✔️The funhouse of murder • Stray Kids X reader✔️

91 ☠️

Sticking together was now the new strategy. No more splitting up, getting others in more danger. Simply stay with the rest, even if it took a little longer to get out. Or at least, that's what Chan came with. Not that everyone seemed to agree, but we didn't have much of a choice. Though the group seemed to be splitting, with different ideas, we couldn't risk the difference right now, everyone concluded. For all we knew something worse could happen this next zone. I glanced around the room as we were all getting ready yet again, some looking worse than others.

Right now Jisung and Jeongin were probably the ones we needed to look out for the most, given the burn and head injury. Though it was a bit sad to see Minho's smile lost again as he was helping Jisung out reapply the bandages, there wasn't much I could to help him. I really hope that if he did get out of here, he'd at least be more free from all the burdens he had on his shoulders. Taking care of an entire family yourself when you're still relatively young has to be hard. I could barely take care of myself, let alone others.

Maybe that was why Changbin decided to take Jeongin under his wing for now, sticking close to him, just in case. I think part of him still felt guilty about not being able to protect Seungmin in the earlier zone. Maybe that's why he's working so hard to help out where he could. He really was a good person. I didn't know much about Changbin, even after all this time we spent together, but if there was anything I knew, it's that he was always ready to help others. Even though sometimes his ideas were different than those of others, it was always with the best intend in mind. Besides, I think Jeongin was glad that he'd have someone else to stick around besides Hyunjin. Those two still didn't seem to be on speaking terms.

"Y/N!" Jeongin came up, smiling like nothing was wrong. "Here, let me help," he offered, kneeling down in front of me to tie my shoelaces, careful to avoid the sharp pocketknife strapped around my leg. With the new weapons around, we had a better chance of defending ourselves, as well as gather more materials. Thankfully we were able to stock up here as well. What started out as one room with 5 small beds, with nothing else, this room was now equipped with 9 beds, a proper bathroom, and even a kitchen and living changing room. We truly were making our way up. It was a shame not all of the beds were filled anymore.

"Hey, you focus on helping yourself," I shot back at him as he jumped back up, shaking his head. "I'll be fine. Now you however, with that sense of direction, is a different story," he joked around, trying to lighten up the mood again. "Hey, hey, I was able to lead everyone to safety in the last zone, give me some credit," I went against him, trying to hide my smile. "Last time I checked that was some random dude who lead us there, not you. You wouldn't even find your way back to the beginning if I asked." He wasn't wrong, but that was besides the point. My smile finally cracked through, just as Changbin came up to join us.

"You guys all ready?" he asked, swinging his arm around Jeongin. "Yeah, how's the rest?" I returned the question. "Mostly ready I think. Jisung's bandages are as good as changed I believe, and Chan and Hyunjin seemed to be talking amongst themselves, but they seem fine to me," he answered, a hint of uneasiness as he said the last two names. It wasn't hard to spot his difficulty with Chan, but with those two seemingly closer than first, there definitely seemed to be a rift forming, with Changbin and Jeongin together, and Chan and Hyunjin on the other side. Minho, Jisung and I were somewhere in the middle, not sure what to do about it.

"Let's get going then, shall we?" I said with a heavy sigh, preparing myself for what we were about to face next. I had to stop looking back, and start moving forward. I put on my backpack, once again tying up my hair to get it out of the way. As Jeongin started walking, Changbin held me by the arm, keeping me back for a second longer. "Y/N, are we... good?" he whispered carefully. "Because of what happened in the last zone, you know," he added. I gave him a reassuring smile, even if I had to force it. "It wasn't your fault, we both did what we had to do to survive. Let's just try to forget about it," I answered back, knowing very well that the things that happened in the last zone weren't things either three of us could fully forget. Still, Changbin nodded, the both of us quickly following Jeongin not to raise any suspicion.

"Guys, I think the clock is malfunctioning," Hyunjin suddenly shouted, looking at the digital clock that had so far been counting down the 24 hours we had in here. "It's going down, and fast," he added quickly, as we all saw the clock hurrying down, minutes now only counting down in seconds. It was a good thing we always got ready an hour early, because at this rate, we had maybe a minute left. "Fuck," Chan cursed, his shirt and backpack still in his hand, hair wet from the shower he must have just taken. "Everyone, nevermind the tools, get out of here!" he shouted out, forcefully opening the door as we all sped through, running outside as fast and far as we could, Chan closing the door behind Minho just fast enough to hear the crumbling sound of concrete falling down behind us.

So much for a safe zone, huh.