Not even four seconds after Jimin had read the text, a loud bang came from the workshop. Cursing repeatedly in his head, Jimin hurried to pocket his phone and grasped Yerim's wrist as the resonance of growling and snuffling began to get louder in his ears.
The sound of a stampede coming from both upstairs and downstairs led Jimin to yank Yerim into the first floor corridor, bypassing the zombie that had run into the now empty workshop. When Yerim caught sight of it she cried out again, catching its attention as it sped to catch them.
"Pull yourself together, or we'll both die!" Jimin called without looking over his shoulder as he continued dragging her.
"But...!" Yerim's voice died out as Jimin sped up the pace and zoomed out of the other corridor entrance, stopping. There was a rush of zombies making their way up the stairs and another group were fast approaching from the corridor. Swallowing, Jimin tugged Yerim forward and slung her arms over his shoulders, causing her to gasp as he started toward the stairs leading down.
"What are you doing?" The girl exclaimed, flustered and panicked by the sudden skinship.
"Wrap your legs around my waist already!" Jimin instructed as he started to kick down zombies that had reached them. Yerim made no arguments, choosing to shut her eyes obediently in fear. Appreciative of her stillness, Jimin kicked another zombie down, leading to others being knocked down in its wake, giving them a little room to breathe in front.
Sensing something, Jimin ducked, managing to dodge one zombie that had lunged at Yerim from behind, causing her to flinch and cling tighter to him. Glad to have his hands free, Jimin made use of the small gap available in between the staircases
to hop over the railing, flinching at an uncomfortable sensation before letting go in time before a head bashed onto the railing. When he landed, Jimin winced at the pain that bloomed in his shoulder. He hadn't grabbed the railing properly so his bone must have rubbed against his arm socket from the overstretch.
Refusing to pause for too long however, he ensured Yerim was secure on his back before bolting forward blindly in the clearest direction. It seemed to be the corridor leading to that fire escape he and Jungkook had gotten his friends from.
Huffing, Jimin begged whichever deity might have been listening to not let the place be full of zombies. His prayer seemed to be answered when they took a quick turn and burst into the office and it was empty. Spinning around, he closed the door on the horde that was approaching from the other end of the corridor. Realising that there was no lock, he began to drag the nearest object of furniture to the door while shaking Yerim off his back.
"See if you can find a way to escape!" He called as he hauled chairs onto the table, balking as firstly one thud, then another, then more began to knock on, more like bang against, the door. Soon the door began creaking open in spite of Jimin having piled as many movable objects as possible in front of it.
Frantically turning, he noted that Yerim was in the midst of climbing through the window and rushed to her, nudging her over the ledge where she fell and crumpled into a pile. Planting his palms on the window sill, Jimin winced at the pain in his shoulder and hauled his body lightly through the opening, reaching through to pull the window shut just as the door burst open and the horde started pushing and climbing over the furniture.
Jimin pulled Yerim to her feet, taking off once she was upright. They made their way out of the fire escape and Jimin didn't stop once, not even as Yerim stumbled and tripped over herself trying to keep up, or as the ache in his shoulder began to throb. He just kept his eye on the gate that they were rapidly approaching and focused on keeping one leg moving in front of the other.
When they reached the gate, Jimin bent onto one knee and patted it for Yerim to step on. It wasn't as good as using his hands but the pain was beginning to catch up to him now and he needed his arm to lift himself over; he definitely wouldn't be able to use his arm more than once as it was now. When Yerim had balanced herself on the wall next to the gate, Jimin exhaled a few times before jumping up and hoisting himself over the wall. When he realised that Yerim had not come down yet, he turned to look up at her.
"What are you doing? Jump down." Yerim stared at him fearfully. The wall wasn't that high by any means but it was certainly a greater height than herself and the ground just looked so far away.
"I'll catch you." Jimin attempted to persuade her. The freshman looked at him with worried eyes.
"But, your arm-"
"It's fine, I'll use just one arm. Make sure you bend your knees when you hit the ground so that your legs don't end up like my shoulder okay?" Jimin half joked, smiling at her to ease her discomfort.
Yerim looked back at the school campus one last time, at the workshop building she had been trapped in, before positioning her legs and dropping down the wall and into Jimin's arm, bending her knees as instructed to absorb the impact. Panting a little, Yerim's breathing evened out and she looked over at Jimin who nodded at her and led the way back to the Wrangler.
When they arrived, Jungkook burst out of the car to greet them, his friends all looking relieved behind him. Yoongi also came round to see them, empty handed. Jimin assumed that he had put the bag down.
"How did you two get out?" He asked, trying hard not to wince from the pain in his shoulder. He wondered if he had dislocated it.
"We threw the bag out into the bushes and jumped down onto the fire escape. Then we just came here under the cover of the trees." Jungkook explained.
"Today I've really done some crazy shit." Yoongi recounted the events so far with a shake of his head, eyeing Jimin with slight suspicion.
"Did you get hurt?" He finally asked. The question made Jimin and Jungkook pause and all of a sudden, Yerim began to cry. Surprised, Jungkook awkwardly patted the underclassman on the back, trying to get her to calm down. He ushered her into the boot, where she sat with Mina and Eunha, who had swapped places with Seokmin. As Jungkook was bringing the boot door shut, she finally spoke.
"I'm sorry, because of me, unnie got turned into a zombie and that oppa got hurt. Maybe I'm cursed." She whimpered between sobs before breaking into a full on wail. Jimin, Yoongi and Jungkook inhaled sharply as the same thought crossed their minds. Had that female zombie in the corridor on the first floor been Yerim's friend? Jimin made his way over to her and placed a gentle hand on her head. Yerim's cries whimpered down as she looked up at him, surprised.
"I made the decision to use my body that way, just like how your unnie chose to protect you. I don't have any regrets, and I'm sure she doesn't either, so no more crying, hm? Focus on surviving and remembering her." He murmured, giving her head a quick ruffle before stepping away.
Yerim sniffled a bit more before using her sleeves to rub her eyes. Though a few more tears fell and her breathing wasn't stable, she no longer wailed, instead blinking and clenching her fists to calm down. Nodding with a smile, Jimin slammed the boot door shut and made his way back to his seat. As he was about to pull the door shut, Jungkook blocked it.
"Hyung, is your shoulder dislocated?" He asked. His friends in the back seat sat up straighter and glanced at the older youth with concern. Jimin nodded, leaning his head back as he swallowed.
"We need to pop it back then." Jungkook said, leaning forward.
"I know, I know, you punk. We clearly can't do it outside; I'll end up screaming and it'll blow our hiding spot." Jimin stopped him, using his good arm to block his friend. Jungkook blinked at him before nodding and pulling back. Yoongi was looking at his phone while this exchange happened but he lifted his head at the mention of popping.
"Ya, we can't go to Seocho anymore." He informed the group. Everyone blinked at him in dismay.
"So, what do we do now?" Mina, who had calmed down after leaving the school campus, asked in a small voice.
"Don't freak out yet. We just need to think. It would be best if we could get to a place that's quiet most of the time. A place where not a lot of people would be at during this time of day." Yoongi said, looking down at his phone's black screen. After a pause, Jaehyun leaned forward.
"Does it have to be a subway station?" He asked. Jimin and Yoongi peered at him over their shoulders.
"Why, do you have any other ideas?" Jimin asked. Jaehyun sat a little straighter under his mildly haggard gaze.
"I was just thinking of how Nambu Bus Terminal is always empty, since it's an older type of bus station compared to others around." He mentioned. Jungkook's eyes widened.
"Oh? You're right! Any time we met up there to travel for track meets, the place basically had no people." Seokmin exclaimed. Yoongi placed a thoughtful finger on his top lip.
"Hm, maybe an isolated building would be better than a subway station." Yoongi murmured.
"And the subway station is right in front of the building, so if we changed our minds, it would be a quick run." Jungkook reasoned, watching Yoongi's reaction carefully.
"Okay, let's do it. Everyone get inside." Yoongi finally instructed, starting his car as Jungkook shut Jimin's door and hopped into the backseat, sliding beside Jaehyun as Yuju shifted over to Seokmin's lap. Jungkook and Jaehyun glanced at them with surprised eyes when Seokmin wrapped his arms around her waist securely. They were in silence as Yoongi crept the Wrangler back onto the main road before Jungkook's curiosity got the better of him.
"Ya, are you guys dating?" He whispered, leaning over Jaehyun to ask quietly. Seokmin and Yuju's eyes shot to him.
"No way!" They both yelled with hushed voices, Yuju reaching out to lightly smack Jungkook on the head. Jimin snorted as he listened to them. Look at them enjoying themselves now that they're out of danger.
He felt a small smile touch his lips in spite of the ache in his shoulder. It felt good to have helped these guys make it out of there. After they dropped them off, they would go back to Yoongi's place and wait for news, right? Surely now that they had helped some people, there would not be any need to go out until the government said so.
Right?