Hunted [Chapter 16]
"It seems they moved us to the new cell in quite a hurry. They forgot something. The door. The door isn't reinforced so I can easily break it. I guess yours as well... Oh and guys, when are we going to risk doing this?"
"Tomorrow..."
Taeyang and Seungri are not too keen on escaping tomorrow. It's too soon and we don't even have a proper plan. Honestly, it is too soon, but on the other hand we can't risk prolonging our escape. We have to go and we have to go now. Taeyang agrees when I tell him, but Seungri still sounds a bit untrusting. It takes us a while before Seungri agrees as well, but in the end he can't deny he's afraid to stay here any longer.
There are some people that talk a lot. They mostly don't listen to what others are saying and don't think before they act. In fact, they mostly don't think at all. Seungri talks a lot as well, maybe a bit too much even. But once in a while, he says something intelligent. Like now, for instance.
"We should start escaping before sunrise. I've noticed their shifts change right before the sun comes up."
"And once on the outside of the building, those guys will have trouble seeing anything while we can use our uh... let's call it night vision." Daesung agrees. It seems their little dispute from earlier is completely off the table.
"But that means we'll have to move fast." Also true.
"Plus, if we wait, they could take one of us for some testing or..." Seungri doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't have to. Everyone knows that if they come and take us away again, it won't be for some simple tests… Not anymore.
"You're right, escaping just before sunrise is our only option..." I answer. Nobody says anything for a while. It seems like we are all thinking of possible treads and such. Until something dawns on me.
"Taeyang, Seungri, when you guys where moved, did they tell you why they moved you?" I only just noticed that I don't know why they moved them as well.
"They didn't have to. One of the water pipes collapsed and filled our cells with water." Taeyang explains in a calm voice.
"So they don't know we talked or even know each other, apart from us both knowing Ji?"
"No... No, I don't think they do..."
"Perfect! If they notice for example that I and Dae escaped, they would focus on us and not know about your escape..."
"Or if you guys are in trouble we could come and help you without them knowing..." Seungri says, sounding rather positive. It's certainly a bonus if you think about it. And we can use all the luck we can get.
"Me and hyung will break out first and come straight to you, okay?" Dae and I both agree. We should sleep a bit or at least try to. We'll need all our energy for tomorrow's escape. Daesung ends the link between the four of us after saying goodnight and turns his head towards me.
“Goodnight, hyung.” He smiles softly.
“Goodnight Dae” I smile back and watch Dae close his eyes.
**
I’m the first one up… Well, I didn’t exactly sleep to be honest. I couldn’t, not with knowing what we’re about to do. Daesung is still sleeping, snoring softly. I hate to wake him up when he looks so cute like this. I comb thru his white hair, so he wakes up slowly. He’s still changed, but at this point, there’s no reason to change to our more human looking forms when we are around each other. I’m still changed as well, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see anything at this point. It’s dark inside. We have to make the darkness our advantage. Sure, we’re stronger and faster than the guards, but they got guns. One well aimed shot and it will all be for nothing. It scares me, more than I’ll admit but we simply can’t risk staying here.
Daesung slowly opens his bright white eyes. They seem to glow, but that’s probably just because we can see in the dark. He smiles at me and sits up.
“I’ll contact the others” He whispers. Apparently his faint pupils disappear when he makes telepathic contact. They appear back just after a second or so though.
“Guys, are you awake already?”
“You mean still awake? I didn’t sleep, at all!” Seungri’s annoyed voice answers instantly. It seems I’m not the only one who had trouble sleeping.
“I have to admit I was too anxious to sleep as well” Youngbae joins in. I can only assume Daesung could sleep because the telepathic contact drained him.
“Okay, we’ll break out after this conversation and come to get you immediately. Where are you guys, what floor?” Shit. I don’t know, I can’t tell because we don’t have any windows. I look at Dae and notice he just thought the same thing.
“We don’t know, we don’t have any windows…” There goes our plan.
“No windows? Are your walls by any chance purple? Cause we were put in such cells the first time we arrived here. Hyung, weren’t they on the first floor?” Seungri asks. Both me, Daesung and Youngbae answer with a yes. It’s Youngbae that keeps on talking.
“Hmm that’s too bad, we’re on the second floor already. Nothing to do about that. We’ll be going… See you later…” Youngbae doesn’t sound so sure about that last part. Now all I and Daesung can do is wait and hope they make it at least this far. We both stay put at the door, just to be sure. Daesung is fumbling with his fingers, a habit when he’s nervous. It’s kind of cute. I put my hand on his hands, trying to comfort him and it seems to work as he smiles.
**
It’s not too long before we both hear noise at the end of the hallway. And sure enough, there they are. Seungri looks fine, just a bit shaken. Youngbae’s arms however are covered in blood.
“Oh my god, are you all right?” Daesung asks as he sees the blood. Youngbae in return nods.
“It’s not… Mine… It’s from one of the guards… He noticed us on the stairs and… I’m unharmed, I’m fine…” He says. But he’s far from fine, I can tell that much. Attacking another person, literately tearing them apart is far from fine, even when he had to.
“You didn’t have another choice, believe me.” I say, knowing it doesn’t really help. But he nods anyway and seems to focus on the task at hand, like the strong man he is.
“Okay, you need to step back a bit. We need to freeze the bars first to make them brittle enough to break them.” Both me and Dae do as we’re told as Seungri puts his hands on the door. The iron bars instantly shows frost on them. Seungri steps aside and Youngbae takes the bars in this hands and pull. The iron breaks as if it’s made out of glass and hit the ground with a loud bang.
“Come on, we have to hurry, someone could’ve heard that.”
The four of us take off, leaving the cell and broken door behind. But as we reach the end of the hallway, I can already tell that it’s not going to be easy. I forgot about my still damaged leg. We turn left into an even bigger hallway and I try to keep up, but I start limping when we’re about half across. Suddenly Dae grabs my arm and we stop walking.
“Hyung, you’re bleeding.” Dae is looking down at my leg. As I look down I can see the bottom part of my pants being soaked in red and some drops on the ground behind me. Both Seungri and Youngbae stopped walking as well and turn around, looking at my leg.
“We need to get you to the infirmary and patch that up, we can’t have blood leading to where we are…” Youngbae says. It’s a ridiculous idea.
“Are you insane, what if the doctor turns up while we’re there!? Besides, it’s more likely they link it to the guard they will find, eventually, on the stairs anyway…” I say and as soon as the words leave my mouth, both Seungri and Youngbae look at each other with an unreadable face. Youngbae nods and Seungri turns to face me again.
“We’ve been meaning to tell you… We took the guard to the infirmary, hoping that after our escape somebody would find him and treat him. But when we arrived, the doctor was already there… She… she was so focused on helping the wounded guy that she didn’t really think about us running free… But… When he died, she finally did notice so… We had to tell her about the plan…” This can’t be happening.
“You did WHAT?!?” I’m about to grab Seungri’s collar, just out of disbelieve. But Youngbae grabs my hand and looks at me with an even more serious face.
“It’s fine, she understood and actually encouraged us to continue. She told us that the elevator isn’t guarded on the first and second floor, but the stairway on the second floor is. So we took the elevator to get here. It’s old but quiet and there aren’t any sign that tell the guards on the third floor that it’s moving.” Youngbae halts his explanation, but I’m still not so convinced it’s all good. She’s a nice doctor that doesn’t deserve all of this. But she needs her job for her kids.
“She also left with us, saying that she’d go to the police and tell them about this place. Judging by the fact that the alarm didn’t go off and the lack of guards, I say she didn’t lie. So yeah, we are taking you to the infirmary.” Youngbae sound so sure of himself and I guess he’s right. Still, what good will going to the police do? I don’t think they’ll believe her. And if they did, they wouldn’t do anything anyway. They’re afraid of us. But I nod at Youngbae anyway since it’s the only thing I can do right now. He simply nods back and puts my arm over his shoulder.
We make our way to the elevator in silence. The elevator is indeed a very quiet one, especially since it’s old and it doesn’t take long before we reach the second floor. In contradiction to the first floor, this floor has windows and it’s already getting lighter outside. We should hurry. There are still guards on this floor, we must not forget that. The infirmary on the second floor is luckily almost next to the elevator, the first luck we have since escaping began. But entering the infirmary is however very sobering. The dead guard is still lying on the bed, uncovered. Large g aps and cuts are visible on his limbs, but his vital areas seem unharmed. It’s clear that Youngbae didn’t mean to kill him. But he still looks so guilty and slightly ashamed. I gently squeeze his shoulder, trying to be supportive. He looks and me and tries to smile, but it’s not really believable. He puts me down on a chair while Daesung cleans and wraps my leg back up.
Unfortunately, our time without guards seems over as a two guards, that are not really paying attention, are walking nonchalantly into the infirmary. The moment they both see us and the dead body however puts them into action. The one on the left reaches for his gun as the other reaches for his walkie talkie. Taeyang pulls Dae away from my leg as Seungri does the same with me. We all manage to hide behind counters, chairs and table before the first guard starts firing at us. I can hear the other one say something in terms of ‘prisoner escape infirmary’ and ‘shut down’. Not even a second later, the alarm starts ringing loudly and red lights starts flickering. The door of the infirmary locks itself with a clear click.
“Distract them!” I hear Youngbae’s voice entering my head again. I look at him and Dae and it looks like they have some sort of plan so I and Seungri grab the closest objects near us and throw them at the guards. It seems to work as one of us manages to hit the guards arm with a steel dish, making him drop his gun. This is our chance! Both Dae and Youngbae dash off towards the other one, not only knocking him off but also slamming down the door.
And this is the moment all the action comes to a stop. The knocked over guard is unconscious and lying still on the ground while the other one keeps pointing his gun at all of us, changing between me and Seungri, still behind a tipped steel table that’s about to give out and Youngbae and Daesung, standing in the hallway in front of the guard. Why are they still standing there?
“Go!!” I yell and Youngbae seems to focus again and drags Daesung away. Daesung clearly doesn’t want to leave but knows that it’s the best thing to do right now. They both disappear towards the stairway on the right.
Now we’re truly trapped. With a guard pointing a gun only at us, we don’t really stand a chance and he knows it at well. To top it all off, we don’t really have anything to throw at him anymore. I
It’s only a mere seconds before he finds that out as well as we hear footsteps coming over. I make myself very small and squeeze my eyes shut as I hear the sound of the gun being loaded not that far away from my head. This is it. This is where I die.
But nothing happens. I open my eyes again when I hear a loud ‘NO’ coming from Seungri only to see the steel table flying thru the air, hitting the guard and crushing him between it and the wall next to the door. Time seems to stop at that moment as I stare at Seungri, standing up next to me. He’s looking at his hands with bright purple eyes and lines that are even more visible than usual running crisscross over his face. He looks down at me, chest heaving. I guess he just found out how to use his power. So I smile at him in relief.
“Nice save.” And he smiles back. He gives me his hand and helps me get up. It’s time to go. The both of us turn left, back towards the elevator. We both know that there will be guards waiting for us, but with my leg and Youngbae and Dae taking the stairs, it’s the best thing to do right now. Seungri practically drags me into the elevator and pushes the third floor button.
“Be ready.” I say and we both stand against the opposite walls. And sure enough, as soon as the doors of the elevator open, a horizontal rain of bullets enter. It only lasts for a couple of seconds until we hear the clicking of empty guns.
“Seungri, now!” And we both exit the elevator at the same time. Seungri almost immediately uses his powers to beat the guns out of their hands before they have time to reload.
Now we only have to fight six trained guys in perfect shape. Seungri tries to use his powers on the guards themselves, but apparently he’s not strong enough. They only move for half a meter and that’s it. They all launch at us. Seungri, who’s standing in front of me gets captured by three guards before he even had the chance to do something. The others come right at me. I try punching one, but my injuries weaken me so much that it’s almost no use. Two of them grab my arms and put them behind my back. Without my arms, there isn’t much I can do. The other guard starts to hit me and kicks my legs. It hurts, badly and it won’t be long before I’ll lose consciousness. But as I’m about to black out, I hear my name being called.
Dae? And sure enough, both Youngbae and Daesung are running from the other side of the hallway. It seems to distract the guard in front of me and he turns around to look at the two of them. As I look at his neck, I can see his veins and it just dawns on me. I have fangs, why didn’t I think of this before, just bite his neck and make him bleed so hard he can’t even begin to fight back! Screw the bad taste! It’s better to be nauseous than dead!
So I plunge my fangs into his neck. The guard just screams in return, I guess it hurts. He tries to get away, but I won’t let him. The other two guards don’t really do anything though, maybe they’re just too stunned at the moment. The taste of the blood is foul, but it does something to me. I feel my strength returning as the pain from my wounds ebbs away. I’m pretty sure I just growled as well, but I can’t be sure. The feeling of power is flowing thru my veins. What the hell is happening?
“Hyung let him go!” It’s not until I hear Dae’s voice that I somehow return to reality. Was I ever away? I open my eyes and release him. As soon as I do, he crashes onto the ground, face devoid of any emotion or colour. The other two guards are also on the ground, unconscious with scratch marks everywhere. Did… Did I do that? When I look at Daesung and the rest I notice they took out the rest of the guards. But the look on their face isn’t one of relief. Daesung looks at me with pity in his eyes, Youngbae is clearly worried and Seungri looks downright scared. Daesung approaches me with caution. Is he afraid of me?
“Hyung…”
“I… What…I?” What the hell? This isn’t normal, even for me.
“Hyung, it’s fine now, calm down…” Calm down?
“I am calm, I… What happened?” Daesung seems less alert.
“You went practically berserk after you bit him… You also took out the other two by catapulting them into the wall… And you’re fully healed…” Daesung points at my leg. It is healed! How did this happen?
“I think that’s the reason why you keep seeing veins only why you’re hurt… It’s some sort of pain killer and heal factor for you…” That… makes sense, I didn’t notice before but I indeed only see them when I’m hurt, physically or emotionally. My mind can’t tell the difference.
“And when you’re not injured, it makes you high like it did before in your bedroom remember?”
“Yeah… Yeah, okay that seems legit… But… I don’t remember…”
“That… Is slightly worrying me, but we don’t have the time to worry, we have to go! We found the door to the roof!” I nod and we all begin to run. It’s strange after weeks and weeks of not even being able to walk properly, I’m suddenly running, without pain. Strange, but it feels so good!
**
The rooftop’s door is apparently close to the ladders, yes ladders as in plural. Good, which means will be down on the ground even faster. Seungri and Youngbae take off first. Me and Daesung try to barricade the door just in case. It will be quite a long run… There’s a huge field of grass to be crossed before we’ll reach the forest behind the road connecting it with the field. Going down the ladder won’t be as much of an obstacle as I initially thought it would be, since I’m completely healed. I can even use my speed to go faster but I won’t since Dae can’t. We’re halfway there when I see the other two already at the bottom. I make a sign to tell them to not wait for us and they start running away from the building. It’s not long before we’re at the bottom as well.
Running has never felt better, we almost catch up with the other two when I hear a voice I recognise anywhere.
“Riri!!” And sure, out of the forest appears the changed form of Jiyong, smiling and running towards Seungri and Youngbae. Both of them speed up and they start shouting at Jiyong, so happy to see him. In the corner of my eye, I can vaguely see Dae smiling at the scene in front of him. Jiyong’s smile disappears though and a look of utter horror falls on his face.
“Look out!” and at the exact same point I hear a loud BANG behind me. We all freeze except Dae as he falls to the ground.
“DAESUNG!”
---
A/N: Cliff hanger again! Phew… quite a long chapter this one. Sorry for the wait, school literary almost killed me this semester. My last exam is tomorrow, but I’m already done studying for the day so I figured I’d write a bit. And apparently, the chapter was already mostly finished… That’s why I don’t like writing in blocks, I don’t have any overview whatsoever….
So yeah, here you go. Thanks for putting up with me, next chapter will come soon since I have a week off (yey)