✦*ೃ༄
Hana and the male figure not too far behind her were now in a sprinting match. She didn't have a chance to even think about what was happening as she ran with everything she could. Any thoughts of going to the department store and fixing her stove were obviously gone as her eyes scowered the horizon. Her first thought was to find people, though there were no houses nearby, and all the shops on the street she dashed through were closed for the night.
She lost hope as she realized she was headed in the direction of nowhereness, the only thing for miles in that path being an abandoned warehouse, one she'd always seen, but never entered. She set her sights on it in the distance, it was now almost a mile away.
She pushed herself, void of a plan. If there was no way to enter the warehouse, she'd give up. But for now, she had to create some distance, so that as soon as she entered, she could find a place to hide. But when she looked over her shoulder, the metallic shine of a knife in her chaser's hand supplied her with enough adrenaline to get the hell away from him.
Finally she was there, the man not too far behind her, leaving her with not much time to find a way in. She immediately went for the door she could see--and it was locked. Running to the back of the building, she found a garage opening, the door slightly lifted. Wasting no more time, she got onto her stomach and slid underneath the opening.
It was dark, she couldn't see much except a set of stairs. Trying to keep her footsteps light, she speedily traveled up. As she reached the top, she heard a soft grunt down the stairs. She looked down and her stomach formed a pit. The man was sliding under the same opening. She luckily hadn't been spotted yet and found herself in fromt of various doors. She went to the door farthest from the stairs, and luckily it was unlocked, and even more luckily it had a lock. So as quietly as she could, she shut the door and clicked it locked.
She looked at her phone, finally being able to use it. As soon as the screen illuminated her wallpaper, it went out. Her phone died when she needed it most. She began losing hope of escaping that man.
There wasn't much in the room except a large bookshelf and many boxes, large and medium. She pushed the largest box she could in front of the door, to create as much of a barrier as she could. There was a window in the furthest corner from the door, providing the room soft illumination to just barely see her surroundings. She could jump from the window, hypothetically at least. But that would leave her injured in some way, and slow her down, possibly getting her caught, so she could only wait.
Wait for the man to leave, wait for help to unrealistically arrive, or wait until she was caught. She looked around the room for something to defend herself with, but the only thing that could be useful were books.
At least they were hard-covered. She planted her back against the bookshelf, ready to grab a book when necessary.
✦*ೃ༄
Inside a fairly-lit van, six men sat leaned toward a seventh man, likely their authoritative figure of some sort, as he spoke to the six with confidence.
"This should be an easy task, relatively speaking," the leader looked over his shoulder through the window at the building they'd parked quite a distance from. "You all know your roles, but I'll say it one more time. Renjun, you'll go to the back and shut down electricity. They seem like they don't use much of that, but it would still be best if everything was completely powered off." The one named Renjun nodded, understanding his part.
"Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung, clear out the rooms bottom to top. There's at least ten of them in that building, but there could easily be more." The three that were mentioned shared a look among one another.
"Haechan, you'll immediately soak the walls snd floors as soon as we go in. Try to get the upstairs too, but if you can't find an opportunity to, it's not the end of the world." The leader instructed, and the younger patted the tank of gasoline that situated on his lap, anticipating setting the building ablaze. The leader's stare bored into the ceiling of the van as he recalled everything from rehearsed memory. His eyes made their way onto Haechan's, less lazed and more serious this time. "Do not light the match until all of us are outside. Do a head count if you must." The one named Haechan, recognizing the older's emphasis, nodded, wordlessly communicating that he understood the vitality.
"And Chenle, you're our getaway driver. I don't think I need to elaborate." The mentioned member gave the man a thumb up, before turning around in his seat, assessing his mirrors. He was already in the driver's spot and he parked strategically so he could see the entire building in his leftmost mirror.
"Me, I'll be backup, wherever it's needed," He continued his monologue. "And lastly," the authoritative figure concluded, "thousands have died by the hands of this lethal drug just this year, so of course the end goal is for this place and its drugs to be burned to the ground. If you don't get cooperation, don't hesitate to shoot them. We don't have time to bargain."
At the command of their leader, Mark, the men rushed to their positions. They were told not to make their presence known until absolutely necessary.
"You guys head up, I'll cover the downstairs." Jeno instructed the two, and hence Jaemin and Jisung crept up the stairs, guns readily available in their hands. As they reached the top, the pair branched off to different areas.
Jaemin found himself at the last door furthest from the stairs, jiggling the knob as he prepared to prance in, only it was locked. "Yo, Ji?" he whisper-shouted to the younger on the other end of the hallway, who'd just checked an empty room."
"What?" he whisper-shouted back.
"Got that lockpicking kit on you?"
Jisung was always a step ahead of the predicament--he had the kit. He and Jaemin stood outside the door as Jisung picked at the lock. As he finished momentarily after, he pushed open the door for the older. As he was turning away to go back to his own section of the warehouse, he paused, seeing his partner pause as well. In the dark room stood a silhouette standing across the room.
✦*ೃ༄
"Stay back." Hana warned the two strangers that had just entered the room she once seeked shelter in. She stood in a defensive stance, a hard-cover book in her raised arm. She scanned the figures each. Neither of them were the man who was chasing her minutes prior. That didn't mean she could relax. To her, they were just as much of a threat.
The taller of the two stepped forward, almost daring her to do something. Staying true to her threat, she flung a book his way. Though caught off guard, Jisung, she would learn his name to be, dodged the book that targetted his face, and it hit the wall instead. Still, he took another step toward her. She grabbed another book from the shelf and flung it at him, with much more force. Only this time, he caught it, tossing it away from himself, a smirk making its way onto his features.
Hana reached over again to grab another book as her final hope, and as she did, the man took that moment of her distraction to now stand in front of her. She backed up as he stepped forward, before her back began touching the wall. She was cornered in. He placed his arm on the wall beside her, reinforcing her corneredness. She shivered at the proximity.
"You have no business being here." said he, his upper body leaned ever-so-slightly toward hers.
She ducked underneath his arm, making a dash for the door, but the other of the pair, Jaemin, was quick to shut the door and block it. Her body went into panic once more as she looked for a Plan B. She froze after feeling an arm quickly wrap around her waist, pulling her close to a body behind her.
She began flailing around in the hold of Jisung, and failing with no avail, as he was just plainly stronger.
"Listen to me," her body stiffened at his words, feeling cold metal press against the side of her head, which she could only assume was a gun. "we're here for one thing only, not here to harm you. If you want to leave here alive, your cooperation is needed." He said as Hana slowly nodded, still in his hold. "So tell me, who are you and why are you here?"
A tear shed from Hana's eye as she genuinely feared for her life for the third time that day. All she wanted was to go home and curl up. "I was just walking--to--err, the store, and a man started chasing me. I entered here through the back entrance to hide." She mumbled out in one quick take.
Assessing that she was telling the truth, he slowly released the gun from her head, and his arm from her waist. He was about to question her further, but the door sprang open, and in the doorway stood a figure wearing all back and a knife in his hand. Both men in the room with Hana drew their guns, pointing it at the man. Hana, who was already facing the door, could recognize him--the man that chased her into the building. Her body chilled with dread.
"I'm not here to trouble you," the male announced, his body language reflecting him being intimidated. "Hand over the girl and I'll be out of your way." He raised his knife up, despite standing no chance against two firearms.
Jisung looked at the girl who now stood by his side, and the man again. He let out an impatient sigh, and with his free arm, grabbed Hana by her arm, pulling her behind him. The man advanced closer.
"This doesn't have to be diffi-" he couldn't finish his sentence as a bullet pierced through his leg. He doubled over in instant agony as Jisung lowered his gun. The man who'd now taken Jisung seriously, limped away, elsewhere. Jisung turned around to face the girl whose ears were ringing, and he was about to say something, when Jaemin cleared his throat.
"Our cover is blown, they know we're here now." And a few gunshots from outside the room confirmed what he'd said. Jaemin exited the room, presumably to assist.
Jisung drew his gun and was about to leave again, but halted.
"Hide behind that shelf. Stay put until I come back for you." He instructed the girl before leaving and shutting the door behind him, to which Hana did as she was told. She was now left to sit and wait around as chaos unfolded right outside. She rested her head on her knees, trying to not be startled by the loud gunshots.
She had to remind herself that someone would be coming back for her, which put her at ease. Though she didn't trust the two men fully, she had no choice but to, at this point.