Run

30. The Unusual Cave

3rd person's pov

Yoongi, Namjoon and Jin followed Seo-Jae's scent, noticing that she was farther than they originally thought. None of them had realized how deep this cave was, which was only more concerning as they had no clue what lived in the depths of the cave. They could only hope that Seo-Jae wasn't being stalked by some wild hybrid that lived in here. Jin could practically smell the sick scent in the air, his concern for Seo-Jae growing as they followed her trail. "She seriously has no clue how to stay put, does she?" Namjoon rubbed his face in frustration. "Not always.. I don't think she would have wandered off this time by herself. Judging from the scent, her fever spiked back up and she most likely was delirious and hallucinated something that could have easily drove her to walk away." Jin suggested, he wanted to try and stay positive that they would find her unharmed. "She wouldn't have wandered off again on her own like that Joon." Jin added, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How do you know that? She has a knack for running off." Namjoon sighed, "Seo-Jae promised that she wouldn't run off like she did last time when she saw Hyunjin. I don't think she's the type to go back on her word, Joon. We'll find her." Jin said, "He's right. We'll find her. I can tell we're getting closer to where she might be." Yoongi looked down at the ground, hoping to find any kind of tracks left behind by Seo-Jae. Yoongi had no doubt in his mind that they were going to find her, though he figured that she might be injured. He noticed that she had a knack for getting herself into trouble, which was going to be somewhat of a problem. "Seo-Jae!!" Namjoon called out, "What are you doing?" Yoongi looked over his shoulder, his eyes glaring at Namjoon. "I'm calling her name. We haven't found any of her tracks. Maybe we can lead her back to us if we call out to her." He suggested, "What if she's too far in this cave to hear us?" Yoongi quipped, "She'll hear us, Yoongi. I just know she will. She'll find her way back to us. Have some faith." Jin stated.

Meanwhile, Seo-jae let out a soft groan as she heard her name being called. Her eyes fluttered open as she felt the small patch of grass she was laying on which confused her. She grimaced as she rolled onto her back, trying to remember where she was. Her vision unblurred, making it easier for her to notice her surroundings. In the distance, she heard her name called again making her move but she immediately cried out in pain. Pushing through it, Seo-Jae pushed herself to sit up and cried out when she moved her left leg. She grabbed her left ankle, hissing in pain when she moved it again. "Fuck.." She cursed, she looked around and noticed that she was sitting on a patch of grass. Her eyes shifted out to the surrounding area, noticing a small lake that sat not too far from her. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, wondering why there was a lake in a cave. The lake wasn't frozen over either, which made it even weirder to her. Seo-jae heard her name called again, making her move but with the fever and the pain, her body wasn't giving her an easy time. She let out a soft moan of pain, trying to stand to her feet and got herself standing but she hardly put weight on the injured ankle. She looked up noticing that she had rolled down a small incline, she sighed heavily as she couldn't tell how she was gonna climb back up with an injured ankle. Her only choice was to call out to them, hoping that they could hear just as she had been able to hear them in the distance. She let out a cough, leaning against the wall and slid down to sit. With a deep breath in, she exhaled and shut her eyes as she called out for her soulmates. She knew deep down that they would stop at nothing to find her, "Namjoon!!!!" She groaned in pain, grimacing as she tried to get comfortable.

Namjoon's ears twitched, all three hybrids stopping in their tracks as they heard Seo-jae's voice ring through the air. "Hyung.. Did you hear that?" Namjoon looked back at Jin, who nodded as he strained his ears to hear Seo-Jae again. She called out Namjoon's name again, all three of them feeling anxiety flood the soul mate bond. "She's gotta be nearby. She must have heard me calling her name." Namjoon said, "She's gotta keep calling out. I can pinpoint where she is." Yoongi said, "Seo-Jae!!! If you can hear me, keep calling out!!" Jin shouted, Seo-jae perked up hearing Jin's voice. She wanted nothing more than to get to them but it wasn't going to be easy, not with her fever and injured ankle. "Jin!!!" The three hybrids followed the sound of Jae's voice. As Jae continued to call out to her mates, she heard a splash come from the lake causing her to stop. She looked over, her eyes darting everywhere but she couldn't see anything coming out of the water. She called out to her soulmate again, this time the splashing becoming louder making her freeze. Her body began to shake with fright, her eyes never leaving the water as they filled to the brim with tears. A large splash was heard and a small spot started to form, a figure rising out of the water slowly. A lowly growl sounded from the creature, their green slits locking onto Seo-Jae's form as she started to panic.

"Seo-jae?!!" Namjoon called but got no answer. The three of them continued heading in the direction, they heard Seo-Jae's voice coming from. Yoongi sniffed the air, hissing lowly as he could smell the presence of another hybrid nearby. This one was definitely a predator, "Yoongi?" Jin raised an eyebrow, he could smell the predator hybrid as well. "I smell 'em." Yoongi said firmly, a loud scream suddenly echoed through the entire cave causing the three to take off running. The unknown predator hybrid launched himself at Seo-jae, his instincts screaming at him to get her causing Seo-jae to scream loudly. She quickly moved to the side, grimacing heavily in pain as she dodged the first attack of the hybrid. He nearly ran into the wall but caught himself before he could make impact, he spun on his heel as his long blonde hair clung to his face. It seemed that they were finally able to find her in no time, the three appearing at the top of the incline that Seo-Jae had rolled down. As the hybrid launched himself at her once again, Yoongi appeared at the top of the incline. Without hesitation, he threw himself down at the hybrid and tackled him, the two beginning to fight one another. Seo-jae gasped, trying to scoot back from the two and jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, it's okay. It's me. It's Jin." Jin spoke up, Seo-jae looked up and immediately relaxed upon seeing Namjoon and Jin standing in front of her. She launched herself at Jin, despite being in pain and held onto him tightly as she shook.

"It's okay. We got you. You're safe now." Jin whispered, holding her tightly. He shifted his eyes to Namjoon, who leaned against the wall in relief.

"Thank god," Namjoon breathed out.