The Gifted (Txt x Itzy)

三十三

A curious thing happened when they awoke. Taehyun opened his eyes blearily, looking out the window when he noticed a bird outside the window. It was frozen in mid-flight, the plants around also stiff, hovering in the air as if the wind had blown it up. Taehyun swatted Kai, who was the closest to him, "Wake up."

As Kai stirred, Taehyun stood up, and walked to the door.

He opened it and saw a grenade falling towards him.

Taehyun ducked and waited for the blow, except there wasn't one. After a good minute of waiting Taehyun looked up, and the grenade was still stuck in the air.

"Everything is frozen in time," Taehyun breathed out as Kai walked up to him. "What?"

Taehyun walked out and noticed soldiers all hidden behind crates and trees, but frozen too.

"What happened?"

At perfect time, a breathless Yeji burst out from the forest. When she saw everything she heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god, I thought I was too late," She said, stumbling towards them. "You did this?" Taehyun asked in amazement. The girl gave a sheepish smile. "I'll explain everything," She spoke, "We should do something about the soldiers."

The soldiers were handled, they would be very confused when the woke up entangled in trees, and the grenade was removed. "They ran past me," Yeji told them, "I heard, and tried to...you know." She fluttered her fingers. Jisu ran up to them. "Is everything okay-Yeji!" The two girls embraced excitedly, and Jisu asked, "How did you get here?"

Everyone was woken up, and Yeji explained everything, "I went home, 'cause my mom told me my father was hospitalised, but when I got home there were police in my house, because I did a test and obviously got tested positive. They tried to take me, so I panicked and ran. I've been practicing my power too. You guys were gonna be attacked, because the soldiers somehow predicted you would come back." Yuna shot Taehyun a dirty look at that. "I tried to expand my power's range so that the soldiers would be frozen before I could get here. And that's it," Yeji finished off.

Taehyun looked relieved, "Well, so we've almost got everyone. That's great. Let's go find Soobin."

-

They were starting to get very used to the forest now. "I didn't know we had so much forest in our country," Yuna huffed as they stepped through the foliage. "Well, at least we can't be tracked anymore. Right?" Kai asked hopefully. Taehyun sighed, "No one had phones anymore, I believe so yeah we should be fine."

"Except for the fact that they know we would be in the forest, and the forest isn't exactly huge," Jisu pointed out. "Do you have directions to the military base?" Beomgyu interrupted quickly. The boy seemed very muted and withdrawn lately, only speaking if necessary. Nodding, Taehyun said, "Yeah, I figured it out last night. It's almost a day's walk away, but we'll get there."

Yeji shuddered slightly, "On my way here I heard that there would be soldiers patrolling the area even more now, especially since they know we're out here."

"Great."

-

After hours of walking they all collapsed in a pile on the ground, exhausted and hungry.

"Well," Taehyun started, "Some of us could go to the nearby towns and try to get food."

"But the risk of being spotted?"

"Then we have to send those that don't stand out too much. No offence Jisu."

"None taken."

"Who are the most wanted?"

"Well, Yuna is recognisable, since she's so-" Taehyun waved his hands around.

"And therefore she shouldn't go. Yeji, Chaeryeong and Ryujin's parents may have reported them missing, so people would be on high alert looking for them."

"So the four of us?" Kai asked, gesturing to the four boys. "Pretty much," Taehyun agreed. "Have fun, don't die," Yeji said.