Being Invisible in the ApocalypseCh3 - If I Die Young

Just a heads up, update schedule might be really sporadic up until the end of April to beginning of May. I’ll still make it one chapter per week, but when those chapters will be up is unknown for now. Enjoy!~

Also just a warning, there’s a lot of angst in the beginning. It doesn’t stay this way I promise!

Chapter 3

Su Yichen told him everything; beginning from when his family got to the house, to when the heat and the pain began. hjdYUa

As Yichen had done before, Kyle quietly listened. By the end of it, the two boys found themselves sitting side by side, shoulders tightly meshed against each other.

“To be honest, I woke up a couple of minutes before you found me,” Yichen confessed, “So I’m not surprised you didn’t know I was in the closet. I was unconscious for the most part.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Yeah, scared the snot of me,” Kyle agreed with a soft chuckle, “I thought that there was another one of them in the closet all this time, and I  just didn’t know. Ya know? I mean… if I really thought about it, that wouldn’t have made sense, but I guess it explains a lot of things.”

Yichen frowned, “What do you mean?” rlnaT3

Kyle paused as if pondering deeply on something, then he changed the topic entirely.

“It’s getting pretty late,” he said, “I know you technically just woke up, but I’m sure you’re still tired. I’ll show you something in the morning.”

Yichen didn’t disagree. If anything, he was already starting to feel tuckered out. When they got to Yichen’s bedroom, he realized that Kyle had been staying in his bedroom the entire time; his bed could only fit one person.

“Um,” he began as he fell back, “I’ll go sleep in my paren–”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence before Kyle yanked him into the room. “Don’t be stupid. Even if the house is technically safe, it’s better to stay together. Don’t worry, I already pulled a mattress from one of the rooms and laid it out while you were in the bath.”

Yichen quietly let Kyle drag him towards the bed(and lone mattress).

“Come on, I’ll take the mattress. You take the bed. I’ve been sleeping on it while you’ve been in the closet this whole time. So it’s only fair that you take it this time.”

He didn’t refute the other, only climbing into the bed and tucking himself in. QPgjDC

Yichen went out like a light before his head even touched the pillow, all tension fading from his limbs as he dropped into unconsciousness.

***

The next morning, he awoke with a jolt to the sound of something loudly crashing to the floor. When he looked around, he realized that Kyle was missing. His duvet laid astrew on the mattress.

Su Yichen’s eyes landed on the bat that the other boy had from the day before; it was leaning against the wall just beside the bedroom door. 3k5uz9

Yichen slowly made his way out of his bed, and inched towards the bat. His hand was shaking as he held the bat by its grip. He tried to steady his emotions as much as possible.

It’s okay, he thought to himself. Kyle was probably in the kitchen again; it was nothing.

Even so, his nerves wouldn’t calm down.

With the bat in hand, he slowly made his way downstairs all the way to the kitchen. When he saw Kyle once again, he relaxed. NvBhdJ

Though the same couldn’t be said for the other.

“Holy sh—!” Kyle exclaimed, nearly dropping the plate in his hand. “Xiao-Chen, you can’t keep doing that! Make a sound or something, I thought you were a—”

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His words trailed off, but Yichen knew what he was saying.

“Did you wash up yet? Breakfast is ready.” VkT8BX

Yichen shook his head, and then placed the bat near the kitchen counter. Kyle didn’t say anything when he saw it, instead opting to turn back to the stoves.

After Yichen returned from the washroom, they ate their breakfast in relative silence.

When they were done, Kyle initiated the conversation. “I didn’t really get to finish my story yesterday… about how I got here.”

Yichen looked at the latter with an almost blank expression, but Kyle could tell he was slightly confused by the topic. After all, wasn’t it obvious how he got there? AkgoR4

“After I escaped, it took me a while to recognize the area. I’ve been here before with you and your family—remember that summer when we were twelve? Anyways, it was starting to get dark by the time I got here, and all the lights were on. So I thought someone was in here, but when I rang the front gate, there was no answer. So I jumped the outer fence. I saw some parts of the house were in a mess, so I actually thought that the same thing happened here, but I still didn’t see anyone or… thing. The front door was locked, but I found a window that was open, so I got in through there.”

Yichen frowned at the implications of an empty house.

“I thought it was kinda weird too,” Kyle confessed, “I mean, there were traces of fighting everywhere, but there was no one in the house. I thought that meant that maybe everyone ran away or something, but there were some… there were some spots that looked like—”

Kyle stopped as if he didn’t know how to continue with his explanation. Kyle’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. It was obvious that he felt conflicted by something. R3CBF1

After a moment or so, he took Yichen by the arm. “I need to show you something.”

Yichen followed Kyle as he led him from the kitchen towards the back porch.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

As they walked, Yichen looked down and found dark brown streaks on the wooden floor that all seemed to conjoin and lead towards the backdoor.

Pa jii ofia obgfybvlcu. Tlmtfc tjv j revvfc eguf ab rabq kjixlcu, yea atf olgw uglq bc tlr jgw xfqa qeiilcu  tlw obgkjgv. r8j Gw

Aera ktfc Tlmtfc atbeuta atfs kbeiv kjix atgbeut atf vbbg, Bsif rtloafv atfw abkjgvr atf klcvbk yfrlvf la. Qlat j ugeca, Bsif rtbnfv atf klcvbk bqfc. Lf rajgafv milwylcu bea atgbeut la bcab atf qbgmt.

Yichen frowned, wondering why he didn’t just use the back door.

Kyle tugged on his arm before he could say or do anything, “Just come through the window.”

Despite his confusion, Yichen followed his instructions. G1p7EF

“I didn’t want to move her just yet,” Kyle began speaking before Yichen was even fully outside. He didn’t really understand what the other was talking about.

Then he saw her.

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She was sitting right there—

Chen Hua, his mother. xqeIap

She sat in front of the doorway with her head tilted forward slightly. If it weren’t for all the dried blood that surrounded her, Yichen would’ve thought she had just dozed off.

“The others are over there,” Kyle said, nodding in some direction, but Yichen already couldn’t hear the former’s words.

His eyes wouldn’t move from his mother’s body. Kyle was clearly standing beside him, but all his words sounded distant.

“There were places with a lot of blood, but there were no bodies. So I thought it was kinda weird. I didn’t think anything of it the first night, but when I woke up in the morning I realize that there were streaks leading to the backdoor, so I thought that maybe something was there. The door was locked too. But it was daytime, and I couldn’t hear or see anything. When I tried opening it, it got stuck.” sk2qDX

Yichen could almost imagine Kyle pushing the door—shoving it against his mother’s dead body. He immediately rushed to the side and vomited up his entire breakfast.

Kyle fell silent. He didn’t move to comfort Yichen. He just stood still staring down at Yichen’s mother. His face was blank; his thoughts, unknown.

When Yichen was finally well enough to move, he fumbled his way back inside through the window. He didn’t want to stay there.

If he couldn’t see her… I5H7Oo

Maybe she wasn’t dead…

Maybe it wasn’t her. 

Maybe… 

Yichen had to clean himself up. VytrXp

He disappeared into the washroom.

***

When Kyle found him, he was standing next to the bed in his grandmother’s room.

“She was protecting you I think,” Kyle began. “Other than your mom, the rest of the corpses had their heads bashed in pretty hard. But she was bit—I saw the wounds. She must’ve thought she’d turn, but also didn’t want you to see the corpses. So she hid them all in the backyard and locked all the doors before she went out.” MItquY

Before Kyle finished his sentence, tears had already welled up in Yichen’s eyes.

The burning pain in his chest clawed its way out through his throat before he could kill it.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Su Yichen cried.

It was the first time since everything began. His emotions had piled up. wds45b

In his grief and mourning, he wailed until his throat was sore and the sounds wouldn’t come out anymore.

***

Everything was a blur after that.

There was a fog enveloped Yichen’s mind and slowed his thoughts zwgpNb

He couldn’t remember if it was his decision or Kyle’s suggestion, but they both ended up back in the backyard with a pair of shovels that Kyle found from who-knows-where.

They first went to where Chen Hua had piled the bodies. It was surprisingly far away from the house, closer to the fence that surrounded the backyard.

Yichen’s family wasn’t rich, but it was cottage country, so most of the houses in the area were far apart and equipped with a small woodland area as their backyard. If it wasn’t for all the fuss his grandmother made about privacy, there would not have been a fence surrounding the property.

Yichen felt numbed when he saw them, like he was watching the entire scene through an electronic screen—detached. avJKG4

He barely recognized the bodies, even when he used the familiar clothing to match their identities. He wondered if it had something to do with their misshapen heads.

Despite the both of them carrying shovels, Kyle did most of the digging. He made a wide, yet deep pit that could fit three bodies side by side.

It was a large pit—a mass grave.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to properly dig out three separate graves, but they thought it would be hard to move such heavy, adult bodies with their small, adolescent figures. cPOBsD

(Kyle: “Excuse you, I can bench 180”)

Kyle aside, Yichen had a beanpole physique, just one rank higher than a bean sprout. Hence, they dug a big hole right beside where his mother placed them so they could just roll them in without having to carry them.

Only his mother would have a separate grave.

He told himself it was because she was too far from the others, and that it would be easier than carrying her all the way over. But to be honest, some part of him thought she deserved a separate grave rather than just being part of a mass family tragedy. GKF1um

The process was surprisingly easier than they’d originally  thought.

Yichen had never been known for his strength; this was a fact that he had long come to terms with. His father was quite a scrawny man as well, so he resigned himself from becoming strongly built like Kyle or his uncle.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Yet with one good shove, Yichen managed to knock his strongly built uncle into the pit.

He was stunned for a while. He turned towards Kyle, as if looking for confirmation that his beanpole arms did indeed just push his strongly built uncle in without any effort. Kyle was shocked by the turn of events as well. bVYvJE

“Tr–try again?” Kyle suggested, his eyes still wide and round as a bowl.

Yichen tried again with his father—softly this time—and found that the man’s weight felt a little similar to that of his school bag. He could probably even lift him up if he tried.

He looked at Kyle again.

Before he could say anything else, Kyle gently lifted Grandma Su fully off the ground. Yichen‘s mouth dropped open slightly before he managed to catch himself. Grandma Su was not in any way petite; she was a round, plump woman. Yet Kyle didn’t even grimace as he laid her down carefully into the pit as if putting a toddler to bed. wJyh9O

Yichen even had a sneaking suspicion that Kyle could’ve carried her with one hand if he tried. Kyle’s lack of reaction also drew Yichen’s attention; however, Yichen had never been the prying type.

Not that he could pry even if he were—not with Kyle, not after what happened.

***

He and Kyle took a liking to basketball during elementary school. It was what they bonded over the most. When they started attending their respective middle schools, they both joined their schools’ basketball teams in hopes of playing against one another in a tournament. iF0ToR

Not to say that Yichen wasn’t skilled—in fact, he had great aim—but Yichen was smaller and shorter than most of his peers. He was often overlooked or lost out to others when fighting for the ball. Yichen was good at the sport; not great, but skill and winning didn’t matter to him.

For Yichen, basketball was something that connected him to others.

At City B Middle School, Yichen was unsurprisingly, mostly unknown to his classmates. What was surprising was the fact that he had managed to get really close with his basketball teammates.

For Kyle, on the other hand, basketball was a passion. P9rW5Y

He was talented and driven; a partial reason for his family moving away after elementary school was so that he could attend a middle school that was famous for their sports programs.

Kyle had plans—dreams.

And Yichen was accomplice to destroying it.

*** poGIZD

They were almost done pouring the earth back into the pit when Kyle suddenly confessed, “Um, I’ve actually been hiding something from you.”

Yichen looked away from the pit towards Kyle, his eyes filled with askance.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Kyle licked his lips. “I told you that I escaped from the mess hall window right?”

Yichen nodded, patiently waiting as Kyle explained. 1xy6Qp

“Um, it was on the third floor and… I kinda fell when I was getting out…”

Yichen’s eyes subconsciously swept over Kyle’s entire body. His gaze lingered slightly on the latter’s elbow and wrist before he retracted his gaze.

Kyle didn’t notice; he seemed concerned and fearful somehow. It was as if he was afraid of how Yichen would react if he knew the whole story.

“Three floors – hah – pretty high. But I didn’t get hurt,” Kyle finally looked at Yichen. TbPkLB

When he saw the look on Yichen’s face—or lack thereof—the subconscious tension in Kyle’s shoulders immediately relaxed. Almost smugly, yet sheepishly he continued.

“And you know how I said I entered your house from a window?”

Yichen nodded.

“It was on the second floor.” uw9EDX

Yichen frowned as he thought of something, “There are no trees around the house.”

“Yea – I know – I jumped and scaled  a little. I didn’t even need to climb when I jumped your fence… just leaped.”

The two headed back to the house.

When they got closer, Yichen saw his mother again. From far away, it looked like she was sitting by the door, waiting for them—waiting for him. edj7 T

His eyes started to redden once again.

They dug a grave closer to the trees. Yichen did more of the work this time. He chose a spot that had a few clusters of small flowers nearby. Call him sentimental, but as he dug, Yichen suddenly recalled his mother once humming a song by The Band Perry. He didn’t remember all the words, only the part about laying with the roses.

When the pit was deep enough, Kyle headed over to Chen Hua’s corpse.

Yichen watched him gently lift the woman up and smoothly carry her over to the grave. There wasn’t even a change in Kyle’s breathing as he lowered her into the pit. KZq6ct

It was like watching him carry over a cat, or a dog—effortless.

They buried his mother in silence. Both to mourn and to let the information that they discovered sink into their thoughts.

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Yichen didn’t break the silence until they were in the house again. “Do you think it’s because we got sick but didn’t die?”

Kyle nodded while putting away the shovels. “It could be, I mean, this wasn’t possible before.” GqZTMe

“Do you think it’s just changes in physical strength?”

“I don’t really know, I mean I haven’t really had time to figure it all out.”

They found themselves sitting in the kitchen once more.

“What should we do now?” Yichen asked, “I mean we are safe here for now, but I can’t imagine that it would continue to be. We might have running water and electricity, but it’s not for forever, and even before that our food will run out.” E0JbO1

Yichen wasn’t familiar with what they had in the pantry or the fridge, but he was sure that the house was only stocked with whatever his family had gotten when they first arrived at the cabin.

He had only helped to carry the groceries in at the time, but he was sure that the bags only contained enough stuff for a couple of weeks max.

“You’re right.” Kyle sighed, “There’s mostly perishables in the fridge, and some stuff in the pantry, but not much if we’re thinking long term. We don’t even know when people can rescue us, or if there even will be. I called the police the moment I got here, but the line was always busy. I’ve been calling every morning, actually.”

“Kyle, I think it might be safe to say that most situations are similar to ours.” VhXpZW

Kyle nodded, pursing his lips in thought.

“If we go by movie standards, we should probably find a radio or something and stay inside before help comes.”

“I’m not entirely sure we should follow movies as an example, but we do have a radio.”

The two found the radio in the living room. It was small and ran on batteries only. ESfgAh

“Whoa, old school. I’m surprised it runs on just batteries,” Kyle commented, giving it a once over, “Most people have the ones that could be plugged in.”

Yichen didn’t comment, only filing it away in the back of his mind.

Surprisingly they didn’t have to do much other than turn the radio on. Most likely his dad and uncle were already tuned into a news channel beforehand.

What they heard was more concerning. UTFv8x

“Tch— stay in your homes. This is a mass emergency alert. I repeat: as of the morning of March xxth, all cities are undergoing emergency evacuation procedures and have entered lockdown. Please do not call the emergency service lines, there will be no response. Citizens within larger cities and towns are asked to follow the instructions provided by each area’s local authorities to ensure safe passage and admittance to their respective refugee shelters. Citizens in smaller towns and isolated areas are asked to make their way towards the nearest refugee shelter. Shelter entry points are located at…”

As the voice stoically rattled off the names of different areas, the boys listened intently. There were many of them, almost one in every division. There were more in the populated areas, three of them were near the large bay that was only a three hour drive by highway from the city. Most were located in the mountainous areas of national parks.

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“If there are any families who are unable to travel due to young children, or the elderly, or have a member who is sick, or has sustained an injury that is not related to the Ignis virus, please stay at home. Please ensure that there are enough supplies for survival for at least a month. Rescue missions will be carried out after the complete evacuation of the cities. I repeat: Please do not commit rash actions or decisions, please stay in your homes. This is a mass emergency alert. I repeat…”

The two boys looked at each other, as if asking the other what they should do. syhJB5

“Well, it’s not like we’re unable to travel,” Kyle reasoned, “but the nearest shelter is a little far and it might be better to have a car or a moving vehicle.”

“My dad’s car is in the driveway,”

“Is it? I didn’t see it when I was coming up to the house.”

“It might be in the garage instead. Do you want to check?” zcJMPy

“Yea, but… I mean, neither of us know how to drive.”

“I’m sure it’s not too difficult, there are lots of kids driving cars in movies,” Yichen mused. Then, he added, “I’m sure if it’s the height requirement you’ll fit it.”

Kyle made a face of resignation and smiled, “You know, I don’t think driving a car is actually that easy. Now who’s using movies as an example?”