outbreak | bts

044

Jin wasn't sure if his heart was pounding too loud or if he had suddenly been submerged in ice cold water but he couldn't hear very well right now, even as the other adults and students that had left the terminal clamoured to look with dismay at the front doors that had clearly been forced open.

"We, we need to check up them. We need to get inside." Someone was saying. The voice sounded so very much like his own but it sounded so so so far away, so so watery. I never should have left. How could we all have left? We just put a group of young children in charge of an even younger group of children by themselves in this madness. I- A heavy palm landed on his shoulder and shook him.

"Hyung. Jin hyung!" The sharp call shifted Jin's attention away from the window and into Yoongi's worried, but stern eyes.

"Hyung, you need to breathe. Breathe, hyung!" He pressed down on Jin, who finally took a trembling inhale and exhaled out just as shakily. When Jin's breathing reached a slightly fast but steady rhythm, Yoongi released his grip.

"Jimin's already messaging the kids that were in there, we need to wait for their reply before we do anything else." He tipped his head in the direction of the minibus' front door where Jimin as well as several other scouts were furiously tapping at their phones.

"And if they don't reply?" Jin's lips were stiff. All he could imagine was the terror the children must have felt when those doors opened. And if they screamed, then more zombies would surely have come running. Yoongi swallowed, his mind following a similar scenario.

"Then we messed up, big time." A yelp from Yugyeom drew their attention.

"Jungwon replied! He said that his batch of kids and Sunghoon's batch are in hiding spot two."

"What about Jihyo, Sunoo and Jay?" Jimin called out to nobody in particular as he pocketed his device.

"Jay's typing!" Eunha responded from the back of the minibus. "He said they're in spot one." Jimin observed the doors again. There hadn't been any movement from the terminal in the two minutes that they had been stationary in front of it.

There was likely one of three things happening:
1) the zombies had broken in but the children had hidden so the zombies had left.
2) the zombies were still roaming around in the terminal.
3) the zombies were being coordinated by an abnormal and were lying in wait.

Jimin twisted the rings on his fingers and ruffled his hair, agitated. Damn it, we can't afford to wait to find out!

"Let's go." Jimin nodded at Baekhyun who nodded right back at him, the two of them departing from the minibus without a further word to anyone else. Waiting half a beat, Jungkook and Jaehyun ran to the door.

"Please go round to the bus park, the minibus is too exposed out on the street." Jaehyun murmured to Seulgi before following behind Jungkook, off the bus and into the terminal. Jin watched them as they made their way in and desperately wanted to follow them.

Holding himself back, aware that if there really was a confrontation he would be nothing more than a liability, Jin waited with the rest of the adults as the bus rolled off the main street to wait in front of the bus and coach park entrance.

"Teacher Kim? What do we do if...?" Wonyoung's voice and presence were so quiet that Jin hadn't even noticed her standing in the row behind him. The rest of his students looked at him with worried eyes. The lump in his throat felt dry and scratchy and he had to briefly look away to compose himself. Turning back, he decided to be honest.

"We're going to have to adjust to things as they come, do you understand?" He stated. The girls shared nervous glances, shifting around uncomfortably. Exhaling, Jin felt a small bubble of desperation rise in his chest. They had to understand that there was no certainty of anything anymore. He couldn't give them the comfort he knew they wanted right now.