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Sirens wail, echoing through the air, but we're already long gone. The sun is down and the streets are empty. Chen grips the steering wheel so tight, his knuckles are turning white, but he stays as calm as possible. Today escalated way too quickly. And deeply. I put the boxes in the back with the others because there could be some things Jimin could use for Baekhyun.
We don't have our walkies either, so we have no idea what's going on back there. Baekhyun could be dead for all we know. But neither of us will even touch that. We can't deal with the thought.
"How much further?" I ask, pressing a cotton pad on my eye. The bleeding has pretty much stopped, but the water on the pad feels good on the burn. Chen lets out a small sigh.
"We're already past the point."
"What? Why? I thought we were supposed to leave it back so we don't get traced by anybody," I turn to him.
"I'm just trying to get as close to the truck as I can. If Baekhyun is having trouble moving on his own, we can't stop as far as we usually do."
"How much further is that though?" I ask slowly.
"I don't know Y/N!" He snaps. "This shit has never happened before. Yes, something similar happened once and my friend came out of it dead! But we were taken my surprise. We were the ones getting slaughtered. I have no fucking idea how it feels to be on the other side for a drop. It was never supposed for go like that."
I chew my cheek and I nudge his arm. He's right. It's happened once. Then he came out of it with half of his body scorched. It could happen again and I think it scares him.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," I whisper. "Pull over in an alley after the next. We'll go on foot from there and collect ourselves once we're back to the truck okay?"
He lets out a shaky breath and nods. He's not crying, but the stress is getting to be too much for him. A lifts his chin up slightly, looking up for a place to go. He passes the next set of lights and clicks right toward the alley of what seems like a donut shop and an old strip club.
He drives through to the end and stops the truck. As he starts to open the door, I grab his arm. He looks at me and I give him a hard look.
"You're not touching the fucker in the back that shot Baekhyun. You're going to help bring him to the truck so we can figure out what the fuck is going on."
His lips press into a tight line and he looks away. I squeeze his arm and give him a stern look. "Fine," he growls. "Let's just go."
I release his arm and he's cursing me out under his breath while we both climb out. I just roll my eyes and meet him at the back of the truck. Chen grabs the latches and slides the door up to reveal the four boys. Jimin is sitting next to Baekhyun, holding a cloth against his skin, which has stopped bleeding. Although the amount of blood pooled on the floor underneath them is concerning. Both of their eyes were closed, but shot open when the door opened. Baekhyun turns his head slowly and swallows hard. He's definitely still pretty out of it.
Lay stands by the shelf, hunched over beside the man that shot at him, who is passed out and gagged on the floor. Zip ties secure his wrists around the shelves.
"About fucking time," Lay growls, his voice raspy. "Where are we?"
"15 minutes from the border I think," Chen says and Lay narrows his eyes.
"Why the fuck are we so close?" He scolds, but Chen points around.
"Do you not see what the fuck is going on right now? It's better to get closer if that means we don't get caught injured on foot."
"That doesn't mean they won't be able to trace us!"
"I don't know if Baekhyun is in shape to run right now," Jimin jumps in.
"And what the fuck are we doing about him?!" Lay points at the man.
All of the boys start shouting and bickering at each other and a few lights turn on in the windows beside us.
"Hey!" I shout. Everybody stops and looks at me. "We need to fucking go now. What's done is done. Either we go right now and figure this shit out later or roll over to the cops or the rest of Danny's gang, who I'm sure is hunting us right now. Let's just get out of this shit alive first."
"What do we do about Baekhyun?" Jimin asks.
"Can he walk?"
Baekhyun grunts, trying to nod.
"Then he walks. Jimin stay with him to support him. If you get to the truck first, start it up and make sure he doesn't pass out on us," I say, looking at Chen. "You take him," I say referring to the man. "And you don't touch him. We need him."
"He's not even fucking awake, what do I do? Carry him?"
"Splash some cold water on his face. If that doesn't work, then yes, fucking carry him all the way back to the house for all I care. But he stays alive."
"I assume I'm with you," Lay says, crossing his arms.
I bite my tongue. "We don't have a choice," I say, watching as Jimin helps weak Baekhyun to his feet. Chen starts to slap the man in attempt to wake him up.
"Half an hour," Lay says and the other boys look back, nodding.
"What?" I ask.
"Do you have your shit?" He asks. I look down at my rifle and nod. "Good, come on." He grabs my arm, dragging me out the alley. I look back at Jimin, who is watching, but doesn't move. He gives a small, sad smile and I cock my head to the side before being yanked around the corner.
"Calm down," I hiss and rip my arm away. He shrugs and lets go as we start walking down the sidewalk. "What's half an hour? What do you mean?"
"They have half an hour to make it back to the truck."
"And if they don't?"
He looks at me. "You know what happens."
I draw my eyebrows together. "I'm not leaving without Jimin."
"Then you better hope he isn't late," Lay continues to walk, but I stop him, standing in front. He sighs, looking down at me.
"What if they're around the corner and we just drive off? What then? They're trapped here."
"There's a safehouse here. If we have to leave, they'll go there until we hear something from them." He starts to walk again, but I stop him again.
"Half an hour won't be long enough. Baekhyun might not be able to move. He's lost a shit ton of blood. And whoever the fuck that guy is? If Chen really does have to carry him, he won't be able to make is back in time dragging his sorry ass back."
Lay grunts, grabbing my arm and bringing his face to mine.
"Half an hour is 25 minutes more than what we usually get, Y/N. We run. Every time," he growls. "And it's closer. If they don't make it, it'll mean they're dead. So don't feel bad about leaving them behind at that point, there would be nothing we can do."
I swallow hard. He lets go and walks by me, bumping my shoulder. I wince and sigh, turning to catch up with him.
*******
We've been walking for about 10 minutes. Since I wasn't able to see well, it's hard to tell where we even are. Lay hasn't said a word to me. He's obviously fuming though. His face is hardened, staring straight ahead. Every now and then, his tongue pokes his cheek then bites down. I don't even want to know what's going on in his mind right now.
He's walking with a slight wimp, obviously trying to conceal it. He's also wheezing, obviously short of breath. I'm surprised he's able to walk around so easily right now. I've been shot on my vest twice in my life. I remember the first time was when I was 17 and was being a stupid hormonal teenager. I thought I could trust a boy because he said he loved me. But all he did was stab me in the back. Literally. With a bullet. Little did he know, it was never going to really go through.
The second time was about a year ago. Seho and I were trying to get information out of this sort of event. Art galley I think. But they didn't trust us and the leader's wife shot me out of panic.
Both times, I've cracked ribs and severe bruising. The second time, the wife was closer and managed to give me a lung contusion. I was definitely the most painful one. But overall, being shot, vest or not, is extremely painful and it's shocking how well Lay is taking it right now. I'm sure that once the adrenaline wears away, he'll be in a lot more pain. He sort of deserves it though, so I'm not complaining. He'll live.
Minimal cars are passing us on the street, but when they slow, I can feel Lay's gun against my thigh as he grips it tightly, ready for anything.
I start to see that the streets are getting more and more open, the amount of buildings slowly decreasing. I think we're close, it shouldn't be long. I look around, behind us and across the street. There hasn't been any sign of the others. I assume we're all taking different routes, but it still makes me nervous. I just hope Jimin makes it out alive. That's all that matters to me.
"It should just be up there," Lay says, pointing left, behind a building. "Come on."
He picks up the pace and crosses the street. I scurry after him, looking around for any bystanders. Empty. It's like a ghost town. It's pretty eerie that there's nobody here. It's not even very late. We pass a fence and go toward the side of a small building. As we get closer, I see the nose of the truck.
We reach it and Lay climbs into the back, opening a small box in the corner, a jingling sound coming from his hand. The keys. He hops down and gets into the driver seat, starting the engine. I get in the passenger seat, looking around. Lay leans against the window and grunts, taking his jacket off. I look over and grab his jacket, throwing it to the back. I reach up and flick the lights on.
I help him undo the velcro and slowly remove the vest. He groans as he moves to the side and grabs his shirt, lifting it up. My eyes widen as I look at where the bullet attempted to puncture. It's purple and blue, dark lines webbing out. It's close to the centre of his chest, close to his heart. That must explain why he's so short of breath. His heart could be contused and working harder, considering he even has one.
"Fuck," he groans under his breath, letting his shirt drop as he leans back into the door, shutting his eyes.
"You'll be fine," I say, shutting the light off. "Just take it easy. Don't have a hypothetical heart attack on us, your body won't be able to handle it."
"Fuck off," he mumbles. I just roll my eyes, looking out the window, down the street.
"Are you going to drive?"
"I have to," he responds. "Jimin is helping Baekhyun and Chen has to stay with that fucker. He'll be able to keep him down easier than me. It's getting worse."
"The adrenaline is starting to wear off," I say. "It only gets worse from now on. Congrats, you deserve it."
He looks over at me, eyes narrowed. "You have a serious problem with back talk, you know that?"
"And you have a serious problem with being a sadist. Where do you get off on threatening and scaring the shit out of people for nothing?"
"You haven't seen shit," he says, chuckling. There it is again.
"I've seen enough."
"You know," he starts, cracking his neck. "A lot of people have asked me the same question. And I've always given the same answer."
"Oh yeah?" I cross my arms. "What's that?"
He looks over and gives that spine-chilling smile. He's back. He shakes his head slightly. "You don't want to find out, sugar."
I break eye contact and look out the window. The truck falls silent again except for the wind pushing twigs on the side. My eyes are moving quickly, watching for any movement. They should be back by now. I check the time. They still have a little under 10 minutes. They'll be fine.
I open the visor and look in the mirror. My face has splatters and smears of blood still visible. I turn, reaching in the back for the first aid kit and a bottle of water. I grab a cloth and dump water all over it, Lay leaning away as the water hits the seat.
I attempt to wash it off and clean myself up a bit, rubbing the cloth against my face. Most of the blood comes off, but gives my face a pink tint. Water isn't helping much. I look at my neck. It's so much worse. It trails down past my collar and down my shirt. I start wiping it again, but this time more frantically, only seeing the face of the girl I shot an hour ago.
I lean forward and take my jacket off, leaving my tank top on and pulling my vest down to scrub the blood that reached down there. But I can't reach it. I huff in frustration, chewing my lip. I keep scrubbing my chin.
A kid. I shot a child.
I did the exact thing I hate Hyunsoo for doing. We really must be related because lately I haven't noticed much of a difference in our actions lately. I scrub harder.
"Y/N," Lay says. I keep scrubbing. The blood won't come off. He grab my arm, stopping me. I look over and he blinks slowly, watching me. Then he shakes his head slightly, pointing his eyes down to my chin. "You're bleeding now."
I tilt my head up and see the bottom of my chin scraped up and bleeding from the rough scrubbing.
"It's Chen."
I look up quickly and see Chen walking to us, dragging the man, who is barely able to stand on his own, clutching his ribs with his hands zip-tied in front of him. Lay and I step out of the car. The man looks up out of his swollen eyes and stumbles backward when he sees Lay, but Chen shoves him forward to the ground.
Lay stands over the man and scowls, watching the man whimper and bleed underneath him. Then he bends over and grabs his arm, bringing him to his feet He walks over to the back of the truck and gestures for the man to get in as he opens the latch. The shooter struggles to get it and Lay watches in amusement.
Just when he's had enough, he grabs his legs and shoves him in the back. The man lets out a pained groan and Chen jumps up into the back with him, standing up tall, looking out the street.
"Any issues?" Lay asks, leaning on his elbow on the window. I walk out toward the curb and look down the main road. No Jimin. I sigh and look back at the truck. Chen and Lay speak to each other, kind of hushed. I just turn back and walk a few feet down the sidewalk toward where we came from. I check the time. They don't have a whole lot of time left. 3 minutes.
Something up and across the street slams and my head snaps toward a butcher shop. The owner is shutting the gate, staring directly at me. I swallow and divert my eyes elsewhere. I continue to slowly walk, listening for anybody running toward us or wheezing for air. Nothing.
The truck engine revs behind me and I hear Chen calling out.
"Y/N!" I look back and he waves me over. I chew my cheek. I walk back to the truck and Chen climbs into the back. I slowly get back into the passenger seat and shut the door. 2 minutes. My heart beats a bit faster and my palms sweat. He needs to come back. Lay grips the steering wheel, seemingly unbothered. Just wanting to get out. Get rest and out of the situation in general. I feel that too, but at the same time, I can't just leave them like that. Jimin's been there for me the most since all this shit started going downhill again.
1 minute.
Lay shifts the gears and I look at him, confused. He slowly moves forward, turning right and stopping. He's just getting ready.
"We need more time," I mumble.
"Can't do that. We already gave too much," Lay responds lowly.
30 seconds.
I swallow hard, feeling my throat tighten. I look around the street frantically. Please be there, please be there. But he's not there.
"Y/N, we have to go," Lay says, interrupting my thoughts. I exhale deeply. I know we have to go. It's just hard to come to the fact that we could be leaving them to die. But I know it's time. If we stay, it could get worse for everybody. I slowly nod and Lay shifts back into drive.
As we slowly begins to roll away, something hits the back of the truck hard. My head whips around at Chen, who hit the back to get our attention. Then a shout is followed by it. My eyes widen and I hop out of the passenger seat. Jimin is bringing Baekhyun out of an alley, covered in blood and seemingly exhausted. Baekhyun's eyes are closed and his body is limp. That's not good at all.
"Watch him," Chen shouts at me as he runs over to help Jimin. I walk backward to the back of the truck, pulling my gun out, leaning over the truck sideways as I watch Chen get under Baekhyun's other arm. They both drag his limp body toward the truck and Lay opens the back door for them to put Baekhyun in.
"What happened?" Lay asks, looking at Baekhyun. The next thought crossed all of our minds. "Is he dead?"
Jimin pants, shaking his head, wiping the sweat and blood off his forehead. "No, he's just passed out. We need to get him out of here before he loses any more blood."
"Okay, okay," Chen says. "Let's go then."
He comes back and I take my gun back, jogging back to the front. I quickly get in and Chen hits the side a couple times to indicate he's ready and as a response, Lay stomps on the gas, peeling off back towards the others.