Ey... I'm alive... Kinda... Yeah so hi... I'm back with another chapter! Uhm, yeah I can't really explain why I haven't updated, but I thank you all for being patient with me, and I hope you feel like it's kinda worth it xP 

I re-read the last chapter, and realized it should probably have been titled, because yeah, it was a filler, and I wrote it mostly for stress relief. So basically, I will leave this chapter here for a day or two, then I will rename this "chapter 9" and rename chapter 9 "birthdays" or something similar. Just you know, a heads up, so you don't get confused. 

Now, please enjoy the chapter darlings <3 I love you!

Yoongi was sore. They’d been at the headquarters for two weeks, in constant training, and they were getting nowhere. Sure, he could run further than ever, and he was probably stronger than ever too, but if they weren’t ever allowed outside, what was the use of it?

He was currently sitting outside, Azelia in his lap and Hoseok at his side, watching Caylin beating up an angry looking Yongguk. It was supposed to be harmless sparring, but Yongguk wanted her to get serious just to see how good she was. Way better than him, at least. As she dodged his fist, she snuck up behind him, and that was the last Yoongi saw of their fight.

Waving some kind of berry in front of his eyes, Azelia asked him if he knew what berry it was.

“It’s a… blueberry?” He wasn’t certain. It looked to glossy to be a blueberry in all honesty, but he hadn’t listened to their conversation so he really didn’t know.

“It’s a chokeberry. Bitter, but edible!” Hoseok exclaimed, leaning forward with his mouth open so that the child could feed him. Before she could though, a hand snatched it. Caylin smirked at the trio before eating the berry, and it took only a split second for her face to fall and she visibly flinched.

“Ugh I thought it was a blueberry…” she muttered before walking away, face scrunched up in disgust.

~~~~~

It was at dinner that day that Leonnie stood from her place at the end of the table. Everyone quieted down after a moment, and waited for her to speak.

“Your training isn’t nearly enough yet, but we’re running out of certain supplies and need to go for a run. We would go ourselves, but since you all have been training for a while, and you’re supposed to be able to do runs later, we’ll take a few of you with us. It’s an easy run this time, and you’ll have both me and Caylin with you, so you’ll be just as safe as you’d be in here if you follow our orders. Those who are interested can stay after dinner.” Then she sat down again, and continued eating. It wasn’t long until the rest followed, but this time the conversations were mostly about what was beyond the fences.

~~~~~

They weren’t that many that stayed after dinner. Yoongi included, it was only five. Those five were himself, Yongguk, Zelo, U-kwon, and Jaehyo. Caylin were sitting on the table, watching them with judging eyes.

“Do you think you’re ready?” she asked after a while. No one answered, so she sighed.

“I’ll answer for you then. No, you’re not ready. However, you never will be if you don’t try. We leave at dawn tomorrow. Pick up your favorite weapon before you leave. That is to say the one you’re most comfortable and experienced with, not the one that looks the coolest. I’d rather not make this a long run just because I need to babysit you.”

Leonnie sighed from her seat by the table, but didn’t say anything to oppose the other. The two shared a look, and Yoongi watched as probably an entire conversation passed between them in a second, and then Caylin nodded and got off the table.

“Leon will brief you on the rest. Good luck.” she said before exiting the room. Leonnie muttered something along the lines of “don’t call me that” but didn’t seem overly faced by Caylin’s leave.

“Okay, gather around the table.”

The dishes had been removed, and the surface wiped clean. Instead of food, a map now decorated the long wooden surface. Words were scribbled here and there, some places were crossed out, while others were circled or squared in. It really was a huge map, and while it didn’t look particularly old, the amount of scribbles on it made Yoongi think it wasn’t new either.

“We are here. This entire area is fenced and safe.” Leonnie explained, pointing at a building with the letters HQ written in the middle of it, close to the middle of the map. A large square had been drawn around it, and he guessed that the square represented the fence.

“This right here-” she continued, pointing at a building not too far away, “is a locked storehouse. It hasn’t been raided, since it’s been locked, but we made a call to the base, and now it’s not locked anymore. Call it magic. Or lock picking. Probably not explosives, but you never know.” Leonnie shrugged like it was no big deal, but Yoongi raised an eyebrow.

“Since it’s close, we won’t be taking a car. We’ll be walking. Now, you will be scared. As Caylin said, no one’s ever ready for their first mission. What I need you to do however, is follow our every order. I’ll be the leader of this mission, but if I’m absent, follow Caylin’s orders. Even if I’m there, Caylin’s orders shall be followed unless I order something differently. Basically, follow both our orders, but prioritize mine.” She took a moment to make sure they had all understood, and then nodded.

“Good. The route we’ll be taking, this one right here, might be full of obstacles and infected. We haven’t checked it yet, but if it looks unpassable we’ll change and go this way instead. However, as Caylin said, it’s supposed to be a quick run, and if possible we’d like to keep it to within a day.”

The first route she had pointed at seemed to go through a highly populated area, while the other route went around it. Personally, Yoongi felt that it was probably safer to take the long way, but he trusted the two girls. If they thought the short route were good enough for five rookies to go through, he’d trust that.

“This time we need to pick up duct tape, toilet paper, and light bulbs, specifically. It goes without saying that any medicine, food, beverages, and candles you see will be brought home too. As Caylin said, we’ll be leaving at dawn. Actually not quite, I’ll probably wake you at around dawn, but then we got to pack everything so we won’t leave until like… The usual time I wake you up. Now off with you. Remember to go to bed early okay? And if you see Caylin, tell her to get her over here, I’m not done with her.”

Seeing as they were dismissed, the five boys left the room, and then scattered into different directions to do different activities.

~~~~~

As promised, they were woken at dawn by Leonnie. She ushered them down and into the dining room, where Caylin sat, cross-legged, on top of the table. The red headed girl were staring intently at a boy eating cereal in the seat in front of her.

Jin. Yoongi were surprised to say the least. He’d never expected the ever so calm Jin to be here. Then again, maybe he just couldn’t sleep and came down for an early breakfast. Behind him, Leonnie sighed.

“Caylin, you can’t force him to join. He doesn’t want to. Please just let him go back to bed.”

Looking up, Caylin shook her head.

“He already agreed.”

“Yes, under threat. That doesn’t count.”

“But he DID agree! Besides, he’s one of the best, I just want to try him.”

“He’s a living, breathing, human, Caylin. You can’t ‘try’ him.”

“Of course I can.”

“You’re NOT base. We don’t do that to people, remember?“

Caylin stopped retorting, and turned back to watch Jin finish his cereal. The boy they were bickering about didn’t seem fazed at all. In fact, he hadn’t looked up a single time during the ladies’ discussion. It wasn’t until then, that he finally looked up.

“I’ll do it. Even if you take back your threats, which I know you do, I’ll do it.” Caylin let out a short victory laugh, and got off the table.

“Told you he’d come around. I’ll go get him a backpack.”

Leonnie sighed, but let Caylin pass her and exit through the double doors. The rest of the boys sat down to eat breakfast, and listened to Leonnie as she went through the plan again. It really was a simple plan, although it would probably be harder in practice.

The idea was basically for the eight of them to walk over to the storage, fill their backpacks with supplies, and then walk back. Simple enough. Yoongi knew how to walk, and sure it was far but not THAT far. Their gear laid on a trolley next to the door, and when Caylin came back, she put an extra of everything on the floor next to it.

“Great timing, why don’t you explain the gear?” Leonnie said before Caylin had time to drop all the things she was carrying. At first, Caylin just stared at her friend blankly, but then she nodded.

“Sure. This is your backpacks. They’re big, so don’t worry about not having space enough to carry all the you find.” As she spoke, she lifted a big bag into the air. It looked like it was made from a thin material, and therefor it looked light.

“You’ll be given three weapons in total. A knife, a gun, and a weapon of your choice. The guns shall be kept in their holsters as much as possible. Sound equals infected, so guns are only to be used in absolute emergencies. Flashlights. The storehouse will be dark, there’ll probably be few, if any, windows, and electricity has probably gone out long ago.

“On the off chance that you get separated from us, there’s a map, a compass, and a flare gun in every bag. The headquarters is marked on every map, and I just assume all of you can find your way on a map. Flare gun is only, ONLY, for when you’re lost and don’t think we can’t find you without a beacon. Which means like, never. Both me and Leonnie is good trackers, so please don’t fire the flare gun. Not only will it alert us, it’ll alert other infected as well as other survivors.

“I think that’s it. We’ve already provided you with a filling meal, good clothes, and good shoes, so the only thing we need from you is your best effort, I guess?” The redhead looked slightly unsure, so she looked at Leonnie for confirmation. The latter smiled and nodded.

“We’ll have lunch with us, and we expect to be back before sundown. Now, eat up, and lets go.”

~~~~~

The dirt road were full of holes and bumps, but Yoongi wasn’t complaining. While it was hot, the breeze were chilly, so he didn’t feel like he was over heating.

“We’ll be taking our leave here then. Have a safe trip, we’ll be awaiting your return.” The two men, guards that had followed them from the gates, nodded curtly towards the two ladies in the front. One of them picked up a pair of keys from his pocket and started unlocking the small house they were standing next to, while the others kept staring at the six idols.

“Are you sure you don’t need backup? I know I haven’t fully completed training, but I’ve gotten further than them! I could come with you and-”

Caylin simply turned away, while Leonnie held up a hand to stop the boy in his tracks.

“Levi, we’ll be fine. Stay here, protect this place. You’ll be of much greater use here, guarding the lookout, than you’ll be with us. Trust us, we got this.”

While the boy didn’t look satisfied with the answer, he accepted it, and with a last look at Caylin’s back, he entered the small, but tall, house they were standing outside of.

“Hyung, look…”

It wasn’t meant for him, but Yoongi were used to be called hyung, so he reacted out of instinct. Zelo were standing behind Yongguk, pointing toward where they came from. They were standing on a hill, and the mansion was currently bathed in the soft orange and yellow glow from the rising sun. To say that it was pretty was an understatement. It was beautiful.

“Let’s go.”

Tearing their eyes from the wonder that was now their home, the six idols and two military girls set off into unknown territory, to go shopping.