A Day In September - BTS Zombie au

16: Delusional

"Even if I make noise, even if I attract them, will it really matter?" The girl asked to no one in particular. Upon looking over her shoulder, she was met with a vacant space—a deafening one. Only a long road, filled with brutes, was visible. There was no one to answer the question, no one to convince her that she was being stupid. The girl had almost forgotten she was on her own.

Almost.

There was a heavy pounding against her chest, it felt like her heart was trying to break free from her rib cage. It was almost as if it was to avoid the reckless ideas currently governing the girl's actions. She figured it was either that or starving to death—or death in general. There was no other option.

And yet the girl still held firm to the belief that this was better than Plan C.

"Anything to never go back there," Mara whispered. Talking to herself was a comfort—a necessity— that helped preserve her dwindling sanity. If anything, she was pretending that Jimin was answering, perhaps with concern or bratty disapproval towards her indiscretions. He didn't understand what had gone on back there. No one but Mara, those unlucky enough to have encountered it, and the very people inhabiting that heinous place knew what kind of atrocities took place inside those barricades. She was glad Jimin had never been there, but his curiosity was unnerving. She should have told him, but the gravity of the events that took place there were nightmare fuel, and Mara did not want to revisit those memories. That particular area of town was to be avoided at all costs, and perhaps even mentioning it was a mistake. Mara feared that even thinking of those people would somehow lead them right to her, and all of this hiding and careful planning would be futile.

My fear emanates like a foul stench, and like dogs they'll trace it back to me.

Upon taking a step onto the hood of the bus, Mara reveled in the silence of the night. There were brutes not far at her left and right, and several feet in front of her. Yet, they seemed to not see her. The night was pretty good at hiding her. It felt surreal, and for a moment Mara entertained the idea that she was in reality dead, that her soul had left her body and was currently traversing amongst a crowd of the dead. Nothing but a wandering soul. Mara was frightened by the idea of becoming a monster herself.

But when glancing behind her, almost hesitantly, she found no corpse—not her's at least.

The brutes continued to obliviously snap their jaws at the air, snarling at nothing as Mara slowly made her way to the concrete ground. She walked passed brutes, their proximity extremely daunting and their stench nauseating. The girl gagged as her own smell and that of those around her intensified. Mara noticed that the stench of the brute guts splattered all over her were serving as somewhat of a disguise—something that masked her scent. Fighting them off proved useful at least, and not a completely futile attempt to get them away from Jimin. Mara made a mental note of that. With little composure, the girl stumbled through the masses, and to her it felt like walking through a field of corn. The girl wondered if maybe she'd be doomed to walk through an endless sea of the dead. She could only see the bright yet poignant moon. The light of the sun was long gone.

Mara refrained from looking at the lifeless bodies strewn on the ground, where her friend now lied in an unrecognizable pile of flesh and bones.

Continuing to be ignored, Mara walked passed the brutes, only catching their attention for a mere second. Her doubtful mind saw clarity and before she knew it, the girl was walking down the road. She clutched her machete with bloodied hands, afraid to let go of anything familiar.

That was all she had left.

The machete, what little ambition she had left, and the map.

The map-