Secluded ✦ markhyuck

09

"Mark!" Donghyuck shrieks at the top of his lungs from a little ways down the river.

Mark spins around just before a woman with sickly grey skin, milky white eyes, and matted, disheveled hair approaches him. The woman snarls as she tries to grab for Mark's throat. He punches her directly in the nose, knocking her back as she lets out a deafening screech. A man in a similar state as the woman charges directly towards them both, though Mark is too preoccupied with the woman coming at him as well.

The woman knocks Mark to the ground and begins chomping her teeth with loud clacks at him as a black, tar-like substance coats her teeth and begins to slowly drip from her nose. The putrid smell of rotting flesh and blood fill Mark's nose, nearly causing him to vomit in his mouth as he struggles to keep the woman's mouth at a distance. He uses one hand to grip her jaw and push her face back while he uses his other to reach for his handgun that he had in his holster. He struggles to focus on both at once, but finally manages to get a grip and remove it. He hastily cocks the gun and puts it against the woman's forehead. Without a single moment's hesitation, Mark pulls the trigger. A loud bang sounds out, and the black substance spurts out of the back of her head as she goes limp. Mark pushes the woman off of him and leaps to his feet.

Mark turns and finds Donghyuck trying his best to fight off the man, but he's pinned against a tree with his throat in the man's grasp. He takes sputtered breaths, struggling to breathe. Mark hastily fumbles with his gun and cocks it once again. He aims for the man's head and fires off, but it misses. The man hisses as he glances towards Mark as if his attention had been diverted, but Donghyuck kicks at his leg. Their attention returns to him, and Donghyuck tries his best to shove them off of him once again.

Mark hurries closer to the two as he tries again at preparing the gun. He gets close enough to the man to aim much better. Mark pulls the trigger and the man instantly drops to the ground.

Donghyuck gasps loudly as he drops to his knees. Mark practically throws himself to the ground as he checks in on him. Hyuck shakes violently as choked sobs escape past his lips.

"Are you okay?" Mark inquires as he places his hands on either side of the crying man's face.

When he doesn't answer, he scans his eyes over Hyuck to ensure he was unscathed. His eyes land on Donghyuck clutching onto his arm, holding it close to his chest. Mark feels his stomach twist into knots, making him unbearably nauseous. He reaches for his arm, but Hyuck jerks away.

"N-no!" he weeps.

"Hyuck? What happened?"

Donghyuck begins to cry harder, and with a heavy heart, Mark pulls his arm towards him. He glances down at it, finding a bite mark coated in the same black substance that both the man and woman had.

Mark feels his world instantly come crashing down on him in that moment.

"Come...come on...let's get you cleaned up," Mark murmurs, as his brain refuses to process what had happened.

****

Mark swings the axe down onto the log, striking it with a loud crack and splitting it into two. He notices something in his peripheral vision and looks up to get a better look.

Donghyuck stands near the cabin, and although he looks fine, something felt completely and utterly wrong. He squints his eyes a bit and tries to look closer, but when he does, he notices a black liquid slowly dripping from Hyuck's nose. In that moment, Mark's heart stops.