Jimin pressed himself against the wall beside the gate as he peeked out through the bars. They had made it to the gate without issue, but Jimin knew better than most that quiet always happened right before the storm.
Facing Jungkook's friends, he indicated that they would climb over. The high schoolers nodded. Nodding back, Jimin bent down into a base position and cocked his head. The girl, Mina, if he recalled correctly, was given a little shove forward by Seokmin.
Stepping forward, she daintily pressed her foot into Jimin's palms, maneuvering her weight expertly to lightly lift herself up over the gate. After peering over the other side of the side for a few seconds, she tugged herself over, landing lightly on the ground on the other side. Jimin blinked at her from between the bars. She must have been an athlete of some sort too.
Shaking his head, he refocused and helped Seokmin get over the fence before hauling himself over. Now that they were out of school grounds, he could see some colour appearing on Mina's face. Holding his hand to his lips, Jimin made sure that both of them acknowledged his command to keep quiet before taking them down the winding path.
It took a few minutes but they eventually came to the grove of trees where they had hidden the Wrangler. Passing through the leafy curtain, Jimin felt some of his tension ease now that they had successfully gotten some of Jungkook's friends to safety.
Coming up to the boot, Jimin thanked God that all of Yoongi's windows were tinted from the outside before popping it open. Since they wanted to move as quickly as possible, he thought it'd be better to get the pair he'd come with to stay in the backseat first to reduce delay.
"Yoongi-ssi?" He called when he looked to the driver seat and didn't see anyone. Gesturing for Seokmin and Mina to climb into the spacious boot, Jimin moved around to the side of the car and opened the driver's door.
Where the hell was Yoongi?
~*~
Jungkook and Eunha sat in utter silence after Jimin, Seokmin and Mina departed. Though the staircase was silent and uneventful, Jungkook didn't dare attempt any conversation, instead lifting his head to regularly check the window. Come on Jaehyun, where are you?
After an extensive three minutes, the window squeaked open and a body jumped through, crashing onto the ground in a heap. Jungkook and Eunha flinched to their feet, ready to run before they recognised the figure who was picking herself up.
"Y-Yuju?" Jungkook spluttered. Yuju paused at the voice and her eyes widened.
"Jungkook-ah! You're really here?!" She nearly yelled before Eunha reached out to clamp a hand over her mouth. Jungkook's brows furrowed.
"What about Jaehyun?" He asked, peeking into the window just in time to see a figure zooming towards him.
"Close the window behind me!" Jaehyun yelled as he leaped through the window with perfect poise, landing in a somersault to cushion his fall. Jungkook barely had time to think, reaching into the room to pull the window shut before grabbing Yuju and dragging her down to the ground in one fluid motion.
All four of them pressed themselves against the wall and held their breaths, Jaehyun covering his mouth with his hand as he tried to bring some oxygen into his lungs. The sound of stomping and growling could be heard as soon as they dropped. Jungkook's eyes were wide as he looked at his friend. Had he held off that horde by himself to give Yuju time to get through the window?
When it seemed as though Jaehyun could breathe normally now, Jungkook kicked into gear. Their spot was easily visible from the window, it would only take one zombie to spot them through it to send all of them attacking the gap in the wall. Crawling forward, he gestured for the others to follow his lead as he made his way to the fire escape.
Fortunately, Jimin hadn't closed the door fully, and the four of them slipped out, heaving sighs of relief now that they were out of immediate visibility. Jaehyun flinched and the three snapped their heads in the direction he was looking before Jungkook patted his shoulder.
It's Jimin hyung, he mouthed. Jaehyun nodded slowly, looking back to Jimin's approaching figure. The older youth came to a stop and squatted in front of the four students. Staying quiet, he gestured with his head, grabbing Jungkook's hand to pull him to his feet before leading them back to the Wrangler.
~|~|~
"What? Yoongi's gone?" Jungkook repeated in disbelief once they were all seated in the Wrangler. Jimin nodded, his lips lightly pursed as he mindlessly fiddled with one of the rings on his fingers. It was his thinking face.
"Either he got attacked or he went out to do something. I'm thinking it's the latter." He finally said. Jungkook nodded in agreement. There was no evidence of an attack around the Wrangler and Yoongi seemed to have a danger sense so that was unlikely. But where could he have gone to...?
"The workshops! He might've gone to get tools and materials there." Jungkook suddenly had a epiphany. Jimin's eyes widened before he ruffled his hair, exasperated.
"Is he nuts? Why the hell did he go alone?" He groaned. Jungkook looked at Jaehyun and Yuju beside him and Eunha, Mina and Seokmin in the boot. His friends looked right back at him. He sighed.
"We've gotta go get him." Jungkook concluded. Jimin groaned louder this time, sliding deeper into the seat. There was silence before he rose.
"Fine, let's go. None of us know how to drive this thing anyway." He grumbled, gesturing at the dashboard as he climbed out. Jungkook nodded before climbing out of the vehicle. Jimin leaned into the car.
"Not one of you should even consider leaving this space. Even if you need to go to the bathroom, either hold your pride and piss on the tree or hold it in. If any of you leave, I will make sure that nobody goes to get you a second time, alright?" He warned. The high schoolers nodded, intimidated by his commanding gaze. Satisfied, Jimin moved back and shut the door, moving through the tree leaves with Jungkook until the students could no longer see any movement around them.
Jaehyun deflated in his seat as the adrenaline finally ran out of him. He was sure he would have a hard time finding the strength to walk for a while.
"I can't believe he really managed to do it." He murmured. His friends glanced at him. When Jungkook had called them just an hour earlier, all five of them had been at the end of their ropes with fear in that gym office. The fact that he had said that he would come and get them and then did it was borderline crazy. Seokmin exhaled a laugh from behind.
"I can't believe we were also crazy enough to follow through with the plan to run to the workshops like that." He clasped a hand to his forehead as a small wave of emotion came over him. If any of them had been even a little less athletic, it might have been too close of a call.
"We had to, the zombies would have broken into the gym office eventually. We were sitting ducks." Jaehyun replied. There was silence in the car once more.
"Now we just need to wait for this Yoongi person and we can get out of here, right?" Mina asked. Everyone nodded and Eunha clasped her hands together in her lap. Please let them come back okay. Please just let us get out of here in one piece.
Jungkook and Jimin leaped over the gate once again with minimal effort and made their way to the fire escape in the workshop once again before Jungkook stopped them. There's a horde in the office, he mouthed to Jimin, who's confused expression crumpled. So their safe spot had been compromised? How would they get Yoongi out? Wait.
Another way? Jimin mouthed. Jungkook nodded. Neither he nor Jimin had seen Yoongi when they came first, so the teacher must have gone a different way. Tilting his head, Jungkook lead Jimin up a shallow slope before pausing to look around. Satisfied, he lead the older youth to what was very clearly a side entrance to the building.
It seemed deserted, just like the rest of the campus, but both the young men knew that there was definitely a zombie presence here. Jimin grabbed his phone and sent a one-handed text message to Yoongi, glad they had all exchanged numbers earlier. While his head was down, he kept the tips of the fingers on his free hand pressed lightly into Jungkook's back as they moved without stopping.
Finished, he pocketed the phone just as they reached a staircase. Jungkook looked over his shoulder at his friend. The turn at the end of this corridor leads to the fire exit, he mouthed. Jimin nodded. Judging by the length of the corridor they had entered through, the other corridor should be long too. That meant if anything happened and the zombie horde heard, they would have at least a little bit of time to get ahead and get out. That is, as long as there were no other zombies present in other places in the building.
Jungkook guided them to the area under the staircase instead of up the stairs, surprising Jimin momentarily. The under stair area on the ground floor was used as storage for extra chairs, so there were many stacked up.
The pair nudged an opening in the arrangement and crept through, hoping to hide until Yoongi replied to Jimin's text. What greeted them instead of an empty space was the sight of a young girl with her hands clutched over her mouth to muffle her scream when she saw them.