Continuation from the chap before: 

Hopefully, the gates were closed by then but Lee could only hope, he was a helpless little man in a lab coat after all. What more could he do? Their steps echoed down the corridor as they searched for a place safe enough to wait for a rescue, if it even came that is. The screams of the commander ended a long time ago, though it was a blessing to their ears and state of mind this also meant the beast wasn't preoccupied anymore. They were going to be the main course if they stayed out in the open any longer.

But as they traveled deeper into the lab, away from the beast, they soon realized that they were headed in the direction of the open enclosure. This was its familiar setting, they were quite literally walking into the lion's den willingly.

Thankfully the woman took action faster and yanked Lee to the side and pressed him up against the wall, trapping him between the wall and her body. Lee looked up to avoid the clashing of his jaw with her forehead. He blew a strand of her hair out of the way as he nudged her in a questioning manner. She looked up and motioned him to be silent. And as if on queue the sound of a low growl reverberated down the hall. Lee's hand grasped her coat in an instant, letting his fear get the best of him. Lee shut his eyes and if possible the woman could almost see him sinking into the wall. The man had broken out into a cold sweat and she could tell her was on the verge of collapsing from the exhaustion and panic welling up inside him.

The both of them drew in a harsh breath the second the beast's forearm thudded on the floor beside them. A guttural growl emanated from its partially decomposed throat as it stopped in its tracks. It seemed that it hadn't noticed the shivering duo pressed up against the wall. The woman moved her hand subtly to grab hold of Lee's tremoring fingers as the movement was significantly strong, posing the threat of being spotted. The beast swayed for a moment beside them, sniffing at the air before moving forward, headed in the direction of it's enclosure. As it finally turned a corner, Lee let out a shaky breath, collapsing to the floor as his knees gave way. The woman crouched to his eye level, wrapping her fingers around his collar to stabilize his uncontrollable shivering.

Would they ever escape this hell?...

Kim Yera's P.O.V

Hands roamed the length of Yera's arms, shaking her awake. For once Yera felt heavy, as if though the gravity bearing down on her had suddenly been amplified. Her body felt lifeless, craving a jolt of electricity to jumpstart and rid her of the paralyzed curse possessing her.

A voice tore its way through the blur of it all.

"Yera!" the voice sounded all too familiar. Seconds later, as if her name being cried out was a wake-up call, two slits of blinding light penetrated the darkness that surrounded her. Yera's head throbbed at the sudden intrusion as the tears widened. She almost groaned wishing she could keep her eyes closed a little longer. This was the first time she'd had any rest since they left home and she felt her body aching for a few more seconds of blissful sleep. However, the voice howling in the background seemed to have different plans. Yera finally cracked her eyes open but nothing she saw next made any sense.

A face appeared above her, drawing her attention to its severely blurred features. The thought of someone smudging the face's features into this swirl of neutral colours was funny but unfortunately, Yera was in no position to laugh. Her brows furrowed,  she tried to blink the fuzz-like film coating her eyes away.

Seokjin

Yera finally recognized the distressed voice as he continued to shake her limp body awake. It felt so surreal how Seokjin would always manage to catch Yera at her worst and still be able to pull her out of that void. Yera's mind ran back to the horror episode in the warehouse, where all hope went to die, how Seokjin lugged her around even though she'd been dead weight. At least, that was what Yera thought herself to be, but it seemed like Seokjin definitely saw something in her that she couldn't see within, ironically. Though she never mentioned it again she planned on returning the kind gesture one day, she only had her inability to coordinate with her feelings to blame.

Seokjin had his hands wrapped around her face, begging her to snap out of it. Thoughts flew by in a flurry as she regained consciousness slowly. The one that stuck being a certain brunette looking right at her with an expression of pure confusion and fear, before everything went dark.

Panic.

That was the very feeling that consumed Yera as a whole, the moment she remembered. Yera's throat felt constricted as dread seeped into her veins.

"Jungkook.." she uttered in a daze, mimicking a deer in headlights as she stared dead ahead at Seokjin. Moving the boy's trembling hands, she managed to haul herself into a seated position.

"What?" his words finally registered.

"Where is he?" the last thing she heard before the blackout was the deafening crack of a gunshot, just as Micheal got his hands on the weapon. She was so sure it was aimed point-blank at Jungkook.

"Yera! You need to get up!" Seokjin ignored her question but not before shooting someone behind her a look of unease. Hooking his arms under hers he heaved her floppy body up. Yera swung her arm around his neck immediately, appreciating the steady and strong shoulder that urged her to stand, no matter the lack of energy. But before the boy could speak, he was yanked down to duck with such force he half imagined his forehead ramming directly into his knees.

Yera swirled around Seokjin and raised her leg with that momentum to round-house kick a man who had seemingly crept up on them amidst the chaos. The man was, as expected, catapulted a few feet away from them before he met the cruel gravel road which had him sliding across it for a few seconds, before coming to a painful halt.

Kim Taehyung's P.O.V

Taehyung turned to look at Yera with a mixture of fear and awe. The line between the two emotions, vague.

"How?-" Before the Seokjin could finish his sentence, Yera grabbed the back of his shirt and thrusted him aside, unfortunately for Taehyung, he was the closest soft landing. Seokjin crashed into the poor boy, hard, his body flailing like a ragdoll in the air. Taehyung landed with a disgraceful 'umph', all the air in his lungs knocked out from the sheer force. How Yera had the strength of a Rhinoceros even after being knocked out for a good couple of minutes, had left both boys dumbfounded.

The reason behind her sudden violent outburst had everything to do with an idiot who had come at them with his shiny, bronze knuckles. The man recovered and waved them around like a new toy. It seemed as if he had finally found the perfect moment to pull those bad boys out and give them use.

Taehyung watched from his lowered position, which happened to be on his ass, seated on the ground disoriented with an equally confused boy on his lap. Yera stumbled sideways, visibly fighting the dizziness as she raised her fists, almost taunting the man to approach her.

The man grinned and sucked his teeth as if he'd savour this fight. Something churned within Taehyung at the sight, he was sure Seokjin felt it too.

"Common' baby...I'm waitin'.."

There was an unusual feeling of white, hot, blinding rage that took over Taehyung's body. Where it was coming from he had no idea. But he knew it to be similar, almost identical, to what he felt when Jimin was attacked behind the truck. He didn't understand how he could feel this way for someone like Yera, a complete stranger two weeks before.

But he found it possible, it felt like he'd known her for ages, they'd cheated death countless times after all, a bond like that could surely uproot this level of an intimate attachment.

Surely.

Taehyung watched with a focused gaze as he studied Yera's composure. With her back to him not much was revealed, but from her posture, it was obvious she was running on nothing but pure, untapped adrenaline. She rolled her shoulders back fighting the urge of exhaustion, relentless as always.

There it was again.

The feeling so raw and genuine.

Yera made Taehyung feel things that he was sure the others had also fallen victim to, she had that effect on people, he deduced in that split second. Only the meaning behind that effect was what confused him.

Just a smile of encouragement from her had him ready to throw all common sense out the window. He'd seen it when she took the lead from the very start. No wonder he and Seokjin followed her with blind utter trust. Something told them she was exactly what they needed. Who knew she'd turn out to be such a dear friend to them? They had a soft spot for her, that was certain.

The sound of the man clearing his disgusting throat snatched Taehyung right out of his train of thought. The man snorted out loud, in a show, and spat directly at Yera's feet. The wad of spit shown under the harsh sun as Yera looked back at the man with an undoubted look of loathing.

The man smirked and licked his dry lips, almost salivating.

With this foreign feeling commandeering his body, Taehyung released all remaining restraint, determined to hurt the man prowling towards Yera.

All at once, Yera charged at the man, balled fists engulfed with power. That punch was going to knock him out, Taehyung was sure.

Yera's fist collided with the man's jaw.

Yet he turned back to look at her, unphased.

Both boys were up on their feet in an instant.

'What the fuck?'

This was a question the trio telepathically shared.

The man grinned, "Cute.." and wound his arm back, the metal band covering his knuckles gleamed, almost a quick warning. Like a spring, the fist came back at such a speed that Taeyung barely managed to catch it with his eyes.

Yera dodged, countering his attack with a hard left hook. But before she could land a hit, the man recovered and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her to the side. Yera let out a pained grunt as the man shook her like a fish on a line.

Taehyung saw red.

Before he realized it, he was gripping the man's ear. A howl escaped the confused man as Taehyung wrenched the shell of his ear, twisting it till the idiot lost grip of Yera. Seokjin was a step ahead of Taehyung as he caught Yera by the waist, simultaneously throwing a punch so hard the sound of the man's nose crunching was louder than the chaos around them.

It was Taehyung's turn to smile.

The man's yowling was cut short as Taehyung grabbed the other ear and brought the thug's head down to meet his knee in one swift movement.

Yera noticed a stark contrast to what Taehyung was before this whole shit fest. To Yera's standard, Taehyung was now completely skilled, his movements were almost fluid, comfortable, and experienced. In fact, this contrast was seen in all of the boys now that she thought about it. It took less than two weeks for them to accept what the world had come to and here they were now, knocking out thugs effortlessly with no training whatsoever.  Not to mention the fact that they could now use a firearm without shooting each other by accident. Almost as if they didn't have to think about the action, their bodies completely in sync with their aim as they fired flawlessly. Yera was indeed impressed as was she grateful that she wasn't alone. If she was to be completely honest, she knows that she wouldn't have made it this far had it not been for them.

And for that, she owed them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Seokjin, wanting to get a turn at disciplining the thug, lunged forward before Yera could react and grabbed the man's bronze-knuckled hand, twisting it violently behind his back. The man cried out as he struggled to regain his bravado.

Taehyung dealt out the final blow by slugging the man right in the nose. The man's head slumped low, he'd been knocked out cold.

"Okay, let's go" Seokjin said, taking hold of Yera's arm, guiding her in the direction he assumed the others were in. It was obvious that he didn't want to stay idle under the premise of being safe just for another thug to show up and cause harm once again.

"Wait-" Yera said as she stood her ground looking in every direction frantically, "Jungkook...where's Jungkook?"

There was no answer.

"That guy shot him...he shot him I'm sure of it" Yera attempted to free herself of Seokjin's firm grip as she moved in the direction she last saw him, near the jeeps.

But...the jeeps were gone...

"What?..." she said with a look of pure bewilderment, overwhelmed by the mounting stress and exhaustion. She was so sure that the Jeeps were parked just there before she blacked out.

"Yera, what did you just say?" Taehyung, who had been silent this entire time suddenly appeared in front of Yera. He took her by the shoulders and demanded that she look at him.

"Say it again...he shot Jungkook? Is that what you said? Is that what she said?" the sound of Taehyung's voice rising as he turned to Seokjin, had Yera's head spinning. She was now feeling the effects of the subsiding Adrenaline, it was certainly not a feeling she welcomed with open arms.

"Wait...who is that?" Seokjin asked slowly, interrupting the process of Yera and Taehyung's dread.

It was a synchronized feeling, Taehyung was sure of it. The feeling of their stomachs dropping was definitely mutual. Until Yera had mentioned Jungook, Taehyung was under the impression that he was on the other side of the road helping the others. But from the looks of it the other four; Namjoon, Yoongi, Jimin, and Hoseok were gone too.

Where had they all gone in that short period? He didn't even hear the start of the engines. Had they taken one of the missing Jeeps? Taehyung was certain that he and Seokjin had only looked away for a second to help Yera, but here they were now, missing four of their original seven...including Yera, now.

Taehyung's attention returned to the body lying on the ground a few feet away from them.

He suddenly felt sick. It was the same as when they first killed in Seokjin's store.

Though his body screamed at him to stand right where he was, repulsed by the idea of Jungkook being the lifeless body lying on the road with a pool of blood surrounding him, his head was oddly clear. Clear as a blue sky on the first day of summer. It was serene, calm even.

He was the first to move.

Yera and Seokjin, frozen in place, made no effort to stop him. It was as if they were all thinking the same thing.

'It's not him...it cant be'

However just before Taehyung could reach the body, one of Claire's goons had intercepted, picking up the limp body and draping it's arm over his shoulder in a hurry. He turned around with the body and was almost visibly startled by Taehyung a few feet away from him. But what had the trio releasing a huge sigh of relief was Michael's bruised and unconscious face coming into view. Yera felt the relief deep within her bones at the revelation that the gunshot was the sound of someone shooting Michael just before he could do exactly that to Jungkook.

This of course meant that Jungkook, the other four, and Claire were missing, as were the Jeeps. Taehyung ignored the thug carrying Michael as he glanced at the stretch of the empty road ahead of them.

Faint skid marks from the Jeeps painted the road far off in the distance, confirming his suspicions...

Things were definitely going to get messier....how much? Taehyung didn't have the answer to that yet...