ᴛʜᴇ ᴇssᴇɴᴛɪᴀʟ ʙᴏᴛᴀɴɪsᴛ ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴜɴɢʟᴇ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ│ᴛᴋ [complete]

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Waking up to fresh water trickling down one's face was not the best kind of stirring, Taehyung decided after regaining consciousness thanks to the liquid care Professor Kim had provided.

"I've been searching for you for hours! Unbelievable, how these brutes left you out there to die! Bloody bastards—"

"Jungkook!" was all Taehyung could think of right now.

Namjoon's expression turned gloomy. "They had a prisoner with them. He was alive but looked quite beaten up."

These words ripped Taehyung's heart apart. "It's all my fault," he sobbed. "We have to rescue him!"

"I wasn't expecting any less from you." Namjoon got to his feet. "Come on. They have a few hours' head start but we might still catch up with them before nightfall."

As they followed the very visible trail the expedition had left behind, Taehyung told Namjoon about Jungkook, how the plane he was on had crashed in uncharted territory and killed everyone on board with the exception of the ten-year-old boy, how he'd been cared for by a tribe of apes all these years, and how much he now meant to Taehyung who had been utterly useless at sheltering him from the vermin that was presently spreading its greedy paws throughout the jungle.

"Don't be too harsh on yourself. We can still do something about it."

It was well past midday when both of them realized they might be too late to change the fate of the apes. Tangled in a mass of broken limbs, a couple of chimpanzees had been thrown in a muddy pit a short ways off the track. The fatal injuries they had sustained could not be mistaken for anything but bullet wounds.

"They were likely patrolling their borders when the men killed them," Taehyung mused, voice quivering.

Him and Namjoon barely took the time to rest and eat, pressured by the sky which was now darkening by the minute.

Despite their earlier grim discovery, neither of them was prepared to stomach the carnage they soon witnessed upon entering a small clearing in the woods. It was most unusual, for a tropical forest brimming with life, to experience such quiescence. Yet the present stillness was anything but serene. As they made their way through the stiff remains of what looked like an entire tribe of chimpanzees, the two scientists became very much aware of the ambient sorrow.

The jungle was quietly mourning its great apes.

Echoing its grief, the sky, heavy with unshed rain, was preparing to unleash a punitive thunderstorm upon the earth.

Rainforest downpours were to be taken very seriously for they often caused deathly mudslides if you happen to be caught in one. The two men needed to reach higher grounds, and quick. The problem was, they had no clue where to go from here.

"Taehyung?"

In spite of the pain permeating the feeble voice, its gentle tone was easily identifiable. "Jungkook!"

Carrying a baby chimp which had strapped its trembling limbs onto his neck for dear life, the young man rushed to their side, almost tripping over several times in his haste.

Taehyung had not been aware of the fact that his heart, which had already been broken, could shatter even more at the sight of the beaten boy now standing in front him, a bleeding gash on his cheek and bruised wrists, likely from the restraining ropes that had been used on him. The playful twinkle in his eyes had been replaced by bitter tears. "Tae — why?"

Taehyung had no answer to that question. And so he wept. "I'm s-so sorry—"

Leaning forward, Jungkook pressed their foreheads together. Comfort was all they could give each other at this point. "Tae?"