Fear {Taeil // NCT au}

four

To say Tamsin was anxious, was an understatement. Still having no idea of what was happening, she couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenarios. A dozen different ones ran through her mind, each worse than the last. She still had no clue where the scream had come from, nor did she know the fate of her friends. Were they okay? Were they still alive?

To make things worse, though both Tamsin and Yuta had entered the house with fully charged phones, they found them drained of battery, furthering their inability to contact their friends.

Tamsin was still holding onto Yuta as they reentered the last room they had been in. Though it looked the same, there was something off. It felt completely different, but neither Yuta nor Tamsin could put their finger on what it was.

"Be careful, okay?" Yuta whispered, squeezing Tamsin's hand to get her attention.

She looked up at him and nodded.

"Something's off. It's too quiet in here."

Tamsin nodded again, silently agreeing with him. She noticed the gravestones had stopped moving and the eerie graveyard music was no longer playing in the background.

Lightly tugging at her arm, Yuta motioned to keep going. They slowly moved forward through the sand, their eyes scanning each part of the room for any possible movement.

"Where have the actors gone?" Tamsin wondered out loud, her voice barely above a whisper.

She felt Yuta shrugging beside her. They had crossed the first room without encountering anyone and it didn't feel right. Not only had they expected to see actors, but their friends, too. Taeil and Taeyong hadn't been far behind them earlier. Why hadn't they reached the last rooms yet?

Dread filled Tamsin's body as she thought of Taeil, and what could have possibly happened to him. She felt tears burning behind her eyes and bit her lip hard, trying not to break down. She knew she could never forgive herself if something had happened to him, or any of her other friends for that matter. Although Yuta wanted to go to a haunted house as well, it had been her idea initially. If she hadn't proposed it, they would have all been safe at Johnny's party.

"Tam?" Yuta whispered as he noticed her mind had drifted off elsewhere. "I need you here, okay? We need to figure out what's going on before we can worry about anything else."

Wiping away a single tear that escaped the corner of her eye, she nodded and let him lead the way. When they reached the last part of the graveyard rooms, Yuta stopped midway. Knowing the surgery room was up next, he suggested he'd have a peak inside first and wanted Tamsin to be at a safe distance.

Taking a large breath in, he took a few big steps forward and carefully pushed the door open, sticking his head inside to see if there was anyone there. He let his head fall back in relief at the sight of an empty room. He exhaled deeply, pushing his bangs back, and turned around to signal to Tamsin that the coast was clear.

At his gesture, Tamsin took a step forward but was stopped in her tracks by a hand grabbing onto her ankle. She let out a scream of terror as the sudden attack tackled her onto the ground.

"Tamsin!" Yuta shouted from behind her and didn't hesitate to run up to her to help.

Tamsin had turned around and pushed herself up into sitting position. Her eyes widened at the sight of a decomposing hand sticking out from the sand, its long thin fingers still wrapped firmly around her ankle.

"Kick at it!" Yuta ordered as he tried freeing her by pulling at her by the armpits.

Still in shock, it took Tamsin a moment to get her act together, but eventually started stomping at the creature with her free foot. The combination of her fighting back and Yuta pulling at her, was enough to release her from its grip. As soon as it let go off her, she scrambled back quickly to get away.