July 2 | DAY 8
08 : 01 am

Seokjin wasn't sure what woke him up, but he was awake now and he found himself lying next to Yoongi. He had unconsciously fallen asleep last night, after he had made his mind up, that they were going to get out of there, alive.

The light rays peeked in through the awning window, but it was not as bright as it used to be. A storm was slowly spewing outside and the skies rumbled. Seokjin could feel it, the dull bathroom looked more dull and lifeless.

He sighed heavily. His throat was dry, his lips were chapped and he felt hollow due to hunger. The wound on his forehead had healed up, but the splitting headache wouldn't let him go back to sleep.

He slowly stood up and stretched his body, feeling extremely weak and dead inside. He walked to one of the two mirrors placed on the wall above the washbasins, the other one was broken and the pieces lay scattered, some in the basin, some on the floor.

He suddenly remembered what had happened the day before, sighed again and stared into the dead eyes of the unknown reflection in the mirror, he couldn't recognise himself anymore.

He could see Yoongi through the mirror and also Taehyung, both sleeping, but Jungkook, he was nowhere to be seen.

He quickly swirled his head around and looked around the room again. There were three stalls in the bathroom and he checked all of them for him.

Jungkook was missing, he was gone.

That's when he noticed that the door was not locked. It was shut, but the door-latch was open.

"No..."

He quickly went to the door and pulled it open. The rotten stench, getting worse day by day, attacked Seokjin's lungs, but he didn't care. He held his breath in and looked around for Jungkook, without stepping out of the bathroom. There was not a soul to be seen.

Silence.

He shut the door and locked it. He went to Taehyung and tried to shake him awake.

"Taehyung! Do you know where Jungkook is?"

Taehyung slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them with the back of his hands.

"He's here... I'm okay..."

Taehyung mumbled out vague things, he was still half asleep.

"Taehyung! Jungkook's not here... He's gone!", Seokjin yelled.

Taehyung suddenly opened his eyes fully, stared at Seokjin for a few moments as if he was still processing what he just heard and cried out.

"What?!"

Yoongi woke up hearing Taehyung yelling.

"What's the matter? Why are you yelling?", he asked, his voice broken and dry, his eyes still closed.

"Jungkook's not here", Seokjin sighed heavily.

"What?! Did you check everywhere?", Yoongi suddenly opened his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed. He tried to sit up, but the wound stung so badly and he groaned as he slowly pulled his leg up to sit properly.

"Yes!", Seokjin massaged his temples out of frustration.

He started walking across the room from the door to wall repeatedly, breathing heavily and mumbling out inaudible words.

"M...maybe he went out to get food?", Taehyung said, biting his lips. His eyes were glossy and Yoongi noticed it.

"Yeah.", Yoongi spoke up. "That's why he went out..."

"He's a very hungry guy, you know. Probably went out for a snack or something. He'll be back before you know."

Yoongi tried to speak assuringly, he didn't want Taehyung to freak out.

"Yeah...", Seokjin nodded along with Yoongi.

He wished in his mind that it was what actually happened, that it was the truth. But against all his hopes, that same uneasy feeling slowly crept into his mind again, making his heartbeat at a pace so fast like it wanted to break a rib.

July 2 | DAY 8
10 : 29 am

Jungkook hadn't returned yet. Seokjin kept on looking at the door restlessly. He really wanted Jungkook to open it and come in, safe and sound, but it had been more than two hours since Seokjin found out that Jungkook was missing and his hopes started dwindling.

Taehyung sat in the corner, biting his lips and occasionally running his hands through his hair. He looked really worried. Seokjin had never seen him look this alert. Whenever the wind blows and something creaks or a random sound just echoes in, he suddenly flinches and looks at the door, only to look back down, disappointed.

Yoongi sat facing the door too, but he looked very pale and weak. The wound on his leg was not healing up as it was supposed to. It had been days since they ate or drank something and that really affected the healing process. 

Their bodies were giving up even if their minds were not ready to. They had to restore their deteriorated strength and energy, or their bodies would give in and the mind alone can do nothing.

They needed food and water.

Seokjin slowly stood up, grabbing both Taehyung's and Yoongi's attention to him.

"I'm just gonna step out and see whether there's something to eat. And also, look for Jungkook."

Saying this, he moved to the door but was suddenly stopped by Taehyung.

"Hyung, let me go out.", Taehyung said after grabbing Seokjin's wrist.

"I haven't done anything useful since we got here. You stay here with Yoongi Hyung, I'll get the food and water."

Seokjin thought for a moment and nodded yes, he was too tired to walk that he feared that he might collapse somewhere on the way. Taehyung's condition was not much better either, but he looked determined.

Seokjin pulled Taehyung up from his seated position and hugged him, he could feel Taehyung hugging him back tightly.

"Don't wander off too far... and be back fast.", Seokjin advised Taehyung after they broke off from their hug.

"And please don't offer yourselves to the zombies or anything.", Yoongi said, chuckling softly through his words, trying to lighten up the mood.

Taehyung smiled weakly at Yoongi's comment and nodded his head, and Seokjin tapped his shoulder.

"Okay, off you go then. Be careful."

Seokjin gave him the last piece of advice before he stepped out of the bathroom and Seokjin watched him as he slowly disappeared into one of the aisles.

He closed the door and sat near Yoongi, hoping that nothing bad will happen, again. Yoongi had his eyes closed, but Seokjin couldn't tell whether he was sleeping or not. He decided not to disturb him anyway.

July 2 | DAY 2
11 : 19 am

Seokjin's thought process was once again broken when he heard a faint knock on the door, he quickly jumped up and ran to it. He opened it in a slit to find Taehyung, with a couple of cans and water bottles.

Seokjin sighed in relief and opened the door fully to let Taehyung in. He locked the door as Taehyung went to Yoongi and placed all the containers on the floor near him, but Yoongi was sleeping.

Seokjin walked closer to them to look at what he had brought.

"Hmmm... Canned fruits and, what's this?"

Seokjin pointed at an unlabelled can, sitting comfortably near Yoongi.

"I don't know, I saw it, I took it.", Taehyung replied as he sat down beside Yoongi and Seokjin.

"Did you see any zombies out there?", Seokjin asked, trying to open a can of pineapple slices.

"No, I didn't.", Taehyung opened a bottle of water.

"I think they left.", he added.

"What about Jungkook?"

The answer to that question was silence from Taehyung's part, while he moved closer to Yoongi.

He slowly poked Yoongi's shoulders to wake him up. When he did, Taehyung quickly washed his hands with a little bit of water and took a pineapple slice from the container that Seokjin had just opened.

"Aaa...", Taehyung gestured Yoongi to open his mouth.

Yoongi did so, slowly and unconsciously and Taehyung fed him the fruit slice. Yoongi chewed slowly and swallowed and opened his mouth again for more.

Taehyung and Seokjin both smiled at this action and Seokjin took over to feeding Yoongi, while feeding himself.

Taehyung suddenly stood up and Seokjin looked up to face Taehyung.

"Aren't you eating?", Seokjin inquired, opening another water bottle.

"Yeah... but I think we need more food... And water.", saying this Taehyung walked to the door, but Seokjin suddenly spoke.

"I'll go... But after a while.", Seokjin spoke with a mouth full of pineapple.

"Now come on, sit down. You need to eat.", Seokjin spoke, welcoming Taehyung to sit near him.

Yoongi was back in his senses by this time and he felt like relieved. His pain had gone down and he felt a little bit energetic again. He drank the water that Seokjin handed him and sighed.

"Oh thank you... I felt like I was gonna die.", Yoongi opened his eyes fully.

"Why are pineapples so good?", saying this he took the can away from Seokjin and started helping himself to it.

Seokjin stared at Yoongi for a while and grabbed another can, labelled 'apricots'.

He pondered for a moment about the fact how much he had changed. A few days ago no one dared take food away from Seokjin's hands or the ones concerned always faced the consequences. But now nothing mattered, he felt like these few days had changed the person he thought he was.

He quickly snapped out from his thoughts and turned around to speak to Taehyung to see nobody. He was not there anymore and the door was unlocked. He had gone out.

Why?

That's when it hit him. Taehyung didn't go out for the supplies, it was for Jungkook. Seokjin suddenly rushed to the door, but was too late as Taehyung had already disappeared into the cluttered shelves. Seokjin felt conflicted all of a sudden, he didn't know what to do. Should he go after Taehyung or stay here with Yoongi?

~~~

What would he do? If it was me, I would be probably lying dead in a room somewhere or trying to bite somebody else as a zombie, so idk.

I just watched the BBMAs and their performance was so AWESOME, as always... they rented out a WHOLE AIRPORT to shoot, it was just COOL.

I'm doing good and I hope you're doing good too and ooh, A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR ANGEL JIMINIE!

Anyhoo, next chapter out on 22 October, 2020.

Love,
PAPRIKA 💜