The Hostages

Sandwiches

"Will you stop pacing?" Chanyeol asked. "You're freaking me out."

"We should be freaked out!" Mark snapped. "If he's willing to do that to Jisung, what's he willing to do to the rest of us?"

"That's an extremely unhelpful line of thinking," Taeyeon commented.

"Is the pain bad, Jisung?" Seungwan asked him.

Jisung shook his head bravely. "Not anymore. I'm just a little sore now."

"Mark, I know you're upset, but we need to keep our minds clear," Kyungsoo said. "We have to watch for an opportunity to escape."

"Escape to where?" Mark demanded. "We're locked in a cave in the side of a mountain!"

"Mark, lower your voice!" Seungwan said in alarm.

There were footsteps and Mark drew back from the door, his chest still heaving. The guard arrived with trays of food in each hand and he set them down, opened the door and slid the trays into the cell before locking the door again.

"Finally!" Taemin said, grabbing a sandwich.

"I was beginning to think he was starving us," Amber said through a mouthful of food.

"Come on, Taeyeon," Jisung said, but Taeyeon shook her head. "Maybe later. My stomach's in knots."

Kyungsoo opened a bag of chips and shoveled them in as fast as he could. "I think these are the best chips I've ever eaten," he said, shaking the bag into his mouth.

Jisung tried to open his own bag, but his fingers were too swollen to grasp it, so Mark took it and opened it in one motion. "Thanks," Jisung said, carefully pulling out a chip.

******

Jongin stared at the wall, the blood rushing to his head as he hung upside down off the couch, and Jongdae's heart broke a little as he watched him. Taemin and Kyungsoo were two of Jongin's best friends, and Jongdae knew he was suffering, so he went over and sat beside him on the couch.

"Go away, Jongdae," Jongin mumbled.

"You've been pretty quiet since we got here," he said tentatively. "Do you wanna talk about it or-"

"No," Jongin said flatly.

"Some of us are going to watch a drama in the conference room," Jongdae tried again. "There's popcorn."

"I don't want to watch anything," Jongin said, turning away from him. Jongdae started to say something else, then thought better of it and went down the hallway to the conference room.

"Did you talk to him?" Sehun asked.

"He wasn't feeling very chatty," he replied, closing the door behind him.

"What was he doing?" Sunyoung asked, stacking some pillows against the wall. They had moved the tables over to one side and made a pallet on the floor, creating a makeshift movie room.

"Staring at the wall," Jongdae replied, sitting between Renjun and Sooyoung.

Sunyoung rolled her eyes. "Boys are such idiots," she said, getting up quickly. "Take me to him."

Jongdae took her back down the hallway and Sunyoung knocked on the door gently. "Jongin? It's Sunyoung. I'm coming in," she said, opening the door. They saw Jongin laying on the couch, sobbing quietly, and she went over to him. "Oh Jongin," she whispered, kneeling in front of him. She put a hand on his back and laid her head on his arm, rubbing his back as he cried.

Jongdae felt tears well up as he watched his friends grieve. This is too much, he thought bitterly. Please let the police find them soon.