SCARRED | TK

Chapter Seventeen

"Tell me what do they call you?
Where are you running off to?
Oh, could you tell me?
I found you kept away in this garden

And I know your warmth is
The closest to reality
The blue flowers that you picked for me
Reaching for your hand

But this is my fate
Don't smile on me
Light on me
No, I can never take another step to you
Don't have a name to call me by anymore

You know that I can't
Show you me
Give you me
The weaknesses that I hide you can never see
I wear a mask again so I could see you
But I still want you."

The sun was slowly fading from its designated place above them as the moon took its place with the soft passing of hours. Still, Taehyung couldn't say he felt joyful about that matter — not at all. Despite the slight lowering of the heightened temperature of their world — courtesy of the apocalypse they've gone through — the oxygen they breathed in was still extremely warm and the ground still seemed to burn with each step they took. Taehyung could see the aftermaths of the apocalypse in everything around them as the two of them walked in silence but he could feel its effects in the oxygen they breathed the most. It was unfiltered, heavy and rough but, with JK's help, it was bearable. The man's presence seemed to bring a sort of balance to the world, one Taehyung couldn't quite explain.

Despite the lower temperature that the night brought, Taehyung was not excited about the disappearance of the sun. The light emanated by it, which had illuminated their path in the past hours, was no longer there to guide them. They were enveloped by complete darkness but, somehow, JK seemed to move through nature like he knew where they were — like he had a set destination in mind.

The man seemed confident and not frightened at all but Taehyung knew what lingered in the darkness. Humans, filled with suffocating despair and sufferance, and animals which have long lost their sanity and normal behavior. Most of them had gone rabid and were a danger to humans so that's why Taehyung was trembling as he walked. Humans were not a threat, for most of them still had their sanity, but animals did not.

Still, despite the threats that lingered in the darkness around them, what Taehyung feared most was not to be found among them — what he feared laid back in the compound they had left, in the hands of the Council. JK had killed the Councilwoman and Taehyung was sure things were disastrous there as everyone tried to settle things and find a replacement. But they were going to calm down soon and, when that would happen, they would start looking for them.

And they would find them.

Because, deep under their skins, laid tracking devices. As they walked, Taehyung gripped the scalpel he had taken with him in his hand, then stopped his steps and turned his head to JK, who was now gazing at him with raised eyebrows and curios eyes.

"What's wrong, bun?" He asked as he came closer, invading Taehyung's space with his body and bringing such warmth to his skin that the doctor felt like he was going feverish. JK stopped right in front of him, their foreheads almost touching as they looked at each other, and Taehyung realized that the man was a few centimeters taller than him. He remembered Jeongguk being the same height but he tried to ignore that fact and focus on his task at hand. Still, it was difficult to do so, courtesy of JK's hands, which were slowly enveloping his waist and bringing him closer. "I can feel your heartbeat and it is extremely rapid." The man whispered, his teeth on show as he smiled and leaned even closer, his breath caressing Taehyung's cheek. "Are you nervous?"

Frowning, Taehyung met those grey irises. "'Nervous?" He questioned. "Why would I be nervous?"

Letting out a huff, JK raised his arm and touched Taehyung's cheek softly with his pointer finger, barely caressing his skin as they looked into each other's eyes. There was something unreal about JK's eyes and Taehyung still couldn't grasp how astonishing they looked.