Chapter 7

( My Angel )

Jungkook’s Point of View

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, and revved the engine. I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and sped towards the glass window.

My tires spun over the asphalt, and the truck jolted over the curb, speeding over the sidewalk and through the stretch of grass. The window stretched out before me, and I could see the truck’s reflection growing ever closer, my headlights blinding against the glass. I braced myself, and squeezed my eyes shut.

Crash!

My truck smashed through the glass with just the slightest resistance. Glass sprayed in all directions, clinking with ironic delicacy over my windshield and hood. My eyes flash open, and I watch in shock as I careen into the play area. There’s only a second before I hit the next obstacle-- a group of zombies, whose blank faces I only glimpse before they disappear beneath the truck’s fender. The truck jolts as it smashes the zombies beneath its massive tires. Other zombies bounce off of the truck violently, and their body parts scatter.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for a moment. My hands were gripping the wheel so hard my knuckles were white. Zombies flew across the room, spraying black blood and limbs. The play place loomed closer and closer, and I knew I was going to crash into it. This would not be pretty.

Plastic tables and chairs were the next to go, bouncing off the truck like raindrops. I was almost mad at myself for picking such an indestructible truck, but it was too late to be complaining about that now.

I slammed on the brakes, but  was too late. The tires squealed against the tile, slick with blood and years of accumulated sweat. The truck skidded sideways, hardly slowing down, and crashed headlong into the base of the play place.

The truck shuddered to a sudden stop, and I was jerked against my seatbelt. It dug into my chest and knocked the wind out of me, but it saved me from cracking my skull on the steering wheel. Everything was frozen for a few beats once the truck finally stopped moving. The zombies didn’t move, Hoseok, Taehyung, and the girl stopped firing, and I was still struggling to catch my breath.

I couldn’t believe I’d just botched my heroic mission. This was the last time I would ever convince myself to do something that stupid. Who the hell had thought crashing into a play place with a truck was a good idea of a rescue mission anyway?

I threw the truck in reverse, and eased onto the gas. The truck groaned in protest at first, but slowly began rolling backwards. But that only made things worse.

Once I backed up a little bit, the play place began to collapse.

. . .

There was a girl up there! Grabbing my gun, I ripped my seatbelt off and wrestled the door open. I hopped out, snapping the safety off on my gun. My boots crunched over shards of glass and were quickly smeared with black zombie blood. The stuff seemed to be everywhere-- on the floor, on the walls, and now on me. There was a lot of zombies still alive, but they were at the opposite end of the room, still struggling to recover from the shock of impact. My eyes darted upwards towards the top of the play place. One half was quickly folding in on itself, the metal skeleton unable to hold up its own weight. There were joints and bolts snapping all over the place, and the sound was deafening.

I didn’t know where to look first. Taehyung and Hoseok were right there, right in front of me, and I could be sure now that it was them. I wanted to yell to them, and wave to them, because I was overjoyed to see that they were still alive, but their attention was focused elsewhere.

I followed their lines of sight to the collapsing half of the play place, where a girl was hanging on for dear life to a metal railing near the top. My heart flew into my throat. There was no way for her to get down from there, not in time. She was going to fall.

My adrenaline was pumping as I tried to think of a way to get her down, or even just to reach her before the whole thing went down. But before I could so much as take another step, the play place collapsed. I watched in horror as the destroyed half crumpled to the ground. THe girl’s hands slipped from the railing, and she fell. Once she hit the ground, her body was hidden by falling debris.

“Desi, no!”

I whipped my head up to see Hoseok screaming from the top of the remaining section of play place. He faced the wreckage of the other half, and his face was twisted in terror. He looked like he was going to jump after the girl, but Taehyung stood behind him with his hand on Hoseok’s arm in horrified shock.

There were muffled moans from behind me as the zombies started to regain their footing and make their way towards me. It was only a matter of time before they reached me, and then worse, the girl. I couldn’t let the zombies get her, not after I caused her to fall. I had to save her.

“Hoseok! Taehyung! Climb down here and cover me! I’ll get her out!” I yelled, loud enough to draw their attention to me. Both of their faces whipped toward me as I started climbing over the debris, moving as fast as I could. I didn’t cast another glance up at them, but I could imagine the look of shock on their faces. It would’ve been hilarious if I could have seen it, but I had bigger problems. Hoseok made a loud noise of surprise, like he had just registered that I was there.

“Jungkook?” He shrieked, squinting at me. “How the are you alive?”

I rolled my eyes as I scrambled over a bright pink section of a slide, my boots leaving black smears of blood in my wake. I couldn’t help but smile though. Leave it to Hoseok to ask the dumb questions in the middle of a bloodbath. Man, I missed him.

“Now is not the time for questions! Do as I say!” I yelled back, keeping my gaze trained on the ground. She was around here somewhere. I just had to hope she wasn’t buried under a pile of debris. I really, really hoped she wasn’t dead.

Hoseok and Taehyung didn’t waste anymore time as they reached for their guns. The two of them started shooting at the zombies as they worked their way the play place. They’d get down quick, and the zombies would be even more excited at the thought of an easier kill. They’d be moving faster, and I was running out of time. I had to be quick.

I climbed over the yellow plastic of a platform and looked around. She had to be around here somewhere. This platform had been at the top of the play place, right beneath her feet. Where it was, she had to be nearby. I looked around closer, stepping carefully over the broken glass and plastic. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something. I turned toward it and I felt a wave of relief.

There! I saw part of a body! A mess of light brown hair, sprawled out across the rubber flooring, and a slim arm, outstretched as if she was reaching for me. She wasn’t moving.

My heart pounded as I rushed towards her, nearly tripping over a metal pole. I dropped to my knees next to her, my eyes wide with terror as I scanned her face.

There was a cut just below her hairline, and blood was smeared across her face from it. Other than that, I could hardly see an outside injury. There was a metal beam pinning her left side, which might have been part of the problem. I shot to my feet and grabbed a hold of the beam, grunting beneath its weight as I lifted it off of her and shoved it aside. I got back on my knees and hesitated for a moment. My heart caught in my throat.

“Please don’t be dead,” I said quietly. I slipped my hand under her neck and turned