SUBJECT NINE | KIRIN O'CONNOR

SEVENTEEN

"I THOUGHT I was gonna lose him." Frances began. "The idea of losing someone you-"

She cut herself off. She wasn't going to give the detectives any of her weaknesses. She had to be stronger than that. She had to play them.

"It was hard enough losing one member of our group. We couldn't take another loss." The blonde girl shook her head.

She looked up to the detectives, who were both watching her carefully. They'd barely spoken today, they'd mainly just let her speak at them. And she didn't like that at all. In fact, it made her nervous.

D A Y F I F T E E N

"This isn't gonna work." Henry stated nervously as they all gathered around the fire.

"Man, why would you say that? You pitched the trap." Scotty turned to face Henry with furrowed brows. An uneasiness now taking over him at the thought of their plan not working.

"Yeah, Hen, don't relapse on me." Seth muttered.

Frances was exhausted, she hasn't slept properly in days. She hadn't felt safe enough to do so, and that wasn't because of the jaguar. It was because she could always feel Seth's eyes on her body. It made her uncomfortable.

"I'm not saying we're gonna die. I just think we'll have to pivot." Henry responded in a monotone voice. "Statistically speaking, first plans never work. Have you ever seen the early drafts of 'bugs bunny'?"

A silence filled the group. Frances furrowed her brows in confusion, wondering what bugs bunny had to do with their plan to catch and kill the jaguar.

"Yeah." Kirin grinned. "Yes I have."

"Really?" Frances turned to face the boy with a small chuckle.

"You have?" Henry asked in disbelief.

"No shit head, I was fucking with you." Kirin laughed, pulling Frances down, so now she was laid in front of him. "Why would I have seen that?"

He knew that she hadn't been sleeping and it was beginning to concern him. He wanted to make her feel safe enough to sleep.

"Anyway, they're horrifying." Henry continued, ignore Kirin. "Bugs looks like a DMT hallucination."

Another silence fell upon the group. Frances found herself shuffling closer to Kirin and allowing her eyes to close to get the rest that she needed and deserved. But before she could fully let her body go, she heard the growls from the jaguar, making her sit back up.

After a heated discussion, mainly between Kirin and Seth, the group concluded that it would be best to go after the jaguar and make sure that it was dead.

Kirin lead the group. He decided that if anyone was to get hurt, he would rather it be him. He made sure to tell Ivan to keep Frances at the back, not wanting her to even come close to the jaguar.

Frances felt on edge the whole time as they walked up to the trap where the injured jaguar now was being kept. All she could think about were the defenceless animals that Phineas use to kill.

"It's still alive." Kirin whispered, as the jaguar jumped up and growled at him.

"KIRIN!" Frances shouted. She went to rush forward to make sure that the boy was okay, but Seth's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

She felt the tears streaming down her face as he held her hands behind her back. She felt her heart racing as she watched Kirin and Ivan attempt to kill the jaguar.

The blonde girl tried to pull her hands out of Seth's grip. She didn't understand how no one saw. She didn't understand why he was holding her so tightly in front of everyone.

"Fuck. It's rearing back. It's gonna fucking get out." Kirin took a small look back at Frances. She was safe. That's all he cared about. "Ivan. Throw it to me."

Ivan tossed Kirin the spear, which he expertly caught before he stabbed the jaguar multiple times until it fell limp.

Frances had managed to break away from Seth. She crashed into Bo. Her legs nearly giving way. Bo didn't question anything, instead, he wrapped his arms around Frances and pulled her into his chest.

She watched as Kirin laid on the floor, exhausted from just killing the jaguar. Frances wanted to run up to him, wrap her arms around him. Anything. She just wanted to be near him. But she felt like she couldn't move.

Flashbacks from what Seth did to her and her brother hurting her were running through her head. She couldn't think straight.

Kirin slowly stood up, his eyes landed on the girl, who was hiding her face in Bo's chest. He made his way over to the girl, whilst the other boys made a plan to get the jaguar back to camp.

"Baby?" Kirin whispered as Bo left. "Franny?" He questioned again once he was met with silence.

Frances shakily reached out for the boys hand. She needed to know that he was there. She needed to know that he was safe.

The boy pulled Frances into his chest. His lips pressed against her head. He could feel her shaking under his finger tips. He didn't understand what made her so panicked. She knew that he was okay when they made eye contact.

Frances pulled away from Kirin, linking their hands together and guided him away from the group. They weren't far, she could still hear them coming up with a plan on how to safely travel with the jaguar.

But she couldn't wait any longer. She threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in. Her lips connected against his, his hands gripped her waist tightly.

Kirin could taste the salty tears on her lips. But he didn't care. Having her pressed against him was all he wanted. Her fingers combed through his hair. His tongue ran over her bottom lip, making her whimper slightly before reluctantly pulling away.

"I thought I was going to lose you." Frances whispered softly, nervously fiddling with the ring Kirin gave her two weeks ago.

"Fallen for me already have we, baby?" Kirin questioned with a cocky smirk. He'd be lying if he said the girl didn't make him feel giddy and excited like a child in a candy shop.

"Just didn't want to send another body to sea." Frances resorted, stepping closer to the boy again. She tilted her head up to him slightly and whispered, "But on a serious note, Im glad you're alive."

Kirin had to bite back a smile as he rested his head on hers. Their breaths mingling together. She felt at easy now that she was with him.

"Couldn't leave my best girl." Kirin whispered.

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