Metanoia

Forest: Chapter 5

There were flashing lights. Consistent yelling. The sound of gunshots. Things were breaking. People were dying.
Renjun, panicked, rushed through paperwork and large posters which plans were completely blurred out in his haze. Multiple neon lights of unknown chemicals and concoctions illuminated his stressed visage. Strands of red were covering some of his vision. But he could see his hands working fervently. Pulling at drawers and sifting through multiple items that some censored from his sight. His eyes were wide and crazed. He kept looking back at the door on the far end of the long room he was situated in.
The sound of screaming was getting closer by the second.
He stood from the desk and scurried around to gather items. Renjun was ungracefully stuffing delicate things into his large bag. There was tons of sharp pains stabbing into his hands but he continued to work. The teen only hissed at the sting before shaking his head and refocusing.
There was no time to lose.
Finishing quickly. He heard the booming sound from the other side of the door.
"GET OUT AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP."
It was a familiar voice, however Renjun couldn't really pinpoint who is was. Instead he headed towards the closet window and started working on opening it.
"THIS IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO REDEEM YOURSELF HUANG RENJUN."
His fingers fumbled at the latch.
"COME FORWARD AND STAND BEFORE YOUR CRIMES."
With a few more attempts he got the window unlocked.
"BY NOT SURRENDERING YOU ARE SUBJECTING YOURSELF TO CONSEQUENCES MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED."
He pushed the window open.
A large gust of wind hugged his figure, kissing his skin and combing his hair back in an affectionate welcome. Smiling, Renjun climbed onto the sill ready to take in the breeze's alluring whispers.
There was a large crash. A man with a blank face rushed through the door. His voice echoed around the room. "HANDS UP. DROP YOUR WEAPONS. GET ON THE GROUND."
He let out a sardonic laugh. "Will do."
With that he leaped out the window.
And a sharp pain jolted throughout his whole body.

"FUCK."
Renjun's eyes opened sharply and he jerked awake, falling onto a purple towel in the process of it all. The cold slap of his belonging created a shock through his limbs.
"SHIT."
He shoved himself back up into a sitting position and rubbed his face tiredly. Before he knew it, his hand was scratching against the open cut on his face. And the rest of the forest was woken up by the unharmonious curses of the blond trying to recover from his clumsy daze.
Growling, Renjun cursed more under his breath and felt the wound starting to bleed again. 'What a shitty way to wake up.' He groaned, throwing off his jacket and trudging out of the hallowed out trunk to stretch.
The cold nipped at his skin and bit at his exposed abdomen as he reached his arms up high, his shirt riding up while he did so. The grumpy teen curled his arms back in as an attempt to find some warmth once again. All he got was goosebumps and he shivered, breath coming out in clouds.
He scampered back into his comfy hole to sit and sulk for a moment (Also known as waking up). Then he decided to become productive, starting to pick some fresh, blood free clothes and clean himself up more properly.
Renjun glanced at his reflection in the lake again as he had done up the buttons of his denim jacket and frowned a bit. 'I almost forgot I had blond hair... thought it was red for a bit.' His mind went back to what he had dreamt up during his slumber. 'What an odd dream.'
He went back into his shelter to start packing up, not before he popped more of the raspberries into his mouth. Which happened to be awfully aching with how cold it was against his teeth.
Whilst Renjun started trying to clean his things he went back to his dream. By far the most vivid one he had ever had in his life. In fact, he didn't recall ever getting dreams ever. Every time he closed his eyes, he would usually open them for what felt like seconds later. And his body would feel refreshed and perfectly fine to start the day. But today it felt like an eternity as the suspense of the people coming closer as he tried to do something. He couldn't remember what his purpose was. However it sure ended on an extremely poor note. Renjun could accurately guess he had jumped out the window to prevent being taken alive. Or something along those lines.
It didn't matter. What did was the fact he had a dream in the first place.
'Perhaps.' He dragged his full Santa bag out the tree to start his journey to the shack. With the light, the little hut looked much closer than he had anticipated the night before. But it was most likely because of how much time he had to go over. 'Since I left Goldenleaf, things will start to become more normal.'
He wasn't able to confirm his theory. Not until he found someone outside the town who could validate it. Maybe Mark was able to. Since he was the only one Renjun knew who went and talked with other who could possibly have never heard of Goldenleaf ever. There was a consideration of digging around his bag to find one of his burners phones. But it was past the date it could be in use anymore so it was basically dead weight now.
There were moments where Renjun did in fact regret how paranoid he became about what society got and what they did. Because if he had just followed the people for even a bit, he might have had a bigger advantage while being stuck in the current situation. However, he wouldn't be in this current situation in the first place, if that were the case. This was only something that could happen with the choices he had made during his whole life. One misstep and he could've been in an entirely different scenario. For all he knew, Renjun would be the popular kid at school. He would be the one the school was talking about. Maybe he wouldn't have to do so much work in....
His face flushed a bit, from either the sun or what he about to think. There was no way he should even be thinking about being with Donghyuck. A hole grew in his heart. It was no use anyways.
The blond's best friend was completely different from him. Hell, the younger teen hardly ever really agreed with him in the first place. Plus, Donghyuck had his eyes on Jaemin since the start of time. Pretty much.
'And it lead him into endless despair.' Renjun thought sourly, eyes filled to the brim with ice. 'It was his fault not listening to me before. If he did, maybe he would be by my side and we could be surviving in the wild together.'
A guilt blossomed in his chest- but he ignored it and pressed forward. He was too stubborn to forgive Donghyuck so easily. That didn't mean he wasn't worried for his friends safety. Quite the opposite. He pushed it all into the back of his mind and focused on the shack that was getting only meters away.
It was what it had appeared to be from afar, run down and abandoned. The brown paint was cracked and peeling, almost begging for a fresh layer of paint. It's structure was stable, albeit a bit rushed by the looks of uneven cuts in the slabs of wood and the messy way the nails were arranged. Everything around it was overgrown. As if the person who previously owned the place had attempted to create a little garden. Weeds and vines were squeezing into the cracks and crevices of the shack, the grass covering the boarded up windows at the front. The whole place just gave a dead feeling, making the atmosphere seem bland and grey despite the rising sun brightening the whole surrounding area of the lake.
Renjun shivered uneasily, hoping no spirits were inhabiting his newfound shelter before reaching to open the door.
The large slab of wood wouldn't budge and it took a lot of force to shove it open. When it did, it loosened up instantly making the runaway nearly trip inside. He spun around to try and throw his bag in. The big red cloth's weight shifted within itself as he went around and it was able to hit the door back closed with a huge slam. The blond jumped in place and yelled out in surprise. In which it had died down into a gasp.
Unlike the exterior, the inside of the shack gave the impression that someone had recently owned the place. It seemed like the small space was covered with basic necessities, from water to snacks to extra hygienic product. There was one fairly large bed in the corner, filled with extra blankets, clothes and tall stacks of what looked to be files of paper work. In fact, with another scan, Renjun noticed that the whole place was covered with photographs, sticky notes, and multiple papers. Not only that but stashed in the corner across the bed was four large gallons of gasoline.
A childlike excitement rose within him and he couldn't help but leave his baggage at the door to scurry around the little shack happily. This was exactly what he needed to take the first step in finding out all of his questions. Perhaps the higher beings had took pity in how unfortunate he had been through the start of the school year and decided to reward his tolerate nature with the jackpot.
And so throughout the rest of the week, Renjun had found his temporary home. On the first day he was able to ration out all the supplies he would need when living in the shelter and for the trip to come. He started to go through items around the shack that proved worth in fixing his pickup and every morning he would make the journey toward his truck to tune up and fix. During his small travels, Renjun was able to start to recognize minor differences in multiple routes he took and found easier ways to get to his destination much faster.
There was zero to no run in's with any animal larger than him and so it made his stay much more peaceful as well as comfortable. It was a nice break to have after everything, which had also giving him enough energy to search up those mysterious pieces of paperwork.
    He already deduced something in his mind as he stared at all the pictures surrounding him. From ones attached on walls to ones scattered about the floor. It was all around his town. It all lead to observations of Goldenleaf. From pictures of buildings and landscapes around the town to certain people, whose faces he'd much rather forget. And although the words on the papers were obscure, obviously in code. It was clear that all of it were notes on his old home. Something about it all made it appear as if they were some sort of guinea pigs for someone else's purposes. Not only that but these reports all seemed to be addressed to someone else. He just didn't understand who.
The numbers, letters and symbols had always become extraneous to the rest of the passage making it hard to decipher or take insight on.
    'But there must be a way.' Renjun thought, spreading the documents and photos he was looking at on the desk. 'I'm guessing those two men understood it. So in the end I probably could as well.'
The two 'agents' must've been the ones reporting this. This must've been their shelter that he had run into and lived in. He was getting a lead on what he asked for all along. Renjun reached over to another file when a large thwack came out of nowhere.
    Then he heard a sound that made him freeze in his tracks and make his blood run cold. There had been a large yell. Coming from outside.