There are people who say that in situations like this, it's as if everything happens in slow motion. 

 

Those people are what what you like to call wrong, because when Kai fell, things happened very fast. 

 

D.O and Sehun, the two closest to him, did not hesistate at all to bend down on either side of him and haul him up by the armpits. Swinging an arm around each of their shoulders, they half-dragged, half-carried him to the doors of the black SUV. You breathed a sigh of relief when his loud cursing carried back to you. Better in serious pain than dead.

 

Unfortunately, your internal celebration was short-lived, as several more gunshots rang out behind you. You cursed your heels you stumbled along behind Kris, who was still tugging you by the hand.

 

"Hurry, gege!" Tao's frantic face appeared at the open door of the car. 

 

Kris all but threw you into the cramped van before climbing in himself, slamming the doors shut behind him. Sooyoung had already started driving when you were tossed in.

 

"Jinhye-ssi, what the hell is going on?!" Suho demanded, losing some of his usual composure in midst of all the panic. 

 

"Who were those people?"

 

"Why the were they shooting at us?!"

 

"Can you guys shut up?! Kai's bleeding a ing river over here! Save your goddamn curiosity for later!" 

 

D.O's outburst brought a much needed moment of silence for you, allowing you to calm down and focus on the situation without being blinded by the red haze of panic. Deciding to ignore their questions for now, you asked one of your own.

 

"Sooyoung, where's the emergency kit?"

 

"Under the second row seats," she replied through her gritted teeth as she maneuvered the car onto the a busy street, speeding along faster than was probably legal.

 

You ducked down to retrieve the large metal box before turning to the injured boy.

 

"Where is it?"

 

"Leg," he ground out, hissing in pain. Kai was as pale as it was possible for someone with his dark skin to be. His face was scrunched up with pain, eyes half-closed as he sat in one of the black leather seats. D.O was crouched beside him, staring at the bloody patch on his black pants in horror.

 

"You can fix him, right? Right?!"

 

"Hyung, calm down. You need to give Jinhye-ssi some room," Sehun murmured, surprisingly calm for someone who had just been shot at.

 

"I'll try my best," you said in what you hoped was a reassuring tone. In reality, your mind was still frazzled, and the sight of all the blood brought back too many dormant memories. They flashed by in your mind, as if playing on some old-style movie reel. There had been so much blood that night as well. And you hadn't been able to do a single thing. You could only watch as they put a bullet through his head, only scream as his body hit the wet pavement, only sob as you clung onto his soaked shirt, desperately searching for a heartbeat that you knew was no longer there.

 

"I love you, Jinhye."

 

"Jinhye, I love you."

 

"I love you-"

 

"Jinhye-"

 

"love-"

 

"Jinhye!" 

 

You were torn back to the present to find yourself staring at a pair of angry black eyes. His large hands were on either side of your face, having turned you to face him when you didn't respond to their calls.

 

It was only when his thumb reached out to wipe away the wet trails down your cheeks that you realized you had been crying. Not wanting him to see you like in such a pathetic state, you tried to duck away, only to be held in place. He forced you to look at him, sharp eyes probing.

 

"Breathe," he ordered.

 

You in air, nearly choking on a sob as you did so. His gaze softened infinitessimally. 

 

"Can you help him?"

 

You shut your eyes, and in the darkness and silence that ensued, pulled yourself together with great difficulty. When you opened them again to stare into his questioning ones, it was with determination. You nodded.

 

You snapped open the kit and took out a pair of surgical scissors, which you used to cut apart Kai's pant leg, exposing the wound. You swore as you examined it. 

 

". ."

 

"What? What??" D.O was almost hysterical.

 

"Kyung...soo...," the dark-skinned boy moaned, "...shut up."

 

Instead of answering, you shouted at Sooyoung.

 

"Phone. I need your phone!"

 

She did not question your demand, choosing instead to toss it back without looking where it landed. Chanyeol caught it as it went sailing, and handed it to you.

 

EXO was stricken, but they knew enough to be as silent as possible, giving you an atmosphere conducive to thinking and calmness, both of which you desperately needed.

 

You were counting the seconds as the phone rung.

 

"Eunmi? I need a favour. Can you get the antidote to the JS-132 ready in half an hour?"

 

They all tensed as they heard the word 'antidote'. The only reason that you would need an antidote was if there was poison. Kris leaned closer to examine the bloody bullet hole on the boy's calf.

 

Dark lines were now spreading from it, the longest of which had reached his mid-thigh. It took him a second to realize that those lines were his veins.

 

Well, .

 

You shut your phone after recieving confirmation. This was another reason you loved Jungsoo's fianceé - she knew when not to ask questions.

 

"Sooyoung, I need to get to Eunmi's lab in thirty. Can you make it?"

 

She cursed.

 

"There's an hour's distance between us and there, and that's without traffic." She glared out the windshield at the busy street. "I'd be lucky to make it there in an hour and thirty. There's no way thirty minutes will be enough."

 

Your head hurt and you could feel yourself cringe as you considered the alternative. But it was Kai whose livelihood was in question, and you figured he deserved to make the choice.

 

"Kai?"

 

He grunted in response.

 

"I'm going to be blunt. There was poison in that bullet. There's an antidote for it, but by the time I can get it in your bloodstream, there's a 60% chance that you'll lose your leg."

 

His eyes shot open at that, staring at you in disbelief and terror.

 

"No-" he gasped out.

 

"The alternative is that I remove the bullet right now to prevent any more spreading of the poison. And I can tie off your leg to slow it down- "

 

"Do it, then," he groaned.

 

"I don't have any anaesthesia."

 

His head fell back against the headrest. " my life."

 

"Is there a better chance that he can keep his leg if you remove it?" Baekhyun asked, figuring that Kai might as well have all the information he needed to make his decision.

 

"85, 90%"

 

Kai groaned.

 

"Do it."

 

"Kai-" D.O started in an unsure tone.

 

"Hyung. I can't...lose my...leg," he breathed deeply. "I just...found control of my...life. I'm not...going to let go."

 

By now, Tao was sniffling quietly in a corner by the window in the back row.

 

"Do it, Jinhye," Kai said, weakly but firmly.

 

"Please."

 

You didn't wait a moment longer. Every minute wasted was a minute that the poison was taking to spread.

 

"I need someone to hold him down," you said.

 

Two pairs of hands reached out to grasp Kai's leg. One set belonged to Kris, and the other, surprisingly, to Lay.

 

Chen caught your raised eyebrow and answered your unspoken question.

 

"Yixing came from a pretty rough area in China. His dad was the neighbourhood doc, so he's seen much worse."

 

You stared at the unassuming boy who was smiling softly at you, hands firmly braced against Kai's ankles.

 

"Shouldn't you be the one to do this then? You've got more experience than me-" you started.

 

"I've seen worse, but I've never actually done anything like surgery. I can help patch him up afterwards though."

 

You sighed. 

 

"Give him something to bite."

 

You could feel the muscles of Kai's leg tensing and flexing when you made the first cut with the scalpel. However, Kris and Lay's firm grips made sure that any movement was minimal. You made sure to keep your eyes glued to the knife and the cut, not allowing yourself to glance up at his face. You didn't think you had it in you to keep going if you saw his expression. The whimpers and cries of pain were bad enough.

 

 

 

 

Kris watched as you made a cross on Kai's calf, the centre of which was the bullet hole itself. Despite the way you had frozen up earlier, the way you handled the situation at the moment made him wonder just how many similar situations you had been in before. He glanced down at his hands, pushing down behind Kai's knees. His right thumb was smudged with blood from the cut on your cheek.

 

Wait.

 

His head snapped up in horror to stare at your face more closely. The lines were faint, as it had only been a graze, but they were still there. 

 

And in the heat of the moment, it would appear that the fact that you had been hurt by the poison as well had slipped your mind.

 

He wanted to shout at you, to make you realize, so that you'd do something about it. He didn't know how the toxin worked, but if it was bad enough to cost a leg, what would it do when the point of injury was so close to the brain? 

 

But he couldn't, because you were currently digging for the bullet with a pair of tweezers, and he knew the last thing you'd want him to do was disrupt your concentration. So he kept his mouth shut, and prayed that the scratch was light enough to not cause serious damage before they could get to the antidote.

 

 

 

 

You didn't realize that you were holding your breath until the bullet hit the bottom of the test tube you dropped it in, because when you inhaled, your surroundings swam. You barely heard the unamimous sigh of relief that passed through the group.

 

"We need to make a tourniquet, Jinhye-ssi," Lay's voice jerked you out of your little daze. You turned to see him already unrolling the wad of bandages from the first aid kit. Kai was surprisingly still conscious, but did not move when the grips on his legs were removed.

 

"Right..." you replied, raising a hand to your head. A raging headache had jumped on you out of nowhere. Perhaps it was because your brain was focussed too hard. You reached out to help Lay with the bandaging, only to knock the kit to the floor when your arm hit it by mistake. You stared at it and your hand's position in confusion.

 

"...what...?"

 

Kris swore.

 

"Can't we go any faster?" he said to Sooyoung, forcing himself not to shout in desperation.

 

"I'm trying to go as fast as I can!" Sooyoung snapped back.

 

"Don't nag her, she's trying - ugh," you gasped, swaying and falling backwards onto Luhan.

 

"W-what's wrong with Jinhye-jie?" Tao stuttered in fear, staring at your grimacing form.

 

"Her face..." Baekhyun began, the truth jolting through him like electricity.

 

"She was shot, too."

 

By then, the voices around you were mixing together, layering over one another almost melodically. Swirls of colour replaced where the members used to be. 

 

"Jinhye!"

 

Luhan?

 

"Jinhye-ssi, please stay awake!"

 

But if feels like I'm dreaming already...what...?

 

"Lee Jinhye. You are going to stay with me, you hear me?"

 

...Kris?

 

"Stay with me."

 

 

 

BANG!

 

Sooyoung jumped in the driver's seat, the action mimicked by the other boys in the car, and looked in the rearview mirror.

 

"You have got to be kidding me."

 

 

 

--

 

School balls already. And I'm only three days in. FFFUUUUU WHY ARE ALL MY LECTURES SO OBNOXIOUSLY BORING. WHY

Except Physical Chemistry, which is being a confusing . I'm not sure which is better. 

 

ANYHOW I managed to squeeze out enough time to get this chapter out. I am currently nomming on a sandwich and an iced latte at Starbucks. Going to go back to my bio readings later. >_>
 

I threw out a little tidbit about the "not everything is what it seems" bit a few chapters back~ :3

 

KRIS YOUR AIRPORT FASHION DAMNIT THE AIRPORT IS NOT YOUR PERSONAL RUNWAY STAAAAPPPP

Note: I was trying to be a good girl and do my pchem homework when this set of photos started flooding my dash. .

 

Eehehehee Yixing ge~ <3

 

Also, I wonder if anyone picked up how heavily I'm trying to ship Kaisoo. It's a mark of KaiSoo angst power that the stuff I write for them comes out as angsty when I'm not. even. trying. UGH. I HATE KAISOO ANGST.

 

No I actually love it but I HATE IT BECAUSE IT'S SOUL-CRUSHING.

 

Leave me some comments guys. :( Give me some love or whatevs to help me push through 2nd year. Comments (and subscriptions) give me incentive to update~ :3

 

 

- Ace