Day 806

Jimin shoves the mag into his pistol, holstering it in the waistband of his pants. Y/n is by his side, and he has to fight the urge to hold her hand. Taehyung is leading the way, Fiona and Julia holding up the rear. They didn't want to bring anyone else out of fear of the school being left too undefended. Honestly, Jimin wanted this mission to be only him, Y/n, and Taehyung. Fiona insisted, and that led to Julia joining as well. So here they are. Strolling in the forest and waiting for zombies to pop out at them.

All of them have protection gear Fiona and Y/n made. Thick wraps around their feet, ankles, shoulders, and arms so no zombies can bite through them. They didn't have time to stick wrap onto their necks, so they'll just have to be careful and hope they don't get close enough to any zombies to have to worry about that. Jimin won't allow any zombies to get close. And he'll keep a close eye out for Deadbaits lingering around. They're rare in forests, but you never know.

His girlfriend is observing the trees, scanning for any signs of life or... lack thereof. Jimin, the damn leader of the group, decides it's a good idea to stare at his girlfriend's side profile rather than paying attention to the mission. So much for keeping a close eye out for Deadbaits, huh?

Fiona whacks his shoulder, and Jimin grunts but doesn't comment. Y/n shifts her gaze to them, Fiona snorting. "Your boyfriend was drooling over you," she says.

"No, I really wasn't. I was admiring you. There's a difference."

Y/n chuckles and takes his hand, his smile beaming out on his lips. Her chuckle turns into a laugh, and she kisses the back of his hand. "This is fucking disgusting," Julia says, Y/n flipping her off only to get the same gesture back.

"I miss Jungkook and his stupid leather jacket," Y/n says, coming a bit closer to Jimin. He's mentally telling himself not to get a boner over and over again, but he doubts it's working. "But his dumbass would probably slow this mission down by two hours."

"Just two? Damn, you're giving him a lot more credit than I thought you would," Julia replies.

"Juju, he's still my best friend. I have to be somewhat nice to him. He's saved my life, after all. I can't let that just pass by." Y/n pauses, her eyes on Taehyung. "Mr. Kim, I got my eyes on you. No funny business, okay?"

"Y/n, to be honest with you, none of you have to worry except Jimin. He's the only one here I'd want to see suffer."

"As morbid as that was, I'm kind of proud I have that reputation," Jimin says, grinning.

"I'm ignoring him now, we should be getting close enough that we can-"

"With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride. You're toxic, I'm slipping under," a female voice echoes through the trees. It's so faint he can barely hear it, but it's enough to have them halting in their tracks. They keep quiet, hearing the faint beats reverberating across the forest.

"Close enough that we can hear the music," Tae says, continuing as if hearing Britney Spears isn't a holy event. Well, Jimin's mostly joking about that. What he means is that music is extraordinarily rare nowadays. Not only does noise draw zombies (duh), but it's hard to find anymore. "He uses the speakers to lure the zombies into one of the fields, then he lives out at another one, safe and sound."

"Don't Behemoths come?" Jimin asks as they keep going, instinctively resting his free hand on the butt of his pistol.

"Nothing they can do about it if they do. The speakers are everywhere, not just in one place. It'd be extremely difficult to knock them all down. They're high up too, and there's a couple speakers in the press box too. That'd take a couple Behemoths to take down. They're tournament fields, not exactly the average fields. Better supplies and more spacious. Good news is, if you've been missing hot dogs from a baseball game, now's your chance to get them from the food stand."

"I'd rather drink my own piss than bet on if those hot dogs are still good," Fiona says, earning her several groans of agreement.

Taehyung leads them through the forest, the music swelling in volume more and more until they make it past the trees. Jimin is still holding Y/n's hand, the woman squeezing him in a small reminder that she's there. He appreciates it more than he can ever describe.

They part through the forest, revealing a small hill drooping down to the next space. An array of softball fields await. One is directly in front of them, the dirt seeming more like fog from the way the wind blows it. The grass appears like rust thanks to the zombies dropping bits of blood on the blades. The fields themselves aren't aged very much. Now all that's left is finding the one Tae's friend is residing in.

"Alright, rule number 17: buddy system," Jimin says, his free hand on his hip. That only leads to the survivors staring at him with their heads tilt. "What?"

"Rule number 17?" Fiona asks.

"You don't have a rule system?" Even Taehyung is amazed by the others, Jimin and Tae sharing a glance when their friends shake their heads. "How the fuck have you survived this long? Actually, I don't want to know. From now on, we have a rule system in place. The rules that helps us survive. I don't have time to go through all 52 of them, but it's becoming blaringly obvious none of you have seen a zombie movie."

"Please do teach us, master," Y/n says, Jimin blinking.

"Babe, now's not the time for a boner."

"I hate all of you," Julia says, blowing a strand of her dark hair out of her face.

"Ah, what a nice family we have. Now let's stop wasting time. Rule 17, buddy system. Tae Tae, you want to do the honors, or shall I?"

"Oh no, that's all yours bossman."

"My girlfriend and ex-boyfriend are trying to give me boners. Nice." Before either one of his lovers can kill him with their glares, Jimin grins and continues his speech. "Good news and bad news. Good news: the buddy system always works. Bad news: there's an uneven number of us. We'll just have to have a team of three. In the buddy system, whenever you're on a dangerous mission, you have a partner you're responsible for. They watch your back, and you watch theirs. You also make sure they don't get bitten, and if they do, you tell the others immediately. It narrows our focus, and it makes us more aware of our surroundings because of that. Make sense?" No one disagrees. "Tae, you remember my rules?"

"I remember at least one of them," he says as he holds his middle finger up to Jimin.

"Very funny. Tae, for that comment, I'm putting you with Fiona and Julia. Good luck." Tae gulps, the two women approaching him with 'innocent' smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, Jimin stays with his girlfriend and keeps holding her hand, kissing the back of it. "You alright being with me?"

"Shit, I think I have a power kink," she replies.

"A power kink?"

"I don't know if there's an official word for it, but like you in a position of power made me wet."

"We can hear you, just so you know," Tae says, Jimin shrugging.

"Let's discuss your kinks at home, baby. Time to go find this mysterious scientist friend of Tae Tae's." Taehyung makes a noise that sounds like a sigh, and just like that, they're on their way. Since the speakers are diverting the attention of the zombies, they're able to slip by without the undead so much as lifting their heads. Taehyung sticks with his assigned partners in the back, watching their rears. Jimin guides them towards the field without any music. Most likely the one farthest from it, actually.

That's exactly where it is. It takes several minutes of creeping along the sides of the vicinity, but they locate the field the farthest away from the others. The press box is visible, and Jimin swears he can see a light peeking out from it. Like a flame. And with that as motivation, he gains the willpower to take the final steps there.

"Tae, just in case he decides to shoot us, you go first," Jimin says.

"Fuck you, Jimin."

"You have before. You seemed to like it."

"Really? I can't see why," Y/n says, resulting in Jimin glaring at her.

Taehyung bursts out in laughter, climbing up the bleachers to get closer to the box. "I love your girlfriend. Y/n, right?" She nods. "You're a damn keeper. Don't fuck it up like you did with me, Mr. Park."

"I'm pretty sure our group falling apart is why we did, but alright, blame it on me."

Taehyung drops the topic there, going up to the door and knocking. "It's Taehyung. I hope you remember me... and I hope if you do, it's in a positive light."

It takes a few beats, but the door does open, revealing a man no taller than Jimin, his skin glimmering in the light. He lowers his shotgun, letting out a breath. "Kim Taehyung?" he says, his voice nearing the same low tone as Tae's. He has a silky, calming voice that has Jimin wondering if he was ever a singer at any point. That's a voice too smooth to be true, especially in the apocalypse.

"In the flesh, brother."

The stranger straps his shotgun over his shoulder and shakes his head. "What are you doing here, and why did you bring friends?"

"I can vouch for them. This is Park Jimin, my ex-boyfriend and leader of this team." Jimin does a small nod in greeting. He's not surprised the man doesn't return it. "Y/n, Jimin's girlfriend. So don't touch either of them or you'll get murdered brutally. That is if Jimin's hand is big enough for his pistol." Jimin's left eye twitches, but he plasters a fake smile on his face instead of engaging in mortal combat with his ex. "This is Fiona, and next to her is Julia."

Julia's jaw is practically on the ground, the stranger raising a brow. "Oh God, he's hot." She slaps a hand over her mouth and hides behind Fiona, but the man is unbothered by her words.

"You brought a team of clowns with you as the ring leader for literally what reason?" he asks.

Taehyung's shoulders slump, him scratching the back of his neck. "We need you. I know you don't believe me, but we really do. Guys, this is Min Yoongi. He ran with the Ranglers as their lead scientist."

"Then I ran away on mission to the hospital. That place is a death trap," Yoongi says, leaning against his door. "What could you possibly need me for?"

"Our camp got raided by the Ranglers," Tae says, Jimin nodding in agreement. "We need more people. Smart people. We need you to help us rebuild, and I know you miss living with others whether you'll admit it or not."

"I do, but I'd rather die than live with people who are about as serious as comedians on stage. Why would I work with such imbeciles? Come back to me when you have true survivors."

Right as Yoongi is about to slam the door in their faces, Jimin pushes Tae aside. "We have a kid who's immune."

Yoongi halts in his tracks, stepping back out and letting his eyes show his fear. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"We have a kid," he says, motioning to him and his girl. "He got bit about 5 days ago, and he still hasn't turned. I believe he's immune." Yoongi remains frozen in place, the knuckles on his hands turning paler than his already ghostly skin. "I didn't think it was possible. Hell, Tae can vouch for me when I say I've ran with more groups than I can count, but not once have I seen this. Not once have I ever seen someone survive a bite. They turn fast, normally in a couple hours max, but in rare cases they last a couple days. And not only that, his wound started healing. Explain that, scientist."

"I'd need blood samples and to see the wound. This isn't something I can figure out by just hearing about it. This may be the most important discovery of the decade. Maybe even century. If he's immune..."

"It's possible to make a cure?" Fiona asks.

"I doubt it. The zombies are too far gone to bring back, particularly Howlers." Jimin's vision blurs from the mention of the monsters that scarred him, but his girlfriend's hand squeezes his, and his reality comes back to him. "But maybe a vaccine. No more infections from bites. That would change the game, and we can start going out to try and kill these things. Realistically, there's only so many zombies in the world. And if we stop them from ever infecting anyone again, we can stop this and move on. But that's in a perfect world. Not every survivor will be able to get a vaccine," Yoongi says, the others agreeing.

"Either way, we still save a lot of lives," Jimin says, "will you help us?"

Yoongi takes a few seconds too long to answer, him backing into his cabin and sighing. "Fucking hell," Yoongi mumbles, glaring at Taehyung. "What the hell did you drag me into?"

Taehyung merely smiles, tears in his eyes. "Hope."

The other man runs a hand through his hair, the survivors instinctively leaning closer to hear every possible word the man has to say. And then, he shakes his head and looks up.

"Let me pack a bag."