Run

31. High Fevers & Sprained Ankles

3rd person's pov

Hoseok and the others at the forefront of the cave heard screaming in the distance, all of them on edge as they knew that it must have been Seo-jae. Jungkook stared at the path that Namjoon, Jin and Yoongi had disappeared down, his emotions were running rampant. Hoseok could feel Jungkook's anxiety, he felt everyone else's emotions but needed to focus on the maknae line sitting with him. Hyunjin sat in the corner, he watched Jungkook's anxious behavior and Taehyung's pacing. Both Jimin and Hoseok were the only two who were calm at the moment, Hyunjin felt guilty for not keeping a better eye on Seo-Jae. Despite the fact that Hoseok and Jin both believed he wasn't at fault, he couldn't help but feel that this was his. "She can never stay out of trouble, can she?" Taehyung frowned, crossing his arms. "I don't think she does it on purpose, Tae. Just like Jin hyung said, her fever most likely spiked and caused her to be delirious and hallucinate." Jimin sighed, "I don't understand why she's still sick. She should have been feeling better after she took the medicine we gave her." Jungkook sighed, "The human immune system is a lot weaker than ours. Seo-Jae's barely had any time to recover from her first injury and then she was nearly killed just a few days after that and ended up with a nasty cold. Besides with this weather we're experiencing, I say her immune system is working overtime to try and help her fight off her fever. She might be dealing with this for a while." Jimin explained, placing a hand on Jungkook's shoulder. He wanted to reassure the two that she would be just fine and thanks to his knowledge of how a human's immune system works, he knew that there were a lot of factors playing against her.

"He's right. We're just gonna have to keep up with taking good care of her. Which means feeding her healthy foods and giving her medicine. I think she'll be fine soon enough." Hoseok smiled.

"Yeah, okay." Jungkook still didn't seem very convinced and neither did Taehyung.

Jin checked Seo-Jae's ankle, sighing as he palpated it causing her to hiss in pain. She placed a hand over his, stopping him from touching it again which made him frown slightly. "Looks like you have another sprained ankle. You won't be walking on it any time soon." He said, wrapping her ankle with medical tape. He carefully slid her shoe back on her foot, he had already taken care of the cuts and scrapes that she received when she fell and had given her medication to help bring the fever down and reduce her pain. "I'm sorry." She apologized, "It's alright." Jin placed his hand on her forehead, sighing as it seemed her fever hadn't gone down either. "Her fever?" Namjoon asked, taking his attention off the panther hybrid. Behind him, Yoongi had made quick work of the predator hybrid, managing to knock him unconscious. Both Jin and Namjoon could tell that Yoongi needed a few minutes to regain control of his emotions, he had been struggling to contain his anger and it was made well aware in the bond. "Hasn't gone down. Just like I guessed, her fever spiked while we were sleeping." Jin looked up at Namjoon, placing his cold hand on her neck. Seo-jae grimaced at the feeling, but didn't move away from his touch. She felt more at ease with the three of them being there, she had hoped they weren't too angry with her. Namjoon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to keep calm. But he wasn't able to do that, not when they had found her more injured and sick than she already was. "Any other injuries?" Yoongi asked, "No, nothing major other than her injured ankle. Some minor cuts and scrapes but those can easily be taken care of. Other than that she's just shaken up." Jin gave her another once over, making sure he didn't miss any hidden wounds. It made him feel better than she seemed to only come out of this incident with few injuries, hopefully the others could feel his relief in the bond. "You promised not to wander off! How many more times are we gonna have to go through this?" Namjoon questioned, staring at Seo-Jae who was silently watching Yoongi throw the unconscious predator hybrid back in the water. There was a loud splash behind them, Jin trying not to scold Yoongi for carelessly just tossing an unconscious hybrid in the water. "I.. I didn't mean to wander off this time. I really didn't." She said softly, "Then why did you?" Yoongi wiped his hands free of blood and turned towards Seo-Jae, "I thought that someone I knew was here in the cave... I was wrong." She explained, her eyes not meeting Yoongi's.

"Did you see somebody when you woke up?" Jin asked softly, she lifted her eyes to meet his and nodded.

"Yes,"

"That explains it. Whoever she saw most likely was a hallucination. One vivid enough to let her guard down and follow it away from camp. Speaking of which, we should be getting back. I can feel both Tae and Kook's restlessness in the bond." Jin looked up at Namjoon and Yoongi, "I'll carry her." Yoongi offered, "I don't think that's a good idea. I can still feel the anger coming off of you in waves." Jin shook his head, "Then I'll carry her." Namjoon stated, Jin nodded and lifted Seo-Jae in his arms with ease. He placed her on Namjoon's back, who was careful not to touch her injured ankle. Jin put everything back into the medical bag, slinging it on his shoulder and stood up straight. Yoongi took a moment, composing himself as the the four of them made their way back to camp.

"He told me that my mom was still alive.." Seo-jae whispered softly. Namjoon looked back at her, slightly concerned as she was swesting profusely. The intense heat coming off her body was incredible, it only made the three worry more.

"Who did?" Yoongi asked.

"Baekhyun.. He said he knew where she was.. I'm sorry for leaving. All I wanted to was to see my mom again." Seo-Jae's eyes fluttered shut, exhaustion taking over as she fell asleep on Namjoon's back.

"Baekhyun?" Namjoon quipped.

"That must be the friend she mentioned." Jin suggested, "We'll ask the maknaes and Hobi, they might know." He added.

Taehyung stopped pacing, his tail going stiff as he smelled Jin and the others. His eyes staying trained on the opening as Jin walked through with Namjoon and Yoongi behind him, "Hyung!" Jimin called, standing to his feet. "Jae," Jungkook rushed over to Namjoon, Seo-jae had drifted off to sleep due to the exhaustion she felt as the adrenaline wore off. Hyunjin sat back, relief flooding his system as he saw Seo-jae safe on Namjoon's back. "What happened?" Hoseok asked, Jungkook helping Namjoon place Seo-jae in her shared sleeping bag. "Just like hyung guessed. She hallucinated and thought she saw someone she knew. She left camp to follow after him, ended up falling and rolling down a small cliff when the ground gave way underneath her. Just before we found her, a predator hybrid showed up and attacked her. But Yoongi hyung stopped him before he could lay a hand on her." Namjoon explained, Jungkook looked down at Seo-jae and brushed the stray hairs out of her face.

"Mom.." She whispered in her sleep.

"Do any of you know the name Baekhyun?" Yoongi questioned.

"That's the name of her best friend. The one who helped her escape." Hoseok answered, "Why?"

"She mentioned that he said something about her mom being alive. I believe that's who she was hallucinating. He promised take her to him." Jin put the medical bag down, leaning against the wall.

Taehyung and Jimin looked at Seo-jae's sleeping face, both feeling awful that she had missed her mother so much. "I don't think any of us realized just how bad she really misses her mother." Taehyung frowned. "Yeah.." Jimin looked down at his hands, "I'll take watch. We need to get some sleep before we set off again. Its five in the morning." Namjoon stated, body argued with that and everyone settled in. This time it wasn't so easy for Hoseok to just fall asleep, he struggled to close his eyes and hoped that Seo-jae wouldn't have another hallucination that led her to wander off.