We stand in a circle in the gift shop, all four of us looking at each other uncomfortably. Jungkook is staring speechlessly at the girl, Dahyun, with disbelief, I’m looking back and forth between the two waiting for an explanation, and Taehyung is just glancing around at all of us, unsure what to say. Dahyun seems to be analyzing all three of us, but I can’t tell whether or not she finds what she’s looking for.

    “So is she like...your girlfriend?” Taehyung asks, breaking the silence. A shorter silence follows, until Jungkook emits a quiet, “yeah.” My heart constricts, and I don’t understand why I feel so betrayed. Jungkook claimed he was alone, yet all this time, he was living with a girlfriend. I wonder why he never told me, in all our late night talks, why she never came up...

    “I thought you were dead,” Jungkook tells her, his eyes glistening with tears.

    Oh. That explains why he never talked about her. I feel guilty for being angry that he never told me, nevertheless, my heart remains clenched tight as the two of them are reunited.

    “I thought you had abandoned me,” Dahyun says coldly.

    “No, I never would have left you! I searched all over for you, for ages. I finally had to accept that they had really taken you,” Jungkook tries to step toward her, but she retreats, her icy gaze boring into his eyes.

    “Please...you have to believe me…” Jungkook blinks back tears, and reaches out, grabbing Dahyun’s hand. She doesn’t pull away.

    “I missed you so much,” He whispers, pulling her closer.

    I can’t explain the pain erupting from my chest when he had grabbed her hand, and now that he’s pulling her close, whispering his confession, I’m afraid of the anger I feel toward them. Toward him. I worry that my face will betray my emotions, so I turn, and begin heading for the door. Taehyung is too captivated by the whole scene, watching Dahyun warm up to Jungkook, so I turn back around to get his attention and ask him to follow me and give them a moment alone, when I inadvertently see something I really wish I hadn’t.

    My stomach feels sick, and I don’t hesitate to nearly run out the doors and into the street. Taehyung is right behind me.

    “Is everything okay?” He asks, sensing that something is off.

    “Fine. I’m super happy that Jungkook found his long lost love and now she can come live with us and everything is great. Happy ending.” I huff, and I know that I can’t hide my bitterness. Unsure how to interpret my response, Taehyung just raises his eyebrow, and changes the subject.

    “We should get going soon. We have nearly everything we need, but we should quickly stop at a convenience store or something to get the last few items on Jin’s list.”

    I nod, happy to focus on something else, and I start heading down the street, before Taehyung stops me.

    “Hold on! We need to wait for Jungkook!” He calls. I stop walking, but I can feel my face grow red, and I don’t reply. Fortunately it’s only a moment before Jungkook at Dahyun appear, and Taehyung informs them of the last things we need to get. I try to ignore the fact that they’re holding hands. I fail.

    “Oh, I know a place not far from here where you can grab that stuff. It’s safe too, I go there all the time.” Dahyun suggests, and so we agree to follow her. I just want to get back home as quickly as possible, and if she knows somewhere safe that we can hurry in and out of, I’ll grudgingly follow her. Emphasis on the grudgingly.

    Trailing behind the couple is nearly torture, and it takes nearly twenty minutes to reach the store. By the time we arrive I’m contemplating the different ways I can separate their hands, and I entertain some satisfyingly violent solutions, before I realize that we’re here.

Taehyung enters the store, and I’m about to follow, before Dahyun stops me, tugging on the shoulder strap of my firearms.

    “Yes? What is it?” I turn in annoyance.

    “Guns make me nervous. Could you leave it out here while we go inside the store?” She asks. Jungkook looks at her in confusion.

    “You never had a problem with them before.” He says.

    “What about Taehyung? He has several guns. They’re just smaller and concealed, so you didn’t see them.” I inform her. A strange panic comes over Dahyun’s face.

    “Dahyun, what’s going on?” Jungkook has let go of her hand now, and is facing her with concern.

    “Just…” She reaches for my gun, but I quickly step back and pull it from her reach.

    “I don’t think so. I’m keeping this on me. You can stay out here if you want.” I look at Jungkook with annoyance mixed with confusion, and pull the door to the store open. Which is when I hear Taehyung’s scream.

    I immediately rush toward the sound, terror flooding my body. I pull the gun in front of me, on guard for whatever I find. I’m not prepared for the scene before me. In the back room of the store, impossible to see from the front, there are fifteen, maybe twenty afflicted. They reek of death, and of pure, animalistic, instinct. We’re in a small room, and they are all facing away from me, closing in on something.

    Taehyung, I think with panic. I don’t hesitate to open fire on the room. Luckily that gets their attention off of Taehyung long enough for him to fire a few shots himself, and try to make a break toward the door. They cut him off, several of them running in front of me to stop him from reaching my side. I shoot, but suddenly someone slams into me from the side, and my gun is wrenched from my hands. Looking up, I see Dahyun.

    The red veins in her eyes are now prominent enough to shine through her contacts. Clever girl. I realize now that this was all a setup. She found us, she brought us here, she knew they were here. She was basically feeding us to her friends. I look around, but I can’t see Jungkook anywhere. Fueled by worry, betrayal, fear, and adrenaline, I kick at Dahyun’s knee so she falls to the ground next to me. With disgust I quickly stand up, then turn to make another kick, but she’s already up and throwing a punch. My hands aren’t quick enough to the defense, and I ram backwards into a shelf of canned vegetables. Cans falling around me, I pick one up and launch it, hitting my mark in the chest. As Dahyun stumbles back, I steady myself and deliver a forceful punch to her gut. Winded, and on her knees, she gasps.

    “Where is Jungkook?? Where is he?!” I shout at her.

    “It wasn’t supposed to be him… I didn’t mean for it to be him…” she wheezes. Sickened by her actions, I retrieve my gun, and hold it to her until she reveals that she left him chained to the wall outside.

    “Taehyung hold on! I’m going to grab backup!” I shout toward the back of the store, still with at least a dozen mobile afflicted moving around, waiting for Taehyung to run out of shots.

    “Alright, but hurry!” He responds, oddly calm as he fires his rounds toward the ravenous beings. I force Dahyun to give me the key, then run outside, finding Jungkook, just as she said, chained up to the wall with handcuffs. When he sees me, his eyes light up in relief, but they’re coated in guilt.

    “Jimin, I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I was too trusting. Where is Taehyung? Is he okay? I should have known better. I knew she was taken by them, I was just elated to find out they hadn’t eaten her. I’m so-”

    “Shut up, it isn’t your fault. Hurry, we need to get in there and save Taehyung.” I interrupt him, and Jungkook nods, running after me into the store. We fight our way past the remaining afflicted, seven or eight of them maybe, and finally see Taehyung standing on a pile of boxes in the corner. Relieved to see us, he starts to step down the boxes, but stops, looking at something behind us, and his face twists in confusion, then realization.

    “Behind you!” His warning comes, and I start to turn around, but something sharp and cold slides into my back before I can spot the culprit.

    The pain is indescribable. It snakes out from the source, the hot and burning center of the pain, and coldly spreads throughout every limb of my body. It’s almost paralyzing, and I find myself inadvertently falling to my knees. I can see Taehyung shouting, but he’s covered up by a swarm of afflicted until I can no longer see him. There are at least twenty now. They must have called others to join them. I’m dragged from the room by Jungkook before they can turn on us, and I wonder if Dahyun had anything to do with the reason we were able to escape so easily.

    Then again, she’s the one who wedged a knife into my back.

    Jungkook and I reach the entrance of the store, and I try to stand.

    “We have to...help Taehyung…” I say, gritting my teeth against the pain. I try to stifle a yell when Jungkook pulls the knife out of my back without warning. On my knees again, he quickly uses his own shirt to bandage the wound and try to stop the flow of blood. I try once again to stand and make my way back toward Taehyung, but the amount of blood that’s gushed out of the wound already has made me extremely lightheaded. I have to lean on Jungkook for support, and he refuses to go back into the room where Taehyung is no doubt cornered without much hope. I’m about to start yelling at Jungkook to go help him, when we hear Taehyung shouting at us from the other room.

    “Jungkook, take Jimin home! He needs attention, you can still save him!” He yells. Jungkook looks between me and the direction of Taehyung’s voice, and I can see his inner struggle as he tries to work out what he should do. His innocent, round eyes tremble in fear and confusion.

    “I mean it! Get Jimin to safety! Now!” Taehyung shouts one last time, and the decision finally clicks in Jungkook’s mind.

    “No…” I say weakly, as Jungkook lifts me onto his back, and with one last glance in Taehyung’s direction, runs out of the store and out of the city.

As we leave the store behind, I swear we pass someone. A bystander holding a briefcase, gazing in our direction. I’m almost unsure if he was actually there, because when I blink, he’s gone, and as hard as I try I can’t remember what he looks like. I don’t have time to worry about a hallucination though, and I shrug the surreal moment from my mind.

    Miraculously we have no other encounters with any afflicted the entire way out of the city. We reach the desert, and I quietly tell Jungkook he can set me down now and rest for a moment before we continue. He gently lowers me off his back and sets me onto the cold, red desert sand. I let him catch his breath, and I try to sit still and not jerk the wound open any more.

    After the silence, it’s Jungkook who speaks first.

    “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to leave him. But I had to get you to safety as quickly as possible.” He mumbles. I don’t look at him, my mind is too busy whirling with all of the events of the day. The venture into town, stumbling upon Jungkook’s old girlfriend, walking right into a trap, and leaving Taehyung behind in said trap. It would be a miracle if he made it out alive, but I dare to hope even so. My mind continues to spin, my thoughts getting hazier and hazier, and I’m barely aware when Jungkook starts yelling my name.

    I can hear familiar voices. I feel something soft under me, and vaguely I’m aware that I’m on the couch at home. My eyes open the smallest amount to see Hoseok yelling at Jungkook, Yoongi looking panicked and rushing around, and Namjoon shoving the remaining firearms into everyone’s hands before everyone save Jin rushes out the door. Jungkook stands by the door, his head hanging low, as they leave, until Namjoon grabs his arm.

    “We need you to come back with us,” he tells Jungkook. In response to Jungkook’s incredulous mute stare, his look that clearly said, “this is my fault, do you really want a screw up like me on a rescue mission that’s my fault?” Namjoon roughly shakes his arm.

    “FOCUS, Jungkook. You know the way better than anyone else. It wasn’t your fault.” Jungkook nods, and with one last glance at me, runs out the door to lead the way to Taehyung. My eyes roll back into my head and I feel Jin turning me around so he can treat the puncture wound in my back. I don’t feel anything else, however, as I slide out of consciousness yet again.

My last thought before darkness takes me is a silent plea that somehow, somehow Taehyung would be okay. Somehow.

I apologize once again for the wait! This chapter is pretty intense, I hope you guys enjoy it. I should be adding another chapter soon, so don't be too angry with me. (: 
Please please comment and subscribe! I love hearing what you guys think. You're all beautiful. <3