The Odds | NCT DREAM

Chapter 18

The sun was being to lower when the tracker jackers had finally disappeared. Most of them had left after the first hour but it took a few more for them to be completely gone. Jade felt someone shake her body and opened her eyes to see Renjun.

"They're gone, let's go." Renjun said. Jade sat up, rubbing her eyes. She must had fallen asleep. When she opened them again, Jaemin already on Jeno's back, ready to go. She quickly got up, dusting off her pants as they went to retrieve their items before heading back to their cave.

The journey back took a couple more hours. Jade could tell that Jeno was exhausted, sweat dripping down his body, as he only wore his windbreaker, his winter jacket on Jaemin instead. Renjun and Jade had offered to carry Jaemin but he shook his head, saying that Jaemin suffered this much while carrying him, the least he could do was carry the male back.

By the time they had arrived, the sun had already set. Jade winced at the stench inside the cave. As they approached the main cave, they saw the other four boys had began cooking their meal for the night.

"What took you so long?" Chenle asked as he looked up from the device he was fiddling with while Jisung sharpened his axe beside him.

"Tracker jackers." Renjun said as Jeno placed Jaemin down by the fire.

"What is that smell?" Jade said. Mark pointed to a bin in the corner and Jade moved closer to see that it was filled with fish, each with three prong marks in their bodies.

"Haechan got bored." Mark told her as she took returned by the fire. Jeno had taken off his windbreaker but she could he was still sweating from the heat of the fire. She noticed him debating for a second before deciding to take of his shirt as well, wiping his sweat.

Jade looked away, feeling embarrassed at the sight of Jeno's upper torso. She had gotten a glimpse of his clear and defined abs and toned muscles. The other boys couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction.

"Do you mind?" Renjun said, taking a seat beside Jade so that her view of Jeno was blocked.

"Someone's jealous." Haechan sung, earning a glare from Renjun.

"There's nothing to be jealous of." Renjun said, leaning back onto his arms. Jade noticed that his arm was closer to her than normal, almost wrapped around her body.

"Someone's jealous and possessive." Haechan added, making Renjun roll his eyes as Jade blushed.

"You people are so annoying." Renjun said, making Haechan smirk. Renjun stuck his leg out, kicking the boy over as Haechan rolled on the floor, laughing.

"Stop bickering, you two are annoying." Mark finally said, standing up. He went to go look at the plants that they had gathered from the meadow.

"Did you give this to Jaemin yet?" Mark asked, holding up some green leaves. Renjun's eyes widened as he realized that he had forgotten.

"No, pass them over." Renjun said. Mark nodded, passing the leaves over to Renjun. He began chewing on the leaves before spitting them out, the leaves becoming a green pulp. He made his way over to Jaemin and Jeno, who thankfully had his shirt back on by now, placing the pulp on the stings.

"It's a good thing he's passed out or he would be in a lot of pain." Renjun mumbled as he returned to Jade's side. Jade peered at the two younger boys, curious as to what they were doing.

"What are you making?" Jade asked Chenle, making him look up. He gave her a wide smile before explaining.

"It's a device for controlling the mutts. Each of them seems to have some technological part embedding in their brains that allows the Capitol to give the commands. If we could take over that, it would be make them useful to us later." Chenle explained. Jade nodded her head, taking in the information. She was impressed by how much the young boy knew about technology.