Louder than Bombs

Chapter 10

warning: major character death, descriptions of injury

He felt trapped. Jimin didn't dare move. Even though he was dizzy and tired, an exhausted alertness flooded through his body. He needed to be aware.

There were two loud gunshots. Someone gasped. Jimin had no clue who it was because his ears were ringing so much. His heart was thudding.

The footsteps stalked closer.

Rummaging followed. Jimin couldn't see. He couldn't turn his head to see what was happening. He didn't want to die.

"Food!"

He flinched.

"Take it, take it, he's..." The last words were muffled.

Jimin swallowed. He couldn't breathe. He was trapped.

Someone chuckled under their breath. He didn't know who it was. Definitely wasn't Jin.

Something was pulled up. He heard a strap click into place. Then the footsteps faded away and Jimin's loud breathing took over. Were they alone again? He didn't know. Jin would surely tell him soon. If Jin wasn't saying anything, then the coast definitely wasn't clear yet.

He lay in the dirt for a few moments. He heard nothing. Peace had returned to the landscape.

Jimin clambered up, shaking. His helmet and mask were covered in dirt. Some of it dusted into his eyes. They burned. He sat there, blinking and coughing. His goggles had fallen off somewhere. He couldn't be bothered to look for it.

"Hyung?"

There was no answer.

Jimin couldn't rub his eyes. He could only wait until everything cleared.

It took a while for his eyes to clear. But when they did, he saw.

Jin was laying sideways with his back towards him. Jimin shook his shoulder.

"They're gone now."

Jin's shoulder was limp. A pang of horror went through Jimin. No. No, no, no. He shook him harder and Jin flopped backwards until he was laying on his back.

His eyes were wide open. There was a dark stain on his chest. The blood spilled out from over the edges, outlining three small holes in his chest. Jimin gasped. He felt like all the air had gotten sucked out of him. He tried to shake Jin again but nothing happened.

He fell back until he was leaning against the tree.

His mind was swirling. No. He didn't know how to deal with this. What was he going to do? His heart raced. He glanced over at Jin to see if he was going to miraculously get up again, but nothing happened.

He was all alone here. Just him. Jimin's eyes suddenly filled with tears at the thought. He couldn't do anything by himself like this.

He fumbled around, looking for the backpacks. Maybe if he drank a bit of water, his mind would clear up. He would wake up from his stupor and he would see that all this was a terrible nightmare and he was actually safe in his bed, back at home.

But as he glanced around - filled with panic, at times - he couldn't see the backpacks anywhere. Jin's one had been snatched off of him. Jin had taken Jimin's one off so he could rest properly. Which meant that both of them were free game for those people. They had taken advantage of it.

The realization dawned on him slowly. They had taken everything. He had no food, no water, and no supplies. He only had an emergency first aid kit that he kept inside the large pocket in his jacket. Jin probably had one too. Jimin sighed. He felt like crying. And as the tears started dripping down his face, he found that crying gave him no relief. It only tired him out.

It was only a few hours later that he reached out to close Jin's eyes for him. At the back of his mind, he knew what he had to do. If he left Jin just laying here, he would become a nasty sight within days. He somehow needed to give him a bit more dignity.

Jimin spotted a twig nearby. With great effort, he hauled himself to his feet. His knees nearly buckled. When he glanced down at Jin, his eyes burned again. He grabbed a few of the twigs and hoped that maybe somehow, he could dig something for Jin. It would take the whole day, but he was willing to do it.

A few meters away from the tree, he started to dig, or rather, scratch at the earth with the twigs. The earth was soft. But still, after five minutes, the hole he had dug could only fit a few pebbles.

The sun was scorching.

There was sweat running down his back. His hair was soaked. He couldn't do this. He desperately needed water but there was none to be found. He sat back. He felt like crying again. He wished he'd never come here in the first place. He'd have never met Jin. It would've been easier that way.

But still, somehow, he kept going. Jin deserved at least a little bit of dignity.

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For the rest of that afternoon, he kept digging. The walk to the city was forgotten. Once in a while, he heard people approaching and he ducked into the shadows as quickly as he could. Jin didn't pose any threat anymore. He could lay in plain sight.

By the end of the day, he had a hole big enough to lay in, but it wasn't deep enough. Jimin dropped off for the night. He was desperately hungry but he had nothing.

He expected pictures of water and food to dance in his dreams, but all he saw was Jin. Nothing specific, but just scenes with him in it. It was like his mind was a broken video player, playing suggested videos even though he hadn't asked for it. Most of all, he was weirdly sentimental about it. A feeling of disbelief carried on throughout. His whole life was going on while he was in a dreamlike state.

It was creepy. Sometimes, he'd wake up and see Jin laying next to him and think that everything was back to normal. Then he would touch Jin's cold, stiff hand and the nightmare would come back, scary and threatening.

In the morning, Jimin carried on his work. Just a day earlier, he wouldn't have dared to imagine that he would have ever had to do this.

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this was planned, not random, still sorry lol

have a good day everybody, sorry that updates are all crazy now

1043 words