Chapter 9: Are We Humans or Are We Zombies?

 

“Through an experiment gone wrong, scientists created a zombie virus that infected one of their own… and he escaped. He still looks human, so he can’t be identified by appearance as a zombie but he is infected with the zombie virus and can infect others with it. He is known as the Original Zombie (OZ). Since the OZ is still human in appearance, he can live with and move among the humans freely. The virus, however, is traned through direct contact so anyone the OZ touches becomes a zombie. So far there is no cure, but there is hope! There is no way to kill a zombie, but humans have discovered that shooting them with nerf guns and throwing socks can temporarily stun the zombies. (They have to heal/regenerate after being injured, so makes sense right?) While the zombies are never stunned for a long period of time, the longer the humans can survive and keep the zombies at bay the more time the scientists and other smart people have to try and find a cure! All of humanity depends not only on those finding a cure, but those brave humans fighting against the zombies with their lives.”

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            Namjoon groaned as he rolled over to reach for his phone that was sitting on his bedside table. His dark brown eyes wavered upon the lit up screen as he checked the time and then sat himself up as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake himself more. His mind had been keeping him up for a majority of the night due to a few unresolved problems with his family lately, so he finally decided he should get up and refresh a bit before trying to sleep once more. With a yawn, he pulled the covers away and threw his legs over the bed so he could stand as he snuck a glance in Hoseok’s direction, hoping that his roommate, whose bed was nearest the door, wasn’t bothered by any noise he might be making. Thankfully, Namjoon was pleased to find that his roommate was still fast asleep with one arm hanging over the edge of the bed and his face buried in the pillow. Once he had snuck out of his room, Namjoon closed the door quietly and then tip-toed through the hall to reach the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, obviously trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake the lighter sleepers in the household.

            “Psst! Tae, wake up!” Jimin whispered quietly as he quietly climbed down the ladder of the bunk bed and then gently shook his friend to get his attention. He didn’t know why he had woken up for no reason, but he heard a noise coming from the kitchen just as he was trying to fall back asleep.

            “Hm..? What is it? Doesn’t it look like I’m trying to sleep?” Taehyung replied as he groaned and rolled over onto his right side with his back turned to Jimin. He couldn’t believe his sleep was being interrupted so early in the morning when tomorrow morning was a Monday-- a very important Monday.

            “Tae, someone’s in the living room or kitchen… No one is usually up at this time of morning. What if someone broke into the house?” Jimin insisted that he wake up so that he was experiencing this alone. He normally wasn’t scared very easily, at least not as much as Hoseok, but he was only slightly nervous about the situation… It’d just be a lot easier to investigate with someone else at his side.

            “Huh..? Do you know how probable it is for someone to break into this house?” Jungkook mumbled as he sat up and squinted his eyes in Jimin’s direction. His bed was parallel to their bunk bed, and he had overheard their conversation because he had woken up having to use the bathroom.

            “Jungkook, you’re awake! Seriously though, isn’t it abnormal for the others to be up at this time? The only time I’ve ever seen one of them up is when Yoongi would catch you taking a shower…” Jimin replied as Taehyung sat up and groaned, unhappy to be awake at this time.

            “If there’s someone in this house, I’d really rather not be the one to come face to face with whoever it is…” Taehyung commented as he looked up at Jimin and then over at Jungkook. Jimin’s words were starting to get to him, and he was starting to believe someone really could have gotten in.

            “There’s no one here…” Jungkook insisted as he stood up and went to the bathroom that was attached to their bedroom. Once he had finished, he immediately headed for the door to the hallway to check out whatever it was Jimin and Taehyung thought they were hearing. “Alright, I’m gonna check the other bedrooms to see if the others are in their beds. I’ll be right back.”

            “Wait, you’re going to go alone?” Jimin asked him, amazed that their youngest didn’t seem to be as afraid as they were. He quickly tried to change his demeanor as he stood and hurried to Jungkook’s side, “I’ll go with you. You know, just in case.”

            Taehyung considered this for just a moment, but he was quick to get out of bed and follow after Jimin, “I’ll go as well. It never hurts to have backup.” he stated nervously, trying to stay confident about leaving the room. He thought Jungkook would be a lot more afraid of this situation, considering the experiences they’ve had with him. He seemed to be afraid of Paul that one time, and then he’d heard about his thing with girls, so this was just weird…

            Jungkook smirked at his roommates reactions as he left the room and walked through the hallway to the next room on their left, quietly opening the door to see who was inside, hoping Yoongi or Jin were not in there to prove that it was someone they knew in the kitchen. His eyes fell upon two figures who were sound asleep, or… not making noise at least. Though, as they began to close the door to that room, Jimin and Taehyung practically tackled Jungkook as they gasped and panicked when they were touched by someone from behind them only to release a relieved sigh when they realized it was only Hoseok trying to get their attention.

            “Hyung, why’d you have to do that?! You scared us out of our wits! Was it you who was in the kitchen?” Jimin asked in a whisper as his eyes fell upon the baseball bat Hoseok held in his hand, “Wait… What’s that for?” he asked as he pointed towards the object.

            Hoseok followed Jimin’s hand to his bat and then began to explain himself, obviously a little stressed about something, “Well, no… I was in bed when I woke up to hear someone making noise out here. I’m not gonna lie, I kind of thought it was someone breaking into the house… Jungkook doesn’t usually go in the kitchen or living room when he wakes up in the middle of the night, so I didn’t think it was any of us…” he replied, feeling embarrassed that he was acting so paranoid.

            “Wait… if it’s not you… is Namjoon hyung still in there?” Taehyung asked as he realized he was the only one left that could possibly be in the kitchen.

            “Yeah, he seemed to be in a deep sleep because he had himself wrapped pretty well with the blankets, so I didn’t bother him…” Hoseok replied with a frown. It was then that they heard a loud clattering sound from the kitchen, followed by glass shattering and a few dispersed clunks.

       The entire group froze at the sound, now very aware that it had to be a stranger in their house since the others were all still in bed. In fact, even Yoongi and Jin had woken up from the noise and had rushed to the door to join the group and question them about whatever was happening, “What are you guys doing out here? Did you guys break something?” Jin asked first before Yoongi could start scolding them for waking him from his sleep.

            “Someone broke into the house. All of us were in bed, and Namjoon hyung is still asleep. Whoever it is isn’t very intelligent though… They’re making a ton of noise.” Jungkook stated quietly before releasing an uncertain sigh. Now that it was confirmed, he was feeling a little less courageous…

            “What? Okay, okay, you guys just need to calm down… I’ll go ahead first, just keep your eyes out. If we see him, we’ll just tackle them and get them under our control before anything else happens.” Jin stated calmly, raising his hand slightly and gesturing that they needed to calm down. Hopefully it was just six against one… He took the lead of the group with Yoongi following right after so he could squeeze between Jin and Jungkook, though he allowed Hoseok to stay right next to him since he had the baseball bat; that actually wasn’t such a bad idea…

            Everything was still dark throughout the entire house, but they could distinctly hear the footsteps of an individual in the kitchen. Quickly, the entire group began run towards the dark figure they saw just at the entrance to the kitchen and once they reached the figure, they immediately tackled the person to the ground, having no mercy in slamming him onto the floor and pulling his arms behind his back as they yelled for him to stay down. “Don’t move! Jungkook, get the lights!” Jin exclaimed as he himself held the trespasser’s arms pinned.

            As soon as the lights flickered on, all of the members just sort of stared at the scene before them. Poor Namjoon was hidden under all the members, breathing heavily as he tried to comprehend what was going on. “Guys…” he coughed as he looked up at them in confused, “Guys, what are you doing? And why the hell does Hoseok have a bat?” he questioned as they all slowly released their grip on him and as Hoseok lowered his bat.

            “N-Namjoon hyung! We… We thought---” Jimin and the others all turned their heads in Hoseok’s direction, practically glaring at him for steering their thoughts in the wrong direction, “We thought you were still in bed… Honestly, we thought that whoever was out here making so much noise was a burg--- Hyung, what did you do to the kitchen?!”

            Namjoon groaned as he pushed himself up off the ground and placed a hand on his lower back, truly feeling the aftermath of the tackle he just experienced, “The kitchen? Jimin, what did you do to my back?! I may not look broken, but all that glass you see on the floor right now, yeah. I feel that inside my body. Thanks for caring.” he commented bitterly.

            “Oh, come on, we didn’t tackle you THAT badly… Seriously though, look at the mess in here…” Jin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and observed the scene before him. “Well… Let’s get started on cleaning this up. Be careful though, there’s glass all over the place.”

            “Yeah… You know, I was almost upset for what I had done, but now, my conscience is eased a little… I mean, seriously, how could you not care about my well-being?” Namjoon shook his head and nudged his friend, “Well… Jimin… You got no jams. I know how much you loved those jellies, but I guess this is premeditated payback--- apparently destiny knew that you cared more about the kitchen than me.”

            Jimin stared at Namjoon for a moment and then returned his eyes to the broken shards and red and purple jam strewn across the floor. It really was depressing… He had just picked those jams out last week, and they were still at least half full! Why, hyung, why?! “Is… Is there any jam we can save or did it all touch the ground?”

            “Um… Hyung, I’m pretty sure your jams are gone.” Jungkook replied with pursed lips as he picked up one of the bigger pieces of glass, which held a glob of blackberry jam in its curve, “I mean… there’s a little left. Do you want it?” he asked as he maneuvered around the glass to Jimin’s side and gestured for him to take it. As soon as Jimin reached out to take the jam carrying piece of glass, Jungkook was quick to scoop the jam onto his finger and then ate it himself as a sly grin found its way onto his lips. Blackberry was his own personal favorite, and he really couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mess with Jimin like this, “Ooh… that was actually really good. It’s too bad you were too slow, hyung, you could have saved the last of your jams.” he joked with him.

            “... Jeongguk… I swear… You make me so mad!!” Jimin shouted at him as he quickly reached up and wrapped an arm around Jungkook’s neck to put him in a headlock. “You sneaky little Maknae, I’m going to get you back for that!” he insisted as he gave the youngest a noogie and struggled to keep him from moving around.

            “Hey! If you’re going to wrestle, do it out of the kitchen; there’s too much glass everywhere…” Jin scolded them as he grabbed the broom and dustpan from the closet right next to the kitchen at the start of the hallway. He returned and quickly began to sweep up the glass shards and then gestured for Namjoon to help clean up the jam with paper towels and cleaning wipes. As they worked on cleaning the floor, Yoongi assisted in repairing the shelf guard on the door of the fridge that Namjoon had accidentally broken off somehow.

            “Honestly, Rapmon hyung, I don’t see how you do this. It’s like you just touch something and it breaks. Remind me not to let you watch over one of the kids I babysit at the CDL.” Hoseok commented as he and the other two stood by and watched the older housemates clean. It’s not like they could help do anything else; they pretty much had it covered!

            “I’m gonna have to agree with Hoseok on this one… Besides, why are you up this early anyway? You’re not nervous about this whole Humans Vs. Zombies thing are you? I mean, I know today is the first day, but it’s nothing to stress over.” Yoongi jokingly as he finished up with the fridge and closed the door with ease.

            “Come on, no way. Ya’ll are just jerks. I don’t break everything, especially not kids. And no, it’s not the game. I hear a lot of people get paranoid about it, but I’m not one of them. It’s just family stuff, you know? You guys remember how I told you about my parents not being happy with the major I’ve chosen? Well, they’re at it again…” he sighed as he pulled a cup from the cupboard beside the fridge and then pushed the cup against the water dispenser in the fridge’s door so he could hydrate himself.

            The housemates each exchanged glances, but before anyone else could speak up, Jin was the first to respond as he threw away the glass, “Well, you’re here at college to discover yourself aren’t you? You’re not here to fulfill whatever your parents see you as. How many times have you said that to us? You’ve always said that every time you return to America you can be whoever you want and be who you truly are. So just continue being that person. It doesn’t mean you should disregard your family. It just means that you should go your way while simultaneously finding a way to make them proud through the path you’ve chosen.”

            “I agree with Jin. I believe one day your parents will be proud of the person you become. One way or another. You’re a hard worker, and you’re really intelligent. You have a million career paths you can choose from, but only one was meant for you. Maybe two. In my opinion, the path chooses you. You just like to think you’re in control.” Hoseok commented with a grin as he nudged Namjoon with his elbow, “Now come on, let’s get to bed. We’ve got zombies to fight off later today.”

            “I think we’re going to be the zombies if we don’t get back to sleep anytime soon…” Yoongi muttered, all too ready to head back to his bed. Though, he made sure to offer Namjoon a pat on his back as he passed him.

            “Agreed… I’m so ready for some more sleep!” Taehyung complained with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes and followed after his roommates back to the bedroom. He had been rather quiet in the kitchen because he was just too worn out to put in any effort at all. He, Jimin, and Jungkook had only just fallen asleep at 1 a.m. because they had stayed up playing videogames, so they were all a little exhausted. Somehow the other two seemed to have enough energy to goof around, though! How was that even possible?

            The entire household returned to bed to gain as much sleep as possible before the big day ahead, considering it was the very first day of Humans vs. Zombies. This game was to be played throughout the entire week with missions held at 8:00 pm, but students who participated still were required to attend classes, of course. Humans vs. Zombies is a variation of a game of tag. All participating students begin the game as humans, and one is chosen by the game moderators to be the “Original Zombie.” The Original Zombie tags human players while keeping the disguise of a human and turns them into zombies until the Original Zombie’s identity is revealed. Humans carry nerf guns and are required to complete objectives in missions in order to win the game. Just surviving past final mission isn’t enough if one fails to complete the mission. The point of the missions is to try to find a cure for the zombie virus and save humans everywhere from being infected and turned into zombies. Zombies do not carry nerf guns. They are the “it” players in tag, but their numbers grow. Once an individual becomes “it”, he or she is “it” for the rest of the game. Unless the humans win, that is.

            Even though the risk was extremely low for the boys to be tagged by the OZ on the very first day, paranoia haunted every single one of them throughout the day. It wasn’t until they were able to meet in Korean class that they were finally able to discuss with each other what they had or had not witnessed today regarding the game, and they found that the game really was progressing just in the matter of the past 5 hours or so.

“Can you believe there are already 3 zombies? I mean, it sounds like a small number, but if you think about it, only one person is tagging all of these people…” Taehyung commented as he scrolled through the HVZ Berea page on his phone which was always updated once the humans turned into zombies.

“Yeah, whoever the OZ is is doing a really good job… I mean, considering they’ve not been caught yet. I hear people have their suspicions though. It’s usually a veteran player since they have experience, and some say that Jay or Skyler may be the OZ. They were seen whispering to a few other players after patting them on the back, so some people are really watching them.” Yoongi remarked as he checked the HVZ page as well.

“I guess I better be careful then… Jay’s in my next class.” Namjoon groaned as he pulled off the white bandana that was tied on his upper right arm to indicate he was a human and then placed it in his backpack with his nerf gun. HVZ equipment wasn’t allowed to be seen in the classrooms so as not to distract others, so everything had to be put away.

“I guess we’ll know not to come help you with anything if you come crying to us later. No way am I walking into a trap if I know you might be a zombie.” Hoseok laughed as he took his seat beside Namjoon and discarded his equipment into his backpack as well.

“Oh! Oh, wait! There’s four now! Four zombies!” Taehyung reported as he stared at the page with awe, “This OZ is catching zombies fast… He must be really good.”

“No way, it’s just four, Tae. That’s not that many.” Yoongi disagreed with a roll of his eyes as he stretched out his left arm and rested his head on it lazily.

“Really? Four isn’t that many? I’d like to see you be OZ and catch four zombies by this time, hyung. You wouldn’t even catch one with how often you sleep…” Taehyung argued defensively with a shake of his head. Being the OZ was harder than it seemed. He’d been told how it worked by a few of his friends, and he honestly wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for gathering more zombies.

“Are you scared you’ll get caught before mission tonight, hyung? Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.” Jungkook joked as he watched the teacher walk in at last. Professor Hill was just on time, as per usual, which meant that the devices had to be put up and poor, paranoid Taehyung wouldn’t be able to keep track of the HVZ status.

Taehyung pouted in response to Jungkook, feeling a little childish for feeling so paranoid about a game, but this truly did put him on edge, as it did many. He was definitely not the only wondering where the zombies were and how he could get away instead of think about the task at hand. Even Jimin seemed to be more alert than usual. Thankfully, Yoongi seemed to be as lazy as ever. No change there…

As their classes for the day slowly passed by, the group proceeded to meet up as usual to stand in line for dinner at 4:30 pm so they could have time to do homework between dinner and mission. However, Yoongi had texted them saying that he had picked up a shift of a coworker because someone had gotten sick, so it was only the six of them standing in line, carrying their HVZ gear with them just like a few other people here and there. Buildings were considered safezones, so there was nothing to be concerned about inside, but zombies could tag them right outside or even reach in and tag them, so they still had to be aware of their surroundings.

“Isn’t it weird that Yoongi hyung offered to work more? I mean… he hasn’t liked working that much recently…” Jungkook remarked uncertainly, though Jin was the only one who seemed to be paying attention because the others were either talking amongst themselves or playing on their phones.

“Yoongi is a hard worker. He may be a little on the lazy side, but he is actually an exemplary employee.” Jin replied. After a few moments of thought, however, he added to his comment, “Now that I think about it, you’re right… Lately he’s been a little bitter towards his job because of that girl, hasn’t he?”

“Girl? What girl?” Hoseok asked, his interests peaked as he overheard their conversation and interrupted to gain a little more information, “Wait, does Yoongi have a thing for a girl? Since when? I haven’t seen anything! How come you guys know something I don’t?” he questioned jokingly; he was seriously interested…

“No, no, no, no, no, it’s nothing like that. He’s having girl problems, but not the kind you may be thinking of. He’s far from interested in this girl, trust me.” Jin assured him with a laugh as he covered his mouth to try and stifle it, “Yoongi has himself a stalker. I mean, she calls him during work sometimes claiming she needs a ride across campus because she’s sick or because she injured herself doing something, and according to him it’s very obvious that it’s fake. He’s complained about it several times, don’t you pay attention, Hoseok?”

“What?! Well, I thought I listened pretty well, but I guess not… Yoongi doesn’t talk very loud though, in my defense.” Hoseok answered, laughing because he thought that Yoongi’s predicament was hilarious, “So wait, who is this girl? No way did he just gain a stalker out of the blue. He’s not very charismatic.” he joked, using this time to insult Yoongi teasingly while he could before he appeared out of nowhere.

“Apparently she took a liking to him last year but just got the courage to finally be by his side in his amazing Public Safety chariot, also known as a golf cart. I don’t get why she doesn’t realize that that thing is only for emergencies.” Namjoon remarked, joining the conversation with ease.

“Has she told him that she likes him? I mean… maybe she’s just too shy to say so and she’s not a stalker like you all think.” Jungkook suggested uncertainly, thinking they shouldn’t be too quick to judge on something like that.

“Oh, she’s told him alright. And he’s denied it several times. Or… he’s done things that should hint to her that he’s not interested. Seriously, just last week she messaged him three times on Facebook to tell him how she felt. He didn’t tell me specifically, but he looked annoyed and admitted that he didn’t know any other way to tell her he wasn’t interested besides saying ‘no’. Apparently she won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” Namjoon commented in a matter-of-fact way.

“That’s a little harsh… she can’t be that bad. I mean, he wasn’t rude about telling her no, right?” Hoseok asked, concerned for both parties. He didn’t think it would be right to be a jerk to someone just because they liked you. It’s not their fault that they have an attraction towards another, so why put the blame on them?

“Not at first. In fact, he was actually pretty polite about it the first few times she bothered him. I witnessed it once… He and I were talking in front of Draper before class, and she just came out of nowhere, asking him about this and that… I mean she was just questioning him about his day and how he was doing and all that, which wasn’t harmful at all. But towards the end of the conversation she tried to get his phone number. Yoongi tried to explain to her that he wasn’t interested in dating because apparently she had asked him a couple times before… Needless to say I was very confused because I didn’t know this at the time, and then I caught Yoongi’s eyes and realized he was practically begging for help. I told her we had to start heading to class and thankfully she had to part ways as well, but she seemed really disappointed that she wasn’t able to get his contact information. I was actually quite proud of him for not flipping out on her since she’s been bothering him so much.” Jin recalled, “Since then though, he’s been rather blunt. I can’t blame him either… He’s upset that she’s started interfering with his work.”

“Wow… how is someone so infatuated with Yoongi? I mean, he’s a cool guy, but only around us right?” Hoseok joked, “I mean… all of us are different around other people, you know? Anyway… maybe we should help him out. How do you even get a stalker to stop liking you?”

“Maybe he can date her just once and then have it be over. You know? He could date, tell her he’s not interested, and then everything will be done.” Namjoon suggested with a shrug.

“I have a feeling that would put him under the ‘boyfriend’ title without his consent. I think he should try and act a way she doesn’t like. You know, try and disgust her I guess.” Jin disagreed before letting out a sigh, “Anyway, we can discuss that with him later if necessary…”

“Oh, geez… Guys there are five zombies now tagged by the OZ. This is intense…” Taehyung spoke up loud enough for all of them to hear even while they were in the middle of their discussion, “How many people are usually tagged on the first day?”

“I’m not entirely sure. I know last year only 2 people were tagged before mission and then maybe 2 more were tagged either during or after mission… The year before that 4 people were tagged before mission and and again 2 were tagged during or after the first night’s mission.” Jin answered as he watched the cashier lady, Ms. Linda, open the doors to the cafeteria to allow the line of students to enter, “Well, at least I think those were the numbers…”

“So the first day isn’t normally very productive is it? I mean, considering the humans tend to stick together, the zombies don’t have much of a chance at first.” Jungkook commented as he followed behind Jin in the line.

“That’s true, but trust me, the zombies add up as the week goes. Faster than you think.” Namjoon replied quickly as he had Ms. Linda swipe his student ID and then broke up from the group to take a look at all of the food options available for him to choose from.

The group continued to discuss HVZ even further as they ate dinner together and even discussed their homework and classes as well. They only took half an hour to eat before leaving the cafeteria to head back home and do homework due to the long night ahead. Yoongi didn’t make it home until 6:00pm, and though he planned on taking a nap in his room, he couldn’t help but wonder why Taehyung and Jungkook were in the living room doing their homework instead of in their room like they usually were. It definitely wasn’t normal, so Yoongi ignored his urge to go to his bedroom to question the boys, “What are you guys doing out here? Don’t tell me your room is too messy to tolerate anymore…”

“Well… that too, but that’s not why we’re out here. Jimin hyung is Skyping his mom since it’s his birthday. Speaking of which, we’re still doing something for him tonight, right? I know the mission is going to last a while, but the plan is still on, right?” Jungkook asked hopefully as he set his homework to his side on the couch cushion and turned to give his attention to Yoongi.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re still throwing him a sort of party. We’ll just have to make sure we’re back by 10 to do so. I’m having pizza delivered to us around that time, so we’ll gather together after mission and then come back over so we can eat.” Yoongi replied as he released a sigh of exhaustion. He was really feeling worn out… He also couldn’t believe it was already October 13th; dates seemed to slip his mind…

“You worked more this afternoon, didn’t you? Did that girl call you again?” Taehyung asked curiously with a grin as he, too, placed his things beside him. It sounded nosy, but all of them bugged each other about personal things…

“Geez… I can’t even describe to you how irritating this is for me. I know you all think it’s funny, but I’m concerned about my job. She has called me saying she’s sick or injured about five times already for me to pick her up with the golf cart. Thankfully a couple of those times I was able to get someone else to do it… I mean, today, the fire alarm went off at Kettering, and we had to respond to it, you know? She was there and trying to talk to me while I was trying to communicate with my coworkers over the radio. I’ve gotta say, I’ve never experienced something like this before…” Yoongi groaned as he ran a hand through his blonde hair.

“Maybe you should have just kept your piano/rapping skills strictly to this household instead of bringing those skills to Presser’s practice rooms. I know it was convenient for you at the time, but when people overhear your talents, it’s hard to deny they exist. I mean, you do know that’s why she initially got into you, right?” Taehyung asked, having assumed beforehand that this was clear to him.

“Wait, what? She heard me in one of those practice rooms?” Yoongi groaned as he leaned against the nearby wall and raised his hand to his forehead into a facepalm. Honestly, this fact came as quite a relief to him, but it also should have been obvious to him… All she wanted to do was discuss music with him half the time; how did he not realize this sooner? “Tae… How did you know that’s when all of this started?”

“Well, I know her. Sort of. I talk to her now and then in one of my classes. I don’t remember how, but there was one day we just started talking about you, and she told me that’s when she first started getting into you I guess. She said your music was amazing.” Taehyung shrugged. He personally thought that this girl was pretty cool, but at the same time, he really didn’t know what to think about this whole issue with Yoongi.

Yoongi couldn’t deny how surprised he was to hear about all of this… Everything just seemed so much clearer to him, and now he was starting to understand how to handle this whole situation, “Alright… thanks Tae.” He stated as he turned to leave and walk all the way down the hall to the master bedroom. With a quiet knock, he opened the door and leaned on the door frame as he peeked in just for a moment, “Hey, Ji--- ahem, sorry, habit…” Yoongi remarked as he tried to recall what his real name was so that his mother wouldn’t be so confused, “Uh… Andy? Sorry I interrupted your call, but I just wanted to remind you that we leave in about an hour and a half, and you’ve got to get your homework done. So… yeah. Resume your conversation.” Once he received a nod from Jimin, he closed the door and headed to his own room to take a nap and relax.

“It’s nice of him to check in on you like that. Is that normal?” Mrs. Cimabue asked a few seconds after Yoongi had left. She was grateful that the other housemates seemed to be looking out for her son. It was important that he pay attention to his studies, even on his birthday.

“Uh… yeah, we all kind of look after each other with different things. I really like it here.” Jimin admitted with a sheepish grin. He knew that his mom was most interested in his studies than anything, but he also wanted to assure her that his social life was rather good as well. She did care about his social well-being, but she didn’t ask about it as much.

“I’m glad you have that there, Andy… I just hope you know that you can always talk to us as well if there’s anything you need. I do wish we could talk more…” His mother offered him a sad smile, hoping he understood that she didn’t think he contacted them enough. It was already October, and he only talked on the phone with her once a week, and this was the first Skype call.

Jimin took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to explain to her why this was… He knew if he brought it up she would be upset, but he just wanted the support that she insisted he already had… “I know, I know, it’s just… I’ve been really busy with school and… and… well there’s this project we’ve been working on for a class and there’s a lot of work we have to put into it… We have to condition ourselves for this and so a lot of our time is put towards---”

“Honey, please tell me this doesn’t involve this dancing nonsense again…” Mrs. Cimabue looked Jimin in the eyes as she awaited his answer, and she did not look pleased. Then again, neither did his father…

“Andy, if this really is about dancing, you and I are about to share a few choice words.” His father warned him, a glare practically staring straight into Jimin’s soul, even through the computer screen.

“But Dad, if you just listen---”

“Andy, we’ve told you over and over again not to keep messing with that d*** hobby of yours. If you want some kind of exercise to get into, go into something useful and manly like baseball or track or whatever you’ve got up there at that d*** school. I’m tired of hearing my own kid talk about some kind of sissy...” his dad paused as he waved his hands around a little to try and find the words he wanted to use “dance club or project or whatever the hell you’re getting yourself into. Don’t waste your time anymore on this, do you hear me?”

Jimin clenched his fists as he tried to figure out what to say next. He was seriously holding himself back at this point because he had so much he wanted to say. He hated every time they discussed this because it always ended the same. He could never get a word in to argue his point, and he could never practice dancing without being grounded or scolded for it. However, this time he was completely aware of the advantage he had, and he was going to use it. The thing is… he’d rather have his parents’ support on this. They mattered to him, and every word that came out of his parents’ mouth on the matter cut him like the edge of a sharpened blade… Unfortunately, he couldn’t help but release his anger towards the situation by snapping back at his father and raising his voice, “Yeah, I hear you Dad, but believe me, I’d rather not. I enjoy dancing, okay?! This is something that helps me rid myself of all of the stress my schoolwork puts on me. Dancing is a way for me to socialize with my friends and exercise at the same time! I don’t care if you see it as an activity I should be in or not! If I enjoy it, don’t you think I deserve the support of my own parents to continue doing something that I love? You have no idea how it feels for me to deal with this every time I bring it up, and---”

“Then why do you do it?! Why bring it up if you know we’re going to say the same thing every time? Do you feel good knowing that you disappoint us every time you disobey our wishes?” His dad was absolutely furious…

“Do you really think that I could possibly feel good about myself knowing that I’m doing something you don’t approve of? I haven’t brought it up for months because I knew you’d have this reaction, but I can’t help it! I want your support more than anything! Can’t you see that?” Jimin could feel the tears welling up in his eyes the longer he argued the point. He knew this was going nowhere… He knew that he was just spewing out words that were lost in thin air, but he at least had to try defending himself.

“Honey, you have our support in everything! It’s just that this whole dancing thing is---” Mrs. Cimabue began before being interrupted by Mr. Cimabue once more.

“It’s really getting out of hand. There is literally no use in dancing, no point at all! It’s complete and utter nonsense! You’re wasting your time on that crap when you could be using it for the important things in life. You could be investing in your future, and yet here you are fooling around! You’re 19 years old now, and I’d think you’d have matured enough by now to know what’s good for you.” He continued to scold him.

“You’re wrong! And I’m done arguing this with you because this conversation is what’s truly pointless.” Jimin finally silenced them by slamming his laptop shut and pushing it away as he simultaneously stood to his feet and threw himself backwards onto Jungkook’s bed. He pressed the palms of his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes tightly shut as he tried to stop the tears that had begun to flow down his burning cheeks. He was frustrated and hurt that his parents couldn’t see what he wished for them to see… This was the one wish he wanted to be granted for his birthday, and it was no closer to being answered than it was when he first became interested in dancing. It didn’t seem to matter how much time passed or how old he was… they were never going to change their opinion.

“Hey, don’t go in just yet…” Namjoon insisted in a whisper once he noticed Jungkook reaching for the handle of the master bedroom’s door. He and the others had overheard some of the argument because Jimin and his father had been yelling at each other, so everyone in the house had gone quiet as the tension rose in the household, “I think he needs a bit of time to cool down, so let’s just go back to the living room for now.” he gestured for Jungkook to make his way down the hall so that he could follow after.

Each of the housemates exchanged glances of uncertainty… All of them wanted to cheer Jimin up somehow, but they didn’t exactly want to impede upon his privacy. What upset them most was that it was his birthday, and he was far from happy… “We’ll give him about 15 minutes to calm down and then we can try and help him from there. I don’t know anyone who likes to talk when they’re mad…” Namjoon stated as he and Jungkook took a seat on the couch among the others.

“Jimin usually cheers up pretty well when we rough house with him or joke with him. Maybe we can do that?” Taehyung suggested, all too eager to do anything to make his friend happier.

“I mean, that’s helped when he’s sad, but I’ve never seen him this upset before. Now that I think of it, I’ve never seen any of you guys this upset. I mean, I’ve seen some of you get irritable and grumpy…” Yoongi commented as he contemplated over what should be done. He honestly agreed with Namjoon on the matter; Jimin needed time to cool off. So the group waited for time to pass until they could help their friend, too distracted by the situation at hand to even put any more thought to the homework they needed to be working on. However, after just 12 minutes, they heard the farthest door down the hall open and quickly pretended to be doing their schoolwork as Jimin passed through the living room to reach the kitchen and grab himself a cup of water.

The silence that Jimin was able to take in after he Skype call with his parents had both calmed him and saddened him… He was no longer so fired up, but his mind was overrun with his father’s words echoing in his head and an enormous amount of self-doubt. His self-esteem was definitely in the dumps… Rather than stay in his room and allow these thoughts to devour him, he knew he’d feel significantly better if he grabbed himself a cup of water and joined his friends’ company. Unfortunately he had become aware that they had overheard at least part of the argument. There was always someone in the group who asked him about his parents and how they were doing every phone call he had with them; all of them were pretty nosey about each other’s phone calls honestly. But this time… they didn’t say a word even when he returned to the living room with his water in hand. With a sigh, Jimin maneuvered around the back of the couch and seated himself on the carpet in the center of their attention so he could speak and get this over with…

“Guys, I know you heard some of my argument with my parents… Or at least some of you did.” Jimin stated as he looked around the room only to find that half of them couldn’t even look him in the eye, and those that could merely frowned and nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m not upset about it, but I do want to get a few things off my chest to sort of clear everything up. First of all, I’ve been into dancing, specifically hip hop, for a while now… My parents have never seen me practice, and part of me never wants them to. They think dancing is strictly a girl thing and see no potential in it being important to my future, so they don’t understand why I waste my time dabbling in it. They’re rather closed-minded in that aspect… Honestly, when I came to college I was going to give it up. I believed my parents were right, that if I practiced here I’d be ridiculed for it… But then Yoongi hyung suggested this whole project thing… and I just… I don’t know, I felt like I could finally show who I was. I no longer felt the burden of wondering if I could fit in completely. And then I discovered that Hoseok Hyung-- you are the best dancer I have ever met! I mean, I was completely blown away when we all had our first dance practice together. But before we even started dancing, we were practicing the song Yoongi hyung finished writing a few weeks ago, and I realized that I have just as much of a passion for singing as I do dancing. Maybe it’s because “No More Dream” really rings true for me… just as it does for many of us. The thing is… I know I shouldn’t have brought it up with my parents today. It was my fault that the argument started. I just thought that with it being a school project and with all the hard work we’re putting into this, they may have eased up a little I guess… I just want you all to know that I’m not giving up on what we’ve started, even if it’s against my parents’ wishes. I think I need to start following my own dream for once, just like you wrote in that song, Yoongi hyung.” Jimin finished with a small smile. He felt relieved to have all of that off his chest, but he gradually became embarrassed about all he had said and began to laugh a little as he covered his mouth and turned away, “Sorry, I’m not used to being so serious with you guys, this is really weird.”

The other housemates exchanged glances with one another as they wondered who would say something first… Jungkook, Namjoon, and Jin all remained quite serious about the matter at hand, but Hoseok, Taehyung, and Yoongi were all cracking smiles because of Jimin’s last statement. “It’s true we’ve not really held many serious conversations with each other, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I mean… if we are to help each other through these situations, we kind of need to have an understanding of one another.” Taehyung stated with a soft grin of sorts.

“For once, I agree with Taehyung. And also… I think it’s about time you follow your dream. I mean… if this project goes well, maybe we’ll even continue on with it. You never know what the future holds.” Yoongi commented as he watched Jin offer Jimin a pat to the shoulder.

“Thanks for telling us what was on your mind. It’s definitely never easy, but hopefully you feel better now that you’ve vented.” Jin stood to his feet and turned to all of them, “Now all of you need to get back to homework because we leave for mission in an hour. Unfortunately, that means you, too, Jimin. If you want to make your parents proud, proving that you can keep up with your studies while practicing will definitely help your situation.”

All of the boys groaned at Jin’s remark; the thought of doing homework now was absolutely dreadful, “Yes, MOM. Would you like us to do the dishes, too?” Hoseok joked as he stood to his feet and stretched.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea.” Jin placed an arm around Hoseok’s shoulders and began to walk him towards the kitchen, though Hoseok began to try and pull away from him when he realized he was actually considering it.

“It was a joke, it was a joke! I’ve got to go do my homework!” Hoseok cried out as he struggled to get out of Jin’s hold on him.

“Look at all of those dishes in the sink! Wow, they’re sitting there just for you. I’m so glad you offered to take care of them!” Jin laughed as he pulled Hoseok along.

“Hey, hey, hey! This isn’t fair! Most of those dishes aren't even mine!” Hoseok complained, hoping he could convince Jin to release him and get someone else to get the job done.

“Yeah, most of those are actually Taehyung’s! Jungkook and I have caught him throwing his dishes in there a few times.” Jimin informed Jin as he quickly ran away from Taehyung towards their room so he could escape the consequences of ratting him out.

“Alright, alright, I’ll take care of the dishes. Go do your homework.” Jin released Hoseok and gestured for him to leave and at that moment realized that Namjoon was already pulling up his sleeves and walking towards the sink, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked him, honestly worried for the dishes at this point, “Wait, how about I wash the glass dishes, and you can wash everything else?” he suggested.

Namjoon rolled his eyes as he began to separate the dishes as asked, “I was planning on being careful. I don’t always break things…” he commented, though in his mind he couldn’t think of many instances in which he didn’t break something.

“I didn’t say anything about you breaking anything. I just wanted to be safe.” Jin laughed a little as he began to assist him in washing. The two of them didn’t really have all that much homework and they had a little planning to discuss as well, so washing dishes was a good way to cover that up…

When the clock struck 6:15 p.m., all seven of them left the house to head for the safe zone located between Draper and Jelkyl Drama Center, though it would not be declared safe until 6:30. Jin insisted that the group practice their Korean vocabulary until 7:30, which was when their mission debriefing would begin.

Finally it was time for mission and the real zombie war to begin! Even though there were only 5 zombies at the start of this mission, they knew they couldn’t simply give up their guard, especially when the original zombie was still unknown. The humans’ mission was to search for missing parts that were spread across campus, which were necessary to obtain in order for the head scientist to proceed with the research for the zombie cure. The humans separated into teams and were warned to be completely aware of all of their surroundings and constantly stun check their teammates in case one of them was the original zombie. Amazingly enough, the original zombie was never seen throughout the entire mission, which simply wasn’t normal… Usually people would know who the original zombie was by the end of the first day, but it seemed as though this original zombie was keeping his or her identity a secret. Thankfully for the humans, the zombies were not able to win anyone over to their side simply because five zombies against 66 humans basically guaranteed failure for the zombies.

As mission came to an end at 10:04, all of the humans dispersed to return to their dorm rooms or their houses, and as they all broke apart to go their separate ways, Yoongi reached over and placed a hand on Namjoon’s back to push him into one spot and then noticed the others weren’t really paying attention either, so he also began to gather Jimin, Taehyung, and Hoseok by either grabbing their upper arms or pushing their backs to where they were in a circle. “Guy, come here. Gather in a circle for just a sec, okay?” Because Jungkook and Jin were already positioned in the circle when they realized that’s what he wanted, he assumed he had grabbed their attention as well and cleared his throat, “Alright, so we all know today is a really special day for two reasons: one, it's our Jimin's birthday today, and we're glad he's with us. The house definitely would not be complete without him, and I’m actually glad that we’ve kind of bonded a little bit earlier… Even though it was over something a little personal, I think our Jimin handled himself very well, and I think he’s definitely showing that step-up in age… Yeah. ahem… Mushy stuff.” he scrunched up his nose to show his disgust in the matter. Well… his facade of disgust. “Second, this is our first night for mission together doing something as crazy as humans vs. zombies. I mean… I can’t believe I chose to do something this active on purpose. We all know Jin hyung is very convincing. Still, I just wanted to get my feelings out there and well…” he took a deep sigh and pursed his lips, not realizing that Jungkook and Jin had suddenly decided to sneak off, “This is a very special moment indeed. You guys... are now my zombie brethren.” A sly grin immediately found its way to his lips, and he suddenly broke out into a small dance of sorts, spinning around and swinging his arms this way and that as he cheered silently.

The four remaining housemates stared at Yoongi, completely dumbstruck. How did he…? When…? What? “Wait, Yoongi hyung, you’re… YOU’RE the original zombie?” Taehyung asked in disbelief.

Yoongi was about to answer the question once he calmed himself down, but when his eyes scanned the group, he came to the realization that Jin and Jungkook were nowhere to be found and then it hit him… HE DIDN’T TAG THEM. Quickly, his eyes looked to the nearby crosswalk and watched as they began running across, waving to the group as they did so, “HYUNG!!!! JUNGKOOK!!!!! GET BACK HERE!!!” Yoongi shouted, though he didn’t even bother running. They were already across the street, and he’d have to wait for the stupid light… “Well… I guess everyone knows who the original zombie is now… It was fun while it lasted, but man was I tired of being sneaky with everything. You know I had to force myself to get up earlier?” he shook his head as he gestured for them to follow him to the crosswalk, “You guys are coming, aren’t you?”

“... You’re not really. Right? You’re just joking. I mean… you were there in class when the website updated and told us another zombie had been found.” Jimin commented skeptically.

“Yeah, that’s right. I made it that way so you would think I wasn’t it. I told you I was working when I was actually hunting humans. Sorry for lying, but I had to play the original zombie out perfectly. You only get one shot.” Yoongi shrugged with a smirk. His poor housemates were so unsuspecting…

“No way… Prove it. Go ahead and register us as zombies.” Namjoon insisted as he handed him his ID so he could put in the number onto the website.

“You mean, you don’t trust me? Gee, that hurts Namjoon.” Yoongi gave him a fake pout as he took the ID card and logged onto the HVZ website on his phone. He then entered in the number and within seconds, the HVZ site declared Namjoon as a zombie, tagged by the original zombie.

“... Amazing. How did you act so well, hyung? You’re a natural!” Hoseok exclaimed, obviously impressed by Yoongi’s tactics. “It’s just too bad that Jin hyung and Jungkook got away. At least they live with us; they’ll be pretty easy to catch.”

“You know something, Hoseok? You literally illuminate positivity. You reek of it. I mean, you almost convince me that there’s hope for us to catch them without a problem…” Namjoon remarked with a shake of his head.

“But…?” Hoseok knew there was something more to his statement.

“You forget that Jungkook is on the track team and Jin has been playing this game for two years already. They have the advantage.” Namjoon replied with a sigh,“Of all people that you forgot to tag… Why them? Better question, why did you tag me first?” he seemed to be a little bitter…

“I thought I tagged them because they were already in the circle, okay? I got a little excited when it was finally time for me to speak, so I messed up. Anyway, I chose you first because you were right next to me. Less work for me to do.” Yoongi replied as they finally began their walk back to the house.

            Upon their arrival to the house, Jungkook and Jin were already at the dining room table with their HVZ gear put away in their rooms, and as the housemates gathered into the kitchen, the two of them couldn’t help but laugh as the rest of them complained. “You guys . How could you just walk away like that without saying anything?” Namjoon pulled out one of the dining room chairs and sat himself down at the table to join them as Yoongi received a phone call and went outside once more.

            “You guys were already zombies by the time we realized Yoongi was setting a trap. Personally I noticed he was being strangely physical. Yoongi doesn’t usually go out of his way to grab the attention of four people in a row by grabbing their arm or placing a hand on their back. So I thought it was suspicious…” Jin replied before turning his head to look at Jungkook, “What about you? When did you notice that he was the original zombie?”

            “Well… I thought he was actually pretty convincing until he started talking and rambling on about things he wouldn’t normally talk about. He doesn’t discuss his feelings so openly, so it was just weird…” Jungkook laughed.

            “I wasn’t even paying attention… I was so tired after the mission that I forgot that we still had to keep an eye out all the way home.” Taehyung sighed, “I guess we’re zombies now though… Come on, let’s go put our stuff up.” he suggested to Jimin. As soon as the two of them were seen entering the master bedroom, the rest of them quickly began shuffling around to grab their presents from the kitchen cabinets, having put them in there before the mission for quick access. Yoongi soon came inside once he was signaled through the window, and he entered through the front door with two Papa John’s pizza boxes carried in his arms. As Jin hung up a happy birthday sign over the kitchen entrance, Yoongi opened the top pizza box and quickly stuck a candle into each of the 8 slices as best he could and took out his lighter to ignite a flame on every candle.

            “Yoongi, I told you not to put the candles on the pizza; it’s tacky!” Jin complained in a whisper as he continued to fix the sign.

            “So what if it’s tacky? He needs candles.” Yoongi disagreed, glancing over at Hoseok and Jungkook to make sure they were setting up the presents correctly. Honestly, they could set them on the floor and he himself would probably be satisfied. Jin was a little more particular about things.

            Jin shook his head as he finished with the sign and checked to make sure everything was in order, and just when he was about to get the boys himself, he heard them coming down the hallway with Jimin in the lead.

“I’m telling you, it really does smell like pi… zza?” Jimin had been arguing with Tae about the smell up until now but when he walked into the kitchen he didn’t expect to find that somehow everything had changed in just a matter of minutes. He had to admit, they worked fast!        “Well… it smells like pizza… and it looks like pizza. But in reality, it’s---”

“It’s pizza.” Yoongi interrupted Taehyung before he got too carried away.

“Alright, alright, let’s sing so he can blow the candles out before they fall over.” Jin laughed as he counted “1,2,3” and they all began to sing happy birthday together for Jimin. As the song continued, Jungkook maneuvered around his housemates to reach Jimin and placed an Avengers-themed party hat upon his head just in time for the end of the song. Once Jimin thought of a wish, he quickly blew out the candles on the pizza, laughing once it was over with, “That is definitely the first time I’ve ever made a birthday wish on a pizza.”

“Blame Jin. Your cake is in the fridge because Jin thought it was too late for cake.” Hoseok informed him, finding it humorous as well. “We were going to throw the party earlier, but with everything that was going on, we decided it was best to do it after mission.” he said as he handed a present to him.

Jimin was rather amused by the fact that Jin wouldn’t allow him to eat a birthday cake they had bought specifically for the party simply because it was too late. Jin really was like a mother, looking out for them in so many ways. He was positive that with all of the sugar he would have in his system after eating a slice of cake, he would be up significantly later than he would otherwise. When he took hold of the present Hoseok gave him, he cautiously tore the wrapping paper off due to the others’ experiences with their first gifts, and as soon as he saw what it was, he immediately began to laugh and practically hugged the nearby wall at its corner, “What is this?!” he was so embarrassed that they actually bought him an article of clothing that he had to question wearing in public.

“What do you mean ‘what is this’?” Hoseok laughed as he approached Jimin and took hold of the shirt he held in his hand. He unfolded it fully and held it up to his own torso to show Jimin what it was supposed to look like, “It’s a six pack. For you to wear over your six pack. You know, so that you have a twelve pack.” he joked, “But promise me that whenever we decide to go to the gym together, I get to borrow this shirt so that I can look just as good as you while I’m working out.” The entire household erupted in laughter at Hoseok’s explanation and request while poor Jimin completely lost it as he slid down the wall into a squat and hid his face in his hands to hide the redness in his cheeks.

            “Wait, he’s MY workout partner. Why would you be the one to wear the shirt?” Jungkook questioned him with a laugh as he stood from his seat at the table and approached Jimin, “You okay, hyung? Here, I’ll help you.” he said as he wrapped his arms around Jimin’s upper torso and lifted him up as much as he could. However, Jimin went completely limp on him and allowed him to just drag him back to the table. He tried to get Jimin to stand up on his own, but he pretended that he was unable to do so and just lay on the ground instead. “You see what you guys did? You killed him!”

            “You can’t blame us. This was a team effort, you included.” Yoongi commented defensively as he gently kicked Jimin’s side to grab his attention, “Come on, get up and open more presents; this zombie has had a tiring day…” he complained with a yawn.

            “I’d hate to take away your opportunity sleep after what you did to us tonight…” Jimin remarked sarcastically as he stood up and sat himself down in Jungkook’s chair beside Jin.

            “If you take away from my sleep on purpose, you will truly regret it.” Yoongi replied with a glare as a simple warning to his housemate. No way was he going to tolerate losing sleep on anyone’s account, unless it was absolutely necessary.

            “Here, open this.” Taehyung insisted as he handed him a dark blue, medium-sized gift bag with white tissue paper hiding the gifts inside.

            Jimin couldn’t deny that Yoongi was actually very intimidating when he wanted to be, but he still enjoyed messing with him. He was very aware that Yoongi’s outward personality was a cover for his soft interior, and he just loved teasing him for just about anything whenever he had the opportunity. His attention was soon taken by Taehyung and the gift and practically pushed into his hands, and he eagerly pulled out the tissue paper followed by a navy blue Captain America Shield Tank and matching Captain America ankle socks. Again, he was laughing, “You guys are seriously making me look like a nerd, you know that right?”

            “Jimin, you ARE a nerd. We’re just helping you show everyone what you truly are.” Jin joked as he picked up another present from beneath the table and offered it up to Jimin, “Okay, this is the last one… We all thought that these would be especially fitting for you, and well… we thought you could use a good pair…” he stated as he urged Jimin to open the Nike box, only to reveal a pair of men’s Timberland premium waterproof boots, “They were a little expensive, but we all chipped in because you’ve been complaining about how much it rains in Berea. Not to mention, you’ve gotten sick a couple of times probably because your socks always get wet and your feet stay cold all day. Of course, you could always learn not to walk in the puddles…” he joked towards the end.

            “Wow… thanks guys. Seriously, these are some nice boots. I really like them… Exactly how expensive were they?” Jimin asked as he lifted the left boot out of the box to examine it. He was amazed by how authentic the boot looked and felt, and he honestly couldn’t wait to wear them the next day to try them out. Surprisingly, they were rather fashionable for a pair of tan boots!

            “Uh… there’s a reason people remove tags from presents. Just do us a favor and use them well.” Namjoon replied jokingly as they all stood by and watched Jimin’s expression. They were all relieved that he liked the presents, and after the argument with his parents, they couldn’t be happier to provide him with at least some joy on his birthday.

After opening the presents, the boys ate their late dinner and stayed up for another hour or so before heading to bed to catch some rest for the following school day. However, now that most of the household consisted of zombies, Jungkook shortened his rest by waking up an hour earlier than usual and speeding up his morning routine so he could avoid as many zombie encounters as possible. He wanted to survive throughout the week, even if the paranoia of being attacked by a zombie was constantly bothering him. Throughout the day, the zombies tagged a total of 17 humans, raising the total zombie count to 27 and lowering the number of humans to 44 by the end of the second mission. However, Jungkook and Jin were still continuing into their third day as humans. The very beginning of that third day only revealed that this day would be harder to live through than the last.

The five zombies of the household purposely made no attempt to catch Jungkook the previous morning to see what time he would get up to escape their grasps, so now that they had a general time frame of when he would be leaving the house, they prepared an ambush outside the front door by 5:45 a.m. while Jungkook was taking his shower.

Jungkook woke himself up at 5:30, took a shower and clothed himself, ate a light breakfast, and then finally slipped on his shoes and backpack. Once he tightened his white bandana around his left arm to signify his human status, he returned to his room to grab his two nerf guns and then gathered several duck-taped sock balls into his backpack. He was going to leave the room, but he paused when he realized… he didn’t hear his roommates. Hoseok and Jimin weren’t exactly loud sleepers, but he could usually at least hear Hoseok’s breathing, if ever so slightly… His eyes scanned the body-shaped lumps on the beds, but something seemed off. Quietly, he approached the bunk bed and reached over to pull back Jimin’s blanket only to find a pillow underneath instead! Classic… With a smirk, Jungkook unlocked the nearby window and opened it as silently as possible. He stuck his head out and turned his head left and right to make sure all was clear. Without a second thought, he carefully removed his bag from its spot on his back and lowered it outside the window to the ground and soon enough, he lowered himself down to the ground, slipped his arms through the shoulder straps of his backpack once more, and then began his quest to the Draper building across campus. Obviously, he was trying his best to stay out of sight, but part of him really wanted to come out of the shadows at some point to let the guys know that he was safe away from their reach…

The entire time Jungkook was getting ready and doing whatever he needed to get done in the house, the zombies outside, marked by red bandanas around their heads and left arms, were struggling a little…

“Psst! Any sign of him?” Jimin asked in a whisper, his back firmly pressed against the porch wall directly beside the three stairs steps down to the grass. It was currently a little dark outside, but the lights from inside the living room of the house shined bright enough to illuminate some of their faces.

“I’ve not seen anything… Why don’t you take a look for yourself through the window?” Namjoon asked from his spot against the wall of the house beside the porch itself.

“I would, but Yoongi hyung is sleeping… I don’t think he’s meant to be out this early.” Jimin replied, looking to his left to check and see if Yoongi was still fast asleep. Sure enough, his eyes were tightly shut as his head lay loosely on Jimin’s shoulder.

“What do you mean he’s asleep? He can’t be sleeping at a time like this! Jungkook will be out any minute now…” Taehyung stated as he crept across the porch and down the steps until he squatted in front of Yoongi. “Should we wake him? I think he’d be pretty upset for getting up so early in the first place only to find out that we didn’t catch him and didn’t wake him up to help, don’t you think?”

“I agree. He hates wasting energy…” Hoseok said as he left from his spot on the opposite side of the porch from Namjoon and sat himself on the other side of Yoongi. He reached out and began to wave his fingers back and forth across the bottom of his chin, his fingertips just barely touching him as he spoke in a sing-song way, “nyu, nyu, nyu, nyu, nyu, nyu, nyu, nyu, etc.” He then began to pinch the skin underneath his chin as he continued on, but Yoongi’s eyes opened quickly into an ominous glare that immediately made Hoseok retreat a couple of feet as he tried to stifle his laughter so as not to give away their position.

“What the hell are you doing..?” Yoongi mumbled grumpily, still refusing to remove his head from Jimin’s shoulder. He wanted more sleep…

“We thought we should wake you up so that you didn’t miss out on the action. Jungkook will be coming out any minute now, so we didn’t want you to have woken up in vain…” Taehyung replied before standing to return to his spot on the porch where he hid in the shadow of a chair near the door.

“Why did I even let you guys talk me into this…” Yoongi complained as he finally forced himself to sit up and then resumed his glare in Hoseok’s direction, “Wake me up like that again, I will kill you.”  

            Namjoon laughed quietly, “You better be careful, Hoseok.” he as his eyes shifted towards the sidewalk several yards away when he spotted a figure waving at them in the corner of his eye. Because this person was so far away and the sun was just barely peaking over the horizon, he had to squint to see who it was, and as soon as he realized it, his jaw dropped, “How… How did he..? Guys, that’s Jungkook!” he pointed out just as Jungkook gave a whistle with his thumb and index finger and waved again to get their attention. He was still walking backwards as he grabbed their attention, just to make sure they weren’t too close to him.

            “Whoa, what?! Where?! I’m gonna kill him. That boy is---” Yoongi stood to his feet, ready to catch him, but he paused when he realized how far away he was, “Just kidding. I’m going back to bed.” he patted Jimin’s shoulder as he left his side and made his way back inside the house. He wasn’t about to chase Jungkook down, especially when he had a head start that he didn’t need.

            “But, hyung, we could all catch him together. Come back!” Hoseok insisted as he followed Yoongi to try and convince him otherwise.

            “No, he’s right. Jungkook’s got the advantage already; we don’t have a chance of catching him. Let’s try again later.” Namjoon replied as he and the others hesitantly followed them inside. This was a serious let down for them, considering they woke up really early just to catch him.

            “Dang it… he must have snuck out the bedroom window. But how did he know we were out there?” Taehyung frowned as he closed the front door behind him. “I guess he probably realized that we weren’t in our beds. Maybe our bodies looked too fat with the pillows.” he joked slightly.

            “You know, I almost feel bad for you guys… Still, I don’t think you’ll catch me or Jungkook today.” Jin stated from his seat at the breakfast bar as he took a sip of the milk he held in his hand. He seemed to be rather proud of their maknae for making such a slick escape.

            Sure enough, just as Jin had predicted, he and Jungkook survived through the day without being tagged by any of the zombies that were threatening to take over the human race. However, many attempts were made to catch the two of them… When Jin was leaving his first class in Draper, two zombies waited outside one of the exits while three waited at the other, knowing fully well that Jin had to get to class somehow. Unfortunately for them, Jin was fully aware of their plan thanks to Jungkook’s text, and he used the back exit to avoid the ambush and ambush them instead. After all, he couldn’t get across campus without stunning all of them first; otherwise, he’d be outmatched in a chase. Jimin and Hoseok had also made an attempt to tag Jungkook, running across campus towards the crosswalk that led to the Alumni Building and Fairchild Hall. Yoongi was driving his Public Safety Golf Cart at the time, and though he was unable to participate as a zombie while on the job, he cut corners and blocked Jungkook a few times to slow him down. Again, they failed because Jungkook gave up on running and finally turned around to shoot them with his nerf guns… Yoongi was disappointed.

            Though the zombies’ efforts to catch Jin and Jungkook had failed, they succeeded to finally exceed the human population (of those playing the game of course) with the zombie count rising to 43 and the human count declining to 28 by the end of the third mission. It just so happens that the HVZ players also unintentionally interrupted the astronomy class as they were stargazing on the alumni field; how were they supposed to know that there was a class down there?! Needless to say, the players were reprimanded by the astronomy teacher for their actions and had to clear the area, which gave Jin and Jungkook this opportunity as a distraction in order for them to run to the science building without any problem at all. They had planned to stay the night in the building earlier in the day after their housemates’ attempted an ambush, but the astronomy teacher’s opposition to their presence at alumni field towards the end of mission gave them a headstart to the building that the zombies didn’t expect. Of course, no one knew that Jungkook and Jin would be staying the night there, and for an entire hour their housemates still expected them to return. When they realized the house should finally be locked up for the night, Taehyung took the initiative to text Jin first while the others gathered around him at the couch for the response.

 

Kim Taehyung: You guys are coming back right? We’re getting ready to lock up

 

Jin Hyung: Go ahead and lock the doors. Don’t forget to make sure the windows are shut and locked as well. Jungkook and I are staying out.

 

“Ahhh those cowards!” Hoseok commented with a laugh and a groan to follow it, completely appalled that their friends were staying somewhere that remained to be a mystery to them, “They’re not coming back because they know we’d catch them tomorrow; that’s what it is. Tell him that we’re worried and that they shouldn’t be fooling around like this. I mean, where could they possibly be staying right now? Jungkook wouldn’t sleep well at some stranger’s place if Jin took him to a friend’s house.” he pointed out with concern, though he also just really wanted to tag them…

 

Kim Taehyung: Where are you staying? We’re worried, come back home

 

Jin Hyung: Don’t worry. We’re both comfortable here, and the doors are also secure.

 

“Here, give me the phone.” Yoongi insisted as he gestured for Taehyung to hand it to him. Once it was placed in his hand, he responded to Jin’s message himself.

Kim Taehyung: Listen, just come back home. Namjoon is hungry again and threatening to cook while Jimin is eating his birthday cake with Hoseok. This house is going to be torn apart if you don’t come back.

 

Jin Hyung: Yoongi, give yourself a little credit. I have faith that you can take care of the house while I’m gone, and Namjoon can, too, as long as he doesn’t touch anything. Just make sure the kitchen is off limits. If Hoseok and Jimin eat that cake at this hour, they’re going to stay up too late and probably keep Taehyung up, and all of them will be exhausted in the morning.

 

“... Am I the only one who thinks Hyung sounds like a mother a lot of the time?” Jimin asked as he read the message from over Yoongi’s shoulder and smiled a bit at the response, “He’s always telling us to do what’s right and bossing us around.”

“He really does. I’m a little offended that he said I shouldn’t touch anything though; I’m not THAT bad, seriously…” Namjoon complained with a shake of his head.

The others glanced at Namjoon for a moment to express their disagreement before their attention was pulled back to Taehyung’s phone when it chimed.

 

Jin Hyung: If they’re exhausted tomorrow, I’m afraid they won’t give us a challenge, so if I were you, I’d make sure they’re not eating that cake.

 

            “I’ve got an idea… text Jungkook. Tell him that he left some of his clothes in the dryer and that we’re having to take them out so we can do our laundry.” Jimin suggested with a grin. He was sure that the others agreed with him that Jin wasn’t going to be convinced by anything to return home, so it was time to try something else.

            “What good will that do? I’d think he’d be grateful for someone taking care of his laundry for him…” Namjoon grimaced at the idea. He wasn’t Jungkook’s roommate and was honestly never interested in doing other people’s laundry, so he wasn’t aware of Jungkook’s strange dislike for other’s touching his clothes. Even Hoseok and Yoongi seemed to be confused.

            “Most people would probably agree with you, but Jungkook is kind of unique… Jin offered to do our laundry once when he saw our room; I’ll admit, it was kind of a mess, but anyway, Jimin and I agreed to it only because Jin hyung was switching his clothes to the dryer and it wasn’t too much of a hassle to refill it, you know? Jungkook just immediately started picking up his clothes and set them in a pile by the door, saying he’d take care of it as soon as our clothes were done. He insisted that he didn’t like others doing his laundry and touching his clothes.” Taehyung explained to them in a matter-of-fact way.

            Yoongi grinned and promptly handed Taehyung his phone back and pulled out his own, selecting Jungkook’s contact as he questioned Hoseok, “Does Jungkook actually have clothes in the dryer? It wouldn’t be believable if he didn’t, even if he’s forgetful at times. If he doesn’t have clothes in the machines, does he have dirty clothes in the room? We can always threaten to do his laundry.”

            “Yeah, he’s got clothes that need to be done. He’s got a hamper that’s half-full, and a few are on the ground next to the hamper. He’s even got some shirts hanging off the foot of his bed.” Jimin mused with a laugh; he didn’t quite understand the youngest member of their household in this particular matter.

            Yoongi couldn’t help but to laugh with the others about Jungkook’s strange qualities as he finally texted the maknae in hopes that he would believe them.

           

Mint Yoongi Hyung: I’m going to make this plain and simple. If you don’t come back home tonight, we’re putting your clothes in the wash.

 

            Jungkook sat on the dark green, sunken-in couch in the chemistry TA lounge with Jin sitting beside him. Until now, he and Jin had been amused by the texts Jin was receiving, but after waiting several moments for Jin to receive a notification, his own phone’s text alarm went off instead. “Hey, Yoongi hyung texted me.” he informed Jin as he slid his thumb across the touch screen, entered his four-number password, and then opened the message. He didn’t have the time to read it by the time Jin began questioning him.

            Jin leaned over to see what Yoongi had to say, but instead of reading the message instantly, his eyes fell upon Yoong’s contact name. With a small sputter of laughter, he pointed at the name with his index finger, “Jungkookie, did you misspell Min Yoongi’s name?”

            A grin crawled across Jungkook’s lips as he shook his head, slightly embarrassed that one of his hyung’s titles on his phone was exposed, “No, it’s um… it’s intentional. At first I had him listed as ‘Lazy Hyung’. It wasn’t meant to be rude or anything, but I sort of admire his ability to get things done with the incentive to be lazy afterwards… I’m not sure I know how to explain it. But I changed it because we were learning our Korean names, and I thought I should incorporate them into my contacts. When I adjusted more to the names, I started editing them again. I thought ‘how can I make his title personal without changing it too much’? So I changed it to Mint Yoongi Hyung because… I had never had mint ice cream until Tae hyung bought me some at the Dairy Queen not too far away. The first spoonful of the ice cream, I thought ‘wow, this is powerful…’ The mint in the ice cream was really strong, and at first I didn’t like it. Of course, I kept eating it because I didn’t want to waste it, especially since he bought it for me. So the more I continued to eat it, the more I came to the decision that I really just didn’t know how to feel about it. I liked it, but it was still weird.” he explained, ignoring the text Yoongi had sent him as he did so, “Anyway, to me Yoongi reminds me of that ice cream. The first time I met him he chased me down, took me under his wing, and defended me against Paul, all in one day. He was intimidating, but he was also strong in my eyes… I was afraid of him for the longest time, you know? And the longer I’ve stayed at the house with all of you, the more I’ve come to enjoy all of your company. Yoongi hyung can just be a little hard to read at times… Honestly, all of you are though. I’m still adjusting to social life.” he laughed a little.

            Jungkook’s lengthy explanation came as a surprise to Jin, mainly because Jungkook hardly spoke that much at once. Jin had noticed that the maknae was growing socially throughout the semester thus far, and he was more than happy to be able to witness such a drastic change in his personality. Of course, Jin was laughing after Jungkook finished his piece simply because he compared Yoongi to mint ice cream, “I have never heard anyone compare another person to an ice cream flavor… I wouldn’t suggest showing that to Yoongi… Oh, speaking of, you should probably read what he sent you.”

“Oh, right…” Jungkook had been so distracted by telling the story being Yoongi’s contact name that he had forgotten to even read the text he had been sent. However, as soon as he had finished reading it, his eyes went wide, and his face became completely serious. “He’s… He’s saying that if I don’t come back he’s going to do my laundry… You don’t think he’d actually do it, do you?” He actually sounded panicked...

Jin sighed and ran a hand through his hair as though brushing it back would help his head feel a little lighter, “Unfortunately, you can never really tell if Yoongi is bluffing or not with these sorts of things… He can easily do it, but whether or not he will is what I’m unsure of… “But do you really want to risk returning to the house and getting tagged just to spare your clothes from being washed by someone else?”

Jungkook took a few moments to ponder Jin’s question… Clothes or human status? He truly preferred not to give up either, but it didn’t seem as though it was an option not to… Why did it matter so much to him that his clothes were left untouched? Honestly, deep down he still felt as though something would happen to his clothing if he wasn’t the one handling the garments… It’s not that he didn’t trust the others, but it’s more of the fact that his past experience made him wary about his personal possessions. “I don’t… I don’t know. I really don’t want them doing anything with…” he trailed off when an idea began to grow in his mind, “Wait… in the game briefing, didn’t it say something about challenging the zombies?”

“Uh… A Thunderdome, you mean?” Jin asked, perplexed as to what had caused the change of his demeanor, “Wait… You’re not actually considering doing one of those, are you? People don’t usually make it out of those alive… Everyone I know who has chosen to be the victim of a Thunderdome has chosen to do so because they want to be zombies. Don’t you want to stay human?”

A smirk fell across Jungkook’s face as he finally texted Yoongi back and then replied to the eldest, “I never said I didn’t want to remain as a human. I have no intention of giving myself up, and I’m confident that by the end of it, I won’t get tagged. I can run, hyung. Have faith in me, okay?”

 

Maknae: Can we compromise? If you don’t touch my clothes, I’ll do a Thunderdome.

 

Yoongi stared at his cellphone after he finally received a reply… This was the last response he had expected from Jungkook. Until now, he had been playing the game rather safely and always stayed at Jin’s side as he counted on his experience to help guide him as a beginning player. It was true that he became more and more independent in the game as the week continued, but he definitely didn’t see this coming, “Guys… Jungkook texted. He wants us to leave his clothes alone in exchange for a Thunderdome.”

            “What?!” Rhodon leaned over Yoongi’s shoulder to read the message to see for himself, “Is he crazy?? Returning home would basically give him the same result! Doing a Thunderdome is actually even more risky! At least there are only five of us instead of the usual 20 zombies that tend to appear when you’re a good enough player.” he remarked, completely dumbfounded by the choice he was making, “Man… He must really love his clothes.”

            “Of course he does. I helped pick them out, who wouldn’t love them?” Taehyung responded seriously, though he released a small laugh to show that he was only joking on the matter, “If he wants the Thunderdome, let’s do it. I kind of want to see what it’s like anyway.”

            “I agree. If it’s his decision, then let’s just do it. I don’t think we can say no to free prey, so to speak.” Namjoon pointed out with a grin.

            “... Did you really just call Jungkook prey? I think I might have nightmares of you eating his brains now, thank you.” Jimin grimaced with a shake of his head.

            “Ohhh…. No, that’s just gross! Jimin! Why’d you have to bring that image into all of our minds?!” Rhodon complained as he pushed Jimin away from him with disgust.

            “Someone’s played too many zombie games…” Yoongi muttered with a small smirk as he responded to Jungkook.

 

Mint Yoongi: Alright. When do you want to do the Thunderdome?

 

            “Are you really doing it? As soon as you tell him the time, you know the news will spread to the other zombies, and you won’t be able to back out of it, right?” Jin wanted to make sure that Jungkook knew what he was getting to, but it seemed as though he had his mind made up. With a heavy sigh, he nudged the maknae with his elbow to grab his attention, “Alright… if you’re doing this, I’ll do it with you. I’ve actually always wanted to try a Thunderdome anyways.”

            Jungkook’s facial expression lit up, and he seemed to be absolutely excited that Jin would be participating with him, “Seriously?! Are you sure? I mean, I was kind of ready to do this myself, you don’t have to give yourself up just for my sake.”

            “I’m positive. I’ll do it. At least we can say we went down fighting, you know?” Jin assured him with a laugh as he watched Jungkook message Yoongi back. He honestly wasn’t sure if Jungkook could make it out of the Thunderdome alive, so perhaps with his help, it’d be possible for both of them to defeat all of those zombies…

 

Maknae: We can do it at 4:30 on alumni field, right after convocation. Jin hyung said he will be doing the Thunderdome with me.

 

            “Hyung said that? Man, I should have played the laundry card a long time ago. We’re going to convert both of them into zombies just by leaving Jungkook’s laundry alone…” Yoongi remarked, amazed by their luck.

            “This is crazy. Jin hyung probably just felt bad for him. Anyway, make the deal. I’ll start sharing it to other zombies so we can make sure they’re tagged.” Taehyung stated as he his phone and began to message a few of his friends. This Thunderdome was on!

 

------------

 

            The following day, Jungkook was in quite the anxious state… he wasn’t feeling as confident about this Thunderdome as he had been the night before, and he was beginning to regret the decision, that is until he reminded himself of why he chose it. Either way, all he had to do was outrun however many zombies showed up to the event. As it neared 4:30pm, Jimin, Hoseok, Yoongi, Namjoon, and Taehyung all awaited the arrival of the two Thunderdome challengers as well as any more zombies that wanted to come to their aid. By the time Jungkook and Jin had arrived, 16 zombies had shown up, including the five household members. Jin and Jungkook were fully equipped with three to four nerf guns, ammo in their athletic shorts’ pockets, as well as sock balls they had duct taped to a strap across their chest; Jin had actually lent most of this ‘weaponry’ to Jungkook… When their watches struck 4:30, all of them agreed to go ahead and start, and finally the game begun.

            As soon as four of the zombies began chasing after them, Jin and Jungkook were prepared to fire, aiming at their attackers as they simultaneously ran away from them. They had discussed earlier that the best tactic was to stick together and keep an eye out for one another, and so far that plan was working. The issue they had to work around was the fact that they would run out of ammo sooner or later, so they had to be careful not to use it all at once. The two of them spend several minutes running away from these four and tagging each one while trying to avoid any sneak attacks from the other zombies. Every time another one would come close, Jin would warn Jungkook or vise versa. These zombies were definitely trying to distract them in an attempt to make a surprise attack, but that plan was not working in their favor. Jin was a veteran player, and since he taught Jungkook, neither of them were about to fall for that trap. As the thunderdome continued on, Jin was experiencing fatigue; he wasn’t a track runner like Jungkook was, so running around and dodging people for minutes on end was a complete hassle for him. Thankfully the adrenaline in his system was keeping him going, and the zombies were beginning to get worn out as well. At least those who had bothered chasing them…

            Yoongi and Namjoon had been standing by watching the other zombies either intimidate or run at Jungkook and Jin, and both of them were coming to the same conclusion, “This isn’t working… Simply running at them one by one won’t catch them. Jin may be losing steam, but with his skills and Jungkook staying by him like that, we don’t have a chance.” Yoongi commented to Namjoon.

            Taehyung soon joined the two of them, breathing heavily with his hands placed on his hips, his red bandana still tied around his forehead signaling that he had not been stunned, “I really thought we’d be able to just chase them until they got worn out… They’re really good at this though.” he breathed as he wiped beads of sweat from his face.

            “Yeah, this is tough…” Namjoon agreed, noticing that the zombies were beginning to slow down, “Okay… I’ve got an idea. We need to separate into groups of five and three. We only have eight of us left, and I think we want to definitely tag Jin. If Jin becomes a zombie, Jungkook won’t be as much of a threat as a human. So… with our different groups we’re going to charge at them in a single file line, head on. What do you guys think?”

            “I think that anything is better than what we’re doing now. “ Taehyung laughed a bit as he finally regained his breath and looked to Yoongi, “We should probably notify the others before more of them get stunned.”

            With a nod in response, Yoongi began to walk towards other zombies that were standing by unstunned while Namjoon and Taehyung ran to tell their team members. Jungkook and Jin had noticed the three of them speaking to the other zombies as they took a small break with the opportunity at hand. Of course, they were concerned about what would be next, but it was best to take a few moments to catch their breath and collect what bullets they could. However, without any warning the zombies began to charge at them, scattered at first. Jungkook and Jin prepared themselves to take closer aim, but as the zombies came into shooting range, they came together into two different lines with a longer one directed at Jin and another at Jungkook. Both of them were handling their own now, and thankfully were restocked for this attack. It wasn’t until the last two zombies in Jin’s line, Hoseok and another guy named Austin, were left running at him that Jin’s gun malfunctioned and refused to shoot anymore bullets! He quickly reached for one of the sock balls he carried on his person, but as soon as he hit Austin with that ball, Hoseok came jumping over him and tagged Jin as he tackled him.,mnbvcx to the ground. All of them began to cheer victoriously, laughing at Hoseok’s attack, but the victory was short lived when Hoseok was hit by one of Jungkook’s nerf darts. It was then that they realized he was the last zombie standing, and Jungkook had yet to be tagged…

            “This isn’t fair! You guys sent five at me, and only three on him! This is favoritism at another level!” Jin protested as he continued to lay on the ground, regaining his breath as he complained.

            “We wanted be sure to catch you, hyung. You’re kind of the veteran player here. If you didn’t want to get tagged, you shouldn’t have helped Jungkook.” Jimin pointed out as he squatted beside Hoseok and grinned.

            “I can’t believe you guys would do this to me… Jungkook, why didn’t you save me?! How could you allow me to become a zombie like this after all I’ve done for you?” Jin questioned him as he reached out and lazily slapped the maknae’s shin.

            “I was fighting off my own zombies; they ran at me a lot slower than yours did!” Jungkook defended himself as he walked back and forth to cool down, “I would have saved you if I could have.”

            “On the bright side, you can help us catch Jungkook tonight now that you’re on our side… Come on, admit it. Part of you wanted to be a zombie so you could hang out with the cool kids on campus.” Namjoon chuckled as he reached out his right hand and assisted Jin to his feet.

            “Whatever… But you can bet we’re going to catch Jungkook.” Jin replied with a scowl in the maknae’s direction. He couldn’t believe that a freshman lasted longer than he did, especially when it was because of him that Jungkook survived. He was definitely going to get payback!

            Even though Jin and the other household members were now completely adamant about tagging Jungkook, the zombies failed to catch him during that night’s mission. Jungkook avoided them for the remainder of the night and stayed close to the small group of humans he was a part of during the mission. He was anxious without Jin, but with all that the eldest had taught him, he was able to cooperate enough with the team to stay alive. The following day was the last day of HVZ, and naturally the humans were the most tense and paranoid they’ve been all week. It was becoming harder to catch the humans because they were so scarce, and many of them stuck together to stay alive. As final mission came around only 11 humans were left, leaving them in the minority and at risk of total annihilation. Jungkook was especially feeling the pressure being the only surviving freshman, though others in the group were already congratulating him and spouting excitement because freshmen never make it to final mission. The problem was that he knew he basically had a bounty set on him by his housemates. Jin in particular seemed to be seeking revenge…

            The mission began with simple tasks of protecting the scientist of the game and ensuring the transport of items, but as the night went on, the tasks became more daunting… A short time limit of half an hour was placed upon them to seek a small, silver cylinder with the HVZ symbol on it, which represented a nuclear reactor of sorts… Fifteen minutes into their mission, they still had no clue as to where this object could be found. Thus far they had had only a few zombie hordes attack throughout the night, but with this time limit, they didn’t have much time to consider any possible attacks by zombies. The humans had to constantly be on the move… And that was their downfall. Their time limit made them anxious and caused them to overlook the most simple kind of ambush…

            As the group of humans jogged around the corner of the art building, zombies were ready to attack from the shadows. The humans did their best to shoot from all directions, turning their backs to one another as the zombies relentlessly ran at them. It was the sixty zombies against eleven humans, and it was now that the humans realized that the zombies had not been seen for nearly 45 minutes now because they had all gathered for this single attack and had been waiting them out. The main group of zombies attacked from the front, but there were also zombies hiding out in surrounding areas to run at the humans from other sides. The humans had absolutely no chance, but they still went down fighting. Some of them lived until their bullets ran out while others had just been overtaken by the masses. Jungkook was both surprised and terrified by the zombie horde’s attack, and though he was doing his best to help his surviving teammates, he had become so panicked about the attack that he was fumbling to switch his guns and keep fighting. Because of this, the zombies were quick to overtake him, and he and one of his other teammates fell to the ground from the sheer force of all of the attacking zombies. The two of them tried to duck as they attempted to avoid being trampled, but because of the darkness, there were individuals accidentally tripping over them. It wasn’t until all of the humans had been tagged that the stampede ended, and the group settled into cheers and laughter.

            “I swear if he wasn’t in this group, I’m going to be so mad. Where is the maknae? Jungkook!” Jin exclaimed as he searched in the crowd for the youngest of the household.

            “How could he not be here? I’m pretty sure this was the only group of humans…” Jimin replied as he pushed through the crowd to find their friend.

            “I’m just upset that we weren’t the ones to catch him. I’m kind of bummed out that I got stunned before finding the kid…” Yoongi muttered as he stood in place, looking left and right. He was unfortunately too short to simply stand there if he was hoping to find him…

            “Ya’ll are going the wrong way.” Namjoon informed them in a raised voice to catch their attention, “He’s over there sitting on the brick wall in front of the art building.” he pointed to their left. The brick wall was short enough for an individual to sit on without much effort at all.

            Taehyung and Hoseok were already headed in that direction, eager to meet up with their friend and about all that had happened. As soon as the two of them were seen approaching him, Jungkook groaned and lie down on the brick with his knees up, pretending to be dead as his left arm hung over the wall. “Jungkookie, we got you good, didn’t we? I know the others didn’t see you, but I wish they could have seen the look on your face. You looked horrified! I thought you were going to freeze up honestly.” Taehyung stated as he shook his friend’s shoulder.

            “Do you see how many zombies there are? Who wouldn’t panic at a sight like that?” Jungkook replied quietly, his eyes remaining closed and a small smile creeping onto his lips. He was so out of energy, “Honestly, I’m glad it’s over… I’m ready to sleep and eat without worrying zombies camping outside of the building I’m in…” he laughed a little.

            “Oh, are you tired? You poor thing… Would you like me to carry you back home?” Jin asked sarcastically as he joined the conversation with Yoongi, Namjoon, and Jimin behind him, “You could have eaten and slept well if you had just become a zombie yesterday.” he teased.

            “And let you guys show me up? No way… I was going for that golden medal.” Jungkook grinned as he finally sat up and yawned.

            “Sorry, we don’t give out golden medals for things like this… You don’t even get participation awards in this game.” Yoongi replied lazily. He was ready for sleep as well…

            “No, but I tell you one thing… we may not have a golden medal, but we’ve definitely got ourselves a golden maknae. You’ve got some skills, Jungkook.” Namjoon grinned as he reached out and ruffled Jungkook’s hair. This was the first instance he’d heard of in which a freshman was able to survive until final mission...