ANL - mark lee

8

after a mere 15 minute drive the group pulled up outside of a gated seemingly abandoned factory. there were signs that stated BEWARE OF DOG and other no trespassing signs. just the sight of the large building gave aeri the chills.

"the signs are just to keep nosy teens away," doyoung stated from the front seat. aeri nodded in response, nervousness starting to kick in. everyone started to quickly exit the vans and aeri followed, her boots squishing the grass below her.

she watched as jaehyun, jungwoo, and yuta skillfully hopped the metal fence that was keeping them out of the property. soon taeyong and doyoung followed, leaving herself, mark and johnny alone outside the vans.

"look you two, don't die in there. I really don't want to have to do any serious work tonight," johnny stated with a smile.

despite his intentions, this only cause another wave of nervousness to kick in for aeri. the girl looked around at where they were. there was really nothing stopping her from running away. aeris fight or flight was kicking in and she so desperately wanted to choose flight, however her heart couldn't let her leave jaemin. even with the skills that the gang no doubt had to get him out, she needed to see her friend alive, know that she wasn't the reason he died.

in the midst of her thoughts minutes had past and it was time for her and mark to go in. the voice of kun in her earpiece snapped her out of her thoughts as he gave them instructions on which door to go in.

aeri watched as mark quickly climbed the fence as if it was as easy as walking up stairs. when his feet touched down on the other side he looked back at her with a smirk, absorbing her shocked expression, "has the princess never climbed a fence before," he asked, raising his left brow.

anger flushed through aeri, as she quickly grasped the metal chains of the fence and soon hopped down next to mark. she was quick to send him a glare, trying to mask her own shock about her own abilities. mark wasn't wrong, the girl had never even attempted such a stunt, but the look of shock on his face provided the girl with a feeling of joy.

kuns voice cut through the pairs earpieces a few moments after aeri touched down from the fence, "you two are going to enter the door on the left side of the base. from what the cameras are showing, that area has been completely clear and I recommend you get through there before it becomes unclear,"

aeri quickly nodded at his words and followed mark around the side of the house. the girl knew she was purely running on adrenaline as she followed marks lead and unholstered the gun from her waistband. as they reached the metal door mark was quick to open it and step inside. as soon as the door closed behind the two of them, the scent that aeri had become accustomed to in the past day flooded her nose.

blood.

bodies littered the floor, yet mark walked over them as if he was avoiding puddles on a rainy day, not even sparing them a second glance. their footsteps echoed through the dimly lit hallway as they quickly opened doors, checking rooms.

however, as all the rooms came up clean something felt off to mark. it shouldn't be this quiet and the rooms shouldn't all be empty. the sound of something clattering against the ground made him quickly turn around. he looked down to see aeris gun laying on the ground without her in sight.

reacting quickly, he picked up the gun, clicking on the safety and tucking it into his waistband. a scream disrupted the silence that had settled and he instinctively rushed the room that it came from. upon entering the room he held his gun out and became face to face with a terrified aeri.

he quickly looked at the situation they were in. a man wearing a devil mask, held a knife against aeris neck while his other hand covered her mouth. mark locked eyes with the girl and could easily see the terror in her eyes.

"go ahead pretty boy, shoot me, but then she dies," the man said, pressing the knife closer to aeris skin, slightly cutting it.

without thinking, the girl bit down on the mans hand that was over her mouth.

"mark, please!"

"mark, please!" the young girl shouted, tears brimming her eyes, "please don't leave me," she whimpered, holding onto her brothers hand.

"i-im sorry minjun. I- I promise i'll come back. i'm doing this to keep you safe," the boy stated, disconnecting his hand from his sisters. he turned his back, walking towards the gang leader, knowing that if he turned back around there was no way he'd be able to leave her.

mark was quickly snapped back to reality when a scream left aeri's lips as the man cut the knife along her left cheekbone.

"go, on mark," the man taunted, "put the gun down,"

mark watched fear develop in the girls eyes as her cheek continued to lose blood.

"mark there's no cameras where you are and aeri  isn't responding, i'm sending jaehyun and yuta back to you," kuns voice spoke in his ear piece.

"fine, let her go, then I put the gun down," mark stated making eye contact with the man in the mask.

"fine," the man stated. he released her arm, but not before dragging the knife across her abdomen.

the second that the girl was free mark took the shot and the man was dead within seconds. however he couldn't feel any joy in the kill as aeri stumbled towards him, holding her stomach. the cut didn't appear deep by any means, but that didn't mean that it wasn't bleeding.

"can I have my gun back," she asked, holding her hand out.

mark wordlessly handed her the gun from his waistband, silently impressed with how she was taking her wounds. the two held eye contact for a few seconds to long, until the door behind them banged open revealing jaehyun, jungwoo, and yuta.

"are you two okay?" jaehyun asked.

"yeah, we're fine," aeri replied quickly, not planning to reveal anything about her wound.

"she's bleeding," mark stated quickly after her.

aeri shot him a glare quickly, "i'm fine really, it's just a cut," she stated, wiping her cheek, while trying to conceal her bleeding abdomen.

"no, you're not fine. give yuta your gun and jungwoo take her out to johnny," jaehyun instructed.

aeri rolled her eyes and handed her gun to yuta before following jungwoo out of the room.

"did she just roll her eyes at you?" yuta asked, shocked at the girls behavior.

"I think so?" jaehyun replied, finding the girls new confidence quite funny.

mark was quick to roll his eyes, annoyed at seeing how quickly they took a liking to the girl.

"cmon let's go get jaemin," he grumbled, brushing past the two to exit the room.

A/N: do we like Aeri's confidence??