Harsh breathing and heavy pants echoed in his ears. His own frantic heart rate was making his palms sweat and he wondered if this was how he was going to die. This wasn’t supposed to happen to Park Jimin, but here he was, hiding on top of a children’s slide like some kind of pathetic imitation of his old self. The damn dog chasing him wasn’t even fatigued as it jumped at him from the bottom of the slide and he wondered how the hell he could let the gun slip from his fingers.
He had the shot! He could have hit the dog and at least injured it, but his damn nerves got the best of him and now he was—
The dog stopped barking and its head swung away from Jimin to face the distant silhouettes of four guys.
Holding in a relieved sob, Jimin held in the guilt that he was happy to have the dog focus on someone else and instead focused on holding his breath. The voices were getting louder and Jimin wondered who in their right mind would go around during the zombie apocalypse, mouthing off and attracting attention.
Of course, the zombies were hard to find, but they were there! And once one knew where you were, then more would rapidly follow.
He knew from experience.
The shouting got louder and Jimin noticed all four of them were stopped in the middle of the street. Their voices sounded familiar and if he were in the right frame of mind to pay attention, he would realize that he kind of recognized those voices. As it were, he was holding his breath and trying not to shake when he watched the zombie dog lift its head in the direction of the four newcomers.
He really hoped that the dead thing would move away so that he could retrace his steps, gather his father’s gun, and leave.
The dog before him growled, the sound rumbling through the deadie’s chest. It increased in intensity, and as the voices grew more agitated, the dog finally raised its head and howled. The sound sent a chill through Jimin’s body, especially since he was so close to the thing, and he really hoped that whoever was making all the noise ran for their life.
The talking had stopped now and Jimin didn’t even have time to blink before the dog was off, running full speed toward the loud group. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jimin slumped over, almost slipping down the slide. Waiting a few heartbeats, Jimin slowly poked his head out of the opening of the slide and was relieved to see that the dog, no, the dogs, had turned their attention to their chase down the street. Cautiously, Jimin hopped off the playground equipment, wincing slightly in paranoia when his feet crunched loudly against the woodchips in the play area.
When nothing came after him, Jimin broke into a sprint, running from the park, eyes on the ground and on the search for his lost weapon. Earlier, he had dropped it when the damn zombie dog had snarled at him, teeth snapping in his direction in a threat that was clearly understood and received. If only he had half the nerve his father wished he had, maybe then he could have saved himself.
‘And everyone else…’ Jimin thought grimly, only to immediately dispel the thought. He had to concentrate if he wanted to survive! He couldn’t afford to waste his time with what if scenarios. He had a gun to find.
There! The weapon was a small handgun, something that Jimin had never bothered to remember the name of before, but its size and weight fit perfectly into his hand.
Feeling secure now that he had a semblance of protection, Jimin did a quick check of the gun, unloading then loading the magazine clip, clicking the safety on and off, and generally making sure that everything was in order. As he could tell so far, the weapon was fine, not even a scratch on it from the fall earlier. It comforted him to some degree, even if he had mixed emotions about holding it again. It had been years, almost a decade since his father had taken him on weekend trips and taught him how to use a gun.
The sound of glass hitting the ground broke Jimin out of his temporary reverie and he snapped his head up, eyes easily finding the pale and milky irises of a deadie. The creature was halfway out the window of a nearby liquor store and Jimin felt a wry smile quirk his lips up. ‘Of course, someone had to have enough sense to rob a liquor store during the zombie apocalypse,’ he thought, widening his stance and squaring his shoulders before raising the gun to eyelevel and lining up a shot.
The zombie was moving sluggishly, pale grey-blue eyes focused on the vague direction of Jimin. Tiny snarling sounds came from the limply flailing zombie, sounding almost like inquisitive growls. Taking a deep breath, Jimin held it and aimed his weapon at the deadie. Despite it still moving, Jimin was able to line the shot up with the zombie’s forehead.
From then on, all it took was a flex of his finger and a shot was fired, the loud crack of metal and gunpowder splitting the silence. Almost immediately, the zombie was cut off mid growl, its head snapping back with a sickening crunch. With one last flail, the zombie fell backward, the sound of a body hitting the ground soon following.
Finally exhaling, Jimin lowered his arms and checked the area for anything else dead and looking for a meal. So far, Jimin had noticed that the zombies were sensitive to noise, however it wasn’t any particular noise that got to them. The sounds that seemed to stimulate them into action were the sounds of other zombies. He learned this sometime this morning, when he knocked over an entire display case in an abandoned convenience store and only made the slumped over zombie at the register lift its head and make inquisitive growling noises in his general direction. At that time, Jimin was too spooked to stick around and study its reaction, but his luck ran out when he passed a decrepit warehouse and screamed when a dog jumped at him from behind the building fence.
Usually, Jimin wasn’t a jumpy person, but he couldn’t be blamed when the dog that jumped at him had the fur ripped completely off its muzzle, eyes milky powder blue, and snarls louder and much more vicious than any live dog. After that scream, the dog that jump scared him proceeded to go nuts. It had slammed its body forward, chain link fence rattling with the blows and eventually flattening under the dead dog’s fury. At that point, Jimin had unfroze from his shocked horror and began running for his life, the dog snapping viciously at his heels.
The chase had ultimately led him to the playground, where he took refuge on the playground equipment. It was easy to scale the children’s climbing net, and luckily, the damned dog couldn’t figure out how stairs worked. Though Jimin was sure that if he were left there much longer, the dog would have managed to find a way to jump up and climb the slide.
Actually, now that he thought about it, those people who showed up earlier technically saved his life.
Biting his lip in indecisiveness, Jimin glanced down at the gun in his hand. The sleek black metal blended effortlessly with the tough plastic frame, contrasting only slightly from the dirtied skin of his palm and fingers.
With this, and his experience, he could go back and help the people who had unknowingly helped him. His survival chances would dramatically slim even if he did go back, but then again, weren’t the unknown odds the same, if not higher if he were to turn tail and run?
Coming to a decision, Jimin tightened his hold on the gun, making sure that it was aimed down and at his side as he ran, lessening the chances of accidentally injuring himself. The park was only a street away, the entire neighborhood, while unknown to him, was easy to navigate. Soon, the playground equipment was in view again and just down the street, he could see two stray zombies slowly coming out of their hiding places, sluggish movements getting just a little more energetic with the more noise that was made. Cursing to himself, Jimin lightly jogged down the street, making sure to keep a decent distance from himself and the deadies as he aimed and shot, both going down with two shots.
‘The old man should see me now,’ Jimin thought sarcastically, rounding the street corner with more caution. He could hear the eerie barking of two dead dogs, both of them taking on a signature tone that was both too low and too high. It was almost like an artificial imitation of a live dogs’ bark and Jimin had to take a shaky breath, taking a moment to wipe his sweaty palms on the thick fabric of what was left of his school uniform.
‘It’s now or never...’ Jimin moved, gun already held up at eye level and breath held to keep his aim steady. There was a parked car that served as a perfect cover for him to duck behind and take in the situation from a safe distance.
“JEON JUNGGUK, YOU LITTLE FUCKING ASS!!” A guy with light bluish green hair shouted, figure struggling inside some type of homemade treehouse. Another boy was trying to tug something out of his arms, eyes round and bow-shaped lips set into a grim line. There were two to three visible zombies surrounding their tree, and Jimin was a little more than horrified to see that two of them were children.
“HYUNG, LET GO!!” The black haired boy Jimin assumed to be Jungguk shouted back, tugging harder on what looked like a pillow from the mint haired guy’s arms.
“HELL FUCKING NO KID! I AINT GONNA LET YOU USE MY PILLOW TO—”
Jungguk used his hyung’s momentary distraction to yank the pillow from his hyung’s grasp, a victorious glint in his eyes as he threw it in the face of the only adult zombie below them, jumping down soon after and tugging a wildly protesting hyung with him.
The undead children descended upon them with high pitched shrieks, but just when Jimin was going to take aim and fire, the black haired boy used a large knife handle to hit the back of one of the zombie’s necks. A snap later, the little one was falling still to the ground while the boy with mint colored hair cursed loudly and placed his hands on the other zombie’s head, keeping the little vicious thing at arm’s length. The scene was almost comical, and Jimin would have laughed had he not heard someone screaming, the sound of glass shattering following soon after.
Standing from his crouch, Jimin could see just over the top of the car he was hidden behind and his eyes widened.
“Namjoonie!?” He blurted aloud, though his voice was lost upon his blonde haired hyung and the boy with dark brown hair clinging to his side.
The car they were standing on was only around ten feet away and Jimin could see a dirtied hand with blackened fingernails rise from inside the car. Namjoon’s face was twisted in fear and horror, and the brunette at his side matched his expression, though in his panicky screeching, he instinctively scrambled backward. A loud bark, accompanied by a similar growl had the boy twisting away from the edge of the car, involuntarily scooting closer to the zombie that now had its arms and head emerging from inside the car.
“HYUNGHYUNGHYUNG!!OHMYGODWEGONNADIE!!!” The brown haired boy shouted, his eyes wide and his arms clinging tightly to Namjoon’s thin waist. Namjoon was holding onto the other boy as well, his lanky arms clinging around his shoulders in fear.
Something in Jimin stirred uncomfortably in his gut at the sight of their closeness, but he didn’t have time to think about it and instead he focused on finding the perfect shot to hit the zombie emerging from the car, and not the two trembling humans behind it.
The constant barking, growling, and snarling of the dogs circling the car didn’t help either. Jimin knew that all three deadies were a threat, but he was only one person who could aim and shoot one thing at a time, and each of the zombies was a constantly moving target, the dogs more so than the human zombie.
More cursing coming from the other side of the street picked at the edge of Jimin’s concentration, but he was close to getting a lined up shot on the female zombie struggling to climb further—
“KICK THE BITCH, DUMBASSES!!” The mint haired guy from earlier shouted, once again back in the treehouse, this time he was on top of Jungguk, dirty pillow pushed over his face. The boy was struggling below him, though he appeared less strained than his hyung was with the attempted smothering. If anything, the guy looked amused at the situation, as if pushing his hyung’s buttons was the most entertaining sport.
“FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK!” Namjoon screeched out when a failed kick allowed the she-zombie grabbed hold of his foot and tried to bite it. Screaming in his ear, Taehyung helped kick the zombie’s head, a particularly well aimed one getting her right in the face and snapping her head back.
Realizing that he was running out of time, and that Namjoon was in danger, Jimin silently prayed that his aim was perfect as he squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger.
The shot broke through the silence once again, and Jimin was almost afraid to open his eyes, but when he did he saw a pair of shocked and awed faces staring back at him. Deep red blood was splattered across their faces, but they didn’t seem to mind, in fact they seemed relieved when a tentative foot belonging to the brunette kicked the zombie and she only flopped back into the car limply.
“J-Jimin!?!” Recognition flashed across Namjoon’s face, but before he could reply, the haunting deep growls of something undead snapped his attention away from his classmate.
The dogs had been alerted by the gunshot noise and both were now in front of him.
“RUN JIMIN!” Namjoon’s frantic voice shouted, the words laced with absolute fear and worry for his well-being.
“Oh shit,” Jimin muttered to himself, taking a step back and freezing when the dogs growled in warning, eyes unfocused yet their heads tilted toward him and listening for the movement of their prey.
A rock was thrown at the dogs, catching one on the flank and making it stop growling to release a very life like yelp. With the dogs effectively distracted, Jimin scrambled to climb the car next to him. One of the dogs was more alert, teeth snapping at his ankles, but falling short.
Panting and trembling with adrenaline, Jimin made sure to stay as far away from the edges of the car as possible. Effectively, he was trapped. And if his quick counting was right, he only had three bullets left.
“EY! ORANGE SLICE, I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE,” The mint haired guy from across the street, hands cupped around his mouth shouted. “BUT YOU DONE FUCKED UP!”
Jungguk snickered and waved at a bewildered Jimin (was he really compared to an orange!? His hair was dark gold, between yellow and red— damn, his hair is orange).
“HEY PREZ, NICE SHOT! I KNEW I VOTED RIGHT!” Jungguk shouted, shooting Jimin a thumbs up before throwing another well aimed rock at one of the dogs. The strangely life-like yelp coming from the zombie animal soon followed. The mint haired guy in the treehouse with Jungguk scoffed when the younger gave a celebratory whoop.
“HEY YOU GUYS, SHUT THE FUCK UP! HE NEEDS TO CONCENTRATE ON QUICK SCOPING THESE HELL HOUNDS!!” The brown haired boy on the roof of the other car with Namjoon shouted back, apparently having gotten over the fear he had from earlier.
This prompted a shout war of insults to fly back and forth across the street, and when one of the zombie dogs jumped up, snapping teeth dangerously close to him, Jimin wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.