A kick in the ribs startled Jungkook awake. He shot up, scrambling to grab his weapon belt as his eyes swung around to find what had awoken him. His sluggish mind tried to put itself together while his body had already reacted by latching onto the hilt of his dagger.

His eyes skimmed over the dusty windows of the van and ears desperately tried to pick up on potential growls, yet the only thing he saw was a veil of darkness beyond the windows and silence that came hand-in-hand with the moon. Jungkook exhaled his panic, allowing his shoulders to slouch and grip on the knife to loosen. Only then did he turn his attention to Taehyung.

The latter was sound asleep next to him - lying on his belly with his head turned towards Jungkook. Jungkook would've been annoyed at both of them for falling asleep so carelessly if it wasn't for the layer of sweat coating Taehyung's skin and the crease forming between his brows, "Tae." Jungkook's raspy whisper felt so loud in the silent night, yet he still repeated the call of Taehyung's name.

Taehyung's eyes squeezed shut and lips parted around mumbled whispers. His fingers clenched around the dirty blanket he was lying on before his entire body jerked from whatever he was dreaming about. Jungkook fully released his hold on the knife and crawled over to Taehyung, he was cautious as he reached out to brush his fingers along Taehyung's cheek and swipe his hair out of his face.

"Tae, wake up." Jungkook breathed, wincing when Taehyung's face scrunched and breathing picked up, "Taehyung." His voice rose and became harsher, just like the grip he had on Taehyung. He grabbed his shoulder and was about to shake him, only to stop himself and rethink his approach.

It wouldn't be wise to wake him up so harshly when he was having a nightmare, especially when they were out here. He didn't know what Taehyung's first instincts would be but he didn't want to find out. So, instead, Jungkook laid down on his side and reached out to pull Taehyung's body into his own. He was careful and slow, taking his time to rearrange them until Taehyung's head was under his chin and nose was pressed into his collarbones. He wrapped his arms around him and pressed his palms against his back and the back of his head.

Jungkook's fingernails scratched along his scalp and fingers slid between Taehyung's sweaty hair, massaging out some stray knots. He didn't know what was the best approach to this situation, he could only hope that this was the right way to go about this and his actions wouldn't cause Taehyung more distress. He also hoped that he wasn't dreaming about walkers because the hand in Taehyung's hair could make him feel like one had grabbed him.

"Tae, it's okay, it's me Jungkook." Jungkook tilted his head down and whispered into his hair - the strands tickling the tip of his nose, "Whatever you're seeing isn't real and they'll never be real, if they were real, they're in the past now and I'll make sure they never happen again."

A hitch in Taehyung's breath made Jungkook tense up, he knew that the man had woken up and he cautiously waited for his next action, only for Taehyung to slowly relax between his arms and even slide his arm around Jungkook's waist to pull him closer. Jungkook allowed himself to breathe and continued combing his fingers through Taehyung's hair.

"I don't know if it was real." The words were husky and slurred from sleep, yet still clear enough for Jungkook to latch onto, "I saw the Governor and his men rounding up the others as they ran from the prison. He killed them off one by one, made Rick and Michonne watch before taking them away. I didn't see what happened to them but I knew." Taehyung's fingers curled around Jungkook's waist to the point where it was becoming painful, yet Jungkook kept silent and only listened, "I knew that he wouldn't kill them, not physically."

"It wasn't real then." Jungkook stated with so much confidence that Taehyung was forced to push himself out of Jungkook's chest to look up at him, "It wasn't real because they're alive, they're out there looking for us and we're here looking for them. It may take days, weeks or even years for us to find them but we will because they're strong and they know how to survive, and a pathetic man like the Governor would never be able to kill them."

Taehyung blinked before a small smile began to grow on his lips, "I'm glad I'm out here with you." He exhaled and leaned back into Jungkook's chest, pressing cheek into his peck and tightening his hold on his waist, "I think I'd lose my mind if I was alone."

"I'd lose my mind too." Jungkook mumbled and continued to slide his fingers through Taehyung's hair, shivering at the exhale of breath against his neck and enjoying the weight of Tawhyung's arm on his hips.

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

A flash of light like an annoying fly buzzing in your ear, shone directly into Jungkook's eyes and woke him from his dreamless sleep. When his eyes fluttered open, the first thing he saw was a cloud of dust particles floating in the stream of light from outside. He felt his arm move up and down - the movement being interlocked with soft exhales of breath against the top of his head.

Jungkook glanced down and saw that his arm was thrown over Taehyung's stomach, and as he looked up, he saw the man snoring away with his lips parted and a hint of crust stuck to the corner of his mouth. He blinked at the softness that had gathered around Tawhyung's eyes and the ease with which he slept away. A faint smile tugged at his lips at the thought of the rest of the night being peaceful for Taehyung.

It took a few minutes for realisation to dawn on him. He couldn't hear the bustling of the prison or the rattling bars of the cells, he couldn't hear the snores from the others or even see the familiar grey concrete walls he had grown so used to. Being awake and sleepy during the night he hadn't fully realised but it was because they weren't back at the prison, they weren't safe behind two fences and concrete walls, weren't being watched over by ruthless killers they called family. They slept so soundly inside a minivan in some abandoned gas station - completely vulnerable to walkers and humans alike.

Jungkook jerked upright and crawled over to the backpacks they had kicked into the corner of the van in their sleep. He brushed his fingers along his gun and knives before grabbing his weapon belt and strapping it around his waist. Still in a state of panic and slight shame of falling asleep so carelessly two times in a row, Jungkook jumped when he saw Taehyung sit up from the corner of his eye.

"What's wrong?" The man yawned into his fist and rubbed the crust out from his eyes, peering at Jungkook through swollen eyes.

"We fell asleep." Jungkook hissed as if it was understandable but seeing Taehyung's sleepy look, Jungkook glared and threw him his belt of throwing knives, "We fucking fell asleep, Taehyung, who knows what could've happened. God knows what will happen if this happens again."

Taehyung rubbed his face and blinked down at the weapon belt on his lap. He yawned again before shrugging and sluggishly putting it on, "Yeah, it's a problem." He mumbled without much concern, offering a baffled Jungkook a sleazy smile.

Jungkook snapped his mouth shut and stared at him in disbelief, "You should be panicking! A horde of walkers could've torn through this place and this van, we could've been dead." He hissed but Taehyung just waved him off and shuffled over to the door.

"Yeah, but nothing happened," Taehyung murmured back as he grabbed the door handle and ripped the door open, "We should work on that....though...." Taehyung's voice grew quiet by the end - panic finally bleeding into his words, "Ah, shit." He cursed through a forced smile.

Jungkook watched as Taehyung froze in the doorway - wide eyes flickering around and face draining of colour. Jungkook scrambled forward to see what had him so scared and only when he peeked over Taehyung's shoulder, he saw the small campfire with two tents set up in front of their minivan. Five people sat around the fire - spoonfuls of beans and other canned food hovering inches away from their mouths and wide eyes staring right back at the pair.

All of them sat frozen at the thought that they had slept right next to each other. The unknown group glanced between Jungkook and Taehyung, and the duo barely managed to do the same. Jungkook sat there unmoving, only for the other group to snap out of it before they did. The unfamiliar people slammed their cans of food onto the ground before scrambling to pull out their guns to point them at the pair.

Taehyung whipped his hands up in surrender and sent them a shaky smile, "Good morning, fellow travelers, we come in peace." Jungkook's eyes snapped away from the tip of the gun pointed at his head to stare at the side of Taehyung's head in disbelief.

"Nothing happened, huh?" Jungkook's face dropped into a scowl before he grumbled in reference to their previous conversation.

Taehyung's forced smile grew stiffer around the edges and his eyes flickered between the five people watching them warily, "We'll work on that." He then proceeded to try to climb out of the minivan, only to be stopped by the click of a gun, "Alright, can we have a civilized conversation and not blow each other's brains out?"

One of the girls in the other group shared a look with the man next to her. The girl looked like she was in her mid-thirties with wrinkles on her forehead and around the corners of her mouth. Her brows were thick and her eyes were big like a doll's, her dirty blonde hair was braided into two messy French braids. The man next to her had caramel skin and a small mustache above his plump lips. His greasy hair was tied back into a small ponytail and while he was tall, he wasn't as muscular as Taehyung or Jungkook.

What caught Taehyung's attention was that the other girl in the group looked like the exact copy of the first girl, except her blonde hair was cut below her earlobes. Twins. The hair was being kept in place by black pins and the nail polish on her fingernails was almost completely chipped away. The man, no, the boy hiding behind her looked like a teenager and had some similar features to the twins. He still had his baby fat on his cheeks and his jaw was more rounded with his youth. Despite his age, his eyes were sharp and his grip on the gun was firm.

The last man was the same height as the twins and his body was slender with a hint of muscle on his thighs and arms. His tan skin was dirty from tried Walker blood and grime, and his brown hair fell around his head in messy, greasy strands. But what caught Taehyung's attention was that he was Korean and he held a bow with the tip of an arrow pointing right at Taehyung's head.

The Korean man swallowed before stepping closer, keeping his arrow nocked and aimed, and gaze locked on the pair, "Were you two really there the entire night?" He asked in disbelief.

Taehyung jerked his head up in a nod, "Yeah, we even woke up in the middle of the night and didn't see you. When did you get here?" He noticed the raised brow from the short-haired girl and winced, "Both of us fell asleep, stupid, I know."

"We got here around sunrise, thought it would be best to have a quick breakfast before we keep going." The Korean guy, who Taehyung presumed was the leader of the group, responded to his original question. The man still hadn't lowered his weapon and it didn't look like he was planning to do so.

It was silent for a minute or so with no one saying or doing anything, they just kept eyeing each other and then sharing looks between themselves. Taehyung peered at Jungkook over his shoulder and found the younger frowning back at him. Taehyung lifted a brow before exhaling and turning back to the strangers.

"Alright, look." He began to catch their attention, speaking only when all of them were looking at him, "You clearly have a destination in mind, we don't but we do have a goal. You don't seem like bad people and we're not murderous psychopaths either, so how about we just head our separate ways so that you can get to where you're going and we can accomplish what we need to accomplish."

"What's your goal?" It was the teenage boy who asked that, which surprised Taehyung a little bit because he hadn't expected him to speak.

Taehyung pressed his tongue into his cheek and leaned out of the van to point up into the sky, or rather the clouds of smoke in the sky, "You see that smoke?"

"Taehyung." Jungkook tried to stop him from saying anything personal, not wanting these strangers to know more than they needed to. Only for Taehyung to brush him off and continue, "That smoke is coming from our home, it's currently burning down to a crisp because some asshole decided to take a tank and smash in the gates. Our group got separated while escaping and all we want to do is find them. Having our brains blow out because you're afraid we might do something kind of ruins that."

The Leader of the group kept his plump lips pressed tightly together as he eyed them a few more times before finally lowering his bow, "We had a community too, got separated from two of our own." He briefly explained, still keeping his eyes locked on them even when the rest of his group lowered their guns and cautiously sat back down.

Taehyung nodded, reaching into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes, only to cause the group to tense up and grab at their guns, "I just want to smoke, man." Taehyung rolled his eyes and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, grabbing one and placing it between his lips, "What happened to your place?" He mumbled around the cigarette, placing the pack next to his leg and pulling out a lighter to light the one in his mouth.

The Leader kept silent and sat back down on the ground to continue eating his cooked can of corn. The answer came from the long-haired twin, "We weren't a big group, maybe fifteen people, all of us were staying at a farm. Some inside the house, some in tents. Together we got supplies from a construction store and built up fences, we were farming, even had a few chickens, and were trying to catch horses before this group came." Darkness sunk into the woman's face as she reminisced.

"You may think you've experienced how monstrous people can become during all of this but these people were truly evil." The short-haired twin continued after noticing that her sister probably wouldn't, "They climbed the walls and began to slaughter everything in sight. They didn't even say why they were doing it but I think I know." She looked up at Taehyung with a glare, "They were smiling while they stabbed our people to death and even when they died, these monsters kept going. They cut off their arms and legs, chopped their torsos into two parts. Even killed our chickens. They weren't killing for the supplies or because they were afraid of us, they were killing because they enjoyed it."

Taehyung nodded and exhaled a mouthful of smoke, "Groups like that don't last long." This earned him a questioning look from everyone, including Jungkook, "One day they'll run into a group they shouldn't fuck with."

"Is that what happened to the man who attacked you?" The Korean man spoke up after swallowing a mouthful of corn, "He ran into a group he shouldn't have fucked with?" He glanced up at Jungkook and Taehyung, watching closely as Taehyung fell silent and looked away.

Jungkook scowled and inched closer to the doorway of the van, "He's dead." Jungkook stated with a hint of finality, yet the bowman only quirked a brow.

"You saw him go down?" The Korean man kept pushing and Jungkook couldn't help but glare at him, "He's dead." Jungkook gritted.

"Right," The man dragged out and turned his attention onto Taehyung, "You said you don't have a destination in mind?" He turned towards the short-haired twin as soon as he received a nod from Taehyung. The pair seemed to have a silent conversation between them before the girl huffed and turned her gaze onto Taehyung and Jungkook

"We don't either, we're just circling the area because this is where we lost our people. We can go our separate ways but I would advise you to keep moving because the next time we see you we won't be as lenient." The woman threatened, which made Taehyung's hackles rise because this place wasn't so far from the prison, and their best plan at the moment would be to circle the area in hopes of stumbling upon someone else.

"That's a bit unreasonable." Taehyung scoffed, not even bothered by how the woman's eyes narrowed, "The place where we come from isn't that far from here, we were planning on circling the area too and seeing if we run into them."

The woman tilted her head and sent him a mocking smile, "You said it yourself, your place is burning down and you aren't even sure that the man who destroyed it is dead," Jungkook shot forward at that, only to be stopped by Taehyung placing a hand on his lower belly. The woman eyed Jungkook as she continued to speak, "You don't even know if any of them got out and even if they did, how would you know they would be coming in this direction?"

"How do you know your people are alive and are in this area?" Taehyung shot back and quickly answered his own question before the woman could open her mouth, "You don't, but one thing we both have in common is that despite all odds, we're still willing to look for them." The corner of Taehyung's lips quirked into a breezy smile and his eyes flickered over the rest of their little group, "And the beautiful thing about dead people walking around is that we have all the time in the world to aimlessly circle around these woods."

The group didn't say anything when Taehyung finished speaking but the short-haired twin did briefly glance at her sister before making eye contact with the Korean man. Taehyung lowered his hand from Jungkook's stomach when the younger eased himself back down on his hunches.

"I think we should find a compromise." The Korean man stated while looking at the short-haired girl - the woman scrunched her face and huffed before forcing herself to nod, "Look, you have to understand why we're so prickly, we definitely understand why you are." He gave a pointed glance at Jungkook, who immediately stiffened, "We can either go our separate ways and search the area on our own or you can join us for a moment until one of us decides to go our separate way."

Taehyung pondered over the options laid out in from of them and Jungkook couldn't help but glance over at him - wondering why Taehyung seemed to be thinking for so long when the obvious choice was parting ways. He was glad that they wouldn't be spilling any more blood and could talk this through peacefully but he didn't want to take chances with new people when they were on their own.

"I prefer the second option."

Jungkook's eyes widened in shock and his muscles tightened with tension, he stared at the side of Taehyung's head but the man avoided his eyes to look at the other group. A scowl crawled its way onto Jungkook's lips as he peered over at the other group, watching as the Korean man nodded and sent them a tense smile, "How many walkers have you killed?" The question slipped from his mouth before he could even realise.

"Excuse me?" The Bowman snorted at the question, turning to look at Jungkook with a sparkle of humour in his eyes. He glanced over at Taehyung but was met with the man's quirked brow and quick shoulder shrug, "If by walkers you mean the dead then I haven't counted." He answered with a sigh, turning his attention back to Jungkook.

"How many people?"

The humour in the man's puppy eyes was whisked away and replaced by steel, "Six." He pushed out tensely, not shying away from eye contact.

"Why?"

"They attacked our home, some I killed on the road because they attacked us too." The man tilted his head to the side and eyed Jungkook, "How about you? How many Stinkers have you killed?"

Jungkook glanced over at Taehyung as he exhaled the answer, "Haven't counted." While Taehyung answered with a 'hundreds probably'.

The man ran his tongue over his bottom lip before shooting their own question at them, "How many people?"

Jungkook knew he couldn't answer truthfully and say that he hadn't counted because the number was that high, then they would definitely kill them. So, he kept silent and allowed Taehyung to answer first to give himself time to think about his own answer to the question, "Seven." Taehyung offered through a bitter smile, "I went out on runs quite frequently, sometimes they lasted for weeks and we came across a few people who tried to hurt us."

The leader nodded and turned back to Jungkook, "You?"

Jungkook dragged his gaze up and glared back at the man, "Everyone who's tried to harm my family." He spat, making sure the silent threat landed, and judging by the way the Leader turned to make eye contact with the short-haired twin, it did.

"Fair enough." The woman nodded before shoving the last spoonful of Spaghettios into her mouth and standing up. She crushed the empty can with her army boot and bent down to grab her bag, "We should get going, I saw a pharmacy while I was away yesterday and I think we should check it out."

"If you need some medicine, we have a little bit." Taehyung offered hesitantly, using anything he could to earn the group's trust and prevent them from suddenly turning on them because they'd easily be outmatched and killed.

The short-haired girl shook her head and offered them a snort, "I don't think you have what we need." She then proceeded to gesture for the group to grab their stuff, all while pulling out a map from her bag and walking over to the caramel-skinned man to talk about their whereabouts.

Jungkook watched it all unfold and realised one thing. Perhaps the Korean man they had just spoken with wasn't the leader of the group. Perhaps it was the woman. It would be smart if that was the case, people would underestimate her and would assume the man was the leader, resulting in them attacking the man first, rather than the girl.

Jungkook scooted back into the van to grab their stuff with Taehyung following behind him. The latter grabbed his backpack and strapped it around his shoulders. Jungkook watched him tighten the straps as he pulled his own around his shoulders, "Have you really only killed seven people?" Jungkook whispered, making sure to change languages so that the group wouldn't understand them even if they heard them.

"No." Taehyung mumbled back, glancing up at Jungkook with a small smirk, "They don't need to know the real number, they'll sleep easier next to me. Just like you."

"I'll sleep blissfully regardless of whether I know or not because it's you I'm sleeping next to." Jungkook shot back without thinking, pausing when his own words registered in his head. He glanced up at Taehyung and found the man wearing a small smile, which only prompted Jungkook to wink at him.

Taehyung's brows shot up at the action and he seemed to flounder for a moment until he figured out what to say in response, "Look at you turning into a flirt. I don't know where you learned that but it definitely wasn't from me."

That made Jungkook exhale a small chuckle and whack Taehyung on the chest, "Of course, it was you!" He rolled his eyes fondly, watching as Taehyung smiled and began to crawl over to the doorway of the van. Before he could reach the group's line of sight, Jungkook's arm shot out and fingers curled around Taehyung's wrist to stop him, "Tell me what you're thinking."

Taehyung snapped his head towards Jungkook in confusion, not understanding what he meant by that, "With the group - trying to earn their trust, going with them. Why?" Jungkook clarified, trying to read the answer off of Taehyung's expression.

Taehyung sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the doorway before leaning closer to Jungkook, "Kook, I'm still not feeling well from the disease and you haven't been out here like this in a long time. Look at what happened tonight, we both fell asleep and when we woke up in the middle of the night, we fell back asleep. It's smarter for us to stay with them for a while until we find the others or get a hint of where they could be." Taehyung raised his hand and hesitated before cupping Jungkook's cheek. The latter's eyes widened before his body physically melted into Taehyung's touch, "They seem alright and if anything happens that says otherwise, all you have to do is give me a sign and we're out of here. Alright?"

When Jungkook nodded into Taehyung's palm, the latter smiled and with his thumb caressed the skin under Jungkook's eye, "Good, just remember that you are the only person I care about out here. I will put your life above theirs in a heartbeat." And the very next second Taehyung was tilting his head to the side and leaning forward until he was able to press their lips together in a brief kiss.

It lasted no longer than a few seconds and it was nothing more than a peck but it was enough to make Jungkook's heart pound against his chest and toes curl in his boots. Taehyung leaned back and kept their foreheads pressed together as he whispered against Jungkook's lips, "One for the road." And then he was pulling away and climbing out of the van, leaving behind a blushing Jungkook.

The younger cleared his throat and licked his lips before shaking his head and following Taehyung. His boots slammed into the pavement and his eyes flickered from person to person until they settled onto Taehyung. The latter was standing to his right - hand placed on the roof of the van and body turned towards Jungkook, yet his steel gaze was trained on the unknown group.

"Oh!" Jungkook swung his head towards the long-haired twin at the small exclaim. The woman was looking at them with a cautious smile as she pulled on a fleece jacket, "What are your names? I'm Harper and that's Sydney." She pointed at her short-haired twin before jerking her chin at the caramel-skinned man, "This is Isaac," and then at the teenage boy, "And that's Tristan."

"Saving the best for the last?" The Korean man teased through a small smirk as he tossed the strap of his quiver around his shoulders and picked up his bow, "I'm Jimin." He offered them a small grin as he brushed past them.