Six

Chapter Six

Namjoon POV

I focused on my breathing, trying to keep myself composed as the bear stared at the 4 of us. Taehyung was vibrating with tension next to me, his hand gripping my wrist at my side. Jimin and Jungkook were the closest to it. They stood still like statues at the edge of the ice. There were a few moments of silence as the huge animal smelled the air and looked around. My heart sped up, however, as two small cubs walked out from behind their mother.

"Jiminie, back up very slowly." I said and tried to keep my voice very calm. Showing no sign that he had heard me, Jimin stepped backwards carefully onto the ice. The bear suddenly stood on its hind legs, gaining another two or three feet in height easily. Tae gasped lightly next to me, his grip tightening on my wrist. Jungkook copied Jimin's movements but froze as the animal got back down onto all fours. It slowly stepped towards us and the cubs didn't seem to sense the tension. They bounded forward a few feet, their mother following them. Jungkook's arm moved across Jimin's chest and pulled him backwards as they both stepped further onto the ice. I didn't know what to do. We were trapped on a frozen lake with a mother bear and her cubs. I didn't know much about how to get out of a situation like this. I just knew that we couldn't run, even if we wanted to.

"Hey, bear!" Taehyung shouted suddenly, boldly taking a step forward. The cubs froze and looked at us with wide eyes. The mother paused for a moment, before continuing forward. Jimin and Jungkook were near enough now that I reached out and pulled them closer by their shoulders. We were now about 15 feet away from the edge of the ice, the cubs reaching it by now. I moved us further back, praying that the animals wouldn't try to step onto the ice. I didn't know if it could hold our weight, let alone a 400 pound bear.

"Get out of here!" Jungkook yelled and chucked what looked like a rock. It bounced off the ground close to the bears head and she ducked. The cubs were playing with each other at the edge of the ice, oblivious. The mother stepped onto the ice with one massive clawed paw. I could see her claws from this close and it took everything in me to stand still. Jungkook pulled another stone from his pocket and hurled it, this time it connected with her snout. I heard a grunt and she moved her other front paw onto the ice. The ice suddenly cracked with a huge snap. The crack spiderwebbed out to us and shot past, out into the middle of the lake. Smaller cracks fanned out from it and were now nearly underneath us. I held my breath. The bear backed up immediately and turned to lumber back into the woods. Her cubs followed suit and disappeared into the trees.

"No one move!" I said, adrenaline really kicking in. I was holding onto Taehyung's arm, and Jimin's shoulder. "Jungkook, try to very slowly inch forward. We need to get off the cracks."

"Be careful!" Tae said as Jungkook obeyed. He managed to move away from us, but his footsteps made the ice groan under his weight. Small cracks continued to form.

"Tae, follow him." I let go of his arm and nudged him forward. The ice shelf shifted under me as his weight left, another large crack snapping through the fragile ice. Before Tae could move more, the ice under Jimin's feet collapsed. Jimin let out a surprised and terrified yelp as he plunged into the freezing water.

"Jimin!" Jungkook yelled but I held out my hand to stop him moving towards us.

"Don't anyone move!" I yelled and knelt down closer to the ice. Tae had moved closer to me already, but he was on stable ice. Jimin was grabbing onto the ice's sharp edges, trying desperately to pull himself out. He was panting hard and completely soaked.

"Jimin, you need to calm down." I tried to say steadily, but my voice was hard to control. He didn't seem to hear me and leaned his arms onto the ice, breaking another large chunk off. Smaller chunks of ice floated around him as he tread water to stay above the surface. He was hyperventilating and had tears in his eyes. Jungkook moved around to the other side carefully, the ice stable enough to support him. He crouched down as Taehyung moved in front of Jimin. The ice was thick enough around the hole now to stop breaking away, but it was too high for Jimin to pull himself out or to even hang onto.

"Jiminie," Tae surprised me with his calm and stable voice. He reached out and took Jimin's hand as he tried to grab the ice. Tae held him steady as I put a hand onto Jimin's shoulder. He was ice cold, soaked, and shivering. His breathing was shallow and sounded like he was wheezing now. He looked at me with fear in his eyes.

"Slow your breathing down, focus on me." Taehyung instructed, and Jimin's eyes flicked over to look at him. He swallowed and tried to take in a shaky breath. Jungkook took his free hand. "You need to try and kick with your legs as we pull you horizontal."

"I c-can't f-feel my legs." Jimin shivered, his words slurred slightly. "O-or my h-hands."

"We got you, don't worry." I said and both Tae and Jungkook pulled together. They managed to almost get his upper body out, but Jungkook slipped, losing traction on the ice. Jimin slipped back in and he panicked, his legs splashing water out onto the ice surface again. I stood and moved behind Jungkook, taking his hand. We all pulled together and finally got Jimin mostly out of the water. Another tug, and he was fully out, now laying on his back. The cracks in the ice grew larger around us and I quickly motioned for the others to move back. I grabbed Jimin's hand and pulled him into a sitting position.

"You got to work with me here, Jimin." I coaxed and he tried to get his footing under him. Shaking and dizzy, Jimin weakly stood but needed his arm over my shoulders to support him. "Everybody off the ice!" I yelled.

"Goddamnit!" Taehyung cursed as the ice under him snapped and he fell through up to his mid thighs. He kicked the ice edge to break a path to land. We followed him quickly and finally managed to get onto dry land. Everyone panted hard, and all of us were soaked to some degree. The biting cold burned, and my hands were numb from holding onto Jimin.

"Stay with us." Jungkook shook Jimin's shoulder. Jimin looked up with clouded over eyes, his weight growing heavier on my shoulder. He was barely able to keep himself standing anymore. Then I remembered the van. Was it close enough that we could make it? I let Jimin sit down against a tree and rummaged through his pockets. I had given him the keys to the van to hold onto, and now I deeply regretted the decision. The keys were gone, probably at the bottom of the frozen lake.

"Shit, the keys are gone." I sat back on my heels and ran a shaking hand through my hair. "We need to get you out of those soaking clothes."

"What about the cabin we saw?" Taehyung piped up, his body shivering next to me. I could hear both his and Jungkook's teeth chattering.

"Where is it?"

"Just over the hill, that way." Taehyung pointed and stood up. I helped him lift Jimin back to his feet, and slung his arms over our shoulders.

Jungkook POV

I followed behind Namjoon and Taehyung as they moved carefully down the muddy path. Jimin was barely able to keep his legs moving, and even then he stumbled often. I was freezing myself but I knew that it was worse for them. To make matters worse, we had lost the keys to the van. With no way back to the log cabin, and no cellphone service to call for help, I wondered how we would get out of the woods. I don't think Joon had realized the severity of our situation.

"There is it, come on." Tae paned hard, pointing up at the abandoned cabin. It was really run down, and looked like it would fall apart at any second. We pushed up the slope and I moved forward to test the door. It swung open with little effort and I could smell the old wood and dust. Inside was dark but the windows allowed some light to filter through. There was a dusty couch sitting in front of a hollow fireplace, a small countertop with broken cabinet doors off to the right, and the smallest kitchen I'd ever seen. Namjoon set Jimin down by the fireplace with a thump and panted hard, sighing.

"Tae, get his wet clothes off. Jungkook, come with me to get some firewood." He ordered and jogged out the door again. I moved quickly to follow him.

"Joonie, what are we gonna do now?" I asked as I gathered the driest looking logs and sticks. He hurried around, grabbing dead leaves as well.

"Focus on this right now, Kookie, Jimin needs our help. We'll worry about that later." Namjoon said and headed back towards the cabin. When we got inside, Jimin was down to his boxers, and Tae had found an old blanket with holes in it to wrap around him. His wet clothes lay on the countertop to dry. We dumped the wood into the fireplace and Namjoon quickly got to lighting it with his lighter. I had forgotten about our packs this whole time and set mine on the floor next to the couch. A small flame licked away at the dead leaves, and Namjoon breathed onto it to make it larger. A few moments later and we had a small fire burning. Tae shut the front door and did his best to lock it. He pulled out his phone and lifted it above his head, looking at the screen.

"There's no service here." He sighed and set it on the counter. I sat on the floor next to Jimin. He was still shivering by the fire, but seemed more relaxed now. His eyes were closed as he gripped the blanket with white knuckled hands.

"You doing ok, Jimin?" Namjoon leaned his hand onto his shoulder. Jimin opened his eyes and met his gaze.

"A little better." His voice was still shaky. Taehyung moved to sit next to him and took his hand. Namjoon sat on the couch and I took the other side. We sat for a few minutes in silence, just listening to the fire crackle. It was slowly warming the small cabin and I wasn't shivering nearly as bad anymore. Jimin lay down on his side, still wrapped in the blanket, and leaned his head onto Tae's lap. Taehyung leaned against the couch and his head against the armrest. The events of this morning had been exhausting. I leaned onto Namjoons shoulder as he relaxed into the couch. We needed to take a moment.

Namjoon POV

I opened my eyes, realizing that I had fallen asleep. I was shivering lightly, as the fire couldn't warm the entire room reasonably. Jungkook was asleep, leaned onto my shoulder. Jimin was asleep on the floor on his side, and Taehyung was out too against the couch. I carefully sat up but Jungkook didn't wake up. I pulled out my phone and sighed as I saw I had no service here either. It was nearly 1 in the afternoon now, and I wondered if Jin or Hobi had noticed our absence yet. I set my phone to power saving mode, hoping to make it last as long as possible. I sighed and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I realized that it sounded like it was raining outside. I stood and moved towards a window to peek out. The sky was dark and gray with storm clouds. The rain was steadily coming down.

I picked up Jimin's clothes and hung them closer to the fire to dry out fully. They were still rather wet at this point. Still tired and cold, I moved back to the couch and lay down on my side, resting my head onto Jungkook's shoulder as he lay on his back. There wasn't much we could do at this point. I was just exhausted and wanted to sleep for now.