outbreak | bts

037

~*~ Present ~*~

Baekhyun felt his heart slam sideways into his lungs when he was yanked around a hidden corner immediately having turned a corner already by Seokmin. He, Jaehyun and Seokmin stood frozen in the shadows as the horde turned the first corner.

Instead of moving on like he had hoped, the whole group slowed, with one standing right in the path where light from street lamps shone into the gap between two buildings that the young men were poised in. This is bad, super, super bad!

Baekhyun couldn't breathe properly, not even with his body threatening to give out if he didn't take a massive gulp of air right here and now. Not even with the rain pouring harder and louder. It seeped down strands of his hair and dripped into his clothes. The cooling air froze the droplets against his skin and he feared he would sneeze or cough or something at any given moment.

Just as the zombie placed a single foot into the gap, a loud sound - a person's voice - rang out into the rain filled darkness. It felt like a jagged rock had lodged itself in Baekhyun's throat and had to clasp his hand over his mouth to stop the choke, his eyes tearing at the effort. He knew that raspy tone. That was Jimin's voice. No, please.

Jimin's roar didn't only catch his attention. All the zombies that Baekhyun could see from his vantage point swivelled in the direction of Jimin's voice, taking off at an insane speed. How had the three of them managed to outrun them for so long? An unathletic person definitely wouldn't have been able to do so.

Or maybe the adrenaline and desire to live would have pushed them beyond their limits. The sound of retreating feet filled Baekhyun with equal parts relief and terror. The three of them were out of immediate danger, but now the horde were going to go after Jimin.

Attempting to swallow, Baekhyun reached out to Jaehyun and Seokmin who were still frozen on the other side of the gap, eyes wide with horror. Chest heaving shallowly, Baekhyun patted them out of their trance. They needed to get back to the minibus while they had the chance. They needed safety, Jaehyun and Seokmin needed to be safe.

Then he would go and get Jimin.

As they jogged behind stores, slipping through gaps in fences and helping each other over solid walls, most of their bags of snacks discarded, Baekhyun continued to scan their surroundings as they moved. His heart couldn't seem to find a rhythm to follow and that lump was still in stuck in his throat.

This group of zombies was different. More so than the zombies from the start of the outbreak, many of these looked as though they had been vehemently burned. Many had lost one or both eyes as skin grew and healed over the holes. Noses were gaping flesh wounds and mouths looked like they had been sealed shut and then had the flesh ripped open.

Their bodies were worse for wear. Some lacked arms at all, and many of those who did have them had their fingers melted together into weird fin-like shapes. They varied abnormally in size, some had literally looked like they could stand height to height with a bus while others looked like they could easily move a bus single handedly. They ran faster than the normal zombies, they were more focused. They weren't like the abnormals, who looked and mostly behaved like normal people. These were mutants.

And Park fucking Jimin had just lured all of them over to himself. Knowing what he was like, he was definitely alone. Damn it, you dummy.

They were about half way to the location of the minibus when Jaehyun tripped, his fatigue beginning to catch up to him. Seokmin managed to grab him before he hit the ground face first, barely managing to keep the both of them upright, weak from running too hard for too long in unstable and slick conditions.

Using large strides, Baekhyun went to Jaehyun's other side to support him, not even waiting for them to adjust themselves before stepping forward. They needed to keep moving. From experience, he knew that if they stopped right now without a safe cover, they'd be stuck.

The sound of screeching tyres sounded loud and sharp in the air, causing all three of them to flinch. In the downpour it was hard to see much, even with the streetlamp they were stood just behind, but all of a sudden, an urgent, familiar voice was calling out to them through the rain and the rev.

"Oppa, guys! Get in! Get inside!" Eunha magically appeared in front of them, hanging from the the doorway of the minibus while Yugyeom clung to the first set of seats in the aisle. Seulgi's teeth were gritted as she slowed down the vehicle to the pace of a man's light jog without stopping completely. She was driving nearly blind, with only the windshield wipers providing some sort of aid in the torrent.

Wasting no time, Baekhyun hauled Jaehyun and Seokmin over to Eunha, who grabbed onto Seokmin's arm and pulled him into the bus, handing him off to Yugyeom before she turned back to Jaehyun. Clasping hands with him, she was joined by Seokmin and Yugyeom who both grabbed onto Jaehyun's arm and pulled.

Baekhyun was about to release him when he felt Jaehyun's arm around his shoulder tighten. Then he felt the concrete vanish from underneath his feet and get replaced by carpet. He was hardly aware of himself and when he attempted to rise from his position in a heap with the others, he realised that he couldn't.

"See hyung, you're not in much better condition than us." Jaehyun panted, looking at him with knowing eyes through his soaked fringe. Baekhyun swallowed, his nose taking heavy, deep breaths as he understood that Jaehyun had known what he planned to do, and stopped him. He was eventually pulled up and onto a seat with Yugyeom's assistance and gratefully leaned back into the leather.

"What about Jimin? How are we going to we get him? Those zombies are...they're different." He finally managed to ask, his voice hoarse and low. Eunha gave him a grim smile, her lips pursed with focus.

"We're going to get him. Right now." She said. Baekhyun sat up straight, ignoring the bolt of pain from his rib. The determined glint in her eye scared him a little, but she definitely meant business. Nodding, he decided to keep quiet and see what happened.

~*~

Holy shit. Jimin swallowed as he saw the hordes approach from all sides. Turns out there had been a lot of zombies in the area. He had remained in the same place, squat down on his spot on the roof to witness the consequences of his actions. And there were definitely consequences. Approximately forty of them, by his guess.

The young man paused as he observed the zombies more closely. There was something wrong with them. Most if not all of them looked grotesquely misfigured, and they varied in size. The rain made staying in place tricky as his shoes slicked beneath him. Of all times, his terrible luck hit him and he lost his balance, his bottom hitting the roof with a dull thud.

Honestly, with the sound of the rain pattering on everything, it shouldn't have been a big deal. It shouldn't have been a big deal but it became one when every single mutant creature on the ground snapped their heads up to where he was on the roof.

It became an even bigger deal when Jimin heard the sound of what seemed to be stone being crushed getting higher and closer to where he squatted.

Rising, he quickly made for the far edge of the roof, hopping over a relatively small gap onto the top of another store, turning just in time to see the hand of one of the zombies reaching over the roof and grabbing on. Jimin paled. He had made a mistake. Roofs were not a safe spot anymore. These things could climb now, and he would be cornered if he ran out of rooftops to run on.

I'm screwed.