Chapter Fourteen
Baekhyun

Betrayal strikes harder than any firearm, punch, or kick. The feeling of being deceived is the wickedest. I glare straight onward, my gaze following Eun as she slowly strolls up beside her Cruor friend. I should’ve known it was like this. Why would a Cruor help a human? This was all just a trap to get something to eat.

      “I’ll let you have the boy even though I spotted them first.” The Cruor boy grins as his eyes stay glued to Hyorin.
“Because, you know, I respect our beautiful Cruor prodigy more than anybody else.” He flashes a sharp fanged smile as he winks at Eun. Cruor prodigy? Not only was she a Cruor but she was their stinking prodigy? How did I become so naive to believe that she’d take me to Hyuk?

      The cold sweat runs down my back and forms at my temples. Is this really how it’ll end? Being eaten alive by the Cruor and never being able to save or see my little brother again? My muscles tense as Hyorin backs right into me as the Cruor boy begins his assault. We both flinch, letting our knees to buckle beneath us. I wrap my arms securely around Hyorin as we collapse to the muddy bank of the pond.

      Splash! I glance up, finding nothing but thin air before us. Where did he go? My eyes scurry to the pond where a sopping wet figure emerges from the water. How the heck did he get there? The muddled look in his silver gaze is directed straight beyond Hyorin and me. I look over my shoulder, seeing exactly what that Cruor boy is glaring at. Eun.

      “What the heck Eun!?” The Cruor growls sound as if he has billions of blades grinding against one another in his throat. His silver eyes glimmer with a blaze of confusion and temper.  I barely have enough time to blink an eye before a figure advances forward, headfirst into the Cruor. I watch tensely as Eun pins the Cruor down by the arms and hips with little struggle.

      “Run you idiots!” Eun shouts as she lands a blow on the Cruor’s nose. I glance down my arm where Hyorin is tugging at me to follow the Cruor’s demand.
“Come on Baekhyun, we have to escape.” Hyorin begs as she wrenches me a few inches away from the battle. I nearly pounce forward when Eun is flogged into a neighboring tree trunk like a rag doll.

      The blood drips from her temple and is making a steady stream past her silver eyes.
“Baekhyun!” Hyorin exclaims once more as she desperately tries to make me run.
“We have to run!” It only takes a second before I snap back to reality.

      Fallen branches snap beneath my boots as the morning wind brusquely swirls around us. Even when we’re so close to the park entrance, we still have a long way to go to reach the city limits. The noise of the battle we left behind is still heard even from our location. I even hesitate to keep going further when I hear Eun’s scream echo.

      “We can’t wait for her Baekhyun; she can fight on her own.” Hyorin blurts out after I come to another abrupt standstill. Why do I even care if she gets injured or not? All I need is for her to be conscious so that I can find Hyuk.
“Right,” I mumble as I take a step forward. That’s when I see it.  Those two silver eyes lurking behind a wide tree trunk. And just as I catch sight of them the Cruor lunges out from his hiding spot, landing right before us.

      Hyorin can’t help the impulsive, high-pitched shriek that escapes from the instant her eyes take in the snowy haired fella. His silver eyes don’t even hold a sense of warmth. They’re so cold that I feel as if an expanse of hoarfrost has concealed all of Korea.

      “I told you two to run!” Hyorin glances over her shoulders, catching sight of Eun running in our direction. Both the Cruor’s and my own eyes travel to Eun. Smeared blood cakes one side of her face and her perspiration glimmers under the late morning sun. Eun’s eyes immediately latch onto the Cruor before anyone else though.

      “Eun?” The Cruor’s voice is as icy as his eyes are, but there’s a hint of something else hidden behind the wall of ice.
“Sehun…” Eun comes to a halt behind Hyorin and I as she inhales deep breaths of air. The remorse in her silver eyes is just about too excruciating and heartbreaking to even look at.
“You’re working with them?” The Cruor named Sehun interrogates with a tipoff of repulsion bleeding through his words.

      “It’s complicated.” Eun answers as she nervously nibbles on her bottom lip. Even though she’s not making some kind of assault on the Cruor, all three of us know that Sehun isn’t going to let us go without having his breakfast.
“That’s why I’m sorry.” Eun sighs out in a voice lower than the softest whisper.

      In a flash of lightning, Eun already has Sehun straddled on the park ground with her knees and hands. This time neither Hyorin nor I can make a move.

      “What are you doing Eun?” Sehun demands through gritted teeth as he reverses the pin, forcing Eun to the bottom position. Somehow, Eun managed to throw a punch in, loosening Sehun’s hold on her. She takes the chance, ing the Cruor off of her and into a nearby shrub.

      A tiny scream of horror comes from Hyorin as she sees the large abrasion across Sehun’s left eye that trickles with cherry red blood. Without hesitation, Eun sends the side of her boot straight into his head, knocking him out cold in the middle of the park.

      I observe her condition before anything else by habit. Her own blood still dribbles down the side of her skull as she forcefully compresses her right hand over her left upper arm.
“Are you okay?” Hyorin asks even though she probably dislikes Eun more than anyone else. I found it strange how Hyorin and Nurse Lee could go from disliking someone to greatly caring for that same person in the situation of a wound or two.
“Do you need to get treated?”

      The only response that comes from Eun is a stony glower that bolts Hyorin right up. She doesn’t even exchange a single word to either of us as she nudges past.
“Eun,” I didn’t even notice when her name comes from my lips, but somehow my body does. My hand grasps for her wrist, yanking her backwards.

      As soon as she whirls around to face with those penetrating silver eyes I regret doing so.
“You’re hurt.” I tell her even though that’s not exactly what I want to say.