The Staggering Fall of Youth (sequel to SBA)

18 - Zitao's House

He had a strong feeling Minseok didn't buy it, but thankfully he didn't push it, simply nodding in response. "Zitao lived near a bunch of cedars. We're almost there."

***

They weren't almost there.

"God fucking dammit," Minseok muttered, biting his thumbnail as he started walking away from them, attempting to circle the area. "This path looks familiar but I don't see it, why can't I see it?"

"Maybe it's somewhere else?" Yixing said. "This whole forest is pretty big-"

"NO!! We passed the stream already!" Minseok yelled before mumbling under his breath,

"Minseok!" Junmyeon yelled, running after his friend. "Wait!"

"It's been two hours," Jongdae said, looking at his watch. "Sundown will be soon-"

"Let's just follow them," Yifan said before walking away, heading towards the direction Minseok and Junmyeon were going, leaving the other four alone.

Sehun ran his hands through his hair, forcing himself not to scream. This whole trip had been a trip down memory lane and he was this close to having a mental breakdown-

"At least it's not hot anymore," Luhan muttered before following Yifan as well.

Jongdae sighed. "God, I want some candy right now-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sehun yelled at him, surprising them. "JUST SHUT UP, I SWEAR I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE-"

"SEHUN, CALM DOWN!" Yixing yelled at him. "What is your problem?"

"HE'S GONE!" Sehun continued screaming. "He's GONE and now he's BACK-"

"Sehun, buddy, let's go." Luhan grabbed ahold of Sehun's shoulders and pushed him towards their new path, never the more thankful that Sehun was just an immortal human and not a vampire or werewolf like them.

——

The amount of stress pulsating in Minseok's chest was enough to make him want to collapse on the ground and scream, but the constant reminder of the consequences of him being emotional was stuck on his mind, so he resorted to just start running.

The forest was just so, so familiar but yet so foreign it was making his head spin.

"It has to be here somewhere," he muttered to himself, picking up the pace. It had already crossed his mind that he came here with a group of people, that he wasn't even fond of this idea in the first place.

It was rare moments like these where he was thankful he was a werewolf and had higher stamina. He had seen Baekhyun run. No thank you. Minseok would have died long, long ago.

When you're as clumsy as me and have many run-ins with death, you think about it. Would you have been proud to have been dead at that moment?

No. He would NOT have been proud at that moment. Minseok couldn't die yet, he had many things left to do. There were people out there threatening to hurt Junmyeon and Baekhyun, and if Minseok couldn't defeat them, he had to at least make sure they wouldn't lay hands on them.

Well... for Song's group that is. Minseok didn't want to think about what would happen with Zitao.

Speaking of which, where the FUCK was this goddamn house?

Minseok stopped running, staring up. There were many trees blocking the view of the sky, but yet rays of sunlight passed here and there throughout the forest.

"You... you need to stop..." Junmyeon trailed off as he tried to catch his breath, holding himself up against a tree. He had been running behind Minseok the entire time, thankful that his friend wasn't running as fast, but Junmyeon was still tired out.