The two men crept through the forest, following the trail of blood deeper and deeper into the woods. Jungkook was the one ahead of the pair, finding the splatters of blood on the leaves and picking up the footprints in the mud, while Taehyung kept an eye out on their surroundings. He kept a tight grip on his gun, surveying the scenery around them in case they stumbled upon a Walker or the woman they were hunting.

The pair had taken a breather and then devised a plan of action before following after the woman, it was around a fifteen-minute gap between each of them leaving the premises of the store. The pair hoped that the woman would eventually stop and they would catch up to her, take back their bags and leave. They hoped she wasn't a part of a group, or even worse, a community like the prison once was because then they wouldn't dare to attack and they'd be left without supplies.

The sun had begun to set, melting the sky into a river of red and orange. The streams of colour flowed through the trees and dripped onto the leaves. Taehyung glanced up at the sky with a frown - knowing that the pastel-coloured waterfall hid the horrors of the night. Darkness meant the cold and inability to see, out in the open without supplies and a home to return to meant a death sentence.

"We're close." Jungkook whispered quietly, crouching down in front of a plant with curled leaves. Taehyung watched as he reached out and touched one of the leaves, sliding the pad of his thumb to collect the blood staining it, "It's warm and sticky, she's around here somewhere. Probably slowed down because of the blood loss."

"And because she thinks we didn't come for her." Taehyung added in a murmur of breath, tearing his eyes away from Jungkook at the sound of a growl and rustling bushes, "I'll take it out, follow the trail." Taehyung ordered with a nudge of his chin in the direction they were going.

Jungkook nodded in response and turned his attention back on the trail, while Taehyung pushed the gun into its holster and pulled out a dagger. He flipped it around just as a Walker stumbled past a tree and into his sight, immediately swerving around and stumbling over to the pair with one arm chopped off and blood dripping everywhere and the other hanging limply by his side.

A snort bubbled up in Taehyung's chest at the sight of the Walker, "Hey, look, this one's naked." Taehyung snickered at Jungkook as he eyed the naked middle-aged walker. Its protruding belly was sliced open, allowing its guts to hang out and drip down its legs. The lack of clothing completely revealed the soft dick swinging around with each step the Walker took and the forest of pubic hair peeking out from under his round, sagging stomach.

Jungkook scrunched his nose, "You have no couth." He reprimanded and turned away from the sight to keep tracking.

Taehyung sent him a quick glare before whirling around to grab the walker's outstretched arm and slam the dagger into its skull. The heavy body toppled into Taehyung, making him stumble and quickly push the Walker away. Taehyung's nose scrunched in disgust at the blood staining his shirt and hands, even more at the fact that the Walker had been naked and had come onto him so aggressively.

"It's called humour, sweetheart." Taehyung grumbled, wiping the blood off his hands and onto his pants. He twisted around and offered Jungkook a crooked smirk, "You can laugh at things, you know."

Jungkook quirked a brow and eyed him from over his shoulder, "When they're funny." He muttered humourlessly and straightened out, pushing through the bushes in front of them to walk forward.

"Are you saying I'm not funny?" Taehyung huffed in plastic offence, trying to push down the smile on his lips. At the sight of Jungkook's side-eye and frown, Taehyung smirked and stepped closer to him, "Alright, answer this. Where do walkers go for a holiday?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

"The Dead Sea."

Jungkook snapped his head towards Taehyung and sent him a look of disbelief. The latter snorted and nudged Jungkook, "You can laugh, it's funny."

Jungkook rolled his eyes and turned away, marching through the forest quickly to put some space between the two. Taehyung was quick to follow him with another pun hanging off the tip of his tongue, "Why don't walkers eat comedians?" He paused and waited for Jungkook to ask something but when the younger boy kept his lips sealed shut, Taehyung snickered, "They taste funny."

"No wonder you keep attracting them." Jungkook muttered and turned his head away from Taehyung to hide his smile.

Taehyung caught a glimpse of the smile and grinned to himself, opening his mouth to spew out another pun, only for Jungkook to freeze and slap a hand over Taehyung's mouth. Taehyung tensed and followed Jungkook's eyes, smirking against Jungkook's palm once he noticed the string of empty cans hovering a few centimetres off the ground in front of them.

Past the self-made alarm system, the pair saw a dark blue tent surrounded by a few boxes and even a bonfire. A fisherman's chair, clearly taken from the mall, was set up next to the bonfire with an empty can of beer placed in the cupholder. A curse and a hiss of breath, some rustling and even a muffled scream could be heard from inside the tent. The outline of two people shone against the wall of the tent.

Taehyung was the first to act by stepping over the dangling cans and creeping over to the tent. He slipped out his gun and aimed it at the tent, briefly glancing over at Jungkook to gesture for him to hide among the trees. After seeing Jungkook nod and slip away, Taehyung continued to walk until he reached the tent. He crouched down and grabbed one of the pegs keeping the tent upright and swiftly pulled it out.

One side of the tent caved in and fell on the two people inside, eliciting a curse from them and causing one of them to shuffle towards the entrance, "Darn thing came loose again, don't move, I'll put it back up." Came an accented male voice from within before a hand, followed by a head, appeared in the opening of the tent.

The man only managed to get a glimpse of Taehyung before Taehyung pounced forward and grabbed him by the scruff. The man released a yell as he was ripped forward before being twisted around so that his back was against Taehyung's chest and a gun was pressed into his temple. The man struggled - swinging his fist and pushing against Taehyung but that was quickly silenced by the click of Taehyung's gun.

The man panted in his hold, his overgrown beard brushed against Taehyung's forearm and his hazel eyes - hidden by the grime smeared on his face - glared at the tent in front of them. Taehyung licked his lips and dug the gun deeper into his head as he called out, "I know you're in there. Probably holding a gun or a knife, trying to think of the best way to kill us so that both of you would leave this place alive."

"But let me tell you something. If you shoot in the direction of my voice you'll only end up shooting your boyfriend because buddy right here was just hired to be my new shield." Taehyung leaned down to snicker into the man's ear, "Congrats, man." Before leaning away to resume talking to the other person inside, "A friend of mine is hiding in these woods right now so If you do end up killing me in the process too, he's going to blast you to pieces."

Taehyung could see the man twist his head to look around and potentially catch a glimpse of Jungkook, "You say there's someone here but I don't see anyone, it could be just you." The man grunted - voice slurring with his accent.

"Are you willing to take the chance?" Taehyung shot back, "Look, the only way out of this is if you come out here with your hands up. We could've shot the tent up and you both would've been dead before you even realised what was happening but we didn't. Why? Because we don't want any bloodshed, we just want our shit back, the shit you stole from us back at the store. If you give it back, we'll be on our way, you'll come to find that we can be quite reasonable if need be."

Taehyung waited for an answer but when the only thing that greeted him was silence and the rough pants of the man, he scoffed, "The clock's ticking, we don't have much daylight left and we still need to find shelter. So what's it gonna be? You're gonna take your chances with some shitty plan you just cooked up in that shitty head of yours or are you going to put a bit of trust in the men you robbed three hours ago?"

"Just shoot at us, Ver!" The man yelled to the woman, prepared to die if it meant there was a chance that Taehyung would die too.

"No." Came a feeble murmur of breath from within the tent, followed by rustling and the tent moving, "I'm coming out, keep your word please." Her voice carried a slight quiver as she crawled outside and immediately lifted her hands up.

"Look at that, you're smarter than you look." Taehyung smirked at the sight of the familiar grey-eyed blonde woman. His smirk widened when she scrunched her face in pain from the gunshot wound on her thigh.

Taehyung pursued his lips and whistled before leaning back just enough to swing his gun at the man's head. The handle of the gun slammed into the back of his head and the man slumped into Taehyung. Ver yelled and jumped forward as if to attack Taehyung, only to get stopped by a click of the tongue and the sound of footfall. Her head swung to the side and she watched Jungkook step out from behind the trees and slither forward with his gun raised and aimed at her head.

Taehyung grabbed the man and pushed him to the ground before standing up and stretching, "Alright, where's our shit?" He groaned out with his hands placed on his hips and back cracking from the stretching, "I'm getting too old for this."

The woman looked between them and then down at her male companion, looking desperate as she stammered to defend herself, "Look, you don't have to hurt us, the bags are in the tent, we only used some of your med supplies to patch up my leg but otherwise everything is there." Taehyung marched up to her after hearing that and she clammed up, trying to scramble away, only for him to grab her by her arm and drag her off to the side. He released her and approached the tent himself, completely at ease with the knowledge that Ver was being held under control by Jungkook.

Taehyung crawled into the tent to grab their bags just as Ver continued to blabber, this time to an expressionless Jungkook, "We don't usually do this but we got separated from the rest of our group and they have all our supplies. We're good people, I swear, that's why I wasn't able to kill you back there. I just took your stuff to have a chance of surviving another night and then finding my group again."

Jungkook gritted his teeth and marched forward - the wounds on his palms reopening from how hard he was gripping his gun, "You're not the only one separated from your group. By taking our stuff you doomed us to die, do you think you're a good person just because you didn't kill us directly, huh?" With his voice raising in volume and his anger bumbling under his skin, Jungkook's hand began to tremble and his finger inched closer to the trigger, "And what of the alarms! All those walkers could've gotten us long before we made it out of the store and yet you say you aren't a killer!"

"I didn't think there'd be so many of them in there, I've been there countless times and when I saw you there I realised I didn't have to risk my own life by being inside there on my own! Caleb was sick and needed medication as quickly as possible. I knew there was only one exit out of there so I took a chance!" Ver screamed back, clinging onto her bleeding, half-wrapped leg.

Jungkook scoffed out a harsh laugh, "That doesn't even make sense, you lying sack of shit."

"That's enough, Jungkook." Taehyung grunted, crawling out of the tent and heaving their two bags after himself. He popped them open and briefly skimmed over the contents before closing them back up, "She was telling the truth about the bags at least." Taehyung shrugged and took one of the bags, hoisting it over his shoulders before peering over at the teary-eyed woman, "You said you have a group?"

She swallowed thickly, once more looking between them before offering him a shaky nod, "You don't have to hurt us, hell, you don't even have to walk away. We're good people, we can put this entire thing behind us and help each other survive while we're on the road."

Taehyung exhaled a deep breath and jerked his head up and down, "It's dangerous out here and people have to stick together, now more than ever.." he trailed off with a hint of defeat, turning to look at Jungkook. The latter shared his look of resolution and instantly the pair knew what needed to be done, "How many people are in your group?"

"There's five others."

"Five. Five. Five." Taehyung rolled the number around his mouth before shrugging, "Five works." He shoved his gun into its holster, took out a knife, walked up to the unconscious man, crouched down next to him and slammed the knife right into his forehead.

The woman released an ear-piercing scream, only for it to get cut off by a bang. Taehyung glanced to the side as he pulled the knife out of the man's skull, watching as Jungkook lowered the gun and walked over to his backpack to pick it up. He tossed it over his shoulders and switched his gun to a hunting knife, "Let's go?" Jungkook called out over his shoulder, "I think there should be a gas station close to here, we could stay inside there or sleep in one of the cars."

Taehyung pushed himself off the ground and followed after Jungkook, pausing when he stood next to the dead body of Ver. Her grey eyes were a stark contrast against the blood that slid down her face and her hair - once the colour of sand, now slowly being painted red, "We can try to take one of the cars too in the morning." He called out to Jungkook, bending down to clean the blade of the knife onto Ver's shirt before following after him.

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The alcohol pad gently swept across Jungkook's cut palm, making him scrunch his nose at the prickles of pain shooting through his fingers. Taehyung glanced up at him through strands of raven hair before looking back down and swiping the pad across his fingers.

The pair had stumbled out of the forest and found a gas station with a few cars in the parking lot. One of them had been a minivan, Taehyung proposed the idea of using the car as shelter for the night since the sun had already set and they didn't have much of a choice. They planned to check if it was working and if it had fuel in the morning, but at the moment they used it to bandage their injuries and sleep for the night.

The windows were covered in grime and while this prevented people from peering through them and seeing them, it was still disgusting to look at. The floor of the back of the van was covered in dusty blankets and empty packets of food - making them think that someone had stayed there once too. Thankfully Taehyung had thrown the junk out and had shaken out the blankets before they climbed inside, but Jungkook still wondered how dirty they were.

The van also reeked of sweat and cigarettes - the smoke probably had seeped into the seats and refused to leave even after so much time had passed. Jungkook had told Taehyung that he couldn't smoke inside the van itself but he could sit in the open sliding door of the back.

Jungkook felt oddly at peace as he watched Taehyung bandage his palms. Despite the occasional words exchanged between the pair, the van was silent and the crickets hiding in the grass outside provided them with some bedtime stories

That's until Taehyung finally broke the silence with a barely audible murmur, "You know why we did it, right?" He dropped Jungkook's right hand and moved to clean the other. The pair sat in the door of the back of the minivan with Jungkook's legs hanging outside and Taehyung sitting sideways to face him, "They were separated from their group, probably didn't have a place to go and yet she took a chance with letting us live after taking our stuff. Now she's dead."

"It would have been stupid of us not to kill them, they could've found the rest of their group and come after us." Jungkook breathed back, staring up at the dark sky above them, "But a part of me still wanted to believe her, maybe even go with her until we found the others."

Taehyung hummed, throwing the pad away and grabbing a gauze to wrap Jungkook's hands, "At the prison, it was different, taking strangers in was easier because we were in control of these situations. It was because the prison was ours, we had doctors, food, and weapons and we were all together." Taehyung tied the gauze before reaching into his pocket to pull out a crumbled pack of cigarettes, "Out here, without a place to go and no one knowing whether we're alive, it's different. They could've been good people, they could've increased our chances of survival or they could've found the rest of their group and come after us, they could've found their group and killed us. The thing is, we won't know until something happens and out here we can't take any chances, not until we find the others."

Jungkook didn't say anything, just watched Taehyung place a cigarette between his lips and light it. His cheeks sunk as he inhaled before exhaling a cloud of smoke into the air, "Give me one." Jungkook grumbled and snatched the pack before Taehyung could tell him no. He slipped one out and placed it between his lips, looking up at Taehyung expectedly.

"You once told me that smoking will kill me." Taehyung mussed with a raised brow, playing with his lighter without moving to light Jungkook's cigarette.

Jungkook rolled his eyes and leaned against the open door of the van, "It's more likely I'd die from getting bit or shot." He watched Taehyung flick his lighter for a few more seconds before huffing and snatching the lighter too, "It's not my first one, you know." Jungkook mumbled as he lit the cigarette between his lips.

"Oh?" Taehyung's smirk turned into a grin, "Were you a rebellious teenager, that's not something I expected."

Jungkook rolled his eyes and tossed Taehyung his lighter, not even caring if he caught it or not, "I wasn't." He exhaled along with the smoke, "Had a few while you were on the road, some even with Daryl. He refused to give me his at the start but then he saw me smoking in the guard-tower and he just joined me. Didn't scold me, didn't say anything really, we just sat there in silence."

"I miss them too, you know." Taehyung whispered without meeting Jungkook's eyes, "I won't stop until we find at least one of them, I don't know what I'll do if we don't."

Jungkook swallowed the lump in his throat and offered a nod in response. The pair sat in silence until their cigarettes burned into small butts, they threw them on the pavement outside and crushed them with their boots before sitting back against the door.

"Taehyung?"

The said man hummed in response and turned to look at Jungkook.

"What were you doing before all this?" Jungkook asked out of pure curiosity, "You know how to throw fucking knives so I was thinking maybe self-defence teacher but you're also very....eccentric. So I was thinking maybe a news reporter." Jungkook explained with a small shrug, squinting his eyes into a glare when Taehyung snorted.

"It wasn't anything like that, I worked part-time at McDonald's and studied linguistics at University. I didn't know what I'd do with the degree or if I'd even get a job but my aunt wanted me to become something." Taehyung seemed to hesitate before giving up and allowing his walls to drop with a shake of his head, "I had a few friends, and all of them studied something important. One of them wanted to be a doctor, another studied computer science, then there was one who studied mechanical engineering and another was a great artist who had his eyes set on architecture."

"All of them had these goals and plans, and then there was me." Taehyung wore a bitter smile on his face as he dug into his past, "I didn't know what I wanted to do with myself, had no great goals in my life, felt too stupid to study one of those important things, so I chose whatever. Sometimes when people would ask me what I was studying, I felt shame when I told them, sometimes I hesitated, especially when I was with my friends and they listed off all those things I just told you." Taehyung swallowed thickly and reached out for his pack of cigarettes with trembling fingers, only for Jungkook to kick the pack further into the van with his boot.

Taehyung sent him a dry look before giving up and slumping back against the van, "Sometimes I liked to dream about finding a well-paying job that I actually enjoyed and rubbing it in everyone's faces, but those fantasies didn't last long with the knowledge that I wasn't even sure if anyone would hire a linguist." Taehyung sucked in his cheeks and looked right at Jungkook, "Do you ever look at people and see fire inside them?"

Seeing Jungkook furrow his brows, Taehyung smiled and continued, "I don't know how to explain it but sometimes when I look at people I feel like there's fire inside them. It breathes life into them, fuels them. And that fire comes from their goals, dreams, emotions or even from how they speak or react to certain situations. And then when you look at yourself you realise how much you lack in comparison to them because you don't see that fire inside yourself. Instead, you feel cold and motionless, so you seek out things that could light that spark. That's until you find anger and realise that it makes you feel so fucking good because for a second you can feel that fire inside yourself." Taehyung shook his head and pushed himself up, ready to get into the van to finally rest, "Ignore that, I'm just reloading now that I'm remembering shit."

"I see that fire inside you."

Taehyung tensed where he sat, not being fast enough to look at Jungkook before he continued to speak, "Maybe you weren't able to see your fire because we're unable to see how bright we burn. Maybe those people you were talking about weren't able to see their own fire either but the people around them, you, were able to see it." Jungkook paused to think and mull over his words before perking up, "Or maybe it's because in your eyes that fire is tied to something you consider big or important, just like with the degrees. But in reality, everything you did, every small dream or goal you had, even if it was just buying a new book. Those little goals were always important too, those goals needed fire too. But you brushed it aside and didn't see it because you didn't consider it as important. And I'm not saying that your fire was smaller than theirs, I'm saying that maybe your fire was just a different colour and you were so focused on the shade of fire that you deemed important that you didn't notice your own fire because it burned a different shade."

"Or maybe you weren't someone with fire inside you at all, maybe you had streams of water floating through your veins, so soothing and calming that it was exactly what those around you needed. Maybe you were the type of person who sits still and is grounded but could shake those around you if need be. The people with water inside them don't tear through life in a blaze of glory, they float quietly, gently. They don't seek out the big things like riches or fame, they desire quiet happiness and I think that's so much more beautiful than fire."

Jungkook stopped his rambling with a grin - a grin that began to crumble when he noticed Taehyung looking at him with no emotion, "I-" He stuttered, "I'm just rambling, okay? I mean, I said what I thought but if that didn't help or apply to you, then ignor-"

Before Jungkook could finish what he was saying, Taehyung leaned forward, grabbed him by the back of his neck and pressed their lips together. Jungkook froze with his eyes wide open until he felt Taehyung pull back and whisper against his lips with his eyes still shut, "If you don't kiss me back it's going to be awkward."

Jungkook's shock melted away and he blushed before grabbing Taehyung by his shirt and pulling back into a kiss. It was fragile. Taehyung's hand against his neck and the other on his thigh. It was soft. The way their lips pressed and slid together, the way they tilted their heads and just enjoyed the tingling sensation spreading through their bodies. It was slow and it was comforting. The way they stopped and just stayed still with their foreheads pressed together and eyes closed.

"I wish you had been there to tell me that when I needed to hear it." Taehyung murmured against Jungkook's lips before leaning back and opening his eyes to look at him.

Jungkook blushed a scarlet red and opened his own eyes, looking sheepish and a bit uncomfortable as he released a forced chuckle, "If you had met me before this started, I don't think you would've liked me."

Taehyung snorted, "Why wouldn't I have liked you?" Jungkook pressed his lips together and winced, slipping away from Taehyung to crawl into the stuffy van and curl against one of the dusty, sweaty blankets on the floor, "No, tell me, now I'm curious." Taehyung moaned and followed after Jungkook, pulling the door of the van shut after himself.

Jungkook groaned with another eye roll, "I was kind of a bully, more like a coward who wasn't able to stand up for himself so I did whatever the bully asked me to do, even if it was being mean to other people." Seeing the affronted look on Taehyung's face, Jungkook slapped Taehyung's thigh before turning onto his side away from him, "See, I told you you wouldn't have liked me."

Taehyung snorted and laid down on his side next to him, leaning over Jungkook so he'd be able to look at his face, "I mean, yeah, I would've beaten you up but..," Taehyung was quick to speak when he saw the look on Jungkook's face, "In the end I would've taken you out for ice cream and I would've given you a talk on standing up for yourself."

"You so wouldn't do that." Jungkook released a laugh and turned around to face Taehyung.

The latter used his arm to hold his head up and just lifted a brow as he smiled down at Jungkook, "Yeah, I would have."

Jungkook snorted and smacked Taehyung's chest, "You would just beat me up again if the first time wouldn't have worked."

Taehyung gasped playfully and glanced down at his chest, "Look, you bully me all the time and I don't beat you up." Jungkook shot him a glare but Taehyung only smiled, "Don't worry, I like it when you bully me." And then he leaned down and quickly pecked Jungkook's lips before rolling onto his back.

Jungkook licked his lips and blinked up at the roof of the car in slight surprise. He turned his head to the side and dragged his eyes over Taehyung's side profile - drinking in the sharpness of his brows, the soft slope of his nose and the slight shimmer of spit coating his lips.

"Before you say anything, I'll take watch tonight," Jungkook cut Taehyung off when he was about to cut back, "You need to rest, your body is still healing from the virus."

Taehyung weakly shook his head, "I was on the road before the prison fell, it's going to be easier for me to stay up. You need to get used to being back out here, so I'll wake you up to take watch in the morning. We can start with one or two hours at first and then increase that time until we both keep watch for half a night."

"That's the dumbest shit I've heard." Jungkook fought back a yawn as he spat back, "I'll keep watch for half a night and then I'll wake you."

Taehyung chuckled, "Oh, please, I know you won't wake me. Just like I know that if I'm the first keeping watch, I won't wake you either."

"Fine." Jungkook pursued his lips, "The last one to fall asleep is the one keeping watch." He dared to propose despite the slight burning in his eyes and the sweet lull of sleep tugging on his shoulders.

"Fine by me." Taehyung snickered.

"Fine."