The Pitch || EXO

Chapter 20

Jongdae wakes the others up at sunrise and they quickly run downstairs after getting dressed to have breakfast. Junmyeon notes that he will have to wash their clothes again since they are absolutely filthy. Their breakfast is a few bashed tins of just out of date peaches, a few roasted potatoes (courtesy of Chanyeol) and a some sliced baby carrots. After finishing the 'large' meal, they grab their backpacks and head over to the house next door to collect the girls. Yoonsun blushes when Jongdae says 'good morning' and quickly retaliates with an awkward wave. Jongdae smiles at the cute behaviour as he grabs her bag for her. He has no idea where the sudden display of affection has come from, but Yoonsun is becoming like the younger sister he's never had. Yixing begins to rush everybody out of the door.
"We need to start heading, guys." He warns lowly. Junmyeon turns to Sungjil and asks for the directions.
"So we start off this way, " he points to his left, "and then we go through the forest. It's safer that way and we will be able to avoid the Black Hearts." The boys nod and agree, the entire group beginning to head off into the forest.

Since the sun is low in the sky, the forest is incredibly dark, the tall limbs and canopies of the trees casting deep, dark shadows onto the earth. Brambles splay out in many directions, often catching on shoelaces, loose clothing and every so often skin.
"For fuck's sake!" Jongdae cusses as he swats yet another bramble branch away from a cut on his leg. Baekhyun begins to mock him, sounding a little like a pubescent llama (if llamas can be pubescent that is). Jongdae glares in Baekhyun's direction, before going back to talking quietly with Minseok.
"Watch your leg. Duck down a little- there you go." Sehun helps Jingsu over a fallen log as they cross a small stream. They travel further and further into the dark forest. Baekhyun lays his palm flat in mid air and concentrates so that a vortex of soft light begins to form. He shapes it into a beautiful orb and puts his hand back down to his side, the orb floating gently beside him. They walk for perhaps a couple of hours more, the darkness of the forest looming over them and everything looking the same no matter where they step. Eventually the group ends up getting confused as they try to find out where they are.
"I hope that we don't die out here." Yoonsun whispers to herself. She pushes up her glasses and frowns while blowing her hair out of her face.
"We'll be fine. We are just a little...confused at the moment." Jongdae smiles gently at her while slowly (and nervously) taking her hand into his. She returns the soft smile and her heart feels a little more at ease. She has no idea where the sudden crush on the slightly younger has come from, but she can't bring herself to care. Some people in the group begin to grumble, complaining about how far they've walked and how they think that they're lost.
"Haven't we already been this way? I mean, come on, we've been walking for such a long time, there's no way that this fucking forest can be this big." Sunli groans, throwing her head back as her shorthair swishes. She flicks a hand in her face to swat away a fly in annoyance.
"Quiet, Sun. We need to patient. We can't be running around like headless chickens." Yoonsun calms her friend down, patting her shoulder gently.
"Sorry. I'm just-just stressed is all. What happens if we don't make it or there's nothing there, y'know?" She lowers her head and sighs deeply.
"Like Yoonsun said, we need to make sure that we keep up our morale, we need to keep going. We don't know if they're on our tails, and I don't think that any one of us would like to take a chance. Let's take a little break for ten before we get moving again." Junmyeon announces, slinging his backpack from off his shoulder and onto a mossy rock a few feet away. The others slump down on a log or the damp ground and rest their aching limbs for a little bit.

It seems as if there are trees everywhere- the ground is dark and the earth is sparsely decorated with leaved plants. Large areas of moss cover almost everything in sight and a few boulders rest here and there. As the group travel further and further, their surroundings as well as their hope seem to get darker and darker. There is a sudden clearing and Chanyeol has to grab Baekhyun so that the smaller doesn't walk off of the craggy edge of a cliff face. There is a deep sigh of relief from the two as they reluctantly look down and see that there is a fifty foot drop and then a raging river at the bottom of the ravine. They are so high up, they can barely hear the noise of the fast flowing water over the sound of their footsteps and talking.
"Fucking hell." Minseok whistles as he gazes down, throwing a rock down into the depths of the water. "Must be about a hundred foot, you reckon?"
"Don't be silly, Min. It's probably just over half of that." Yixing laughs. The group decides to set up camp there, laying down a few blankets as Chanyeol gathers a few sticks and stones to light a fire. He points his right palm outwards and slowly clenches his fingers into a fist. The others watch silently as the mixture of dry moss and sticks begin to smoke before a little flame flickers and licks at dry moss and the fire begins to grow. Kyungsoo raises both hands around the area of the campfire and closes his eyes in concentration. Walls of stone raise from the earth and stand roughly seven feet high. A final slab rests on top of those, slightly hanging over the other four walls. Junmyeon then takes a turn, blasting his water through one of the large walls roughly ten centimetres off of the ground to make a squint circle for an entrance.
"Home sweet home." Jongdae jokes to lighten the atmosphere.