[ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ]
"Here, this should help the swelling," I said, coaxing the pack of frozen peas into Jimin's hands. He stared at the package aimlessly for a couple of seconds before sighing, reluctantly placing it against the swelling bruise under his left eye.
Luckily for all of us, Jimin hadn't been as injured as first inspection had seemed. Sure, he was a mess but there was nothing fatal.
"He'll survive," is what Namjoon had said once he returned from his scouting mission but I could tell that he was cringing internally, either from seeing his friend in the shocking state or already imaging the discomfort that Jimin was confronted with. Yoongi had a similar reaction, except this boy looked a lot more riled up.
"What happened?' Yoongi said, leaning against the wall with a scowl on his face. We had taken the executive decision not to move Jimin from his spot on the floor meaning we were all sat, cross-legged, like preschoolers in the middle of the hallway. This excluded Yoongi who insisted on standing, looming over us like some sort of intimidating figure of power.
"They got in. I don't know how." Jimin pursed his lips and hissed as the cold, from the peas, seeped into his throbbing wound.
"Apparently a hidden passage in the cellar," Namjoon announced, looking at me for confirmation. I nodded and the boy glowered. "Hoseok, will you check it out?"
"Sure thing." Hoseok instantly jumped up from his spot on the floor, bouncing around like a bunny of springs. He'd been itching to get some action, I could tell. Plus, it would work well as as a distraction from the situation with Jin. The boy gave us one last feeble wave before slinking away, the only sound being the retreating footsteps as he descended the stairs.
"They weren't interested in me or Jiminie," Taehyung spoke up, also sneaking frequent, concerned looks at the boy next to him. Once we'd found Jimin, we managed to find Taehyung hiding behind the curtain in the bedroom, murmuring incoherent nonsense. He seemed to have snapped out of whatever strange trance had taken over pretty quickly, however, and we'd all congregated in the hall, waiting for Yoongi and Namjoon to return. Once they had, the story begun to unfold pretty quickly.
"We were all in the infirmary when I heard a crash from below," Jimin mused. "I thought it was you guys returning but Hoseok had only just left and I knew that he wouldn't have been able to find you quickly enough so, I guessed something fishy was happening and locked the door."
The boy paused, rubbing a hand over his face. He stared at ground for a quick minute before continuing. "I didn't think they'd go after Jin so I left him on his bed. I tried to wake him up but he was still flat out. Then, I don't really- I don't really recall much." The boy hiccuped back a sob, Taehyung reaching out and grabbing his hand in an intimate embrace of palms. "Gosh, its such a blur."
Realising his friend lacked the capability to continue, Taehyung interrupted and continued the story. "They stormed in and there was a lot of confusion, screaming, etc." The boy waved his hands for emphasis. "Jimin hyung tried to protect me by shielding me in the corner because I was too weak to attack but they didn't even blink at us. As soon as those soldiers saw Jin, they barged forwards and dragged him out, of bed, by his hair." Jimin suddenly grasped Taehyung's hand, squeezing it intently. He shot the boy a subtle look and I could tell that he was requesting him to make his tale a bit more mellow. It was probably a good idea on Jimin's part, in all honesty, considering Namjoon looked as though he was going to hurl his guts up anytime soon.
"Anyway, Jimin jumped on this soldier's back and started shouting. They got into this bad scrap (which Jimin was loosing by the way) and then he got shoved into this corner. There was the pointing of guns and then, Jimin jumped on top of me to protect me but, by that time, they'd already taken Jin hyung." I had the urge to tell Taehyung that he was a dreadful storyteller but zipped it, considering the boy looked quite impressed by his recall of events. "We were too weak to follow so Jimin hyung made me hide in the bedroom whilst he tried to find you guys. That's it."
"That's all?" Namjoon said, his voice trailing lowly as he blinked rapidly, trying to rid his eyes of the brewing wetness.
Taehyung just nodded, head bopping erratically. Yoongi slumped against the door frame, overcome by emotion, and Jungkook had to reach out, holding the boy up by his underarms.
"Wait, there's more," Jimin mumbled, blinking up at us from under his long fringe of black hair. "Something else happened."
"What happened?" Jungkook asked, gently placing the weak legged Yoongi onto a nearby bean bag. The boy didn't even fight him, accepting his fate as his body was swallowed up by the polystyrene chair.
"I was shot."
He said it so casually, so indifferently that the whole room froze as we tried to wrap our head around exactly what the boy had just announced. He was shot? My brain continued to stutter for a moment as my mouth opened and closed like a goldfish out of water. Jungkook had a similar reaction, his posture stiffening as his muscles turned rigid.
"What are you talking about?" Yoongi swore, a frustrated scowl twisting his facial features. "I think we'd know if you'd been shot."
"Okay fine, I wasn't shot," Jimin replied, voice laced with a slight hint of annoyance as though he was angry that Yoongi had assumed that that he was dense. It was strange; normally Jimin was the only one who could stand Yoongi's vexing sarcasm but today he seemed on edge. Not, that I blamed him. "But, I was going to be."
"But the solider missed, didn't he? You were in front of me so I didn't see anything but that's what I assumed," Taehyung mused, also a look of dazed confusion disguising his features.
"Did you see or hear the bullet hit the wall?" Jimin asked, an almost panicked look on his face. The boy was really starting to alarm me; Jimin hardly ever lost his cool.
"No..."
"I knew it," Jimin growled under his breath, punching the floor in a burst of rage. Namjoon, still overcome with a sort of numb shock, flinched at the loud noise and groaned.
"Who cares about a soldier's malfunctioning gun Jimin? They've got Jin and, if you haven't noticed, Hoseok hasn't returned yet."
"You're not understanding me!" Jimin suddenly shouted, a vein popping out from the side of his neck. "The bullet was fired, it was in front of my face. It was going to hit me."
"But it didn't!" Namjoon screamed back with equal ferocity.
"Exactly! It didn't hit me." Jimin froze, some sort of memory flashing in front of his wide eyes. "It didn't hit me..."
His voice trailed off and Jungkook, Yoongi and I shot each other bewildered looks. Everyone else in the room seemed to know something that we didn't and I could tell it was becoming a tense spot in the conversation. Biting his lip, Yoongi coughed and signalled for Jimin to explain.
"It was there, the bullet was going to hit me. Right between the eyes as well; it was an impeccable aim, accident or not. And then," the boys eyes turned to slits and he frowned, "it stopped."
"Stopped?" Yoongi asked, coaxing the boy to continue his story. I think, alongside me, he was scared that Jimin was going to stop malfunctioning in a second. After all, it was a bit harsh to get someone to repeat their trauma only mere minutes after it occurred.
"Mid air. Right in front of me and, then, it just...dropped." Jimin opened his palm and stared at the ridges in his skin. He continued to leer at his hand before clenching his knuckles and watching as the skin turned white under the pressure. Taehyung reached forward again, shuffling so that he sat directly in front of the boy's knees, and enveloped the hands in his, like mittens.
"What does that even mean?" Jungkook pondered, repeating the question that haunted all our minds.
"I don't know," Jimin looked up, brushing the hair from his eyes and pursing his lips, before speaking again. "But it wasn't natural."
"Do you think-" Yoongi stated, his words trailing off.
"It doesn't matter," Namjoon suddenly interrupted, his face set with unwavering determination. In this moment, I understood why the boy was entitled with the role of leader. He was caring but, at the same time, was willing to do what was necessary, even if it came off as cruel. "Our main focus should be getting Jin back."
He began to talk about the plan that he'd been hatching but I couldn't let them try and complete this mission without prior knowledge. "There's something else. Something that I discovered."
The boys turned to face me and sudden coldness encapsulated my entire body. "Jeno, he's..." the words captured in my throat and I felt as though I was suffocating. It wasn't like I was scared to tell the boy's of my discovery but it was almost as though I was struggling to accept fate. I disliked Jeno with a burning passion but that didn't mean that the idea of a monster as his father, didn't make me feel ill. Jungkook stepped closer to me, his eyes conveying some sort of message- Comfort? Encouragement? Either way, it seemed to help. "Jeno is the Captain's son."
The words fell out of my mouth in a huge muddle and I regretfully had to repeat the sickening phrase once more. If the unanimous reaction, to Jimin's previous statement was surprise then, this time, it was pure, jarring shock.
"What the fuck?" Yoongi mumbled to himself, hitting himself in the face to make sure this whole thing was real. I had a similar urge to pinch my skin for the exact same reason.
"You've got to be joking me. Who'd want to have sex with that asshole?"
"Yoongi! Can you not be vulgar for once second, this is serious," a voice called from out from before us. The familiarity of the scolding made us all pause before spinning around with a sudden burst of excitement, expecting Jin to be standing there.
When we were faced with Hoseok, returned from the cellar, we all deflated slightly. It was a relief that he hadn't run into any trouble, but the hole, Jin left, was keenly felt by all.
"The tunnel leads out to the forest. However, I managed to block it off so, I don't think they'll be returning from that direction." Hoseok held up the object in his hand. A gun- a large gun. He cocked the object and smirked as the click rang out. "Our best bet is creating a stable plan. Then..."
"We'll blow their heads off."