Bridging Destinies

Chapter 8: At the Wrong Place, Wrong Time

(Some aspects of this chapter will have violence and may be difficult for more sensitive readers.)

Namjoon sat on the seat in the van, sporadically listening to Taehyung and Jimin, as they quietly discussed the last concert. He was only half focused on the book he was reading, and looked up from his book, watching the road in front of them. Turning around to look through the window, peering past Yoongi's shoulder, he looked to see where the other van was with the rest of their bandmates. It was supposed to be following behind them. "Where's the other van?" He asked, unable to see any other vehicle behind them. Three other heads turned and twisted their bodies to look out the back window, confirming that they did not see anything either. Namjoon leaned forward, speaking to the driver, "Hey. Can you call the other van and see where they are?" He asked the driver and hedging his bets, he took his phone out to check his texts. Seeing nothing on his phone, he sent a text to their group chat, "Hey guys. Where are you? We can't see you behind us anymore."

The others joined in, adding their texts in a mild display of mayhem. Seokjin took a short moment to respond in the chat, but was faster than the driver, who was still pulling up the phone on the LED screen in the van, to make the call, "Sorry, Joon-ah. JK had to pee." Yoongi was leaning over the seat in front of him, his arms crossed and holding to the back of the seat. He peered at Namjoon's phone, apparently unconcerned, as his face betrayed nothing. Jimin and Taehyung's reactions were in juxtaposition to Yoongi's indifference. They laughed and started sending joke texts, teasing their band mate about his bodily functions.

"Are you back on the road?" Namjoon asked in the group chat and waited for a response.

Instead of Seokjin, Jungkook responded, "I'm sorry too, hyung. It was sudden. I had to find a tree. But we are moving again."

The others laughed uproariously at this and Namjoon shook his head, smiling faintly. As he was typing up his response, Taehyung sent his text, unsuccessfully holding back his laughter, "It's all those banana milks, lemon Kombuchas and waters you've been drinking today, Kook-ah." Jimin read the text as Taehyung typed it and laughed loudly.

Namjoon's smile broadened, his dimples showing clearly on his face, as he shook his head again at the two younger men. He responded, "Okay. Let us know if you manage to get closer to us, otherwise see you at the shooting location."

Seokjin responded quickly, "We won't be that far behind you."

Yoongi leaned back into his seat with a faint grimace, and looked out the window, while Jimin and Taehyung began to talk quietly with each other as they had before, an occasional giggle from one or the other of them punctuating the relaxed peace that had descended inside the van. Namjoon set his phone down and settled his book back in his lap, searching for the spot he had been reading to find his place.

In the moment between when Namjoon turned his eyes from his phone to the book he was reading, the driver gave a small grunt of surprise, panicked and then swerved, losing control of the vehicle. Namjoon watched in shock, his voice stuck in his throat, as at the last minute he held tightly to the seat and the side wall of the van, his entire body taut, not making a sound. Yoongi tensed and held onto the seat in front of him, bracing himself, Jimin screamed and Taehyung was frozen in fear, unable to make a sound. Jimin appeared to be screaming for all of them.

As the vehicle rolled over several times, time slowed down to what seemed like long seconds, moving as if extending into minutes. After three hefty rolls, the vehicle bounced into place back and forth, from side to side, rocking from the momentum. Inertia stopped it, as it settled on all four tires, and the inside grew silent. The only sound that could be heard were small, pained whimpers from Jimin. Namjoon, stunned, looked into the direction of the driver, who appeared to be passed out, realized he could not see straight, then followed the driver's example and promptly lost consciousness.

~~~

I was driving this time. Our cargo was a body, wrapped up in a body bag. Our friend, Belis'ael, who had died in service to our cause was inside of it. We'd spent very little time grieving over his remains, knowing that we had a job to do, but when we had finally found him, dumped in a ditch and half buried behind one of the buildings we had seen in the pictures from the box, a tear had escaped my eye. Between the two of us, we had killed the lights and any cameras we came across as we approached his location and did so again, as needed, as Dana had carried his body over his shoulder. We did not think we were seen, as we had been careful, but we weren't certain.

There was a dark spot in the weave and neither of us could see through the shadows.  Despite this, we had successfully carried Belisael's body through hostile territory at night, close to the border, over it and back to our car, placing it in the body bag. We were eager to leave North Korea. Once we passed the border line, there had been back roads we knew of that were not quite roads, but with our vehicle we would be able to make it through. These, we could clearly see in the weave and were able to navigate around them. We had followed the weave safely out of the country and had made it to this road a good fifty miles outside of North Korea when we finally decided we were safe.

We were well aware that the weave sometimes shifted, and often we had contingency plans to help us with such potentials, but with so much shadow hiding it, we were not sure what would happen next. We did not immediately see the car that began to follow up half a mile back until I realized that it was taking the same turns as we did. I made a sudden sharp left and the car followed quickly. Dana looked at me and between our minds we spoke quickly, 'Look at the paths.' I instructed him needlessly, as he had already begun to do so.

'Next right.' He said into my mind tersely, and I turned sharply into the street to the right. The car still followed, and I sped up, as did the car behind us. Dana then spoke out loud, "It's risky, but go into the next lane over."

I looked at him in mild confusion, "Lar," I paused for a moment, using the shortened version of his non human name, Lariel*, then continued, "That's oncoming traffic."

He shook his head, "Do it, the weave is tight, but it will work." His face fell into a determined, but faintly unsure expression. Having worked with him for centuries, off and on, I trusted him, so did as he instructed. As I turned a corner, a van came into view about five hundred feet from our vehicle, and he instructed quietly, "Hold it until I say otherwise." As we came up closer to the van in oncoming traffic, less than two hundred feet away, Dana commanded firmly, "Now!" I swerved at the last minute, causing the car to nearly rock onto two wheels and then land with a crash, as we kept moving. Dana looked out the window as the car following us almost slammed into the van causing the van to swerve out of control, flip over many times and come to a standstill on all four wheels. The car that was chasing us had slammed into a median and was on fire.

I stopped the car on a spin, as we had been going very fast, and got out with Dana, looking over the roof of our car at him, as he examined the damage. I saw one of the passengers get out of the van in a haze and walk into the road. I blinked in surprise as I recognized him from my research several days earlier. 'That's Yoongi.' I thought to myself.

Dana interrupted my thoughts and spoke out loud, "Nobody will die." He looked across the top of the car at me, speaking as if in explanation, looking almost guilty. I looked at him in concern, then at the car that was still on fire and watched as the car suddenly exploded, killing anyone that may still have been alive inside, "Well." Dana finished, "Nobody in the van, either way."

I frowned deeply, and turned to look at the van. Yoongi was now crouched down against the road, with his hands over his head, in a protective gesture, and I glanced at Dana briefly with a deep frown, then moved towards Yoongi, who was now beginning to stand, to stare at the car that was blazing, two figures inside thrown as dark shadows through the flames. 'I'm going to help them. Help me.' I spoke to his mind, 'There shouldn't be police yet, so it's not a concern. We are too far from a town.' He nodded, almost seeming relieved, and moved to follow me.

*(Dana is Lariel's human name. It is used in reference to him in the telling of the story. His given name is only used in private between Felina, himself and others of their kind)