outbreak | bts

024

Jungkook felt himself falling into a rhythm. Inhale, exhale, run. Run as loudly as possible. Get them away from Eunha. Get them away from the terminal. Eventually, he ran out of rooftop and promptly dropped down onto an abandoned street food cart and then to the ground. He spared one look over his shoulder and was both assured and shaken to see what looked like the majority of the horde giving chase. At least his plan was working.

Taking a gulp of air, he took off again, slowing on occasion so that they wouldn't give up on pursuing him. A whistling sound suddenly blew the air around him, and time froze for a fraction of a second before something made contact with his back, launching him forwards.

He was swept off his feet and spun over until he made impact through a wall. With dust and crumbling bricks falling around him, Jungkook tried to gather his mind. Laying in a heap for a few seconds, he took a quick itinerary of himself.

His back and right elbow felt like they were on fire and his head was ringing. Other than that, his hands and legs still responded to his brain and though his hearing was faint, his eyes had stabilised quickly. He could smell the dust, feel it stick to his fingers and taste blood in his mouth. He senses were mostly still in order, at least. Get up. Get up! His instinct was screaming that he didn't have time to be disoriented.

Groaning, Jungkook lifted himself from the ground. What kind of wall was so weak that a person could break through like that? Or rather, what could possibly have so much power that it was able to force a person through a solid brick and cement wall?

Stilling, the young man heard the sound of the grunting fast approaching. Crap, he had forgotten about the zombies. And clearly something was amiss with them. Is it the abnormal? The thought kicked him into gear, and Jungkook rolled off his spot, wincing as pain shot through his elbow before getting up and scrambling around the building that the broken wall surrounded.

Clenching his teeth, Jungkook kicked up some of the dust that had fallen around him. Hopefully it would provide enough of a distraction to elude the zombies for at least a minute. Which way was that subway station again? He needed to go to higher ground so that he could gauge where he was going.

"Omo, are you still able to move? I thought that much would be enough to stop you from running." A voice, belonging to a woman, rang clearly across the area, sounding impressed. Jungkook froze. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. The abnormal.

He ducked low and glanced around. She had probably thrown something at him with superhuman strength, aiming to disable his movements. He needed to put space between her and himself, now.

"Where are you hiding? Come out." The abnormal ordered, her voice losing its teasing tone. Spotting another gate in the wall, Jungkook picked up a fallen brick and threw it with as much power as he could muster in his unstable state.

The gate flew open with a crash and creaked as it swung. The brick also continued rolling for a few yards, almost sounding like stumbling footsteps.

"Ah, so you're still trying to run? You're a tough one." The abnormal called. Jungkook held his breath from where he hid behind the building's bin shed. When the horde stampeded past him and he saw the back of the abnormal leaving through the gate, he gritted his jaw and forced his body to move in the opposite direction.

Jumping up onto the wall, he leaped, thanking whoever was up there that the Republic of South Korea loved building structures with balconies. Grunting from the pain in his elbow and back, he hauled himself up, continuing upward until he was on top of the building.

Searching around, he realised with relief that he was closer to the subway station than before, and it looked like he could make most of the journey by roof hopping. Exhaling, Jungkook laid on his front for a few minutes, trying to catch his breath. By now, Eunha should have made it to the terminal, right?

He knew that if he stayed in one place for too long, he would lose the will to move out of fear or he would get discovered, so he lifted himself up, and moved slowly, aiming to produce as little noise as possible this time, and made his way to the subway station.

When he got there, he scanned the area for a few minutes. Dogok. Nothing came or went from or around the station, so he made his way to the ground and crept down the stairs. Taking cautious steps, Jungkook entered the main station and was pleased to not see any zombies.

There wasn't a crowd waiting to pounce on him when he entered, even though this seemed to be a more major station. Finding a subway map, he identified which line would take him back to Nambu Bus Terminal. Once sure, he hopped over the ticket gate and paced down the stalled escalator to the bottom.

Fortunately, this wasn't a station that had glass gates at the platform edge. He wouldn't have known what to do otherwise. Jumping down onto the rail tracks, Jungkook was careful not to land on the metal. Turning on his phone light, he began to walk.

Being careful not to make contacte with the electric rails, Jungkook paced forward cautiously. Even though he knew that all transport services had ceased completely in the first week of the outbreak, a small part of himself still feared that he would see the headlights of a train suddenly appear before or behind him.

Swallowing, he shook his head and turned his phone over so that the light shone on the ceiling above him instead of the tracks below his feet. Though it wasn't as powerful, he felt more comfortable being able to dimly see all of his surroundings than having completely blind spots.

After a few minutes, he noted a light up ahead and quickly turned off his phone torch. He had made it to the next train station. Bending low, he approached the platform, eyes darting around. Maebong. There didn't seem to be anyone on the platform, so he hauled himself upwards.

Following a brief exploration, he made a mental note that while the station was empty, the street outside the station was crawling with zombies. Deeming it safer to continue travelling by subway, he returned to the platform and promptly dropped onto the rails again.

When he reached Yangjae station, he paused at the obstacle in front of him. It was a stationary train, filling the tunnel.

Aish.