Jungkook could have sworn he heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the pile of boulders. In fact, it sounded like a human would utter those sounds, but he couldn't be sure. As he was currently alone, a run-in right now wouldn't be brilliant, so he took caution as he went to inspect.
As he made his way around the boulders, his eyes fell upon something, or rather someone, that filled him with shock and disbelief. There was a person laying on the floor, breathing heavily, with only their torso visible as their legs were buried under the rocks. They were seemingly alone, meaning that Jungkook wasn't afraid of them being a threat to himself or the squad, but what Jungkook did want to do was help them if he could. They were clearly in some form of... predicament.
"Are you alright?" Jungkook asked in something akin to amusement, the stranger lifting his brown-haired head up at the question, revealing a handsome face and a fearful expression. His honey coloured eyes were framed with thick lashes, and his rich brown hair worked beautifully with his tanned complexion. Jungkook's serious expression almost faltered, but right now there was a problem that he'd have to deal with rather than stare, obviously.
"What does it look like?" The man groaned sarcastically, clearly exhausted as he tried to haul himself out from under the rocks, but evidently failing. Jungkook crouched down beside him, analysing the situation with a frown.
"Are you injured at all, or just trapped?" Jungkook asked, not wanting to hurt the man further by helping him.
"I can't tell, my legs are numb. God- I'm so stupid." He gritted out, ceasing his struggling and allowing his chest to collide with the floor in defeat. His voice was hoarse due to the dust that had been picked up when the boulders fell, low but sandpapery.
"Okay uhh... hold on, I'll work something out. Mind telling me who you are and what happened in the meantime?" Jungkook asked, looking at the boulders and knowing that they were too heavy, even for him, to shift alone.
"Kim Taehyung, ex firefighter, ironically. I came here from a small urban base with my squad on a mission to find sanberries, but our truck got attacked by a cluster up there." Taehyung explained, pointing up towards a steep ledge. The brown-haired male noticed the other tense up at this statement and shook his head.
"Don't worry, the heptoids were either killed or moved on a long time ago. But as we fought them, the uneven ground started to give way, taking me with it. The others were fine, but they took me for dead and drove off... fuckers." Taehyung whispered the last word under his breath, a sour bitterness in his deep tone.
"And yeah, now I'm here. Home sweet fucking home I guess." Taehyung groaned, signalling to his legs that were still trapped under the rocks.
"I'll call my squad over to come and help. When did this happen?" Jungkook asked, shifting some of the smaller boulders so that they wouldn't fall on Taehyung's head, and Taehyung sighed.
"I reckon it's only been about two hours but it feels like ten." He mumbled, the stranger giving him an astonished look.
"That's quite a long time." Jungkook said, and Taehyung groaned as his muscles yearned to move.
"No shit. I need to get out of here. I don't like asking for it at all but I really need help right now." He said with his cheeks tinting with embarrassment, looking up from his helpless position to the young man that stood in front of him, who seemed deep in thought.
"Well I suppose we could help you. You don't seem like much of a threat." Jungkook said with a sly smirk, the stranger looking up and glaring at him.
"Hey Jungkook, everything alright over there?" Hoseok called over from his position a few yards away. Jungkook popped his head round from behind the boulders, waving his arms to gain Hobi's attention.
"I'm fine, but I'm gonna need some assistance. We've got a bit of a situation." Jungkook shouted back, and Hobi started running over.
"We? Why did you... oh, that's why." Hoseok said as his eyes fell on the trapped stranger.
"'Sup." Taehyung said with a two-finger salute, and Hoseok raised an eyebrow and took a step forwards.
"What the hell happened?" His tone was incredulous, and Jungkook just tapped his shoulder and pointed to Taehyung.
"Help now, explain later." He said with an eye roll, and Hobi nodded, running off to go and get the others.
"I suppose you're looking for sanberries too?" Taehyung asked Jungkook, who again crouched beside him.
"Yeah, we're not having any luck though." Jungkook sighed, his lips curving into a frown.
"You won't do. The place is completely stripped of them. Probably the doing of nearby rebel groups. It's strange. Often there's at least one or two but everywhere has been completely raided of them in the past week or so." Taehyung said in a tone of disappointment and distaste, and Jungkook silently cursed under his breath, frustrated but not surprised. It was but minutes before the crunch of footsteps across the loose stone of the valley could be heard coming in their direction, three other people running towards them with urgency.
"Well this is humiliating." Taehyung groaned, covering his face with his hands as four strangers stared at his situation in shock and confusion.
"So, how are we gonna get him out?" Leanne questioned, looking at the size of the boulders and knowing that the stranger was very lucky to be alive. He was inches from being entirely crushed.
"Cut my legs off for all I care, just get me out of here." Taehyung grumbled in a raspy voice, Yoongi smirking at his words.
"Gladly. Hoseok hand me your axe-"
"Yoongi." Jungkook growled in a warning tone, and the shorter male simply shrugged.
"What? I'm just kidding... jeez."
Meanwhile, Taehyung just shared a glance with Jungkook while the other three discussed how they were going to approach this.
"Can you move your legs at all?" Jungkook asked him, watching as Taehyung pushed at his lower body and gritted his teeth in the slightest.
"Yeah, a little. There's just one boulder in the middle that I think is putting all the pressure on my legs by my knees, and the one nearest to my back isn't making anything easier either. Hurts like a bitch." Taehyung said, wincing a little. Jungkook stood up quickly and turned to his squad.
"Come on. Let's get this done as quickly as possible. I want you guys to all stand on this side and push this boulder. Try to shift it as far that way as possible." Jungkook explained as he tapped the nearest rock and pointer in the opposite direction, hoping it would take the pressure off of Taehyung and allow him to slip out from underneath it. He earned hums of understanding from the others as they all took their positions to the side, whereas Jungkook went and stood in front of Taehyung, extending his hands to him.
"Let's give this a try. Tell me when you can feel the pressure start to lessen, and I'll pull you out." Jungkook said. Taehyung was reluctant to agree, but he'd do anything to get out of there at that moment due to a certain alien invasion that meant being trapped in the open was certainly game over for anyone. And so, he reached up and grasped onto Jungkook's hands tightly.
"I owe you one." Taehyung mumbled, and Jungkook smirked.
"Not yet you don't."
Yoongi, Leanne and Hoseok all pushed the boulder simultaneously as hard as their bodies would allow, and to their relief the large rock began to move slightly.
"Ah, that hurts." Taehyung hissed, and Jungkook felt the him squeeze his hands tighter.
"Do we need to stop? We could try something different." Jungkook asked with a sense of hesitation as he knew this was their best shot, but Taehyung just shook his head, withstanding the pain that came with it.
"No." He breathed, Jungkook taking this as an indication to tug on the man's arms in an attempt to free him. Much to Taehyung's relief, his legs were slowly drawn out of the rocks as Jungkook grunted and pulled his body towards him, the others making sure that the boulder didn't fall back in its original place until Taehyung was safely out. Once they had succeeded, Jungkook let go of him and Taehyung lay there on the ground, a look of pure relief washing over his features, disguising the pain he was in as he stared at the blue and white sky.
"Fucking finally." He breathed, all five of them taking a minute to catch their breath as they gathered around.
"Well, that was a bit more eventful than any of us had planned." Yoongi mumbled, looking at his hands that had small indents in the flesh from where he had been pushing the jagged rock. The others chuckled, Jungkook offering a tattooed hand to Taehyung who was still lying on the floor. Taehyung didn't hesitate to take it this time, using Jungkook's body weight to haul his exhausted form up from the floor and stand alongside the others, wincing a little.
"Thanks guys, you're literal lifesavers." He said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Not a problem." Hoseok said welcomingly, Taehyung trying hard not to laugh as he saw Yoongi who would appear to disagree.
"I'm sorry for ruining your plans, but you're really not going to find any sanberries here. There's not a single plant in sight for miles as far as I'm concerned." He explained, the others sighing. Jungkook was the one who picked up on the fact that Taehyung seemed more worried about the lack of sanberries than the others were, but just decided it was underlying anxiety from his previous situation.
"Why don't you tag along with us?" Leanne asked, and Taehyung smiled at the offer.
"I would much appreciate that, thank you. But I don't think he wants me to." Taehyung laughed, pointing to Yoongi who had a negative expression covering his features.
"Ignore him." Hoseok said, earning a glare from Yoongi to which he just smiled sweetly back.
"Okay, five people it is then. Let's get going."