Annihilation

Run

"Alena, we're meeting." Jimin peeked into my cell with a smile. My head had just hit the thin pillow I used, finally washed up after a day in the garden with Jin.

I sat up with a grunt, the seven of them already surrounding the table that held every map we'd been outlining. Hobi and Yoongi had been out the day before, finishing the last section around the prison set at fifteen miles.

"We spotted a gas station and a Dollar General right at the edge of the southwest marker. We estimated that it might be a little over thirty undead, so we figured it's a good time to take you on your first official run." Yoongi pointed at me.

"Am I ready for that?" I questioned, my eyes scanning theirs until they landed back on Yoongi's.

He was serious as usual. "You're never really ready for it." His answer was one that left me with a slight discomfort. I recalled my talks with Hobi as we trekked through the woods around the prison, reminding me that some discomfort was necessary.

Hobi piped up from beside him, already having drawn out a plan. "It'll be me, you, Yoongi, and Jungkook. We'll take the Honda at sunrise. Priorities right now are food and medicine."

"And any seeds." Jin spoke up.

Namjoon finished up by going over other plans for tomorrow and we parted ways for bed. I tossed a little more in my sleep, resting more difficult in anticipation of the coming day. Before the sun had a chance to wake me, Jungkook tapped his knuckle against my cell, waiting for me to rub the sleep from my eyes and join him on the other side.

"Come on, I want to get your weapons ready." He led me to where Yoongi waited, at the table that held an account of every weapon in our possession.

He'd already stuffed the holders Taehyung fashioned to wrap around my thighs with a couple of knives, handing them to me as we approached. While I busied myself with securing them around my legs, Jungkook hooked one around my waist to hold the 9mm I would carry. Finally Yoongi handed me the machete we'd been practicing with, the easiest weapon to yield.

I watched quietly as they got ready, weapons concealed from the waist of their pants down to their boots.

Hobi was already at the car, piling the trunk with empty bags that we hoped would return filled with supplies. "Everybody ready?" He was cheerful even at sunrise, slamming the trunk closed just as Namjoon appeared to see us off.

He hugged each of them before coming to me, holding open the back door while wrapping an arm around my shoulders. It felt like I was a part of something beautiful, a family, as he let me go, calling in through the window as we pulled away. "Take care of each other."

The ride was quiet, only the crunch of gravel and then asphalt underneath us as we rode, until Hobi sighed for a fourth time, a response to the overwhelming silence. "Do you remember that song the students would sing at every campus event, the one we all hated?" He asked, turning his head from the road to peek over at Yoongi.

Hobi was already humming a tune, searching for the lyrics as Yoongi rolled his eyes from the passenger's seat. "Don't."

His hum slowly turned into muttered lines that I recognized instantly, and I laughed as he started to belt out the chorus to Sweet Caroline. Yoongi groaned next to him and Jungkook kept quiet while I joined in, lowly singing a song that just seemed like one once known by everyone.

"Louder with me, Alena!" Hobi called to the backseat, Jungkook's mouth pulling into a smile as we started to sing the hook and chorus again until even Yoongi was grinning.

Fifteen minutes later he pulled off on a small dirt path at the edge of the woods. I could see an oversized sign for the Dollar General up ahead and as soon as we were out of the car, Hobi pulled out a pair of binoculars, looking through them before handing them to me.