☽ ꜰᴏᴜʀ ☾
ꜱᴇᴏᴜʟ'ꜱ ʀᴜɪɴꜱ
*𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕*
There was a reason Seokjin was so cautious about the outside world, it wasn't his first time there. It had nothing to do with the vaccine stuff and Namsu herself; only, he knew that to go where Namsu had to, they had to traverse Seoul's ruins where zombies were enjoying playing hide and seek absolutely everywhere.
Seoul was an absolute nest of infected people.
Despite his warnings, Taehyung had already made up his mind. He was believing the kid and was ready to risk his life to do what his mind and heart were telling him was right to do. Namsu was obviously gladly joining his side. She was quite impressed with the trust Taehyung had put in her and she didn't want to make him disappointed.
If it was only Seokjin, he would have turned back already but it wasn't just him. He cared too much for Taehyung to let him by himself on that suicidal adventure. And he knew how generous and selfless Taehyung was, he knew that letting him with the kid would be the death of his. He could literally sacrifice himself for an unknown he just met if he judged that person worthy. Jin was there to keep him from doing so.
He followed them into the first building that was blocking the way. They had to go through it to advance. They entered and covered their noses not only because of the awful smell but also because of the spores that could get them infected without even a touch. They entered with the only light of their torches. They tried to illuminate all the nooks and corners to be sure nothing would come at them but they were never sure of what could hide in the darkness.
They adventured in the dark ruins of Seoul.
Seokjin saw a way down, under rubbles, and he knew that they had to take that way, but the place was very dark. The perfect spot for zombies to hide.
"Stay here with the kid." He ordered Taehyung and went down by himself, ignoring the death glare he received from the girl who didn't like being called 'kid' every time he was opening his mouth to talk about her.
He carefully jumped in the hole and faintly lit the place with his lightstick after making sure his face mask was correctly kissing all his facial forms to keep him from inhaling exterior air. The only problem was that this big mask was reducing his vision on his sides, making it even harder to see potential danger rushing toward him.
He adventured himself further and fell on a corpse, eaten up by fungi coming out of its every hole, tearing the body into something horrendous. It had almost no face anymore, its almost whole body was covered with the apparent form of the fungi; good thing the person was dead.
This fungus is in constant mutation, each time more dangerous than the previous phase. The transformation works in progression over time, the first step being the contamination. The first few months after the exposition, the infected one is called a Racer because their human brain is still a slightly bit conscious and tries to understand what is happening. They fall into a state of madness while the fungus slowly kills the brain in atrocious suffering. They just run and groan, attacking everyone that crosses their path. Alone, they are no menace and are easy to handle.
The real menaces are the ones who survived the infection after six months. They are dangerous and quick. The human part of the host is now definitely dead, they are called Slammers because of the sound they emit. A clicking sound like a no-stopping tick of a tongue. The fungi have grown all over their faces and bodies, making them unrecognizable and blind, but they have really great hearing. The fungi offer them strong protection against not only hand-to-hand weapons but also all sorts of bullets and any kind of weapons. To resume, if you find yourself too close to a slammer, you probably won't ever meet another one, nor anybody else.
Seokjin didn't go further not to leave Taehyung and Namsu alone for too long. He went back to his tracks and called discreetly the other two humans not to get too much intention.
They obediently followed the large-shouldered man by close, watching his back. Taehyung made sure to also wear his gas mask. The three of them were armed and ready; the boys had their guns and the girl still had her knife.
They arrived in a room that led the other way to another corridor. They quickly entered it but Seokjin stopped in his tracks, hiding behind a piece of furniture. "Hide." They both did as he said obviously not asking questions.
In the corridor was passing a racer. Once he passed by the room, stumbling on its feet like a perfect drunk idiot, Seokjin signaled them to hush and follow him. They entered the corridor making sure this racer was alone. Seokjin let Taehyung guide them further while he was watching their backs, never letting the tip of his gun off the back of the clueless zombie, while they both kept Namsu in between them, consideredly. He could shoot it and get rid of it, but he didn't want to take to risk to alert its friends or some slammers.
They successfully entered a new room without attracting unwanted attention, this one was as dark as the other ones. As creepy and dirty. As lifeless but haunting at the same time. Not only Namsu but the three of them wanted to get out of there the quickest as possible, the spooky quietness sent a chill down their spines. Something could pop up at any moment, and kill them just as quickly. But they had no idea where the outing was and how many zombies they were now surrounded by.
But shortly after they arrived, by chance, Namsu found a door that was leading outside. "Guys! Look!" She whisper-yelled a bit too enthusiastically and opened the door wide. The boys exchanged a look before running to her side.
"Hush!" Taehyung put his finger over his mask as if it was his lips and Seokjin got out first, fearing there were infected people waiting outside or maybe being alerted by the sound of the door opening.
Looked like it was a lucky day. There was not a cat outside. They breathed a sigh of relief, allowing their alerted muscles to relax a bit and the boys took their masks off, allowing themselves to breathe clean air again.
When they moved their torches to look around, they found themselves trapped in between four high walls, even though the night sky was shining with stars above them; it had stopped raining and the black clouds had gone away. Namsu's shoulders went down in disappointment when she noticed no way out at first. The place was large tho, about ten square meters.
Seokjin noticed a garage door, it was the only way out except for going back to where they were but that was now impossible, Namsu's breath got stuck in her lungs in dread.
"Uhh, guys!" Namsu's voice trembled at her sight. Taehyung turned around to see that racers were coming at them from the door they dumbly stayed open. They had been alarmed by the sound of the door, just like they feared.
Taehyung turned to Seokjin who was trying to open the metal garage door with the only strength of his arms. "Jin, quick!" He was already doing his best and wanted to answer back at his stupid and annoying comment but he didn't have the time or the strength.
"They're here!" Namsu urged and turned one last time before sliding under the small opening Jin had managed to make, followed by Taehyung. Jin got in just in time, releasing the heavy door on the few zombies that got to pass certain of their members, cutting them off.
They made disgusted faces before quickly turning their torches on to examine if the place they were in was safe.
Namsu allowed herself to sit on the ground when she saw they were safe for the moment, tired of everything that was going on. She sighed deeply, feeling sweat rolling on her forehead.
"What did you think outside was like?" Jin asked her breathlessly but with his mocking tone which she just ignored, too tired to argue back.
"Aren't you like... too traumatized?" Taehyung then asked, genuinely worried about what she had to face. Truly, zombies were not pretty to look at.
"I've already seen zombies, you know..." She didn't want to look too emotionally fragile, but she did see the people she loved turning into these horrendous things.
Taehyung wanted to talk back, asking a bit more about her to learn about the girl's life, but Seokjin cut it off. "Are we sleeping here or what?" He rolled his eyes before walking away, obliging the other two to follow because their only chance of survival was to stay together at all costs.
They all explored carefully the building to find another way out, always together, watching all around them not to be surprised.
When the only noises that could be heard were their steps and heavy breaths for a while, a sudden new noise rang, giving them chills.
"Shh."
Everyone stopped moving and breathing. They looked at each other and when they realized it was some kind of non-stop tongue-clicking, they opened their eyes wide, immediately understanding the upcoming danger.
"Run!" Jin ordered and the three of them went and hid in a room that unfortunately had no doors. They threw themselves behind some office desks, staying hidden from the slammer that had noticed them and ran after them.
They found themselves in a room accompanied by a slammer, who was slowly approaching the other side of the desk, trying to figure out where his prey had gone. Taehyung discreetly put his finger on his lips signaling Namsu not to make a single noise after he and Seokjin had exchanged a knowing look.
A slammer is good for hearing, but it's blind.
Slowly, really slowly, they started to bend walking to the door, one after the other, Jin leading the way and Taehyung closing the on-all-four march. They successfully exited the room but the beast was still tracking them. They continued to walk as silently as possible and Jin decided to take a downstairs case, probably leading to an underground car park.
The building was easy to recognize, it must have been a long time ago a business company, there were offices and big halls. The staircase was indeed leading to an underground parking where there still were cars, some upside down. But most importantly, there were slammers. And not just a few.
The monsters were wandering around, waiting for the first little noise to make their moves. Their torches didn't affect them thanks to their blindness.
"Seokjin," Taehyung called lowly. He showed him with his thumb the bag he had on his back. It was enough for him to understand what he was trying to say. The men were friends for a long time and they could easily communicate without words now.
Jin discreetly took a brown long cane off the bag. He straightened his back and threw the can in the opposite direction from where they wanted to go. The noise alerted all the slammers around who dumbly ran the way to the noise, giving the survivors a clear path.
They went until they found a grey metallic door.
"This way," Taehyung whispered, showing the door.
Namsu was the first one trying to open it, even if it was slightly moving, it wouldn't open. It wasn't locked, only rusted. The boys moved her away and at the same time, taking a few steps back, they ran into it, bumping their strong shoulders against it and bursting it open, making them lose their balance.
"JIN!!" Taehyung alerted.
They didn't have time to take another breath, the moment Jin turned around another slammer jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. Jin did his best to keep the weird creature fungi head the furthest away from him.
Taehyung without any hesitation kicked the thing off his friend's body, pulling a few bullets into its head in the process and beating him up until it didn't move anymore. Taehyung let his anger explode on it, whoever dared touch his best friend deserved this cruel ending.
No time for thanks, while Namsu was looking worriedly at him, Jin urged them again. "Come on." Taehyung's hands were hurting and bleeding from the punches he threw at that zombie, but he ignored it.
The three traversed the broken town just like that, passing from one critical situation to another.
It took them two sleepless nights.
After a pause, deeper in the town, they had to pass another huge entry, but it was blocked by two big wood beams. Without losing a single second, Jin tried by the only force of his arms to lift one of the beams so Taehyung could pass with Namsu. Once they did, a big rock that was on top of their heads fall down, making Jin lose his grip and everything fell down, keeping them now apart.
"Jin!" Taehyung called him as he saw him fall on his back because of the pressure of the materials.
"Tae-" He was interrupted by ticking-tongue-like noise.
"Run! Jin, run!" Jin didn't have a choice now, he had to leave them. He turned around searching for another entry to get back to them while paying attention to his surroundings.
Jin's pulse was fast, not because he was scared of some zombies, but because he was scared not to be there to protect his friend and Namsu too. He had to get to them the fastest he could.
Being separated from Taehyung put him in such a state of anxiety. To be frank, he didn't really care if something happened to Namsu, he only knew he'd attract Naomi's wrath and that was the only thing keeping him from abandoning the girl among the town's ruins.
But Taehyung... he couldn't lose him. They had been together for the past years, they had been through everything together. They made mistakes together, they saved each other's lives every time they had the chance. Seokjin without Taehyung wasn't a full Seokjin anymore. And right now, being separated from him, not knowing how he was doing, even though he wasn't alone, brought him such an uncomfortable uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Seokjin had promised himself to never get attached to someone again after he lost his sister. But Taehyung just appeared and ever since, he promised to stay by his side and protect him. They were not related by blood, but it didn't matter, he was the most important person in his life.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
A/N: This was bad:( I can't write scenes with such suspense, excuse me 😅
In my personal opinion, this chapter was the most boring, since there wasn't too much dialogue but it was needed to explain the situation and all the zombies' development.
Hope you'll continue to enjoy anyway!