Back to the waiting game, Yoongi and I spent our days playing card games, bickering over our favorite music and in the woods hunting for food so that we were able to stay longer. We became close, so many days passing with just the two of us that sometimes I imagined it'd stay this way and that somehow we'd make that okay.

Yoongi had been out longer than usual, out to hunt at first light. It was now dusk and I started to worry, both of us having agreed to return by sunset every day.

He always increased the sound of his step so that I knew he was coming. I stood at the kitchen counter, preparing a can of vegetables and splitting it in two small bowls. We were down to our last bit of food, going as long as we could without eating and having just enough to sustain us until the next meal.

The exasperated sigh he released upon opening the door told me that it was another day of scarcity. It was rare that we came upon a live animal nowadays, only the occasional squirrel or rabbit to share.

He kicked off his boots and slouched onto the couch just as I came in with our dinner, looking down at the small bowl with an expression of defeat and setting his bowl on the table.

"Alena, we need to move on from here." He turned his attention to me, my face halfway hidden in my bowl.

It only took minutes to eat, so I scarfed down my food before replying. "Let's give it a few more days." I negotiated. I was still holding on to the possibility that the rest of them would show up on the doorstep just as Yoongi had.

"We only have a little food left. I know you want to wait for them but it's been weeks." His sternness grew as I argued against him.

"Sure, if you don't include the fact that it stormed all last week. That probably got in the way so they had to take shelter for a while." I retorted.

He grabbed his bowl, setting it in his lap and reaching for the maps we kept folded underneath the table, placing them on top. "Listen, I respect you and what you want, but I need to keep you safe, and you aren't safe if we don't have food." He conveyed his insistence through his gaze.

I wanted nothing more than to protest, a small pout on my lips as I took a deep breath, a huff that showed my disappointment.

"Hey, we'll need to go back to the stream for water one more time before we do anything else. So we'll have tomorrow at least." He made an attempt at easing my dismay, but the chances of tomorrow being any different felt miniscule.

When I didn't speak he sifted through and opened a couple of the maps, staring at them before spreading them across the coffee table. "We'll be smart about it. I think we have two options. We can go to the closest major city, Richmond, but big cities have rarely been good places to find safety for us. With either choice we'd be going to a decent sized city. It's just that Richmond is bigger, but it's possible that the others would also think to go there since it's the capital." He unfolded the map another time so that it displayed both Virginia and North Carolina. "But I think it's more likely that they'd go to Chapel Hill."

I leaned over to get a better look at the map, touching the city and home of the university where Shelby taught, tracing my finger up across the border to our location.

"It's over one hundred and fifty miles, but it's the one place we all talked about going next." He shared. "Namjoon thought we should keep moving south if we had to leave the prison. He said if we were ever headed toward North Carolina we should go to Chapel Hill to let you look for any sign of Shelby. We could take the bike as far as we can, maybe find more gas and food along the way. If we run out we'll continue on foot." He raised his brows, seeking my approval as he explained.

"You really think the others would think to go there?" I pondered.

He shrugged and I knew his only positivity came out of obligation to me. "I think it's our best chance. We all knew about it and I think Namjoon would go since it was his idea. Jungkook will be thinking of you and where you'd go so he might try for it if he can make it. We'll just have to cross our fingers that the others are with them or that they'll think of it too." He nodded, pointing with confirmation to our next destination.

We headed out early the next morning, an easy walk to the stream with the cool air and familiarity of the path around the city. When we arrived we got started, filling containers with water and when we finished I dipped my feet in, Yoongi's attention grabbed by movement that he identified as being an animal, not too far away.

"Stay here and finish up. Maybe I can catch us something for a last dinner." He nodded, his steps inaudible as he moved into tracking the sound.

"Don't go far." I called out after him. As I sat against a rock, letting my legs dangle in the water I thought of the first moments I had in the stream, after a night of desperate scavenging. I closed my eyes, picturing those moments just before our first awareness of Leon's men when Jungkook pulled me into the water and the sight of him beneath the waterfall.

With my eyes closed, I caught onto another sound in the distance, frogs croaking a bit further down the stream. I dried my legs and feet, slipping back into my shoes to follow the sound, figuring that if Yoongi came back empty handed we'd at least have a few frog legs to suffice.

The croaking intensified as I walked downhill, and when it sounded right next to me from the water I fished out the net tucked in my pocket. The water came just to my knees and I was sure to move swiftly but silently as I tossed it out into the water, gathering it over and over to check for anything caught inside.

After a few rounds I'd caught three frogs and two small fish so I crouched down by the side of the stream, killing the animals to take back.

I hummed a tune, an echo of one often heard around the prison from Hobi, flinching at the feel of a hand on my shoulder and registering the groaning and chomping sound that accompanied it. I turned around quickly, faced with the sullen, sunken face of an undead man, clasping my hand around the knife in my boot and pulling the blade up through its head.

There were five more behind him so I moved back into the water, putting some distance between us while I reached for another knife, tucked into one of the holders on my leg. I'd set my machete down by my bags and didn't want to risk firing a bullet, knowing that it would only draw more.

On the other side of the stream I had more leverage, careful to avoid falling back into the water as they waded through. I took my time, penetrating them through their ears and eyes as they got closer, their loosely fleshy hands reaching out in hunger until there was only one left, stepping over the bodies of the others to get to me.

Just as I plowed my knife into the last's head, I yelped, a response to another that'd snuck up behind me, leaning down to bite my back. Before its teeth could sink into my skin an arrow flew from an angle above, piercing through the center of its forehead.

I smiled with relief and knowing, turning my head to the trees and looking through the branches in search of Jimin.

He was nearly invisible, perched on a large branch with his back against the trunk and legs stretched out in front of him. He met my eye with a small smile, seeming hesitant to come down as I crossed the stream again to meet him.

He shuffled down easily, holding on to branches and almost swinging his way to the ground. I stood at the bottom of the tree, pulling him against me in a hug before his feet could hit the forest floor.

When I pulled away both of our eyes were glistening with tears and he shook his head, muttering as I cupped both of his cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"Alena!" Yoongi's voice called out, his footsteps heavy with panic as he shuffled through the trees, stopping mid-run. "I heard you yell." He panted.

Jimin turned so that he was between us, their eyes meeting for a moment before Jimin moved onto his knees and pressed his torso flat in a deep bow. Initially, I wasn't sure what was happening, his body shaking with a soft sob as I remembered the words he spoke.

"Stand up." I pulled at his arm, holding on to his hand as he rose and wiping at the small layer of dirt left as an imprint on his skin.

"Hobi," He sighed, his sweet eyes still filled with tears, "it's my fault."

I shook my head, speaking and looking at him firmly. "There's nothing to be forgiven. You were protecting me."

"Hey, let's get back before it gets dark." Yoongi stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.

After gathering all of our supplies we started the walk back to the house, the woods filled with a little more chatter since Jimin joined us. I updated him on our plan to start toward Chapel Hill the following morning. He confessed that he'd been so guilt-ridden, he didn't plan to look for any of our group or rejoin us. He'd been following us since the morning, unseen as he made sure we were safe and only revealing himself when I'd been in real danger.

We made a decent meal of the fish and frogs I caught, Yoongi reminiscing on some of the traditional foods he enjoyed cooking before coming to the states. It felt amazing to be reunited with both of them, but at the risk of selfishness, I needed as many of them with me as were still alive. Hobi's spirit, I could carry with me but with the others, I felt that they were still out there somewhere. I was counting on Chapel Hill to be the place that returned everyone I needed to find.