CHAPTER 15

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I didn’t know how much time had passed. Either I was delusional or I really had slept in the woods through the night. The sky was growing lighter by the minute. I could see things around me, and by things I mean nothing but trees and dirt. I inspected my body and instantly got light headed.

I laid down trying to forget the sight of the nasty gash down the side of my knee and leg. Dirt and pine needles stuck to the side of my leg in the black-looking, dried blood. I held my hands above my face to examine them. My palms were scraped, the skin raw and flaking away. I closed my eyes and let out a pout.

I placed Jaehyo's phone, my only lifeline, on my stomach. These people need to hurry up and find me.

"Where are you?"

My eyes flickered open. I must have fallen asleep again. Was someone actually out there or was I recalling something from a dream? I listened, but didn’t hear anything, so I closed my eyes again.

"Jisoo, oh my god!"

There was violent rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs that followed the definite shout. Someone started handling my face causing my eyes to shoot open.

Baekhyun was kneeling next to me with his hands on pressing on my cheeks. He was looking back over his shoulder.

"Guys I found him! He's over here!" There were a few other shouts in response.

Baekhyun turned back to me. His face was full of worry and his eyes were glassy with tears. "Hey buddy. You're okay now," he said gently. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

I'd survive. I was positive I hadn't broken anything, Jimin on the other hand, I was concerned about. "Did you guys find the others? Is Jimin okay?" My questions went unanswered.

Minseok and Gongchan appeared on either side of Baekhyun. Gongchan too looked worried to death. They all should be. It served them right for upholding dangerous initiation rituals.

"Is he okay? Did you hit your head? Why is there blood on your face?" Gongchan fired one question after the other.

Having three people hovering over me while I lay on the ground was making me uncomfortable. I tried to sit up only to have Minseok reach out and support my back as Baekhyun took hold of my arm.

"I'm fine. Stop treating my like I'm a doll," I said taking my arm back from Baekhyun. "Did you guys get the others first?"

"They’re fine," came Luhan's voice as he joined the group. "We went to get them first thinking that you'd all be together. But no. You go wandering off on your own! How dumb are you Kim Jisoo?" Luhan yelled at me.

I scrambled to my feet, having six arms shot out to catch me if something happened. I swatted Gongchan's arms away and stormed up to Luhan.

"Don't you dare yell at me," I said quietly with anger. "If you hadn't dragged us out into the woods in the middle of the night, no one would have freaked out and gotten hurt,” my voice started to rise. “You couldn't have let us know where the camp was just in case something happened? Jimin was in so much pain that I had to find a way back to camp to get him help. So don't yell at me when I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You didn't need to be a hero," he shot back a me without a second thought.

I turned away from Luhan. "I just wanted to help," I said quietly as I started hobbling away.

"Where are you going?" Minseok quickly spoke up.

I stopped in my tracks. I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted to get away from Luhan. There was a crunching of leaves behind me. Baekhyun threw an arm around my shoulders and guided me forward.

"I'll lead the way, don't worry," he said with a grin.

"I'm worried with you leading the way back to camp," said Minseok as he headed to the front of the group. Baekhyun and I followed after him with Gongchan and Luhan behind us.

It was quiet during our walk back. Even though we were outside, I somehow managed to feel claustrophobic. Luhan's sharp comment kept replaying over and over again in my head. Was I really in the wrong for trying to get help? Was I trying to be a hero? I didn't think so. It was something about the way he said it that made it seem like it was the truth, even if it was the farthest thing from it.

"Jisoo how was your night?" Baekhyun asked trying to drown out the silence.

"It was amazing. Thanks for asking," the sarcasm dripped from my tongue. "The bed of leaves was perfect and having the terrifying sounds of nature lull me to sleep was just so special. It's too bad we can't do stuff like this every night."

I turned my head to look at Baekhyun, who had grown unusually quiet. He looked taken aback at the sarcasm. All hints of his usual smile were gone. He knew that was not the right question to ask. I knew he wasn't trying to be smart or funny; he was just trying to liven the atmosphere. I could tell he felt bad about what had happened. It wasn't even his fault, and here I was biting the kid’s head off.

"Sorry," I mumbled bumping my shoulder into his. "I guess that subject is still a bit touchy for me." I gave him an ashamed smile.

Baekhyun gave me a knowing nod before turning his attention to the bickering couple behind us. I would have never pegged Gongchan as one who partakes in