Ulterior Motives | Lim Jaebeom

four

I woke to pain and chaos.

My head throbbed horribly, making it hard to process things. It was too dark to see anything in the car, but my legs were definitely above my head. I could feel the metal skeleton of the car twisted around my body, scraping my skin and limiting the amount that I could move.

"Hy-Hyunji?! Are you okay?!"

She didn't respond. I swallowed hard and unbuckled my seatbelt, lowering myself to the ceiling—or what was now the bottom of the car. I grabbed Hyunji by the arm and felt around to release her seatbelt. That's when I heard the voices outside the car and the smell of gasoline pricked at my noise. I clambered past Hyunji and over the inflated airbags to the car window where my heart sank.

I couldn't see much inside the car, but the road beyond us was fairly well-lit with street lamps. That's why I could see the yellowy liquid dripping down the side of the window and the lower half of someone as they walked past.

I furiously pounded on the window, "HEY!! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

The man bent over to look at me and finger-waved with the hand that wasn't holding the red gasoline can. His lips curled in a horrible smile.

My hands trembled, he was laughing. Actually laughing at me. I balled my fist and hit the window as hard as I could, grunting in frustration and outrage. The man laughed harder as he struck a match, taunting me with it as he held up the flame. But he didn't see the hairline cracks on the window that the crash had caused—I just had to finish the job.

I struck the glass a second, then a third time before he tossed the lit match on top of the car. Heat and light surged around me as the gasoline quickly caught fire. I screamed in frustration, seeing red as I watched him turn and start walking away. Then finally I punched through the glass, just as something strange happened.

The man's head turned to the right, and even from this distance I could see the look of horror on his face. He drew his gun and started running back to his buddies behind the cover of their stolen cars.

The jagged glass cut my wrists as I pulled my hand back to break out the remaining shards of the window. I heard the sharp popping of gunshots as smoke filled my lungs; the heat nearly unbearable.

I shimmied out of the window, choking on the acrid fumes and catching a glimpse of Got7 shooting at our attackers from about sixty feet away.

Took them long enough.

I turned back to the burning car to lift Hyunji out of the window, relieved to see her eyes fluttering open. But I couldn't wait for her to get up on her own. We had to hurry; the attackers could easily shoot us from this distance. We needed to find cover.

With trembling arms I pulled Hyunji from her seat and through the window, "What's going on?" she mumbled, barely coherent.

"A lot, are you hurt?" I asked, tucking her against my chest as I shakily got to my feet.

"I don't think so...."

She looped an arm around my neck, holding me tightly as I ran like hell from the burning wreckage and the gunfight we found ourselves in the middle of. I was thoroughly exhausted; my limbs turning to jello and threatening to give with every step. But stopping now would mean death.

I clenched my jaw as something bit across my upper arm. I prayed that it was just a stray bullet and that we weren't being shot at. It was a kind of blessing that our car had rolled off of the road, and I darted towards the tree line where—hopefully—the bullets couldn't follow us.

I collapsed at the edge of a little clearing when we were barely thirty feet into the forest. The cool earth felt nice against my cheek, and my muscles relaxed once we were out of danger. Well, out of immediate danger. I wasn't really safe when two groups of enemies were fighting each other to get to me. I was sure Got7 would finish things quickly, so at least Hyunji could rest easy, but I wondered what my captors had planned for me....