outbreak | bts

032

Hoseok took slow breaths in and out as the minibus trundled through the streets. The scouts had split into two and were in separate vehicles on their way to collect supplies for their upcoming departure from the city. Hoseok, Jungkook, Eunwoo, Yuju, Yujin and Taehyung were on duty to collect the bedding and clothing with Joohyun.

Their destination was a local mall where clothing and furniture stores had gathered to form a retail park. They would split up in pairs to keep it even when they searched while Joohyun stayed in the bus, ready for them to return. He recalled Taehyung's insistence at joining them before they had left.

"I'm strong and quick on my feet- Hobi hyung knows this! I can be useful. Let me help. Please." He had implored Jimin and Baekhyun after the planning session had concluded. Hoseok understood. After being cooped up in the terminal for over a month, and knowing that they were so close to escaping to somewhere that was hopefully free of all the tension, he would be desperate to help speed things up too.

Joohyun gently turned the minibus off the road and up a curving slope that went round and round until they were on a rooftop parking lot. Though parking on the roof meant having to do more work in terms of going to and from the minibus, keeping Joohyun safe while she stayed alone was more important.

Also, being out of the way would mean less chance of accidentally leading a zombie to their supply stash. The storage unit under the minibus would be filled first and if what they needed ended up being more then they would fill up the main seating area of the vehicle.

Hoseok swallowed and then exhaled sharply through his nose when Joohyun parked the vehicle. She had chosen a spot that wasn't directly visible from the entrance customers could use to descend to the retail park and had twisted the vehicle so that the storage unit and the door were facing away from the entrance.

"Okay, ready." Joohyun said with a thumbs up after confirming that the compartment had been opened. Rising, Hoseok turned to face the rest of the group. He and Jungkook had been given co-lead over this group since Jimin and Baekhyun weren't around but Jungkook had said he would only step up in anything happened.

"Alright, let me go over our assignment one more time. Jungkook and Yuju, you're getting bedding. That's blankets, duvets, pillows, anything that we would lay on." The pair nodded at him.

"Eunwoo and Yujin, you are to get coats. Just grab as many as you can in as large a variety of sizing as you can- we don't have time to be searching for individual sizes to meet everyone's needs. If you find anything like hats and scarves, those would be good too." He proceeded once he got their nods of confirmation.

"Taehyung and I will be looking for any inflatable furniture that we can use since we don't know how furnished the house on the island will be." Hoseok recited, counting on his fingers to ensure he had listed all that they needed. Fisting his fingers, he held eye contact with each of them.

"We don't have time. It's getting dark, the zombies might not be able to see much better than us in the night but they are certainly more active. We need to try to grab everything and be back here and on our way before all the street lamps start to turn on. If you get caught?"

"Try to lose them, don't run back to the bus." Taehyung answered.

"If you can't lose them?" Hoseok asked.

"Hide, but but only in spaces with escape routes." Yujin added.

"And if they find you?"

"Take an escape route and get back to the bus." Yuju finalised. Satisfied, Hoseok bobbed his head.

"Good. We have an hour and thirty minutes, let's go."

~*~

Taehyung continued to glance around as he followed after Hoseok. The pair had broken away from the others after they had all descended from the rooftop car park, heading towards the store that had camping gear. He couldn't help being on high alert after they passed a zombie not too long after splitting up.

It had been a woman with a baby stroller. Her neck and shirt had gaping holes where she had likely been bitten and infected. He hadn't been able to deduce if there was an actual baby in there but the sight of it had made his heart drop in his chest.

They had moved on quickly, but the image of the zombie gaiting around with the stroller handle firmly grasped in her hands was embedding itself on his mind. He was brought out of his imaginations with a soft gasp when a gentle hand pressed against his chest, halting him.

He blinked at Hoseok who had stopped them at an intersection to inspect the street. The store that they needed to get to was considerably further away than the bedding, furniture and clothing stores they needed other things for. It was the reason they had insistently emphasised that none of the students should go.

To get to the store, they'd need to go to the stores that provided sporting and camping equipment and those stores happened to be across a massive intersection road. They would have to be out in the open for at least a minute.

And the road just happened to be teeming with zombies. Great.

~*~

After Hoseok and Taehyung split away, Jungkook, Yuju, Eunwoo and Yujin stayed together for a little longer. They were looking for open storefronts where winter clothing was being sold so that Eunwoo and Yujin could get started. Then Jungkook and Yuju would exit the mall so that they could enter the IKEA that was across the road.

The part of the mall they needed to pass through was the main one, and the number of zombies on the floor below were sizable. For a few seconds, Jungkook debated if it were safer to have Eunwoo and Yujin go to get the bedding instead.

They wanted Yujin to have as little contact with the zombies as possible, wanting her to be unaffected as was feasible given their circumstances, but the thought that there may be more zombies outside made him dismiss the suggestion almost as quickly.

Yuju, who had taken a few steps ahead of him, ducked her head low. Most of the stores in this part of the mall had their storefronts either completely or partially shuttered. They had time to react, she assumed, thinking back to the first stores they had bypassed that had bloodstains on their windows and wares.

Keeping her gaze straight, she scanned the store she stood in front of with cautious eyes. Its shutter wasn't as low as the others, and she could guess why from the denting and brown stains all over the bottom. Clearly whoever had been in here had started to lower the shutter and then ran away before fully closing up shop when the zombies likely started attacking the store.

Flapping her outstretched hand, she got the attention of the others and made her way into the shop without checking if they followed, ducking under the partially lowered shutter. This was going to be killer on Eunwoo and Yujin's backs since they were tall but at least they weren't obvious to anyone on the outside, so they could probably pack in relative peace.

The four of them walked deeper into the store. Fortunately it was a clothing store, so they probably had winter wear of some kind. Rounding a corner, Yuju froze, unable to help the gasp that came out. Jungkook rushed over to stand in front of her and whatever had elicited the reaction from his friend, coming to an immediate halt in his own surprise.

"Whoa."