█ Chapter 9: Blood Brothers

Kyungsoo exchanged wary glances with Jongin, while Sehun looked oblivious to what was happening. "I don't know," Sehun answered his two pacing friends. "The last I saw of him, he was going to the restroom."

Just as Jongin headed for the back door, he heard a blood-curling scream which had his own heart thrashing wildly in his ribcage as he realized that was Minseok's voice. Jongin and Kyungsoo hastily barged through the door to find Minseok crawling backwards, his worn sneakers kicking helplessly at the biter latched onto his right foot.

Instinctively, Jongin grabbed the nearest block of wood beside him and rose it over his head, but the blow was interrupted as Chanyeol practically threw himself onto him, sending them both rolling on the muddy patches of grass and dirt. "Get off me!" he yelled, but the taller male was holding him down too well for him to struggle free with both his wrists pinned to the moist dirt. Even though he saw Minseok scooting to safety, Jongin was still hell-bent that the bastard on top of him had almost endangered both him and Minseok.

"Hey, hey, easy there," Baekhyun pried Chanyeol off of Jongin and stopped the smaller, heaving boy from planting a fist across his boyfriend's face, if only to keep either side from fanning the fire.

Jongin stumbled backwards, heaved, and held himself upright against the wall. "What the hell is that," he barked, a finger pointed to the mangled thing on a chain. He knew what the creature was but knowing why it was under the same roof with them and kept restrained was beyond his understanding. If they had been a minute later, the biter would have taken a chunk out of Minseok's leg, and he couldn't bear the burden of yet another friend's death.

"Why the hell is it in here!" Jongin yelled. He grabbed a crowbar from the workshop bench and held it above his head in a striking stance.

Chanyeol kept the muzzle of his handgun aimed straight at Jongin, the two tense and panting. Jongin was one swing away from bashing a biter's skull in and Chanyeol's finger was steady on the trigger, more than prepared to end Jongin's life with a clean shot to the head.

The palpable tension intensified as Kyungsoo quickly pressed the blade of a kitchen knife to the skin of Chanyeol's neck, the edge just a slight pressure short of slicing through flesh. Nobody said a word, nobody moved, and nobody dared to initiate the bloodshed, not until somebody else started it. A second ticked by, then five.

Despite having a knife held to his neck, Chanyeol swallowed and forced the word "don't" between clenched jaws.

Baekhyun stepped between Chanyeol's handgun and Jongin, raising both hands at chest level to show that he was unarmed and most importantly unwilling to fight. "Chanyeol," he spoke softly, the jesting undertone of his words gone. "He's not going to hurt him. I promise. Just put the gun down, baby. It's going to be okay." Baekhyun's words loosened the tension in Chanyeol's muscles and released the rage in his gaze almost as if Chanyeol had been tranquilized. He lowered his boyfriend's weapon and willed Kyungsoo to remove the blade from Chanyeol's neck.

"I know this looks bad, I know you guys are all probably very pissed, with good reason, too," Baekhyun chuckled nervously, tears blurring the corners of his eyes. "B-But... Chanyeol... Chanyeol's very sick." He flinched when Jongin stepped closer, doing his best to shield his taller boyfriend behind him. "It's true I led you all back here because I saw your supplies and for a moment, we were going to kill you, but!" Baekhyun gasped. "But... it doesn't have to be this way. Just leave the biter and we'll let you go."

"I thought his brother died in a car accident," Kyungsoo said, observing the way the biter snapped its teeth at him, or what was left of them, anyway.

"H-He did," Baekhyun explained calmly. "That much is true. We took him before he... turned."

Jongin scoffed at Baekhyun's attempt to pull an elaborate scheme out of his . "So, you ing keep this thing in here and feed people to it? You think this is a pet?" Before anybody else could stop his rampage, Jongin kicked the chained stake out of the dirt with his sole and wrapped the rusty chain around his wrist a couple of times. "You still think this is your brother, you wad?!" He tugged on the leash tightly enough for the biter to stay under his controlling grip, luring the biter just close enough to Baekhyun and Chanyeol for them to feel how real the monstrosity of it all was.

The thing snarled and hissed, all of the humanity once left in the rotting corpse shriveled in the milky pupils and torn flesh. It expressed no remose nor hesitance as it lunged at Chanyeol, only to gag once Jongin jerked on the chain again.

"Jongin!" Minseok cried out as the biter turned against the forceful tugs and lunged at Jongin.

There was a deafening 'bang' that thundered loudly in the lot before the biter's head toppled off its neck, the force of the gunshot having wiped it clean from its body. Once the horrendous growling ebbed, there was silence, and Chanyeol who stood there weeping with the smoking handgun still in his grip.

As soon as the weapon Jongin did Kyungsoo strike Chanyeol hard enough with the hilt of his knife to knock him unconscious. Baekhyun, on the other hand, didn't require much persuasion to submit to their orders.

They kept Baekhyun tied and duct-taped to a wooden support beam and Chanyeol under surveillance as he rested and recovered from his head wound. After an hour or so, Baekhyun stopped sobbing and begging for his life and fell quiet with his chin tucked against his chest, and that much-needed silence helped the group to recuperate and plan. So far, they had captured a relatively safe hideout but it wasn't intended to stay fortified for long, not with the biters increasing in numbers. Kyungsoo suggested that they stay in the garage for a day or two to replenish their energy and screw their heads on right after that night but Jongin insisted they move out and leave Baekhyun and Chanyeol to their own demise. It served them right.

"It's not his fault," Baekhyun repeated for the fiftieth time that night. His eyes were puffy and nose was runny from crying but he persisted to convince his captives that Chanyeol, at least, deserved to live. "It's not. He's just sick. He hasn't been himself ever since his brother and girlfriend died and I just tried..." he choked on his sobs and whimpered in defeat. "I just tried to be there for him."

Kyungsoo stayed quiet in his corner, Minseok glanced over at Jongin, Sehun redressed Chanyeol's head injury, and Jongin idly bounced a rubber ball he had found against the wall until the patterned sound became maddening in the silence.

The back of Baekhyun's head thumped lightly against the wooden beam supporting his frame when he realized his negotiations were reaching deaf ears. He almost felt like going crazy himself. "You guys won't trust me, but here's a shot: I know where it's safe. Chanyeol and I haven't chanced it because we're only two people, but with you guys, together, I know where we can find a sanctuary."

"Now I know you're just talking out of your ," Jongin scoffed.

"No, listen to me. Chanyeol's brother, h-he was with the military... he had information about this reserve for the survivors in his car. He just... got into that accident on his way back and Chanyeol and I haven't had the heart to pick up where he left off," Baekhyun shook his head, his sweaty bangs falling into his eyes. ", you don't have to believe me but p-please take Chanyeol there while he's still unconscious. Knock him out again if he wakes up."

Kyungsoo had already gotten up. "Where are the documents?"

Baekhyun pointed his chin at the workshop bench. "It's in the second drawer. You'll find everything you need to prove it to you that this place exists. I mean, I don't know, not really, but it's a chance. There's blueprints of the place, coordinates, a map, everything."

Kyungsoo cleared the table and scattered the papers over it, while Jongin stopped bouncing his ball and accompanied his side to study the marked documents that all pointed to one destination at least a hundred miles south of where they were. The spot on the map was circled brightly in red.

"I-I used to live in that city," Baekhyun confessed. "I can show you the way."

Jongin rolled up the map and tucked the rest of the documents into their supply bag. "Like hell you are. Your psychotic boyfriend aimed a gun at me, and, the two of you tried to kill us. Minseok, Kyungsoo, Sehun, let's go. Sehun?" He stopped where Sehun was treating Chanyeol more lovingly than anybody should their enemy and had a gut feeling that Sehun disagreed with his idea of leaving the two for dead.

"Jongin, we can't just leave them," Sehun frowned.

ing hell. Jongin knew every decision came down to this like all those times Sehun toyed with his morale like putty and ended up convincing his hardhead to act against his instincts. Sehun was a softie but when it came to standing by his decision he was just as stubborn as he was, if not more. "Sehun..." Jongin groaned and tried to ignore how Kyungsoo was raising a brow at him.

"Fine," Jongin growled. "We'll wait until Chanyeol comes to and tie Baekhyun up... and someone please tape his ing mouth shut."