•𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬•【√】

⇨CHAPTER 15⇦

Double update! Cause why tf not?
Uwu

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My brain is wandering, still half-asleep. I open my eyes and the sight of metal bars greets me. Everything hurts, and I feel light-headed. I raise an arm to cradle my skull and notice with a shock the absence of those horrible manacles. I look in awe down at my wrists. I didn't bleed to death, apparently.

My wrecked wrists are throbbing but they're wrapped in blood-stained bandages. Someone here saved my life. I can't help but swallow back the question of why. Whatever reason the Unit wants me alive can't be good, so for the moment I won't think about that and I'll just be happy I'm not dead.

I run a hand through my hair just because I can. There's a sore goose-egg rising off the left side of my skull, and I can feel a bumpy scab over it. That's where Sungchul hit me. That's also the source of the disgusting crust of dried blood going all down half my face and sticking in chunks in my sweaty hair.

The gash in my cheek from Soojung's cursed knife is still stinging and bleeding as freely as if it'd just been cut, leaving a sticky wet trail down my neck and soaking the collar of my shirt. My arms and legs are so covered in dirt from the filthy floor and dried blood that it's impossible to see my original skin color. It's sickening the level of grossness I've reached. How long have I been here?

I sit up and lean back against my cage. A dull clanking sound makes me look down to see that the manacles have been replaced by an almost matching cuff around my ankle attached to a heavy chain, padlocked to one of the bars of this stupid cage. Is the chain really necessary, guys? At least this time there aren't any spikes.

The cuff does have the same creepy symbols carved into it, though. Fuck it, I'll worry about that later. What bothers me more is at some point (probably when they were dragging my unconscious body out of the hotel parking lot) my sandals fell off. Dang it, I'm barefoot. How did I not notice that earlier? I guess I was a little busy getting beaten up.

My throat is a desert and my lips are raw with dehydration. How long has it been since I drank anything? My dry tongue seems to take up my whole mouth. I try running it over my cracked lips but it does nothing to alleviate the discomfort. If the Unit plans on keeping me alive then they will have to bring me water soon, so there's no point focusing on it.

The heat in this room is oppressive, but judging by the weak sunlight leaking in through the no longer boarded windows I'd say it's early morning. Hell, it could be sunset for all I know. The sun is up, and I'm alive to see it.

I look around the room. It's still dismal, but it's much less creepy now that some light is getting in.

Shit. Standing perfectly still and quiet by the door is Minhyuk. He's just staring at me with those hooded dark eyes. That kid needs a bell around his neck or something. He keeps popping up unannounced and I'm getting sick of it.

I want to ask what day it is. There are several things I want to ask him, actually, but instead I stare him down. He just looks at me. I can't tell if he's giving me an angry look or if his face is stuck like that, the corners of his mouth plunging downward, his eyebrows pulled together until a little wrinkle forms distastefully over his nose. Either way, I don't like looking at him.

What makes it so particularly awful is that he looks so much like Jimin. He has the same arrow-straight posture, the same narrow, wiry build, the same pale features. How did I not realize they were brothers from the first moment I saw Minhyuk standing on the firehouse doorstep?