The creature stood right there, staring into Seokjin's soul, its bloodshot eyes gleaming as it let out a disturbing bloodcurdling screech. It pounced forward to attack Seokjin, but something jerked it's body backwards.

"Namjoon, no! Please!"

Seokjin wanted to scream, but no sound came out from this parched throat. He wanted to run, but his legs had gone numb. He wanted to get out of this misery, but that was definitely not an option.

The 'zombie' jerked its body forward continuously as if it was trying to set itself free from something. Seokjin noticed that one of its arms was impaled on a metal hook of a shelf, a deep sigh of relief fell from his mouth.

Luck was with him for the time being, but only until the creature somehow found a way out to set itself free.

Seokjin started banging on the door with all his might, to an extent where he almost broke the door in half, he didn't have to worry about attracting any creatures anymore.

The noise provoked the 'zombie' even more, it started pulling its arm off the hook, the rotten flesh slowly tearing off to reveal its yellow-tinted forearm bones. Seokjin shut his eyes as the creature did so, the abhorrent sight was making him gag in addition to the piercing stench that Seokjin thought he had grown used to.

"Yoongi! Open the door! Yoongi!!"

He rapped on the door shouting at the top of his voice, but he stopped abruptly when he heard the sound of something snapping. More precisely, the sound of bones breaking.

He turned his head to see the creature standing still, its ashen face staring at him, one of its arms hanging on the hook, still twitching. Seokjin felt as if he could read its mind, its eyes had only one thing written in them.

"Got you now."

"Fuck!", Seokjin yelled. His lungs refused to suck in the air as if it had suddenly stopped functioning, he stifled. The creature started advancing even though its legs looked too bashed up to walk, but still, it somehow moved.

As the 'zombie' got closer, Seokjin felt his life draining away, he couldn't bring himself to knock on the door or run away. He was too weak, he just leant on the door, taking short breaths, looking straight at the creature, right into its bloodshot eyes.

A voice in the back of his head said that it was over and he knew that it was over.

But against Seokjin's fears, the creature stopped its actions, as if the burning rage and hunger inside it had died down suddenly, leaving Seokjin confused. He felt as if the creature who was once his friend had recognised him and Seokjin felt a little glimmer of something that he thought was long lost.

Hope.

Seokjin gulped, his eyes never leaving the decedent's broken figure which now stood barely five metres away. He couldn't decipher what was happening, why did the 'zombie' stop itself from attacking him? Does it recognise him?

But all hopes dimmed out again as the creature let out a macabre shriek startling Seokjin, his body started shivering vigorously. This was not how he imagined his death.

The creature lurched toward him. Seokjin closed his eyes, his breath hitched, his heart thumped in his ear, he knew he would be dead in a few seconds.

That's when the door opened and Seokjin fell in, followed by the sound of it slamming back into its frame, a thud and a deafening scream.

Seokjin couldn't register anything that happened right there, the only thought in his mind was that he was dead. He tried to sit up but his body was failing him, his vision was blurry and a high-pitched sound hindered all his senses.

"Seokjin? Seokjin... Are you alright?"

A voice spoke as someone's hands tapped on Seokjin's cheeks. He felt water droplets coursing down his face as the voice continued calling his name.

Seokjin could feel his heartbeat slowing down, his lungs loosening up, the shrill sound in his ear dying down and his vision clearing up to see the owner of the voice.

"Yoongi...", Seokjin was finally able to speak.

"Oh dear God...", Yoongi let out a cry of relief when he saw that Seokjin was alright, taking a few moments to catch his own breath.

Seokjin tried to sit up, his head was throbbing with pain but he was more than happy to realise that he was not dead, that he was not a 'zombie', yet. He quickly checked his arms and legs for any scratches or gashes, a deep sigh leaving his mouth when he found none.

Yoongi handed him a bottle of water which he finished in one go.

"Why didn't you open the door Yoongi?", Seokjin asked, pausing in between multiple times to catch his breath.

"I fell asleep... I...", Yoongi shrugged as he spoke but was suddenly interrupted by Seokjin.

"You fell asleep?! Don't tell me that you didn't hear all that racket out there!"

"I'm sorry, I...", Yoongi started again in an apologetic tone, only to be cut off by Seokjin, once again.

"Yoongi, I could've died!"

"I know! It's just... It's my leg.", Yoongi helplessly pointed at his right leg tied up in layers of clothing.

"It hurts. It hurts so much. I couldn't stand up, I just couldn't bring myself to open the door... I'm sorry."

A voice of regret suddenly ringed through Seokjin's mind. He shouldn't have yelled at Yoongi. After all, both of them were in this together and each other were all they had.

Seokjin sighed. "Lemme take a look at it.", he scooted closer to Yoongi's leg and started undoing the make-shift bandages.

The injury was not doing good at all. It was as Seokjin had feared, blood poisoning. Yoongi needed medical help as soon as possible, but they were stuck in an abandoned supermarket in the middle of a 'Zombie Apocalypse', where could they possibly get help from?

Seokjin sighed again, deeply, on facing again with the indubitable fact that they were probably not going make it out of there alive. He knew Yoongi was aware of it too, but he too like himself just simply declined to acknowledge it and move on with fake hope.

He didn't know what to do, he tied the wound back up gently and looked at Yoongi to see him flickering his eyes from Seokjin's face to the floor then back to Seokjin's face, as if he wanted to ask him something.

"What is it?"

But to Seokjin's inquiry, he didn't get an answer. Yoongi kept quiet, his gaze quickly lowering from Seokjin's face back to the floor.

Seokjin knew what Yoongi wanted to ask. He could see his lips trembling, tears threatening his eyes, holding back the question that was eating him alive inside.

When Yoongi re-established their eye contact, Seokjin shook his head slightly. Yoongi's eyes immediately teared up as if on cue, after which he dropped his head down, whimpering.

"They didn't...", Seokjin's voice broke off in between as a sob left his mouth.

"...make it."

Voices of pain and sorrow filled the air as they cried, as they mourned for their friends. Outside, the clouds rumbled and the skies darkened, as if nature was mourning for all those who surrendered to the rampant evil spreading across the globe. The bloody wind blew across the evacuated cities and towns, reminding the ones who were still persisting, that their planet was nothing else but a graveyard.

Yoongi lifted his head to look at Seokjin's face, dried tear trails on his cheeks, to find the latter completely broken down. Seokjin sat with his head on his knees, sobbing profusely, all hope lost.

Yoongi didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie to Seokjin when he knew what was going to happen, like their future had been presented to them as an open book but they couldn't change it, because this was the way it was fated to be.

July 2 | DAY 8
06 : 59 pm

Darkness took over the small space inside the dull bathroom as the Earth wept outside, her final days approaching. The room was quiet. Even though the rain thrashed outside, the room was eerily quiet.

Occasional thunderclaps would jolt Yoongi awake from his state of conscious unconsciousness, while Seokjin just sat through the entire episode unbothered, his mind, blank. They were never going to get out of there, there was no light at the end of this tunnel.

Unexpectedly, a beeping noise caught both Yoongi's and Seokjin's attention, startling them. Seokjin furiously looked around in the dark to find the source of the voice, he knew it was coming from inside the room.

"Seokjin! There!", Yoongi pointed in the dark, but Seokjin ultimately found what Yoongi was pointing at, a small red blinking light.

Seokjin took the object with the light in his hand, quite surprised to see what it was. It was the HT, Hoseok's HT.

The sound of beeping and the red blinking light had suddenly driven some kind of hope into both Seokjin's and Yoongi's mind, they prayed that it was help.

And help it was.

Seokjin turned a knob after which the HT started crackling to life.

"This is a recorded message from the Government. All survivors are requested to safely arrive at 0700 tomorrow at the below-mentioned retrieval spots to be rescued."

A bolt of lightning flashed, lighting up the bathroom for a split-second. Even though it was quick, Seokjin saw Yoongi's face, the latter's eyes as wide as they can get. Seokjin didn't know what he was feeling. It was like he had forgotten how to be happy.

The message continued, listing out all the major cities in South Korea and their concerned rescue-spots. Seokjin listened carefully through the rain, still doubting whether this was a dream or not.

"...Busan, 40gyedan-gil, BH building, 8th-floor helipad..."

Seokjin's heart lit up suddenly, there was hope. If they could somehow make it to the retrieval spot safely, they could get out of this hell hole, alive. Seokjin looked at Yoongi's face again as it got lit up by another lightning flash.

His eyes said one thing, there was indeed a light at the end of every dark tunnel.

~~~

Heyo, the coming chapters are gonna be hella exciting... I'm excited and I hope you are too :)

THE COMEBACK IS TOMORROW AND I CANNOT WAIT.

Anyhoo, next chapter on 26 November, 2020.

Love,
PAPRIKA 💜