Born in a world of ice, Yoongi was ravished by the beauty of the flames dancing in front of him.

The crackle, the warmth, the very fact that it came from inside him.... set every vein within him ablaze.

Stepping back, Yoongi opens his mouth, his screams morphing into a roaring fire that burns everything in his path.

Never in his life has he felt this powerful.

He had to win this game---needed to win.

The crunching of leaves beneath stranger footsteps causes his head to jerk in that direction.

Before him stood a hooded participant, a chain wrapped around their hand, the length unknown as he could not make out the end.

Yoongi side-eyes the person, giving a dry chuckle. Were they seriously challenging him?

Concentrating on the heat boiling inside him, he gets ready for the rage.

The hooded person suddenly whips out the chain to its full length, skillfully swinging it so it wraps from one hand then onto the other. The ax on the end was barely visible to Yoongi's eyes.

Yoongi wastes no time in sending out flames spewing from his mouth. He was certain it would be enough to just scare the man. It was always enough.

So the ax making it through the flames, calculating the very direction in needed to slice across his chest, caught Yoongi off guard.

Yoongi cuts his flames short, throwing himself back so he could cover his chest.

What the fuck?

The wall of flames in front of him suddenly wind out as the chain brushes atop it with haste.

Yoongi staggers back, squinting his eyes to try and look past the hazy smoke.

It was quiet and for the first time, Yoongi was terrified.

Yoongi inhaled deeply but before he managed to get his breath out, the person flew through the smoke. With the chain taught in his hands, he hit it against Yoongi's neck, flipping over him to then pull it tightly around.

Yoongi's eyes bulge out, his hands attempting to pull the chain away.

He started to feel cold and he hated it. His whole life was lived out in the cold so now that he had the warmth, he wasn't ready to let go. Yet, he couldn't manage to make himself warm again.

The boy's mouth hovers over his ear, causing Yoongi's shaking eyes to go towards the side.

His low voice enough to send shivers down his spine.

"Fire breathing."

The chain unwraps from his neck, the figure jumping out of the way.

Yoongi falls to the floor, gasping as he tries to see through the tears coating his vision.

What he finally manages to see...

...is an ax swinging towards his neck.

N̶o̶.̶12 ̶M̶i̶n̶ ̶Y̶o̶o̶n̶g̶i̶

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Episode 4

Hope to die

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Nara woke up to the sound of birds chirping out the window. For a second, she completely forgot that she was actually stuck in some twisted, psychotic survival game. Secretly, she was hoping that it was all just one bad nightmare. Yet, as she sits up and looks around, she realizes that it was all too real and she's very very hungry.

She spots Jungkook and Taehyung still fast asleep, making her eyes soften at the peace. Such a shame... will they really have to kill one another in the end?  

Jungkook turns his head slightly, his eyes fluttering open at last. His eyes do the same as Nara's and look around before landing still on her own, smiling slowly. 

"Morning," Jungkook croaks and then he pats his body all over. "Oh wow!"

Nara raises an eyebrow. "What?"

Jungkook flashes her another smile, "You kept me in one piece."

Nara playfully rolls her eyes. "I wasn't going to kill you in your sleep."

Jungkook tilts his head to lean against his shoulder. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. I was just praising your stakeout skills."

Before Nara could say anything, Taehyung starts to stir in his sleep. Bringing up a hand to rub his eyes, he slowly starts to wake up, squinting at Nara and Jungkook. He had fallen asleep!

"S-sorry!" Taehyung quickly sits up, squeezing his eyes shut as he curses himself. "I wasn't supposed to fall asleep."

Nara gets up and makes her way over to Taehyung's couch, making herself comfortable. "Nope, you were supposed to wake me up in 3 hours."

Taehyung looks at Nara apologetically. Reaching over, Nara couldn't help but gently fixes his bed hair.

Jungkook looks between Nara and Taehyung, growing a bit uncomfortable with the way they're acting. He wasn't too familiar with what was happening, but he's sure that this was something called being the "third wheel".

Clearing his throat, he spins around on his heel and throws his arms behind his head.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm about to chew my arm off or better..."

Jungkook suddenly turns around and grabs Taehyung's shoulders. "...Yours!"

Taehyung's eyes widen and Nara burst into laughter upon seeing his reaction.

"C'mon." She stands up and starts making her way over to the door.

When she places her hand on the doorknob, she feels one of their hands wrap around her wrist.

Letting go of the doorknob, she looks up to see that it was Taehyung stopping her.

"Careful." He looks over at Jungkook and gives him a nod.

Confused, Nara stumbles back behind Taehyung.

Jungkook closes his eyes, visualizing the floors of the building as well as the small radius around it. Confirming they were the only three bodies nearby, he opens his eyes.

He gives them a nod before opening the door and stepping out.

Taehyung and Nara follow him, relaxing when they see that there really are no other people here with them.

Jungkook walks over to the elevator, looking once more on the directory listed next to it. "Yup, Kitchen's on the 15th floor. Great that it hasn't moved."

Nara rolls her eyes and pushes Jungkook onto the elevator as soon as the doors arrive. 

The whole ride there, Nara prays that there is food left in the kitchen. It's only been a day since the town was evacuated so she doesn't see a reason for the kitchen to be cleared out or for the food to have spoiled. But really all she could do was hope.

The elevator doors open slowly to reveal a huge cafeteria. The tables and chairs were scattered, a couple of food left on the table, all an indication that the building was occupied at the time of the first attack. They all look towards the back where the refrigerator was placed alongside the sink and cabinets. 

Already tasting the food on the tip of his tongue, Jungkook starts rushing towards it. Nara follows cautiously after him, Taehyung holding onto her sweater as he walks behind her.

Jungkook's heart drums against his chest as he throws open the fridge doors. Immediately his eyes land on the stacks of Tupperware all placed throughout. He doesn't even miss the liters of soda along the sides of the door.

Not wasting another second, Jungkook takes the soda unbottling it and chugging as much down as he can.

Getting out of the way, he places it onto the counter and wipes his mouth with his sweater. He watches with a smile as it was Nara and Taehyung's turn to peek into the fridge. He chuckles when he catches the glimmer in their eyes. 

Nara had never had meals like the ones that these office workers had carefully prepped. Not only could she not cook that well, but her mother was too sick to ever make her anything so nutritive. The very sight of all this food could bring tears to her eyes. Looking over at Taehyung, she could tell he's never seen this much food either. 

The three of them quickly started grabbing a couple of the containers before sitting at one of the tables and devouring it all in seconds.

Jungkook holds his stomach as he leans over his chair. "Oh, I'm so full. I've never eaten like this before. What about you guys?"

Nara wipes her mouth and shakes her head. "Definitely not me. I just was always so busy taking care of my mother and working at the gas station that I only ate whatever was available there...and trust me, gas station food is nothing compared to this."

Taehyung balls his fists as he rests them on top of his legs. "I was fed only beans...on good days I'd get rice with a small portion of fish, but those days were rare..."

Jungkook and Nara's face fell.

"So we all really didn't have the best life," Jungkook says after a pause of silence.

Nara knits her eyebrows, looking over at Taehyung who places his mask back over his face. Her heart ached at the thought that this was Taehyung's first real meal. Exactly how was he living before? Was the blood on his hoodie his own after all? Nara was curious about him, who always kind of sunk back between the trio. It was like he didn't want to be seen or didn't want to be noticed. She got that by the way he always placed the mask over his face, his hoodie so closely fitted with the shirt underneath covering his neck. Taehyung didn't want any bit of him noticed. It made her worried about what could be underneath.

A loud crack! causes Nara to quickly jerk her head towards the window.

Jungkook threw himself up so fast his chair scraped against the ground. "What the hell?"

The sound is heard again, but this time the flash of lightning is seen as it quickly zaps to the ground harshly. Not even a second later, three more quickly whip from the sky. The way they all look directed at the same location is an indicator that it was done purposefully.

Rushing to the window, they scan the area in front of them. It didn't take them long to notice the two figures rushing towards the building.  One of them was going to get there in no time. The other one a bit far from the other's tail.

"Frick." Jungkook runs his fingers through his long hair. "They're definitely coming our way."

Nara feels her throat dry up. She wasn't prepared to fight. Hell, they all weren't prepared to fight. Would they just hide out in the building?

The flash of light comes from the sky, this time they follow it as it attempts to hit the person in front. 

They all take a step back in shock. 

"We have to get to the main floor," Taehyung's voice shakes as he speaks, clearly as rattled as the two beside him.  

Nara looks at him and she's sure she's as pale as a ghost. Here they are minutes from a possible fight and they have zero skills and zero weapons. How are they going to win? Is this where they were going to die? Was she ready? 

"This place is going to go down." Taehyung finishes lowly.

"Fuck." Jungkook shakes his head slightly before snapping out of it and grabbing knives from the kitchen to then thrust the handle into their hands.

Nara's eyes widened.

Jungkook then grabs the broom, taking off the broom head so he's left with just the broom handle. "For close combat." 

Placing it down for a moment, he signals Taehyung to do the same with his knife.

Confused,  Taehyung does so. Not long after, Jungkook comes after him, throwing light punches and shoves.

"Fight. Back." Jungkook urges Taehyung with each shove to Taehyung's shoulder.

Taehyung looked like he was in shock the whole time, but finally, he nods and starts to defend against Jungkook's attacks. 

Nara gasps when it only takes Taehyung 3 seconds to grab Jungkook's fist and twist his arm in order to knock Jungkook off-balance so that he could tuck it behind his back. 

Jungkook groans before muttering, "He's ready."

The three of them grab the weapons before making a rush down the staircase in order to get to the main floor. As they ran, the building rattled, causing them to lose their balance a bit. Nara gasps as she holds onto the rail tightly, her heart pounding.

"We aren't going to make it down, are we?" The thought of being caught under the rubble of the building causes her to panic.

Jungkook gulps as his eyes scan around them, without a second thought he keeps continuing forward. "We have to get down further. We're only on the 10th floor." 

As he takes another step, the building shakes again, making him miss the step and tumble down.

"Jungkook!" Nara shouts after him.

With a loud groan, Jungkook rolls onto his back, broomstick beside him. Nara and Taehyung quickly rush down to help him up. When the building shakes again, they rush into the hallway of the 9th floor where they lean against the wall. 

"My guess is she's hitting the building with her ability. Parts of it are chipping off which is causing the building to shake."

Nara looks down, blinking away the tears. Now's not the time to cry! Pull yourself together!

"Let me in!" 

Someone was screaming at the top of their lungs as they banged on the door, the echoes reaching them and sending a shiver down their spine.

"Let me in, hurry!" He screamed once more. "God, please! Don't let me die this way!"

Nara thinks back to the start of the game, the moment that one of the players was fried to her death. She shakes the thought away as she gulps.

"Do we let him in?" Nara panics, turning toward Jungkook and Taehyung.

Jungkook chokes, "Uh no?! Have you not seen enough zombie movies to know we never let anyone in?!"

"Yeah, but he's not a zombie, Jungkook. He's a human being!" Nara's heart tugged at the sound of the boy's cries.

"That's trying to kill us!" Jungkook shouts back at Nara.

Nara looked helplessly towards Taehyung.

Taehyung jumps a little, startled with having to make a decision. His eyes go to Jungkook who vigorously shakes his head to Nara who pleads with her watery eyes.

"I-I trust Nara's decision. Let's let him in."

Jungkook throws his head back against the wall. "Fine, I'll let him in. You guys work on getting this place covered. There's no point in all of us trying to exit. We clearly won't make it."

Before they could protest, Jungkook grabbed the broomstick and fled down the stairs. 

Jungkook slides down the rails and stumbles onto the main floor where he rushes over and unlocks the door. The boy falls right in, but Jungkook quickly closes the door and puts the broom strick in the handles.

"Quick, block the entrance!" Jungkook screams at the boy who fell in.

Number 15, Jung Hoseok picks himself up and attempts to move furniture in the way, but it's too late. A blast causes them to fly and scrape against the floor.

"Ah!" Jungkook rolls and covers his arm. 

Hoseok rushes over to Jungkook, helping him up. "I'll buy us time, let's go up the stairs."

Jungkook opens his eyes to stare at 3 copies of the same guy. Confused if he hit his head, he waits for his vision to merge together, but nothing.

"Hurry!" The one in the middle says.

Jungkook nods and starts running up the stairs, leading the way for Hoseok.

Hoseok sends over his clones to stand in the doorway as he runs with Jungkook, trying to keep them there for as long as he was able too.

"I'm just going to take this whole place down!" Yeji shouts from the doorway as she throws open her arms, getting the charge started, drawing enough electricity to then pinball into the building, striking with force as she screams.

Jungkook shuts his eyes as he rushes up the stairs, Hoseok following close behind him.

 "We won't make it! We won't make it up any higher!"

Just as he was about to take another step, he feels nothing beneath his feet. With a gasp, he attempts to reach out for something. 

With nothing to hold onto, they fall straight down.

-

"Do you think she's going to come into the building?" Nara asked Taehyung as she clutched onto her knife. 

Taehyung did the same on the other side of the doorway, shaking his head. "I-I don't know. I mean...I think it would be easier to just have the building crush us."

Nara wiped a tear away from her eye. Taehyung sat up a bit, watching her do so.  "Are you scared?"

Nara chuckled without humor, "Of course, I'm scared."

Taehyung tilted his head a bit. "You wanted to win." 

Nara shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. I definitely don't expect to win. I know eventually, I'll die...It's just...I can't help but be scared of dying. Aren't you?"

Taehyung thought about her question for the first time. 

"No."

She looked at him in shock, her eyebrows drawing upward.

Taehyung leaned his head against the wall. "I used to always be on the brink of death. Always a second left to live. I was in constant panic and fear...I hate it the feeling so much...I was just so weak. But now...I don't fear death anymore. I don't have to." 

Nara's mouth fell open slightly as she took in the darkness settling into Taehyung's eyes. His eyes held all the pain and misery of his memory.  Before she could say anything more, the whole building starting to tremble worse than before.

They immediately attempted to grab onto something, but it quickly slipped past their grasp as the building began to collapse. As the floor tilted, they started sliding down it, everything in the kitchen breaking through the windows.

Taehyung flailed, struggling to grab onto everything in hopes something would be stable, but he was quickly running out of time. His face scrunched up as he faced the window he'd have to crash through. Throwing his arms over his face, he braced for the fall coming. 

Nara hit against the pole with her hip, immediately throwing her arms around it. Was Taehyung okay? Where was he?! She saw him quickly sliding past and she didn't waste any time to wrap her legs around the pole as she threw herself back and grabbed onto his hoodie, praying it wouldn't come off of him.

Her arms stretched and she screamed a little but she was determined to keep the grip around the pole as tightly as she could. It would be easier to let him go, but she couldn't do that. She'd rather die knowing that she was humane. 

Taehyung's hoodie drew upward and for a second he thought that it had caught on something. He would have preferred that option. Hearing Nara scream meant that she had a grip on him. It meant that she was trying to save them both. Anybody else would have let him go, why didn't she?

Taehyung's breaths grew shorter as he slowly opened his eyes and saw how steep the building was now falling. They both couldn't make it, that was for sure.

"Nara...You can't save me!" His voice wavered a little.

Nara groaned as she tightened her grip, "I can! Believe in me! I can!"

Taehyung started slipping out of the hoodie. His eyes drop down to the belts and harness wrapped around his body that were starting to peek from underneath his hoodie, his heart quickly accelerated.

"Nara...let me go!"

Nara shook her head, but the floor was tilting steeper. The weight of Taehyung was starting to strain her arms. Tears prickled her eyes as she felt the fabric slipping past her fingers. Any second now she wasn't going to feel him there and that messed with her.

"Nara," Taehyung tilted his head up as he whispered, "Let me go."

Taehyung watched as she kept shaking her head. Never had Taehyung met someone who cared about his life as she did. At this moment, she was his biggest strength.

And unfortunately, Taehyung was her greatest weakness.

Shutting his eyes, Taehyung tugged hard on the hoodie, causing Nara to lose her grip on it.

Nara screamed so hard her throat felt on fire,

"No!"

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TO BE CONTINUED

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A/N:  OMG. How we feelin'?? Any thoughts???! I wonder if yall noticed something. Also, Thank you amazing people for waiting patiently for this update. I was working hard on this all week and believe it or not, it takes a lot to write this! Don't get me wrong, it's super fun, but I want it to flow nicely. Love you guys for all your support - comments and upvotes. Thank you!