining lives on Earth. At some point, informations about this harbour stopped — it was around the same time the residents of Unmong who had been bitten by these zombies passed on before unceremoniously reviving and attacking the nearest breathing human. To see what survivors once called a ‘holy place’ in such a pitiful state made him sad, wondering if the same tragedy had caused the downfall of if there had been other factors contributing to the destruction of prime Ansikjeo.

Ten picked up noises some distance away, prompting him to glance to the general direction. He cursed softly as he noticed a zombie wandering around the corner, and to make matters worse, it seemed to have sensed his presence as it turned its head to where he stood. The air in his lungs left him as the milky orbs wavered, jaw slacking in a howl before it charged forward, the sudden movement shocking the Thai into spinning on his heel and running the opposite direction, as fast as his legs could carry him.

He wasn’t sure if this zombie was an original corpse or a mutated infected, so he opted to just sprint for his life. He could hear it giving chase, and by the sound of its feet stomping loudly on the ground, he figured this was a once living human before the infection took it. He cussed under his breath before turning into an abandoned restaurant, giving a quick once over to make sure the coast was clear before entering any further, pulling out his pistol and machete.

Ten jumped over a counter before looking back to the entrance, just in time for the zombie to appear. It had a sickening expression on its face, lips twisted oddly as if smiling smugly in victory for cornering him. The human however wasn’t fazed, levelling his gun at the dead while the hand gripping his machete supported the weight, a position a police would adopt while handling their weapon and a torchlight.

“Come at me, you little ,” spat Ten daringly, pulling the trigger, going for the head.