Love In A Sinking Realm ⊰BTS⊱ Steampunk

CHAPTER 11 ➣ Mine City Part 2

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◦◦◦─╌⊰ ⚜ ⊱⧐ ♛ ⧏⊰ ⚜ ⊱╌─◦◦◦

In Y/N's mind, there was a clock ticking. Every second lost was precious. Her mind was linked with Taehyung's suffering.

The rain downpoured like the monsoons of deep rainforests, while Y/N made her way into the first house, confirming the state of total emptiness. She felt as though she was polluting the families' ancestral homes that used to inhabit these abodes, with her frantic search.

It's quite surprising how fear and thirst for survival boost determination and physical prowess. No matter how fast or how much strain the muscles undergo, on an empty stomach and an unquenched thirst, she would keep going on ceaselessly, with tenacious concentration. Nothing bothered her. Not the rain. Not the cold. Not her anxiety. Not the wet clothes sticking on her body.

She emptied cabinets and removed drawers and searched wardrobes and pantries. Nothing. Then unto the next house. And the next. And then the next.

How was it even possible that none of them had a bloody screwdriver or damned bobby pin? Then again, the WRA and other desperate scavengers of the road must have looted everything they could put their hands on, which explained the state of utter disorder of some of the houses and apartments. Not to mention that nothing was standing in the shops.

She cursed heavily and moved to the next house. She went up the wooden stairs and reached the room that seemed to belong to a woman. There she found a stash of brushes, ribbons, and bobby pins.

"Bloody finally!" She triumphed and shoved as many as she could in every pocket of her clothes.

She felt just a tiny spark of relief. But no screwdriver on sight yet. And right upon the edge of the desk, there stood a round mirror with a wooden frame, and above it, a small window gazing down the foggy ambient.

Her eyes inevitably fell on herself. For a moment she did not recognize the girl staring back at her. Her drenched, dyed brown hair, with wet wisps glued on her pale complexion. She had lost weight, her youth and beauty impaired by fear, poor hygiene, and wariness. Her eyes pierced through herself, morose, hurt, angry, and premature growth darkening them, mirroring the grey mist, dulling their emerald green. She felt disgusted and looked away, returning to her mission.

Day was turning into night, faster than she keep up with. It was becoming harder and harder to see.

She visited the next house, where the door was locked, unlike the other rashly abandoned ones, so she had to break in through an already broken ground window. The place was also stolen clean by intruders.

Suddenly, she heard multiple barks and howling. She jumped over a fallen library and looked out of the window. Strange to find packs of dogs out in the rain.

Her heart raced, craning her neck outside, trying to spot or hear the dogs, but the rain lashed hard and loudly.

"Shit!" She grunted through her teeth, a million scenarios playing in her mind.

Time was running out. She needed a diversion before the dogs would reach the area where the mines and Taehyung were located. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a pan and a large spoon.

The dogs were surely starving to death to hunt in this weather, which meant that they must have caught their smell.

She ran to the next house, ignoring her heart still pounding savagely, thinking how dangerous packs of hungry wild dogs can be, especially when they've been feeding on war corpses all this time. But, she was significantly more concerned with the carpet of landmines just waiting to explode in a chain reaction that will annihilate everything in its way.