Work Text:
School is finally over when the sky is turning red marking the time for the activities at school to come to an end, unless, for those who have club activities. There are yawns and chatters in class 1-C and they quickly turn brighter the moment the teacher wraps up the class. And then the bell is ringing, accompanied by delightful cheers of students eager to go home or play. Jungkook rushed out of his classroom to the stairs and dashed to the second year’s floor. He hits the brake in front of class 2-B, and smiled eye to eye when he spots the people he’s looking for are walking toward the door.
“Hyung!” He waves energetically.
“Kook-ah, why are still so full of battery?” Taehyung sighs at the sight of the boy with bunny smile waving his hands.
Jimin chuckles. “He’s the reincarnation of that Energizer Bunny after all. There’s no way he can run out of battery.”
The mentioned bunny stops waving, instead he pouts a little. “Jimin-hyung, I told you I’m not a bunny.”
Taehyung just brushes it off with a smirk. “Yeah, yeah, keep denying.” He taps Jungkook’s shoulder. “Let’s go. Namjoon-hyung and Hoseok-hyung are waiting at the entrance.”
The three of them walk to meet the other two who are already waiting at the entrance of their school. They’re too busy talking to each other to notice the three juniors are coming closer. Hoseok is the first to notice them.
“What took you so long?” He complains but smiling at the end.
Jimin clicks his tongue jokingly. “Ah, hyung, come on. We still have more materials than you third years.”
Before any of them can say anything else, they all receive notifications from their group chat.
They all check their phones and go “Aah” at once.
“Let’s just go before Jin-hyung spams us with his dad jokes because we’re late,” says Namjoon, cringing at the thought of having to scroll down to numerous dad jokes on his phone.
They all remember the last time Jin spammed them with his dad jokes, they all left the group at the same time. They were so done with their Jin-hyung who can sport those dad jokes very early in the morning.
“Yeah, let’s go. Our brains and eyes must be protected.” Hoseok’s face turns serious and nods in agreement to Namjoon.
#####
A café somewhere~
Jin is busy with his laptop while waiting for the rest of them to come, while Yoongi is jotting down his thoughts and ideas on a note pad with his earphones in. Looking at Yoongi, he knows the younger man can’t be bothered and so he checked his phone. It’s five minutes past their agreed meeting time. Jin sighs as he reads the group chat full of his own dad jokes, and those kids only answered with ‘We’re coming’ or ‘Ok’. How disrespectful they are.
He’s about to scold them in the group chat but they beat him to it. Taehyung hugs him from behind, making him almost lets his phone fly from his hands. It’s totally different from how the rest of them approach Yoongi. They go to him and quietly sit around him without bothering him. Yoongi’s the one to notice them and takes off his earphones.
“Hi, hyung~” Hoseok greets with his sunny smile.
Yoongi gives them a gummy smile. “Hey, you brats had meals?”
Jungkook’s face lit up. “I’m hungry, hyung!” He gives Yoongi his brightest smile, showing off his bunny teeth.
The bunny-ish boy suddenly looks like an elementary kid despite being tall for his age. Yoongi ruffles his hair and about to take his wallet from his bag when there’s a bloodcurdling scream right outside the café. The next thing they know is that people are running in panic and everything else is chaos. The seven of them are still surprised and not moving an inch until one glass window of the café breaks. Something barges in.
Taehyung is the first to say something. “Is that a skeleton?”
“Is this a candid camera prank?” Jin examines their surroundings to look for filming crews or at least a camera, but all he finds is the chaotic situation outside.
“That skeleton is moving!” Hoseok pulls Namjoon’s sleeve. “It’s fucking moving!!” His voice reeks of panic and fear.
They aren’t moving just yet, and still trying to comprehend the whole messy situation. They stop comprehending when they see the skeleton touching a customer and the customer turns into dust.
“We’re going, guys. Grab your bags.” It’s rare to see Jin this calm when faced with something scary, but they know it’s not the time to talk about unimportant things. And so, they grab their bags fast, leaving Jin’s laptop and bolt out the door.
“Where are we going?” Jimin’s starting to panic as well, although not as bad as Hoseok.
“The mall? Let’s find somewhere safe!” Namjoon is trying to use his head to safe them all.
They all run to the mall where there are less people and it seems that those skeletons aren’t going there, yet. People are scrambling outside the building, it’s hard to go against the flow but they have to get inside. They all run as fast as they could, and only stop when Jimin manages to trip over the last step of the escalator to the second floor. His right knee bleeds, and it looks pretty bad. Yoongi yells for them to run to the pharmacy on that floor, but there are skeletons running after them. They’re too late. They shouldn’t have stopped. Jungkook grabbed Jimin’s arm and helps him run. They can’t afford to stop anymore. Unfortunately, those skeletons can move unbelievably fast. Hoseok is busy screaming everytime those skeletons are coming closer. His curses are getting rapid too.
“Why the fuck those skeletons can move like Jungkook?!” Hoseok notices a skeleton getting closer.
Jungkook looks offended. “Hey, Hyung!”
Taehyung stops Jungkook before they all have to stop again for a trivial fight. “He means fast, Kook. You’re fast.”
Yoongi looks relieved when he spots the pharmacy, but he realizes they will have to find a way to block those skeletons. The pharmacy is too open. He curses under his breath.
And then, in the next seconds, everything happens so fast no one can catch up.
And then, it’s black out.
#####
Where…?
Seven of them are wide awake on a hard surface, not beds but more like stretchers with no wheels. They are lined starting from the youngest to the eldest. They’re not tied or anything, but they can’t move their hands and feet. The only thing that can move is their heads. They can blink and talk but can’t get up. Hoseok is frantic and tears wet his cheeks already. It takes them a few minutes to realize they’re not the only ones there.
“Hyu— hyung,” jimin whispers, turning to Jin.
He whispers to Jimin. “Sssh, it’s okay. We’ll get out of this.” Jin feels weird himself, wondering where he got that strength to calm Jimin when deep inside, he wants to scream and run.
The figure wearing black hooded cloak in that room moves closer to them. His hands are skeletons and the voice is of a man.
The man in black comes closer to Jungkook first but moves to Hoseok. Hoseok screams when the man in black touches him. The man in black tells him to be quiet, but Hoseok is too scared to react. His voice is getting louder making the black figure covers Hoseok’s mouth while he puts a finger on his mouth. “Ssshh, you’re too loud.”
And then Hoseok’s voice disappear.
The rest of them get more terrified and try even harder to move but fails miserably. Next, the man in black moves to put his right hand on Hoseok’s right feet.
What happens next making their eyes widened in horror as Hoseok’s cry becomes frantic.
Hoseok just lost half of his right leg from knee down, leaving only his clean bones. No blood. No pain. But it doesn’t make it less terrifying, because they know they can lose their lives. The man in black seems to be unsatisfied since there’s no reaction from the six of them. They’re too shocked to make a sound until Jungkook can’t hold his rage.
He spits all bad words and curses he knows to the man in black. He is enraged by what he just did to Hoseok. Jungkook tries hard to struggle to move. Still, he fails. The man in black looks upset with his curses and fearless attitude, so he comes closer to Jungkook. He puts his hand on Jungkook’s chest, right where the heart is.
The man in black smirks, and all that is left of Jungkook is his skeleton.
Taehyung screams Jungkook’s name. His eyes are crying, filled with both rage and grief. He isn’t afraid of anything now. “You motherfucker!” He lists all his curse words until the man in black walks towards him.
“You talk too much.”
And he does the same to Taehyung.
Jimin is clearly in panic, Namjoon is silent but everyone knows he’s frightened. As for Yoongi, Jin knows he’s also scared but he’s more furious than scared now. And Jin, he’s is trying to keep his sanity. The man in black turns to him, saying something but Jin can’t catch any of the words. He’s too busy holding back his fear which is growing stronger as the man gets closer. When the man in black is about to put his hand on Jin’s chest, Jin closes his eyes.
He waits for something to happen.
He feels his shoulder being tapped, hard, and someone is calling his name.
He jolts awake when someone smacks his head hard. Jin abruptly sits super straight. His eyes are wild, looking around him and making the person in front of him confused.
“Jin-hyung, are you alright?” He knows the voice. His panic suddenly vanishes, and he sighs in relief.
Jin turns to find Yoongi sitting in front of him with his coffee, note pad, and he just takes off his earphones. Once again, he looks around. They’re still at the café waiting for those high-schoolers to come? He checks his phone and see his dad jokes filled the group chat.
He turns to Yoongi. “They’re not here yet?”
Yoongi is sipping his coffee before answering Jin. “They just arrived,” he says, pointing at the counter. “Those brats are ordering right now.” Jin seems weird to him, and he assumes Jin just had a nightmare. “Are you okay, hyung?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a dream,” Jin answers as he waves back to the happy bunch at the counter.
His eyes automatically check on Jungkook, Taehyung and Hoseok. A long sigh escapes his lips to find them still themselves. He doesn’t realize that he’s smiling until he notices that Yoongi is staring at him with eyes saying, ‘You really okay there?’. He’s just too relieved to see all of his friends are well and alive that he doesn’t care how he looks like. Jin turns to see the café’s windows and sees that the sky is not red anymore, but a darker shade of navy blue.
It’s alright.
He tells himself.
It’s just a dream.
He convinces himself.
Yes, it’s just a dream.
The end.