{improvement}
The shadows against the valley were now twice as long as themselves as the afternoon settled in. The air was damp, smelling faintly of a car's exhaust fumes. The sun dipped lower in the sky until the trees that lined the river stood as black statues, silhouetted against the darkening sky.
A gasp escaped Jimin's parted lips as Yoongi dodged his head on attack, reaching out to take a firm hold of Jimin's torso. Eyes narrowed in determination, Jimin took a tight grip on Yoongi's shoulders, flipping him around before pinning him to the ground.
The blue haired male let out a grunt as his back collided with the grassy floor below him, a breath of defeat escaping his doll like lips as Jimin pinned him to the floor. Rolling his sharp eyes, Yoongi sighed, "You win, again."
With the soft rays of the setting sun cast upon his soft features, Jimin's lips ticked up into a grin, his golden hair falling over his eyes as he removed his grasp from Yoongi's shoulders allowing for the annoyed male to sit up, "You've seriously gotta work on your close combat Yoongi." he chuckled, extending a hand to the blue haired male.
Slipping his pale hand into Jimin's Yoongi rose to his feet, "I know, I know." he muttered coldly under his breath. But a smirk was quick to replace his scowl when he faced the blonde, "But enough of that... it's time for shooting practice."
An evil smile twisted its way across Yoongi's lips when Jimin let out a groan of pure annoyance. Unlike Yoongi who had previous close combat experience, Jimin had zero experience with shooting. In a way, it was actually quite worrying to Yoongi. Jimin needed to know how to wield a weapon other then his two daggers, because one day he might seriously need to.
Guiding Jimin over to a nearby tree, Yoongi gestured towards the large axe mark in the centre of the wooden trunk. Yesterday, for his own practice Yoongi found an axe in the old shed behind the cottage. He dragged the metal through the field and swung the sharpened edge at the tree, creating a perfect and clean cut line on it's side.
Smirking, he pointed at the axe mark, "Try and land a shot directly on the line." he spoke up, shoving his hands into the pocket of his oversized hoodie before pulling out one of his trusty hand guns, holding it out to the other male.
Gulping, Jimin took the weapon into his hand, fingers brushing ever so slightly against Yoongi's longer ones as he took ahold of the gun. He walked off to the side, aligning himself with the tree as he rose the weapon. Pressure began building against his chest as Yoongi's sharp feline eyes pierced into him, waiting to see just how well Jimin could actually shoot.
With eyes squinted, Jimin allowed his lungs to take in a breath of air as he wrapped a finger around the trigger, tightening it against the metal. Jimin almost flinched the moment the bullet shot through the barrel, a loud popping sound echoing across the valley as the bullet pierced through the crisp evening air and wedged itself into the wooden tree trunk.
Yoongi's eyes widened in surprise, "Not bad," he commented, eyes narrowed on the bullet that was now wedged between the bark a couple of centimetres from the target. "But there's still a lot of work that needs to be done." he spoke.
Scoffing, Jimin's arms fell limply to his side, "It's not my fault Taehyung left a knife in his backpack on day zero!" Jimin exclaimed, kicking a patch of grass, "he should've left a gun."
Choking on his own saliva, Yoongi's usually half lidded eyes comically widened, "Wait- Taehyung was carrying a knife to school!?"
Jimin cocked a brow, "Yeah, every day." he spoke before he snorted, lips curving into a smile, "You're a police officer and you didn't know?" he laughed, bending over as a large toothy smile spread its way across his face, eyes crinkling up as he chuckled.
Yoongi's lip fell into a pout before he composed himself once again, gesturing back towards the tree. "Lets just focus again..." he spoke, rolling his eyes as he point towards the marking in the tree, "Try again this time, but be a little more relaxed."
Sucking in a breath of air, Jimin once again took his stance. Feet firm against the meadow's grass, he narrowed his eyes at the marking on the tree, raising the gun to his line of sight. Finger rested against the trigger, Jimin almost let out a gasp in surprise as a warm hand placed itself over his own, Yoongi's arms falling over his form as he began to position Jimin's stance. "You're still doing it wrong," Yoongi sighed, frowning a little as he took ahold of Jimin's arms, "Lift this elbow a little," he spoke, raising Jimin's elbow the slightest. Yoongi smiled, "There."
The two males fell back into silence, the cool evening breeze channeling itself throughout the meadow as they remained rooted in position. Jimin was first to feel the heat rise to his cheeks as he realised just how close Yoongi was. Yoongi too felt flustered, realising that he was practically hugging the younger male in their position.
"Hey love birds!"
Pushing himself away from Jimin, Yoongi's head snapped in the direction of the distant voice. Taehyung. Shooting a glare in the males direction, Taehyung wrapped his arms smugly over his chest, "Dinner's ready just about now!" he smirked, "There's things to be discussed!" he called before waving them inside as he turned back to the cottage.
-----
"Hoseok?" Jungkook spoke in surprise as the orange haired male took a seat at the dinner table. With pale skin and a slender form, it had been a while since Hoseok had sat down with the rest of the group for a proper meal. He almost appeared malnourished with the lack of nutrients he had supplied himself with over the past month. After they'd left camp Delta, Hoseok had constantly made sure that the rest of the squad was eating well. Jungkook could tell he had lost some strength from the journey through the city, and after Daisy's death, his health took a turn for the worst.
"Hey guys." Hoseok spoke up, voice a little groggy from lack of use. The room fell almost silent as he reached for the pot of pasta, serving himself a small bowl.
"Seok..." Namjoon sighed, "Take more then that."
Eyes widening at his best friend's words, Hoseok paused in his actions, "Are you sure? We're kinda running low on food at the moment so-"
"We'll deal with that later, just eat... seriously." Namjoon smiled.
Hair falling softly over his tired eyes, Hoseok filled his bowl to the brim, placing the pot back in the centre of the table before he began to eat. Although the pasta was plain, it filled him with a feeling of warmth.
Seated across from him, Taehyung couldn't help but begin to gnaw at the inside of his cheek, guilt beginning to bubble to the surface as he watched Hoseok's lifeless form. Flashbacks from the science lab began to fill his consciousness, the pain he felt inside as he watched the clicker leap towards Daisy's petite form, clawing at her porcelain skin and taking the life from her eyes. Dropping his fork to the bowl Taehyung felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. Tension grew in his face and limbs as his mind began to reply Daisy's death, over, and over, and over again.
His breathing became more rapid, more shallow as the guilt washed over him like a tidal wave. Daisy... he could have stopped it, it should've been him, why didn't he arm himself, why did he drag her along?
"Taehyung?" Jungkook spoke with concern, noticing the male's trembling figure.
But Taehyung couldn't hear Jungkook's words. In seconds Taehyung had leapt from the dinning table, scurrying quickly down the small hallway and into the bathroom, with trembling limbs and salty tears pickling at his eyes. He buckled over the toilet bowl, firmly grabbing the cold sides as he hurled out the contents of his stomach. Jungkook stumbled into the bathroom with extreme urgency, quickly coming to Taehyung's side as he rubbed the male reassuringly on the back.
Taehyung wiped at his trembling lips, flushing the toilet before resting his back against the wall, "s-sorry..." he rasped out, bringing his knees to his chest, "I don't know what came over me."
Brushing Taehyung's hair from his eyes, Jungkook smiled reassuringly, "yes you do Taehyung..." he spoke, "what's got you so worked up?"
Taehyung froze, biting down on his lower lip as he had a moment of hesitation. "It's my fault." he confessed, bringing his hands to his face, "There are so many things I could've done to prevent Daisy's death... she might've been here right now if it wasn't for me!"
"No Taehyung." Jungkook spoke up, cutting off the male, "There are so many things we could've done." Letting out a tired sigh, Jungkook ran a hand through his hair, eyes falling to the floor, "I could've told Daisy to wait outside, I could've given her a weapon!" Jungkook began, causing Taehyung's hands to fall from his face, "Hoseok should've been less trustworthy and more knowing of the dangers that may've been inside the lab, I should've made a better call, you should've taken a weapon, and Jin should've been more careful." Jungkook ranted, placing his hands firmly against Taehyung's shoulders, "Don't you get it?" he chuckled sadly, voice breaking a little as Taehyung registered the emotional pain Jungkook was in, "we could've all done something different!"
And like someone had just switched something inside Taehyung's mind, he felt the pressure of guilt being lifted from his chest. He wasn't the only one to blame, everyone could've done something, everyone carried guilt.
Standing from the floor, Jungkook extended a hand to the scientist, "Lets head back to the table." he suggested, the corner of his lip twitching into a smile, "You said you had things to discuss with the group, right?"
Giving a small nod, Taehyung placed his hand in Jungkook's, fingers lacing together as the younger male helped Taehyung to his feet.
Rounding the corner, the rest of the squad gave looks of concern as Taehyung took his seat once again, "Sorry guys, just wasn't feeling too good."
The squad nod before they continued to eat. "Anyways," Taehyung spoke up, leaving his fork in his bowl deciding he was still too nauseous to eat anything, "We need to start re-focusing ourselves on the actual task at hand."
"That being?" Jimin spoke up, words slightly muffled by the pasta in his mouth
"Finding a cure." Taehyung stated, resting his elbow against the table. "I know we've just hit a set back, but I'm sure I can figure something out with the little information we've got." he explained, bringing a sense of hope to the table.
Tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, Tessa spoke up, "How should we go about doing that?" she questioned, stirring her fork in-between her pasta as she piled a forkful into her mouth.
Furrowing his brows, Taehyung twisted his lips, "I'll have to run a few experiments."
As soon as those words left Taehyung's lips both Jungkook and Hoseok found themselves flinching, flashbacks of camp Delta re-surfacing in their minds as they recalled how terribly Jungkook was going to be experimented on. "Don't worry," Taehyung uttered, facing the orange haired male in front of him, "Kook won't be hurt. I promise."
Holding his breath Hoseok felt sceptical at first, frightened for a replay of camp Delta. But he knew Taehyung, how gentle the male actually was in comparison to his aggressive self-expression. Placing his fork down Hoseok let out a breath, "Alright, I'm leaving it to you."
Jungkook nod, "If it's gonna be of help, I'll do it."
Taehyung smiled, "Alright." he spoke, clapping his hands together before he rose from his chair,
"We'll start in the morning."
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{Author Note}
Sorry this update took so long! I hit a tiny bit of writers block but I'm back again!
Update Tomorrow xox
(unedited)