ꗃ: 𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𔘓. 𝗍𝖺𝖾𝗃𝖾𝗇𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗄𝗈𝗈𝗄 ! 𓂅

35 | 生きている

BITTER COLD PIERCED TAEHYUNG’S heavy coat. They’d finally been able to pick up a faint trail in the snow about a mile outside of town. He and Jimim shined their floodlights over the terrain, moving as quickly through the drifts as possible.

Heavy, wet flakes fell, covering the tracks almost as quickly as they could find them.

“There’s a shed just ahead,” Taehyung shouted back to Soo-young who was bringing up the rear.

He waded through the last heavy drift and shoved his way to the ramshackle shed a few feet away. He grabbed his gun sling and hauled his rifle over his shoulder until his hand curled around the stock.

Jimin shuffled up behind him, rifle trained on the door.

“Shine the light, I’ll go in,” Taehyung directed.

He counted to three then rammed his shoulder into the rickety wooden door. It shattered and Taehyung stumbled inside. Jimin rushed in behind him, light raised, gun sweeping the area.

“There, in the corner!” Taehyung exclaimed.

Soo-young burst in behind them, her pistol drawn. “Find anything?” she asked breathlessly.

Taehyung didn’t respond. His attention was focused on the small child huddled in the corner of the shed. Dropping to his knees in front of the boy, Taehyung reached out and touched the child’s cold skin.

To his relief, the boy stirred and opened his eyes.

“Thank God,” he murmured.

Soo-young immediately began barking orders into her radio as she relayed their position. She requested EMS and told the dispatcher to inform the parents the child had been found.

“Rowoon,” he said gently. “We’ve come to take you home.”

“The bad man said I couldn’t go home,” Rowoon stuttered out. “Not until…”

“Not until what?” Soo-young demanded.

Rowoon’s brow furrowed in confusion, his lips shook with the cold. “Said I had to serve my purpose. What’s that mean?”

Taehyung looked at the others and shrugged. What sicko had taken the child and left him here in the cold to freeze to death?

He reached down and picked Rowoon up, cradling him in his arms. “We’re going to take you home now, Rowoon. Your mama’s been awfully worried.”

“Don’t let the bad man hurt her,” Rowoon mumbled against Taehyung’s shirt.

“Don’t worry, son. He can’t hurt your mama.”

Rowoon raised his head. “Not Mama. The woman. The bad man said he had to take care of a woman.”

Icy prickles danced up Taehyung’s spine. He glanced over at the others, tendrils of dread clinging to him like a vine. “Take him for me,” he directed Jimin.

After Jimin hefted the boy into his arms, Taehyung dug for his cell phone. He punched in his home number and waited as it rang. He let it ring twenty times before he closed his cell phone. He swore softly.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Soo-young offered. “They’re probably asleep.”

“Yeah and my signal sucks,” Taehyung said, trying to dispel the heavy foreboding that swelled in his gut. “I’ll try again when we get to town.”

“Ready to head out?” Soo-young asked as she secured the rope to the rescue sled.

Jimin laid Rowoon down and arranged blankets around him. Then he and Taehyung took the rope and began pulling the sled through the snow. It was at least an hour trek back to town, and Taehyung carried a knot the size of a softball in his stomach.