Work Text:
“y/n, stop moving! You’re going to make the tent fall over!”
You rolled your eyes at the dramatic way Taehyung had called that out, hands remaining in the steady grip on the tent they’d maintained the whole time you’d been helping him.
“You’re the one moving the tent, idiot,” you snorted, grinning when he sent you an affronted look. “Also I know we’re a good few miles from the town at the bottom of this mountain but that doesn’t mean you can be so loud, jesus.”
Taehyung beamed at you, nimble fingers making quick work of straightening the pole he had to slip inside the tent to keep it upright. “On the contrary,” he said, chocolate hair sticking to his forehead slightly from the light sweat he’d managed to work up while setting up tents. “I pitched this whole idea just so I could have somewhere to be as loud as I want for a week.”
His words made you laugh, since that very much sounded like something he’d actually do. In the apartment building you’d both managed to nab a unit in, you with another girl who attended your university and him with Yoongi, he wasn’t allowed to be very loud at all— and even then he struggled to keep quiet, if the numerous noise complaints he’d received were anything to go by. You wondered if there was anyone on his floor or the one above and below that hadn’t complained about his yelling when he played online games with his friends.
The dark-haired male wrinkled his nose as a bug flew past his face, body tensing as he repressed the urge to recoil dramatically as you’d seen him do so many times before— he had to be careful since the structural integrity of his tent was currently compromised, and any sudden movements risked it tumbling back to the earth. You’d learnt your lesson in staying still when you’d attempted putting up Yoongi and Jimin’s tent, and Taehyung was only now beginning to control his movements a little better. The look of utter concentration on his face made you smile as he found the tube-like hole for the pole and slid it in, the hollow metal curving as it went and giving more of a taut shape to the tent that had been sagging before. Once in completely, Taehyung knelt and took a hook to hammer it into the earth.
“You slowpokes are finally done?”
You turned slightly at the sound of a teasing voice, eyes falling upon Jimin where he stood a few feet away with his arms crossed and hip cocked playfully. The ripped jeans stretched over his legs and thighs had suffered a bit of dirt fallout, but he still managed to look good and you were a little mad about it. He lifted a hand to run it through his orange locks, a dramatic sigh escaping him. “Gosh, Seokjin and I finished his and Hobi’s tent ages ago.”
You kicked some dirt at him, disregarding how some clung to your boot. “You mean Seokjin and Hoseok finished ages ago— I haven’t seen you touch a single tent the whole time we’ve been here.”
“We’ve only been here an hour or so!” Jimin defended, hands going to his hips. The overbearing warmth of the sun had little beads of sweat budding on his forehead. “And I’ve been unpacking things from the truck, thank you very much! Since no one else took the time to help me.”
Taehyung let out a loud, hearty laugh as he straightened from his crouched position, dropping the hammer next to the tent; it was finally up and tied and ready to go. “You only went to unpack the truck because the food was at the bottom!”
The orange-haired male looked like he wanted to protest but couldn’t help the sheepish grin that slipped onto his features. “Maybe so.”
His easy admittance of an ulterior motive had a laugh spilling from your throat as you stepped back from the tent, brushing your hands of the slight layer of dust that had resulted from your grip on the material. You hadn’t taken them out of your cupboard in almost a year, and in their neglect they’d accrued a fair bit of dust and dirt.
“Did you at least put some aside for me?” you queried, batting your lashes in an exaggerated manner. Taehyung made a retching noise and Jimin snorted.
“No, of course not,” the male said, turning on his heel and walking in the direction of the tent he was to share with Yoongi. “It’s every man and woman for themselves in these woods, y/n!”
You frowned, watching him walk away and wishing he’d brought some crackers or something over when he came to tease you, and only broke out of your food-centred thoughts when Taehyung grasped your wrist and began to tug you after him. Now that the tents had been set up, the others were either unpacking or bringing their bags inside (read: taking a brief nap on the sleeping bag), like Yoongi, or were heading over to the coolers and containers with the food and utensils. It was a little after mid-afternoon, and you would have thought it to be cooler by now but you supposed with Summer just over the horizon you better get used to these new temperatures. For this camping trip you’d ventured to a large island just off the coast of the city where you lived, so you hadn’t expected it to be too much of a change. Still, you weren't much of a fan of sweat and you hoped the breeze might at least pick up a bit to soothe your flushed skin.
"y/n, do you want some ginger beer?" at the sound of a smooth tone you were wrought from your thoughts, wrist still encased in Taehyung's grip despite the fact he was no longer tugging you. You'd made it over to the designated food-slash-kitchen area, and Seokjin was currently holding out a familiar bottle to you. Your mouth salivated at the sight of condensation budding on the cool glass, and you were quick to accept the offered beverage without so much as a second thought.
Were it Yoongi or Taehyung, or even Jimin, who had offered it to you, you might have been a little more wary— but you weren't as close with Seokjin and Hoseok as you were with the other three since they were friends with Jimin before becoming friends with all of you. You figured you were safe for now, until you all reached that dangerous level of comfort in the friendship where it was acceptable to mess with food as a prank. Not that messing with food was ever really acceptable— Taehyung and Jimin had almost gotten impaled with plastic forks many a time for attempting to fiddle with your meal. Never touch a woman's meal.
"Thanks, Jin," you grinned at the tall male, stepping forward and tugging your wrist from Taehyung's grasp as you did so, gripping the drink. You missed the way Taehyung's gaze flickered to you at the motion, an unreadable look in his dark eyes.
"When is Joon coming up? Do we know?" it was Hoseok that spoke up, squashing the brief bickering of Taehyung and Jimin as they fought over a packet of rice crackers. His question was directed more at whoever was willing to answer than at a specific person.
"He’s driving up in four days, I think," Jimin supplied, taking the opportunity to snatch the crackers from a protesting Taehyung; the orange-haired male nearly tripped over his own feet in the dirt. "'Cause he had to resit that exam."
You let out a sympathetic noise for your fallen brother— it was never a fun time when exams and resits infringed upon your long-awaited break. Hoseok took an offered bottle from Seokjin with a muttered thanks, slim fingers nearly dropping it thanks to the condensation. Taehyung chortled as the raven-haired male nearly spilt his drink on the ground.
“It’s good to know that even if he can’t physically be here yet, he’s still here in spirit,” he said, moving dramatically as though he was wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. You took a sip of your drink as you ignored his playful antics— it was cool and refreshing and fizzled pleasantly down your throat, everything you’d been looking forward to. “Although maybe it’s best he’s coming after we already set up— he might have ripped a hole in one of the tents.”
You couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the vivid image that conjured in your mind— yep, that most definitely sounded like something that would happen to Namjoon. You caught the others giggling too, and Taehyung seemed proud of himself for the comment.
To your surprise, there was a rustling behind you as the only other missing member of your troupe emerged from the tent where he’d been taking a short nap. His mint hair was tousled, and his face a bit puffy; he’d stayed up late packing the night before and his sleep had suffered. The night before a long car trip and a holiday spent camping wasn’t an ideal time for one of his random bouts of insomnia to kick in.
“What was that noise? Did you hear that?” he asked, voice thick with sleep but dark brows furrowed as he angled his body to the treeline that housed the dirt path you’d entered the camping site from. You followed his gaze, tilting your head in confusion.
“Hear what?” Seokjin was asking, before all of you collectively jumped at a sharp sound that entered your ears. “Wait, that sounds like barking!”
A surprising feeling of unease began to seep into your stomach, the heat of the day not seeming to match up with the coolness that flushed across the back of your neck. You couldn’t shift your gaze from the treeline, your body telling you to wait, to freeze, because something was coming.
And sure enough, not even a moment later you heard it too; sharp, yelping barks, scattered between harsh yells and voices that you couldn’t distinguish. You were confused as to why you could hear that at all, and why it was getting closer, before the answer to your question came bolting through the treeline with a group of furious men on its tail.
As the barking might have indicated, it was a dog that was fleeing from the men— your heart dipped as it let out a pitiful whine so full of fear it was as though you could feel it too. It was a canine of medium size, its fur was short, not too thick, and its build was wiry, lean but strong, and it had large, triangular ears atop its head that were currently angled backwards. To your complete and utter surprise, upon entering the clearing in which you and your friends were currently occupying, instead of dodging the other group of humans, the dog made a beeline— straight for you.
The men— campers, you guessed, from the ripped, ragged clothes over their forms that if in a better condition would have been the spitting image of typical camping wear— roared after the dog, spitting and fuming in a language you couldn’t even pinpoint let alone understand. One of them, the one at the forefront of their group, brandished a long stick which had the end sharpened to a dangerous-looking point.
It took about a split-second for all of you to catch up to what was currently going on, and just like that you all sprung into movement. Taehyung dashed to your side just in time for the dog to come barrelling into you, not strong enough to make you fall but enough to have you stumbling over your footing. The others moved in front of you, holding up their hands and yelling, shouting for the other campers to stop. The men seethed and raged, clearly after the dog with more than pernicious intent, but didn’t move to attack your friends as they stood in their way. Of this, you were glad, as you were too busy currently wrapping your arms around the dog as it freaked out to have been able to help them if the men changed their minds.
“Hey, stop!” it was Seokjin that made a point to halt them with his voice, brows furrowed and face twisted in maybe the most furious look you’d ever seen on his pretty features. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! STOP!”
The man at the forefront snarled, a frantic, feral expression contorting over his face and gleaming in his eyes— your own eyes widened as you now noticed the blood smeared across his face in a filthy mixture with sweat and staining the torn edges of his clothing. The rest of the men behind him were in a similar state. The feeling in your belly roiled against the walls of your abdomen, twisting into another sensation like ice melting down your neck.
“You— fool!” the man finally swore in a language you could understand, despite his broken utterances and the thick accent that curled around his words like viscous, bubbling glue. “Kill dog! Fools! KILLER! Kill dog! You stop!”
Confusion twisted in your mind as you tried to decipher exactly what he was saying, but you came to several conclusions around the same time as Yoongi and the others did.
"No," the sheer force and strength, the conviction, riding behind Yoongi's voice startled you for a moment, your attention straying from the dog in your arms— the creature whimpered and whined against your chest, wriggling but not attempting to get away. You couldn't remember the last time Yoongi had spoken with such a commanding aura, in such a way that whoever heard it was immediately inclined to obey. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You cannot kill that dog— we won't let you."
You weren't sure how much the authority in the male's tone would carry to the troop of men before you, or how much of what he said they understood, but they seemed to understand enough that in the next second they were yelling and spitting with rage once more. Some of them made to push through the barrier your friends made, eyes never leaving the dog in your grasp, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts. The man at the front, who you surmised was acting as a leader of sorts, launched into an angry assault, unleashing a fresh bout of verbal abuse on Yoongi and Seokjin and whoever stood before him in a language none of them could understand.
"FOOLS!" he spat between jumbled slurs, gesturing emphatically to the dog with you and Taehyung, the sharpened spear-like object in his grasp making your nerves more apparent the more he brandished it in your direction. The dog curled into you, whimpering, and subconsciously your arms tightened around it protectively. Taehyung had a hand placed comfortingly, protectively, on your shoulder and was crouching near you, muscles tensed and ready to launch him up if need be.
The male raised his arm, and a sudden bolt of fear had your heart stuttering as he brought it down. You tensed, your first instinct thinking he threw it your way, but to your complete and utter surprise the loud thud that greeted your ears came from the earth at his feet, where the spear had been deeply embedded from the force of his movement.
He spat something else in the foreign language that had been rolling harshly from his tongue the past few minutes, foot stomping on the earth, before he made one last gesture and turned heavily on his heel. The faces of the men behind him were still contorted in rage and something else, something indiscernible that bordered on feral. Just what had they been doing, what had they been through— what had they seen— that brought that darkness into their eyes?
The man seemed to have cooled somewhat from the frantic fervor that had possessed him when he'd first entered your clearing, expression shifting as he spoke to the men behind him and gestured for them to head to the treeline. Your friends remained steady where they stood, unyielding despite the intimidating stature and glare of the strangers. With a clearer head, the man seemed to be able to regain more control over the language you understood.
"Fools," he cursed, turning to spit on the earth in front of your friends— they recoiled, but didn't move from their positions. An unfamiliar feeling, not unlike the cool touch of fear you felt in the silence of night after watching a horror film and retiring to bed, crept over the hairs at the back of your neck at his words."You will die."
And with that, he turned and left, the others trailing behind him but only after sending all of you, and especially the dog, the filthiest glare you'd ever seen on the face of another. One by one they disappeared into the treeline from whence they came, yet it wasn't until several minutes after they were gone that you and the males before you relaxed. A heavy breath tinged with the sound of relief rushed from Seokjin, and you felt yourself relaxing in your position on the ground. There was shifting in your arms and suddenly your attention was brought back to the canine resting within them.
The pup whined, in a different tone to before, and pressed his body against yours; with you seated on the ground he was about as tall as you and he pushed his face forward, wet nose brushing your cheek before it was replaced by his tongue. The action was almost grateful, and you couldn't help but squeak at the ticklish feeling that resulted.
"Well," Taehyung began after a few moments more of silence. "That's certainly not the start to this trip we all expected."
You snorted, and Hoseok stepped closer, gaze flickering between endearment at the dog and concern at the situation you'd all just been in.
"Do you think we should be worried?" he asked, halting a few feet away. He brought a hand up to run through the raven hair atop his head. "Do you think they'll come back?"
You let out a thoughtful noise, but Yoongi beat you to a response. A glance in his direction, your hands busy scratching the dog behind his pointed ears, revealed a somewhat perturbed expression on his sharp features. His dark eyes swept to you, before falling onto the dog in your grasp and narrowing in thought.
"I don't know," he said, "But if they do, I think it will just be for the dog. If they cared enough about getting the dog to harm us, then they would have done it already."
Seokjin let out a huff. "I'm hoping they don't come back," he said, turning on his heel and beginning to walk towards his truck. "But I guess we should probably tell someone back in town maybe?"
There were a few hums of agreement through the circle, but a prominent nudge against your shoulder had your attention returning to the dog in question. You looked down to find its gaze already on you, eyes a peculiar flavescent hue that you weren't sure you'd ever seen on a dog before. It fit well with the lighter, sandy chestnut colour of its pelt, and the creamier colouring of its underside.
"Why were they chasing you, huh?" you murmured, unable to squash your instinct to talk to animals like they were babies. You dragged your nails lightly to scratch over the top of its head and behind its ears, taking pride in the way its eyes began to close in pleasure at the sensation. "You're so handsome, what could you ever have done to them?"
You could have sworn the dog preened at your words, strong, wiry limbs moving and paws adjusting in the dirt as it pushed itself closer to butt its head against your shoulder, tail wagging wildy behind it in sharp contrast to the way it had been lowered just minutes ago. You wanted to coo, and just barely held yourself back. Why the hell were those men chasing it like it was some sort of monster, like it had committed crimes so heinous it deserved to be chased with pitchforks and spears? It niggled at you, present in the back of your mind, but you didn't see a plausible way of finding out the answer and so decided to just let it go.
"Don't get too attached, y/n," Yoongi spoke up, turning from where he'd been muttering to Jimin for a moment. "That dog can't stay with us, it could be dangerous."
It took you a moment to realise that he meant its presence could be dangerous, rather than the dog itself. You opened your mouth to protest, but Taehyung beat you to it.
"What? But it's just a dog!" Taehyung's voice was almost a whine as he straightened from his crouch, taking a step closer to the older male with his hands outstretched in a pleading manner. "If we send it away, those guys could come back and hurt it! It would be all alone and in danger, unable to help itself."
Yoongi's teeth bit into the plump flesh of his bottom lip, and you could see he wanted to help the dog but was torn between doing so and maintaining the safety of the group as a priority. He let out a sigh, just as Seokjin returned to the group with his car keys in hand.
To your surprise, it was Jimin that spoke up next. "I want to help the dog, but I understand where you're coming from," he interjected, the last part directed to the mint-haired male at the side. "So why don't we just... let the dog decide?"
There was a few moments of silence as you all contemplated the suggestion; Yoongi turned to you, appearing somewhat eased by the presence of a possible solution. At the question in his gaze, you let out a sigh. The dog sniffed your neck, butting its head against your collarbone, completely unaware of the conversation currently taking place about it's future.
"I want the dog to stay here so we can protect it," you said, lips shifting into a slight pout. "It's not fair to throw it out. But..."
Yoongi seemed to know where you were going next. "If the dog chooses to leave, will you let it?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest and slim hips cocked slightly as he shifted his weight.
You huffed, looking to the side, grumbling begrudgingly, "...Yes."
Seokjin clapped his hands together, keys jingling loudly as he did so and making the dog's ears flick towards the noise. "Then, let's let the dog decide!"
You couldn’t have known that the dog’s decision had already been made the second it laid eyes on you.
x x x x x x x x
As you would find out, the dog's “choice” over leaving or staying was made apparent as the rest of the day wore on. You didn't know whether he had just grown attached to you since you were the one holding it when the men came, or if he had just decided out of nowhere that you were a good human and he liked you, but he hadn't left your side ever since he first barreled into you. You walked to the edge of the clearing, and he followed. You walked to your tent, slipped inside, and he followed. The only time you'd managed to shake him was when you desperately needed to go to the bathroom and Taehyung distracted him for the time being. It seemed, from the dog's actions, that he was choosing to stay with you for now— Yoongi had sighed but begrudgingly accepted, trying not to show that he was a little relieved at the canine's choice.
Seokjin had driven down to the town and queried about the men that had come bursting into your camp, but to everyone's surprise they had informed him that they had already left. They had been seen on a ferry back to the mainland, and had checked out at the park lodge. Seokjin had returned, confused but relieved as he updated you all on what he'd learnt. You were glad that the dog was safe now, but still... something was off, something didn't feel quite right, and it niggled at the back of your mind, just out of reach. You let it be for now, choosing to instead relish the relief that came knowing those crazed men were no longer on the island with you.
Finally, the heat of the day had melded into a cool evening, the breeze even going so far as to elicit a shiver from you. The dog had watched with keen, golden eyes as you ducked into your tent and re-emerged with a jacket. You smiled at him as you slipped out and zipped the structure up, and immediately his tail had started wagging, the canine lurching to his feet and hurrying over. Gah, he was just too cute— you wished you could take him home after this trip was over, but your apartment didn't allow pets and he would have likely been a bit too big for the cramped space even if they did.
The darkness spilling into your clearing was dispersed only by the lanterns you'd brought, and the large fire the other's had built to the side. At the sight and smell of food that they were cooking over there, you were quick to make a beeline for it.
"Ugh, Seokjin," you nearly moaned as you took one of the vacant camping chairs around the fire. "I don't know what you're making, but it smells divine."
The male preened under your praise, shooting you a bright smile that you only just caught before your attention was taken by the dog nestling at your feet. Your heart ached fondly at the action.
"Today's menu is soup," he said, stirring the contents of the pot that had been placed over the fire with a proud look. "And it's going to taste incredible."
Yoongi snorted as he took a seat beside you, mouth already full of crackers. Seokjin let out a loud noise of protest at the sight— "Yah, you're going to fill yourself up before you even have dinner!"— and you let out a laugh before allowing your attention to sweep across the scene before you. Jimin and Hoseok sat on the other side of the fire, using long, thing sticks to draw in the dirt; Jimin was gesturing emphatically and Hoseok was nodding along with such rapt attention that you could only assume they were talking about how they were going to ration out alcohol over the duration of the trip. You turned your gaze a little further and saw Taehyung approach them with an armful of ginger beers. You presumed you were going to work your way through the non-alcoholic stuff first.
The dog at your feet whimpered for attention, and you turned your gaze down with a smile. God, he was so cute. Eagerly, you reached down and delivered some scratches; the dog's leg twitched and his tail flew off, wagging madly. You really needed to think of a name, something to call him at least. Yoongi let out an amused noise, and you looked up to see he had a cookie crammed in his mouth now as he watched the dog's needy antics. Suddenly hungry for the sweet treat, you opened your mouth expectantly and he rolled his eyes, but reached for the packet and pulled one out for you nonetheless. It was shortbread and your mouth salivated at the scent of it, but alas it was not meant to be. He didn't push it far enough into your mouth for you to latch onto it properly and it fell to the ground, gutting you in the process.
In all honesty, you'd been about to ignore Yoongi's laughter and lean down to grab it, but a certain canine beat you to it.
"Ugh, the cookie!" you whined, before pausing and sitting up, a grin tugging onto your features. "Cookie, that's perfect."
"What?" Yoongi sent you a confused and slightly concerned look.
"Cookie," you responded with a bright smile while gesturing to the dog that was now looking up at you both with big eyes, having finished the biscuit off already. "It's the perfect name! He has such light fur, I think it suits him."
Yoongi's gaze flicked from you to the dog in question, before he shrugged and dug another of the cookies from the packet to throw in his mouth. "I guess."
You rolled your eyes, knowing he agreed with you since his lips had tugged up into a little smile of sorts when you'd proposed the name. Even the dog didn't seem to mind, simply easing onto his belly at your feet with a satisfied rumble, tongue darting to swipe around its maw for any remaining crumbs of the cookie he'd consumed. Yep, Cookie definitely suited him.
The rest of the night was spent playfully, all of you laughing at some point or another whether it be at a story someone recounted from the semester, or at the ridiculous antics you all resorted to when you started losing one of the many games you'd brought along with you to play. Taehyung and Jimin ended up tackling each other when a disagreement rose over monopoly (something about property management? You hadn't been able to hear over Hoseok and Seokjin's boisterous laughter), and Yoongi had single-handedly consumed most of the snacks set out for the night, much to Seokjin's vocal protests.
Eventually it came time to retire to your tents, your first day of the trip drawing to a close, and the exhaustion seemed to catch up to you all at once as you crawled into your tent and turned the battery-powered lantern on. Of course, Cookie followed you in, sitting obediently by the door as he waited for you to finish rifling through your bags for your pyjamas and then slipping them on. Were he anything but the sweet dog you'd seen him to be all day, the way his flavescent hues bored ceaselessly into your form might have unnerved you. He was too endearing though, and you couldn't find it in yourself to care all that much. With a yawn, you crawled into the sleeping bag after leaving the tent partially zipped— leaving an opening in case your little friend wanted to escape and pee or something— and turned the lantern off. In the brief second before it switched off completely, the light hit Cookie's eyes oddly and it was almost as though they glowed. Instinctively, your heart began to race before you forced it to calm as the dog let out a soft whine and trotted forward, flopping down beside you.
He was warmer than you thought considering his fur was so short, and to your surprise the comforting weight of him against your side had you falling asleep much faster than anticipated. Soon you were out like a light, and remained so for the hours to come.
You never noticed it as the pup rose from beside you and slipped out the flap of your tent without a sound, and didn't even stir when he returned hardly half an hour later, licking his maw clean. If you were awake, you might have shivered at the swirling hue of his eyes as he halted and they bore into your form once more. But alas, you were blissfully unaware as you slept soundly away, and simply let out a satisfied hum when the dog flopped back next to you and shoved its head against your shoulder. You'd never know of its midnight departure, until it was too late.
x x x x x x x x
When you awoke the next morning, it was to the dog licking your face eagerly. Torn between laughing and cringing away at the ticklish sensation, you pulled yourself up and away from his reach with a giggle.
"Good morning, Cookie," you greeted, stretching with a yawn. The dog sat back on his haunches for a moment, waiting until you dragged yourself from the tent to follow you out. You began moving towards the back of Seokjin's truck, near where you'd placed the fire, and expected the dog to follow after you as he had done all of the previous day. To your surprise, however, he let out a soft bark, meeting your gaze for a moment before he turned and ran at a leisurely pace into the treeline. It took him only moments to disappear, as you stared behind him, baffled. O...kay? A part of you was a bit saddened as he left, but you didn't bother chasing after him— it was still the dog's choice what he did, after all. You were a bit sad that apparently he wanted to leave now, but if that was what he wanted then you'd have to accept it.
Shaking your head and attempting to pull a smile onto your face, you returned to your original mission: finding something to eat. It was to the sight of you rifling through the food containers that the rest of your friends gradually emerged.
You jumped at the sound of Yoongi not far behind you, voice low and thick with the remnants of sleep still clinging to it, his face puffy and hair ruffled.
“And here I thought it would be Jin I found rifling through the food at such an early hour,” he joked, letting out a yawn. You nearly cooed at the kittenish way he smacked his lips and puffed his cheeks afterwards, dark eyes searching for the instant coffee you’d packed.
“Bold of you to attempt thinking at such an early hour,” you grinned, and he barely managed to send you a half-hearted glare before he finally found the jar he was looking for and commenced his search for the jug to place over the fire. You wondered if he’d remembered the small gas stove you’d all brought, before recalling that you hadn’t seen it the night before and wondering then if someone had forgotten it before you all left.
“Can you wait until after I’ve had my coffee to be mean,” he grumbled, thick plastic cups and crockery clacking loudly as he dug through them for his favourite mug— it had a poorly drawn picture of a cookie on it and for whatever reason the mint-haired male had become quickly attached to it. “I only have three braincells and they’re all still asleep.”
You snorted at his words, tempted to respond before two more shapes, and then a third only moments later, emerged from the tents to the side and you chose to greet them instead.
“Good morning Hoseok, Jin,” you nodded to Jimin with a grin, “Good morning Carrot-Top.”
The tangerine-haired male rolled sleepy eyes so heavily that you were worried they were going to fall straight out of his head or he was going to trip as he shuffled over in puppy-decorated pyjamas, stifling a yawn. The other two appeared too tired to laugh at his expense.
“Why are you being so mean so early,” he whined, turning to Yoongi who was watching the jug of water as it began to boil like a hawk. “Why is she so mean?”
Yoongi mumbled something unintelligible and the younger male gave up, snatching the bag of raisin bread from beside you with surprisingly quick reflexes as he moved past. Seokjin moved to the cooler and rooted around for some eggs. You were quick to grab a pan and pass it to him with a beam; he got the message and with a light roll of his eyes and an amused smile he reached for two more eggs. You hummed, pleased, and followed him over to the campfire.
Light, if somewhat sluggish, chatter filled the air between the group as you all began to make your own breakfasts— with the exception of you, who had managed to charm Seokjin into making your eggs with his. At some point, Jimin sat up straighter and peered around, seeming to notice the absence of a certain furry friend— when he asked you informed him that Cookie had trotted into the forest earlier and hadn’t been back yet. He nodded in understanding, slightly sad at the prospect that the dog had decided to leave indefinitely, but was quick to return his focus to the rumbling of his stomach.
It was a little while later before Yoongi, now somewhat more awake and alert after his caffeine hit, sat up straighter, brows furrowed.
“Where’s Taehyung?” he queried, low tone slightly concerned. “Is he still asleep? I usually can’t get him to sleep in past eight o’clock.”
Your head tilted, and only now did you noticed that the bright-eyed male was nowhere to be seen. Considering what you knew of Taehyung’s sleeping habits, it was odd that he hadn’t been up before even you. Your gaze flickered to his tent subconsciously, lips twisting in thought. It was under your gaze that the material shifted suddenly, bulging from the inside and distending the shape of the structure. It was so sudden that surprise had you freezing to the spot, the acrid taste of fear licking the back of your throat and causing your stomach to sink. A weight settled over the back of your neck, hairs raising, and for a moment, you were irrationally, inexplicably scared. You missed the way your breath caught in your throat as the shifting inside the tent stopped.
And then there was metallic jingling as the zip was grasped from the inside and tugged upwards, the familiar figure of your best friend emerging from within the tent’s depths. You could hardly get the sigh of relief out around your heart where it had been lodged in your throat for the moment.
Taehyung stumbled slightly after zipping the tent back up, legs wobbling in a manner that reminded you of a newborn dear, sleep addling his sense of balance. He straightened, bright, crisp sunlight falling upon his face, and for the second time your breath caught in your throat as you could have sworn his eyes shifted from their normal dark brown to gleam gold. You blinked, rubbing your eyes, and when you opened them the image before you was one that you were used to once more— a sleepy Taehyung, with puffy features, dark brown eyes still lidded sleepily.
You resisted the urge to smack your cheeks. What was wrong with you, were you seeing things? Perhaps you were still a little asleep. Yesterday’s events must have rattled you a little more than you’d realised.
Taehyung offered the group a sheepish grin as they teased and prodded him a bit, Hoseok laughing loudly, “All that prolonged stress from exams finally caught up to you, huh?”
“Yeah,” Taehyung had to clear his throat as his voice came out raspy and thick from his deep slumber. “I guess I didn’t realise how tired I was.”
Jimin let out a loud, dramatic gasp all of a sudden, lurching from his seat to march up and slap his hands onto Taehyung’s cheeks, holding his face still. The male in his grasp was wide-eyed and bewildered as the shorter burst, “Tae, your eye bags! They’re gone! What did you use— you need to give me some of whatever you used right now, immediately.”
Taehyung could only blink, Seokjin chortling from the ground where he was crouched by the fire, watching his and your eggs. “It’s the natural air, Jiminie. It has healing properties.”
Jimin whined at the elder’s words, “Then why haven’t my bags disappeared? There still very much here! I saw them this morning, I can feel them—”
“Jimin, your toast is burning,” Yoongi interjected helpfully, successfully cutting the younger male off from what was no doubt going to develop into a dramatic rant.
Jimin squeaked, spinning and lurching for his food. He managed to catch it just on the brink of being unsalvageable, the bread mere seconds away from smoking, and as the group burst into laughter at his expense Taehyung’s late arrival and miraculously bag-free appearance were quickly forgotten. He settled down and got started on his own breakfast as you all dug in.
The agenda for today was pretty relaxed— you wanted to save most of the hiking for when Namjoon arrived, since he had expressed it was one of the things he wanted to do most, and so you’d all decided to do other things in the meantime. One of the activities proposed, and later chosen via a game of scissors paper rock, was swimming; despite the numerous viable beaches skirting the island, your friends were more interested in the large lake and waterfall not too far from your campsite. After a short discussion, it was agreed that would be the destination, and after quickly packing small bags with snacks and towels you all crammed into one of the cars and were on your way. The lake was about a ten minute drive away, the town around twenty to twenty-five minutes, and the trip was spent with playful teasing and laughter. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been so relaxed this whole year. University was really taking its toll on you, it seemed.
Throughout the trip, your eyes kept trailing back to Taehyung, an image of what you’d thought you’d seen earlier as he emerged from his tent flashing in your mind, and every time they did so you found him already looking at you. There was something in his eyes you might have called intense, were it not softened by the goofy grin he would shoot you when he realised you’d seen him, and you’d think nothing of the whole interaction as your attention was drawn by someone else in the vehicle. You missed the way Yoongi’s eyes caught each such interaction in the rear-view mirror.
You weren’t sure what you’d been expecting when you pulled up to the lake, surprisingly the only campers who’d decided to come out today, but when you stepped out of the vehicle you weren’t quite ready for the sight.
“Woah,” you froze in your movements, causing Jimin to bump into you haphazardly from behind. You ignored his protests as your eyes swept over the expanse of beautiful scenery before you. “It’s so pretty here!”
Yoongi hummed from somewhere to your side, a sound you’d learnt to decipher as agreement, and you took a moment longer to admire the crystalline waters glimmering like jewels beneath the glowing kiss of the sun’s rays against their surface. The forest receded several metres from the shore, a mixture of sand and pebbles making up the ground as it bled into the water, and the verdant flora provided a gorgeous contrast to the shimmering lake surface and the clear blue of the sky.
“I’m glad we came here,” you thought aloud to yourself, turning and helping grab some of the bags from the boot of the car. Everyone seemed to be similarly awed, and you all wasted no time setting up the umbrellas or whatever shelter you’d brought on the stable part of the shore.
“I’m ready to get wet,” you overheard Hoseok say to Jimin, and couldn’t help the snort that escaped you at the seriousness in his tone.
Jimin and Hoseok were the first to finish, the latter letting out a loud, booming shriek as he turned on his heel and dashed excitedly towards the water, discarded clothing flying behind him. Jimin followed suit, cackling gleefully all the while, and you couldn’t help but let out laughter of your own as he sprinted after his friend and tackled him in the deeper part of the lake. Hoseok screamed loudly, theatrically, and you were kind of glad that no one else was there because it would have been kind of embarrassing for them to witness.
Yoongi slowly made his way over to the shore, only after depositing his spare shirt in a safe and dry place, and lurked in the shallows for a moment, analysing his opponents, before launching his attack. Both the younger males screamed as cold water splashed over them and Yoongi ran into them.
Eyes wide, it took you a moment to recover from the sight— that was the fastest you’d seen Yoongi move in a long time and in all honesty it made you a little apprehensive of joining the fools splashing about in the lake.
“You coming in, y/n?”
At the sound of a voice from beside you, you turned, catching sight of Seokjin as he grasped his shirt and shot you a grin. You barely had time to blink, let alone breathe, before he was slipping it off and dropping it on the sand without a care in the world, stretching his long limbs with closed eyes and flashing you a generous eye-full of toned abdomen and wide shoulders as he did so. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t flush and admire the sight before you for even a moment, quickly averting your gaze from his body to his face as his eyes reopened. You didn’t notice the gaze boring holes into your form from a few feet away as you flashed Seokjin a grin.
“Hell yeah,” you answered, tugging your loose shirt off to leave you in your bikini top and swim shorts. You didn’t miss the way the males eyes traveled down your form appraisingly for a moment and your chest swelled with pride as your stomach dipped in excitement at the observation. The eyes watching the interaction narrowed. You were blissfully unaware.
“I’ll race you!” you said, and it was all the warning you gave before you screamed, “Go!” and ran towards the lake.
Seokjin made a noise that sounded a cross between a protest and a laugh as he scrambled to catch up to you, cackling when you nearly slipped on the wet sand and pebbles and allowed him to overtake you.
“No!” you cried, clambering to your feet and tumbling into the water. Unfortunately for him, having wide shoulders and a broad back meant there was more surface area for you to grip as you tackled him, and within a matter of moments you were both splashing into the deeper part of the lake, hacking and wheezing with laughter as you resurfaced. The intensity of the gaze on your form was lifted as you straightened suddenly, turning to the shore with a wide smile and light in your eyes.
“Tae, come on!” you called, beckoning the male with exaggerated movements. “The water is so nice! I promise I won’t try and drown you like last time!”
For a second, the male’s face was blank as his gaze flicked from Seokjin to you, eyes shifting with something unfamiliar, but then you blinked and he was grinning at you with that boxy smile you’d come to love so much, expression open and light and free of any intensity you thought you’d glimpsed before.
“You promise?” he echoed, brows raised playfully. He advanced towards the water, sparing you a wary glance. “You’re not gonna drown me?”
You let out an affronted gasp, pressing your hand to your chest. “Me? I would never do such a thing!” you sank down into the water until it was up to your neck, shooting him a devious grin as the others splashed about behind you. “Come into the water… or are you a chicken?”
Quickly realising where you were about to go with that, Taehyung burst into laughter and hurried into the water, splashing greatly with each move of his legs. “I’m not a chicken, you turkey!”
You went to playfully make clucking sounds, but he cut you off by flopping into the water and sending a great wave of it splashing over you. Sputtering as you resurfaced, you sent him a glare that had him laughing even louder— oh, it was on.
The six of you spent the day flouncing between the water and the shoreline, munching on the snacks you’d brought. The air was fresh, filling your lungs with happiness borne from the jovial, playful atmosphere you’d all fostered. Here, in the isolation of the forest on the island, there were no more worries, there was no more stress lingering in your tired bones from the school year or your part time job. You didn’t have to fuss over deadlines, didn’t have to slave over textbooks and keep yourself awake, running on five hours of sleep and three coffees just to get things done. The thrill of being free of all responsibility, even for only a week, was absolutely exhilarating, and you easily found yourself getting lost in the feeling. You didn’t doubt it was the same for the others, their eyes bright and grins large as they laughed and played amongst each other. You felt light as you interacted with everyone, greatly enjoying the opportunity to grow closer to the friends you didn’t know as well yet. You found yourself laughing often at Seokjin, at his playful jokes and the rare cheesy line he’d slip you that was often accompanied by groans from surrounding parties. Ultimately, it was harmless, and you were having fun.
By the time you all returned to your camp after a day spent well diffusing the blistering spring heat of the sun with the refreshing cool of the lake, you were all understandably exhausted. If you hadn’t all been so careful about staying hydrated and applying sunscreen, you might have mistaken the tiredness for something like heatstroke. Dinner was a much more quiet affair than the night previous, everyone too tired to poke fun at each other as they had before. To your surprise, Taehyung ended up sitting a little further away from the fire, sending it a look of distaste— when you questioned him about it, he laughed and said that he felt too hot from the day and didn’t feel like overheating anytime soon. You’d accepted the answer with a sympathetic smile, handing him a water bottle before turning back to the food by the fire. You missed the way his gaze strayed from you to the tall, broad-shouldered male currently filling your plate with food.
The exhilaration, the thrill and fun of the day still clung to the air, and it was as though you were growing drunk on it, the kind of drunk where you were drowsily inebriated and your eyes drooped more with each drink that passed your lips. The air was relaxed, and you were all content— the only way you thought things could get better, was if Namjoon were to be here. He was coming in a few days though, and in the meantime you didn’t think it was possible for things to get better. You couldn’t have been happier, couldn’t have been more at ease. You didn’t expect the feeling to get cut short, nor did you expect the scream that pierced the air not even fifteen minutes after dinner was over.
You’d all split from the fire, some of you who had lucked out in scissors paper rock, like Jimin and Jin, getting stuck with chores, and the rest of you taking the opportunity to get changed and prepare for the next day. Jimin had gone on a brief, five minute walk to the nearby tap that supplied bore water, stuck on dish duty for however long it took him to rinse it all, and Seokjin had been assigned to hanging out all the wet clothes and towels from the day. You had been part way into changing into your pyjamas, wondering if the dog you’d grown attached to the previous day was doing okay, when the sharp scream cut through the air. You froze, chest pinching and stomach dropping through the earth as an unsettling feeling had the hairs at the back of your neck raising. A scream, someone screamed— something was wrong.
You hastily threw on your pyjama shirt, bursting from your tent and rushing to where you’d heard the sound originate from— you reached the far side of the clearing where the cars were parked, darkness seeping across the earth like ink in water and broken only by the sharp, clinical light of the battery-powered lantern that had fallen on the ground. It was Hoseok who stood on the other side of Seokjin’s truck, frozen, and as you skidded around the back you joined him in the stillness, heels digging into the earth. Your stomach roiled at the sight before you, eyes wide and watering as your heart stopped cold in your chest and ice slid down your spine.
Hoseok was hyperventilating beside you, body quaking as he stared at the lifeless form crumpled on the ground; it was as you caught sight of the ink bleeding, staining, sinking into the earth beneath it that you felt your stomach wrench dangerously and the acrid taste of nausea kiss your throat. You couldn’t speak, couldn’t open your mouth because you feared that if you did it wouldn’t be a scream that escaped, but the contents of your stomach. Footsteps thudded behind you, the familiar voice of Yoongi and then Taehyung greeting your ears with alarm sharp in their tones.
“Hoseok?! y/n?!” Yoongi was hardly able to catch his breath as he reached your side. “What hap— oh my god—”
Hoseok was shaking beside you as he stood still, unable to tear his eyes away from the body of Seokjin where it lay twisted on the earth, clothing stained with the remnants of the life that no longer lived behind his eyes. They were nothing more than orbs now, glassy and wide in the weak light of the lantern, handsome face empty of the mirth you’d grown accustomed to seeing and strong jaw stained dark crimson with the blood still oozing from the torn— shredded— flesh of his throat, and a sickening thought struck you that he looked like a porcelain doll even with the touch of death so fresh on his skin.
It was as though your mind had ceased all executive function, static filling your thoughts and your terrified pulse thundering in your ears. For a split-second, you left the present moment, gaze unable to move from the sight before you as your mind struggled to comprehend something it had never even attempted to consider before. There was a body before you, a dead body— the body had Seokjin’s face, but it wasn’t possible, Seokjin couldn’t be dead. That couldn’t be Seokjin—
“Jin…” you’d never heard a sound more broken, more heart-wrenchingly devastated than the sound of Hoseok’s voice as it tore you from the panicked grip of your mind. You finally managed to rip your gaze from Seokjin’s corpse, Hoseok’s face stuck in an expression of shock and horror greeting you as you watched his eyes well and fat tears slip down his cheeks.
“Oh my god,” it was hushed, horrified, and when you turned to face the owner of the voice, unable to return your gaze to where it had lain before, you caught Taehyung staring with wide eyes, mouth agape. Similar to how you had been, the other two were frozen solid. Yoongi was the first to break free.
“Hoseok,” Yoongi’s voice was tinged with the barest hints of panic, of urgency as he turned, grasping the male by the arm and turning him away from Seokjin’s body; Hoseok blinked as he turned, tears spilling down his cheeks without pause. “Hoseok, what happened?”
The question seemed to trigger the realisation that this was real, this had really happened, and Hoseok’s eyes shot wide as he struggled to take in his next breath, choking on a sob and folding in on himself instinctively.
“Breathe, Hobi,” Yoongi stepped forward, both hands moving to the taller male’s arms to keep him upright. “You need to breathe, and tell us what happened.”
Your own mind, heart, and stomach were in turmoil, but you grasped Hoseok’s hands in an attempt to soothe him, focus him. He closed his eyes, chest shuddering as he hiccuped and tried to regulate his breathing. When he finally seemed to calm enough to speak, his face pinched and his body wracked with a sob as the emotions hit him full-force.
“I was just coming to ask if h-he wanted help!” the raven-haired male seemed about to bawl, words coming out in a frantic rush. “I c-came around the corner and he— he was— he was already—”
Hoseok choked on a sob, hands gripping yours so tightly you just barely stopped yourself from wincing. “I d-didn’t see who it wa-was, I— I only saw these gleaming f-fucking eyes and he just d-dropped I—”
Yoongi seemed to be frozen once more, eyes stuck on Hoseok’s face as he soaked in all he’d heard and you were willing to bet Taehyung was in a similar state behind him. Your first instinct was to bawl, to scream, to cry— but Hoseok knew Seokjin better than you, and he needed comfort more. You pulled the male from Yoongi’s grip and into your arms; he folded into your embrace with ease, sobbing into your shoulder and soaking your shirt instantly. At the movement Yoongi seemed to fall back into the present, flinching back and going to look at Seokjin before whipping his head away as he caught himself. Looking nauseous, he turned to Taehyung and tried to overcome the fear that had made his complexion pale so.
Taehyung spoke first, brows furrowed and eyes wide— his chocolate hair was tousled and you assumed he had been changing too when Hoseok had screamed. He struggled to speak, to get the words out, and when he did his voice was hushed and concerned. “Who do you think it was? Who would do such a thing?”
Yoongi’s teeth found his lip and he stared pointedly at the younger male and avoided looking to the side, fingers tangling and hands wringing anxiously.
“I don’t know,” he muttered, brows furrowed. “I don’t know. Someone from the town? Another camper? A-an animal? There’s— there’s so much blood, his throat…”
He halted, nauseous look returning as he cut himself off, jaw clenching. A trembling hand came to his forehead, pressing against the clammy skin before raking through mint hair carelessly.
Taehyung’s teeth sunk into his bottom lip, hesitating for the barest moment before he spoke. He seemed like he was trying to push aside the fear, the shock, in favour of finding a solution. “We need to tell someone, to get help.”
Yoongi nodded, eyes closing and voice trembling. “Yes, I— there’s no reception up here, we can’t—”
“I’ll go down,” Taehyung said, voice hushed but firm. Shaken as you were, you appreciated that he was willing to take charge. His eyes flickered to you for a moment before returning to Yoongi. “I’ll take Seokjin’s car to town and get help.”
Yoongi stared at him for a moment, thoughts a sluggish, overwhelmed mess, before responding. “... Okay. Okay. We’ll stay here— I don’t think anyone should be alone up here, s-since…”
Taehyung nodded, a somewhat determined expression forming on his features, and Yoongi’s form sagged slightly. “Thank you,” you could have sworn you heard him mutter, but over the sound of Hoseok’s hysterical sobbing you could hardly make it out. Taehyung nodded once more.
“I won’t be long.”
Things moved quickly after that, Taehyung found the keys and was climbing into Seokjin’s truck, the engine roaring to life before settling into a hum as he reversed carefully then pulled out of the clearing and onto the road out, the sound of the engine gradually fading until it was only the eerie silence of the forest and Hoseok’s muffled sobbing that greeted your ears. You stared after where Taehyung had disappeared, still holding Hoseok as he shook in your arms, and turned to Yoongi. He met your eyes, and silently you both agreed to move away from the edge of the clearing, towards the warmth and light of the fire that was still going on the other side. It took you a few minutes after seating, where you held Hoseok still and rubbed his back as he gradually soothed, to realise that Jimin still hadn’t returned from washing the dishes.
Instantly, fear took a hold of your heart— panic settled in your limbs as you thought of the worst, the image of Seokjin’s body still imprinted fresh and vivid in your mind despite the fact you’d now covered it. You turned to Yoongi, who was staring blankly into the fire, about to voice your concerns when there was a sound to the side of the clearing. You jumped, stiffening as your joints locked in fear, and only relaxed as a familiar figure stumbled through the treeline with a lantern and bag of rattling dishes in hand. Jimin entered the clearing, falling into the glow cast by the fire, and through misting eyes you could have sworn his chocolate orbs gleamed and flared.
“Jimin,” your voice trembled, and his head whipped to face you, mouth falling open in shock as he registered the sight before him. Yoongi almost fell off his seat as he spun around to face the younger male, staring for a second before scrambling to a stand and launching himself at him.
“Oh my god, you’re okay,” Yoongi’s voice was muffled as he yanked Jimin into an embrace, form shaking as the realisation hit him that the same fate that befell Seokjin could have befallen Jimin too. The tangerine-haired male was confused, slightly shocked and fearful as he surveyed the campsite for whatever had reduced the three of you to such a mess.
“What?” he rasped, dropping the dishes and lantern to return Yoongi’s embrace. “What happened—”
Yoongi pulled back, bottom lip trembling and eyes misty, but eyebrows furrowed. “Something… Something happened to Seokjin. Didn’t you hear Hoseok scream?”
Jimin’s eyes moved to the far side of the campsite just as he began to speak. “Well, yeah, but I thought you were all just messing arou— oh m—”
You could tell the moment his eyes landed on the covered corpse you hadn’t been able to move yet, his eyes shooting wide and bottom lip trembling as Yoongi’s earlier words triggered a realisation.
“I-is that Seokjin?” he asked, tone fearful of the answer as he spun to face the three of you once more, “What the hell happened? Where’s Taehyung?!”
It took a moment to calm him enough to explain everything to him, and when you did the male had crumpled into a seat with eyes that glistened with unshed tears in the firelight. Yoongi had choked up as he informed him of what had happened, what you knew, and Hoseok’s tears had started anew but he had pulled back from your arms, sobs quietened for now despite the fresh round of grief wetting his cheeks.
“Taehyung will be back soon,” Yoongi said, but you were unsure whether it was in an effort to reassure the three of you or himself.
You didn’t know how long you all sat there, staring into the fire with blank eyes and racing minds. Only when the flames that licked the air turned into glowing embers, did you all retreat to your tents— Taehyung was getting help, he’d be back soon, and the familiar roar of Seokjin’s truck would be more than enough to wake you all up in your fearful states. Hoseok moved into your tent for the time being, wanting to escape the thought of Seokjin in his own, while Yoongi and Jimin remained in theirs. As Yoongi slipped into the tent, movements sluggish and lethargic, Jimin stared after you and Hoseok for a moment longer, eyes like coal as they gleamed in the weak moonlight and fading embers of the fire. Only when you and the other male were safely inside your tent, the material zipped up, did he crawl into his own to join Yoongi.
Despite the unease sitting heavily in the pits of your stomachs, you all did your best to catch at least a little rest. Silence eventually filled the campsite, permeating your dreams as they were filled with sandy-furred dogs and gleaming eyes.
Taehyung didn’t return that night.
x x x x x x x
When morning broke, you were one of the first to wake, and you were one of the first to notice that Seokjin’s truck was not back and Taehyung had not returned. You’d contemplated waking the others to alert them, but after the distress of the previous day you figured it would be cruel to bring them from the tender respite of their dreams and back to such a horrifying reality so soon.
Sleep had not been kind to your companions, however, and it wasn’t long before they were rising to join you around the ash and embers of the previous night’s fire. At the idle thought of getting food, your mind directed you to the male who had made your meals so kindly the past few days and nausea immediately rose in your throat, appetite long gone for now but the queasy feeling of an empty stomach remaining.
“Taehyung should have been back by now,” you were surprised to hear Hoseok’s voice break the still and quiet of the morning, turning to see him standing behind you with an empty gaze on the ground and his arms wrapped around his middle. The hysteria from the night before seemed to have fled his body, some rationality having returned to him in his slumber, and now he appeared to be a mixture of shaken and upset, but calm— for now.
“He should have,” you saw no point in attempting to disguise the truth. Your mouth twisted, sickening concern swirling to join the roiling cocktail of emotion in your abdomen. “He’s smart, and strong. He’ll be okay.”
Hoseok’s gaze lifted from the ground, and he looked like he didn’t know whether to believe you or not before he let out a sigh and moved to sit beside you. Yoongi and Jimin emerged at a similar time, slipping from the tent one after the other. Yoongi looked like he hadn’t slept a wink, but the younger male at least looked like he’d gotten a little bit of shut-eye. Ironically, you noticed, his bags had finally cleared like he wanted.
Yoongi’s gaze swept over the campsite, noting the missing car with a frown that was both concerned and saddened.
“He’s not back yet,” it wasn’t a question, more of an observation, and he let out a sigh before moving over to the containers of food still located to the side. The sunlight beginning to spill into the clearing didn’t feel as warm, as comforting as it had the day prior. Your gaze moved from the embers of the fire, flicking upward and catching Jimin’s own; surprise tinged your lungs to find him looking at you already where you were sitting next to Hoseok, and an indecipherable feeling entered your chest when he attempted to offer you a smile that you thought was intended to be comforting.
You didn’t know how you were supposed to find comfort in this situation. You didn’t even know what had happened to Seokjin, whether it had been a camper, a townsperson, an animal— you couldn’t get help by yourselves and you didn’t know what had happened to the friend who had gone to get help, to a town that should have been only a twenty-five minute drive away. A frightening, unsettling mixture of sensations squeezed your stomach, an amalgamation of all emotions resulting from the events of the past twenty-four hours. You didn’t know what to think, how to feel, how to proceed.
“He might have stayed the night in the town,” Jimin spoke, voice tentative. You looked up as he ran a hand through his tangerine locks with an echo of uncertainty. “He might be back sometime this morning.”
Yoongi looked like he didn’t believe it, but the desperation for anything but the reality he feared to be true had him clinging to even the slightest glimmer of hope— and the same went for you.
“Maybe,” he muttered, “We’ll wait until lunchtime. If he’s not back by then, we’ll go looking for him.”
You all nodded, drifting idly back into your thoughts afterwards. Time seemed to pass slower than usual, you noticed, and it grew harder and harder to distract yourself the more you waited. After something small to eat, Jimin and Yoongi had moved Seokjin’s body to a more respectful location with grim faces. It was as they moved, shuffling past the remaining car in the clearing, that they made a rattling discovery.
Its tires were slashed, jagged tears running along the thick rubber that sagged against the earth from the weight of the car. Your final real reassurance in this situation, a symbol of hope and security, snatched right beneath your noses. From this, Yoongi suggested it was likely a human responsible for your current situation; whether a camper or someone from the town, you didn’t know. Either way, the thought, the knowledge had your blood running cold.
You’d never felt so helpless and alone, so isolated even when surrounded by a number of people. The quiet of the forest that had been so relaxing only a day ago was now suffocating, a reminder of how far off the map you were and how completely, utterly, hopelessly stuck you were. On this island, in this forest, you were so small, so inconsequential. If something happened to you, if whoever was doing these horrible things to you and your friends managed to catch you, to kill you and paint the forest floor with your blood, would anyone know? Would anyone have the slightest idea, what acts were being committed in the depths of the forest on this island? The only thing that held you back from the breakdown lingering at the edge of your self control was the fact that you knew it would probably set the others off, too. You needed to be strong for yourself and them.
You were alone, but you were alone with them.
As the morning continued to wane into midday, you all seemed to accept what it meant. Even so, you reemerged from your tent to the surprising scene of Jimin, Hoseok and Yoongi discussing what to do in hushed voices.
“Maybe we should wait a bit longer,” Jimin was suggesting, tone low and brows drawn together. Yoongi and Hoseok were looking at him like they couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, where he was coming from. None of them noticed you as you began to draw closer. “He could be on the way back right now—”
“It’s only a twenty-five minute drive,” Yoongi cut him off, seeming slightly distressed as he spoke. “He should have been back last night, let alone this morning. What if he’s hurt, or stuck? We can’t afford to wait.”
“What do you think could have happened to him?” The sunlight filtering through the treetops fell just shy of Jimin’s form, bathing the other two in the warmth of its rays but leaving him cool in the shadows. “He was in Seokjin’s truck, how would he—”
“Isn’t he one of your closest friends?” Hoseok’s voice was surprisingly sharp as it cut through the air, louder than the hushed volume they’d been speaking at until now. His red-rimmed eyes were narrowed at Jimin, and you could have sworn you saw suspicion hiding in his hues. “Aren’t you worried about him?”
His words made Jimin pause, eyes wide as he opened his mouth to speak before closing it again. His voice was softer than you’d anticipated, “Yes, I am. I’m worried sick. I just… I just don’t know what to do.”
Yoongi’s features softened at his words, but Hoseok’s face slipped into a neutral expression— you couldn’t read or decipher whatever emotion was swirling in his eyes.
“It is better to act sooner than later,” Yoongi reasoned, although he didn’t look so sure of himself even as he spoke, and Hoseok nodded.
“Two of us can go— the earlier the better, since it will take much longer to walk now that we can’t use the car,” Hoseok said, and a shred of concern embedded itself in your stomach at the flip his demeanour had taken overnight, and even since the morning. Dark eyes swept to meet Yoongi’s, and he looked at him for a moment, analysing his expression, before continuing, “You can stay here with y/n, Yoongi. Jimin and I will go.”
Based on the interaction so far, a part of you might have expected Jimin to protest, but he did no such thing. He merely nodded, allowing them to instruct him for now, and as Hoseok and Yoongi continued to discuss how to proceed, his eyes flicked up from the ground. It took only a moment before they were sweeping around him and meeting yours; he seemed slightly surprised to see you so close, listening in on them, but that expression faded into something unreadable and you decided to leave them be for now. You moved over to the campfire, deciding you should have something to nibble on to keep your energy up, and waited for them to come over to you on their own terms and fill you in on what they had been discussing.
You didn’t have to wait long, Yoongi’s tentative touch against your arm the first thing you registered as he moved beside you. His fingers slipped down your forearm to grip your hand loosely, an act of comfort, and you offered him a weak smile. Yoongi and Taehyung were your best friends, the people closest to you in your life, and even though one of them was beside you right now, the absence of the other was a heavy weight across your shoulders, a prominent pit of anxiety in your stomach. You tried not to dwell on Taehyung, not wanting to worry too much but also not wanting to risk deluding yourself.
“Hoseok and Jimin are going to go to town,” he informed you softly, and you nodded as though you hadn’t already overheard that part. “They’re going to look for Taehyung, but if they can’t find him they’re going to go get help. When they get help, they’ll come back and we’ll pack up and get the hell out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” you said, attempting humour despite the fact your heart wasn’t at all in it. Yoongi offered you a small smile as you spoke, “I’m sure they’ll find Taehyung and get help.”
“I hope so,” it was muttered so quietly you almost missed it, the mint-haired male attempting to avoid your gaze as he shifted his own to where Hoseok and Jimin were slipping two water bottles and some bars into a backpack for their walk to the town.
Contrary to how time had passed from morning to now, it suddenly felt like all you’d done was blink before it was early afternoon and the two of them were at the edge of the clearing, sending you brief waves before they turned and began on the trek to the town. You watched, an unfamiliar feeling curling in your gut as they disappeared down the track, eyes straining to catch one last glimpse of tangerine and raven hair before you could no longer see any part of them.
Yoongi stood beside you near the fire, still on his feet and locked in his thoughts for a moment just as you were. Your neck prickled and the sensation in your stomach reared its head— you jerked into movement, shuffling away from the fire and closer to a seat in the hopes that it might soothe whatever you were currently feeling. The mint-haired male blinked, returning to the present, and turned to watch you for a moment.
You slipped into the chair you’d chosen as your own at the start of this trip, thoughts turning down a lane you’d rather they didn’t as you realised, startlingly, just what a complete 180 this trip had done in such a short amount of time. Your vision blurred, unfocused where it was training on the little table two seats or so away— Seokjin had used it for food, but when he wasn’t cooking it became a home for everyone’s phones when they weren’t in use. There wasn’t any reception, so the only time anyone really touched them was to take photos.
Yoongi’s gaze followed your own, falling upon the table and staring for a moment, before he jerked suddenly. A gasp slipped through his lips and he hurried forward, snatching a large, thin device off the table.
“They forgot to take a phone,” he mumbled, quickly identifying the one in his grasp as Jimin’s but unable to locate Hoseok’s. He shot you a quick look before he turned and darted towards the entrance to the clearing at a light jog, “They haven’t been gone long, they shouldn’t be far— I’ll go give it to them then be right back.”
You nodded, though he couldn’t see it; he’d already turned on his heel and was following the path your other two friends had taken. You knew he wouldn’t be long, the other two had only just left after all, but as you were left alone in the large, empty campsite you were suddenly suffocatingly aware of it. Arms wrapping around yourself, you brought your feet up to rest on the edge of the chair and let your chin drop onto your knees. You’d be fine, he’d be right back.
Not for the first time, you wished Cookie had decided to stay.
x x x x x x x x x
Yoongi knew he was out of shape, but he didn’t realise exactly how much until he was jogging down the dirt and gravel road with Jimin’s phone in hand, attempting to catch up to them and struggling to regulate his breathing all the while. He didn’t want to leave you alone for longer than he had to, for the sake of your comfort and also his sanity, and so was trying to be quick about his current task.
The further down the path he got, the road lined by trees and shrubs, the more a sense of unease began to settle over him. A funny, waxy taste sank into the tastebuds at the back of his tongue, chest feeling tight, and his ears strained to pick up anything besides the sounds of his boot-clad feet hitting the earth while he ran. Something didn’t feel right.
He rounded a bend in the road, shuffling sounds he figured to be the footsteps of his friends greeting his ears, and opened his mouth to call out to them, hand with the phone raised, before his heart stopped cold in his chest and he stumbled and froze. At the sight of the two figures before him, his blood ran glacial in his veins, chilling his flesh and locking his limbs as ice slid down a rigid spine.
Hoseok’s body was the first thing he saw, limp as it hung in the grasp of the other figure. His eyes were blank and glassy in his head and trained emptily at the sky as it tipped back on a neck that was just barely attached to the rest of his body, throat torn out in a gory mess that had blood dripping down lax arms to stain the earth a startling, frightening red. A scream rose in Yoongi’s throat but it couldn’t escape, vocal cords locked from the same primal fear that had his limbs stuck in place. His next thought was for Jimin, and it was as his eyes flew to search for familiar, identifying tangerine that he made his next horrifying observation.
That oh-so recognisable colour was the same that stained the hair of the figure gripping Hoseok’s body like a beaten doll— but the figure was not human, as Yoongi had originally dismissed. Limbs cracking and popping— stretching, distending, snapping— skin melting from its form to ooze onto the gravel and dirt. Its hands were gnarled, disfigured into sharp, stained talons that sank with ease into the flesh of its victim. It was confronting, terrifying, but what had Yoongi’s heart stopping in his chest for the second time in the span of five seconds was the way the creature’s head snapped towards him, and it was Hoseok’s face that stared back at him with the tangerine hair and the shell of Jimin’s body shedding from its bones.
It was the moment the creatures glowing eyes connected with his own that Yoongi experienced true, debilitating fear, terror so abrupt and consuming he could hardly force his lungs to intake his next breath, and the moment his fight or flight responses kicked in. The creature that had been Jimin, that had stolen his form and had yet to meld into its new body yet, was suddenly aware it had been caught; it let out a sharp, reverberating screech that pierced right through his chest, and the features it had stolen from Hoseok melted and distorted like hot wax over bone. Hoseok’s body dropped to the earth and the creature, the thing lurched for the treeline at an alarming speed, disfigured limbs tumbling and clawing the earth to propel it along.
Yoongi jerked into motion, phone tumbling from his hand as he spun, and he ran.
x x x x x
You hadn’t been sitting by the fire all that long when the sudden, abrupt sound of hurried footfalls against the earth began to reach your ears, and you suddenly sat up straight. Your eyes searched the treeline, hardly able to pick out any distinct shapes between tree trunks and shrubbery in the depths of the greenery. It was a sharp call of your name that yanked your attention back to the front of the campsite where the road lay. The sense of unease that had made its home in your abdomen ever since midday reared its ugly head once more, spurring movement into your limbs before you could think twice. You lurched to your feet, meeting Yoongi halfway as he burst into the clearing— your heart stopped at the wild, frantic look in his eyes, the shallow, uneven heaves of his chest as he struggled to take in air.
“We need to leave,” he was gripping your arm and tugging you with him, toward the tents, before you could even think to ask him what was wrong. “We need to go— now.”
“Yoongi!” you burst in protest, stumbling as he tugged you towards his tent. “Yoongi, what? What are you saying? Did something happen—”
At your words the male halted suddenly, and you slammed into his back with a surprised cry. He spun, eyes wide and watering slightly. The way his voice shook slightly as he spoke rattled you deeply, “J-Jimin, he— that thing—”
A shuddering breath from his chest cut him off, his eyes squeezing shut for a moment as he summoned the words for what he wanted to say. Confusion and trepidation whirled within you. When he spoke once more it was in a rush, his voice trembling again, “It wasn’t a human that killed Seokjin, it— it was something else, some thing, a-and I went and found it changing from Jimin’s shape— it killed Hoseok, y/n, and when I caught it, it had J-Jimin’s body but it was stealing Hoseok’s face and—”
You held your hands up, brows drawn. “W-what? You’re saying Jimin is a shape-shifter? That he— wait, Hoseok is—”
“I don’t know what that thing is but it’s not Jimin, and it’s not human,” Yoongi’s voice adopted a hardened edge of sorts. “It— it killed Hoseok, and Seokjin, and it probably killed Jimin too. We need to go.”
With that, he turned and ripped open the entrance to his tent, lurching for his backpack and yanking it out. You stood, absolutely bewildered for a moment, before your mind finally caught up and you stepped forward, snatching the tent flap. “Wait, what about Taehyung?! We can’t just leave him—”
“With that thing out there he’s probably dead, y/n!” Yoongi’s abrupt words hit you like a slap to the face, your eyes wide and watering from the shock of hearing them from his own mouth— Taehyung was his best friend, just as he was yours. The three of you were in it together. “It wouldn’t have mattered that he had Seokjin’s truck— look what good it did Seokjin!”
You recoiled, eyes stinging and bottom lip trembling, and you hated that this was your first reaction in a situation like this. But you couldn’t help it— ever since you’d discovered Seokjin the day before an overwhelming storm of emotions inside you had been building, brewing, and it had finally swelled too large for the confines of your chest to hold. Rumbling and bubbling, it climbed your throat now and you fought the sob it carried with it.
“Don’t say that,” your first attempt was too soft, too hoarse, but at the sound of it Yoongi froze nonetheless. He turned, just as you opened your mouth to speak again, “Don’t say that! You don’t know that he’s dead— what if he’s not, what if he’s hurt and we leave?! We’d be leaving him to the mercy of whoever—”
“y/n, it’s not ‘who’, it’s what,” Yoongi cut you off and your words died in your throat, if only from confusion and shock. You’d heard him before, but it hadn’t really sunk in what he was saying. The male met your eyes, expression visibly softening as he caught sight of the moisture gathering there, and he stepped from the tent to drop the bag for a moment. His hands outstretched as though he wanted to touch you, but he refrained.
“I don’t know what that thing is, but I do know it killed Hoseok, and probably Jimin and Seokjin too, and if we stay here it’s going to kill us as well,” he paused, teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he deliberated over whether to say the next part or not. “If Tae… no matter what state Taehyung is in, I know above all else he would want you to be safe and live.”
Your brows furrowed at his words, and you could understand them, could believe them, but still something didn’t sit right deep within you as they caressed your ears. It was easier to accept what he was telling you, to go along with it and let him guide you out of here, but you felt an alarmingly large part of you resisting. It confused you— you were so confused, so scared. It was already one big mess and now it was even bigger, a horrifying amalgamation of events and factors that made you want to bury your head in the sand just to cancel it all out. You wanted so badly to run, to flee, but for some unfathomable reason your feet stayed rooted to the ground.
“But I don’t want to leave Taehyung,” you said finally, ignoring the way your bottom lip still trembled. “I can’t. How can you?”
At that, Yoongi froze, and when his own eyes began to water you felt guilt shred at your insides for saying such a thing— but still, he had said such things first, and you were growing desperate.
“y/n,” it was indecipherable, the emotion that threaded through his tone and rode along his words as he spoke, “I—”
Sadly, you didn’t get to hear whatever heartfelt spiel he had lined up, as in the moment before he could continue there was a sharp noise that cut through the air. The two of you froze, and you felt a cool flush of air wash over you as the hairs on the back of your neck shot up. Your gazes shot to the treeline, and you nearly darted from your place when a figure emerged from their depths, mind immediately connecting Yoongi’s story to the sight and assuming the worst.
To your complete and utter surprise, however, the sight that greeted you as they stumbled into the remaining patches of sunlight was one that had your breath leaving your lungs in one great woosh and movement returning to your limbs like sparks to kindlewood. You shot toward them before you could think to pause, to wait, and Yoongi stumbled a few steps after you in shock.
"Tae!" the male had barely a second to prepare before you barreled into him, embracing him tightly for a moment before he let out a sharp, pained sound and you hurriedly retracted your arms. You gasped as you finally took in the rest of his body and not just his face.
It was Taehyung before you, but you'd never seen him in such a state— his hair was filthy, matted with dirt and dry, clotted blood, the same blood that painted his skin where his clothes were torn and jagged. He was limping slightly, looking worn and tired despite the fact his bags had yet to return. There was a wound on his head that had dried blood flaking from bruised skin as he furrowed his brow, features creasing in an odd mix of relief and alarm.
"y/n," his voice was choked in his throat, with a raspy quality that made you think he hadn't had anything to drink in the past day. His dark gaze flickered to the other male that had approached, silently, behind you, something passing in the depths of his irises that was gone before you could decipher it. His voice trembled towards the end of the utterance, "Yoongi... thank god you're both alive and safe."
"What happened to you?" the words were slipping from your lips before you could attempt to stop them, eyes searching his own in between scanning over his injured face and form. "Did you make it to town?"
Taehyung's gaze hardened slightly, as though he'd just remembered something important. His hands came to grasp your arms, eyes widening as they flicked bewteen you and Yoongi beseechingly, alarm riding along the underside of his tone as he burst, "y/n, Yoongi, we’re not safe— it wasn't a human that killed Seokjin, there's some thing in the forest and it—it tried to kill me too. I barely managed to escape. It… I’m worried it will be back to finish the job soon."
Yoongi took the opportunity to interject, taking Taehyung’s words as the fodder needed to fuel his argument while you reeled over the fact your two best friends had come to spout the same story despite being separated for a whole, terrifying day. Your resistance to the idea had been pushed into a corner— were they not telling the truth, if both of them supplied the same explanation despite their separation? Was this really what had been terrorising you and your friends, murdering you one by one? A shape-shifting creature? Yoongi faced you, eyes holding your own with a look that was far too firm to be a plea, “Then I was right, we need to go.”
Something twinged in your chest, protesting his words for inexplicably, but to your surprise it was Taehyung that halted the older boy.
“No, we can’t,” he said, taking a step forward to grasp Yoongi’s shirt beseechingly. You couldn’t see his face, but you didn’t doubt the older was currently on the receiving end of some form of Taehyung’s infamous puppy dog eyes. “If we leave we’re as good as dead, nothing more than sitting ducks on that path. It’s too long to walk to the town, we won’t make it.”
Something niggled at the back of your mind, pushing against the edge of conscious thought in an effort to be heard— Taehyung was back, he was alive, and Yoongi was too, you should be feeling over the moon that your two best friends were here with you. But something was off, something about how smoothly things had gone since Yoongi came back, something about how perfect, convenient the timing was, didn’t sit quite right.
Something was off, but you couldn’t put your finger on it.
“Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!” Yoongi’s outburst made you jump slightly, eyes wide as they flew to his face to see tired lines creasing his skin and bags beneath eyes that were almost manic. The sudden realisation washed over you that despite how put-together the male had remained thus far, his insides were just as much of a tumultuous mess as your own. “We can’t just stay here! We’re just as in the open as we would be going down that path!”
Taehyung was quick to shake his head, stepping back so he could capture both of you in his sight once more. “No, I know the creature’s weakness— it’s fire.”
“Fire?” you echoed, a distant part of you wondering ever so quietly how he’d come to find that out. Then again, if he was here standing before you instead of laying dead and bloody across the forest floor, he had to have done something right.
The male was quick to nod, chocolate locks flopping back across his forehead. “It can’t stand fire, can’t bare to go near it. It’s how I got away.”
Yoongi’s limbs were still tense, coiled with the intention to move, but he remained in place for a moment, teeth worrying his bottom lip. “... Then what do you propose we do?”
Taehyung’s long lashes brushed his cheekbones as he blinked, dark eyes swimming with something you’d yet to witness in their depths. “We use fire. We just need to wait here until help comes— until Namjoon comes, even. If we make a ring of fire around the campsite, the thing cannot get in.”
Your lips parted as you considered the idea, free hand coming to grip your other arm. It wasn’t cold, but you found your arms shifting to hug yourself. A glance to the side told you Yoongi was pondering the younger males words. They made sense to you, but would it be enough? Would you have more of a chance of survival staying here, surrounded by fire, than if you went down that path and attempted to make it to town on your feet alone?
“I…” Yoongi’s voice almost broke, adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed and his tongue darted to wet dry lips. For a moment so fleeting you almost missed it, his eyes strayed to you. He seemed to make up his mind. “Fine. Fine, we’ll do that. We can use some of the fuel from the car— its not of much use for anything else right now with its tyres slashed like that.”
Taehyung seemed to sag in relief at the older male’s words, lips tugging into a small, humourless smile.
“Okay,” he breathed, allowing his eyes to close for a moment, before returning his gaze to the two of you. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Yoongi spared one final glance to his bag before pushing it back towards the tent, and then you were all shifting to begin preparing for the plan.
x x x x x x x
It hadn’t taken as long as you’d thought it would to get everything together and ready to go. Your tents were all a fair distance from the edge of the forest, the car too, which provided ample room to draw a line of fuel and flammable objects around the campsite without the risk of setting anything important alight. Yoongi had been the one to light the match, tossing it onto the ground, and all of you had stood in awe as flames burst from the earth and roared along the dirt to encase you in a suffocating, sweltering circle of protection. You felt better, safer, with the flames now licking the air, a dancing, scorching barrier between you and the horrors of the forest. Yet…
There was a part of you that very much felt like an animal that had stumbled into a pit of tar— the heavy sensation of trepidation dwelling in your abdomen at the prospect of your impending future not one you were unfamiliar with at this point.
The heat of day, coupled with the heat of the flames, had almost been enough to lull you to sleep as the light bled from the sky and made way for the cool, inky expanse you both longed for and dreaded. But the lingering fear in your limbs was what kept your eyes open and your nerves on edge as the day drew to a close. After doing all you needed to, the three of you had huddled near the old campfire area, tired silence drifting between you all as your eyes strayed and strained to glimpse the treeline through the flames.
Eventually, Yoongi grew tired of sitting in one place, doing nothing, for so long, and rose to his feet. He yawned, and you were quick to urge him to grab some shut-eye while he could— you knew you weren’t going to be sleeping anytime soon after all, and Taehyung didn’t seem inclined to nap either.
So he left the two of you in the centre of the campsite, limping over to the tent he’d shared with Jimin— he must have twisted his ankle on the way back, you supposed. It was silent for a minute after he slipped inside the structure, not bothering to zip it, before you turned and allowed your gaze to fall on Taehyung. The ravenous flames encircling you chased away the depth of the shadows that nightfall cast across his face, skin lit golden and glowing despite the layer of grime. You supposed you probably weren’t looking any better, but you at least didn’t have any wounds. A question pressed against your lips at the thought.
“Why don’t you clean your wounds?” you asked suddenly, Taehyung’s gaze swinging to meet your own. The way his eyes caught the dancing amber of the flames made your heart skip a beat.
The male attempted a wry sort of smile, shaking his head. “What’s the point? They’re not that bad, and I don’t want to risk the distraction.”
You understood that, but still. “But why not at least wipe the blood away, it can’t be comfortable sitting with so much dried—”
Your hand had lifted to brush some of the burgundy flakes from the skin of his temple, but he was quick to dip his head out of the way. You couldn’t read the look that entered his eyes. “No, no— it’s fine. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, blossom.”
Your heart stopped, then started again in your chest. You hadn’t heard him call you that since months ago, when he was shitfaced at a party in Namjoon’s dorm. It was a completely, utterly inappropriate reaction considering the circumstances— but you could have sworn your stomach dipped.
“Fine, stay gross,” you muttered, a weak attempt at humour. He snorted, and it brought the ghost of a smile to your face. It was silent between you for a moment, before you felt your features softening. The words rose in your throat and you were powerless to stop them. “I’m… I’m really glad you’re okay, Tae. I’m glad you’re alive, a-and here… I’m just… I’m glad.”
The second your soft tone brushed his ears his head swung towards you once more, his eyes wide as they regarded you. When had you become so incapable of reading the emotions swimming in their chocolate depths? His lips parted as he searched for words, posture shifting as he outstretched his arm to grasp your hand in his. The touch of his flesh was surprisingly cool against yours, nothing like the scorching warmth you’d been expecting, but it was not an unwelcome surprise.
“I’m glad you’re okay too,” he sounded slightly breathless as he said it, and while your first thought was that he meant it collectively, another part of you spoke up and urged that no, right now he was talking to you. The openness displayed across his features right now was not meant for the male currently resting in the tent, but for you— only you, exclusively you, and the realisation robbed the breath from your lungs. The sudden shift in emotions from the default of the last few days was almost too much for your brain, your heart, to keep up with.
“You… you mean a lot to me,” he swallowed, never breaking the hold he had on your gaze. The low register of his voice as it caressed the words had a shiver fighting to slide down your spine. A part of you protested the feeling, but you couldn’t help it. Even so, something foreign began to slide into your stomach like thick, viscous slime. “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you, y/n. I’m glad that you’re safe, that you’re here, too...”
You couldn’t identify the source of the blaze that drew across your cheeks, the flames versus the intensity of his gaze, but with each moment longer you spent trapped, eyes locked with his, he drew closer. That same part of you that had protested before reared its head again— this wasn’t the time!— but you couldn’t muster the strength, the will to pull away as his free hand rose and fingers brushed your jaw, face close enough that you felt the gentle wash of his breath against your skin.
You might have stayed like that, might have allowed your eyes to slip completely closed, might have awaited the press of lips to your own, were it not for the shout that broke through the air.
“Yah, you bastard! What do you think you’re doing?!”
You lurched back, wide eyes shooting to the side and falling upon the furious figure of Yoongi by the tent. He took a step forward, accusation riding sharp alone his tone as he glared murderous daggers at his friend. “Do you think this is the time for that sort of shit, Taehyung? And what the hell do you think you’re doing, we promised neither of us would make any moves—”
For the barest moment, you split your gaze from the livid mint-haired male, and it fell back towards the one beside you. At once, you froze. You mightn’t have been able to read him all night, but the dark, swirling mass in Taehyung’s eyes as they regarded the older was startling, foreign, and had your stomach dropping through the earth. The sight of it gave Yoongi pause as well, and he stood for a moment before sickening realisation washed over his features.
“You’re not…” the words slipped out before he turned abruptly on his heel, hand fishing for the small battery-powered torch in his pocket as he lurched for Taehyung’s tent. You didn’t expect that to garner a response, but to your surprise Taehyung sprung to his feet, body tense.
Before the words climbing your throat could escape Yoongi was tearing open the flaps of Taehyung’s tent that had remained otherwise sealed for days, torch shining inside, and there was a split-second for the sight to register before he scrambled back, retching. It took only a few moments for the smell to reach you and the sight to register in your mind before you were shifting yourself, scrabbling to your feet and stumbling back.
It was putrid, as confronting and insulting to your nostrils as the scent of ammonia in urine but mixed with a cloying, sickening fermented odour that could only come from flesh that had begun to rot. Beneath the light of Yoongi’s small torch inside the tent, the horrifyingly familiar sight of Taehyung’s face stared back at you, just as you’d remembered it the first day you’d come here— bags and all— yet completely different as crusted drops of blood stained the surface. You barely managed to glimpse the expanse of his throat that had been stripped of flesh to the bone, before the momentary stillness in the air was dispelled and the figure beside you lurched into motion.
Taehyung, the one that had been beside you, let out a sound so blood-curdling and piercing that it made your ears ring as he moved with speed you could only describe as inhuman. The form that had been so familiar to you was changing before you eyes; cracking, snapping, popping with bones shifting beneath flesh that began to droop and ooze like dripping wax. His limbs elongated, talons ripping through the flesh at his fingertips and body twisting, convoluted as he hauled across the earth. With the flames originally meant to keep it out still encasing you all, Yoongi had nowhere to flee and no time to even attempt it.
You wished you’d thought to close your eyes, to look away and save yourself the pain, the sickening horror that froze your heart, your lungs in your chest. But you couldn’t, and it was too late. A scream of your own ripped from your throat as you scrambled, stumbled backwards blindly, tripping over tables and utensils and scorched logs and rolling your ankle so harshly you could have sworn you heard it snap. But still, you could not look away— not when the creatures claws sunk into the vulnerable flesh of Yoongi’s throat, and not when it stripped skin, muscle and tendon from his body. Only when the creature decided it was finished, and threw your best friend’s body to the side like a discarded toy, did you wrench your eyes closed and curl into a ball on the ground, unable to escape for the excruciating pain radiating from your ankle.
The silence that followed, broken only by the gentle crackling of the flames as they continued to eat at the earth, set the hairs at the back of your neck on end. Moments passed in suspense, your breath hurried and riddled with panicked sobs, before you heard that same cracking, popping sound that had chilled you to the bone so before. More horrified of what you couldn’t see, your eyes snapped open once more and a sob rose in your chest— the sight of Taehyung greeted you, like all that had just transpired had never happened at all.
But the change in his gaze, the blank look across his features and the darkness burning in his eyes told you it had. They gleamed amber now, even without the aid of the firelight, and you realised suddenly where you’d seen such a thing before on this trip. A fool, you were a fool. How had you not seen this coming?
“Who are you?” you managed to rasp, body uncurling and hands gripping the earth as you tried desperately to drag yourself away. He stared down at you like he was watching a newborn puppy wriggle across the ground in front of him.
To your surprise, a smile tugged his lips— and it was not one you’d ever seen on this face before.
“Finally,” he breathed, “It is just you and me. I would have liked to have you sooner, but this… this was fun.”
Your limbs were shaking, trembling from a combination of fear and the adrenaline pumping through your veins. He took a step closer, continuing to talk, almost as though it was just to himself, and you scrabbled to drag yourself backwards.
“I knew you were special,” he said, golden eyes burning into yours. His head tilted as he regarded you. “I knew from the moment you protected me from those savages. But did you know, I take their memories, when I take their form?”
He didn’t wait for you to answer, gaze holding you still as he took another step closer, breaking the hold only to run his eyes along the expanse of his hand.
“This one, I took him first, and you are special to him, too,” his eyes snapped back to yours. “Incredibly so. I feel it too, you know. His emotions, his thoughts, his memories. They’re mine. They belong to me now.”
A pondering edge bordered his tone now, his eyes fluttering closed as he tilted his head and cracked his neck, the sound echoing sickeningly and blending with the soft murmur of the flames. “I like this form,” he admitted. “But this…”
He broke off, and at the familiar, horrifying symphony of snapping bones and shifting limbs you wrenched your eyes closed once more, only to ease them open when they stopped again. The figure before you was no longer that of Taehyung, but that of a boy you had never seen before. He was around the same height, hair and eyes a similar colour but differently shaped, and he was thicker, stronger than Taehyung.
“Of all the forms I’ve taken, this form is my favourite,” it breathed, and the voice that caressed your ears was no longer Taehyung’s low baritone but soft, airy and melodious. It dripped like honey over the coiled danger you knew lurked beneath.
“Please,” you whimpered, bottom lip trembling before you caught it between your teeth. “Just kill me already. Please.”
The male, the creature, the thing tilted its head at you, as though trying to decipher why you would say such a thing. “Weren’t you listening, blossom? From the second I laid eyes on you, I knew you were special. Now why would I go to all this trouble, just to kill you?”
You didn’t have an answer, but couldn’t deny the words that now climbed your throat, your voice a whisper, “Then what do you want with me?”
The male grinned, an endearing sight that juxtaposed entirely everything this creature was to its core. It had killed your friends, your best friends, and probably many more, and yet it still smiled at you while it wore the face and body of a boy who couldn’t be a day over twenty. Nausea rose in your throat suddenly, helplessness roiling in your stomach.
“I guess,” he said, as he began to stride forward. Your weak attempts to drag yourself away were not enough to escape him. “That’s what we’re going to find out, blossom.”
Dirt kicked over a patch of the fire circle, and a flaming branch thrown over a tent— the flames ravaged your campsite, and as they chased the footprints of the thing that had torn your life apart, that was the last the forest ever saw of you.
Just barely a day later, when the last of your group came to join you, all that he would find, was a clearing of scorched earth bathed in blood and ash, and not a single trace of the friends he’d seen only a week before. Just the charred remains of a herd of sheep that had never stood a chance against the wolf that slipped into their midst.