Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

36

⊱ ───── { Jaemin } ───── ⊰

"Where are we? Why are we here?" Jaemin questions frantically.

"Looks like a small neighborhood just outside of your town," Donghyuck answers, "Odd. I thought he would start inside your hometown. Or...maybe he is and we're just a little off."

"How will we know where to find him?" Jaemin asks as his anxiousness grows by the second.

"Because you're going to lead us to him," Mark states.

"How? I don't know where he is," Jaemin whimpers as the three hide out behind a burning house that had been presumably vacated prior to their arrival. They had spotted a hoard of humanoid figures wreaking havoc on a house just across the street, and they had no choice but to hide until they knew they were far enough away to sneak past without being noticed.

"Keep moving and you'll know," Mark responds as he lightly nudges Jaemin forward.

"How?" Jaemin repeats himself as he hesitates going.

A loud, inhuman screech causes him to nearly jump out of his skin, but Mark and Donghyuck pay it no mind.

"Did you really think we appeared here because we know?" Donghyuck questions, "Absolutely not. We used you and your connection to Jeno to get here. We can't directly pinpoint Jeno without him actually calling for us, but your connection is strong enough to get us close enough to his location for you to seek him out. Make sense, now?"

"Kind of," Jaemin murmurs.

"Good, now, start walking," Donghyuck pushes as he shoves Jaemin to move.

Jaemin takes hesitant steps before stopping.

"Are you sure it's safe to-"

"Jaemin, there's a fucking apocalypse going on, and we're riding on the hope that you can convince Jeno to stop it. The more time we waste, the more damage he's going to cause. Get a fucking move on it," Donghyuck snaps, finally sending Jaemin into a slight panic to get going.

"Yeah, no, of course," he quickly rambles out before pacing around the corner of the house and reaching the front yard.

Several of the other houses are now set ablaze with the demons now dispersed and far away from Jaemin, Mark, and Donghyuck. Still, Jaemin jogs away from them, soon breaking into a run without realizing it at first. Once he does, he finds himself uncertain of where he was running to, but allows his legs to carry him straight into town.

Jaemin passes by a small flower shop that appears to be vandalized with broken windows and the front door quite literally shattered into splints. He doesn't pay it too much mind, but realizes that, once he passes it, he feels an intense urge to push himself to run faster. Jaemin begins sprinting past modest homes and small businesses as the sound of screams grow louder and louder.

Jaemin knew he had to be close.

He turns down a street and comes to a halt at the sight of various terrifying and disgusting demons tormenting and brutally killing humans. His eyes flicker to one nearby that has leathery, pitch black skin, beady black eyes, sharp, claw-like nails, and razor sharp teeth. It tears at the flesh of a dead woman, devouring strips of it like it was a delicacy. Jaemin holds back the urge to vomit at the sight and hastily scans his eyes around for Jeno.

Unfortunately, something in the back of his head was telling him he wasn't close enough. He needed to keep going. At this, Jaemin begins to walk along the broken white lines in the centre of the road, feeling nervous about being in the presence of demons but not being able to coax himself to run, anymore. To his surprise, no demons seem to do so much as take notice of him. They were all too busy with the other humans to care.