In the Middle of Nowhere

This was a stifled cough that resounded from the back.

At this point, the first thing that manifested in his mind was that; Marr was still alive. But after leaning on the other side of his thought, he felt like there could be someone else at his back.

While still in the dilemma of what was happening, Jean slowly turned around and faced in the direction of the sound.

The moment his sight caught what produced the sound, he immediately heaved a sigh of relief.

Other than the motionless body of Marr, there was nothing else in the direction that the sound came from. This was a clear indication that it was Marr that released the cough.

'Thank goodness, it was not someone else. Else I would have had a hard time trying to explain how we fell, as he could have immediately suspected me for trying to kill Marr since there was nobody else in the vicinity.'

Just as he was about to approach Marr's body, he noticed the chest of Marr raising and falling which was later followed by the twitching of the body. The moment he saw this, his eyes widened.

'How comes he is still alive?'

Jean mused.

With stealth moves, he approached Marr and stared at him for a while. As if noticing Jean's presence, Marr slowly opened one of his eyes and looked at Jean with a forbidding look.

The moment Jean noticed this, his eyes twitched and in the next moment, he slowly lowered himself and pried on Marr with a confused look.

'It seems he still has a shred of life still left in him. I should use this opportunity to interrogate him and see if he can answer.'

In the next second, Jean fixed his gaze on Marr as his expression turned serious in an instant.

"Why did you kidnap me?"

Jean asked with exasperation.

A few seconds past in tense silence, as the two awkwardly stared at each other.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

Jean said after a short period of silence.

Marr on the other side remained mute and motionless.

"Okay, since you aren't ready to talk, I think I will have to leave you here as I find my way."

Jean said with a smug as he rose to his feet.

When he saw that Marr was still mute, he snorted and turned away.

"I will be living…"

With that, Jean turned around and started heading in the direction of the forest with an annoyed face.

After taking a few steps forward, Marr grumbled from the back, forcing Jean to stop in his tracks.

Without further delays, he turned back and glanced at the bloodied body of Marr with a complicated look. After lingering for a moment, he turned around and approached Marr.

When he got to where Marr was lying, he noticed that only his right eye was open and was staring at him.

He then lowered himself and looked at Marr with a serious face.

"Are you now ready to talk?"

Jean spatted with subtle exasperation.

At that moment, Marr slowly opened his bloodied mouth and tried uttering something, but to Jean's disappointment, it wasn't clear.

"Th… ey… f… in…d y... yo…yo…u…"

Marr muttered in a haggard tone.

"What are you trying to say?"

Jean asked with a confused look.

He was attentive when Marr voiced out his statement, but still, he wasn't able to discern what he was trying to say. Even if he heard it, he wasn't sure if he could understand it.

"The… They… will… find y…"

Marr resounded once again with a starter.

Immediately Marr was done airing out his statement, Jean calmed his mind and relayed the statement in his mind. Suddenly, a series of expressions flashed across his face.

'They will find y… you. They will find you. But who?'

Jean thought for a while before facing Marr.

"They will find me, you say? But who?"

Jean asked with a confused look.

Just as he was still trying to digest Marr's strange statement, a sudden realisation struck him.

'The kidnappers… He must be talking about them.'

Jean thought with a grim expression.

Jean was right with this. Marr was simply talking about the clique of kidnappers that they left in the plane during their jump.

Since Jean wasn't sure if Marr was trying to warn him or threaten him, he opted to confirm.

"Is that a warning or a threat?"

Jean asked with a curious face.

A moment later, Marr opened his mouth, but just as he was about to utter a word, he coughed out a mouthful blood and in the next moment, his body twitched severally before going still. With that, Marr was dead.

The moment Jean realised this; he was disheartened as his eyes teared up. His heart ached as despair descended on him like a falling cloud.

On one hand, he was feeling angry for not getting a chance to know the reason to why he was kidnapped, while on the other hand, he didn't understand the intentions behind Marr's last statement.

'Perhaps he was trying to be nice to me.'

Jean thought with a grim expression.

Although he wanted to help Marr, the chances of his survival were zero, considering the condition he was in. That's one of the reasons he quickly tried to get the necessary information from him the moment he found out that he was still alive.

But all this was in vain as he didn't manage to find what he was looking for from him. And that was the reason behind his kidnap. Maybe from that he would be able to figure out the best way to save himself from the hands of his foes.

Just as he was still pondering on the intentions behind Marr's last statement, he recalled something.

'I need to get out of here as fast as possible, somebody might find me here in this condition and who knows, it might turn to a different story.'

With that thought in mind, Jean quickly got to his feet and vigilantly scanned the surroundings. When he found out that there was no one spying on him, he quickly made a step forward but suddenly froze.

His left foot had been bleeding for a while now, he had lost a lot of blood in the process and the foot was aching like never before. His thoughts started growing hazy as a result of the loss of excess blood.

'At least I am lucky to have been brought up by a nurse.'

Jean pondered as his gaze shifted towards the bleeding foot. In the next moment, he took off his shirt, tore part of it and used it to cover the bleeding part of the foot.

Since his mom was a nurse, he had a basic understanding of first aid - The knowledge that he acquired from her.

'No wonder she had always reminded me to be keen and attentive to everything that goes around me.'

Jean thought with a smirk.

Jean's mom had never for once taught Jean how to administer first-aid but Jean knew how to do it. This was only possible because, Jean was always observant and keen any moment his mom would administer first aid to him whenever he was hurt.

'I am proud of you mom. And I am not ready to give up, I must make my way back no matter what.'

Jean said with teary eyes as he continued covering the wound.

In his mind, he knew very well that finding his way back was going to be a difficult task, since he was in the middle of nowhere.

Although he had made the first step of jumping off the plane, it almost took his own life. The next task might have seemed easier than the first one, but it could turn out to be the hardest. This was in case he was transported far away from his home town, of which he was sure of, considering the hours they had travelled before jumping off the plane.

'What if I am currently in a different country? Or wait… a different continent?'

Jean contemplated.

At this point, his heart was aching as if being pierced by a sharp object.

His suspicions had turned out to be unbearable. First, he knew if he was in a different country, he had the possibilities of encountering the huddle of language barrier apart from the problem of travelling back to his country.

This was something that he was wary of since he knew that it would take him long to return home.

'This will worry mom.'

Jean thought with a frown as he finished covering his wound.

He then picked his shirt from the ground, straightened up and started putting it on. His expression turned distant as he stared at the forest that was standing almost three hundred meters away.

Putting Marr's last statement into consideration, Jean was quite sure that his foes must try to trace him and Marr the moment they landed. So, he didn't want to waste any extra minute in distancing himself from this area.

He wanted to head over to the forest but a sudden realisation stopped him.

'If I have to know where I should head, then I need to know where I am. What if in the process of my escape I accidentally head in the direction that the kidnappers will come from. I need to find something that I can use to trace this place.'

Jean mused for a few moments before turning back and staring at the dead body of Marr.

'I need to search him.'

With that thought, Jean quickly lowered himself and started ransacking through Marr's pockets.

Five minutes later, Jean let out a frustrated sigh and kneeled on his knees.

'_××_'