Hunted [Chapter 14]
"It's not your fault." I whisper and wait for what's coming. For a couple of moments I don't feel a thing. That is until a searing pain sets in my right arm. It spreads and fast. The pain is practically unbearable and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to scream. But it's a battle I'm going to lose. Around wounds, the pain is even worse. When it reaches my knee, I can't hold back a scream as I fall on my knees, hurting it even more.
The pain doesn't stop nor diminishes. It's like someone set my veins on fire. I can't see anymore, I can only hear screams far away. It's probably me, screaming like that. Who else? I can't feel anything else but pain. I can't feel myself standing, sitting, lying down or whatever. Just the burning pain.
I'm still awake, somehow. Otherwise I wouldn't feel anything... I think. Bright colours are flashing before my eyes, something that normally makes me nauseous. But I guess my brain can't process being nauseous right now, not with all the pain. Finally I can't hear the screams anymore. The pain slowly but surely subsides and the colours make place for black.
***
I'm standing in the field again. This time, it's autumn. The grass looks dull and yellow, the flowers are long gone. The leaves of the tree however are bright red. It's beautiful... peaceful.
"Hyung!" Underneath the tree is Daesung, waving at me... smiling. He's holding strawberries in his other hand. Strawberries?
He tilts his head towards the space next to him, signing me to sit down.
"Do you want a strawberry, hyung?" He asks me while he stuffs one in his mouth. He kind of looks like a hamster now. It's cute.
"You know I can't eat, Daesung." I say softly while smiling. He looks down and nods slowly.
"I know, but they're strawberries... maybe... maybe you are able to eat strawberries..." he blushes. I know he's only trying to help me. And I do kind of miss the taste of strawberries.
"I don't think it works like that..." I whisper, trying to keep my tone lightly as if joking.
"Where did you get them anyway?" He looks up smiling again.
"Oh, I found them by the river." River? There's a rive-- wait a minute...
"Dae, it's autumn, there are no strawberries now." He looks up, surprised.
"Well, apparently there are..." Then, it dawns on me... I'm dreaming again. Shit, I shouldn't be dreaming, not now! I get up and walk away from Daesung, whatever is coming next, I'm not waiting for it. It's going to be a lot harder once I wake up if I do.
"Hyung? Where are you going? Hyung?! Hyung!!" I can hear Dae screaming at me. I want to turn around, so badly, but I can't, it's not real.
So I keep on walking.
"HYUNG!!"
***
"HYUNG!!" My eyes snap open, Dae's voice still in my head. I'm sitting on my knees, breathing heavily. The pain is no longer as strong as it was. Just some minor burn feeling at the ends of my hands and feet and my knee of course. I feel weak, if the chains weren't where they are, I'd fall over.
"HYUNG!" Dae? Wait, he's here? I can't believe my eyes. Dae's standing across the room, chained, looking pale, scared and almost crying, but otherwise okay. The doctor is standing next to him, shaking and surrounded by a couple of guards.
"Dae?!" Oww, my throat hurts. I can barely say anything. But at least Daesung heard me.
"Hyung!" The colour returns to his face and he sighs.
"Thank god." I suppose he thought I was dead already. It probably looked like it, I'm pretty sure I'm not looking healthy.
"Well well, look who finally joined the land of the living again. Had a nice nap, Seunghyun?" The one voice I don't want to hear. He's still standing on the balcony.
"What is Daesung doing here? Let him go!" I find my voice again. He just laughs. Dae can't be here. Whatever they are planning it can't be good.
"I think you already know why. See Seunghyun, on the outside it might seem like you changed. But on the inside you're still the same frightened kid with low self-esteem. You couldn't care less if I'd hurt or even kill you. But I really need to find that Jiyong friend of yours, plus... I want you to feel the same pain I did." There was no joy in his voice anymore. His eyes were dark now, hard.
"So you leave me no choice. Guard!" One of the guards steps towards Dae. He looks so afraid now. Why him, he doesn't deserve any of this. I see the guard pulling a knive from one of his uniform's pockets. I have to do something. Think. THINK!
"Wait!" I realise a bit late that that was the sound of my own voice. The bully smirks again.
"See? Much better. So Seunghyun, where's Jiyong?" Shit, shit!
"No Hyung, don't!" Dae screams. I can't let them torture Daesung... But I can't just betray Ji like this either... wait...
"You can't harm him! He's human!" It's better than telling him where Ji is, but still.
"So? A minor sacrifice for a greater cause." He smirks again, seems like all he ever does is smirk.
"You know that's not true. Jiyong is no danger to other people. But if you harm Daesung, in any way, it makes you no better than me. You'll be a monster as well." I see Dae flinch at the word 'monster'. I know he hates the fact that I think of myself as a monster, but it's the truth. And it seems to have the desired effect. The bully is no longer smirking. It seems as if he's thinking about what I just said. It's a bluff, at least part of it. Hurting him is not the same as killing him, but it's close enough.
"I see you're point. It's a good one as well..." he's walking around, clearly thinking about it.
"Guard, stand down! I won't hurt another human... at least not physically... "He stops at the railing again. He's smiling once again. This isn't good.
"I know for a fact that Daesung here is your boyfriend and that I can hurt him by hurting you. So that's what I'm going to do." How... how does he know?
"What, you're going to torture me again? Not very unique, what makes you think it'll work this time?" Keep on bluffing, I know I won't be able to take much more of this.
"Oh, no I'm not going to torture you again... well, not really anyway. See, my men are here constantly. They don't have the luxury to return home at night, nor see their wives for a long time... No time to... relax." Oh shit, no. I can't believe my ears. Daesung's face is pure white.
"I don't think I have to spell it out do I? Guards, take the doctor outside. After that, enjoy yourselves..." The doctor is being dragged out, screaming at the bully to stop. Not this, anything but this...
Once she is outside of the room, the guards return and walk towards me. I'm scared to death. Torture is one thing, but this... I guess I kind of deserve this... but Daesung doesn't. One of the guards pulls me up by my hair. It hurts, but not as badly as my knee does. I can barely stand up, let alone fight them. There are three of them standing around me. They look old and dirty. The one that pulled me up starts to pet my hair and I'm already ready to puke. I can feel hands all over me and it makes me sick. One of the hands disappears underneath the shirt I'm wearing.
"S-stop." My voice sound so insecure and broken, I doubt it has any effect.
"Wait, stop! I-I'll tell you! He's in a deserted red brick house near the central park!" Dae! He- he can't know that, how does he know that?! Shit... Shit! Everyone freezes except the bully. He claps his hands and laughs out loud.
"I'm surprised. You should've just told us sooner. It would've saved you from all of this." He picks up his radio and gives orders to search for Ji. I look at Dae, disappointment and confusion probably written on my face as he looks away from me, head bowed.
"Gentlemen, continue." What?!
"Wh- I just told you what you wanted to know!" Dae screams at the balcony, but the bully just smiles evilly. The three guards standing around me start to move again.
"Stop! Leave him alone!" Dae starts to pull his handcuffs and chains. The guards ignore him and continue what they are doing. I focus on Daesung now, he's hurting himself trying to escape, but it doesn't seem to stop him. For a moment, I think I see Daesung's eye colour turning white, but it's my imagination trying to cope with the situation.
"I said leave him alone!!" But the second time I look at Daesung's eyes, they're still white. I'm not imagining anything. In mere seconds his hair turns almost white, nails grow sharp and black and three black stripes appear on his cheeks. No. Way. He's... he's also...
"He's one of them!" The bully screams, clearly as surprised by this as I am. I even forget to try to escape while new guards are entering the room, running towards Daesung. He, however, manages to break his chains and starts to hit the guards. They fly for a couple of meters after being punched. Such force... Dae, he's completely different.
I'm still staring when Dae finally manages to claw his way towards me. He's standing in front of me, chest heaving and practically bare. He must have ripped his shirt fighting the guards. Almost all of them, including the three that were standing next to me, are scattered on the floor. Daesung cuts off my chains as well and puts on of his arms around my back. We try to run but it's no use. My legs are too damaged to run. Dae seems to notice though and picks me up, bridal style. Oh god... If we weren't running for our lives, this would be hot... well even now it is.
"Shoot them!" I can hear the bully yell and not even 5 seconds later, a shot is fired. Daesung's eyes widen and he starts to tremble. He's shot! No! He keeps on walking, but we're crashing towards the ground not much later. Shit! No no no no! Dae!
"Daesung!" I crawl towards him and try to keep him up. No, please!
"Dae, stay with me!" He tilts his head up and smiles softly at me.
"Hyung... I'm sorry..." And he collapses in my arms.
"DAE!" I try to hold him up, but it's nearly impossible. No Dae, please don't leave me. I can't live without you... I'm so sorry.
Another shot is fired and I feel something entering my arm, I look down to see a syringe. They are not shooting with bullets, but sedatives! Thank god! My happiness however is short-lived as the room around me starts to go black.
TBC
A/N: phew, no more writer's block! Yeey. Pretty heave chapter, I know.
Daesung to the rescue (sort of, anyway). A couple of you saw it coming and OOOH sh*******t a huge spider just crossed my wall. RUN!!!!
*see you next chapter*
So any of you have tumblr? mine and my friends joined kpop blog is: http://the-loof-is-on-fiya.tumblr.com - let's be friends, ne? ^^