An unwanted one year anniversary

Chapter 20

"Hyung"

"Hyung! Stop for a minute" Namjoon stopped running when he was finally able to get Seokjin's attention. The older one rested his hands on his knees, panting hard after running at full speed and looked at the rapper.

"I don't hear anything anymore. I think we outran them" the younger one said while he was catching his breath as well. Both boys were silent for a few moments and when they were convinced that they weren't being followed anymore they collapsed to the ground. They were exhausted and sweat was dripping from their faces.

"You ok?" Seokjin asked eventually. Namjoon nodded "I'm fine. I wasn't the one being tasered for 50 seconds. How are you hyung?" The older one shrugged at the comment as he didn't care about himself at the moment. All he could think about where the other members, the ones he had left behind.

"Joon, I messed up. Badly"

"Huh?!" Namjoon snapped his head towards the older one as he clearly couldn't understand what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"We shouldn't have left them behind. The kidnappers are probably going after them since they're not following us anymore"

"Hyung, we didn't have another choice. They couldn't run. And staying with them would -" the younger tried but Seokjin shook his head. "Look where we are right now Namjoon" he said sadly. "We have been running for I don't know how long. We didn't found a house or somebody who can help us. The forest is getting wilder. We are not getting any help here."

The rapper stared at his own hands since he didn't know how to respond. He then finally noticed how his right arm was coated in dried blood, Taehyung's blood to be exact. The sight made him nauseous so he tried to clean his arm with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. In the meantime he thought about what Seokjin had said. He couldn't disagree with the older one, because he had been thinking the same ever since they started running deeper in the woods. They were no signs of civilization nearby and the nature around them was getting more dense.

"Oh God, I left them" Seokjin suddenly started to sob, causing the younger to stop rubbing his right arm. Namjoon sighed mournful and moved to sit next to the oldest. He pulled the tall but skinny boy against his chest and enveloped his arms around his broad shoulders.

"We didn't have another choice Seokjin hyung" the rapper said softly. "Please don't blame yourself" Namjoon felt tears running down his own cheeks as well, but he didn't want to remove his arms around the older one so he let them fall. They stayed like this for a couple of minutes until both of them didn't have any tears left.

"Hyung, I know it's risky, but I think we should head back towards the house" the younger one proposed. And as expected Seokjin didn't like the idea at all. "What? No, it's too dangerous!"

"I know it's dangerous but it's the only place where we can find help. Maybe there's a phone to call the police or Sejin" Namjoon explained. "Please hyung, you said it yourself. We are not going to find help here" Seokjin was too tired to protest against the smarter one out of the two and decided to agree with the boy without any more complaints.

Namjoon squeezed the older one's shoulder sympathetically and helped him to stand up. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and it became more clear how bad his hyung was suffering from the aftereffects of the taser and running around in the forest. The boy was looked fatigued, pale and his legs were shaking to hold his own weight. Seokjin didn't even protested when the younger one moved his arm around his waist to steady him.

"You ok?"

"Yeah I'm okay. But Namjoon..." the rapper felt Seokjin tense in his arms "... do you know where we came from?"