Four | BTS ✓

34

Taehyung glares down the barrel at Jungkook's pretty face, Kennedy watching his every move. He wants to put a bullet between the guard's eyes for standing between him and Kennedy - literally and figuratively - but before he can, one of the attackers turns his gun towards Kennedy.

"Duck," Taehyung growls.

Jungkook only takes a fraction of a second to register what he's said before he drops into a crouch. Taehyung shoots the man sneaking up behind him, dropping him instantly. Jungkook rotates to look at the fallen man before looking up at Taehyung and standing.

"Thanks," he mutters reluctantly.

Taehyung just snorts and rolls his eyes before shoving Jungkook out of the way and stalking toward Kennedy, whose eyes are burning with fury and excitement as she watches him. Just as he moves toward her, something flashes behind him. Jungkook is the only one to see the man coming around the corner.

As his gun lifts toward Kennedy and Taehyung, Jungkook rushes forward. The man doesn't have time to react before Jungkook tackles him to the ground, trying to grab the gun from his hand. Jungkook manages to knock the gun out of his hands and get his own arms around the attacker's throat. Just before he passes out, though, the man drags the gun back with his heel.

A shot rings out in the chaos and Jungkook immediately feels the stab of pain in his thigh as the bullet rips through sinew and bone. Refusing to give up, though, he jerks his arms, dropping the man as soon as he hears the snap of his neck.

"Shit," Taehyung grinds out as he moves toward Jungkook, ripping the sleeve off his own shirt to tie onto Jungkook's leg. It's not tight enough to act as a tourniquet, but it should be enough to keep him from bleeding out before they can make it out of the prison.

Kennedy knows that she was lied to and used, but she refuses to admit it. She sees someone out of the corner of her eye, but when she looks up, she recognizes the man as one of the night shift guards. It doesn't dawn on her right away that he's heading straight for her. Or that he's carrying an actual gun. She's too worried about Jungkook bleeding out in front of her to think about anything else. Until he steps forward and punches her in the face.

"What the fuck?!" she cries out, wiping the blood from her mouth.

"I'm so glad this day finally came. Senator Min said to put you down along with her psycho son, but I'm sure she won't mind if I have a little fun first."

The pain radiating from her broken nose is making her eyes water so bad, she can't see when the guard reaches out and grabs a fistful of her hair, yanking her head forward hard enough to knock her off balance. She rotates and falls hard on her ass, the shock shooting up from the base of her spine up to the top of her head.

"You son of a bitch! Let me go!"

"Nah, I'm good," the guard says with a laugh as he drags her by her hair toward the exit. "I'm getting a big enough pay day from this to spend the rest of my life drinking tequila on a beach. The satisfaction of knowing I took you out in the process is just icing on the cake."

Kennedy lets out a strangled scream as the guard jerks her hard enough to make her bite her tongue. She reaches over her head, trying to claw his hands, but he's wearing gloves and long sleeves. Just as she's about to lose hope, the guard coughs and drops her. She rolls over to her stomach to watch as Taehyung punches the guard in the throat then brings his knee up into the man's face. Even when he's down on the ground, Taehyung repeatedly kicks him.

"Stop...trying..to...kill...my...girl!"

Kennedy pushes up on her hands and knees, and then up to her feet. She kicks the guard in the face once for good measure, then tugs at Taehyung's arm.

"Come on, he's dead. Let's get out of here. We can make a run for it now."

Taehyung whirls around on her, his eyes wild and angry as he reaches out to grab her by the shoulders. "Why did you do this, Ken? Things were fine the way they were! We could've kept going like that forever if you hadn't been so stupid!"

Kennedy smacks his hands away. "That was no life! I wanted out. Didn't you? We could run away from this place. Be free."

"And then what, Ken? Have a happy little life with a house and a picket fence? Babies? We're too fucked up for that world and you fucking know it. This was the best we could've hoped for. The best we deserved."

Kennedy is shocked by Taehyung's words. She never thought he would ever say such a thing, but as he stands before her, panting, she realizes he means everything he's just said. He reaches for her again, pulling her close and kissing her hard on the lips before resting his forehead against hers.

"We could've at least had each other."

Kennedy's chest tightens at his words. She's spent the whole time torn over her feelings for Jungkook, her feelings for Taehyung, and her desire to be free. She never even considered what she already had.

But in the middle of a war is not the place to think about such things, which she realizes with aching acuity as she catches the guard moving on the floor behind Taehyung. He wasn't as dead as she thought he was and is slowly reaching for his gun. She only has seconds to react.

"I'm sorry," she whispers before kissing Taehyung with every bit of passion and longing she ever felt for him. Before she can get lost in the feeling of him holding her, returning her kiss with equal measure, she turns and shoves him as hard as she can to the side. As he falls to the floor, she turns back to the guard just in time for the bullet to rip through her chest.