He entered the van, slipped into it with a heavy thump. For the briefest moment in the darkness filled with adrenaline and burning with over taxation, he pondered whether or not he'd stepped into a van hired by fans. If he'd simply stepped into a trap of potential rape.
But his eyes adjusted, his ears stopped ringing and recognition filled him as familiar faces glanced back, just as sweaty and just as brutally molested. They stared back, panted breaths echoed, the muffled thump of a fan leaping over the hood of the van had them wincing.
Fuck.
His eyes moved, started a quick head count. Eyes flickering over the men for the only woman in their team. Not here. She was out there. She was not safe. They seemed to mirror his thoughts; their own eyes filled with a stunned disbelief that had them sitting in silence for a beat or two. Outside, the fans that had arrived to the safe point only increased, the wall of staff that shielded the door barely enough to stop them.
The cacophony thrummed to an unholy beat.
The staff were a wall against monsters, hands joined, shoulder to shoulder as they suffered the brunt of the snarling attack. They would be paid handsomely for their sacrifice, would go home feeling just as disgusted and just as sick, their skin rubbed raw from the attacks of fans.
Devils had descended upon Earth.
"What the fuck happened?" he managed out, before the others were snapping out words from spinning minds. The exhaustion vanished just as quickly as it came the moment. The understanding that their soulmate had yet to breach safety fuelled them more than the fear that pushed them to escape.
"Security ditched us. Someone paid them off, I don't know. Fuck!" Casper screeched as he thumped his phone. His fingers jabbed at the buttons, cancelling call after call as he tried to dial a number. It was then when Sieon noticed the consistent ringing in every damned tune, the chime of happy noises that should bring a rush of familiarity but now only provided him dread.
Casper felt responsible, they all knew why, his family was in charge of security. Claudia was in charge of the protection. But his number seemed just as compromised as the situation outside. The calls rang to the beat of another, random foreign numbers from different countries that they had to block and end over and over again. Sieon turned his off, pissed beyond belief that he couldn't turn on airplane mode without another call slamming him back to square one.
Their numbers had been sold.
He was sure as fuck that their home would be destroyed at this point.
"How the fuck can they—Did the staff call the police?" Oliver said, tossing his phone aside when nothing worked to end the onslaught. "The airport has got to have police! They would have been notified! They would see the chaos!"
Everyone could see the chaos.
"Someone sold our arrival timing." Hikaru whispered. "There's too many, they expected us to be here. There should be barriers if they knew, there should be walls." His voice broke, tears already flowing. Sieon wanted to cry too, but he was empty inside. "We were careful! We wanted the walls!"
They were animals in a zoo.
"Where was Amber? Was she at the back?"
"She was with MinJae." Ezra hissed out, paler than milk and bloodied with scratches. They all were. Strawberry milk with bits of red from bruises and cuts. "He slowed down. They both did. Couldn't find them even when I turned back."
The door slammed open and another body was shoved against his. Sieon held him, eyes widened at the sight of MinJae with tears dripping from usually moon-like eyes. He exhaled, shaking as he spoke, mantra-like and tantric. His eyes wild and open, he'd seen things they hadn't seen. Things that fed him with foul, traumatized memories.
"I lost her."
The world caved in.
"We're going back." Sieon growled pushing past him. "WE'RE GOING BACK!" The door snapped open, and the screams only grew louder. He cursed when staff yelled at him to return, and MinJae pulled him back with a sharp tug. He was knocked against the couch with a heavy thump, back into the safety that she did not have.
"They want us not her!"
"You know they're angry at her too! You know they are!" Sieon screeched back, the tears now pricking. "They want to be her! They hate her!" His words pierced the air, his pants echoed in the vehicle. And for a moment they each shared the fear. It pulsated between them, hungry and nervous.
The strange escalation of screams and the blur of moving bodies through the glass drew their gaze back to the outside world. For a brief moment, hope brimmed in Sieon as he searched for his lover. Their eyes darted upwards to the blurred enclosure before them, at the thunder of feet and the echoing screams that bounced over the glass.
It was JieMi that they saw racing through the crowd inside of the vicinity like the bunny he was termed. Each step was a shot of advantage as the fans struggled to gain distance when faced with a contender who seemed eager for the Olympics. His feet tore across the marble, hands wrapped around a body in his arms.
Amber.
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