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Namjoon didn't know whether to hug him or hit him.
So he did both.
—
Swinging his fist and plunging it into the delicate flesh of his elder's stomach, Namjoon watched as the witless Yoongi dropped to the floor on his knees.
Retching, the pastel-haired man doubled over, the tomato soup he'd eaten for breakfast earlier dripping from his mouth.
He glanced up at his junior with red-stained lips and a sour expression.
Guilt flashed across Namjoon's face before it quickly dissipated into panic.
The bile he'd pushed down earlier and his own breakfast came rushing up his throat.
It splattered onto the floor in a liquified heap. Jungkook and Hoseok stared on with disgusted eyes.
Then, recovering as if he hadn't just brought up the entire contents of his stomach, he wiped his lips and straightened himself.
"You absolute—what the fuck were you thinking? Stupid! You almost got yourself killed!"
Yoongi gave him a blank stare, arms crossed loosely around his stomach as if they would somehow ease the pain.
With a sheepish smile, Hoseok came wading in, swerving clear of each fallen member of the undead as he went.
"Don't scold him too hard, Joonie." He told him, his dark eyes trying their hardest to avoid all visible splatters of blood.
Namjoon sagged. Sighing, he carefully helped the pastel-haired man up who was currently occupied with slaughtering his junior with unstinting glares.
"Sorry, Yoongi-hyung." He mumbled.
Said man mulled over Namjoon's apology for a good minute before his tense shoulders eventually relaxed.
"'s alright." He muttered, shrugging effortlessly.
Namjoon spared a smile.
"Hey," Jungkook piped loudly, all three members turning to him as he hopped the fence with hurried ease. "I hate to ruin the mood, but we've got a pack of five approaching from the right."
"Where's the convenience store, Joonie?" Hoseok gushed in panic.
"Right front of you, idiot." Yoongi growled, pointing at the tattered wooden backdoor. It was glazed in a layer of old chipped blue paint with a flickering sign above the entrance that very clearly read 'GS25 Convenience Store'.
Hoseok laughed off his own ignorance.
As Jungkook jogged over, Namjoon leaned down and picked up Yoongi's gun. "Try the door." He advised, tugging out the magazine and recounting the remaining rounds.
Thirteen.
He snapped it back in with a thoughtful frown. Namjoon wasn't a perfect shot, but Yoongi was in no state to defend the group at the moment and he was pretty sure Hoseok and Jungkook had no idea how to even use a gun.
"I'll just have to do it myself." He mused aloud, voice a mere murmur.
Exhaling warily, he cocked the weapon in the direction of the east side of the building.
As the anticipated group of five came shuffling over, feet fast and growls animalistic, Namjoon tugged at the safety.
"Joon," he heard Yoongi's strained voice pipe. "don't add insult to injury."
"What else am I supposed to do?" Namjoon defended before a lopsided grin unveiled his dimples. "Besides, I don't want to hear that from you, hyung."
He waited patiently, heartbeat skyrocketing, as Jungkook tugged miserably at the handle.
"It's locked." He grumbled, rattling it in desperation as if it would miraculously open. Scrunching up his nose, he slammed his shoulder into the old wooden door repeatedly.
"Kick it down!" Namjoon roared, beads of sweat rolling in thin rivulets down his temple.
Gnashing teeth, bloodthirsty eyes.
They were coming closer and he was losing his composure.
"I'm trying!" The youngest hissed, jamming his foot into the door and throwing his whole weight onto it.
"It won't budge!" Hoseok cried, itching to help but the oldest mint-haired man slumped against his form prevented him from doing so.
Closer.
"Oh, fuck it!" Namjoon hissed, turning and popping off a scarily accurate round at the handle, successfully busting the lock.
Twelve.
He whipped back around, barrel digging unexpectedly into the cold undead temple of the zombie who had appeared so abruptly before him.
Close.
"It's open! Hyung!"
Too close.
Startled and without even thinking, he pulled the trigger, a splatter of infected amaranth splattering across his face as the unholy creature hit the ground.
Eleven.
Slamming his foot into the second one that threw itself at him, he ducked an incoming snap of jaws and sprayed three bullets at the third's head.
Eight.
Three zombies left.
Namjoon's head span with both adrenaline and ultimate panic, the feeling only intensifying when his shoe caught under a corpse, pulling him to the ground.
His heart skipped a beat.
As he himself hit the concrete, head ricocheting painfully against the floor, everything became hazy.
The panicked yells of his friends faded out into a distorted static, blind eyes rolling in his head.
Everything was bright and foggy for a few seconds.
He saw two. Two of everything.
Two marled faces, two sets of yellowed teeth. Two gouts of blood beading on the surface of his skin, two claws ripping painfully into his flesh.
And suddenly everything was normal.
Pain. It was the first thing he felt.
It hit him in rolling waves, drawing a gasp of agony from his chapped lips.
His skin was on fire. The feeling was suffocating.
He could hear the click of metal. The drag of a pipe. The fastening of footfalls.
Then,
thunk.
One of the three zombies on top of Namjoon was smacked hard across the head with a flash of dulled metallic, falling back with a grunt from the sheer force of the blow.
A droplet of liquid dripped onto his skin. The abrupt sensation made him flinch.
He guessed it was blood.
He watched hazily as a familiar face beat away the cannibalistic creatures tearing into him.
Smack.
A second one was smashed around the skull and Namjoon languidly turned his head, teeth grit, watching as a rotting face stared lifelessly into his eyes.
Milk white against coffee brown.
Namjoon's mind went blank at the mere sight of it.
Then a strange tearing sound followed. And Namjoon screamed.
Something was penetrating his skin. A raging fire burned like a thousand blazing wildfires upon his exposed flesh.
Teeth. Claws. Tongue.
He could feel it all, so deeply that it repulsed him.
The creature ate away at him feverishly, the squelching of the meat on his bones nauseating him further.
He was disorientated, pain the first and only thing on his mind, gaping mouth wide in complete and utter torment.
Thwack.
Hot blood sprayed like water from a hosepipe across his nose and cheeks, dripping down his temples.
Everything was on fire.
Jungkook's anguished face came into the elder's vision, the cast iron pipe he bore in his right hand falling like lead from his grasp.
It clattered to the ground.
And only then did it occur to Namjoon that the mysterious substance that dripped on his skin was not blood.
It was saltwater, for Jungkook was crying.
"Hyung," he brokenly sobbed, dropping to his grazed knees beside the wounded man. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry."
The mantra was repeated. Over and over and over again until Namjoon's head was left spinning once more.
Hoseok came dashing over, the discarded Yoongi poking his head out of the door with worried eyes.
When he saw his friend on the floor, all pain in his abdomen was lost and he came shuffling over instantaneously on his hands and knees.
"Joonie!" Hoseok screeched, skidding onto his shins as he tore off his jacket, ripping away a sleeve as if the tight seams were already tattered.
He used all his strength to shred it into a strip, and then proceeded to wind it around the largest of his gaping wounds.
Yoongi hung over him, the rips in his jeans exposing the sore cuts on his legs.
"We need to get him to Jin." He told the other two determinedly, pushing away Hoseok's shaking hands and tying the strip of material tightly around Namjoon's laceration.
Jungkook blanked as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Jin-hyung?" He whispered. "Why Jin-hyung?"
Realisation clicked in Hoseok's eyes. "He has a degree in medicine."
The maknae blinked. Once, twice. The information was new to him but he wasn't complaining.
"Now's not the time to be dawdling," Yoongi snapped. "go!"
Scrambling into a standing position, Hoseok eased an almost unconscious Namjoon upright, settling a supportive arm on his ribs and throwing Namjoon's own around his neck.
Jungkook hopped up too, repeating the stance with the other side.
Hoseok looked back at the pale man still on the floor, a questioning glint in his eyes.
"Why are you still sitting there?" He queried quickly, urging the man on. "Come on!"
Yoongi jumped up, flinching at the returned ache in his tummy. "I'm staying." He told them coolly, dark eyes flickering with a deep reluctance.
Namjoon's eyes rolled, trying desperately to keep his gaze on his hyung.
"What the hell do you mean you're staying?" Hoseok shrieked, almost dropping the man who fluttered in between consciousness in the midst of his surprise.
Yoongi heaved out a sigh. "We came on this expedition for food." He told him, bending back down slowly to retrieve his Glock. "And that's exactly what I'm gonna get."
It was Jungkook's turn to protest angrily, the apples of his cheeks still wet with tears as the rain washed over his face.
"You can't!" His voice wavered as he shouted over the heavy rainfall. "Not alone. You won't even make it home."
"Don't underestimate me, kid." Yoongi warned, popping out the magazine once more and counting the last rounds. "Go back."
"Namjoon didn't underestimate you." Hoseok spat, an unkindness he didn't know he had bouncing around in his words. "Look where that got him."
Yoongi's patience snapped. "Get him the fuck home!" He roared. "Namjoon put himself on the line for the wellbeing of the group, and if I have to risk my life to scavenge for food for you all, I will."
The two men were quiet at his outburst, the only movement being Namjoon's head as it rolled to the side and then flopped downward, finally unconscious from the pain.
Jungkook opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly silenced.
"I know Namjoon wouldn't want this," Yoongi told them, voice soft now as he choked out his confession. "trust me, I know. But I'll make it home. I promise. Tell the other members to hang in there. Tell Namjoon it isn't his fault."
Hoseok pursed his lips worriedly, readjusting Namjoon in his arms. Jungkook shook his head like a dog, flinging raindrops from his hair.
"Hyung—"
"It'll be okay." Yoongi smiled reassuringly. "I'll be back by sundown."
The two men had no time to put in another complaint as Yoongi tucked the Glock into the band of his trousers, snatching up the cast iron pole before darting away.
They stared after his retreating form until he ducked into the convenience store.
And so, brimmed with reluctance and empty options, they lumbered home in silence, eyes full of jaded worry as the rain washed the blood from their faces.
—
1860 words, a/n not included
unedited
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I'm so sorry that this chapter's really bad aaah, there's so much wrong with it
I've been super busy lately but luckily I'll have loads of time to write beCAUSE IT'S SUMMER BREAK WHOO
Thank you all for your patience and
sticking by my updates even though they're so bad haha♥️
I love you all!
—haonova💫