Sempiternal: •Broken• || Book 2#

28. Persistent weakness

"Where did you get this truck?"

"There is an agency a few blocks away. We used it to travel long distances," replies Jiana. "It could carry anything we wanted. We didn't use it much so it has a lot of gas stored in it. We should still look for more though."

"It's good for sleeping!" says one of the children, clutching Taehyung's arm. "My brother and I would sneak out and sleep in here. Hyuk would snore a lot." he complains and Taehyung smiles at him.

"This car must hold a hell of a lot, it's the kind of van we used for touring and as far as I remember, Seventeen too."

"And there were thirteen of them." comments Jungkook with a faint smile.

Jungkook wonders where his friends are. Mingyu, Minghao, Seokmin.... Yugyeom, Eunwoo, Bambam. It's funny how they forget many extra friendships they have, but at the moment of remembering them just cause a huge emptiness in the stomach. So much so that you can understand why they didn't come to mind first: the more ignorant you are, the happier you remain. In Jungkook's case now, he knows he is going to face another huge disappointment.

"Let's move obstacles out of the way so we can leave as quietly as possible. Let's go!" urges Namjoon. The group of girls whispers as they leave with the others to comply with Namjoon's demand. Jin grabs his arm to stop him from walking further. Namjoon pushes him away slightly roughly.

"What do you think you are doing? We can't put this responsibility on our backs" Jin argues between his teeth. He's not going to say this in front of them. The situation is critical, but not to the point of making people who don't deserve it feel like a burden. "We should just get the hell out of here. Not take more weight with us."

"Then what do you intend?" Namjoon folds his arms and Jin knows with that simple gesture, they won't come to any agreement. "Leave them here alone to their fate?"

"No, no, of course not, but-"

"What?" interrupts Namjoon with speed. "There is no alternative. They're going to accompany us. It'll just be having them in the back following us, they'll fend for themselves and seek their resources alone. The only thing we're going to agree on is that if something serious happens we'll take care of each other."

"You can't just add people we don't know Namjoon" Jin grumbles. "Whether or not they're together with us, whether or not we include them or whatever, we can't just pretend we're leaders or something."

"Then you propose to leave them to their death because it's too complicated for you to imagine them accompanying us. " retorts Namjoon with a strained and incredulous smile.

"Why do you insist they're going to die!? They'll be fine. It's not our problem. We have nothing to do with it. We're not going to take their things, food or do anything bad to them We'll just let them be!" insists Jin with weariness that Namjoon doesn't seem to understand. They should worry about themselves. That's all it's enough for and even with that, they're going pretty bad.

"Because they will! Aren't they coming with us? Someone else is going to come. Someone else is going to take them or kill them right here if they're lucky enough." states Namjoon with such overwhelming certainty that Jin gives an exasperated laugh.

"No one is coming."

"No offense Jin, but you're the last person to know about it You were sleep the whole time!" Jin purses his lips. "You didn't see what it was like in there! Junghwa was preparing for an attack. I don't know from whom, surely people just as miserable as him" he reports. "People who, like them, are sure to collect others and use them for entertainment, rape them I don't care! I'm not going to let it happen."