𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟕𝟔

by morning, the group were on the move again. jihyun's neck was stiff as she rolled it back. despite claiming the best room, she ended up sleeping on the sofa with the others, as how most of their nights were spent, together.

"jungwoo, are you sure you know where you're going?" chenle asked.

"of course." he huffed from the front of the group. "besides it's too late to doubt me now."

"that doesn't sound good..."

"either way we have to keep moving. eventually, we'll get there." mark said, patting chenle's back.

in the distance, there was chatter and a loud voice speaking over it. it was hard to miss and only made the group curious as to what was happening. they followed the sound and found themselves at the back of a crowd in front of a small platform where two people stood.

"what is going on?" jisung asked.

"seems like a secret meeting." jihyun replied. "this was what you were talking about, jungwoo..."

"yeah. they're probably planning how to get into the capitol." he replied. "let's keep going. it's better that this is happening now while we hurry."

"won't the border be swarming with peacekeepers? i don't see how this plan will work." renjun said.

"we're not going directly to the borders. we're going underground, where the trains are. from there, we'll enter the capitol. it's risky but still the best plan we have at this point."

"okay. let's get a move on and—" jeno was cut off as there was a sudden yell.

"peacekeepers! they're here!"

"shit." jihyun's eyes widened, glancing around at her friends.

the people in the crowd began fleeing and screaming as peacekeepers rushed at them, guns in hand. it wasn't until they started shooting that the group took off running to get away. they tried to stay with each other but there were so many people that they lost each other in the sea.

panic flooded jihyun as she spun around, looking around for her friends. people were being shot down all around her and then a woman fell beside her. she was carrying a little girl who began crying and shaking her mother. a bullet flew past jihyun and quickly she bent down to pick the child up into her arms. the girl shrieked, calling for her mother who was already dead and jihyun's heart ached for her but she ran, following others until she got a safe distance away from the peacekeepers.

"what's your name?" she asked the little girl, trying to distract her from the screams of the injured and her own crying.

"hannah." the girl mumbled, bringing her thumb up to her mouth.

jihyun's breath hitched in her throat and tears stung her eyes.

"that's a beautiful name."

"jihyun!" jungwoo's voice could be heard from the right and she looked over to see him and some of her friends rushing over. they ducked with her to hide themselves behind the boxes.

"who's this angel?" jaemin asked.

"her names hannah. we need to find someone to look after her." jihyun replied and they caught onto what she was saying, sadness stabbing at their hearts. "where is mark, chenle and jeno?"

"we were hoping they'd be with you..." jisung trailed off.

"tie them up!" a peacekeeper yelled and jihyun peered around the corner.

the sight she saw had the colour draining from her face and her heart dropping into her stomach. the three that were missing were surrounded by peacekeepers, nowhere to escape to. she quickly passed the girl onto jaemin, ready to help them. but before she could take a step forward, haechan grabbed her arm.