chapter 3; tension

The baleful moods seems to have die down over the times, and Luhan eventually just drops the gun and he just backs away, something wet from his eyes falling down because his heart’s just pacing at such a fast rate now. And Kyungsoo doesn’t bother to reach for the gun either, because he’s scared of these strangers. All four of them, and how he’s all alone and he has to cede in.

“I-I won’t kill you...i-if you don’t kill me, okay?” Luhan asks, and Kyungsoo just nods, and he pushes the crossbow away, though he’s sure the arrow’s still ready to be shot in case of any emergencies. He thinks that he doesn’t need to though but then unsure, because no one’s trustworthy.

Some sort of silence is painfully there. Just lingering in the air but no one breaks it, because if someone breaks it, they’ll break into their own miseries. So it’s just quiet, and quiet, and quiet until finally, someone speaks up.

“If I get off, you can’t shoot me just yet or else Kyungsoo will get it, alright?” Sehun asks, because he’s still on top of Joonmyun and his wound’s starting to hurt more, so he wants to sit up in an upright position to apply pressure. That is, if the two don’t try to pull off anything smug.

Joonmyun just scoffs, but he nods, and helps Sehun get up. He looks over to where the arrow is lying, and to no surprise, there’s the soft tissues of skin lying on the tip of the arrow, blood dribbling down the metal frames and ending around the fore center, where it’s stuck plunged against the dirt.

Looking over to where Sehun’s propped up against the tent wall, frame just bent over too much for a slouch, Joonmyun’s eyes scan over his forearm where of course, lies a cut that might seem too deep for something so light. And then he finds Kyungsoo’s eyes looking over the injury too, and something like guilt just in the whites of his eyes, and in the direct middle.

“If you’re going to kill me, then just do it now and get it over with,” Sehun gasps, using his free arm as applied pressure as he tightens his clasps over where the injury is now just spewing out, the droplets of blood. He groans, and then just closes his eyes.

Pitying the blonde-haired boy, Joonmyun just looks over to where the other four are, and he just sighs. “You guys are just as scared as I am,” he says, quietly, and he takes a few seconds to overlook each and every one of them. Baekhyun, who he recognizes as a friend from elementary, with his tired eyes and that same hairstyle he’s always had since first year. Then there’s his best friend, Luhan, who undeniably goes to all he can to make sure that he overpowers. But it’s against Kyungsoo, so there’s not much of a fight going on. And Minseok, language perfectionist who knows how to speak fluent English, French, and Spanish. Much of a traveller, Joonmyun thinks.

And then he looks over to Sehun, and just gives him a frail smile. “Come on,” Joonmyun begins, taking ahold of Sehun’s other arm and just lifting him up with as much strength as he can muster. Once the taller has his weight leaning on the shorter, Joonmyun just begins to lead him out of the tent, gentility in every walk and asking him if he’s okay. “Just...don’t do anything stupid,” Joonmyun says to the others once they’re both lumbered near the zippers. And then he sighs. “If you need a place to stay, then you can probably stay with us for a while.”

But before any of them could register what they were just offered, Joonmyun’s already gone with Sehun, and there’s something uneasy in their breathings but nonetheless, part of the tension’s gone. Along with what’s lost of their ounces in humanity.

--

“Don’t try to pull anything off, and I’ll do my best to get that wound cleaned up and disinfected, okay?” Joonmyun asks, staring warily at Sehun who’s sitting against the edge of his tent.

The other just grunts in response and Joonmyun smoothes the fridges of his brunette hair aside, sweat glistening against the forehead and soon drying off. He would need to get to the nearest source of water to clean that off later.

Sehun takes the silence in well, and the time while Joonmyun’s roaming around the corners of the tent to look for bandages and gauze. He examines the small details, like how Joonmyun’s body frame is so small and how easily he could just find something to whack him out, maybe unconscious enough to drag. But he doesn’t, because his arm’s too tired now, and it’s feeling numb plus even if he had the chance, he was probably too wimp to do it. Joonmyun’s let him live, for god’s sake.

“So, where’d you guys go after the breakout at school?” Joonmyun asks, digging through his backpack for something like antiseptics. He curses to himself when he finds out they’ve ran out of pine saps, conversation running loose at the same time on mere seconds.

Blonde-bleached boy looks over, runs a hair through his styled hair which he uses his own sweat for. Beneficially horrifying. “Uh,” he mutters, throat feeling parched. “W-why should I tell you that? You just tried to murder me,” he continues, defensively with brows diagonal and mouth skimmed out.

The brunette shrugs. “Okay, I was just trying to make conversation with you,” he excuses, dismissing the whole matter off and just replacing it with silence because if that’s what Sehun wants, then he’s not one to deny it. Joonmyun gathers the lasts of bandages he can find, a water bottle and then he makes his way over to where Sehun’s sitting.<