Far Cry | JJK x OC

✔Chapter 11 // Exploring

Leah opened her eyes and was immediately blinded by the sun. She was burning up, so hot she had to move and get cover somewhere. The sea looked tempting, so she tried getting up to go near it, only to immediately fall to her knees with dizziness. Jungkook was beside her, with his arms stretched to catch her, but he didn't need to. She sat back down and so did he, calming his breath. He was startled by her sudden movement, he thought she was napping.

She grabbed her water bottle and drank a bit more. "I need to get off the sun," she said after gulping.

He nodded and got up quickly, he had been waiting for her to wake up from her nap. He extended his hand to her and pulled her up; his injured ribs poked him a bit and he ignored them.

"Did I sleep long?" She asked, still dizzy.

"Maybe ten minutes."

"I think it made it worse, it's way too hot." Her tone was whiny as she rubbed her face.

He smirked, observing her grumpiness. "Maybe, it is too hot. Let's do the same way back as yesterday," he suggested, looking at the river nearby. "Since I wasn't really paying attention then."

She finished placing her bottle in her backpack and looked in the same direction. "Yeah, me neither." He started walking and she followed. "Never thought we'd go the same way twice."

Jungkook nodded through a veiled expression. He agreed. He never thought they'd be lucky enough to find anything to help them, let alone people willing to. In the back of his mind he knew that if Leah hadn't kept him steady and focused... he would not have made it. Namjoon would not have made it. He looked at her, following behind him, and slowed the pace to make it more comfortable for her.

They started following the river uphill and unsurprisingly it was still misty with patchy drizzle. It wasn't bothersome so they kept going. He figured that if he walked with a good pace without breathing too deeply his ribs didn't bother him. By doing that and since he sort of knew the way, the trail back to the village would be no problem. Still, he would often pause to look around and listen, just like Daniel told them to, while he waited on Leah to catch up.

He observed her as she passed a fallen trunk on the floor panting with the effort of their stride. She was taking it hard and her tiredness was noticeable: she put her feet often in puddles, she failed to grab all leaves, getting scratched at times, and she walked slowly. When she stopped after the trunk, she caught her breath silently with her eyes closed. He saw the bags under her eyes, her paleness and the thinness of her arms. He felt bad, she should be resting.

She suddenly opened her eyes and moved again, passing him. There was that expression that didn't leave any room for him to say anything about it. She was pushing herself through it and he felt a sense of acknowledgement for her effort. All he could do was to support her.

He almost bumped into her when she stopped suddenly. He frowned and before he could ask about it, he saw it: a big brown snake dangling from a tree branch in front of their path. Leah was frozen in place staring at it, terrified. Jungkook could admit snakes were not his cup of tea, but he wasn't as scared.

The snake's tongue swirled in front of it and Leah felt the urge to move backwards. However, Jungkook grabbed her hand and passed by her, shaking his head. He moved ahead into a bush without letting go of her hand and when he confirmed it was safe, he pulled her to follow along. Her eyes were fixated on the snake at first, but then she just ran with him, gluing her eyes on the floor.

"Shit, shit, shit...", she mumbled towards her chest, following him blindly.

A dozen meters later he stopped, forcing her to halt too. She looked around carefully, checking that there were no dangers around. Then her gaze stopped on him and he was smirking.