CHAPTER 46

Jungkook regains consciousness and the pain in his skull comes back again, but not stronger than before. He blinks his eyes open, becoming aware of his surroundings: bodies laying messily around, blood splattered on the floor, pouring rain against the rooftop . . .What on earth? Where am I?He incorporates with a groan. He brings one hand to the back of his head and rubs it with his fingers, "Fuck," and quickly lowers it down, but sighs in relief at the lack of blood.He wets his lower lip and scrunches his nose, dry blood remains on his lower lip.My piercing's gone.Jungkook squints his eyes lowering his head to his waist, the flashlight didn't run out of battery but the light has dimmed remarkably.Fuck, Taehyung.He turns his head side to side, but he's nowhere in sight. Neither does Mimi.He taps the screen of his watch hoping it will unlock. It doesn't. He hits it a few times, pleading under his breath, but the screen remains completely black. He remembers sending his location to the boys, they should be here by now.Wait, what time is it? Has it been hours? Minutes? Fuck. He stands up, staggering.Jungkook takes a moment to remember the past events.Taehyung . . . Fuck, Mimi took him.Taehyung screamed my name.I . . . someone hit me from behind. Jungkook narrows his eyebrows, trying his best to remember what happened next as everything became blurry.Taehyung cried . . . No. It can't be. He yelled . . . Bunny? Fuck, no, no, no. When did Tiger take over? Where is he? Where are they? Where are the others?Jungkoook scurries outside, cursing once more as drops of water bump into his hair.He doesn't look back, his feet almost moving on its own.The streets become unrecognizable.He has an inner battle with himself, should he scream their names and sick for help or keep it quiet just in case Mimi's around?He keeps walking, with no direction.With his clothes soaking wet, his watch still dead, and slogging, he realises he has brought himself to the woods.The flash light flickers on and off and Jungkook bites harshly his lip, his wound reopening.

He hurries to find his way out before it turns off. His heart beats frenetically and he tries to intensify his hearing.

After a while—Jungkook can't tell if it's been fifteen or thirty minutes—he leans his back on a tree to catch his breath, his flashlight about to die. Jungkook wraps his arms around himself, the rain stopped but the cold November breeze took place instead. Jungkook trembles, taking short breaths to minimize the cold in his nostrils.Not too far away from here, small balls of light float in the air. He rises up on his toes and squints his eyes."Street lumps." Jungkook gasps to himself, his lips curling up. "Holy, moly! Yes! I made . . . it . . ." Jungkook frowns at the large bulge next to one of the trees near him.He treads towards it, gulping. He doesn't actually want to see a dead animal, less which kind, but the intrigue eats him up.Just one look, he says to himself, one look and I leave.The closer he gets, the less it resembles an animal. He recognises a mop of hair and gasps, looking around just to find himself alone surrounded by large trees.No. It can't be. A corpse? Jungkook sniffs the air, only recognising the scent of wet mud, wood, leaves, and a slight of saltwater.He takes a step closer, leaning his body backwards not really wanting to look, but he can't retreat—not now.He takes another step forward and he gasps, his eyes widening.No, no, no, no, no."Taehyung!" Jungkook kneels down and observes him for a second. "Taehyung," he pats his cheeks, "do you hear me?"Jungkook hesitates before bringing two fingers to his neck and his ear to his mouth.He breaths, he has a pulse. He lets out a loud sigh of relief and runs his hands through his wet hair.He shakes Taehyung's body once, twice, thrice, but he doesn't wake up.Jungkook doesn't have the time to inspect his body for wounds and lifts him up. He walks as fast as possible following the lights on the other side, while thousand of questions run in his mind.What was he doing here? What has Mimi done to him? Why didn't she keep him? Why didn't she kill him? Why didn't she kill me? Where are the others? Why didn't they come?He stops on his feet with a small gasp. No. She couldn't have taken them as well, could she? He shakes his head to recenter himself, it better not be it. He retakes his pace, tightening his grip on Taehyung's clothes.He doesn't stop when he encounters the cement path, his flashlight died a few minutes ago and the the rain began to pour again. Jungkook doesn't remember where Hoseok parked the van, he can't even tell where he is.He doesn't let go of Taehyung, but he stops to rest for a moment. It thunders at the same time Taehyung whines, or that's what Jungkook thinks. He lowers his head, the elder remains with his eyes closed, his face relaxed, not showing any kind of discomfort.He shakes his head, It must have been my imaginatio. He thinks about his wound again, Maybe I became delusional.He retakes his walk, but not even a minute later someone whines again. Jungkook stops and lowers his head."Taehyung?" he asks softly.The elder slightly narrows his eyebrows, heavy drops of water rolling down his face. He struggles to open his eyes and shifts his body, whimpering. Jungkook kneels down and places him carefully on his thighs.He uses one of his hands to protect Taehyung's face from the hundreds drops of water. "Hey, hey, hey, it's me, the nasty boy." he whispers soothingly. "Everything's okay now, I got you." he caresses his hair. He doesn't believe what he said, but he would say anything just to keep Taehyung calm."J - Jungkook?" Taehyung mutters with a throaty voice."Yeah, it's me." he smiles widely.He would've never imagined seeing Taehyung alive would remove the heavy weight sinking in his chest.Taehyung raises his hand, a finger almost skimming Jungkook's lower lip. "You're bleeding.""Huh? Ah," he sighs, his smile remaining, "it's nothing. How are you feeling?"Taehyung doesn't reply, instead he turns his head to a side, shivering. "W - where a - are w - we?""Uh, I dunno know . . ." he scratches the back of his ear. "Let's find Blacky, okay? Can you walk?""I - I think so."Jungkook nods his head and helps him stand up.Taehyung slightly whines and holds himself in Jungkook's shoulder. "My knee," he whines, "it hurts.""It's okay, let me help you." Jungkook wraps an arm around his waist, while Taehyung embraces his shoulders.They don't talk about what happened in the factory and Jungkook bites his tongue restraining himself to ask about Tiger. I'm sure his voice yelled 'bunny'. It could've been no other but Tiger.Their legs become jelly after walking for several minutes, but fortunately Taehyung recognises the streets at some point and they find Blacky right where they left it.The doors open and Jungkook freezes on the spot. He takes a step backwards.Taehyung trembles. "Jungkook?"The younger exhales, recognising Jimin.Taehyung lets go of Jungkook's grip and hobbles towards Namjoon, all the boys running towards them.The leader opens his arms and Taehyung buries his face on his chest, sobbing loudly, releasing all his fear, pain, and discomfort of the last few hours.Yoongi approaches Jungkook first. "Kiddo, are you okay?"Jungkook nods, his eyes still on Taehyung. What did Mimi do to him? Where did they take him? Why was he laying in the middle of the woods? What if I didn't find him? What if I kept walking? How would we've found him? Would we've found him?"What happened?" Seokjin frowns at the wound on Jungkook's face, bringing him back to reality. "All of us received your location," the elder explains, "but it disappeared before we could reach you and lost track. We met Yoongs and Jimin in the van at ten p.m. as we planned. We hoped to see you here . . ."Jungkook shakes his head, finally looking away from the bear boy. "I think my watch's broken."Yoongi subtly puts a hand on his shoulder. "Did you see her?"Jungkook nods."Shit."Seokjin turns to Taehyung, he didn't have the chance to talk to him, but the three boys already pamper him with kisses and sweet words and light touches."Let's go Kook, let me treat your wound." Seokjin says softly, taking a hold on the younger's arm.He leads him to the van and the rest follow behind.Yoongi drives slowly, the heavy rain challenging him. He doesn't want to cause an accident by speeding up. "Another one," he grunts to himself."It may sting," Seokjin warns with an apologetic smile."I think I can handle it." Jungkook chuckles softly, regardless.He scrunches his face when the rubbing alcohol comes in contact with his busted lip and Seokjin whispers a "Sorry."They don't ask each other questions, saving all the talk for later. Or tomorrow. All of them sit uncomfortable, soaked, and exhausted.