[CONTENTID1]

sixty: final frontier

[/CONTENTID1][CONTENTID2]

[She probably would never admit it out loud, but she realized she loved them.]

[/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID3]

”Take a left.”

”We took three lefts already!”

”And we’re taking another, now move!”

”Then we’ll end up right back where we came!”

”No, you idiot, because we’re in a different tunnel. We take a right and then we’re in the clear!”

”Stop fighting it, Chanyeol,” Juyeon said wearily. “Just let Suho do his thing. We all got lost ten minutes ago.”

It was definitely an odd sight to see—Suho leading the group, mumbling to himself and backtracking every dozen steps and leading them down a maze of tunnels lit only with the help of Baekhyun’s powers of light, followed by a crowd of haggard, half-starving teenagers helplessly stumbling after him.

”How much farther?” one of Taehyuk’s goons whined in a way that made it clear he was trying very hard not to whine. “Asking for reasons.”

”I don’t know if you know this,” Suho said pleasantly, the glowing balls of light bouncing off of his brown hair, “but using photographic memory to retrace steps you’ve made in a moment of mental distress and panic backwards is, actually, really ing hard.”

Kai snorted. “Ease off the sass, hyung.”

”Shut up, Kai. Every part of my brain hurts. Now, I think we took a right, but maybe … no, no, we went straight. Let’s go straight. No! No, I was wrong, we took a right after all, go back, go back.”

Juyeon bit back an impatient groan. There was no use getting frustrated at Suho when he was literally the only hope they had of getting out of this maze. Instead, she focused her attentions on the lost PCs. “How are you feeling, Yuri? Doing okay?”

”ing superb,” she panted. “I love feeling weak and like I’m about to collapse at any moment.”

”So that’s a … yes? Or a no?”

”Literally stop talking, Jung Juyeon. We’re fine.” She tripped over her dragging feet and cursed, biting her chapped lips. “We need to get to that exit on the other side and bring back food, or we’re all done for.”

Juyeon was so surprised at Yuri’s words she almost tripped over her feet. “You’re coming with us? That’s nuts, we need to take you back to Taehyuk’s side before you die. There’s gotta still be some food left for you guys, we’ve been dragging it out as long as possible.”

Yuri shook her head, wincing at the action when it proved too painful for her. “No. No, Taehyuk trusted us to do this. We’re not going back until we get enough food to keep us alive until the end of this ing siege.”

”Yuri, you and your guys can barely walk, how can—”

A light tap on her shoulder interrupted her. She turned back to see Baekhyun shaking his head.

Juyeon grabbed his arm and pulled him up farther, so they were walking next to Suho and farther away from Yuri.

”They’re one foot through death’s door, Baek,” she hissed. “We can’t bring them along, it’s too risky.”

”You heard her,” Baekhyun whispered back, giving her a weak smile that was still warm and soft and made her heart flutter. “Loyalty doesn’t come cheap with us PCs, Yeonie. Once you’ve given your trust to someone like the goons do with Taehyuk, you ride or die.”

”Is this another stupid strength thing?” Juyeon whispered angrily back. “You of all people should know how I feel about your PC strength things.” Her eyes flickered down to his torso, throat convulsing briefly as she remembered the pale, pained look on Baekhyun’s face, lying on a bed of white sheets, his ribs forcing themselves back into their proper position. It felt like years ago, when she was so young and so stupid and so, so ignorant of exactly what the world was like and what it could be.

Why would you that?

Because I wanted to be your friend.

Oh, how the world changes.

”Hey.” Pressure was applied to the bottom of her chin, as Baekhyun’s fingers gently pushed her head up so she could meet his gaze. “Stay with me, Juyeon.”

She flushed pink under his touch, heart suddenly pounding. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” she mumbled, painfully aware that this was happening in full display of the other Exo and Taehyuk’s goonies. “Risking your lives for proof of your strength, for loyalty to a friend. Don’t you PCs have any sense of self-preservation?”

Baekhyun’s brown eyes were soft when he let go of her chin, leaving behind faint warmth in its absence. “Risking your lives for something important to you? Now, what would ever possess us to do that?”

Huh.

She never thought of it that way before.

Baekhyun smiled. “You know what I mean?”

Juyeon closed her eyes for a moment and thought of mom. Of mama.

”Yeah. I think I do.”

”Keep it in your pants, Baek,” Kai suddenly said, voice sharp and full of warning. “GTA coming in somewhere behind us. We can’t outrun them if they find us, we might have to fight.”

Baekhyun’s smile instantly slipped, and he nodded. “I’m on it,” he said, before slowing down his pace until he was at the back of the group with Sehun, on alert.

Kai flashed Juyeon a greasy, flirtatious smile. “You don’t have to keep it in your pants if you want, darling.”

”I’m going to punch you, you ,” Juyeon responded, out of reflex. Was this really the best time for him to be making jokes like this?

But then her annoyance died down, and she looked at Kai—really looked. And she saw the cracks in his mask, the slight features that were off in his carefully carefree smile.

”Yeonie,” he said, low and quiet, “stay close to me. If the GTA find us, I can teleport you farther down the tunnel so you have a better chance to run away.”

Juyeon loved seeing what she thought was the real Kai underneath his mask, but at least for today, she couldn’t bear to see his anxiety, his fears. She needed annoyingl flirty Kai to make her feel like things were normal and okay and something to joke about. “Come on, only a little bit down the tunnel?” she teased. “Give me a better chance and just teleport me somewhere random, huh?”

Kai shook his head, unsmiling. “I don’t know these tunnels. If I just found a random spot to drop you in, we’ll both get lost and might never find our way out again.”

”Oh—um. Oh.” That was vaguely terrifying. Now Juyeon was feeling scared. “Then, let’s not.”

She could hear the GTA now, clanging and shouting away somewhere off into the distance. Once again, the echoing made it impossible for her to find the source of the noise, but the PCs all seemed to know, and were moving slightly faster.

”Juyeon,” Kai said, pressing one large, tanned hand onto her shoulder. “I promised, remember?”

”Promises don’t mean if you get kidnapped by crazy adults with guns, Kai,” Juyeon said, then added, “and yes, you did promise.”

And, as quickly as they could, Suho led them down the tunnels, the banging and frightening yells of the GTA a forever constant echo looming closer and closer the whole way down.

There was a right turn, then a left, then straight ahead, then a