22

Chapter 22

There was a pause for a few moments before Yuri realized that he'd said something wrong, and cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing, "Er… I meant…"

Victor chuckled softly and assured him reassuringly that he didn't mind what he'd just said, "That's okay, Yura. You know, we never really talked about it, and honestly I don't remember what happened when we first got rescued."

At this point, everyone else in the group started to laugh and, as he heard the laughter, he realised that he had somehow managed to upset everyone and make things awkward for the group; though he wasn't entirely certain why. Nonetheless, he felt like he ought to give them some sort of explanation about what happened, regardless of whether anyone was listening, or even if he actually remembered anything specific about their current situation. Perhaps he could even help clear up some of his memories. So he began, "It was around noon when they found us. It was snowing, you know, and I remember seeing the clouds move across the sky. The light filtering down from the clouds lit up the trees around us as well and it was pretty… beautiful. Anyway, we had run out of food and water a while ago, so we were basically just sitting there, eating berries and nuts." He paused momentarily and continued, "Anyway, the man who had captured us noticed that we were standing outside, so he shouted loudly for everyone to gather closer. I was confused at first and thought he was trying to tell us to come inside, but then I saw that it wasn't the case… So I went to ask him what he wanted and when I realised that he wasn't planning to tell me what he was doing, I ran off to hide with the others. He didn't even notice that I'd gone until later, after we had managed to lose the other members of his group." At this point, he looked directly into Yuuri's eyes and said, "I guess he assumed that I'd either been killed or left behind somewhere during the rescue attempt."

Everyone fell silent for a short while before Phichit broke the silence with a question, "What did you mean by that? That he didn't know that you were missing? Or that we had gotten away?"

Viktor turned to Yuri for an explanation since he had spent almost all of his time staring at the ground, but the blonde remained quiet as a result. Chris hesitated for a bit before answering Phichit's question, "I don't really know. Maybe I was just assuming. He wasn't the leader of the team when he was apprehended and I don' think I really understand the rules governing the operation; but, if that's what I think, then I'll assume that his plan was to bring all of his prisoners together. He probably didn't expect to find anybody with me or anybody that he thought could lead his organization to find him again."

Viktor nodded in agreement and then explained, "He was right about that. He assumed that we must have been lost in the forest and that the only way to get rid of our trail was through a different route than that which he took."

Phichit frowned in disappointment as Yuuko commented, "But he shouldn't have expected any of you to go back to the house and try to escape. Why would he think that?"

Yuri shrugged and answered with uncertainty, "Maybe he doesn't have a choice, considering what happened earlier today. I know it's unlikely, but maybe they planned on taking him hostage too, to ensure that none of them would escape. They would need someone like him." His face turned serious as he added, "But if that were really the case, we would have seen them leave without us. And I can't believe that they didn't even bother to take our phones, especially if they wanted to use them for communication with anyone outside."

As the young Russian spoke, a look of surprise crossed Yuuko'