Try-Hard, Sin Harder

19. Failing You

"When you reach the south doors, they'll most likely be locked. Those locks are older than myself, however, and poorly maintained. It won't take much for them to shatter, just make sure everyone's accounted for when you open them," Beta told me. "No matter what, do not turn back. The moment I set the smoke bombs off, you sprint for BTS, and get the eight of you out of here." 

 I nodded. "Where do we go from there?" 

 "Through the forest," he replied. "Keeping running straight until you reach a river, then follow the river east until you find the park you visited with Taehyung not too long ago. You'll be able to find their apartments from there." 

 He turned to reach for the black bottle. I grabbed his wrist. "What about you? When those bombs go off, what happens to you?" 

 Beta shook my hand off. "I get out alive, hopefully. I'll try and slip away in all of the confusion, but I can't go the same way you are. Got7 will kill me if they see me, if BTS doesn't first."  

 I swallowed hard at how true those last words were. He was, after all, the man who sent them that picture. But nothing about this guy made any sense. He had to have known that this was going to happen, so why would he go through with what Jihun told him? Beta had done it so carelessly, no less. A phone could easily be tracked, so what was going on in his head when he sent the photo? I stiffened. "You purposely sent that photo with your phone." 

 Beta froze mid-reach. Those ice blue eyes met mine again, and I saw something behind them shift. A wall dropping. "Yeah." 

 "Why?" I stuttered. "Why would you betray Jihun and the others like this? Will you be expecting something from us in the future?" 

 More shouting echoed behind us, and I flinched closer to the wall of boxes. Beta's eyes dropped to the ground again, and he picked up the bottle. "We're running out of time, Kitten. You'd better get a move on before someone loses something." 

 Something; their minds, a limb, or their life. I shuddered, but my feet remained planted firmly beneath me. "I'm not moving until you answer my question." 

 Beta sighed, and he met my stare a final time. "There was another before you," he said quietly, as if it pained him to force out his words. "Like you, Jihun became obsessed over her. You and I have both seen what he's capable of, but I'm telling you, he can do much worse. He has, and I've had to sit by and watch. That kid has about as much sanity as his father did. I just didn't want to have to watch someone else be put through all of that. Once was more than enough." 

 "What happened to her?" I asked. 

 His fists clenched around the bottle, not of anger, but of despair. There was much more to this story than he would be able to tell me, and I doubted I would ever know the whole truth. He flipped a switch on the cap of the bottle, and rolled it around the corner. "She's gone," he said bitterly. "Your time's up. Go." 

 Smoke began to pool around me. "Go!" Beta snapped. 

 Giving him one last thought, I threw my arms around his neck. "We aren't the only ones who Jihun was wrong about. Make it out safe, and come find us." 

 Without waiting for a response, I pushed off of him, and dashed through the fog. As I flew further from the wall of boxes, I could hear the sound of a voice calling for some others. It was Hoseok. The grey clouds rose steadily from the vents like water, only giving me more reason to press harder. I had seconds to reach them before the wall of fog became too thick for us to find each other and the door. If I stopped, there would be no chance I'd be able to lead us out of there. I prayed that as I sprinted past them, at least one of them would see me.