HIKE

19 | rescuers down under

it was the light at the end of the tunnel. quite literally.

"fucking hell, what's that?" donghyuck hissed, clicking his fingers and pointing in the direction of the cave entrance.

bright electric torches shone through the storm, accompanied by the calls of, "team dream? renjun? are you in here?"

the dream team shrieked in relief, having their own exhausted mini-celebration as lucas' rough voice filled the air. they were being rescued. they were safe.

"we're in here, yukhei-ge!" renjun yelled in mandarin, his words getting stuck in his throat as he had been quiet for some time.

the tall shadow of lucas appeared in the entrance to the cave, followed by the shorter stature of mark. they blinked in the darkness of the cave, shaking the rain from their soaking jackets.

"god, mr kim nearly had a heart attack because of you guys," said mark.

"mark-hyung?" jeno asked, gaping in disbelief.

"yeah, it's me," said mark gruffly, "and you'd better be grateful because this storm is tearing my car apart."

"junnie! are you okay? you said you fell in a river or something," said lucas, moving further into the cave to his chinese friend.

renjun leapt unsteadily to his feet and into lucas' arms, burying his face in the taller boy's chest. "thanks for saving us," came his muffled gratitude.

jeno stared at them, eyes narrowed.

"right, let's get you guys out of here before the storm gets any worse," said mark, urging them to their feet with both hands.

right on cue, a rumble of thunder cracked across the sky.

"shit," donghyuck cursed uneasily, "is it like this at the camp, mark-hyung?"

mark frowned and shook his head. "the camp is like a forty minute drive from here. it's rainy pretty steadily, but nothing like this. anyway, put out the fire and we'll get going."

jeno stamped out the fire after emptying a few bottles of water over it, and then got ready to go. his eyes glanced over to renjun and lucas from time to time (every two seconds) as the pair whispered together in chinese.

donghyuck, meanwhile, busied himself with the task of bundling jaemin up in rainwear so thoroughly that he couldn't ever possibly catch a cold again. once they were set to make the short trek to mark's car, they picked up the bags between them, and set off.

the rain pelted down on them as they headed towards mark's car. mark led the way with his torch beam cutting through the darkness, whilst lucas brought up the rear with the members of the dream team in between.

the sky rumbled above them and the ground was tough and unforgiving beneath them. by the time they actually reached mark's car - which was parked a good twenty minute walk away - they were all starting to wish they'd never signed up for this damn expedition.

"dump your bags!" mark yelled over the wind as he opened the trunk of his car. one by one they ditched the heavy rucksacks and piled into the back seat.

lucas rode shotgun and mark got into the driver's seat, slamming the car doors shut. finally, the sound of the rain only hammered down on the windows and not in their ears.

"jaemin, you sit in the middle," mark instructed. "how are you feeling? lucas said you passed out."

"yeah..." said jaemin, sounding a little guilty, "i didn't get much sleep, or eat much breakfast. hyuck reckons it's overexhaustion." he was already sitting in the middle so he didn't need to move.

"renjun, if you sit on someone's lap we should be safe to go," said mark, nodding at jaemin's last statement and offering a reassuring smile.

jeno opened his mouth to say something.

"sit on my lap, ren-ren," said donghyuck, and he pulled the small chinese boy onto his lap from where he was initially squished beside him.

jeno closed his mouth again.

once they were all belted up, mark hit the ignition and pulled out onto the road. wipers at full speed, they went as fast as the danger of the storm would allow, driving along to the sound of lucas talking.

"i can't believe you got lost," lucas chortled. "my group arrived literally hours ago."

"yeah, yeah, quit it with the bragging, you big tree," donghyuck grumbled, arms tight around renjun's waist as they acted like a seatbelt.

jeno let out a heavy sigh.

"anyway," said lucas, "i thought you were supposed to be the leader, dong-yuck."

"stop calling me that!" donghyuck whined. "and i wasn't the leader. jaemin was."

"no i wasn't!" jaemin jumped in immediately. "renjun was team leader."

renjun gaped at him. "since when?!" he squeaked. he turned to look at the last remaining team member yet to be blamed. "actually, je-" he cut himself off, "you know what? never mind."

"hey!" jeno protested, "i'm leader material!"

"pfft," said lucas sarcastically, "whatever you say, daddy."

mark slammed the brakes on, hard. "sorry," he muttered, shaking his head, "we'll be there soon."

"hyung?" jaemin spoke up, "what happens now?"

"what do you mean?" mark asked, eyes fixed on the country lane they were now tearing across.

"we didn't complete the distance, right?" jaemin asked, "won't we be disqualified?"

mark thought about it for a second. "you know, i'm not sure," he admitted. "i'll have to check tomorrow, but you'll just have to get some sleep tonight and see."

donghyuck scoffed. "your hike challenge was probably perfect, i bet," he said.

mark laughed out loud at that. "no way," he disagreed. "changbin got stuck in a bog and nearly got sucked under. it was so traumatic."

"but you still made the distance," donghyuck remarked sourly.

"just- just don't worry about it for now," said mark, concentrating hard on which turning to take. "right, i think this is the right one..."

as soon as they turned into the campsite, like a miracle, the thunder stopped and the rain let up to a gentle patter.

"i think the weather hates us," said renjun.

there was a small crowd to greet them once mark had parked the car. mr kim was fussing around them, and the girls' team in particular were all gathered.

"nana!" called a worried voice from the crowd.

nancy emerged from between hyeyeon and eunbin, instantly at jaemin's side, looping his arm around her shoulders. though not quite visible in the dim light, jaemin's cheeks flushed a deep pink.

"nancy, take care of jaemin in your tent, please, out of the rain," mr kim instructed. "if the rest of us give the boys a hand setting up camp, we can get settled soon enough."

chani and jinyoung and sanha helped carry the rucksacks over to a spot on the field they would pitch the tents, whilst the dream team followed, dragging their feet tiredly.

suddenly, renjun stumbled forwards losing his footing. he hadn't really even noticed the fact that he'd been limping.

"are you alright, renjun?" asked mr kim.

"i- i'm not sure, sir," renjun admitted. "i think i hurt my ankle a bit earlier, but it's probably nothing."

at this point, even renjun didn't care about the pain in his foot. all he wanted to do was collapse into his sleeping bag and fall asleep.

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