We might die

Chapter 6

Yoongi takes out Seokjin that night.

It's uncanny, how quickly he finds him. Of course, Seokjin isn't exactly being very subtle—he's standing on the beach, for heaven's sake, watching the moon come up. It's a beautiful sight, the moonlight spilling over the perfection that is Seokjin's side profile. Or it would have been beautiful, had Namjoon not been able to see clearly from one of the cameras that Yoongi is crouched at the side of the cave Seokjin had been sitting around in, patiently waiting for his prey.

Yoongi. Yoongi always appears to be all sharp edges but inside he's a big softie. Namjoon is still finding it hard to come to terms that he is capable of this. He is a musician, a beautiful soul and a good friend, not a cold-blooded murderer.

Then Seokjin finally decides that he has been moongazing for long enough and heads back to his temporary cave shelter. It is dark, but Namjoon knows what happened from the bang.

On the map, the little blinking dot that stands for Seokjin's heartbeat goes out. Just like that. Namjoon stumbles into the bathroom to throw up.

**

Namjoon doesn't want to make the announcement, but he has to. It's literally the reason they want him here, so that he can broadcast across the island the number of deaths of the day. So that the Government can gloat in sadistic glee as his bandmates listen to the names of the fallen recited in the deep, rapper's voice of Namjoon's.

He clears his throat. "It is now 00:00 A.M. We are now officially in the second day. You have 48 hours remaining." He pauses, dreading the next part. He can see them, on different monitors. Yoongi in front of the cave where Seokjin lay, feline eyes twinkling under the night sky, pale skin almost ethereal. Jungkook by the island's only lake, lying down on his back, huge doe eyes illuminated by the stars that are reflected in them. Taehyung and Jimin together in a tree, gripping each other's hands impossibly tight as their glances dart every which where in anticipation of what is going to come.

"There have been two deaths today. Four remaining."

Jungkook gasps. Jimin buries his face into Taehyung's chest. Yoongi's eyes flicker for only a millisecond. Is that relief he sees?

"The deaths so far are J-Hope and Jin. This is it for today's announcement."

Namjoon clicks off the microphone and buries his face in his hands. He doesn't want to see the reactions of the younger ones to this news. He doesn't want to see. If he doesn't see, he can pretend that they aren't as distressed as he knows they will be.

But even with his eyes covered, he can still hear the high-pitched sob emitted by Jungkook, and Jimin bawling into Taehyung's shirt.

"D-don't leave me, never leave me, T-tae, I'm so scared, don't... don't die, stay with me, don't die..."

Taehyung's words are hurried and panicked and indented with sobbing gasps. "I, I w-won't. I won't ever leave you, I won't! I p-promise!"

They fall asleep with arms around each other, Jimin's head tucked securely under Taehyung's chin, but they are the only ones who get any sleep that night. Namjoon doesn't sleep. He can't, not when Yoongi isn't sleeping. Not when Jungkook isn't sleeping.

The older of the two is still at Seokjin's (now his) cave. He remains restless for a while, pacing in and out of the cave, mumbling loudly, until he finally settles down at the cave's mouth. Namjoon can't help noting in surprise that he actually ends up on his phone. The soldiers have figured there is no harm in leaving the phones in the members' packs, as there is no reception and no means of contacting anyone, on or off the island. Who would even want to spend time on a reception-less phone in this kind of situation, anyway?

Apparently Yoongi, that's who. He spends the rest of the night with his phone on, holding it at an odd angle to accommodate his curled-up position, finally reluctantly putting it away when the battery died.

Jungkook is just lying there, eyes wide, tearful, and vigilant. They are the eyes of someone who has lost all trust in the world.

Perhaps those soft doe eyes trace the shape of the constellations in the unpolluted sky. Perhaps those soft doe eyes see Seokjin and Hoseok up there, smiling down at their youngest with all the tenderness in the heavens.

When Damien strides in and catches Namjoon crying while staring at the screen that shows the lake, he laughs and whacks the leader on the back.

"Feeling sentimental, eh?"

"Uh, I just, just..." Namjoon doesn't want to talk about feelings, especially not with the enemy who is the direct cause of these feelings in the first place. "I was just watching the lake... I... I saw an alligator in it, I think?"

Damien scowls. "That's a shitty way to change the topic."

"No, I mean, really! I'm not sure if that's an alligator or a crocodile though, I'm not good at animal things..." Namjoon rambles on, leaning his head on the back of the chair. All of a sudden he is struck with just how intensely sad he feels.

Damien rolls his eyes as he heads outside to rejoin another mahjong round. "Whatever it is, you'd better pray it doesn't eat your lil' buddy that's lying right there by the lake."