CHEN'S HOUSE,
DAEGU, S. KOREA.
02:35 PM, September 19th.

"You sure you're not tagging along?" Inside the truck, sat Taehyung, behind the wheels, his ashy, frizzly hair paying him well after a nice, long bath with hot water boiled over the stove. Jeongguk questioned it to Yoongi as they draw up to use their manpower to push the vehicle out and uphill, the road that will lead to Daejeon, a bridge to cross, a long way to go.

Yoongi, clad in vests and camo trousers, gives an unperturbed jerk of his shoulder, meeting his sharp eyes with Jeongguk, who stands with him, exactly how he always is: stunning. Taehyung noticed how the elder's own hair have grown an inch longer on the pale nape.

Jeongguk bumped a brow, then fishes out a piece of parchment, scribbled upon in a messy handwriting, pushing it towards Yoongi, uttering blatantly, "Hoseok sent me this; it's a location where you can find him. He delivered to me when I was in Busan, in case I ever needed him. Jeez, take it already." Yoongi reluctantly does.

"You don't need it?" he asked, perhaps timidly.

Jeongguk affirmed, casual, "I have it memorised." At which, Taehyung, who was twisting his upper body to observe the two at the back, speculated that they were done conversing, his hands clamping the steering wheel now.

However, Yoongi expressed glumly, "You said he was engaged, last time you saw him." Taehyung stared out of the windshield, the blank concrete wall of the manor-like abode, unceremoniously white.

"Look, pal." Jeongguk's tone was easy-going, in a manner that observed insight, goodwill. "I handed this to you. My part is over. Now, it's up to you, if you go to him or nah. Capiche?"

Maybe Yoongi nodded, maybe he didn't. The silence denoted nothing or everything. Their footsteps approach, concluding to position themselves directly adjacent to the truck's bumper, bending in unison, hands flat on the hood.

With Jeongguk's swift glance, Taehyung inserts the key in the ignition, readying himself. A low, distant moan of the undead jolts his senses awake, his chest tightening.

Together, Yoongi and Jeongguk drag the car to the road that ascends up, their faces reddening with labour. "Prepare yourself, kiddo," Yoongi grunts, the truck gradually, painfully creeping up its path, Taehyung giving a chance to start the truck, which purrs for the first two blissful seconds, then dies.

There was abundant of distance between the three and the hill's peak.

Taehyung's palm grew sweaty.

That's when the first Clicker spotted them, its blithering savagery unnerving, its legs dashing over to Jeongguk and Yoongi. Taehyung frantically turns the keys, but the engine remained fucking stubborn.

Yoongi, as Jeongguk unwillingly propelled the lorry up (because it will slide down the steep street all the way back otherwise), Yoongi's stance roughening as he pulls out his pistol and shots the Clicker down, only for more undead to emerge at the sound.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Taehyung's teeth clench, mincing too hard he heard a crack, trying the ignition twice, thrice, while Yoongi's loud bang, bang, bang fill the void sky, Jeongguk's gasped breathing making Taehyung's heart hammer with anxiety.

Growls, squelching, hisses, just two feet more to cover, once empty neighbourhood now in riot with the spill of rabid, cannibalistic humans stomping their way over to the duo behind. Almost there, Jeongguk, Taehyung thought, neurotic. Almost there.

Yoongi's yelp made him flinch, Taehyung clench on the keys too hard it would leave imprints, half a feet to go—

Gunshot. Monstrous screeching.

Six inches.

"JUMP IN!" Taehyung howled with every particle in his body, the truck tipping down, the smack of feet on metal resounding off the truck, the vehicle descending, accelerating, Taehyung able to start it mid-fall.

It was now or never.

The pickup's engine whirred to life once more, Taehyung bracing himself, wishing he could shut his eyes closed, but can't, as he waits for the truck to halt.

It doesn't.

Upon realising that, he hits the pedal, speeding it, tyres screaming as he indecently turns right, fleeing, the infected outdistanced. Only when they approached the highway, tall grass under the wide, cloudless sky, the sun bare on the outstretching light blue, does he kills the engine, his heart pulsation receding to a faint lub, dub.

He instantly struggled out, astounded when only Jeongguk's nestled in, knees up, arms loosely bundling his legs.

"Where's—?" Taehyung began, muffled.

Jeongguk cuts in, all burnt out, "He didn't get in." Taehyung gaped at him.

"Is he—?"

"Dead? Hope not."

"The fuck?" Taehyung's tone became concerned, aggravated, "We shouldn't have left him!" Jeongguk winced as he stumbled to his feet, standing up and hopping down unsteadily.

"Kid—"

"Don't call me that." Taehyung's head felt hot. Yoongi was supposed to be with them. At least till here, where there was no sign of the diseased shitwacks.

"Taehyung," Jeongguk proceeded wittily, claiming the driver's seat, shutting the door, addressing the younger from inside, "I'm pretty sure Yoongi's okay. Don't fret. Now, get in." He waited.

Taehyung glared at him. Why didn't Jeongguk disagreed with Yoongi like he did with Areum? Wasn't Yoongi his friend too? Was it to do with Jeongguk's brother, Hoseok—?

"Stop it," Jeongguk ordered, and Taehyung pulled himself out of the train of thoughts, a little disheveled.

He stammered, anger evaporated, "Stop what?"

Jeongguk sighed from his place, leaning to the shotgun's door and letching it open, voicing loudly, "Get in." Once Taehyung momentarily did, he could swore Jeongguk gave him a short eye roll, "Min Yoongi is a piece of work. A bunch of infected can't hurt him. Fuck, he's been through worst. Did you know that?"

Taehyung pursed his lips, muttering incoherently, "No." His eyes accidentally lowered to Jeongguk's thighs, his mouth drying up at the sight.

When he stared back at Jeongguk, it took a moment for the older to reply in a monotonous, exceedingly attractive way with the words touched with keenness, "Then stop worrying."

Taehyung's heartbeat has quickened.

"Alright," he concurs, dimly.

He wished Jeongguk could kiss him right then, but the other is too focused to engage with the air of ferocious intensity that whizzed fireworks in Taehyung's gut. And so they travel on, the immobility, the creeping dusk; heavier became Taehyung's eyelids, feeling a blanket thrown over his position, a knowing smile, then he finally slips into his dreams, hoping Yoongi got out okay.

__

do you think
yoongi survived?
also, um, tae—
CALM TF DOWN.
+ this is the route
jeongguk
has planned: