a/n: i can't believe we finally got to this scene >.<
fun fact: this was one of my first chapters I wrote for this book and it's been rewritten soo many times. It's still not great, but I tried hard!
i can't wait to for Hayeon to finally meet all the boys, especially Yoongi who's become most people's favourite character (I don't blame you tbh, we love a sassy king).
hope everyone's had/having a nice day!
[ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ]
It had been a relatively ordinary day; nothing strange or unusual had happened. Nonetheless, my day had been jam packed with a mountain of different jobs. By the time my lunch break had come around, I had tired myself out completely. Even the cafeteria table looked like a relatively nice place to lay my head. Although it had been hard, it had been a good day especially after last night's success.
That was before the alarms went off.
"What's going on?" I screamed, jumping up from the table and forgetting about my food in an instant. The sound of blaring alarms rang through the room, cacophonous and unbearable, as the lights flashed red. Everyone was in a state of panic even the woman next to me had lost her cool composure, shouting and attempting to bolt towards the exit without regard for the people she shoved in the process.
It was then that I realised that this was no simple alarm- something was wrong with Jungkook.
Jeno had taught me how to interpret the different alarm noises and there was no denying that this was the one they used to create a signal to warn everyone, who knew about Jungkook's existence, that something was wrong.
Without hesitation, I bolted in the opposite direction of everyone else, frantically pushing my way through the chaotic swarms of people.
"Move!" I shouted, not being gentle as I barged down the corridor.
I pelted down the hallway to Jungkook's cell begging, that when I arrived, something terrible hadn't happened. My heart couldn't handle seeing him in any more pain.
However, as I got closer and closer to the cells I noticed that the place seemed distinctly empty to say that the alarm was blasting at full volume. I expected there to be soldiers running to backup and the noises of guns cocking but the only human noise I could here was the clicking on my heels on the marble floor. The whole atmosphere was eerie, as if the place had been abandoned.
By the time I made it to Cell 8, I knew why.
At first it seemed normal until I stepped into the observation room. No one remained in the room which was the first sign that something was amiss. Jungkook was constantly patrolled no matter the time of day. However, oddly, there was no sign of resistance. The computers still stood intact on their desks and the mounds of paperwork still stood in small piles, littered throughout the room. Then, I turned and gasped in horror.
The door to Jungkook's cell had been bashed in and the whole framework had been dented and twisted to an obscure angle. No one had the power to bend steel that effortlessly except Jungkook. Everyone knew that he could break out of the cell with very little effort, it was the soldiers that stopped him from attempting to escape. If he ever managed to smash down the door, he would have been met with inescapable hostility and violence.
This only meant one thing. He'd had help. Bangtan Sonyeondan was here.
I stood in pure shock for a good minute, my mind racing alongside my train of thought. On one hand I was thrilled that Jungkook had escaped; this is what I had wanted the entire time. On the other hand, I was fearful for him. If the guards caught him, he certainly wouldn't be treated lightly. And finally- I felt lost.
I hadn't expected to feel this way. I thought that I'd get Jungkook out of here and that would be it. I'd continue with my life and forget about the boy in the cell. Test Subject 312 would become a fairytale which I would tell my kids. For some reason, the mere idea of it made my heart clench and tears break through my eyes. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be alone no longer. I wanted to be with Jungkook.
I thought back to what he told me last night and how he promised me a place with him outside this wretched laboratory. He wanted me to come with him and, in that moment, I also couldn't stand the thought of us being separated. Him and I were a team. Always.
I felt a newfound determination flow through my blood as I stood up and paced through the room. Jungkook still had to be in the vicinity but, if I wanted to find him, I had to think quick. I pondered my options before settling with walking to my office and checking my messages to see if anyone of Jungkook's friends had messaged me. If the had planned to do a rescue, they would have surely told me.
My trust in them had been sorely wasted.
By the time I'd managed to reach my office, several minutes had past and my hands had began to shake with the sudden adrenaline high. I shakily tapped the password into my computer and loaded up the social media site. My heart dropped when I clicked on the direct messaging link and no new message appeared.
They'd used me. They used me to find all the secrets and layouts of the laboratory and then they'd left me to face the consequences.
I felt my heart shatter as I pulled the roots of my hair, moaning in frustration. What was I going to do? I had got the idea into my head that I'd be able to leave alongside Jungkook but my hopes had been crushed in a moments notice.
This was it. Everything was over. My luck had officially come to an abrupt stop.
Boom!
I paused in confusion as a large ruckus erupted outside my office. Most of the ordinary laboratory workers would have evacuated the building by this point which meant that the noise could only come from the soldiers who would be hunting the boys. They were close.
I rushed into the hall to see a whole swarm of armed guards stood outside the surveillance room, banging on the door with their shoulders in a team effort to open the door. They were all extremely buff, from their difficult training, but no amount of muscle in the world was going to shift this door. It hadn't even moved an inch.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" I asked one of the men.
He looked down at me in alarm. "You shouldn't be here! You should have evacuated alongside the others."
He grabbed my upper arm and began to drag me along the corridor as I stumbled trying to keep up with his hasty pace. "Sir! Please stop and tell me what happened. I won't leave before I know." I had dug my heels into the ground and he struggled to budge me, especially after he'd wasted his energy trying to endlessly beat down the door.
"I don't really know," he answered impatiently. "We were all sat in the room, keeping up with surveillance, like usual, when this skinny kid appeared at the door. He waved his hands and then suddenly we were blown out of the room and he managed to barricade it afterwards. It was like magic."
The man looked almost dazed as if he was struggling to process his own words. "God I think I'm having a midlife crisis."
He continued to pull me along but my mind was whirring. That had to be Namjoon. No one, other than Jungkook, had the strength to keep a door closed from the heaps of people pushing against it and Jungkook had no reason to be inside a camera operating room. It had to be him. But he must have also escaped the room somehow otherwise he'd still be stuck inside. My brain whirred before I had a lightbulb moment.
The vents. He had to have escaped through the vents. That's why he'd asked about them.
My plan instantly slid into place but I had one problem- this man still had an iron grip on my bicep.
"Sir I can get out from here, there's a fire exit at the end." I pointed to the looming exit and he paused and looked down at me as his eyes slitted in scrutiny. Just as I thought he was going to reject my idea and I'd have to wrestle my way to freedom, he let go.
"Go straight there, okay?" He shot me an almost parental look and I nodded quickly in response. When I agreed, he bowed and began to depart. "Good day Miss."
As soon as he was gone from my sight, I hastily retraced my tracks until I found a stairway. The vents all went upwards and, if Namjoon had truly used them as an escape mechanism, he'd be on the floor above.
The staircase was also deserted but I wasted no time pondering the reasons behind the strange desolation and began to sprint up the steps. I quickly realised that I overestimated my fitness ability when a stitch took over my side but I tried to breathe through it, hauling my body up to level 4. The stairs felt endless but eventually I managed to get out of the concrete stairwell and into a hallway.
Instantly the heat slapped me across the face as I hurtled backwards. Looming, like a monster from a nightmare, was a towering wall of fire which began to eat its way down the corridor straight towards me. I turned to head in the opposite direction but realised that the way was also blocked. Dammit.
I had never met Min Yoongi but I knew straight away that this was his work and, if I ever met him, I would whack him over the head for his stupidity. He cant just set things on fire whenever he so pleases.
Just as I decided that I would retreat back to level 5 and formulate a new plan, a figure emerged from a door and began to stroll down the corridor.
He couldn't have been much older than me and he wore a ratty band T-shirt with a pair of ripped jeans. His kept glancing around and when my vision locked on with the side of his face, I recognised him instantly.
This was Kim Taehyung and he was only stood only a couple of metres away from me.
I went to shout him name but I was instantly bombarded with a cloud of smoke that filled up my lungs and made me cough incessantly as I tried to spit up the foul gas. The smoke began to billow down the corridors, obstructing my view and causing my throat to tighten. The whole place was swelteringly hot and I had sweat coating every crevice of my skin but I had to persevere.
I had to reach the boy if I ever wanted to see Jungkook again.
I had to escape.
My whole mind screamed at me as I spluttered and gagged, the fumes causing me to become weak and breathless but I stumbled on, trying to avoid the flames that encompassed the walls. Everytime I felt as though I was getting closer to the boy, the fire seemed to grow more viscous.
Even though Min Yoongi wasn't here to witness what was happening, it was as if his flames were linked to his subconscious. His fire was trying to protect Taehyung which explained why the boy could walk past the fumes with little trouble whilst I was lagging behind. The fire didn't recognise me. I was foreign. I was an enemy. It had to eradicate me.
My whole clothes were soaked with sweat due to the stifling heat and I felt myself become faint, my body spinning due to the lack of oxygen. I had to get to Taehyung. I had to. I felt myself stumble as my legs seemed to freeze and I went to grab the wall, only to recoil as the skin on my palm blistered due to the heat. I managed to uproot a scream, the tears cascading endlessly down my face. This was it. I was going to die in this god forsaken laboratory.
That was when the boy froze. He turned around and I felt our eyes lock before my knees crumbled sending me sprawling to the ground.
He instantly ran up to me and proceeded to check my injuries. As I laid on the floor, falling in and out of consciousness, I reached out to him.
"Taehyung," I mumbled, the words barely coherent.
The last thing I remembered, before my eyes closed, was the sound of him yelling my name.