Dark Matter | JJK

33. Come Home With Me

What happened next was a blur.

Petra did not know when the windows were smashed clean and the doors kicked out of their hinges, not until every room around her erupted in a cacophony of blood-curdling screams that tore past her ears. Jungkook grabbed her hand and ran just in time for a frenzied mob of covered figures to ascend the stairs, brandishing batons, stones and metal rods as they howled incoherently.

She did not know who they were - only that they donned grimy brown and red overalls that covered their entire body save for two holes through which their lunatic eyes glistened with malice. And they attacked. She caught momentary glimpses of students who weren't fast enough being dragged by their hair, thrashed and tortured as they screamed in agony and writhed on the ground. The attackers entered laboratories and destroyed the equipment, splintering beakers and vials that spilled dark liquids across the floors like rivers of blood and gore.

Petra had the faintest realisation of Jungkook pulling her into a nearby room and shutting the door, instantly muffling the horrendous screeches from outside. Tables, chairs and every possible piece of furniture that could be found was stacked against the entrance. It was only when they turned around and Petra realised they were in a library along with other students who had sought refuge there, did she sigh in relief.

But not for long.

A loud bang! echoed from behind the door. Within mere seconds, the wooden entrance was kicked open and the furniture thrown in all directions. Petra and Jungkook manoeuvred around book shelves and ducked underneath tables in a pathetic attempt to escape, but the walls of the library were not infinite.

Petra had no sense of the exact moment Jungkook's hand was wrung apart from hers. She was forced to direct all her focus on the attacker who was now swinging his baton at her, aiming straight for her head.

Unlike the aggressive and haywire style of the Aenigmi, these were professional fighters. They dodged her punches and steered away from her kicks with frightening agility, regaining their lost balance before she could blink and attacking with twice the force from before. Petra had to resort to running in circles between the aisles to confuse the attacker until she had gotten them off her tail.

Finally securing victory in her pathetic game of tag, Petra frantically looked around for Jungkook in the melee of attackers. She yelped when she felt a hand grip her arm tightly.

"We have to get out of here," Jungkook said, panting heavily. She noticed a light purple bruise blossoming on one side of his jaw. "We need a distraction, something to -"

"WAIT!"

Petra whirled towards the source of the sound, as did others in the room, the massacre coming to a standstill. One of the students, Ben, stood against the unhinged door of the library with his arms held on top of his head, shielding himself from an attacker looming over him with a baton raised mid-air. Slowly, the attacker lowered his weapon. Ben let his arms fall limply by his side and regarded the rest of the room.

"I - I know who you're l-looking for," he said hesitantly, chest heaving up and down with laboured breaths, lip quivering as he glanced from one attacker to the next. "I know who you're h-here for."

After a beat of pregnant silence, he pointed a shaky finger at one corner of the room.

At the duo standing hand-in-hand.

Or, more particularly, at Jungkook.

"He is Jeon Jaewha's son!" Ben shrieked, taking a step forward and sneering at the boy. "Take him and leave! Isn't he the one you want?"

All the attackers' stares were pinned on them for a harrowing moment before one of them stepped forward. Petra felt Jungkook grow tense beside her before he tried to detach his hand form hers, about to offer himself to at least end the violence.