𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏᶦ

LXXXV

🗡️🗡️🗡️

There was one final challenge they had to complete before they could go home and rest, and with it nearing midnight, Aeri desperately wanted to go to bed. She'd heard from some of the staff members that this challenge was to be the most taxing of the night since they'd have to run around quite a bit.

Aeri sent a few texts to Bakugou telling him about her night without revealing too much about the show and then they got to work.

They started filming in front of a white tent on the opposite side of the parking lot where they faced Jinyoung and began looking for a car that they'd be able to escape in, one big enough to hold all of them. Aeri and Hyoseop would've immediately ruled out the smaller cars that only held 5 people but the producers wanted to make a show of them all running around trying to unlock each car whilst avoiding the zombies, so that's what they did.

Dex, Siyoung, Dindin, Hyoseop and Aeri all grabbed a few keys each and ran straight into the parking lot, steering clear of the zombies that were waking up. Matching the keys up with the cars was the hardest part. Most of the cars were all Hyundai's so running round to all of them was exhausting.

She managed to get one unlocked at one point and then climbed inside, shoving the key into the ignition to see if it worked—It didn't. The engine was flat. She swore and teleported back to the tent where Narae and Tsuki were working on drawing out a board to keep track of their progress with the cars.

Hongchul almost jumped out of his skin when she materialised beside him but Aeri ignored him, handing the key to Narae.

"This key is for the black Hyundai in the right corner, the engine won't start," Aeri told the older woman. She was about to teleport back out when Kwachu called out to her, beckoning her over to the table he was sitting at.

Aeri walked over curiously, wondering if he had something important to tell her regarding the cars outside.

"Let me fix up that cut on your knee before it gets infected," he said, standing and making her take his seat whilst he dug around in the medical supplies Aeri and Hyoseop had retrieved earlier.

"What if it's a bite? What if her brother bit her leg when they were fighting and she hasn't told us?" Hongchul theorised dramatically, unwrapping another grape candy and popping it into his mouth whilst eyeing Aeri suspiciously.

"That's clearly just a grazed knee, you're just being paranoid." Patricia clicked her tongue, sifting through the keys hooked to the wall.

"I got this protecting you since you're about as useful as a wet noodle...clearly you're ungrateful too." Aeri glared, not even flinching when Kwacha dabbed alcohol on the cut.

Hongchul laughed in disbelief, "Wet noodle?Ungrateful?"

"You heard me. You're not helping. You're lounging around eating candy like a child whilst everyone else does the work."

"This is unbelievable, I can't believe I'm being told off by a child..." Hongchul scoffed.

"She's right though," Jonathan said quietly having just returned from trying out the keys.

"What's more unbelievable is that the child you're arguing with has done ten times more for the group than you have. Go help." Narae scolded the older man.

"Fine. I will." Hongchul slammed his palms on the table and stood up, determined to prove them wrong.

The few people that were in the tent exited with him, watching as Hongchul slowly walked around the barricade and then dropped to his hands and knees. He crawled along the cold concrete in an attempt to remain undiscovered by the zombies but it didn't work. Four of them charged at him and he was forced to start running away. He sprinted to one of the cars with the key in his hand but instead of attempting to unlock the door, he looped around the back of the vehicle and ran back the way he came, jumping back over the barricade and climbing up the pallets to where Kwachu was watching. Aeri clicked her tongue and went back to fetch another set of keys to test out.