outbreak | bts

042

His head felt hot. No, his head felt empty. It felt like he had been dumped face first into a hot spring and was being held in place there. Namjoon's chest was heaving, up and down, but why did it feel like no oxygen was actually making its way to his brain?

In the path of three zombies who were fast closing in on him, all his exits were blocked off. If he tried to run, he would definitely get attacked from behind or the side. If he stayed still for too long, he would definitely be found by them. His hiding place crouched behind a cluster of loading boxes wouldn't be enough to hide him forever. He was a sitting duck.

I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead.

~Earlier~

"Are you feeling alright, Ms Ryu?" Namjoon quietly asked the older woman when he heard her sigh for the ninth time. He and Ms Ryu had partnered up with Jungkook and Jaehyun and were seated beside each other in the minibus that Seulgi was trundling down a narrow back road towards the supermarket district. The windows had all the curtains drawn, so they hadn't seen any zombies. Ms Ryu exhaled.

"I can't seem to get a grip on myself. We haven't even seen anything yet but I'm feeling so anxious." She murmured. Namjoon gave her a wobbly smile. He understood her completely. No zombies in sight, but his hand couldn't stop the subtle tremor it had begun when they had left the safety of the terminal's gates.

The scouts, for the most part, appeared rather relaxed, murmuring softly among themselves while the terminal's survivors sat in pairs, causing patches of silence in the vehicle. Jihyo and the boys that had come with her were staying in the terminal with the children.

They had established several hiding places around the terminal in case there was a break-in from any mutant zombies before everyone else had left for Ms Ryu's island. Since the five of them had spent so much time outside, Jimin and Baekhyun felt no need to make them come out again. In fact, both had very expressly refused to make them come out again.

Staring blankly at the back of the seat in front of him, Namjoon jumped when Ms Ryu's warm hand patted his own. Her lips were set in a thin line, her eyes shaking. Namjoon blinked at her before realising that the minibus had stopped.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"Alright. We'll be going now. Please stay with your partner pair at all times. Help each other out. Stay calm, stay silent, get what you need and get back here, pronto. We don't need as much stuff this time, so one trip each should be enough with the number of people we have right now." Jimin announced as everyone got ready to depart.

There were hums and nods of confirmation from the scouts while the other survivors stood like stone. Namjoon followed Jungkook out of the vehicle, checking that Ms Ryu and Jaehyun were following behind before looking ahead.

When they had been planning this trip back at the terminal, Jungkook and Jaehyun had been tasked with collecting first aid kits and medicine from the pharmacy on the edge of the shopping district, as Eunho.

Ms Ryu was coming with them to gauge if there was anything more that would be useful to add and Namjoon was assigned with them because Ms Ryu said she felt far more secure with "three strapping young men to watch my back". Ha! He might have been strapping but Namjoon didn't feel very equipped to watch anyone's back.

So here they were, headed and tailed by Jungkook and Jaehyun as they made the short trek into the store through the staff exit Eunha had apparently propped open the last time they had been there. From here, they would make their way to the edge of the shopping district where the few health stores and pharmacies Eunha hadn't been able to collect from were located.