The streets filled with people, carrying small plates of food on their palms and sample sized cups of booze. People greeted Shelby and Gideon as we moved through the parted crowd to an area that'd been sectioned off for them.
I stayed with Shelby through Gideon's opening remarks, giving her hand a squeeze once I spotted Jin, Jimin, Yoongi, and Namjoon among the other patrons, mingling casually until the sun started to set. The crowd spread so that a circle formed for the evening's entertainment, starting off with a small chorus of the town's children.
While they sang I gave the signal for Yoongi and Jimin to begin. When I could no longer see them among the spread of people I knew they'd snuck away to the armory. My skin crawled as I tried to remain composed, Jin leaning into my ear with a last minute revelation.
"I need to go after Jungkook and Taehyung without you." His facial expression didn't match our conversation. Anyone watching would have concluded that he was talking about the food. He knew I'd disagree, turning outward so that we faced the choir, enjoying the slightly off-key but sweet melody just as the other attendees. "You're being watched almost as closely as Shelby. If you disappear they'll know it."
On cue my eye met Emmanuel's across the crowd. He wore a serious expression, assessing Jin and my interaction so I did my best to smile, wriggling a couple of my fingers to feign flirtation.
I crossed my fingers at my sides with a silent wish that Jimin and Yoongi had taken the armory, that they were nearly done collecting weapons. "I still don't know how Shelby and I get out." My voice was barely audible over the buzz of noise around us.
"Let me worry about that. You just keep things under control here and be ready." He'd leaned down so that his mouth was just by my ear, his reassurance coming with the choir's final note.
He disappeared from next to me and I knew we were on to the next phase as an announcement began for the next entertainment, Taehyung and Jungkook. The audience jeered with excitement as they were escorted into the circle that was now more of an arena. Guards created an outline at the edge of the crowd and while one side of the congregation parted as they were brought in, I weaved through to the other side to claim a spot next to Emmanuel.
"You like to talk with the other citizens." He noted. I shifted my gaze from the tiny space where I could see Taehyung past the man in front of me to look at Emmanuel.
"I do, but I thought I should come over here where I feel safer to watch the fight." I bumped my shoulder with his. It was a challenge to keep him distracted and I noticed the way he flickered his eyes back and forth from watching the fight to assessing the crowd. If I couldn't keep him engaged he'd notice that there were a specific four people missing from the event.
Taehyung landed a punch so hard that several people gasped and I flinched, grabbing ahold of Emmanuel's arm.
"You don't like the fight?" He inquired, a sly smirk on his lips as his arm flexed under my touch.
"It's a bit brutal don't you think." I retorted.
He chuckled, the first time I'd ever heard him laugh. "I never took you as a woman who was put off by a little fight."
A knot formed in my stomach as I watched Jungkook start to choke Taehyung, the fight ending when his face was a deep shade of red and he slapped his hand against the ground in a plea for it to stop. One of the guards moved between them, lifting Jungkook's arm in the air as the crowd split between booing and cheering. I wanted to watch them leave, but Emmanuel had already turned so that we walked back toward Gideon and Shelby.
I dropped his arm when we were closer, moving to stand by Shelby while he and Gideon leaned toward each other to chat.
"Can I get you anything?" I played my role, Shelby shaking her head in response. From my place I scanned the faces of every guard, searching for any sign that something was awry. With nightfall a bonfire was being lit in the circle once used as the stage, crackling embers combing through the air as it grew.
It happened so quickly that I hadn't even seen the initial two guards go down before hearing the first scream, two more down by the time the woman's screeching stopped. The crowd started to disperse, trampling through the street with panic. Knives flew through the air two at a time, a wisp that you could hardly see. They came from every direction until the nine guards closer to the crowd were taken down. When the two posted to guard Gideon and Shelby reached for their weapons they were met with blades that penetrated their necks. Blood gushed in a pool that crept toward our feet as they fell to the ground, my heart pounding and eyes meeting Shelby's.
I put a hand over my chest, watching the frantic way Gideon looked through the crowd, to Shelby who didn't appear in fear of her life, and finally to me.
His eyes narrowed with rage as he stomped toward me, his boots pounding against the brick. "Where are your people?" He growled, reaching out with a speedy force. Before his hand could enclose around my arm there was a body in front of me, Jungkook's arm outstretched so that the muzzle of the gun he held pressed against Gideon's forehead. In the same second Emmanuel removed his weapon, aiming at Jungkook's head and I reached for the gun tucked in the middle waistband of Jungkook's pants, pulling the hammer with a finger on the trigger as I pointed at Emmanuel.
"Shelby, with me." I instructed. Gideon grabbed her forearm before she could move. Much of the crowd had disappeared, scurrying to their homes in search of safety but there were a few, peering through bushes at the scene in fear.
The next few seconds were a blur of tiny moments, Gideon's threat to Shelby, Taehyung's appearance behind him, the pull of my finger at the trigger with the surprise and finally chunks of Emmanuel's brain splattered on the side of Taehyung and Gideon's faces.
Shelby screamed, her shrill voice piercing the air as she pleaded for Taehyung and Jungkook to spare Gideon's life. I stepped from behind Jungkook and over Emmanuel's body to stand in front of Gideon. With the barrels of two guns set on his temples he was at my mercy.
"On your knees." I commanded. "Shelby comes with us."
He scoffed and I could sense Taehyung's eagerness to kill him. He knocked the tip of his gun against the side of Gideon's head so hard that blood trickled from his hair.
"You don't have to do this, Lena. We can go." Shelby was still hysterical from seeing me kill Emmanuel. If I weren't coursing with adrenaline I would have been too. I hadn't meant to pull the trigger.
"You should while you can. More of my men will be here since there was gunfire." The pattering of footsteps in the distance confirmed his words. I looked into Shelby's eyes one more time before signaling them to lower their weapons.
Gideon's men were faster than we anticipated, swarming toward us so that we were distracted with fighting them off. Jungkook grabbed onto my hand, tugging me toward an opening from the five men surrounding us. Shelby and Taehyung were on the other side, the men's focus on Gideon as they made sure their king wasn't harmed. I lost sight of her as more men flooded the area, my head turned in the opposite direction that we ran in search of them.
Gideon's wicked laugh echoed from behind me, his declaration stopping me in my tracks so that my hand snatched away from Jungkook's. "Good thing I enjoy a chase, Shelby!" He called, pointing in each direction for his men to follow us.
I needed him dead, taking a small chance that I would hit my target, the tiny part of his head I could see through the six men who ran toward me. I pulled the trigger, my precision interrupted when I was plucked up by the waist, Jungkook hauling me toward a break within the line where the city was usually guarded.
Jungkook yelled at me, dropping me from his hold to run beside him and never missing a step. "Don't be stupid, keep running!" He called, firing at a guard to his right and hitting him in the middle of his chest.
We ran like the wind, my hair and shirt blowing behind me as we disappeared into the woods at the edge of campus. We kept going, through branches that scratched our arms and legs and past the undead, too slow to catch us but turning in our direction at the scent of fresh meat. We ran until we couldn't run anymore, my heart racing at an uncountable rate as I bent over to catch my breath.
Jungkook huffed beside me, his eyes scanning through the trees until I pushed at his chest, nearly knocking him off balance. "Did you see Shelby get out? How could you drag me away from them like that? I didn't even see–" I paced back and forth. A part of me wanted to turn around, to go straight back to the city. If she and Taehyung were caught before they could escape, they were surely dead.
I went from shoving him away in frustration in one moment to pulling him close, my arms wrapped around his waist and head nuzzled against his chest in the next. His fingers touched at the small curls at the back of my neck, securing me to him as I cried.
"I'm sure they got out." He sighed into my hair. "We'll find them."
He didn't let me go and I cued into the sound of his breathing and slowing heartbeat. It'd been so long, too long since I felt the expanse of his shoulders over me and his slightly clammy hand on my skin.
A beam of light through the trees had us at attention, frozen before jumping back into action and speeding away with lights flashing here and there, threatening to fall on us at a moment's notice.
We probably had eight bullets left between us and a few shots sounded as we were being chased, Gideon's men calling out to intimidate us in the dark. All I could see was the blur of trees in the night, Jungkook somehow weaving us through the maze of forest and spotting a small ditch covered in leaves, a fallen tree bridging the dug out ground.
"Over here, lay down." He rasped, reaching for both of my hands so that I easily walked down the slope of land. I hurriedly crawled into the space under the tree, stretching my legs out to touch the edge of the ditch and keeping my gun in one hand, tucked at my side. A third of my body stuck out from the covered area and I watched as Jungkook ripped two branches from the tree, the wood cracking with his pull.
He placed one of the limbs so that it fell over the opening where I'd be visible, leaves feathering over the space in a thick covering. It was a tight squeeze as Jungkook crawled backwards, his legs spread to the sides of mine and his torso enveloping me so that even if someone saw, I'd have another moment of protection with his body over mine. He pulled the second branch against the exposed area, closing us in. The tips of our noses touched and we kept our eyes on each other, listening to the sound of Gideon's men just a few feet away.
We steadied our breaths in a rhythm so that my chest fell as his rose, fixed together while we were hunted. There was a whistle that quieted their calls, a tear falling from the corner of my eye with the next words. "Check up in the trees and in the ditches."
His lips brushed over mine, a hair away from touching as he peered ahead, trying to see through the tiny cracks in the brush. I'd been trying to count the number of men by voices and footsteps and while I didn't have an exact number, I knew there were too many.
The little time we had flashed before my eyes. I always imagined that if I ever made it out of the closet at the prison, I'd never seek the comfort of a man. Still, here he was, my shield until the final instant. It felt like the end and I couldn't leave it undone, tilting my chin so that the sliver of space between our mouths vanished for a few seconds before the crashing noise that would make or break our survival.