wilted flower ─ changlix ✓

nine

"aren't you hungry?"

"come to my house, i'll fix you some supper!"

"oh what sweet looking children you are~"

their singing voices overlapped, drowning out the sound of felix's whimper as he held on to changbin. changbin was breathing erratically as he tried to figure out what to do. he recognized this. hysteria: the second-last symptom of the disease.

changbin's parents had made them leave before it could kick in for them. before they lost their minds... and before the last symptom. death.

the first symptom was rather discrete, fatigue and tiredness. but these people had the second symptom, unmistakably. the disgusting state of their skin, discoloured and dry. it only took a few hours for the symptoms to escalate, from fatigue to infection, from infection to hysteria.

"hey, come on! don't be scared!" chris grinned, taking another step towards them. "felix, was it? you guys look tired, why don't you rest? my house isn't far from here."

"stay away from us," felix growled, not bothering to reply in english. chris took another step towards them threateningly. there was nowhere for the two of them to go. nowhere to run.

changbin felt as though he was suffocating. it couldn't end like this... it just couldn't. wracking his brain, changbin finally pulled up his shirt, covering his mouth and nose before turning to felix and shoving the fire poker into his hands.

"i was hoping we wouldn't have to use this," he said, his voice muffled through the fabric, "just follow me, stay as close as you can."

he didn't give felix enough time to respond before he broke out into a run, plunging into the fray and trying to shove past the people garbling incoherently. he could feel felix at his heels, and swung the cleaver at the hands that tried to grab at them. finally breaking past the barrier of hysterical people, he nearly let out a breath of relief.

but they weren't out of the jungle yet.

suddenly, there was a yell behind him, and changbin turned to see felix struggling against chris, who had his arm in a tight grip. despite his efforts to use the poker, chris seemed adamant on keeping his hold.

it was as though changbin's vision turned red when he saw felix in trouble. before he knew what he was doing, he launched himself at chris with a cry of anger, almost throwing the knife at the man.

chris let out a scream of anguish as the blade embedded itself in his arm, and he loosened his grip on felix. to spare himself from seeing the gory details, changbin let go of the knife and caught hold of felix's hand, turning and sprinting.

he could see where the forest and the village met. they were so close, if only they could cross a little more. it felt like his fingertips were just brushing those trees, and if he could just get a grasp...

then... spiny branches clawing at his face. his heart thundering in his ears as he wove through the trees. he could hear felix's breath coming out in short puffs.

tree roots and tree branches attempted to reach out to grab and scratch them, but they just continued running. he did not know when the mob had stopped chasing them, but the two terrified boys only stopped when they felt like they were about to drop.

"we made it," changbin said, letting out shuddering breaths. he was only moments away from breaking out into sobs as he leaned against a tree trunk.

"changbin..." felix's is voice was barely a whisper, and changbin hardly heard it over his own roaring thoughts.

he had never felt as frightened in his life as he had when he saw felix in danger. the second he saw the pure terror in felix's eyes when he thought he wasn't going to make it.

felix didn't deserve this any more than he did. he hated that they had their life ripped away from them, that they had to grow up so much faster than any other eighteen-year-old.  his eyes were closed as he repeated himself, as though to convince himself, "we're out... we're safe..."

"changbin," felix said, more persistent. changbin's eyes opened slowly as he calmed down.

felix held his arm gingerly, holding it out for changbin to see the gaping scratch marks that dug into his flesh. blood, bright and red, spilled from the cuts like dark red wine from a goblet.

and changbin wished he hadn't opened his eyes.

─ author's note 🌻

yAYyyy! double update because both of these chapters were a little shorter heh. hope you enjoyed!

─ love from melelel !