Chapter 7: The second lap

The moment they teleported by the side of the fast running albeit shallow stream, the mutt ran and jumped into it, making small yelps.

"Ten minutes!" Minjun prompted before relieving Chansung of Wooyoung.

He laid Wooyoung down on the grass, as close to the stream as possible, then bent down to submerge his hands into the cooling water. He scooped up some water between his palms and brought them up to Wooyoung lips. Chansung helped to keep Wooyoung's jaws open with one hand as Minjun slowly dripped the water into his mouth so that he would not choke on it. With his other hand, Chansung messaged Wooyoung's throat to help him swallow the water. Jinyoung too was feeding the baby not too far away from them. After a second handful of water, Minjun indicated to Chansung to hydrate himself as he turned to do the same. Slurping the water between his palms, he relished in the cooling sensation as the water went down a parched throat. Once his thirst was quenched, he scooped up more water to wash his face. Though Chansung had removed the blood from his face, he still felt unclean without the physical act of washing them blood away. That done, he wiped Wooyoung's face with his wet hands. Wooyoung groaned as his eyes fluttered open. His complexion was still much too pale for Minjun's liking but there was nothing else he could do. He dabbed Wooyoung's face dry with the end of his sleeves then lifted Wooyoung's head so that it would rest on his lap.

"Go back to sleep," he instructed as he patted his head.

Wooyoung mumbled something intangible as he closed his eyes again.

Hope truly was a dangerous thing. Minjun watched as the mutt happily splashed around in the shallow stream. He still could not fathom how something so small and innocent could hold the weight of their survival. Maybe even the entire psychic race combined. Provided Jinyoung's claims about it were true. Minjun had hoped that they were. He had risked everything, his life and the lives of his comrades, on that sliver of hope. Nevertheless, he had yet to witness the irrefutable proof right before his eyes and so still had his doubts. Which was why he refused to tell the others as he did not want the hope to grow too big only to turn into a huge disappointment in the end. Better he be the only disappointed one.

For Jinyoung to prove his claims, they needed a safe place that was far removed from their captors. Minjun went into his mental plane and extracted the memories of all the guards he had killed. He needed a place so insignificant that the guards would have dismissed it and it would appear as a fleeting memory in the guard's mind. A place where they have access to food and water but not be tracked. With those criteria in mind, Minjun eliminated all abandoned or vacation houses because their fate will be the same as when they were in the cabin. Then, he chanced upon a guard's memory of when he chased, and killed a woman of the psychic race. Though Minjun felt tainted and dirty while experiencing the memory, he finally found what he was looking for. When he finally exited his mental plane, he quickly but carefully placed Wooyoung's head on the ground then rushed towards the stream to vomit his entire stomach contents. Within seconds, Chansung was by his side with a deep frown marring his face.

"Something wrong in your plane?" he asked and Minjun felt a nudge at his mental barriers; Chansung asking to be let in.

Minjun shook his head as he rinsed his mouth and splashed some water on his face. Instead of letting him in, he sent an image of their next destination. He then waited as Chansung gathered everyone and teleported them out of there.

~ " ~

It was an abandoned and closed off underground railway where the homeless and destitute seek shelter. It was a perfect place to blend in as the inhabitants, if there were any, were hostile to each other in their fight for survival and mostly kept to themselves. It was also a place where people appear and disappear so frequently that their arrival will go unnoticed except as a new competition for what little resources were available. The guard who Minjun extracted the memory from, had ran past the area as he chased after the psychic woman, not even giving it a second glance. However, while running through the memory, Minjun noticed a small restaurant a few blocks down and a train station nearby. Minjun thought that they could maybe scavenge for scrapes from the restaurant for food. As for water, he assumed the train station would have a toilet in it. Whatever the case, this would have to do for now.

The entrance was under a highway bridge with old buildings flanking each side. The streets going both directions seemed abandoned while the whole area felt dilapidated and deserted. Descending the steps into the dark the tunnel, Minjun sensed a couple of curious, unguarded minds. They had teleported directly to the tunnel's entrance, the only image Minjun had of the tunnel, and it would no doubt have alerted some of its inhabitants. It was a risk they had to take anyway since they had no way of affirming that the area would be empty upon arrival. Minjun silently inserted a virus into those minds that would wipe away their memory without hurting or alerting them. However, it was not a foolproof solution. The witnesses might not be able to recall the memory if they were asked to recount it verbally, but should a strong telepath were to perform a mental probe, he or she would be able to discern the grey area in their memory timeline where the wiped memory was supposed to be. Alas, that was all Minjun could do, aside from killing them to get rid of the problem altogether. That, was one option he was very unwilling to carry out unless absolutely necessary.

There were pockets in the walls along the tunnel, some big enough for three people to squeeze in. The group walked down the tunnel until Minjun stopped at a particular pocket.

"He's dead," Minjun telepathed to the rest. He sensed no brain activity from the man.

Jinyoung shivered but Chansung stepped forward, undeterred, with an unconscious Wooyoung still in his arms. He moved the dead old man's carcass to a corner of the pocket along with some debris on the floor before entering the pocket. The others followed suit. Minjun did quick work of wiping the memories of every single person that saw or heard them walking down the tunnel while inserting the idea that it was still the old man occupying this pocket. Once done, he settled himself on the ground with the others.

"No spoken words from now on," he telepathed again to Chansung and Jinyoung.

He waited till they nodded then turned his attention towards the mutt. He tried to probe its mind but to his surprise, it was shut down tight. A low growl warned him that the mutt was aware of his actions and was not happy about it, surprising him even more.

Minjun frowned.

"I'll keep him calm," Jinyoung instantly telepathed him, quick to defend the mutt.

"How?"

"Just like how I'm doing with the baby."

Minjun's frown deepened.

"You can access its mind?"

"Yes."

Another mystery. Minjun decided to store that information away for now since they had more pressing issues at hand. He invited Jinyoung and Chansung into his mental plane so that he could converse with both of them at the same time and they too could converse with each other instead of just with him. Minjun addressed Jinyoung once their mental selves arrived in his plane.

"Okay Jinyoung, tell him," Minjun instructed, prompting him to talk about the issue which Minjun had forbidden him from even hinting at before.

"Jaebum, that's his name," Jinyoung gestured towards the mutt, "he's a werewolf."

_____________________________________________________________________________________    

Dun dun dun!!!!

Sorry for the cliffhanger. My masochistic self just felt like it was the perfect place to stop 🙊

Please dont kill me! 

and YAAASSSSS!!! Where all the ahgase at??? 🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻 

  Here's you lovely jjparents!!!