The funhouse of murder • Stray Kids X reader

29 ☠️

Since we passed the sandstorm, things have slowed down a little. Most of us were already exhausted from all the running. Seungmin was gasping terribly, barely even able to breathe, Chan was showing some signs of tiredness too from pulling Seungmin along, while Changbin, Felix and I were all too panting for air. Changbin already let go, while Felix still held onto it tightly as if he was still pulling me forward. Minho, Hyunjin, Jisung and Jeongin all sat down, they too in need of a rest. "Five minute break?" Changbin asked with his hands on his knees. "Sounds good to me," Chan instantly agrees with him, letting himself fall back in the sand.

I honestly didn't even know how we all managed to run for this long. Of course we had small walk breaks, but still. I hadn't run anything like this in a long time, last time being as a kid. No wonder my condition had gotten so bad. Of course I tried to train, but this was just... something else. I dropped myself down in the sand, Felix only then letting go again. "You good there?" Changbin asked, his eyes on me for a while now. "Yeah, just need I minute," I brushed it off, now leaning back, my elbows supporting my weight. Maybe danger was just behind us, but if I had to take one more step, I think I'd just fall down.

"Any idea how much further it is?" I followed up, my eyes scanning to look for Minho and Jisung. While Jisung shrugged, Minho seemed more certain. "I think it's about half an hour more walking, and then back again. Biggest question is how long it'll take before we find the actual thing." It really wasn't easy to stay positive in a situation like this, but we had to at least try. Last thing we wanted was to fall down into a spiral of negative thoughts, because once you're in there, it's almost impossible to get out. If anyone knew that, it was me.

"We're gonna find it. We have to," I tried to cheer him up, acting like I still had some energy left. I didn't, but maybe it would be enough for the others to actually regain some. "Of course," Jeongin answered me, responding with the most optimistic smile I'd seen in a while. "We've already survived food poisoning and freezing to death, how bad can finding something be right?" Leave it to Jeongin to raise the mood alright. Though truly, it was questionable, but he was right. We already survived the first room. Maybe that was how we should see this. As all sorts of escape rooms. Maybe then I'd be able to see some fun in it, view it as a game rather than a room that is potentially going to murder me. I always loved games anyways, they were one of the few things actually able to distract me from all the terrible things going on. After all, games were supposed to be fun, weren't they?

"So, another couple of minutes of rest and then continue walking again? I don't think running any more would do any of us good now," Hyunjin suggested, his eyes glued to the tired Jeongin. "Agreed," Seungmin answered him instead, happy to have some support for his case. Seungmin scooted over, sitting closer to me now. "You okay?" I whispered. It was quite obvious he wasn't though, but knowing him he wasn't going to admit it anyways. Still, it didn't hurt to ask. "I'll manage," he responded. He looked up, making me follow his eyes to scan the comments again. Ah, so they were still there after all. Maybe they'd just monitor them better now though, because there was no way sir was just going to let everyone spam the answer.

"Say, Y/N," Seungmin muttered, his gaze slowly falling down to me, then to Felix who was chatting with Changbin right behind us. "Did something happen between you and Felix?" My breathing stocked for a second. He didn't actually see anything did he? My mind already flashed back to the both of us eavesdropping during the conversation back in the safe room. Shit, if that was true I was screwed. He was one of the few I so far felt comfortable with, if he thought I was already playing hookup the little bit of reputation I could have built up would be ruined. "No, why?" I asked as innocently as I could, trying not to show my shaky breathing.

"Nothing special, just saw a couple of comments about it," he brushed it off to my luck. I don't really think he was convinced, but I was just glad he didn't question it further. At least not since all the viewers could be listening. Had it been us alone I might have told him, but there was no way now. I couldn't blow a possible source of income for this. "Maybe they started shipping us or something, no clue," I replied with a shrug. If I could just stay nonchalant about it, maybe it wouldn't be noticed too much. I glanced at Felix as well, our eyes meeting, though I looked away too fast to actually see if he had something to say.

I let out a sigh, slapping my thighs while getting up. "Come on, we should probably get moving if we want to have a chance to survive that storm." I held out my hand to Seungmin with a small smile, glad to receive one back from him. Even if he was still suspicious, it at least didn't look like he'd talk to the others about it. That was good enough for me. For now. Seungmin took my hand, using it to pull himself up, letting go to give me a pet on the back. "You ready guys?" Aside from some groans, everyone did get up, making us slowly get to moving again.

Hopefully towards our way out.