"God help me."

Seokjin kept on chanting to himself as he slowly brought the knife near Taehyung's foot, his hands shivering, his breath stopping, his heart beating. But if God really did exist, would he really let such things, such terrible things happen to them?

Seokjin didn't know what to believe in anymore, everything he ever cared for or believed in didn't matter or exist anymore and that thought made his heart beat out of control, even more furiously.

He gulped and tried to calm himself down. He looked at Taehyung who lay asleep beside him and sucked in a deep breath.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

Hope. Hope was the only thing that kept him going.

July 2 | DAY 8
02 : 51 pm

He decided to do it, make the incision, whatever it might take, he wanted to save Taehyung. He was losing the only few minutes of time that he had. And to his fear, he could see the ugly blue veins on Taehyung's ankle, appearing more and more clearer by every passing second, which threatened to spread to the rest of his body.

"It's gonna be alright Taehyung. Trust me.", Seokjin said in a low voice. But Taehyung was unconscious, those words were for himself.

He gripped the knife tightly with his clammy hands and made a smooth incision on Taehyung's ankle, just above the scratches. Blood oozed out of the gash in red and blue mixed together, it didn't look like human blood anymore.

Taehyung squirmed in gut-wrenching pain, still unconscious, his face twisted into a very hurt expression. Seokjin sat by him, holding onto Taehyung's hands, alert about the cut he had made on his ankle, he didn't want Taehyung to lose too much blood. He wanted to let the decolourised blood out of his body, thus get the poison out. But there was no guarantee that this would work, he could only hope.

And what happened next, took away that hope from Seokjin and the light inside him slowly started fading out.

Taehyung quickly opened his eyes and gripped onto Seokjin's upper arm with both of his hands sitting up, looking straight into his eyes and Seokjin saw it. Taehyung's eyes had changed and the light inside Seokjin flickered out black.

"Hyung! I ca... can't breath.", Taehyung gasped.

"I can't br... breath!"

Seokjin held Taehyung by his shoulders and tried to make him lean against the shelves again, he didn't know what to do. There was nothing left to do.

Tears streamed down Taehyung's eyes as he gasped for air, they never left Seokjin's helpless face.

"Try to relax Taehyung, it's gonna be alright. I'm here... I'm here to help you."

Tears fell out of Seokjin's eyes onto Taehyung's already drenched cheeks as he fed him those lies, and Taehyung knew that those were lies.

Taehyung tightened his grip on Seokjin's arm as he suffocated, his now dark grey eyes turning a shade paler and paler with each blink. His whole body started shivering, his hands went ice-cold and his face went ashen like a corpse.

"H... hyung, I know... that it... it's cliché...", he gulped.

"But if... if you ever meet my parents, tell them... tell them that I... I loved them."

Seokjin's heart dropped to the ground when he heard those words, he couldn't help but cry. He took Taehyung's cold shivering hands into his warm ones and looked at Taehyung's paper-white face.

"You're gonna tell that to them yourself..."

Seokjin uttered out in between his sobs, he couldn't believe that this was actually happening. He wanted to wake up, wake up from this horrible nightmare he was having, this could not be real. What had he done to deserve such a fate?

Taehyung slowly sat up again, coughing and spluttering and took in a deep breath to speak again.

"No."

"I'm not."

Taehyung's voice radiated a different energy as he spat out those words. With that, he pushed Seokjin away, trying to stand up. Seokjin fell back onto the shelf, shocked from the sudden change of tone in both Taehyung's voice and also, his attitude.

Taehyung stood up with his hands stretched out towards Seokjin, balancing himself on one leg, breathing heavily.

"Hyung, please... go. Run!"

Taehyung moved back as Seokjin tried to approach him, the blood escaping from the gash leaving rufescent streaks on the white-tiled floor as he dragged his left foot. Seokjin moved closer to Taehyung to hold him but Taehyung stopped him.

"No! Don't c... come close... Please... I don't... don't wanna... hurt you."

Taehyung gasped for air, he could feel his lungs collapsing, his heart throbbing, his eyes burning. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't see anything except Seokjin who stood a few feet away from him.

He was dying, he knew that, he knew that he was not himself anymore but was a part of the infection that was spreading across the Earth, devouring it. He had no choice but to accept his fate, but he didn't want to be Seokjin's fate.

"Taehyung...", Seokjin started but Taehyung interrupted.

"Tae... Taehyung doesn't exist anymore. He's dead... I'm dead!"

He gasped to speak, his voice rose.

"Please... just run. I d... don't... want to hurt you. I don't want you to..."

He gulped.

"... see me like this. Pl... please... just go away..."

"Go!"

Taehyung spluttered and coughed, nearly falling to the floor, but he didn't. He walked backwards until he felt something cold hitting his back, the metal door of the cold storage.

They were back at where they left Jungkook.

Taehyung quickly turned back to see the door locked from the outside. He unlocked it, but not opening it, yet. He looked back at Seokjin.

"No Taehyung... No... You're okay... Maybe it'll just go away after some time, we'll wait it out... Please...", Seokjin tried to speak in a some what soothing tone, moving closer.

He couldn't control his tears, there was nothing left for him to do. He knew he was going to die too, in the exact same way. He knew he was going to turn into one of those creatures one day, why not now?

"No! Stay back!", Taehyung pushed the door open.

"Hyung, you... you're a goo... good man... You... you can't... die like this."

Taehyung slowly pushed open the metal door while Seokjin face showed confusion and pain, his drained-out eyes staring into Taehyung's bloodshot ones.

"Pr... Promise me s... something hyung."

"Wh... What...?", Seokjin let out a broken sob.

"Promise me... th... that you'll save Yoo... Yoongi hyung."

Taehyung stepped inside the cold-storage room.

"Promise me... that... that you won't give up, that y... you'll be the he... hero of this... s... story"

"A superhero..."

Seokjin couldn't speak or think. All that he could see was Taehyung's calm face. How could he be this calm at the face of his end? He could only cry.

"I... I... promise."

Seokjin nodded his head to which Taehyung's face showed a soft smile. Seokjin saw the blue veins taking over Taehyung's ashen face as he closed the door with a loud thud, locking it from the inside. Seokjin ran to the door, his hands shuddered as they came in contact with the cold metal surface as he weakly banged on it, draining out all his emotions.

He could hear Taehyung inside screaming with all of his voice, all of his might, fighting against the uncontrollable pain raging through his body. He could hear him coughing and gasping, mumbling out unclear words, cursing and praying. He wished to be there to help him but nothing would let him, he felt helpless.

Suddenly, the voices stopped.

Silence prevailed again.

Seokjin slowly sat down on the floor, his head against the cold metal door, bawling his lungs out, taking breaks in between to breath. Tears overflowed and his heart throbbed, he snivelled and sobbed, the voices of pain slicing through the shrill silence.

He wiped his face and slowly brought his hand up, placing it on the door.

"I promise you Taehyung. I won't give up..."

"I promise."

~~~

Hey guys, hope you all are doing good. Idk what to write here, I'm just sad.

Anyhoo, next chapter on 12 November, 2020.

Love,
PAPRIKA 💜