{stages of infection}
Taehyung had to do it.
He had to run.
By leaving it any longer he was just putting Jungkook at more of a risk. The horde was beginning to further close in, a mixture of groans, moans and terrifying clicking noises piercing through the rain as the gathering of infected closed in on the forrest's terrain. Hopefully Hoseok and Yoongi could figure out how to kill a clicker, there was no way Taehyung could get the message across without shouting it out.
Without wasting a further second of time, Taehyung pushed off his feet, sprinting towards the wooden fence a mere couple of metres away. Bending his knees and jumping off his feet, Taehyung managed to grab ahold of the first slab of wood, a creak being heard from the pressure.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
Jungkook let out a lace of curses as the clickers let out a piercing screech and began to frantically charge in the direction of Taehyung, letting out a croaky screech as they bolted towards him. Jungkook almost froze up at how fast they were moving, faster then maybe even a runner.
He had no time to panic, only enough time to aim and shoot.
As the clickers began to close in on Taehyung, Jungkook picked up a stone, throwing it heavily into a nearby tree, away from the fence and his only means of escape. The clickers halted in position and he could hear the bones in their stiffened necks creak as they turned their monstrous heads. Then with a deafening croaking screech they lurched in the other direction.
Jungkook had no more time to waste. As soon as Taehyung was securely over the fence, Jungkook dived for the camp, bolting through the night, drinking the cool night air as if each gulp could be his last. Then from behind came a moan, and another to the right. The horde was closing in.
"SHIT!" Jungkook called. He was at the foot of the fence, but if he were to climb it now, he would surely be dragged back into the madness. The skeletal creatures were shuffling towards him at an alarming rate. As they inched closer Jungkook could see their dislocated jaws, torn tongues and blood stained savage teeth on display as they drooled over their meal.
Jungkook took a step backwards, letting out a gasp as his back hit the hard wood of the fence. The wood began to creak in the strong wind passing through the forest, and before Jungkook could even collect his thoughts, the clickers had swung back in his direction.
Slipping his two hand guns from his pocket Jungkook's breathing hitched in his throat as the horde staggered hungrily towards him all at once. He rose the guns in front of him aiming with as much precision he could in the short amount of time and fired at the crowd.
Back pressed firmly against the sodden fence Jungkook watched as bodies fell left and right, landing on the muddy rain-washed ground of the forest. His breathing became frigid, neck frozen as he came to the realisation,
That he wasn't shooting fast enough.
Yoongi and Hoseok seemed to realise the desperate situation, dashing across the fence so they were standing above Jungkook. Hoseok swung his quill in front of him, slipping out an arrow and loading it in the string. The wind swept through his dripping wet orange hair as he narrowed his eyes at the target. Releasing the tightly pulled string, the arrow sped through the air, sweeping down the fence and straight through a clicker's skull, sending it to the ground.
Yoongi on the other hand placed a hand against the top of the fence, swinging his legs down until he was perched on a wooden slab halfway between the clutches of the horde and the top of the fence.
Jimin choked on his saliva as he saw Yoongi balancing on a beam between life and death. The blue haired male pressed his back firmly against the fence, slipping his two handguns from his belt and aiming into the crowd.
"Yoongi!" Jimin shout, running across the top of the fence until he was standing above the said male, "It's too dangerous! What if you miss!?"
Yoongi found a cocky smirk creep it's way across his face, "Don't worry Jimin." he chuckled, raising his two guns, "I." he clicked off the safety, "never." he narrowed his eyes, aiming for the two clickers approaching Jungkook, "miss." and he shot. The bullets pierced through the air with absolute precision breaking directly through the skull's of the undead.
With a harsh upbringing and heavy military training from such a young age, Yoongi was tough to core. The only time he let down his stoic facade was when a comrade was wounded, then he was a nurse and caregiver rolled into one. Yoongi had known nothing better then fistfights and bloody missions, so when the apocalypse started, he wasn't too phased by the danger. Maybe that's why he was so good at surviving on his own for so long?
An earsplitting scream cut Yoongi from his silent thoughts, causing him to swing his head in the direction of the noise. The scream came from deep within the forces of Jungkook's mouth, it was as if his terrified soul had unleashed a demon. Three runners had closed in on Jungkook's form, practically pinning him to the rain-washed wooden fence as he struggled to move his arms and fight. The scream wasn't one in pain, but one in anger. A scream of desperation as Jungkook tore his arms from the zombie's grasps, swinging his clenched fist to land a punch on one of the runners. He swung around his leg, roundhouse kicking another zombie pinning him down before having enough time to raise an arm and shoot the final zombie.
Yoongi's eyes widened, Jungkook's strength was nothing short of supernatural. He was strong, no wonder he was such a tough cookie.
"Yoongi! Eyes back on the prize!" Hoseok hollered, loading an arrow into his bow and releasing it onto a clicker gaining ground on Yoongi.
Yoongi rolled his eyes, "Got it." he huffed, resuming where he had left off.
With the combined forces of Yoongi, Hoseok and Jungkook the horde was falling, knees breaking onto the soaked, muddy ground beneath their feet.
Taehyung's eyes flickered over the canopies of the forest, making out the figures that began to endlessly approach. His eyes then trailed back down to Jungkook's fighting form. His flames of determination where beginning to extinguish as he fought with all his might. Beads of sweat began mixing with the rain that trailed down his skin and Taehyung wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out.
So he took the opportunity,
"YO! TOUGH GUY!" Taehyung called, not remembering Jungkook's name. Taehyung lent his entire body over the fence, one hand clutched tightly onto the top whilst his other reached as far down as it could, "GRAB ON!"
"Tsk." Jungkook sounded as he saw Taehyung's unlikely gesture. Jungkook wasn't the kind of guy to accept any means of help, but right now he was too drained to complain. Kicking away one last walker, Jungkook turned to the fence, bending his tired knees and jumping off his feet with as much strength as he could muster.
Jungkook managed to grab a tight hold of Taehyung's hand, tightening his grip as he found himself slipping with the rain that washed in-between their fingers, "Got ya." Taehyung grunted, splinters of wood digging into his skin as he hoisted Jungkook up the fence. Jungkook assisted by placing his feet on a few wooden planks to lessen the weight.
Jungkook let out a lengthy sigh of relief as he found himself thrown onto the top of the fence, back hitting the wood as he let his chest heavily rise and fall. Taehyung felt himself lie beside Jungkook, breath coming in short gasps as he too regained his breath. Jungkook was heavy.
"You... you owe me one." Taehyung huffed
"Thanks Taehyung." Jungkook breathed, turning on his side to face the brunette, "By the way, my name's Jungkook." he smiled warmheartedly.
Taehyung returned the gesture,
"Ahhhh, I remember your name now." he chuckled.
------
The night went rather smoothly after Jungkook's rescue. Yoongi and Hoseok managed to clean up the remainder of the horde from the safety of the fence. Namjoon also ended up making it to the horde, throwing in a few of his own tricks. It turned out that Namjoon was a skilled tactician and an expert in explosives. No wonder camp Beta was so skilful.
While Hoseok and Yoongi decided to retire for the night the remaining four males, Jimin, Namjoon, Taehyung and Jungkook found themselves back in the inn, gathered in Jungkook's small room. They had all taken the time to change out of their saturated clothing with the exception of Taehyung, who's clothing was still in the van located outside the fence.
"Are you sure you don't wanna just borrow some of my stuff?" Jungkook asked, gesturing towards his small backpack sitting at the foot of his bed.
Taehyung shook his head, "It's fine, I'll probably be up for the rest of the night anyways." he replied, shaking his hair in an attempt to remove the last remaining droplets of water.
Jungkook shrugged, "Whatever you say." he spoke, shuffling over to his bed as he took a seat, sinking into its covers. Jungkook let out a sigh as he took his weight off his sore feet.
Jimin on the other hand stood at the door, leaning up against the wooden door frame with his arms crossed tightly over his form. With a stern voice Jimin had to ask, "What the heck were those?"
Taehyung cocked his head in confusion, "What was what?"
Jimin groaned in annoyance before gesturing towards his head, "You know, the things with the weird heads," Jimin then covered his eyes at his attempt to explain, "The blind ones?"
"Ahhhh" Taehyung sounded, "Those ones." his voice trailed off as he looked at Jungkook with permission. Jungkook simply nod his head, patting the space beside himself as Taehyung strolled over and took a seat. The bed sunk beside the two males, causing Jungkook to almost fall into Taehyung's side. The brunette's eyes flickered back to Jimin, "I'll explain. There's more to the infection then you might think."
Jimin's eyes went wide as he lowered his defensive position by the door, "Seriously!?" he spoke in upmost surprise.
Taehyung nod as he scratched his head, "seriously."
None of this came as a surprise to Namjoon. Living this close to the city Namjoon had already encountered the worst of the worst.
A shiver eloped Taehyung as he removed his soaked coat, dropping it onto the floor, "You've heard of the stages of infection... right?" Taehyung spoke calmly, as if he had explained this a million times before.
Jungkook and Jimin both nod their heads before Jungkook spoke, "We have. Stage One is the incubation process where the infection makes its way to the brain, stage two is becoming a walker and stage three, a runner." he explained, wondering why Taehyung insisted for an explanation.
The corner of Taehyung's mouth tilted into a smirk as his eyes glued to Jungkook, "Now that's where you're wrong."
Jungkook furrowed his brows, "what?"
Taehyung straightened himself up, "My father studied the 'infection' for years. It isn't actually an infection or disease, but a specific organism called 'The Cordyceps.'" He explained. The males seated in the room froze in place. There was actually a name for it? Taehyung continued to explain, "The Cordyceps is a fungal based infection that takes growth in the brain of an individual. It's primary goal is to spread its species by means of biting its victims." Taehyung paused before continuing, "There are actually five known stages of infection. Incubation, walker, runner, stalker then clicker." he took a breath, "The clicker is blind because the fungal infection had broken through the skin, it uses a means of echolocation in the form of a 'clicking' noise to locate its target. The walkers and runners can be killed by destroying vital organs, but clickers need to be shot through the brain, where the disease has finally taken complete control."
Jungkook rose a hand to his chin, "So it isn't a weird disease... but an actual living organism that takes control of a host to easily spread it's species." he looked up, "by biting us, the cordyceps is spread."
Taehyung nod, "It's actually pretty easy to understand, every species main goal is to thrive and survive." his eyes trailed to the floor, "it's just that humans are no longer the main thriving species."
Cutting through the silence, Namjoon took a step forwards from the door, "So that's how you made a temporary antidote," he sighed, running a hand through his overly bleached silver hair, "you have a lot of understanding."
Taehyung gave a soft shrug, "I come from a line of doctors, I guess you could say I'm quite talented." he bit down on his lip, "but not talented enough. I still can't figure out how to stop the infection completely." he breathed out, a frown on his face.
It was at this point in time where Jungkook sucked in a sharp breath, standing from his bed as he turned to face Taehyung. Grabbing a hold of his sleeve Jungkook's eyes bore into Taehyung's, "I think you can figure it out with this." Jungkook's fingers slowly pulled up the cotton of his shirt's sleeve, revealing the large scar that trailed across his arm.
Taehyung gasped as he began to shake his head back and forwards in complete denial, "There's n-no way." he stuttered, a million different thoughts flooding his mind as his eyes glued to the unbelievable sight before him.
"Taehyung..." Jungkook spoke, rolling back down his sleeve,
"I'm immune."
-------------
{Author Note}
There you have it! Let the real game of survival begin.
The infection known as 'The Cordyceps' is based off the real life infection from the apocalyptic video game 'The Last of Us.'
I suggest you watch this video to better understand the infection and what the zombies all look like
You can skip to 2:26 if you wanna get straight to the point or 4:09 for clickers:
(unedited)