red sun || lee felix

ch. 1 /// i found you in the lion's mouth

prelude
1918 , korea

I knew it was right — to leave, to run away. But I was crying so hard. Everything I knew, the smell of animals and alcohol and petrol, was behind me, fading fast as I ran into the forest, the sound of dogs barking only pushing me farther.

I was heaving my bag in one hand, swatting branches out of my face with the other. I burst out of the trees, nearly tripped over the train tracks, and booked it north, only the moonlight to guide me. The freight train had to come soon. It rolled by our site every night at midnight, and its shrill whistle had been calling for me to go with it.

"Yongbok!"

My breath stopped. It was my father's voice. Flashes of light flickered through the forest, the barking was getting closer.

Then the train whistle echoed off the mountains. I ran toward it, a deranged sprint. The men chasing me were shouting my name, ordering me to stop. In their fucking dreams.

The blur of a train emerged from around the bend, three times taller than me and coming fast. It sped past me, its massive wheels shaking the ground. I ran in the opposite direction, alongside it, looking for an open boxcar.

I saw my chance too late. The doors flew past me — I pivoted and scrambled to catch up. The train was picking up pace, whistle still blaring. I yanked my bag off my shoulder, flung it into the car and grabbed one of the doors. It clunked back into place — I stumbled and lost my footing. My shoes scraped against the ground as I reached for the door with my other hand.

I heaved myself into the car and fell onto my back, panting. I let out a hysterical laugh, pulling at my own hair. Jesus Christ, I did it. I couldn't concentrate on the fear, the countless ways I could die within the next month, or that my father might somehow track me down. For the moment, all I could process was relief, relief that I would never again feel as worthless and terrified as I had for the last 19 years of my life.

I sat up, pulled my duffel bag into my lap, all the earthly possessions I owned. I heard the sound of wood and metal clanking together as the boxcar juddered back and forth. It was dark onboard, shadows everywhere, filling each corner.

"Look at that..."

A voice from the darkness. I flinched. "Hello?"

"What are you doing out here, young one?" The voice was so sweet and deep, like music.

"I... I don't know. Who are you? Where are you?"

The voice was closer now though I didn't see any movement. "What's your name?"

"Um. Felix. Yeah. Felix."

Closer still. "Haven't heard that one before."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Fei."

"What are you?"

"Your heart is beating quite quickly, isn't it?"

I swallowed. "You... you can hear it?"

"Yes. Very well." A boney, calloused hand inched into a sliver of light cast by the moon. "In fact, I can smell the blood it pumps. I can practically... taste it..." A low chuckle, but it sounded like a tiger's growl.

I scrambled toward the doors but a hand caught my collar, yanked me back. I slammed into something hard — wooden crates crashed down all around me. I still couldn't see her, she was a wight in the dark, but I heard her breath, rough and fast and excited.

I couldn't do anything but tremble, too scared to move, as a pair of long hands reached toward me, and something glowing red glinted in the darkness. The hands — gentle, attentive, cold as ice — held my cheeks, pulled me into the shadows, and I felt only a trace of breath against my throat.