The Last Lycans

Chapter 54 : The Fortress

Namjoon was flipping pages, through book after book, in a gigantic pile that he kept in front of his legs in the passenger seat, seemingly unbothered by the blasting of pop music through the van.

Yoongi was driving, looking mighty annoyed at the rest of the pack's singing and dancing in their seats.

''Best roadtrip ever!'' Jimin said matching his voice with the singer of the song.

''Still not a roadtrip, we're being chased by an army of wolves!'' Yoongi corrected.

''They're on foot and they can't move through cities unnoticed, they'll take weeks to reach us!'' Hoseok said, reassuringly.

''Besides, they'll want to attack us at their strongest, which means they'll wait for the full moon. We got a whole lunar cycle between us.'' Yu explained, waving her hands around awkwardly, trying to imitate Hoseok's dance moves.

''You're getting there, just move sharper, bam, ba-ba-bam.'' Hoseok said while going over his moves a bit slower.

''B-boom- b-boom- b-boom.'' Yu said, failing to imitate him.

Jungkook put his hand on his forehead like he was looking for something far away.

''Nope, still no rhythm in sight!'' He joked before Yu gave him a playful push.

''We're as far as the van will take us... Take your stuff, we'll have to go the rest of the way by foot.'' Yoongi announced before pulling the van over on the side of the rocky road they had been on for hours already.

''I'll light some incense and try to mask our scent on the van. You guys should push it deeper in the woods and camouflage it with some branches.'' Yuki said, grabbing her backpack and opening the van's door.

''I'm gonna miss the hotel...'' Taehyung whined as he was taking out his three big suitcases.

''Where even are we going?'' Jimin asked.

''Since they're coming to us, we got to decide where we would be fighting them, so it was only natural that we make most out of that advantage. We needed someplace recluse; where no civilian would get caught in the crossfire and someplace easily defendable where we could turn the tides of the battle. Of course I managed to find us a real fortress in the woods.'' Namjoon explained proudly.

''A fortress?! We're going to a castle!'' Yu exclaimed happily.

Namjoon shook his head no and put a hand on Yu's shoulder.

''The fortress part was a figure of speech, its as defendable as a fortress... just... a bit less comfortable than a castle... Anyhow, let's get walking, we're still hours away.'' Namjoon said, putting a damper on everyone's excitement.

Everyone was carrying giant backpacks and multiple luggages full of various equipment, it made their progression into the woods slow and annoying. To make matters worst, it was raining and everyone was soaked.

''I can't wait to run myself a nice hot bath...'' Taehuyng complained while uselessly trying to fix his drenched hair.

''Is their even gonna be running water in this so called fortress?'' Jimin asked, his mood increasingly worst with the hours of walking.

''Technically, yes.'' Namjoon, said, cryptic.

''We're not going to a five star hotel guys, lower your expectations a bit.'' Yoongi tried to reason.

''Oh god no!'' Jungkook exclaimed.

''What's the matter?'' Yu asked, coming over to him, a worried expression on her face.

''We just lost cell reception!'' Jungkook said, distressed.

''Nooooo!'' Jimin exclaimed just as dramatically.

''NOOOOOOO!'' Taehuyng added with an expression of pure despair.

''It's a good thing, it means we're going to be hard to find here!'' Jin said, forcing a smile in Yu's direction through his exhaustion.

''Come on guys, it's going to be just like a camping trip! Let's commune with nature and strengthen our pack's bonds!'' Hoseok said with undying enthusiasm.

''Is this a bad time to point out that you just stepped in deer excrements?'' Yu asked.

''He's taking this communing with nature stuff really seriously!'' Jungkook said sarcastically, making the whole group burst into a fit of laughter.

''Ew, look! There's some kind of old dilapidated mine here. Looks super haunted!'' Taehuyng said, while they arrived at a clearing in the forrest.

There was an entrance carved straight out of the rock face of a mountain and surrounded by an archway made out of moldy wooden beams. The rusty rails on the cave's floor indicated an old abandoned mine.

''Tadah!'' Namjoon said with forced excitement. ''Welcome to our fortress!''

The group's jaws collectively dropped.

''Oh hell no! I'm not staying here!'' Was Taehyung's instinctive reaction.

''This thing is gonna crumble on top of us! Look there's a bunch of old ''keep out'' signs on the ground.'' Jimin added.

''Come on, don't act like a bunch of wuss. This place in an old iron mine, they don't make mines like these these days, this place is more solid than a bunker!'' Namjoon said while tapping on one of the entrance's support beams which proceeded to crack under his touch. ''It's a bit of a fixer upper, but there is great potential here and it's very strategically located!'' Namjoon said with some forced enthusiasm.

''We're all gonna die.'' Yoongi said bluntly, while the pack was trying to get over how bad this place looked.

Yu tilted her head to the side and walked over to the side of the mountain, before lifting her nose in the air and sniffing around.

''It's uninhabited for sure, the only living things I can smell in there are a bunch of rodents and bats; it's a pretty good sign!'' Yu said. ''If we're going to fight in there, it better be damn solid...''

At her mention of the word ''bats'' Hoseok's face lost all of it's color.

Without so much as a warning Yu wind her arm back and send a spectacular punch into the mountain side. The stone face crumbled on the point of impact and cracks spread around slowly.

A grumbling sound was heard from inside the cave and a huge bat colony came flying out of the cave's entrance.

Everybody crouched to avoid the critters getting too close to their faces and Hoseok threw himself on the ground, but no bat came to bother them. As the creatures scattered into the forest, silence fell on the mine.

Everyone held their breath expecting the whole mine to come collapsing down, but nothing more happened.

''It's solid enough for me!'' Yu said happily before walking into the cave.