REMNANTS | JIKOOK ✔

Chapter 2. Hungry

Jungkook scrubbed wearily at his face, rinsing off the thin layer of dust that covered his skin with cold, metallic water running from the rusted tap. He was painfully aware of the danachi from the other side of the metal box Jungkook called his barrack. It would have once been a cargo container and had no windows. It got painfully cold in the depths of winter but a large rumbling radiator down one wall that sucked solar energy during the day heated it nicely. When it worked.

Yoongi had cleared a space in one corner and the thing was sitting on the cool ground silently watching Jungkook. The chain attached to its wrists now locked to a metal rail on the side of the container.

So far it hadn’t spoken another word but Jungkook could feel its dark eyes on his back as he bent over the sink. Despite the rapidly cooling dusk air, the creature seemed to radiate a strange heat, filling the small space with it as if the radiator had been activated.

Glancing up, Jungkook caught the image of the thing in the dirty mirror that hung above his sink. The danachi's hair lay across its face, wet now that it had been bathed. Its torn hoodie clung slightly to still damp skin. Bony arms encircled one thin leg and it rested its cheek on one knee, watching Jungkook carefully, yet calmly.

Namjoon had examined the thing and declared there was nothing really wrong with it, despite the obvious fact it was underweight. But he’d admitted he’d never seen a danachi before, so what did he know? 

It all made Jungkook feel very awkward. He had no idea what they were going to do with this thing and resented his own decision to keep it. The sympathy he’d had for it was fading the longer the creature was in his presence. It made him uncomfortable and its presence turned his barrack into something unfamiliar.

“What the hell are you looking at?” he demanded.

The danachi blinked slowly, raising its head. Its mouth was slightly open, bottom lip slick with saliva and Jungkook found himself swallowing hard. He didn’t want the thing in his room at all, permeating his stuff with its warm smell but the fact that he was half hard despite his distaste meant leaving the creature unsupervised was not an option. He studied it, taking in its soft silver grey hair, and the black smudges around its eyes. Almost like makeup, the smudges were just distinct enough to mark it as different in an environment where cosmetics were as common as a decent meal. 

At the corners of the danachi’s eyes, black seeped out along the lash lines to fade into nothing by the centre of its eyes. If Jungkook hadn’t known better he might have thought it a fashion statement. He supposed the distinctive colouring would be easy enough to hide with makeup but against the danachi’s pale face it stood out alarmingly.

The danachi blinked, its eyelids fluttering and Jungkook jerked, thinking for a second he had seen a strange flash of black across its eyes. Jungkook realised he had been staring and turned away, determined to stop gawking at the creature like some sex starved maniac.

He had been without a bed partner for near on eighteen months, some of his men had been stuck in this shithole much longer than him. Jungkook had pretty much given up on the idea of sex. There were some good looking guys on the base but nothing around here inspired anything close to desire in him and he hadn’t even bothered jerking off for longer than he cared to remember. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be sure the other soldiers felt quite as chaste as he did.

Shaking his hands to dry them, Jungkook grabbed the towel that hung off the wall beside the basin. He wiped his face then turned around, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t know how much you can understand,” he said to the thing curled on the floor. “But you have to stay here until we know what the hell we’re going to do with you. You can’t go out, it’s not safe.”