CODE : SURVIVAL (BTS X READER)

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The jungle was endless.

Overgrown roots tangled around their ankles like traps, and the air clung thick to their skin, sticky and wet with the scent of damp earth. Every breath felt like it had to fight through layers of green.

Y/n brushed a thorny vine away from her face and kept moving, following the faint tracks the group carved through the underbrush.

They were quiet. Not the silence of calm-no, this was the silence of survival. No one had spoken since they fled the jungle lodge. After the monstrous shape in the shadows, none of them could afford to be distracted.

The trees stretched higher, darker. Every sound made them flinch.

When Yoongi finally called out, "There's something up ahead," they moved faster-desperate for anything.

Pushing past a thick curtain of branches, they stumbled into a small clearing.

There it stood: an old army camp, half-swallowed by vines and decay. Olive green tents sagged under years of mildew. Barbed wire fencing stood broken. The entrance sign was still barely legible:

SOUTH BASE DELTA - SAFE ZONE 03

It looked anything but safe.

Still, the group moved inside cautiously. Yoongi checked the perimeter while Jungkook and Jimin investigated the main tent. Namjoon pried open an old supply locker, coughing through the dust.

The find wasn't impressive-some canned goods, two packets of instant noodles, a few cracked mugs, and a flashlight that flickered when shaken. But they were exhausted.

"This will have to do for tonight," Namjoon muttered.

---

Evening settled in, slowly swallowing the sky in hues of indigo and smoke. Shadows deepened. The jungle outside fell into a chorus of chirps and howls.

Inside the broken camp, the group had cleared a space beneath the only standing canvas. They managed to light a small fire using dried wood and an old, half-empty lighter Hoseok found in someone's coat pocket.

The flame was small, but warm. And the moment finally allowed them to breathe.

They sat in a loose circle. Jin stirred the noodles over the fire with a stick while Taehyung dramatically fanned the steam toward his nose. "Smells like luxury."

"Luxury?" Jungkook laughed. "Hyung, you're delusional."

"I've had worse," Yoongi mumbled, poking the fire with a metal rod.

"Remember that time we had dinner in that convenience store on our second debut anniversary?" Hoseok grinned. "It was ramen and boiled eggs."

"And we still posted like it was a five-star course," Jimin added with a smile.

Their laughter began to rise, warm and soft, filling the camp with a little life.

Namjoon leaned back against his backpack, looking up at the dark canopy. "We've come so far since then."

There was a beat of silence, and then Jungkook softly said, "I miss them... our fans."

Everyone looked toward him.

"ARMY," Taehyung murmured, smiling wistfully. "All the screams and lightsticks. I never thought I'd miss in-ears ringing from the noise."

"I miss standing behind the curtain before we went onstage," Jimin said. "That buzz... butterflies and adrenaline."

"And when the music starts," Hoseok added, "and we all look at each other like, 'Let's kill this.'"

Even Yoongi's eyes softened. "Performing was the only time I felt like I could breathe. No expectations. Just music."