Doubler || NCT || Completed

64

Yujin was lying on the floor on her stomach. Someone had fired a gun.

And there was heavy warmth on her back.

Yujin neck cracked when she turned to look behind her.

"No..." The word came out as a confused whisper.

She didn't want to understand why Jeno was lying on top of her back. She didn't want to understand why his face was suddenly pale and his pupils were dilated - why his hands were gripping onto her body as if his entire body was cramping. She refused to see how blood was pooling on the floor next to her body, some of it staining her hoodie.

It was not Jeno's blood. It definitely wasn't.

Some part of Yujin's brain acknowledged the chaos around them, how it suddenly seemed louder and even more aggressive than before. Someone threw a chair. Someone was running.

An arm appeared to her field of vision. It was Doyoung.

"Get up! Get up!" he yelled in a panicked voice and pulled Jeno's arm. "We need to get you out now."

With his help, Jeno managed to stand up, though the rest of the colour vanished from his face during the movement. His body started trembling as he leaned against Doyoung's shoulder. His eyes had confused, almost glazed look in them.

"He needs to lie down", Yujin stammered as she pushed herself up. Despite her attempts not to look, her eyes were automatically drawn to the gunshot wound on Jeno's abdomen he had instinctively covered with his hand in order to control the bleeding.

Her brain refused to believe that he had been shot but at the same time she knew that they'd have to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. Was the bullet still inside him or had it gone through? She didn't know which option would be better.

Doyoung shook his head. "We need to get him out now", he repeated himself, before adjusting Jeno's free arm over his shoulder so that he could take some of his weight.

The poachers around them were all preoccupied - where was the man with the gun? - allowing them to leave the lobby swiftly. Yujin didn't have time to look around much but she saw that Jisung was still fighting alongside Chenle and Xiaojun. She was feeling weird as she followed Doyoung and Jeno to the stairwell.

The loud sound of multiple people descending the stairs startled the trio. Doyoung pulled a knife out and was about to push Jeno back to the lobby when the rest of their own search party from the upstairs flew down the stairs.

"Jeno?" Haechan's voice was a heart-breaking mixture of confusion and horror. He reached towards his friend with shaky hands.

"Go get Renjun, he needs to get out as well", Doyoung told Haechan and pointed towards the lobby. "I don't know if more poachers are headed here so you all should stay here to help them."

Yuta nodded and with his lead the search party joined the ongoing fight in the lobby, throwing worried looks at Jeno on their way.

Haechan touched Jeno's shoulder, fear in his eyes.

"Get him out safely", he told Yujin and Doyoung.

"Are we taking the elevator?" Yujin asked from Doyoung, eyeing Jeno whose face had broken out in a sweat. His lips were trembling and his eyes were shiny with tears. Yujin couldn't even imagine how much pain he was in, yet he remained completely silent. Maybe he was in a shock, though that wouldn't be good.

Doyoung glanced at the elevator. "I think it's better to take the stairs. That way we can map out the situation in case there are more poachers coming in."