Chapter Seven

Ember

Donghae would have thought that his words would have comforted Eunhyuk, however instead his eyes only widened as he violently shook his head. Despite being barely awake moments before, the now fully conscious boy seemed completely against what his dongsaeng had told him. Instead, he made wild hand movements, seeming to be unhinged at their presence.

“You two need to get out of here,” His voice was strictly serious, “Don’t let them find you. Please.”

Donghae exchanged a look with his hyung, who seemed to be also wary. Not many stories reached the Ruins, however they figured the Slums were dangerous. The boy’s warning rang clearly in their ears, however the younger was persistent. He tugged on the chains again, whimpering when they did not give. Looking over towards his hyung, he noticed that Leeteuk was staring at the barbwire with the utmost concentration. If it hadn’t been such a serious time, he would’ve teased that Teukie was trying to bend the wire with his mind or something. Instead though, he pouted towards the other boy, who refused to give them any help in trying to help him escape.

“Eunhyuk-hyung,” He called out to him again, “We have to get you out of here.”

His hyung continued to lean against the barbwire, biting his lip and glancing back towards the two on the other side occasionally, before shaking his head stubbornly, and then returned to his original position. “I can’t let you, Hae,” He refused their help, “Teukie-hyung, please go. I don’t want you two to end up like the rest of us.”

Donghae knew that his two hyungs had been close as well, both older boys staring at each other for a long time. He sat on the ground patiently. Donghae would go with whatever Leeteuk’s decision was, however he knew in his heart that his hyung would never abandon Eunhyuk. He seemed to hesitate, however, there was one question that was obviously lingering at the edge of his tongue.

“G-gina, where did she live?” He asked, his tone defining that he was uncertain if he even wanted an answer.

Eunhyuk frowned at the mention of the name, he had obviously already heard what had happened. As he lived in the Slums like she had, he might have even heard her screams. Donghae wondered how horribly one had to beat before they died, then again, perhaps he would rather not know.

“She used to live here,” It seemed to pain Eunhyuk to form the words, “But… when she died… they needed a replacement and the household I lived in couldn’t afford a slave anymore, so I was transferred.”

Donghae’s heart dropped into his stomach. His best friend was owned by the same family that had beaten his hyung’s girlfriend? He scowled fiercely – an odd look on the adorably innocent boy’s face. “You’re not staying here,” He did not give Eunhyuk any kind of decision in the matter, “We’re getting you out of here right now.”

Leeteuk seemed to agree with him, sticking his toes through one of the loops of the fence and heaving himself up. Donghae was quick to follow behind him, watching as Eunhyuk opened his mouth to protest. It was too late for him to stop them though, as they were already on the same side as he. A drop of sweat ran down Eunhyuk’s forehead and Donghae glanced him over with concern. “Don’t be nervous,” He told him, “We won’t leave you.”

“Where do you think the key is?” Leeteuk whispered, looking around the limited space in the backyard for something that would be able to free Eunhyuk from the chains, as that was all that was stopping him from already being free.

“It’s inside of the house,” Eunhyuk swallowed visibly, “In the… master bedroom.”

Donghae froze and his hyung cursed under his breath. “I appreciate you wanting to help me escape,” The enslaved boy assured them, although both of them could pick up the immense disappointment, “But there’s nothing you can do. You couldn’t possibly… Wait, you’re not really thinking of sneaking inside are you!?”

At this point, the two of them were ignoring their chained up friend as he continued to hiss at them and reminding them what pabos they were – Donghae and Leeteuk were sure to get caught. Donghae wrapped a hesitant finger around the sliding door’s handle and pulled at it. No sort of miracle occurred, however, it was firmly locked. Donghae’s eyes began to burn, what if their escape attempt fell through? He couldn’t bear the thought of Eunhyuk having to stay there while he and Leeteuk moved onto somewhere else, retaining their freedom.

“Donghae.”

He searched for where his hyung’s voice was coming from and found him a few feet away, bending down to the ground. It was too dark for him to make out what Leeteuk was staring down at. He stooped down next to him, finding a small flap that radiated warmth. He turned to Leeteuk with a bright smile, “This leads to the house, doesn’t it?”

Leeteuk nodded, “It’s a doggy door. Do you think you could fit through it?”

Donghae lifted the flap carefully, easily able to squeeze his upper body through the opening. However, once he was in up to his waist, he found that the pressure on his hips grew. He made no noise as he tried to push his way through it, feeling his hyung push on him as he tried to help him through. Donghae was up to mid-thigh when he suddenly felt something wet press against his nose. Without even a moment to panic, he realized quickly that it was the dog. He hoped it wasn’t too angry at him for taking up its door. He dismissed it as harmless and tried to inch in a bit more, when the dog began to lowly growl at him. He tried to hush it but it refused to be silent. Perhaps, if he acted quickly, Donghae would be able to leave before the growls would wake the Chosen inside.

He finally completely fit through, landing on the floor painfully. Donghae luckily did not make much noise, standing up before the dog could pin him down on the ground. Its growling intensified and he only hoped that the sudden silence from the previous snoring he had heard down the hall was just his imagination. He hadn’t woken them up… right?

Donghae crept in the direction of the snores he had once heard and had to hold back a sigh of relief when the sounds resumed. He paused at the door that led to the Chosen’s bedroom. Donghae tried to slow his rapidly beating heart – he was sure it was loud enough for someone to hear. The adrenaline coursing inside of him made him shaky, as he calmed his movement enough to slowly turn the door handle and eased the door open.

In sleep, the couple did not look like murderers. They seemed just like everyone else. Despite their appearances though, he knew they had been responsible for the death of Gina. He did not want to wait for them to harm Eunhyuk either.

Donghae searched for the key, slowly peeking open into the night stand’s drawer and fishing his hand inside. He prayed that they wouldn’t wake up as he felt around the space. The room was scarce, Donghae had thought all Chosen had lots of money, however he was proven wrong as there was a lone bed propped up against the wall, under an open window that allowed the moon’s light to cast a glow over the room. He would be immediately caught if they just barely opened their eyes. Donghae held his breath, refusing to release it until he was out of the room. Besides the bed, there was the small nightstand his hand was currently inside of, with an alarm clock that read it was past two in the morning. On the other corner was a dresser, and if he came up short of the key in the nightstand he figured he would have to search through there. There was no option of giving up in his mind.

Feeling his way around, his fingers wrapped something small and delicate. He would have ignored it and continued on, however the shape felt familiar and Donghae lifted it carefully and examined it in the dim light. Donghae recognized it, a fancy, cursive “G” charm that was stranded onto a simple chain. It was the necklace the Leeteuk had gave to Gina before New Earth had come into being. It angered him that the Chosen keeping it in the back of their nightstand drawer. Donghae tucked it into his pocket. He normally would feel guilty about taking something that was not his, however it was not property of the Chosen either. It belonged to Gina, but he knew he could not return it to her. He hoped she would not mind that he was planning on giving it to Leeteuk-hyung.

Searching the contents of the drawer further, promising that he would not take anything else except the key. He continued to run his hand along the different objects, trying to find one with a jagged edge.  Similar to Eunhyuk before, a drop of sweat ran down his forehead, causing him to shiver. He could not remember a time he had ever been so panic stricken. His breath – which he had been forced to let out or Donghae surely would have suffocated – was shaky. When he came upon something sharper than the rest, tightening his hold on it until he winced, Donghae pulled away. The knife’s blade had not cut into his skin enough to cause him to bleed, however he still had been freaked out all the same.

He slid it over carefully to the back corner of the drawer, feeling something cool against his touch when drawing back and could’ve squealed out when he finally had the key in his hand. In Donghae’s haste, he accidentally kicked the leg of the nightstand a bit, however he did not notice. The deteriorated piece of furniture wobbled in doing so and once Donghae had made it safely left the bedroom, it crashed to the ground – loudly.

Donghae’s eyes widened in hearing a sudden voice, and he knew he had woken up the couple. “Yah!” A distinct male voice shouted, “I told you this stupid nightstand was going to break.”

“Have the slave clean it up in the morning.” The woman mumbled tiredly and the two of them looked to be leaving the subject alone. Donghae’s tense body relaxed with relief a tiny bit as he headed back over to the flap to escape. That was… until the dog started barking too obvious for them to ignore.

“Shut up! We’re trying to go back to sleep.” The man called from the bedroom, and Donghae slipped his body through the dog door before the Chosen came over to investigate.

His hyung let out a sigh in relief when he saw Donghae’s body begin to poke out of the opening as the younger tossed the key. “Hurry and get him out of here.” Leeteuk nodded diligently and went over to Eunhyuk who seemed surprised they had actually been able to pull it off.

“Hurry,” Donghae warned, “The Chosen are awake.”

There was a larger sense of urgency as Leeteuk began to release the boy from his chains, rubbing his wrists once they were freed. Donghae smiled, about to fully escape the horrible house when he felt something tug on his ankle. Donghae bit his lip to hold back a cry of pain when he felt something sharp bite into the exposed flesh as he tried to pull away. By then, Eunhyuk was released from all of his bonds and went over to Donghae.

“Hae,” His brow creased with concern, “What’s wrong?”

Donghae tried to pull against the dog’s teeth, however it refused to let him go. He let out a whimper, “The d-dog, it won’t let go of me.”

Eunhyuk and Leeteuk both looked at their dongsaeng with concern. Donghae continued to struggle, trying to keep himself calm until he heard the man’s voice – he seemed very angry.

“WHERE THE HELL DID THAT KEY GO?”

Donghae was trembling with fear, thrashing his other leg as he tried to break free from the dog. “G-go,” He told them as he continued to squirm to no avail, “I’ll be alright.”

Eunhyuk shook his head, “I know what to do.” He held out his palm and gestured for Leeteuk to give him the key. In doing so, Eunhyuk put his hand on Donghae’s shoulder and pushed him down. This gave him enough space to stick his own arm through as he leaned into the door, sticking the pointed end of the key and sharply into the dog’s snout, causing it to whine before releasing its hold on Donghae. The younger nearly flew out of the door as Eunhyuk dropped the key to the ground.

They glanced over at the sound of a gunshot. Only one word was needed in the situation as the man burst out of the door.

“Run.”

Author's Note:

So... I wasn't able to update the story three times in one day. Hopefully the length of this makes it worth the wait though!

~*Carissa*~