Hacking Seoul

0.21 - Unmapped

He pulled the door open and slid into the backseat of her car as shots were fired and the car zoomed forward like a frightened deer, into uncharted darkness.

It took him a while to register that he was indeed in the backseat of her car, speeding somewhere he didn't know. They had taken several turns and the next sharp turn she made finally threw him back into reality.

She didn't leave him there to die.

She stayed. In that critical moment, a difference between life and death, she waited for him to get in. With her own life on the line. That delay could have had them killed. Yet she chose not to step on the gas when she had the chance to ensure her own escape. She chose not to leave him behind even though getting away from him was all she wanted this entire night.

Affection and adrenaline engulfed him as he watched her maneuver the car with her left hand, her body stiff and her grip unversed. The formidable speed they were going at reflected the sped up progression of their relationship tonight and right now, in her small and stuffy car, he wanted nothing more than to know everything about this girl. To become something more to her than just a stranger she strayed upon. He didn't know how to do it but he needed to put their lives on the same map.

"Hey."

"I need to charge my phone. Right now." Her voice was pitched and strained and it sounded like it was played through a fast forwarding radio.

"Thank you."

"I have no idea where I'm going. They shot at us." She paused before exclaiming it again in quaking voice. "They shot at us!"

She made a wild left turn with no warning and he hit his head on the back of the passenger's seat as he was thrown to the middle.

"Sorry about that." She slowed their speed immediately. "I don't know what I'm doing I'm just . . ."

"Hey, hey, it's alright, we're alright." He leaned forward so he could look at her more closely, concerns brimming him as he took in the way her bloody right hand suspended in midair, "How is your hand holding up? Are you feeling okay?"

She stayed silent for a bit. Then she bit her lip and shrugged with her classic steely front. "I'm good. It just hurts a lot."

Both his heart and his knees echoed those words faithfully. His mind might have forgotten his own pain worrying over hers, but his body didn't. He tried to ignore the throbbing ache. "We should wrap that before we can get you to a doctor."

She looked into the rearview mirror and met his eyes with a faint smile. "And I should park somewhere so I can see you strip properly."

He laughed and was about to speak when he saw her eyes widen. She continued starring into the rearview mirror but her focus wasn't on him anymore. He followed her gaze and turned to look out the back of the car.

In a distance, the headlights of a car were blinking at them. Relentlessly. His heart skipped a beat. That car was approaching them from behind steadily, though not at a threatening speed, it didn't feel all that harmless either.

"Why are they doing that?" The alarm in her tone had transformed itself into a full frown now. She increased their speed a little.

He felt his heart rate rising. "Turn right over there."

She made a right turn at the next intersection and they both waited. Her eyes were fixed on the rearview mirror as he started to climb over to the front. She didn't notice him until he was halfway across and her mouth dropped open when she saw what he was doing.

"What . . ."

"Let's charge up your phone. Where is it?"

Two long honks intruded into the already heightened atmosphere, one after another. They both stopped moving. He twisted his back to see the same car now onto the same street they were on and coming closer at a faster speed, its headlights still blinking incessantly like a tease.

"What do they want?" She said crassly and upped their speed.

He grabbed the passenger's seat to keep steady. He was still stuck in between the front seats and the back and attempted to complete the migration when the air was disturbed once again by another stretched out horn. She raced forward and took a turn at the next available street, throwing his body into the side of the passenger's seat.

"Sorry!"

"No, it's fine. They're . . ."

Another long honk. This time it was like cold rain indoors. She looked to him in disbelief and dread.

"You don't think . . ."

"That they are tailing us. Yes." He grunted and pushed himself forward. "They are. The question is why . . ."

His sentence was cut off by a muted string of gunshots. Her face dimmed white and her car slowed.