Acceleration [Book 1]

40: Ticking Clock

"Felix!" Chaewon exclaimed in half-surprise.

"Didn't I insist that you lot take a rest, dear?" Saeji jokingly scolded.

Felix could only softly laugh at the statement.

"I just wanted to check on you." Felix shrugged as he smiled up at his mother, taking the basket of laundered clothes from her hands, the same ones she used to work for the family, the same ones she used to take care of them since their birth and the same ones that would always hold them as if they were the most delicate things on Earth. Never used to ever harm them, Chaewon and Felix.

The woman smiled lovingly at the freckled lad.

"How can you be growing up so fast, boy?" She chuckled, then she lead the way back towards the house.

Chaewon and Felix smiled at each other before following their mother back towards the house, the siblings kept catching up, from Chaewon being homeschooled to how Jaehyun and Johnny have been treating her, all was well, peaceful even, as if the eerie weight over his shoulders had been lifted just by talking to Chaewon.

Being hauled out of their well of conversations, their attentions were pulled over to the sight of their mother suddenly dropping the laundry basket, a few laundered clothes scattering as it fell to the ground almost covered in leaves and dried grass.

Mrs. Lee ran for the house, Chaewon speeding right after her, and then Felix heard it, it wasn't loud, but it was audible enough for him to know what the commotion was. That sound, just like the second night of their mission!

Felix saw it, up in the sky, flaring red with a tail of grey smoke. A fireball soaring through the sky and missing the barrier just almost by a few meters. By instinct, Felix ran into the house, not caring about anything else but his friends, his family.

As soon as he ran into the house, he was met with faces filled with panic, bags clothes and food in their arms. Felix ran quickly up to the room he shared with Chan, Seungmin and Jeongin, double checking if the shotgun was still there, hidden under the floorboards, and his intuition was right, so he took it and picked up the box of its bullets, tucking them into the back pocket of his pants.

As soon as Felix had landed downstairs, he found the others being ushered outside of the house by his father. Felix didn't waste any time and bolted after everyone, nothing else but the shotgun in his hands. Doyeon was leading everyone towards what seemed like a dried up well.

She let Felix's mother and sister go into the well first, before she jumped in, she gave a brief look at those closed to her and cocked her head sideways, as if to gesture that they should follow her.

There was not time to argue or question whatever was happening, Hyunjin jumped in first, followed by Jeongin and Seungmin. The ground shook as a fireball hit the barrier for the first time. Changbin then jumped in, followed by Jisung and Minho, followed by the rest, Felix was about to make his father go in first, however the man insisted that he should go first.

Jumping into the well, Felix saw a dim path leading towards somewhere he was far from knowing where. Chan was there, waiting for him, and they could hear the faint sound of Doyeon's voice, leading them through the narrow and small tunnels.

Felix turned around and saw his father pull a rope, completely blocking the entrance of the tunnel with massive rocks with dirt the further in the go into the tunnels, the more barricades Mr. Lee pulled down, their only source of light were the flashlights that the others brought.

For what seemed like forever of going through tunnels and pushing through narrow spaces, they arrived to a place dimly lit, nothing much with just two sources of light, a stash of food and water at one corner hidden in a chest, a couch by the entrance of the bunker, a couple beds set beside each other, and a clock that seemed to work perfectly fine, better than the one up at the house.

"Jaehyun said that something like this might happen," Chaewon mused, only Chan and Felix could hear her, "so we prepared a bunker, we stored food and water, and even set up a bathroom just to be sure."

Felix didn't know how to react, all he could do was look at his friends, his brothers, all tired and frightened. He could see Seungmin and Hyunjin comforting Jeongin by the side, on the couch. Mrs. Lee approached the young lad and only smiled down at him with comfort in her eyes, taking the youngest in a warm embrace. Jeongin sobbed into her clothes, he was as terrified as the others, but his tears said otherwise.

"We'll be staying here until we are sure that we're safe," Mr. Lee announced, finally grabbing almost everyone's attention, "we will still have to preserve our food, even though we have plenty, and get lots of rest, we never know when we'll be moving along."

Even though they were over six feet under, they could still hear the explosions, muffled, but loud enough for everyone to hear, impact strong enough for the floor beneath their feet to rumble.

Chaewon opened up the cabinets to find baked beans, canned sardines, cheese, and bread loafs hidden inside, she picked out one loaf and the cheese and started working on making sandwiches for everyone, doing her best not to take notice on the ongoing explosions over them. Her hands shook as anxiety mostly took over her, she couldn't get the cheese to be properly spread on one sliced bread, Doyeon immediately noticed and took over, insisting that Chaewon go and take a rest.

"She's scared," Doyeon muttered to no one, eventually, Felix heard her, taking the first bread that had cheese spread over it already.

"We all are scared, I didn't want you all to get involved," Felix whispered, looking over at Chaewon who sat beside their mother, head leaning on their mother's shoulder, "all I wanted was to set things right."

"With every thing you want to set right, there are and will be consequences, Bok," Doyeon sighed, closing the jar of cheese and tying up the bag of loaf bread, "what makes you think that setting things right would be easy?"

"No one," Felix frowned, "I just didn't think that it would come to this."

"Just take the bread, Bok," snapped Doyeon, the spoon clattering on the wooden table as she did so, "I can't deal with this right now."

Felix wanted to speak again, but the shock and anger kept his words at bay. With a heavy chest and flaring head, Felix marched towards where Chan was sitting at. Chan noticed the negative behavior from Felix and slightly nudged his shoulder with his elbow.

"You okay, freckles?" Chan asked in a hushed voice. Felix only nodded, but his bothered expression told otherwise. Chan snuck his hand down and snaked his hand around Felix's waist to pull him close. "Hey, Lix," the older male whispered, drawing small circles into Felix's waist, "just breath, baby, I know how it feels to be in distress and trapped, but I know everything will be alright."

Felix leaned on Chan's shoulder, letting out a long and heavy sigh, his right hand reached out for Chan's  left hand and held it, instantly finding more comfort from the contact.

Hours have went by and the faint sounds of explosions faded away, or maybe Felix's system blocked out the sound so he wouldn't feel any more anxious as he was already. He had no way of guessing when they will be out of the bunker his family made, or dor hoe long that the food would last, he just hoped that everyone would be safe, away from harm and injuries. Felix couldn't sleep that time, he stayed up until his eyes started to sore and his eyelids were growing heavy, and soon enough, he had drifted off to a slumber.

》a/n《
Does anyone want me to make a playlist for this book on YouTube? I don't have Spotify at the moment, but is anyone interested?
Thoughts?