NOSEBLEED • rewrite

Chapter Eight

"You say that like you plan on sacrificing yourself if things get out of hand." He half whines, half whispers making my awkward tight lipped smile fall. He notices my sudden shift and frowns "listen, I know today has been hard. . . But please don't do th-"

"Why do you care?" I sigh, averting my eyes to his chest as it seems easier than to look him dead in the eye. He huffs out a breath, bringing his hand up to curl under my chin and lift it my line of sight back up to his tired eyes

I don't understand how someone I met just this morning could care about what I do, especially when it involves saving his and his friends life but I don't see any sign of a lie or of him just trying to gain my trust. He's being genuine and I can't help but admire that

"You saved Taehyung when you didnt have to, that's enough to earn my care and respect," he states firmly, a genuine smile making its way to his face that makes his eyes squint and cheeks turn a little red

"I mean I just acted on impulse and I uh felt a bi-"

"You remind me so much of Yoongi," he shakes his head and allows his hands to fall from my arms and back to his sides, still smiling like an idiot "can't just admit you did something because your actually a giant softie on the inside."

He doesn't even give me a chance to respond before spinning on his heels and pulling the infected body from the stairs and onto the plush carpet causing a blood stain free for all litter across the light coloured carpet. I stand a little shell shocked for a second, not wanting to admit what Jimin said actually planted a seed of self awareness inside my head

Oh, and the fact that the blunt one who finds it hard to smile is actually a softie on the inside

Anyway, I guess Jimin is right. The incident at the school, with Jongin and Rina, has made me not really give a fuck about what happens to me and care more about keeping everyone safe. He was right about the self sacrificing thing and I know that won't change for a long time, but the least I could do is keep myself alive so I can get the group to the army base

After that, I suppose I could do all the self sacrificing I want

I can finally mourn my friends in a normal way, instead of jumping at every chance to beat the living brains out of the infected to release all my pent up anger and frustrations. Rina would think I'm being an idiot, and she's not exactly wrong

"Hey, it's cold out here you know!" A deep voice echoes from outside the cabin doors bringing me out of my own head and throwing me back into the shit show reality of the apocalypse. Snapping my head around to glare at the supposed softie-on-the-inside-cold-on-the-outside but I can't help but break into a smile when I see he's shed his blazer and handed it to a shivering Jungkook

Jimin, the angel of truth

"Sorry, I got. . . Distracted!" I call back, pointing towards the infected man Jimin is staring at like it's some kind of alien with the broken end of my chair leg "Well, ladies first I suppose." I shrug, nudging Jimin and motioning for him to follow me

We make sure to check every single one of the overly large bedrooms and bathrooms, making sure not to miss a cupboard or closet just in case someone who somehow got infected decided to hide out or possibly take their own life, the way that's considered the easy way but could very well be the only way out if you don't want to turn into one of the infected

Or what Jungkook keeps calling them in his video game infested mind, zombies, but that sounds too. . . Video gameish, so I'll stick to calling them the infected until someone comes up with a better name

"Hana! I think I've found something. . . Dangerous?" Jimins voice rings from the closet door beside me, but on further inspection, he has ventured deeper into the walk in part and is staring at something wide eyes and slightly shook. I quickly speed up, looking at the side of his slightly red face before following his line of burning sight

A bag? Just a bag?. Before I can give the male a big flick on the forehead for scaring me like that, he pushes it along the floor boards towards me with the side of his foot like he will catch some kind of disease if he touches it with skin

"Open it." Jimin mutters, bringing his hand up to his hair to tousle his bangs before running his hand completely through it. I've noticed it's a habit of his, but he usually doesn't pull on it like he's the most stressed out person in the world

"Okay then." I sigh while lowering myself down onto my knees and pulling on the zipper until the duffle bag is wide open and spilling its contents onto the hard wooden floor. Just as Jimins eyes did, mine loose their edge and widen, but not for the same reasons

"Do you know how to shoot a gun?" I ask in a nonchalant manor, picking up the fallen shotguns and stuffing them bag into the bag as if we didn't just discover something amazing yet just as equally terrifying

"I mean, I wish I did because that would be pretty bad ass," he shrugs, settling down from the stressed position he was just seconds ago. If I we weren't in the middle of a desperate, world threatening situation I'd think it was weird how he can just switch through emotions like the click of a finger "but no I don't, Jungkook might."

"If you mean he can in video games then that doesn't count." I chuckle before springing back to my feet and throwing the duffle bag over my shoulder, Jimin just stares like I'm some kind of psychopath who just so happened to pick out her favourite kind of weapon

"My dad used to take us hunting, and he was a police officer after he served so he taught us how to shoot," I sigh out, figuring I do look a little strange getting like a giddy school girl with a crush over guns, which would freak the average person out

"I saw a picture your siblings must have left behind," he answers, motioning behind him like it will suddenly be there. My mouth forms an o, knowing exactly what picture he must have seen in the kitchen tapped to the fridge since the magnets we had were to shitty to hold anything up

"Then do I have something on my face?" I question, reaching up to rub whatever it is he's staring at from my cheeks, suddenly remembering the blood that splattered across my face earlier

"Only beauty." Jimin deadpans as a smile, maybe even an exaggerated fail of a smirk, stretches onto his lips. Despite being a little embarrassed, I'm still flattered

"That was smooth," I chuckle, hoping my hands still trying to find the now dried blood and god knows what else will cover the light pink colour dusting my cheeks and tips of my ears

"Oh I know, works every time." He suddenly jokes making me glare playfully at him

"You're messing with a girl that has a bag full of guns and knows how to use them, tread lightly my friend." I laugh, moving past him to make swift exit from the room, he follows like a lost puppy, his expression matching his actions perfectly

Making our way back to the foyer, we find the rest of the fairly large group pooled in the middle, still soaked and shivering from getting stuck in the rain. Looking over to the door, I see Jackson has made a makeshift lock using a few extra screws and a belt to keep the door from busting open. The sound would work as a beacon for the infected, and that's the last thing we need when trying to get some sleep

"Ah finally. . . What's in the bag?" Yoongi asks, moving over to me to help lay out the guns on the plush carpet. I just now notice they moved the body, only leaning behind the trail of blood and bodily fluids

"Guns." I deadpan, and unlike Jimin, Yoongi smiles like it's Christmas Day. I roll my eyes and pull out the bigger guns, then the smaller ones and all the ammo packed neatly into the bottom. After some digging around in the bag, and telling Jungkook and Taehyung not to full fill their video game fantasy since they won't magically respawn if they blew each other's head off, I find a small pocket on the side filled with all kinds of flip knives and little gadgets

"It's like someone made a zombie survival pack." I mumble to myself, catching the attention of an overly happy and smiling Yoongi, only now, his smile has fallen to match my slight frown

"If that guy can have all of this and still die then I think we're royally fucked." He mutters like he's reading my thoughts exactly

"Oh come on! Don't ruin a good thing by being Debbie downers!" Lisa chimes, lowering herself down to our level with the first smile I've seen her pull since this whole shit show started. She's always been such an optimist, I used to think it was annoying but in these kinds of situations, I guess we could really use someone to keep us in high spirits

Yoongi and I share a look, a look that screams 'oh for fuck sake'