outbreak | bts

038

Grimacing, he tried to remain silent as he inhaled deep breaths, trying not to gag at the smell coming from behind him and certainly refusing to even look at what two month old meat looked like after being left out. Even the rain wasn't guaranteed to mask him from these guys. He heard the sound of roaring from above as the zombies finally reached the roof edge and couldn't locate him.

Knowing that he had a minute at best before the zombies on the ground made their way to him as a reaction to the yelling from their friends up there, Jimin twisted around and used the display counter as a foundation for his hands, rising shakily to his knees and flinching.

His whole body ached from overexertion and from the falls. To make matters worse, while he had been running, he hadn't taken note of which direction he set off in, so now he didn't know how to get back to the others. Not that he could move anyways.

Ah, shit.

~*~

Jungkook was a statue. It had been nearly ten minutes since Eunha had called. Ten minutes since she had informed him that Jimin had purposefully put himself in harm's way to protect his friends. Ten minutes since Jihyo had wrestled his phone out of his death grip and pushed him to the side, into Eunwoo's arms, and taken command of the situation. Some of the longest ten minutes of his life.

Jihyo, still lacking in strength, had seated herself on the table that Jungkook and Eunwoo sat at, Jungkook's phone set on speaker as she rested back on her hands. The other adults had all gathered around the table save for those who were working on getting the children to go to sleep. The hush of the terminal was grave.

Jihyo eyed Jungkook carefully even while she relayed instructions to Eunha to get the minibus going to find and grab Baekhyun, Jaehyun and Seokmin. She gave his shoulder a light squeeze when she heard the faint sound of Eunha shouting and shuffling before her voice returned to the line and reported they had rescued the three.

Still, Jungkook couldn't smile for more than a few seconds before his mind went into overdrive again. He could hear Baekhyun weakly asking about Jimin. He sounded exhausted, and he was one of the fittest of them all. Jimin had already suffered an injury.

This was so bad it wasn't even a little funny. Jimin had always drilled that they were not to put themselves at risk, ever, so how he could he do this to them? To Jungkook? Eunha's straight voice cut through his mind and he sat upright.

"We're going to get him. Right now." She stated. Jungkook stared at the phone. That was the voice she used when she was absolutely going to get her way, be it as concession from teachers or from students in the weightlifting and boxing clubs who were hogging resources that should have been fairly shared. That was student council Eunha. He lifted his eyes to Jihyo.

"D-did you give her a plan?" Jungkook asked, eyes wide. Student council Eunha was a whole different breed of intense, and she didn't come out all that often.

"Nope, just got her moving." She replied, flashing him a wolfish grin. Swallowing, Jungkook straightened his shoulders and fixed his eyes on the phone. Eunha's voice returned once more to the line.

"Mute the line." She instructed. Jungkook reached over and tapped the mute button, chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths. After a few seconds, the sound of heavy, laboured breathing filled the line. Namjoon, Hoseok, Yoongi, Jin, Taehyung and Joohyun rushed closer to the phone while Jungkook picked it up.

"J-Jimin hyung. It's Jimin hyung!" He choked out, reading the caller IDs. On the phone, Eunha continued speaking.

"Oppa, I know you're outside, and we have the no-comme rule, so you just hum once to say yes and hum twice to say no, okay?" She instructed. There was a pant before Jimin hummed once.

"Alright, we're coming to get you now. We managed to save Baekhyun oppa, Jaehyun and Seokmin-ah thanks to you, oppa. Do you have shelter from the rain?" Jimin hummed twice.

"Does that mean you're on the move right now?" Jimin hummed once after a pause of consideration. Jungkook finally noted the background noise coming from Jimin's line. He was definitely out in the downpour. Eunha had probably noticed as well.

"...did you get hurt?" She asked softly. There was a long pause before Jimin hummed once. Jungkook wanted to cry. Of course he had gotten hurt. Jimin always got hurt when he saved someone.

"Oppa, are you able to run?" Eunha continued questioning. Jimin hummed twice and Jungkook realised that Eunha was trying to keep him responsive since there were elongating pauses between Jimin's responses. Shit, he's at his limit.

"Oppa what kind of place did you end up at? A store?" Eunha's voice picked up a little. She sounded scared. Jungkook felt scared. Jimin took a full five seconds before humming once, his breathing becoming louder.

"Okay, a store, a food store?" One hum.

"Food in packages?" Two hums, seven seconds later.

"Oppa, I need you to stay with me, hm? Stay with me. If not packaged food then fresh food. Was it a store that sold fruit?" There was no reply.

"Oppa? Oppa?!" Eunha called. Her voice wavered. Jimin's line was just the sound of his dogged breathing. Then, two hums. Then, a thudding sound.

Jungkook stood to his feet and stared at the phone, planted to the ground even when Eunwoo and Taehyung grabbed an arm and a shoulder to keep him in place. Perhaps they feared he would bolt out of the terminal. They didn't need to- he was rooted. Eunha called out for Jimin, twice, three times, four times, each time her voice becoming more desperate on the line.

"Oppa, if you just fell down, you need to get up! Jungkook is on the line, he's waiting for you back at the terminal and he's so worried about you. Are you going to leave him hanging like this? Get up!" She cried. There was only the sound of the rain on Jimin's line. Then, a groan. A low, agonised groan.

~*~

Eunha's heart was in her throat, her ears, her head. She was pressed tight against the window, her eyes scouring the streets through the rain. It was dark and the street lamps didn't help much with the heavy downpour. The minibus slid down the road, everyone in the vehicle trying to look out into the abyss of the rainy night. Spotting something, she held the phone to her mouth again.

"Oppa? Oppa, just one last question! Was it a butchers? One with a red pop out tent thing? Is that you on the ground? Oppa?!" She screeched. She had seen something like a fallen figure but she needed his confirmation. It was too dark and risky to run up and inspect just anything.

Jimin groaned once more, his voice more faint than she had ever heard it. Fingers digging into the palm of her hand hard enough to draw blood, Eunha waited. Then, one grunted hum and the figure on the street jerked once. Springing up, she turned to the others.

"That's him! He's on the ground near that butcher shop!" She didn't have to say much else, Baekhyun and Yugyeom leapt up and had jumped out of the moving minibus in seconds, rolling to their feet before they gunned toward him. Cautiously lifting him up, they confirmed that it was indeed Jimin, now unconscious.

Both looping one of his arms over their shoulder, they dragged him back to the bus, where Jaehyun and Seokmin reached out and pulled him in. As soon as all of them were back in the bus, Eunha shut the door and Seulgi swerved the vehicle around, throwing everyone backwards.

"Unni?!" Eunha sqealed as her feet left the ground.

"Zombies!" Was all Seulgi could say before focusing on speeding away. Scrambling to the window, Eunha's eyes widened at the sight of a horde of horrific looking zombies rounding the corner and giving chase to the minibus. A chill zapped behind her ear.

Then she tilted her head and noted that there seemed to be some ominous shadows positioned on the rooftop of the the butcher store. She paled as a realisation fell upon her, but lifted her phone to her mouth once more, knowing that the others were waiting to hear from her.

"We got him, we got Jimin oppa."