Part 8.

They walked along the beach after securing their camp from the monkeys. Johnny and Taeyong were in the lead while Ten and Jaehyun were talking in the back. 

Johnny and Taeyong were chuckling and talking when Johnny looked up from the sand, eyes trying to find the spot where they buried Taeil. 

  “.” He muttered and he started running. Taeyong stopped and looked ahead only to see large creatures gathered around something and that was when he realized: The gorillas were stealing Taeil’s body, or what was left of it. 

  “GET AWAY FROM HIM!” Johnny yelled and the rest of the group ran after him as fast as they could. Johnny ran into the jungle in an attempt to follow and Taeyong called out for him. 

  “JOHNNY! Don’t go in there!”

All of them ran inside and Taeyong followed the sound of footsteps. “Please don’t let us meet him.” He panted as he turned towards a tree and started crawling up in the trees.

  “Meet who?” Ten said, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees as he watched Taeyong get ready to use the lianas. 

  “I call him Kong.”

  “Like the movie?” Jaehyun questioned Taeyong who nodded. 

  “I’ve never been creative with names.” He shrugged and Ten frowned while Jaehyun copied Taeyong and shrugged. As Taeyong found his way through the jungle through the top Ten and Jaehyun ran. They found Johnny near a rising cliff in the midst of the gorillas’ den. There was a long way up; Ten had an idea that their spot to go see Paradise was up there somewhere. If he was straining himself he could hear the waterfall. 

Jaehyun was staring at what would be Taeil’s body and he collapsed before throwing up what they just had for breakfast. Ten only took a glimpse before removing his gaze. It was a decomposing corpse and it was far in its process. They wouldn’t have recognized him if it wasn’t for the shirt that were still clinging onto the bones. Johnny was on his knees. He had been closest with Taeil of all of them. No wonder he would chase any monster just to get back Taeil’s remains. 

Taeyong stopped upon a branch only to yelp out and jump down. He had stopped right beside a gorilla and avoided getting punched by jumping down. 

  “We should run.” He said cautiously and Ten gripped onto Johnny’s shirt to pull him back when they heard the commotion of something huge.

It was big, around Johnny’s height but a lot wider. Kong came from the right, he’d probably just come from Paradise. Johnny fell back in shock and they watched Kong go over to Taeil’s corpse. Johnny whimpered when the gorilla grabbed the bony arm and tugged it off the torso. Jaehyun starting heaving again. 

  “Please…” Johnny begged and Kong looked up at them. Taeyong reached out to grip onto Ten’s arm. Ten reached forward to hold onto Johnny’s shoulders. 

  “Get it together Johnny.” He hissed into Johnny’s ear. “We have to survive this.”

  “I can’t leave him…” 

  “He’s already gone.” 

  “No…” Johnny cried and then Kong stormed forwards but he stopped again and roared. Taeyong dropped to his knees and Ten followed along. Kong was looking at Ten and the gorilla huffed. Taeyong eyed Ten who stared back at the creature.

  “We’re dead.” Taeyong whispered. 

Ten held onto Johnny’s waist. “Are you ready? Run with me, Johnny.” He pleaded and Johnny turned his head to look back at Ten. His eyes were red and he looked lost.

  “Let’s run.” Ten said.

  “Are you crazy?!” Taeyong hissed but he kept staring at Kong. 

  “Do we have another choice?!” Ten snapped at Taeyong, fingers caressing Johnny’s stomach in order to ground the other and comfort him. 

  “Then let’s run now!” Taeyong yelled and he grabbed Jaehyun and they ran into the bushes. Ten got up and slipped a hang beneath Johnny’s left arm to help him up as they ran the other way. Kong roared before following them, his steps could be felt and heard and Ten released a cry of frustration as he ran in front of Johnny.

Kong followed the two. Both Ten and Johnny heard him smash through the path and they sped up as much as they could. Johnny’s eyes had cleared up and he grabbed Ten’s wrist before helping him over a fallen tree. They just got up when they heard Kong and Johnny pulled them back so they fell down on the other side. Kong swung his way over in a swift movement and Johnny and Ten looked up to see the gorilla drop to the ground. Kong turned to look at them, but mostly at Ten. Johnny frowned and he moved in front of Ten, shielding him with his body. 

Kong growled and Johnny kept their gazes connected. Johnny got up in a crouching position and glanced to the side. “Ten.”

  “Yes, Johnny?” Ten replied, his palms on Johnny’s lower back. 

  “See that crack in the wall?” He asked.

Ten looked at it and saw that there was a long narrow crack in the cliff. It could definitely let Johnny and Ten slip inside. He caressed Johnny’s back with his thumbs. “On your mark.” He said and Johnny only hummed, too focused on Kong.

  “He’s coming!” Johnny only managed to say. Ten got up to be ready to run but then Johnny pushed him away as Kong attacked. He had thrown a branch at them. It exploded against the trunk of the tree; a piece hit Ten in the face and he turned away, raising his hands above his head. Johnny fell to one side while Ten to the other. Kong threw another thick branch at Johnny who tried to get up and he managed to block it with his arms before falling backwards. Ten scrambled up and sprang away as Kong tried to grab him. Kong’s eyes were brown but it was almost as if they flashed red. His canines were long and Ten imagined them piercing his throat. He crawled backwards but Kong grabbed his ankle and pulled him closer so that he was right beneath Kong. He saw the creature raise up his arms as if he was going to crush Ten. One or two hits would definitely be enough to crush Ten’s ribcage. He was too frail to survive that. So he just waited for the pain to come but as the rage flashed in Kong’s eyes something blocked Ten’s sight and he blinked only to meet Johnny’s gaze. There was something in Johnny’s eyes, a kind of desperation and confusion that Ten had never seen. As if in that moment Johnny was questioning his own action and then again it was the only thing he could do. Johnny put his arms over his head while blocking Ten’s body and then Ten felt the rain of fists through Johnny’s torso. The boy cried out in pain at the first two hits and then he stopped; but it didn’t last long. From one side came a battle cry and Ten looked to the side to see Taeyong swing into the clearing with a torch in hand. Jaehyun came running with two and he threw one at Kong making the gorilla roar. Taeyong let go of the liana and fell towards the animal. Before Kong got the chance to smash him away he swung the torch and knocked it into Kong’s face. Kong roared and backed away. 

Ten felt Johnny get lifted up and saw Jaehyun maneuver the other onto his back before dragging him away.

  “Let’s go, Ten! Come on!” Jaehyun said hurriedly and they heard the sound of the other gorillas approaching the clearing.

Ten got up, feeling as if everything was blurry as he went over to help Jaehyun by taking one of the torches. Taeyong kept Kong at bay while following them. Ten looked back to see the gorilla cover its face before jumping over the trunk of the fallen tree. Then he was embraced by the darkness of the jungle and that was when the horror struck him.

 

Johnny didn’t say anything. They could’ve just as well dragged a dead body with them; they didn’t have the time to check if the other was alive because they just focused on getting out of the jungle. As soon as the sound of waves reached them and the blue water came into view Jaehyun stumbled and dropped Johnny who fell to the ground. Taeyong was still alert but he went over and pressed to fingers to Johnny’s throat. His eyes were on the jungle and he flinched when Johnny coughed. 

Johnny was trembling, tears escaped his eyes but he didn’t speak at all. Only puffs and groans exited his lips as if breathing was the hardest thing. Ten just watched him, eyes blurred with tears.

Taeyong finally took his eyes off the jungle. “He must have received serious damages.” He said and Johnny looked at him but he didn’t move at all. 

  “His arm is weird.” Jaehyun said and Ten looked like he would start screaming soon: His hands were trembling; eyes wide and lips opening and closing. Taeyong eyed Ten too. 

  “You would’ve been dead,” he said to Ten whose eyes met Taeyong’s. “I think Johnny can survive this.” 

  “You think?!” Ten shrieked. “Well then ing do something about it!” 

  “Hey! Ten! Stop!” Jaehyun said putting a hand in between Taeyong and Ten. The smallest slapped the hand away. 

  “Don’t ing-” He started but the rest was incomprehensible. Taeyong was watching Ten with narrowed eyes. 

  “Will you pull yourself together?” He asked and Jaehyun gave Taeyong a warning look. 

Ten exploded. “IT’S NOT MY FAULT!” He screamed and Jaehyun tried to quiet Ten but the other hit Jaehyun in order for the boy to keep his distance. “LIKE YOU WOULD STAY COOL IF IT WAS JAEHYUN!” 

  “Stop ing yelling!” Taeyong hissed and then looked down at Johnny. The other’s eyes were closed. “!” Taeyong grabbed around Johnny’s shoulders. “He’s unconscious.”

Ten raised his hands protectively as he cried and he fell back. Jaehyun gave Taeyong another look and Taeyong looked back at him. “What?” He snapped.

Jaehyun sighed. “We’ve been through stuff too.” He told Taeyong. “We all react differently.” 

Taeyong groaned. “I know…” He said and glanced back at Ten. “Let’s just make sure Johnny doesn’t die.” 

  “Ugh…” Johnny groaned and Taeil and Ten turned to look at the tall figure on the bed. Taeil put a bucket by the bed and covered Johnny with his blanket while Ten put a cup of water on the table beside Johnny’s bed. Johnny squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the blanket so hard his knuckles turned white. “Mom…” He said in a thick voice and Ten had to look away. Taeil looked at Ten before dragging him into the bathroom. 

  “Sure you want to know?” He asked Ten who was bathed in the yellow light of the lamp hanging above their mirror in the bathroom. His hair that had been neatly styled was now a mess and he looked tired. His pupils were wide and he was clearly still intoxicated. 

Taeil sighed and sat down leaning against the toilet while Ten leaned against the bathtub. “After one night where our neighbors couldn’t stop yelling, we sat awake and spoke to each other. That was the night when I knew something about Johnny’s past was different. So when we found ourselves awake at night; we talked.” Taeil smiled and Ten tugged his knees beneath his chin. Taeil continued. “From what he remembers he moved to an orphanage in Chicago after living in the countryside close to Indiana. He has mentioned episodes that made me sure he didn’t have it easy there. He has a folder full of stuff from that time, he says it’s the only one where there is information about his real parents.” Taeil sighed. “I read through it…” He said and then raised a hand to shush Ten who was about to protest. “Johnny let me. He said he didn’t feel like telling the stories himself.” Taeil cleared his throat. “The woman taking care of him and the other kids wrote things down word by word. She even wrote down what the kids were teasing Johnny with. 'Why are you afraid of being when we’re here, are you gay?' - 'At least my dad didn’t kill a guy.'” Taeil had to calm himself before continuing. “I figured out that Johnny’s neighbor had done ually inappropriate things with Johnny. When his father figured it out he beat up the neighbor, almost killing him. He was sent to jail.” Taeil glanced at the floor. “His mother had mental issues but she tried to take care of Johnny as much as she could. He was bullied in the tiny kindergarten they had and he started beating up kids, too. They took him away because they said his mom was… incapable of being a mom.” Taeil looked at Ten who was crying silently. Taeil knew the alcohol definitely enhanced Ten’s reaction, but it wasn’t a story you wanted to hear about a friend. And at some point, Ten could relate. “He never accepted any adoption and never stayed with the foster parents for long. After some time he just lived at the orphanage until he could go to college.”

  “Now I get why he doesn’t trust me.” Ten sniffled and Taeil smiled.

  “He will.” He reassured Ten. “At some point, he’ll let you in.”

Johnny’s back was blossoming with colors as time passed. When he came back to consciousness again they figured out that one of his arms had been disjointed and Jaehyun and Taeyong made it go back into place. Ten had avoided the camp the whole time and Johnny looked at Jaehyun questioningly. He was weak and his body was working hard to heal itself.

Jaehyun looked away from Johnny. “He was afraid that you were going to die.” He said and one corner of Johnny’s lips went up in a small smile. 

  “Rather me than him.” 

Jaehyun frowned but decided not to say anything. Johnny closed his eyes and Jaehyun watched Taeyong prepare dinner for them. The sun was setting. 
When night fell upon them Ten still had not returned. Johnny who could barely stay awake looked up at Taeyong who was nursing him. “Please find Ten.” Johnny pleaded and Taeyong closed his eyes. 

  “He knows his way back.”

  “He probably feels like he can’t go back.” Johnny said a tear escaping his eye. “Please bring him here, I want him to be safe.” 

Taeyong looked at Johnny, their faces were lit up by the fire. Jaehyun was feeding wood to it behind them. “You like him?” Taeyong gasped when he realized it. 

  “I do.” Johnny didn’t even refuse. Taeyong felt as if he was meeting a whole new person. “We have changed, Taeyong.” He smiled.

Taeyong nodded. “I can see that.” He smiled back and then caressed Johnny’s hair. “I’ll find him.”

Johnny looked at Taeyong. “Thank you.” He said before he let his eyes close and he fell asleep. 

A/N: Now we know more about Johnny's childhood. Next chapter we'll hear about the consequences of Taeil telling Ten without Johnny's permission...