The girl is still unconscious.

She lies on the ground of the large cage, shivering and twitching. Her fingers occasionally clench into a tight fist. She whines in pain but remains trapped inside her mind. She is pretty, even with the bruises covering her soft skin.

He overheard the men talking about her as they put her inside their cage. They said she was the key to finding Jimin. They said she knew where he was.

But he knew better than they did.

If she knew where he was, she would have given him up. That's how all people are. They're selfish and cruel. She is no different than the rest of them.

Even Jimin himself betrayed him. He swore they would escape together and now he is long gone.

Taehyung knows he is never coming back. Nobody ever does.

He makes the mistake of leaning against the cage bars. He winces sharply as his fresh wounds reopen from moving his back muscles. He looks over his shoulder and glimpses the mangled flesh still hanging from his back. The area around it has already begun to scab over but the old blood still perfumes the air. A stink of discharge and infection has grown stronger.

Taehyung was a failure.

He was supposed to become a hawk hybrid. The injection only did so much and left him with half-grown wings. The wings withered as they struggled to grow from his back. He doesn't remember another time that wasn't as painful as that moment.

Becoming a hybrid is a slow, and excruciating process. It isn't sudden. It isn't magical. It's the long and painful torture of growing entire limbs from scratch. It's being sent into blind moments of terror and animalistic instincts due to hormone imbalances. It's watching your friend's ears shrivel up and fall off over the course of days. It's watching the horror in their eyes as they momentarily lose their vision for their eyes to "adjust".

They ripped Taehyung's wings out after two months of growing them.

They decided the time to grow the wings wasn't worth it.

Now they have other plans for him but they won't begin until Taehyung is fully "recovered". He is still picking out feathers from his back. He fears the wings will regrow and begin the horrible process all over again. He never wants to go through that again.

Jungkook stirs from his sleep. His body is pressed against Taehyung's side, still curled into a small ball. He lifts his head sleepily, his black hair hangs in front of his eyes and past where his ears used to be. A pair of fluffy dog ears stick out from his messy hair with one flipped out to show the dark gray skin on the inside. His long tail curls around him; the black fur has grown long and has tangled from years of mistreatment.

There was a time when Jungkook tried to rip his tail off.

Taehyung only feels twisted envy for Jungkook and Jimin. Their injections didn't fail. It successfully turned them into hybrids. They didn't have their wings ripped out. They didn't have to go through reversal therapy.

They don't have to go through the experiment twice.

The men won't allow Taehyung to go free. Once he recovers from the hawk injections, they'll try to turn him into something else. He'll have to suffer all over again when the time comes.

Taehyung reaches over and gently runs his hand over Jungkook's ribcage. Jungkook is dangerously skinny; he can count each rib without pressing into his skin. Taehyung's eyes soften with tenderness as he looks down at the young boy, wishing with all his heart they could escape together.

He wishes Jungkook could have escaped first.

Why did Jimin have to leave us? Why hasn't he come back for us as he promised?

The girl stirs from her deep sleep. She is still twitching but forces herself to sit up. She blinks slowly in the darkness, looking around blindly.

It's pitch black but Taehyung's eyes are meant for the dark. Out of everybody, Taehyung has the best night vision just like Jungkook's smell and Jimin's hearing.

"Hoseok?" she whispers. "Are you there? Hos..." Taehyung listens to her breaths catch with pain. "Please answer me... are you okay?"

Taehyung looks down at Jungkook and nudges him to lie closer to him. He puts a protective arm over him and watches the girl warily from his side of the massive cage. The cage is meant to house six hybrids, but the others have already been shipped out, including Jimin. All who remain are Jungkook and Taehyung, and this girl.

There are other cages spread throughout the facility, but Taehyung has never seen them. He's only heard their cries from the lab. Taehyung doesn't care to know about the others. All that matters is Jungkook and Jimin. He can't afford to worry about anybody beyond that.

It would only cause more pain.

The girl jerks sharply. She hisses in pain and holds onto her trembling hands, forcing them to remain still. She fights back a cry of pain and lowers her head. "Hoseok, where are you?" she pleads.

"He isn't here," Taehyung finally says.

She jumps at the sound of his voice and looks in his general direction. "Who's there?"

"I said your friend isn't here," he continued flatly. "Can you stop shouting? You're going to get yourself in trouble. Or do you want them to know you woke up?"

She hesitates to answer. Slowly, she backs away from him until her back is pressed against the bars. She breathes heavily as she runs her hand over the metal. "This isn't wet," she mutters.

Taehyung's expression falls briefly, feeling a pang of sympathy for the girl. "They electrocuted you, didn't they?"

She nods slowly. "Do you know where Hoseok is? The boy who was with me, I mean. Have you seen him?"

Taehyung shakes his head. "No. There's nobody here but us."

She sighs and drops her head again. The defeat on her face was clear as day. "Darn it."

"Why are you here?" Taehyung inquires, still protecting Jungkook with his arm. Jungkook's breaths are slow and even, still deep asleep. "They said you knew where Jimin was."

She grimaces and holds her head in her hands. She groans from under her hands, "They kidnapped us while we were looking for him. I have no idea where he is, to be honest."

"Looking for him?"

She doesn't remove her head from her hands. She looks like she's in a lot of pain. "Jimin and I... have a history."

Does she now? Taehyung thought bitterly. Who does she think she is to claim she has a history with Jimin? It's only been three days since Jimin escaped.

Taehyung scoffs quietly and glares at her in the dark. "What kind of history?"

"He escaped those men and saved my life," she explains quietly. "They tried to kill me for being a witness to their... deal. He escaped them and managed to save me. He and I were dragged to the hospital. I wanted to help him out, to repay him for saving me, and I adopted him to let him escape the hospital. We went home but he was desperate to leave..."

Taehyung's expression slacks in surprise. "To leave?" he repeats.

She nods, her head still buried in her hands. "To put it bluntly, he drugged me to make leaving easier. He said he'd return once he saved his family. He wanted to come here and save his brothers, no matter what. I couldn't handle it... I couldn't wait. I ran after him after waking up and ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They kidnapped Hoseok, who was just asking what was wrong, and brought us here."

Taehyung stops breathing. "He wanted to come back for us?"

He's coming back for us. He's coming to save us.

"He could have just asked for my help," she adds in a pained voice. "I could have helped. He didn't have to do this alone."

Jimin is like the rest of them. He doesn't trust anybody outside their group.

A stab of guilt hits Taehyung's heart. He regrets ever doubting Jimin's loyalty to them. Taehyung also considers Jungkook and Jimin part of his family, but Taehyung isn't vocal about his feelings. He tends to keep things to himself. Part of it is because his thoughts jumble up in his mouth. His feelings are too complex to put into words.

Jimin is always good at explaining how he feels.

Taehyung feels guilty for never being able to explain his emotions to him. For never telling him how much he meant to him.

Now he's gone.

But he is trying to come back, he reminds himself.

The girl sniffles quietly and keeps her head low. "Even if I don't know where he is, I have to protect him. He protected me that night, and I'm going to—, I'm going to repay him. I have to keep him safe."

Taehyung frowns with sudden possessiveness. She doesn't deserve to keep him safe. That's supposed to be my job.

"Do you know Jimin?" she asks suddenly.

Taehyung inhales sharply. "He's my brother," he answers shortly.

"Oh... you must be Taehyung."

He raises an eyebrow. "He's mentioned me?"

She nods.

Taehyung lowers his head in shame. Jimin doesn't deserve to be doubted. Especially not from him. "You said he was trying to save us. Do you know if he's on his way?"

"That's the thing..." the girl's eyes flicker with fear, "these men are looking for him. He'll be walking into a trap."

"He knows that," Taehyung answers, knitting his brow together. "He knows the danger."

"You don't sound worried."

Taehyung shoots the girl a warning look. "Of course, I'm worried, but I won't doubt him. I trust that he knows what to do." I won't admit my mistakes to this stranger.

Jungkook stirs from the sound of Taehyung's tense voice. He lifts his head sleepily and sniffs the air. He turns slightly and notices the girl. Instinctively, Jungkook pulls closer to Taehyung. "Who's that?" Jungkook mutters.

"I'm just saying that this is going to be dangerous," she states flatly. She casts him a level look, "I don't want to wait around for him to attempt coming in here. If we can escape before he gets here, that would be great."

Jungkook sits up and rubs the sleep from his eyes. "What's going on?" he mumbles. He nudges Taehyung with his elbow for an answer.

Taehyung lets out a low sigh, annoyed with the girl's obliviousness to their situation. "We can't escape from this place. Jimin was able to escape because he wasn't in this cage. It's impossible to escape from this place without outside help."

Jungkook runs his hand through his thick hair and glances between Taehyung and the girl. He shakes his head in disbelief, "It's like I'm invisible..."

Taehyung nudges Jungkook with his foot, "You're not invisible, Kook, I'm just explaining that what this girl wants is impossible." He shoots another look at the girl, warning her against continuing this pointless argument.

"My name is Eden," she replies defensively. "And I don't think that's impossible. We could get lucky like Jimin."

"Jimin?" Jungkook questions, still appearing lost. "Wait, you know Jimin?" he asks with a note of urgency.

Eden nods. "He saved my life when he escaped."

Jungkook squints at her for a moment. "Well, it looks like he didn't do a good job of it. Why are you here?" He tilts his head to the side as he watches her with his doe-like eyes.

Eden laughs dryly. "It was fine in the first half." She explains how she knows Jimin and how she and her friend ended up here.

Jungkook listens intently and doesn't break eye contact, even if she can't see him staring back at her. When she finishes, he leans back against Taehyung and looks off to the side, lost in brief thought. "He's coming back for us."

"Yes... but I'd like to leave before then."

"We'd all like to leave," Taehyung mumbles bitterly, offended that she thinks escaping is so easy. "If it were that easy, we would have escaped years ago."

Eden's jaw clenches with irritation. "I can't just sit here and do nothing."

"Let's not argue," Jungkook glances nervously between Taehyung and Eden, "maybe having another person will help us. We should work together. Where is your friend?"

Eden lowers his gaze, uncertain. "I don't know. I thought he was here too. Taehyung says he's in another cage."

Taehyung rests his large hand on Jungkook's shoulder and casually massages it. He looks off to the side and watches the door on the other side of the cage.

The door remains shut for the majority of the day, unless it is mealtime or if they are going to take them away for another round of injections.

They opened the cage to put Eden inside while Taehyung and Jungkook were sleeping, but Taehyung doubted that was a good opening. There would have been too many people there. Not only that, they are always armed with tasers and stun guns.

They wouldn't get far, even if they made it past the guards. The entire place is filled with security cameras, passcode-locked doors, and dangerous rooms for failed experiments. The rooms are occupied by hybrids who went insane but were too valuable to put to sleep. They are kept barely alive but that doesn't reduce the risk of being attacked in the slightest.

In summary, it's impossible to escape without outside help.

There is no way they can escape without Jimin's help.

"If Jimin is coming, then we should wait for him," Jungkook says, breaking the silence. Taehyung looks at Jungkook with mild surprise, wondering if he could read his mind. "We can't escape without help. Jimin knows the way out since he was taken outside, he can come back in and help us escape the right way."

"The right way?" she asks.

"This place is filled with dangerous rooms, locked doors, security cameras," Taehyung explains, "one wrong turn can be your undoing. If we are going to escape, we have to be careful of the route we take."

"I didn't realize this was so... big," Eden's voice falls with sudden defeat. "I just thought it was a warehouse or something."

Jungkook looks at her with sympathy in his eyes. "It's going to be tough, but maybe we can do this."

"Hopefully..."

"Don't worry, Eden," Jungkook continues in a reassuring tone. "Jimin can save us." He yawns loudly and scoots back to lean against Taehyung's shoulder. He wraps his arms around Taehyung's arm and cuddles his head against him. Taehyung notices a slight wag in Jungkook's fluffy tail. Taehyung worries if he's too hopeful.

He doesn't want Jungkook to be hurt. But Taehyung also doesn't want to doubt Jimin's abilities.

Jungkook closes his eyes and sighs quietly, "It's going to be okay, let's just... sleep..."

Taehyung's gaze softens as he watches his younger brother. Despite the dark life they have been forced to live, Jungkook has remained pure of heart and kind. He doesn't understand how he does it. Maybe Jungkook is an angel.

Once he confirms Jungkook is asleep, Taehyung looks up at Eden with a serious expression. "You should gather your strength if you plan on breaking out of here." He can't hide the note of cynicism in his voice.

Eden rolls her eyes at him and turns towards the cage wall. "I will," she says curtly.

Taehyung smirks before relaxing against Jungkook. He closes his eyes but his mind is wide awake.

He hopes Jimin can save them. He hopes everything will go right when the time comes. But he knows better than to hope. He's spent too long in the dark to remember what the light feels like. He knows better than to trust the light behind the door; it could be sunlight or just another lightbulb.

They have at least one thing going for them if they hope to escape with their lives.

There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. And Taehyung is as wounded as they come.

Taehyung would give anything to return to Jimin and save Jungkook from this place. His family. They deserve to be protected, first and foremost.

On the other hand... maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have an extra hand. Maybe Eden will be more useful than he thought.

A/N: Finally, I posted on time!! What do you guys think so far? : ) I know I keep switching POV's but I feel like the story works better from their perspectives for certain scenes than remaining in Eden's mind the entire time. A quick note, they are not brothers by blood but brothers through bonds! Remember to eat well and drink lots of water!! You are not alone in this world! You don't have to fight on your own! <3