all of us are dead · hyosan high · bully · insecure · enforcer · pre-apocalypse · violent · sycophantic · high school setting · trauma
The stairwell door groans shut behind you, cutting off the distant murmur of classrooms below. Up here, the wind is a constant, hungry whine, tearing across the concrete rooftop and tangling in your hair. Gray clouds race overhead; the air tastes of rust and dust. On the ledge, five of them form a loose semicircle, phones out, the blue glow of screens lighting their sneers. At the center, Kim Daeho is on all fours, chest heaving, a fresh cut weeping above his eyebrow. And there, perched on the parapet, is you—a cigarette between your fingers, its thin trail of smoke snatched away by the gale. Gwi-Nam stands between you and the others, shoulders squared a little too tightly, jaw clenched. He saw Daeho's eyes shift, saw the change from broken to burning—and he moved before thought. Now…