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Expecting a wave of excruciating pain, Zoey felt herself smack into the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. Her head throbbed, but not a single speck of blood left her body. Instead, streams of blood trickled down onto the side of her face. It wasn't her's, it was Renjun's.
She stared up in horror at Renjun's unresponsive body. “R-renjun...? Hey, wake up.. p-please!”, she smacked the side of his face, attempting to wake him up, but he wouldn't budge. Giselle smirked, turning on her heel, before walking away, satisfied with her actions.
With tears pouring out of her eyes, she wiggled her way out from under Renjun's body, before examining his body. He was shot in the chest. “Oh my god... this can't be happening..”, she held her head, going into a full blown panic attack. Her body shook as her breathing became heavier.
Her vision was blurring as her head throbbed. Not knowing what to do, she desperately looked around her, looking for anything or anyone that could possibly help her, but it was useless. She was in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps and shouting. Within minutes, the others arrived, seeing the current situation. Jeno widened his eyes, rushing over to Renjun, as Haechan noticed Zoey curled up into a ball, as she was breathing heavily. “Zoey?”, his immediate thought was that she had also been injured, but upon further examination, she was physically fine.
“Hey-”, Haechan began, but was cut off by Mark as he approached the panicked girl. Gently, he brought her into his embrace, rocking her back and forth in an attempt to calm her down.
“You're okay, just breathe.”, his voice softened as he spoke these words, holding her close to his chest. “You're safe now. Renjun is safe. Everything will be fine.”.
Zoey clenched the side of his shirt, sobbing into his chest, as Mark felt his heart breaking at the sight. His once cold demeanor slowly fading. “You're strong, Zoey. Most people would have gone crazy by now after going through what you have. Keep being strong, this will all be over before you know it.”.
She slowly felt herself relax in his embrace. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed down and her crying subsided. Her eyes closed as she took in his scent. It's calming, she thought.
Mark carefully wrapped an arm around her leg and one around her waist, before hoistering her up, letting her head rest on his shoulders. Jaemin carried Renjun on his back, before they all headed back to the camp where Jisung and Chenle were waiting for them.
Rushing him into the cave, Jaemin gently set Renjun's body down on a blanket they had found this morning. Jeno quickly scurried over to him with a medical kit that he found yesterday, before removing Renjun's shirt. Upon examining his body, he felt a bit of anger rush through his veins.
Regardless, Jeno got to work, removing the bullet and cleaning his wound, before wrapping the cloth around his chest. “It didn't hit any vital points, but it came so close to his heart... if we even waited another hour, he would've died.”, Jeno said, letting out a long sigh.
On the other side of the cave, Mark had placed Zoey down, standing up to walk away, but was stopped by a pinch on his sleeve. “Can you... stay?”, she stared into his eyes, desperation practically pouring out of her own, as Mark nodded before sitting down next to her.
They sat in a somewhat comfortable silence, before she let out a sigh. “I... woke up before Chenle. I noticed you guys were gone... so I went looking for you. I didn't think you guys had gone that far...”, she took a breath before continuing. “Then, this girl from BlackMamba appeared out of nowhere. She pointed a gun at me and...”, she bit the bottom of her lip, the memories still fresh in her mind.
She then suddenly felt a squeeze on her hand, as Mark intertwined their fingers, softly stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to calm herself, before continuing. “I saw Renjun approaching us in the distance, but... I had already assumed that I was as good as dead.”.
Mark's grip on her hand tightened, as if he didn't like the idea of her being dead. “I heard a loud gun shot as I waited for the pain, but it never came..”, her eyes began to water again. “I l-look up, and... Renjun had been s-shot.”, she sniffled, as Mark brought his hand up to wipe her tears away.
“I started panicking... It's a habit of mine. I go into a panic attack after something bad happens. It started once my mother died...”, “I-I'm sorry, I'm just so... useless. Chenle was right, I'm a weakling! I'll only bring you guys down...”.
“Hey, that's not true!”, Mark shook his head in denial. “No one gave you a choice to be here. You are new to this, I never expected you to pitch in as much as the others do. This is something that requires experience. You've only been training for three weeks. Chenle shouldn't have any expectations.”, she looked down, Chenle's words making a big impact in her mentality.
“Why don't you get some fresh air, and while you're at it. Talk to Chenle. He needs to loosen up a bit. He's been through some pretty traumatic things, in which he took pretty hard. He was probably just worried that you'd meet the same fate as 'them'.”.
Zoey slowly nodded, making her way out of the cave, as Mark sent Chenle to watch her, "just in case".
Awkwardly standing next to each other, the two of them didn't say a word. Instead, Zoey eyed him from the corner of her eyes, not knowing what to say. “I-”, “Sorry.”, Chenle spoke up before she even had a chance to. Still, she was astonished that he apologized to her, or even said anything at all.
He had been the biggest ass to her ever since day one, but now he had the audacity to be somewhat nice all of a sudden? She was still skeptical. “For?”, she asked him, earning a groan from him. “Everything, okay?! I know I was being an ass, though you kind of deserved it, I'm sorry!”.
She looked at him like he was crazy, scoffing at his words. “You call that a proper apology?”, she questioned him.
“Just fucking accept it!”, she frowned. “then fucking apologize! Correctly this time!!”, she growled back, making him shut up real quick. He let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. “I'm sorry for being rude.”, “And?”, he sighed again. “I'm sorry for complaining about you.”, “And?”, he was starting to lose his patience, but he contained himself.
Looking straight into her eyes, he spoke once more. “I'm sorry... for worrying about you.”, he looked down, not wanting to see her reaction. To his surprise, she felt a pair of small arms snake around his waist. “You have a weird love language.”, she said, as blush crept up to his face. “Y-yah! Who said it was my love language...”.
Chenle pouted as Zoey laughed at him, “Right~”, she teased, before she heard someone clear their throat. Looking to the side of Chenle, her eyes widened at a familiar face.
