Tally Marks- soulmate au

Chapter Twenty-Two: Bullet

It took a moment for everything to set in. Nobody moved.

"I said get on the fucking ground, you freaks!" He barked.

That's when it finally set in. Suddenly everyone was shakily slipping to the floor. Junhui caught a glimpse of the bartender hiding behind the bar, out of sight. He watched the bartender scramble for his phone. The gunmen couldn't see him as he started calling 911. Junhui couldn't hear what he was saying but he could read the panic on the man's face as he tried to quietly explain what was going on. A small glimmer of hope seemed to twinkle in his eyes as it looked like he was telling them the address of where they were. But that glimmer of hope faded into a confused sadness. The man pulled the phone away from him and looked at it. He shook slightly as a tear rolled down his cheek. He looked up, dazed, and made eye contact with Junhui. He gave the bartender a confused look and slightly cocked his head towards the phone. The bartender just looked down, took a deep breathe, and then looked back up at Junhui. And Junhui suddenly realized as the bartender shook his head slowly, that the police weren't coming. No one was coming. They were alone.

He started to panic as he slowly pulled his legs close to his body. Wonwoo looked over to him and saw the fear seeping from Junhui's eyes. Wonwoo moved closer to him and pulled him into his arms. They both shook with fear as they stuck together.

"Where's the bartender?" The tall brooding man with a gun hissed.

Several of the people in the club began timidly looking around. Junhui looked over at the bartender and saw the man quiver in fear. There were quite a few people looking in the direction of the bar and the main gunman took that as his cue that that's where the bartender was. He nodded to one of his men and the man stormed over there. Stepping over and around people. Threatening anyone who dared to try to step up to him. When he finally reached the bar, he walked around and pulled the bartender to his feet.

"Are you the owner of this wretched place?"

The bartender didn't say anything. He was clearly too afraid to say anything.

"I asked you a question!" He threw the bartender to the ground.

"Y-yes. I- I own the place."

The man grabbed the bartender by the collar and dragged him towards where the leader of his trio stood.

"Do you see this?" The leader shouted while pointing his gun at the bartender. He addressed the quivering people on the ground.

"You see this man?" He pushed his tip of his gun the bartenders temple.

Junhui quivered in Wonwoo's arms. He looked over to see Seungcheol holding Chan behind him. Most everyone held fear and terror in their eyes, but Seungcheol, he was different. He held a special fondness towards Chan, something fatherly and unbelievably protective. He was mad. In fact, he was beyond mad. Just the thought that Chan had to go through this. The thought that someone was putting the poor boy in this situation. He should never have to live with this fear. Seungcheol was pissed. And no matter what happened tonight, he would not let Chan get hurt. He would do anything to protect him. Anything.

Chan could sense Seungcheol's rage. Neither of them wanted to loose the other. Chan leaned forward and rest his head on Seungcheol's back, just between his shoulder blades. He then wrapped his arms around Seungcheol's waist. He pulled them close together.

"It's okay."Chan whispered. "It's going to be okay."

Seungcheol quietly chuckled. "You always were the optimist."

"I still am. I'm still here." He hugged Seungcheol even tighter.

Their attention was quickly snapped back to the gunmen and the bartender. "This man is a disgrace to humanity! He let you creatures roam free! He shouldn't be allowed to walk this planet!"

The man walked away from the bartender who was being held by his partner. He began to walk around, pointing his gun at anyone who dared to even move.

"None of you should be able to walk this planet. But I do have thank the man. He got you all here, all in one place. It's much easier that way."

He finally got to the back of the room, after walking around every single person.

"I could shoot you all. Kill each and every one of you right now if I wanted to. But then, who would be there to set the example? Who would tell the story?So, I think I'll just stick with setting an example for now. Starting with your lovely bartender."

The man raises his gun and aimes it at the bartender, from all the way on the other side of the club.

"NO!" Seungcheol stood up directly in the middle of the room. Right between the gunmen and the bartender. Chan sat at his feet tugging at the hem of his pants.

"What are you doing?" Chan aggressively whispered.

Seungcheol looked down at. "I'm not going to let this bastard traumatize you. You don't need that."

"Oh, yea." The gunman laughed. "Protect your little boyfriend. You know I don't have a problem with killing both you and the bartender. No problem at all." He pointed his gun at Seungcheol.

"You don't want to traumatize your boyfriend who whimpers at your feet. But if you die, that'd do a lot more damage.Don't you think?"

"I'm not going to let you do that." Seungcheol began to step forward but before he even got one step, the gunman pulled back the safety pin before pulling the trigger and letting the bullet graze through the air.

Everything moved slowly. The bullet spinning through the air. Seungcheol, midstep. And Chan, by his feet. Moving. Slowly. Not looking at anyone else besides Seungcheol. Beginning to stand up. Chest towards Seungcheol. Arms reaching out. Before he's even standing fully, he's got his arms wrapped around Seungcheol.

"I love you." He whispers into to Seungcheol's ear right before the bullet pierces his back.