“5… 4… 3…”

“! We’re going to blow up!”

“2….”

“1….”

And then there was silence. There were no explosions, no loud fire or any other noises. The boys recovered from their panicked and crumpled position and looked up at the GPS screen, all of them not daring to even make a single move. A loud and sharp intake of breath from the back seat however broke the silence as Sungmin pointed at the GPS system.

“Donghae, Look.”

Donghae’s head snapped to the screen of his GPS system, gasping. On the screen, there was a white screen accompanied with texts in red.

Clock’s ticking, time isn’t the only thing running out. – H

A picture of a struggling hand sticking out from the ground flashed on the screen, the boys stared at the screen in wide eyes before the screen flashed into a picture of a map with a pint at a location nearby. Sungmin grabbed Donghae’s arm, giving him a panicked shake.

“Drive, drive!” Sungmin ordered, “Follow the map! That’s Ryeowook, the watch, I recognize it! It’s Ryeowook’s!!”

“!” Donghae heard Heechul cursing from the back.

“Wh… What’s going on?” Donghae heard Heechul’s friend asking.

Sungmin answered tersely, “Just start driving! Quick, go!”

With clumsy hands, Donghae started the engine and began reversing out of the small space they had parked and followed the map, driving with full speed. The location was not far, in fact it was right smack just outside town, a few metres from where they were currently at. The road at night was quiet, void of any other vehicle thankfully and so, he sped his way through.

“Kim ing Heechul,” Sungmin cursed loud and clear, head snapped looking back, “What the is going on!? Where the have you been!?”

In the past, Donghae had imagined this moment of reunion with Heechul to be sweet with happy tears and warm hugs countless of times. Now, however, his reunion with Heechul was nothing like wha the had imagined it to be. It was chaotic and , they were racing against time to save their best friend from dying! Even if Donghae was thankful that Heechul was actually alive, he was at the risk of losing yet another friend.

“I’ll explain everything later!” Heechul yelled back, “Right now, the most important thing for you to know is that H wants us dead!”

“You think we don’t already know that?” Sungmin bit back, “Why does H wants us dead?”

“I don’t know!” Heechul answered and then slapped Donghae’s shoulder, “We’re almost there, step on it!”

Donghae did as he was told, following the maps and then making a sharp turn to the left as instructed only to find that the road was led to a dead end in the woods. Donghae’s breath quickened. Was Ryeowook… In there? The pint on the map showed that the location was nearby but they were not there yet.

“Come on,” Sungmin urged, getting out of the car.

Donghae and the rest followed, running off the road and into the woods. Donghae was sure that this was a bad idea, it was dark and there difinetly would be no one out there. Sungmin however pulled out his phone and used the light to shine his way further past the tall trees and bushes. Sungmin suddenly stopped walking and crouched down, picking up a red watch. This was Ryeowook’s.  

“Ryeowook!” Sungmin screamed, running up ahead.

They continued running and then stopped when they spotted a stick digging out from an uneven spot in the ground.

“Is that… Is that him?” Donghae stuttered as his face paled.

“Start digging! Hurry!” Heechul ordered, running towards the spot in the ground and digging his hands into the ground.

The rest followed suit, kneeling onto the solid ground while they hands clawed their way into the soil. Sungmin was screaming out for Ryeowook while Donghae was silently praying that their friend would still be alive. They heard a loud gasp underneath the layer of soil and dug faster, eventually uncovering a face below all the dirt.

“Ryeowook!” Donghae gasped, digging faster.

It really was Ryeowook. His face was slightly blue and pale while his chest rose and fell rapidly. His cheeks were covered in dirt and tears and more tears rolled onto his cheeks. They continued clawing onto the soil until Sungmin and Donghae grabbed Ryeowook by his arms and pulled him out, dragging him onto a safe ground.

“Ryeowook, oh god,” Heechul gasped, falling onto the floor next to Ryeowook as he cupped Ryeowook’s cheeks, “Are you okay?”

Ryeowook’s head was bleeding and Donghae quickly tore his jacket off him and dabbed the blood of Ryeowook’s head as Ryeowook choked out a strained, “I… I can’t… Remember… Anything.”

Ryeowook looked like he was still trying to catch his breath as he was unaware that Heechul was alive and the one holding him. Donghae panted hard as he fell next to Ryeowook, exhausted from the digging and the screaming. He was thankful that Ryeowook was alive but as he tried to catch his breath, he turned around as he heard the sounds of the tall grass behind them rustling. Squinting his eyes to allow them to adjust to the darkness, Donghae’s mouth fell open as a few dark-figure appeared from the darkness and swung at his friends at the same time with what looked like a shovel. It wasn’t long until he felt the sharp impact on his head, heard the loud smacking sound of metal against his own head and then just like the rest of his friends, faded into darkness.

***

Sungmin felt his throbbing of his head first, before his mind starting working on its own, reminding him of the last thing he remembered before falling unconscious. Heechul, GPS, digging, Ryeowook and then…. Black-hooded figures. His eyes fluttered opened, panicking as he realized that his arms and legs were bound to the back of a chair, tied tightly. His eyes scanned around and he released a breath of slight relief as his noticed that his friends were right there with him, although they were still unconscious as their heads were bowed down, chins pressing against their rising and falling chests.

Sungmin glanced around the dimly lit area. It was a warehouse, Sungmin recognized it right away from the few crates around them. The place looked old however as the crates were heavily covered with dusts and the air was chilly and hallow. Sungmin winkled his nose as he felt the dirt covered on his body and face from all the digging previousl