Chapter Eight: The Kim's
The rooftop was a large area, big enough for Juno to have five plots. One was full of potatoes, one of them had tomatoes, another zucchini and cabbages, one had both onions and scallions, while the last one had red and green peppers. She had a giant water trough in the left corner that Juno used to wash the dogs. It was big enough to hold Finn and May in there at once, but she would be able to use it to collect water now. After filling it up to the top she sprayed some the cool liquid onto her short hair, internally thanking whatever deity that existed that she hadn't listened to her mother (who found boy-short hair on a girl gross) and had her hair cut in a pixie style with longer hair on top and the sides buzzed off neatly. It felt good to have her brown curls tussled by the wind and her neck free from pesky stray hairs. The water wasn't tapped but it still tasted good and was cool enough to wet her parched throat.
The sun was soaring high above her head, it was probably around one in the afternoon now. The kids were probably hungry (fuck, she was hungry), Marcy and Ashley must have had them eating lunch in the cafeteria or maybe eating in the two-year-old classroom where she'd left them. The sirens from the Brigade building suddenly cut off, making Juno scramble to the edge of the wall to look in the direction of the station. She couldn't see any shamblers, even through the scope, but Juno did see the Kim's truck coming up from down the road.
Finally, some good news.
Her walkie flared to life, "Hey Juno, got Eun-Hyool, Kim twins' papa, on the other walkie. Say they close now. They got Taylor's boy, the Smith girls and Jenny's big brother Juan with 'em. They was on top of the jungle gym in the playground an' out of the biters reach. Over."
One of her delicate eyebrows rose up without her volition, "Biters, Kathy? Over."
The woman laughed, "It's wha' Johnny Taylor called 'em." Kathy's voice took on a more solemn tone, "The kids are real messed up. Johnny saved Juan from getting bit by dragging 'im up on the roof of the playset, they watched Jenny get turned after bleeding out cause Mr. Caddo took a chunk outta her arm. Kristy and Riley seem ta be in shock. Those poor girls saw their brother die and turn inta one of those damn things... Mr. Smith is one of them corpses outside, right? Over."
A morose sigh escaped from her mouth, "Tell the Kim's to cover the kids' eyes, they shouldn't have to see that. Over." the truck was finally pulling up to the front. Juno kept her Ruger up and ready to shoot any geeks that could be coming out due to the noise, but the street was shambler free. The black truck went over the sidewalk and came to a stop right in front of the door. "They're here, someone's going to have to go open the door, don't worry I got you guys covered. Over."
"Marcy's goin' now." Ashley responded, "While Kathy's on the screens. Over."
The car doors on the left side opened letting out Hyun-Bin (the twins' uncle and the oldest of the three Kim brothers) and the two teens first. Juan looked devastated but he was still gentle as ever as he picked up Riley, making sure that the girl's face was buried into his neck. Johnny pulled on Juan's shirt guiding them up the small steps of the daycare and into the building. Hyun-Bin held Kritsy in the same manner, it seemed that the thirteen-year-old had passed out on the drive. Eun-Hyool turned the truck off and climbed out, before shutting the doors and running into the building. Juno let out a relieved sigh. There wasn't anymore movement outside. Everything was quiet. It could almost be described as peaceful if it wasn't for all the bodies lying on the pavement.
"All clear up here Kathy. I'm going to head down now. You ready Ashley? Over." she asked.
"Everything looks good on the monitors, Juno. Over." Kathy spoke.
"Ready for you Juno. Over" Ashley confirmed.
"Alright, I'll let you know when I'm ready. I'll give you a signal and you'll open the door three minutes after that, got it? Over."
"Loud and clear. Over."
Juno snorted under her breath before opening the hatch to go downstairs and climbing the stairs back down into her apartment. Finn and May were wagging their tails merrily from the other side of the doggy gate, but she paid them no mind and shut the stair hatch above her. She walked through the apartment briskly, collecting water in all the buckets and pans she had before filling up the tub as well. Juno grabbed more ammo for her Ruger and doubled checked that it was strapped right onto her back. She refilled both of May's and Finn's water bowls and giving them a quick pet each before reaching for her walkie.
"Ashley. Three-minute warning. Over."
"I'm ready. Over."
She opened her front door before closing it quietly behind her and locking the door. She darted down the stairs as quietly as she could before coming up to the staircase's gate and opening it, slipping out and closing it behind her. Ashley's face was peeking out from inside the preschool, a relieved smile pulling on the corner of her lips as she widened the gap, "Get in."
Huffing out a small chuckle Juno quipped back in a fake southern drawl as she squeezed through, "Don' mind if I do."
"Hmph, shut up New York." she joked back as soon as the door closed behind them, "Thanks for earlier." she said gratefully, referring to the small interaction the red-head had with shamblers outside, Juno nodded in acknowledgment making her senior by two-years smile teasingly, "But seriously girl, you are one goo' shot. Yer daddy teach ya all that?"
Juno smiled before snorting in her own nostalgia., "I used to have a fascination with guns when I was a teen... I got really good at it."
A small body collided with Juno's leg, Xiao-Chen had his lips peeled back showcasing his pearly white teeth in a bright smile as he began tugging on her pants with grabby hands. "Hey, Xiao." Juno greeted the tot before reaching down to cock him on her hip. The two-year-old babbled nonsense in his usual quiet manner as he gingerly touched her freckled cheeks before burying his face into her collar bone.
Ashley snorted as they walked through the empty two-year-old classroom, "You sure have a way with the little dudes don' ya?"
She giggled under her breath, "You're just saying that because Xiao can't stand you."
"Please!" Ashley scoffed, "Lil' chinaman can't stand nobody but you."
Xiao-Chen was still laying his head on her shoulder, but his hands were doing their usual wandering ritual where he ran his palms against any expanse of skin he could touch. The toddler had adopted that strange habit about a month after he'd been signed up for the summer daycare program. Juno didn't really mind until he started pulling on her shirt collar to take a peek at the goods, that was usually when she directed his curious hands and attention to something else. While Juno knew that the toddler had no interest in her body in that way, she didn't want to be labeled a pedophile or get saddled with a sexual harassment lawsuit because the parents saw their kid get a little too grabby or comfortable with her. Though with the world ending outside, that sort of shit didn't really matter anymore.
Everyone was congregated in the Diamond and Stars' classroom. The daycare kids were sitting at the table's eating their lunch with the exception of the Kim twins who were being cuddled by their relieved papa. Kristy was awake and sitting in one of the chairs with Riley pressed onto her front. Juan and Johnny were standing awkwardly by Hyun-Bin as the Korean men chatted with her two coworkers.
"You back 'Uno!" Abriehet cheered, getting up to hug her leg.
A chorus of "Juno and 'Uno" rang through the air as a bunch of the kids got up to give her hugs. She smiled at them indulgingly, "Of course I'm back, I just had to get something from upstairs. I think everyone should get back in their seats now and finish their lunch okay?" she stated before ushering the kids back to their chairs. Juno got Xiao-Chen situated in front of where his sippy cup was before handing him his spoon so that he would eat the fried rice sent to him for lunch.
"Thank you." Hyun-Bin stated gratefully in front of her, "Ms. Kathy told us it was your idea to warn us about the biters. You saved my son, Luke's, life, and from what I heard you were also the one to take care of the biters outside as well."
Juno ducked her head in embarrassment, "Ah, don't worry about it. I'm just glad that no one got hurt. Did you see any other geeks on your way here?"
"It's not nothing." Hyun-Bin insisted once more before responding her question, "We didn't see any more after disposing of the ones that made it onto the farm. Eun-Hyool," he gestured to his brother with his head, "Ji-Wan and I did a quick scouting of the woods between the farm and town before going to Creeks Park. We didn't see any there either." Juno nodded.
"I don't think we're going to find any more. I did a headcount of the people who were most likely off-island and all the ones that were most likely here have been turned and disposed of. The only non-Pogonip residents here were Mr. Hammer and Mrs. Geller... I think they were the ones infected and brought it over here." she stated in a quiet calm voice to the adults in the room. Juan and Johnny were looking at her intently.
"Did you, by any chance see my grandpa?" Johnny asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft. Juno looked at him with sympathy.
"I'm so sorry Johnny." the teen nodded, eyes shining and his face grief-filled. Juan moved from his spot leaning on the wall to tug Johnny under his arm in comfort.
"I'm sorry, man. It'll be okay." he whispered as he tugged the fifteen-year-old away from them and into the kids' cafeteria so that he could break down in privacy.
Marcy looked like she was about to go after the two teens, but she was stopped by Hyun-Bin who shook his head solemnly, "Give them a moment. Kid's not gonna cry if he's got an audience."
Eun-Hyool, who had let his toddlers return to their seats to finish lunch, was now standing up straight and watching her pensively. "You took out like half the town. Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"
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