SEVEN: Shadow

Chapter Two

The Dorm

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The guy only rested his dark eyes on me for a couple of seconds and turned back to face Zander who had gone quiet.

“DAMNED HALF BREED” the voices suddenly cursed. Zander glared at me. His red eyes practically glowing in the dimming light as the late afternoon clouds turned to dark evening clouds. “I’M GOING TO TEAR YOUR HEART OUT!” he howled! Bursting forward with inhuman speed! The stranger braced himself and stood his ground!

“Not on my watch!” he yelled, readying his blade! Zander moved so quickly! But even if he was inhumanly fast, he was dodging the stranger’s dagger with great difficulty!

The stranger seemed to match his speed! If not faster! Managing to get a few hits in while they zoomed around the garden! Every time Zander got close; the stranger would send him back with more aggressive attacks… what was he waiting for? The stranger was clearly stronger…

“JUNGKOOK!” a familiar voice came from somewhere close! The stranger looked up through the rain to someone standing on my roof! He dodged an incoming claw and got under the monstrous size of Zander!

In one movement of his blade, Zander’s heels were sliced open! It seemed that the blade was something special since none of the wounds made by it was heeling… unlike my keys…

The person on the roof jumped unbelievably high, then seemed to push off of air and shot to Zander who had fallen to the floor, roaring in agony! The new arrival took out a long and slim sliver coloured sword and plunged it into Zander’s back!

A gurgling noise came from Zander… then he went still… not making a sound… he was dead…

The woman who had killed him drew her sleek sword from his back, splattering blood everywhere!

…

“Izumi?!” I squeaked, but even that hurt to say! It even hurt to breathe! Everything hurt! She jumped down from Zander’s back and rushed over to me.

“Sorry we were so late” she apologised in a panicky voice. “Jungkook! We need to get her to the base! She’s injured!” she called over her shoulder to the darkly dressed guy who was sheathing his blade in a holder on his thigh. He came over and quietly reached under me, scooped me gently off the floor and held me against his warm chest… he was like a radiator! Like he had a crazy hot fever! It was a welcomed feeling against my cold, drenched, painful body.

“What just happened?” I gasped, pain rippling through my ribs and shoulder.

“I’ll tell you everything when we get to safety. Its master will be close by” Izumi told me as Jungkook gracefully manoeuvred around the huge dead Zander.

“Set a fire” Jungkook’s voice vibrated against my ear as he turned to Izumi who was following closely behind me. She nodded but reluctantly turned to Zander’s body. Izumi got a stone from her pocket and with her sword, lit a spark…

It was as if Zander’s blood was petrol!

He lit up in a flash of light! His body turning incredibly quickly into ash! A few seconds later he was gone… nothing of him was left behind… I didn’t get to ask any questions… my vision started to go dark… and I out… the last thing I saw was Jungkook’s handsome face looking down at me…

--

…

“…has to be”

“We can’t know for sure that she is”

“You didn’t see the stairs. She’d knocked him right through the wall”

“Adrenaline”

“Don’t be ridiculous, look at her injuries”

“She could have been infected”

“Why are you so against her?”

“Shush! She’s waking up”

Voices seemed to echo in my mind. It hurt. My eyelids were heavy. My body felt like a rock. I struggled against the burning pain in my head and managed to open my eyes. Blinking against the light of the room, I looked around at the blurring shapes coming into focus.

“Nell” Izumi’s comforting voice came from next to me. I turned my head stiffly toward her voice. She was smiling at me. Last time I saw her she was setting Zander’s body on fire…

“Izzie… where…” I choked on my own voice. My throat felt like it had been scrubbed raw with sandpaper!

“Jimin!” a deep voice called behind Izumi and a few seconds later a guy walked over with a glass of liquid a violent shade of green…

“What is it?” I croaked, looking at the cup in distrust…

“Something to help you” she told me with a kind look. Holding my hand warmly, she took the cup from the guy and handed it to me. My vision was still blurry so I couldn’t see the several figures around me… but I could see Izumi who looked as she usually did. Kind. Trustworthy. My friend.

I took a sip of the strange liquid… it tasted sickly sweet, like liquid sugar… but as I drank more of it, I felt the pain lessen and disappear completely. My vision began to clear and the tiredness lift. When I’d finished the whole of the glass, I looked around.

We were in what looked like a factory that was refurbished into a living space. A huge window from the tall ceiling to the concrete floor. I saw laid on a comfortable sofa and wrapped in a patchwork blanket.

A sleek kitchen was to the right of the huge room. A large dining table with 8 chairs. Living area with a decent sized TV, a large bookcase full of different books, manga and figurines. Three full-sized black sofas with numerous different cushions and throws. As I sat up, I saw a huge metal door, a metal staircase that rose to a metal catwalk like landing that continued to the right down a hallway. It was an industrious building… but it felt homey.

It was then that I could see the other people.

They were all male. Seven in total including the Jungkook person from before. He was standing the furthest away with another male. In the light of the huge factory window, I could see that Jungkook’s hair wasn’t all black. At the tips of his wavy long hair, the black faded into a dark red. He really was breath-taking… they all were!

One of them with bright orange hair stood behind Izumi. He was slightly smaller than the rest with wide kind eyes. Next to him was a jet-black haired guy with full lips and perfectly proportioned features. He also winked at me when he noticed I was looking at him.

To the right of the guy who was winking was a purple-haired guy, he had beautiful monolidded eyes and looked like he was the tallest of everyone. Behind him was a cheerful-looking guy that had light brown hair with blonde highlights. When he moved, he had a gracefulness about him.

The guy next to Jungkook was gorgeous! He didn’t even look real! Silvery hair and sharp eyes that seemed to catch everything that happened around him. The last of them was a mint haired guy. He was sat by himself by the door. He sort of looked like a cat with his angled features.

“Oh right… these are my…” she hesitated, looking at the 7 men. “My friends” she finished after a thought but the looks on their faces told me otherwise.

“This is Jimin” she put her hand on the orange-haired guy’s shoulder. When he smiled his eyes disappeared, giving him a youthful and friendly look.

“Namjoon” she motioned her hand towards the purple-haired guy.

“Seokjin” was the beautiful winking guy.

“Hoseok” she nodded towards the cheerful looking one with the blonde highlights.

“Yoongi” was the mint haired guy in the corner.

“Taehyung” she pointed out the silver-haired guy next to Jungkook.

“And finally, Jungkook who helped rescue you earlier” she finished on Jungkook, who gave me a fleeting glance and went back to staring at the floor. “This is my best friend, Nell” she introduced me to the seven men, who mumbled and nodded hello back.

“Izumi” I said her name and she slowly turned to me, worried about what I was going to ask her. “What is going on? Who are they? Where am I? What happened at my house? What was wrong with Zander? Is Zander really dead...” she cut me off before I could ask anything else.

“I will tell you, but not now. We can’t say anything without permission” she told me with a hurt look. Like she wanted to tell me but couldn’t.

“Permission from who?” I asked her, hoping she’d at least tell me that.

“Her name’s Imani Afia. She’s kind of, in charge. We already called her, but she can’t come until this afternoon” Izumi tried to explain, looking at Namjoon while she spoke. He nodded and came up to me.

“I’m Namjoon. The leader of this group” he told me as he sat on the floor next to Izumi. “I know you have a lot of questions and you’re confused and scared after what happened yesterday evening. For now, just know that you’re safe with us, even if you don’t trust us just yet” he smiled at me and looked at Izumi.

“Show her upstairs? We’ll start making breakfast” he told her before giving me one final look and leaving towards the kitchen. You could definitely tell that he was in charge. When he moves, they all followed. Like little ducklings following their mother. It was rather charming to see. Izumi hovered as I got unsteadily to my feet. That liquid made all my body feel warm and fuzzy.

“I’m okay” I lied to her. In truth I was petrified. I was in a strange place with strange people. As I look out at the morning sun, I remembered last night. When Zander followed me home. When he turned into something inhuman. When I managed to knock him through the stairs with a baseball bat. When Jungkook and Izumi did impossible things to kill him. I was scared to death!

“To the right, the last door on the left” Izumi helped me up the metal stairs and down the hallway. There were 5 doors in total. I opened the last door. Two large windows stood in front of us. Along the left-hand brick wall were two bunk beds, but only the bottom bunks were made.

The right-hand side had a desk with a mirror above it, a double wardrobe and a bookcase. On the wooden floor was a large knit rug and in the middle of it were two leather armchairs and a small round coffee table. Scattered around were Izumi’s belongings. Her books. Her clothes. Her pictures and makeup. It was her room.

“This is the woman’s dorm. You’ll find out why there’s only one room for women later” she sighed and helped me to the bunk bed closest to the window. “I’ll get you some clothes” she got to her feet and walked over to the wardrobe. I looked down… I was still wearing the same clothes…

My once white t-shirt and light blue denim jacket stained red, I was covered in dirt from the fall in the garden. My hair felt matted with mud and blood… Zander’s blood… and my own…

Huh...

I wasn’t hurting… at all… I was smashed into concrete…

My hand came up to my head where it hit the path… there was nothing… no cut… not even an ache from a bruise…

…

“I’m not human… am I?” I asked Izumi, who froze at once…

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

 

HELLO AGAIN!

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE 2ND CHAPTER OF SEVEN: SHADOW!

WEEKLY UPLOADS WILL BE STARTING FROM TODAY! I HOPE YOU COME BACK NEXT WEEK FOR CHAPTER THREE! 

 

MONDAY 24TH FEBRUARY: CHAPTER THREE - IMANI AFIA

-- Answers are finally given to Nell and she has a choice to make -- 

 

-ESTELLEKPOP

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