21: Squirrely

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You thought, at the moment that you were being chased down the street by the scary man yesterday, that you couldn't ever move faster than you did in that minute.

You were wrong.

Somehow, knowing that there's probably an angry Jungkook somewhere behind you, you move so fast that the dark forest blurs around you.

Your legs burn with exertion as you sprint away from the group of men still lingering outside the house, getting almost to the tree line before your hear the first shout of, "Hey! Y/N's gone!"

Then, the growl comes.

It's deep, and rumbling, as if a stampede of horses is pounding the earth into bits behind you. You swear the ground shakes with the deep vibrations that roll across the air toward you.

"I'm going to freaking kill her," Jungkook roars.

Crap.

Tonight is the night you die.

You don't turn around, only force yourself into your utmost physical limits, the boundaries furthered by adrenaline and a kind of exhilarated fear that you've never felt before.

A huge smile stretches across your face, and you imagine that it's the same kind of smile that crazy people who are about to be executed reveal.

You're doomed.

Honestly, you really didn't expect the whole fire alarm plan to work.

Therefore, the plan from here on out?

Yeah.

There isn't one.

You're just running around like a rabid squirrel, thinking on the fly with a brain that's surely the size of a peanut. You're such an idiot.

Where the heck are you going to go now?

When you hit the tree line, you run for several steps before veering off to the right, hoping that the forest is thick enough and Jungkook is far enough away that he won't know which direction you've gone.

Your breath pants out into the chilly air in white puffs, like smoke. The clouds of pearlescent vapor evaporate as soon as you run though them, only to be replaced seconds later when another heaving exhale releases from your chest.

As you run, you try to take stock of the situation.

Okay.

So you don't know where you are, nor do you know where you're headed. There might not be another house around for miles, or there could be another house just outside of the next copse of trees.

There really isn't a way to tell.

What the most obvious question is, how are you going to escape from the roaring lion stalking you through the forest.

Should you keep running and pray for help to come?

Or should you hide, like the defenseless creature of prey that you are?

Hide, you idiot, hisses your innermost voice. You follow its instruction without hesitation.

Still sprinting, you keep your eyes peeled for a low hanging tree branch, and grin when you see the perfect one.

Quickly, your hands scrape on the rough bark as you pull yourself over the branch, huffing from all of the exercise you've been getting in the past day.

Your legs are shaky from exertion, but you push past your mind's warnings and force your body into submission, dragging yourself up one branch, then another, and another, until you're as high as you can safely go.

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