chapter six

“We need to get some rest, duizhang. I feel like collapsing.”

“We can’t rest now. Who knows what might be waiting for us,” Yifan said through heavy breaths. “I don’t want to die yet, Yixing. At least, not here. Not now.”

My grip tightened around Yifan’s neck as his pace slowed down. Unmistakably, Yifan was just as tired and hungry as I was. He bent down and let go of me. He slumped onto the floor and rested his back behind a wall, burying his face in between his knees. I sat beside him and his back. “We need water,” he mumbled.

“I know where the kitchen is.”

I tried to recall the directions I went through when I ended up in the kitchen with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, whose face was half burned and blinded. Tortured for helping us. A person who put the innocent before the powerful.

“There,” I pointed at the hallway before turning. Yifan shoved me behind him and carefully peeked beside the corner of the wall, checking if anyone was coming their way. He turned back at me with wide eyes and parted lips.

“Jongin,” Yifan whispered.

My body shivered at his name . I moved closer and leaned against Yifan’s back, arching my neck for a better position to hear what Jongin was saying.

“You betrayed us. You, of all people,” Jongin said angrily. “I trusted you, Kyungsoo.”

“They trusted us!” Kyungsoo implored. “Trust doesn’t exist here anymore, Jongin! We’re killing them ! The people who we would’ve depended our lives on! Our brothers!”

“ ‘Brothers’ ,” Jongin spat out, howling in laughter. “You’re ridiculous.”

There was a pause.

“I don’t want to die a killer, Jongin. “

“You aren’t going to die. We’ll become even more famous than we are now, Kyungsoo. We’ll become richer . We’ll have your face fixed, don’t worry , you'll have a surgery for your eye. Tao will repay for what he’s done to you. I’ll get him out of our sight. Baekhyun may be gone from our group, but that means more glory for us, with EXO M out of the way .”

A body was slammed against the wall, most likely Kyungsoo's. We heard the shuffling of feet and Kyungsoo’s struggle to get off Jongin’s grip.

“You’re pathetic,” Kyungsoo spat out. “ yo—“

Kyungsoo screamed in pain. Cry after cry, he wailed  at Jongin to stop. There was a clank as something metallic was dropped.

“Now who’s pathetic?” Jongin asked.

We heard footsteps coming our way . Yifan quickly grabbed my wrist and hauled me to an empty room to our left. He covered my mouth and hushed me. His breathing was heavy , I could almost hear his steady heartbeat. Jongin’s shadow could be seen from inside as he passed