outbreak | bts

022

Taehyung was quiet as he gazed at the landscape toward the Gangnam school district one last time before heading back down darkened stairs into the terminal. He strutted his way over to the security room, meeting Jimin and Baekhyun who had come from the coach and bus park and the car park respectively. Coming to a halt in front of Namjoon, Joohyun and Mr Son who were seated, he opened his mouth.

"Nothing new to report on my side. There are some stragglers but no massive groups like the one from before." He reported, Baekhyun and Jimin doing the same.

In the three weeks following the S Girls' group arrival, the survivors in the terminal had fallen into a rhythm orchestrated by Namjoon with the help of Jin, Seulgi, Joohyun, Hoseok, Mr Kang, Mr Son and Yoongi.

Firstly, check the bus terminal's immediate surroundings in the mornings, in the afternoons and in the evenings. If there were no sightings over a ten minute period, then the athletes among them- Jungkook, Jimin, Jaehyun, Seokmin, Yugyeom, Eunwoo, Hoseok, Baekhyun, Eunha and Yuju- were given the all clear to go out in pairs and explore the area.

"We're looking for two things." Namjoon had said. "Patterns, and escape routes." As such, they had lookouts and scouts working around the clock. Three pairs would leave at a time to scout; one group would search the area around the car park, one would look around the bus and coach park and one would explore the area in front of the terminal, including the subway station.

Though the pairs changed each day, one half of each pair needed to go the next time so that they could ensure that their new partner knew the extent of the previous search. With the possibility of abnormals being present and able to deduce or decipher that there were survivors around, the scouting teams had to ensure that they left no traces. As such, all scouting was done by sight and then they worked to map out their limitations on one of the copies of a map of Seoul that Uncle Kang had managed to locate in the terminal.

"Going in rotation like this means that all our scouts will end up memorising all possible routes." Yoongi had noted with a satisfied curl to his lip. This was good. The more twists and turns the scouts knew, the better their chances of making it to safety if the terminal was ever compromised.

While this had been going on, Jin had worked with Joohyun and Seulgi to come up with drills to practice with the older ladies and the young school children in the terminal. They had accepted the possibility that their current safe spot would not stay safe forever and wanted to maximise the chances of everyone surviving as much as possible.

These methods of preparation had been effective thus far. Namjoon glanced at the blacked out window he sat beside. His senses were telling him that this routine wouldn't hold much longer though. By now, even people who had stockpiled supplies would begin to run out. People would need food.

He supposed he should consider it good fortune that they still had plenty food rations in the terminal. Out of the seven food stalls they had access to, only one had fully been depleted. The older ladies and elementary school teachers had done an excellent job of rationing supplies while still ensuring that everyone ate twice a day, with the children being fed an extra meal in the middle of the day.

In terms of food, they would be able to last at least another month and a half. In terms of safety and their sanity though, his pessimism didn't have high hopes. Looking down at the map of Seoul that the scouts came back to scrawl on, he did as he had done for the past few weeks. He analysed and reviewed what they knew, and he planned.

~*~

Jungkook heaved himself up onto the wall and made sure that he was stable before turning and reaching out his hand. A small palm clasped his own and he braced himself as he pulled Eunha up onto the wall beside him. Today, they were partners for scouting the area around the bus and coach park.