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lebrookestore · 4 years

Text

revolution part I; resonance

Pairings: Nakamoto Yuta x reader, slight Dong Sicheng x reader

Themes: post apocalyptic au, dystopian au, angst, slight humour

Warnings: death, night terrors, heavy angst, implications of torture, alterations to humans, war, mentions of nuclear bombing, betrayal, slightly psychotic characters, blood, PG15

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WC: 13.8k

Tag List: @danishmiilk @alicanta77 @kiri-ah @stayinzencity @astroboy-lele @skaterboysunghoon @tinytaehyunguwu @chicksung @badwithten @svchengss @rouiyan

Authors Note: I really love this fic, though there’s not much romance in this part. Thank you to @danishmiilk and @chicksung for beta reading! I would love to hear your review and any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

A guard dragged a girl’s body across the ground, holding her harshly by the vest she wore. Her body writhed and shook electricity crackling over her skin. He threw her on top of the pile of bodies that sat in front of him. He looked at her limp frame, as it slid down the pile, twitching.

“Now what”, he asked gruffly into the speaker on his chest. The crackling was the only thing to be heard for a few minutes before the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the silence.

“Throw them into the water”, the voice said confidently, “It’ll destroy them”

“But sir-” “They’re failed experiments”, it said smoothly, “They need to be destroyed”

“Sir, but the girl”, the guard said, “She’s-”

“Throw her too”, it said in a sing-song voice, “the water will kill all of them, including her. They’re all still somewhat human, after all”

The guard didn’t respond, doubting the man's choices.

“MK 02”, the voice continued, “She needs to be destroyed, she’s been tampered with and if she’s left to live, she will be dangerous”

I know she’s human, he silently screamed in mental agony, I know who she is, I know everything!

The guard swallowed the lump in his throat, “Yes sir”, he said shakily, opening one of the doors to the left, pressing a few buttons, and taking one last glance at the pile. This was his job, but he felt guilty, especially for the girl, who had been with him since he was little, until he was roped out of the experiment. The last time he saw her, she was twelve, eyes full of fear as she was pulled into the labs, her screams resounding through the common room. The first experiment, the one that was most experimented on, the most damaged one.

He was lucky, lucky to have escaped that living hell, unlike many of the other children he had grown up with.

Luck was the only thing that had separated him from the rest. His hands shook pathetically above the final step, regret pulsing through his veins as everything he had done came rushing back to him. Ever since he joined the other side of the project, he had become the villain, he turned against his friends, his family. Impulsively, he grabbed a mask, fitting it over the girl’s face, snapping the straps back in place. She was the only one he was able to save.

Pressing the final button, the door opened completely, pulling the pile of bodies into the water, the green murky liquid washing over the people he knew and loved at one point, gone forever.

He let out a shaky breath, a single tear rolling down his face as he slumped down into his uniform, as he pulled off his gloves, fisting his completely metal fingers. He had managed to hide it all these years, and he felt more selfish than he had ever felt right at that moment.

Because he belonged in that pile of bodies, floating around to their death.

TWO YEARS LATER

Confined.

You couldn’t think properly, your body twisted in an almost Inhuman position in the small confinement, begging to be released. You felt wet, sluggish, and trapped, in what, you didn’t know.

You moved around frantically, trying to grab something, but you were met with the smooth walls of your entrapment, metal, and cold. You couldn’t open your eyes, the liquid was heavy, weighing you down. You pushed upwards, sliding your arms upwards until your fingers felt free, out of the liquid. Your fingers curled around the edge of whatever this was and using all your strength, you pulled yourself up. You felt weak, if you slipped, or let go, you wouldn’t be able to pull yourself up again.

Feeling cold air hit your skin, you gasped, opening your eyes and scanning your surroundings. You seemed to be in some sort of containment room, barrels everywhere. It was dark and musty. You climbed out of the can you were in stumbling and falling. You heaved, taking in deep breaths as you realized you were coated head to two with whatever that was in that barrel. It was a slimy substance, thick and cool. You took a deep breath, shakily getting to your feet, using your arm to wipe away the liquid from your forehead. You focused on the faded words on the surface.

RADIOACTIVE

You stared in confusion, trying to put together the pieces. You got to your feet, swaying on them as you tried to regain your balance. Your head was pounding, you couldn’t think straight.

Where were you?

‘Commence clean out’, a voice over the PA system droned, making you stumble back, wondering what was happening. You heard footsteps approaching, making you stagger back into the shadows of the room, behind the very barrel you climbed out of.

You didn’t know what was happening, but you knew one thing, you weren’t supposed to be there. They would find you.

In a split-second decision, you climbed back into the barrel of the liquid, bracing yourself, before submerging yourself back into it. You felt the barrel being picked up and carried, the swinging sensation making your insides twist in discomfort. You felt weightless for a minute before you realized you had been thrown into something.

Resisting the urge to scream, you clambered out of the barrel again, realizing you were in some sort of sewage system. The water around was a murky green color, washing off whatever you had on your body, how well it washed it off, you didn’t know.

The need to breathe became apparent as you felt shooting pains through your chest, a hacking feeling making you want to struggle for air. Moving your hands and feet frantically, you somehow made it to the surface, gasping once again as you made contact with the air, grasping at the edge of the sewer, to the little piece of cement that worked as a walking platform. You climbed on top of it, feeling dizzy and blank until you came to a conclusion.

You didn’t know where the fuck you were.

You walked down the sewers, using the wall as support, as you balanced on the thin ledge. It felt like it went on forever until your fingers grazed over some metal. You looked to your left, making sure you weren’t going to fall off, and tried feeling around that area of the wall. You made out several prongs, at equal distances from each other.

A ladder.

You tightened your hold around bars, pulling yourself up and eyeballing your feet placement. Climbing up the ladder was harder than you anticipated, considering it was dark and you had to rely completely on your sense of touch. You almost missed the next bar, miscalculating the distance and almost falling off. You reached out your arm for the next prong but was met with nothing. You stretched again, but instead of the typical ladder, you were met with a slab of metal right above you. Panicking, you pushed hard, desperate now to escape.

It shook, moving up a little, before sliding back into place. You pushed it again, hard and fast, causing it to move out of place completely, letting a sliver of bright light shine through the crack created. You pushed it to the side, climbing out of the sewer and emerging into-

Darkness?

It wasn’t darkness, but the sky was a dark colour, and bright white lights shone from the sides of the street, illuminating the damp settings. You seemed to be in some sort of alleyway, wedged between two tall buildings. There was a door to your left, some sort of back entrance. You had no other choice than to try and get in, you had nowhere else to go.

Where did you belong?

The question rang out loud and clear in your mind, like an alarm bell. You felt exhausted and confused.

You found yourself in a sort of tunnel, the ceiling curved in. Your footsteps echoed as you walked in cautiously taking in your surroundings. At the end of the room was a door, will a small peephole. Running a little, you pressed up against the door, looking through said peephole.

It was bright, people walking around in lab coats and stethoscopes hanging from their necks, special glasses that shielded their eyes from something. Due to this you couldn’t make out anyone’s features, but one thing was certain.

You didn’t belong here.

You were certain of it. You skin crawled at the sight, every instinct telling you to leave, to run, but to where? Where would you go? You didn’t even know where you were.

Of course, you remembered who you were, where you came from, what you had been through, but it felt like you had been out of it for a long time, like you weren’t supposed to even be standing.

Walking away from the door, you looked around, trying to find another way in. If you walked through that door, you would stick out like a sore thumb in your dark clothing, that was stained and covered in the substance you had been in. You sighed, scanning the area for an exit, or rather an entrance.

You spotted a vent of some sort. Walking to it and crouching down, you figured you would be able to crawl through it easily. Opening it, you crawled into it, closing it from the inside. Every movement produced a clanging sound, but you tried to be as quiet as possible as you made your way through the narrow space. On all fours, you used your forearms to maneuver around the vent, dredging the rest of your body along.

Some light entered the vent a few feet away from you, you crawled towards it, and it turned out to be an exit. You looked down at the room below through the slits in the metal, making sure there was no one in the room, before you removed the entrance, carefully dropping through. You landed on your feet, but a pain shot up your right leg, making you wince as you clutched it.

In front of you were computers, many of them. One has some sort of data loading on it, the others has blueprints of some sort, and documents. On the table lay printed our blueprints, of some sort of structure, a machine. You tilted your head, picking up the prints and studying them. In the corner, the number 3000 was printed out, presumably referring to the number of these machines that they wanted to make.

They were built like humans, with limbs and feet, basic features on the face part. They seemed have have weapons inbuilt into them.

They were made for war.

You placed the papers down, an acute sense of fear making its way into your stomach. Something was happening, and that something was very wrong.

You heard an alarm go off, you shivered, looking around for a hiding area. There seemed to be a door on the other side of the room. You ran to it, opening it and closing the door quickly so no one would catch you.

And you found yourself in a very familiar corridor.

The floor was tiled with those generic white tiles, the walls were white, everything was a glaring bright colour that made you feel dirty and out of place.

“H.A.I.F”, you whispered, terrified at the fact you were here. “Why”, you asked no one in particular, walking down the corridor, and to another door. You knew exactly where this one led, for you had been down this path several times against your will.

The common room.

You had grown up here, the place where you spent your childhood. It was all the same, the table to the left, the seating at the right next to the fake fireplace. You knew it like the back of your hand, but you felt like you had seen it for the first time in a long time. There were two doors at the end, for the individual dorms, where you would sleep with the rest of the experimentees. One was labelled ‘place’ and the other, ‘dream’. You walked up to the one labelled ‘place’, and pushed it open.

It was empty, like the common room had been. You looked around, trying to recollect where the rest of them could be.

Walking to the back of the room, you paused at the last bed, smiling slightly as you crouched down to its level. You had always slept on the lower bunk, and this was your bed. You examined the wood at the sides, running your fingers over the groves you had made in them, a frown making its way to your face at the ugly memory.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

You jumped at the sound of the voice, turning around and facing the person. He had brown hair, which was longish, high cheekbones and a very intense gaze. He stood there, arms crossed, presumably waiting for an explanation

“I’m-”

“Why are you near my bed?”, he asked, not letting you finish. His tone was accusing, it made you feel small. You blinked in surprise, “Excuse you? This is my bed”

He laughed, “I’ve slept in it for two years now, so I think I know it's mine”

Two years? You didn’t recognize him from the trainees you had lived with, so you were confused.

The door opened, another guy walking in. He had big eyes, an equally intense gaze and looked fairy like. You looked over at him, gasping slightly.

“Taeyong”, you whispered, “Taeyong”, you repeated aloud for him to hear. He looked over in confusion, before his eyes widened. “Y/n?”

You nodded, getting up and brushing past the first guy, whose name you still didn’t know, walking into Taeyongs arms and hugging him. He hugged you back, but seemed to be in a state of shell shock.

“Y/n, Where have you been?”, he asked, looking at you as if you were an apparition. You frowned, “What-”

“It's been two years”, he said, “You’ve been gone for you years”

You stared at him, confused. “I-I don't know?”, you tried your hardest to remember, but you got nothing, it was like all your memories from those two years you had supposedly been gone for had been wiped from your brain.

“Are you okay? What- We should get you some new clothes oh god”, he said, his protective instincts taking over. You smiled, trying to discard the thought of being lost for two years.

“Okay”, you said. He smiled at you, loosening his embrace and stepping away.

“Ahem”, the guy from before cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Who is she?”

Taeyong glanced at you, then back at the guy, as if realizing he didn’t know you.

“Yuta”, he said, “this is Y/n, she as been with us since”, he paused, “Forever honestly”

“I’ve never seen her, though I presume she’s been missing from your-uhm-”

“Lovely speculation”, Taeyong said dryly, walking to the cupboard and taking out one of the grey uniforms, “She’s been here since she was eight”

Yuta’s eyes widened, “Eight- thats”

“Inhuman”, Taeyong finished, “Horrible, despicable”, he continued listing adjectives, handing the clothes to you, “Go change”

You stripped off your clothes, cleaning up to the best of your abilities, and changing into the uniform Taeyong had given you. It was long sleeved, a dark colour, and slightly large for you, but it was way better than the pathetic clothing you had donned before.

Walking out, you were met with an odd scene, a guard was sitting in the middle with the rest of the boys sitting around him as he told them something. Instantly your senses were alert, wondering why they were so comfortable with him.

‘What’s going on?”

A boy with greyish eyes, and ears that were elvish, turned around and looked at you in surprise, eyes widening as he studied you. You froze, taking a step forward.

“Sicheng?”

He opened and closed his mouth, gaping like a fish, seemingly dumbstruck at your presence. The rest of the boys were pretty confused too, but you were focusing on sicheng, the boy who had entered this hellhole with you, and had stuck with you since day one.

“Winwin”, Yuta corrected, “That’s what he goes by now”

You frowned, and Sicheng hit Yuta playfully, “She can call me Sicheng, because she doesn’t know any better”, he said softly, getting up to approach you.

“Where were you Y/n?”, he asked, lower lip quivering, “Where did you-”

“I don’t know”, you snapped. You didn’t mean to react so harshly, but you were getting tired of the same question again and again, more so, you were mentally exhausted and confused. Frustrated with the fact you couldn’t seem to remember. He looked scandalized, but nodded, going back to his former position next to Yuta.

You felt ashamed for taking your frustration out on Sicheng, but instead of apologizing or expressing any regret, your eyes fell back onto the guard, who was looking at you through his protective headgear. You scowled, “Why is he here?”

“He’s good”, a dark haired boy from the back, Doyoung, assured you. You had also known Doyoung since you had stepped foot in the Facility, but as much as you trusted him, you were still skeptical.

“So the mask worked”, the guard said. His arm patch read MK 02, and he pulled the head gear over his head to reveal a familiar face, though you hadn’t seen in a long time. Your eyes widened. He looked so much older now, not a boy anymore.

“Mark”, you whispered. He smiled crookedly, “Hey Y/n”

You walked to him, fingers brushing against his cheek as you studied the boy, well, man now. He had the same bright eyes that seemed to shine every time you looked at them.

A sense of longing filled your heart, soon followed by an acute sense of anger.

You slapped him.

“You traitor”, you exclaimed, as Taeyong and Yuta pulled you away from him, “HOW DARE YOU”

He stumbled, hand rubbing the place you struck, staring at you dumbfounded.

“How the fuck can you trust him”, you asked, struggling against Yuta’s grip, glaring at Mark, “He’s one of them”

“Calm down”, Yuta hissed into your ear, “Let him speak” “Why should he?”, you spat, “He left us with no explanation, and now he’s the cause of our misery-”

“He saved you.”

You paused, shaking with the sheer anger that coursed through your veins. Pulling away from Yuta’s grip, you rubbed your arm, refusing to meet Mark’s eyes.

“Let him explain”, Sicheng said. You nodded reluctantly, “Five minutes”, you said through gritted teeth, “You have five minutes to explain, or I will-” “Let’s not get that far”, Taeyong suggested, “Mark”, he gestured to the younger to begin talking.

“After your last testing”, he began, “They wanted to kill you by throwing you into the water. That shit is radioactive”, he played with his fingers nervously, “So I put a mask over your face so you could have a chance, cause I couldn’t-”,he paused, jlike he was struggling to put his memories into words, “I couldn’t let you die”

You kept your guard up, but something inside you softened. “I could only save you, I only had that much time but, I promised myself I wouldn’t hurt anyone more”

“They can’t know you’re alive”

His voice was softer now, almost delicate. “Which brings me to what I came here for”

Doyoungs sat up straighter, “You mean-?” “Yes”

A look of disbelief crossed Doyoung’s face, “So we’re getting out of here?”

“Yes, but Yuta has the lab tonight”, he said, “So tomorrow”. You looked at the mentioned guy with a sympathetic look, but he refused to look at anyone, merely nodding and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his grey pants.

“What do you mean getting out of here?”, you asked, looking around. While the facility was a living hell, it was the only place any of you had ever known. You don’t remember any sort of ‘home’ before it. “Where would we go?”

“I know a place”, Mark said confidently.

“What place?”

“It’s better you don’t know for now”

“How can we trust you? You can very well be killing us off”, you bit back, not caring how harsh you sounded.

“I know”, he said, “But I’m the reason you’re still alive, and you’re going to have to trust me”

You scoffed at the bold statement, still wary of Mark.

“Okay”, he said, somewhat sadly, realizing you wouldn’t trust him, “Yuta, come with me, I’ll take you to the lab, the rest of you, dinner will arrive in a little”

And with that he left with Yuta.

Dinner was in the common room, you met the rest of the experimentees, a bittersweet reunion between those you had supposedly not seen for two years. Chenle practically threw himself into your arms after seeing you, refusing to let go as if you would disappear.

Chenle had been a sort of younger brother to you, coming into the facility at the age of ten, a mere three years after you had been brought in. He was scared, confused and broken, like all of you were, but he grew to cover it, hide it and grow.

Like all of you had.

The food was the same as it had always been, a dry sludge that they deemed porridge, which was a sickly green colour. It didn’t taste like anything in particular, so it wasn’t the worst. Still, you were sure your taste buds had died from having it so often.

The boys filled you in, telling you how Mark had been trying to get information on getting them out. There were seven of you in total, Taeyong, Sicheng, Doyoung, Donghyuck, Chenle, Yuta and you.

Getting seven people out of a highly guarded facility would not be easy.

Donghyuck was slightly older than Chenle, was also one of your close friends, you had seen him grow up too.

Sicheng, now supposedly Winwin, was your best friend, the one experimentee you were the closest to. He was always there for you, whenever you had been through a particularly painful lab routine, or when you would wake up in the middle of the night, shivering in fear. He had always been there for you.

He had changed, you could tell. Other than the name, he seemed to be more mature and closed up. His eyes held a sort of darkness, one that you couldn’t decipher.

“So”, Taeyong said, “Since Yuta has taken Y/n’s old bed, where will she sleep? For tonight of course, we’ll be gone tomorrow”

You didn’t understand how he was so trusting, so sure that all of you would get out of the Facility. Nevertheless, you decided not to damper his spirits, nodding along to his question.

“She can share with me”, Sicheng suggested, “It’s not like we haven’t done that before”

Satisfied with that answer, he turned back to his food, stirring it about in the bowl unenthusiastically.

You didn’t comment, instead focusing on your own porridge.

Your arms were strapped down to the bed with thick restraints. You struggled against them, to no avail. Feeling desperate, you screamed, tears quickly making their way down your face. You felt helpless and trapped, but they weren't new feelings.

“Stay”, a deep voice cut through. You looked over, only to be met with dark eyes that stared into you. He wore a mask, covering the rest of his face and a white medical uniform. He held a syringe, tapping it twice before, walking towards you. You shook your head vigorously, pleading silently with your eyes, hoping he would heed.

He held your arm down, hard, his nails pressing into your skin. “I told you to stay”, he said, a dark amusement in his voice, “Don’t you know how to listen?”

He positioned the syringe right above the crease of your elbow, pressing the cold needle, piercing your skin, eliciting a scream from you. You begged and pleaded, hoping he would stop, but he paid no attention to your pitiful screams.

Your vision got hazy as you began losing consciousness, your sight darkening at the edges of your eyes. You felt the needle retract from your body, as he moved away, before returning, hovering above your weak body.

The last thing you saw was a scalpel in his hand.

Your eyes shot open in alarm, your breathing heavy. Sicheng’s arm was around you, something you were used to, so you didn’t make any motion of removing said hand. You also decided not to get up, so as to not awake him.

You shivered, trying to think of anything but the nightmare that you had just witnessed, your skin crawling at the memory of the man and the scalpel. What had he done to you?

What had all of them ever done to you?

You heard a whimper, it was so soft, no one would have even caught it, but since you had awoken, you did. Another one reached your ears as your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

You looked around the best you could from the awkward position you were in.

It seemed to come from the back.

You looked over, a last attempt at finding out the cause of the noise when you spotted it.

Yuta was curled up on your old bed, arms wrapped tightly around his torso as sounds of discomfort left his lips. He was shaking, trying to calm himself down, obviously in intense pain.

What had they done to him?

His eyes met yours. You held the gaze, as if silently asking if he was okay. His dark eyes seemed to cut right through you, the anguish they held apparent even in the darkness of the dorm. .He let out another sound of pain, clutching at his stomach. He rolled over to the other side, ignoring you and continuing to writhe in his pain.

You made no move to try and even comfort him, you knew what it was like to come back in the middle of the night after the lab, after being experimented on and tampered with. You remembered the pain so clearly, just thinking of it could trigger a dull ache.

H.A.I.F was the facility that held the experimentees. It stood for ‘Humanic Artificial Intelligence Facility. They supposedly were helping the world that had been destroyed, trying to save them, coming up with new technology to make life better, and safer.

But they held the trainees, all seven of you, experimenting, cutting, injecting and breaking you apart little by little under the guise of ‘good work’. You hated it here, and so did everyone else. You were their little projects, their lab rats that they could tweak and push and hurt without worrying. Mercy was not an option.

Your heart would break everytime you saw one of them come back from their lab session, crying and helpless. Sometimes the pain would be so bad, they wouldn’t be able to speak. You would pass the labs and hear blood curdling screams, cried for help, and it made you want to scream yourself. You had been through it all, longer than most of the others, but it didn’t make their pain any worse.

Once again, the question popped up into your mind as you thought about all of the trainees, all of the nights you would remain sleepless. Yutas whimpers never stopped, but they gradually grew quieter and quieter, as if the pain was slowly subsiding.

What had they done to all of you?

You sat alone in the dorms as the rest of them went for their daily tests. They left you at breakfast, to accomplish their daily tasks, before lunch. These tasks included cleaning, training and occasional self check ups.

You stayed back, considering you were not even supposed to be alive, going out there would show everyone you were in fact, not dead like they had hoped you were.

Why do they want you dead? You didn't know. It scared you that they decided to just discard you, get rid of you in such an extreme way. To just deem it fit to kill you off.

You ran your fingers through your hair, tugging at the knots frustratedly, trying to figure out out you had been completely out of it for two years. It wasn’t even a week, but two years? That was a major difference, and you couldn’t figure out how it could’ve happened.

You walked over to your old bed, running your fingers over the grooves again, like you did yesterday before Yuta interrupted you. You remembered that day so clearly, it almost scared you. You had come back from a particularly painful lab visit, you had passed out in the middle. You woke up in the dorms, alone and in agony. In an attempt to bear the pain, you had gripped the wood of the bed sides, nails biting into them, leaving marks. In an attempt to not wake anyone else up, you silently released your pain onto the wood.

And then-

Your eyes widened, as you realized you remembered nothing after that. Your mind went blank, like a clean slate. You desperately tried grasping for something, anything, but you were left with more questions.

Trembling as you let off the wooden pole, you got up, retracting to your previous spot on sicheng’s bed, fisting the sheets under your fingers. It was all so frustrating, to have something so close, at the tip of your tongue, only to be ripped away. You felt angry, angry at Mark, at the H.A.I.F and angry at the world.

You felt a spark running through you, and gasped as you felt a shock, electricity, run through your fingers, and onto the bed sheet. A small burn mark was made, no one would even see it, but you could. It almost seemed as it had come from you, in your moment of defeat.

Your fingers tingled, the aftershock present. You stared dumbfoundedly at them, wondering how that had happened. It was so sudden, so odd.

Touching the sheets once again, this time slowly, scared you would burn it again, you brushed over the burn mark. It was small and brown, and dusty under the warmth of your skin, almost breaking off, leaving a hole. You looked in some sort of sick fascination at it.

You didn’t tell anyone.

“This is the worst possible plan”, you deadpanned, “Have your years working for them killed whatever brain cells you had?”

Mark winced at your comment, accepting the fact that you weren't going to trust him anytime soon, no matter what. “It’s the only way”, he said, “There's no other path”

“So walking right through the main hallway, in front of every single person is the answer?”, you asked, “I’m supposed to be dead, remember?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

You silenced, looking around the room. All of you had piled into the place dorm, which was the biggest one by far, the others being half the size. Mark’s genius idea to get out of the facility was to just walk out, through the doors and down the hallways, dressed in the coats he had stolen from one of the labs during his rounds. While the coat idea was pretty smart, the part about walking about in open was definitely not.

“Vents”, you said finally, “We can take the vents”, walking over to the side of the room, and pulling out the vent entrance. You looked back at the group, “I got in here through the vents, which led me to some sort of Intelligence center…”, you trailed off, recalling the blue prints you had seen.

“We can drop down into that place, there's another vent that leads to this sort of tunnel? There's a door that leads you out, at least from what I remember.”

Mark nodded, “Actually, that's not bad, the tunnel you’re speaking of is the check in and check out room for the guards”

You ignored him, motioning towards the coats and telling everyone to put them on. Whale you were sneaking through the ventilation, it was better to be safe. All of you would have to go one by one, making sure to crawl through the vent really slowly, so as to not cause too much noise.

Taeyong went through first, crawling through, Doyoung following after. You went after Doyoung, with Yuta and Sicheng close behind, Donghyuck, Chenle , and Mark last.

It was not the best plan either, considering you could hear everyone breathe, and your face was constantly being assaulted by Doyoung’s very graceful missionary crawling. A bruise was expected.

Like before, the metal clanged and made noises that were less than ideal, and you prayed that no one hear you guys. Somewhere along the line of this painfully slow escape, Taeyong had decided to stop, causing Doyoung to suddenly still as well, which resulted in you getting a face full of shoe.

Unfortunately, that meant Yuta got a kick to the face as well.

Clearly this was going fantastic.

“What happened?”, you hissed, rubbing your nose as you tried peering over to Taeyong.

“There’s an opening here, but I’m not sure if it's the place you were talking about'', he confessed, opening that entrance with a click. It was then you realized that you should have been first, so you could see what he was presently talking about. You let out a sigh, “Move forward until it comes to me so I can see”

This statement commenced the crawling once again. Thankfully, you were not kicked for the third time by Doyoung, who seemed to finally make an effort to not knock you out cold.

Once you were at the entrance, you looked through the slits, you pulled open the metal and looked around a little more.

It looked like the room, with the same computers out, except for the fact that the blueprints were nowhere in sight. You whispered that this was the place, holding the top and slipping through as quietly as possible. You looked to your side, where Yuta peered through, awaiting your approval. Looking around first, you noticed the computers were all shut down, unlike the day you saw them first.

You gestured at them to slip through the vent, which they did, this time Taeyong coming out last since he had moved forward, and Yuta coming out first since he was right behind.

“I’ve never seen this place”, Sicheng confessed, somewhat intrigued by the place. He walked up to you, shoulder brushing against yours as he looked at the computers. You smiled slightly at his expression, which was a mix of curiosity and childish bewilderment.

“Neither have I”, Donghyuck agreed with Sicheng. Chenle made no comment, seemingly shell shocked at the fact he was somewhere other than the dorms, common room, or labs.

“None of you have, you’re not meant to see it”, Mark said, brushing off whatever dust had accumulated onto his uniform. You looked up at the vent you had dropped down from yesterday, which was, luckily, still open. Scanning the room for something to help prop yourself up from, you walked over to the desk on the opposite end of the place, dragging the chair that sat there to where the vent was.

And that was when the alarm went off. It was high pitched, so high pitched you could barely hear it, but it was so loud at the same time, it hurt. You fell to your knees, hands clamping onto your ears as you trembled. Chenle let out a cry as he fell down too, falling on all fours and losing all control in his limbs, and falling flat onto the floor, curling up into a little ball. Taeyong stumbled over to the desk, clutching it in an attempt to keep standing, Doyoung, however, wasn’t as lucky, falling down, joining Chenle on the floor. Yuta also fell to his knees but managed to get back on his feet, looking like it was taking up all his energy.

Donghyuck stumbled backward onto Mark, who caught him, wincing at his sudden weight. He seemed to be completely fine though but had a worried look on his face. “I didn’t think-”

He was interrupted, a loud voice resounding through the room.

“GUARDS AT POSITIONS, BREAKOUT”

He paled, “Fuck, they found out”

Of course, they did, you thought sourly at his obviousness. Gritting your teeth, you grasped for anything to give you some support, ending up with the leg of a table that was next to you. The alarm cut right through you, not letting you think properly.

You faintly hear footsteps, looking up to see several guards piling in, surrounding all of you. The room was pretty big, and you realized how this was a disadvantage for all of you, considering the fact that all of you were in different places, spread out, which made it easier for them to corner and catch you.

“Stay down”, one of them warned you, making you want to scream. It reminded you of the way the doctors would speak to you during lab sessions like you were some sort of animal they were trying to contain, a monster when they were the real monsters.

“No, please”, Chenle’s voice rang out. You looked up at him, to see the guards holding him by the arms, restraining him harshly. They were hurting him, pressing down into his skin, and gripping tightly, and pulling. He cried out again, the sound almost worse than the alarm.

They were slowly doing the same to the rest, pushing them down, being merciless. Two of them grabbed your forearms, forcing you to your feet, making you dizzy. You shivered in anger, feeling helpless as they rounded up you and your friends like cattle. Tears of frustration quickly sprouted in your eyes, as you struggled against their grip.

Chenle’s screams cut through you, making you feel worse. You wanted to protect him, but you couldn't. His pained voice making you angry, angry beyond comprehension. He didn’t deserve this, none of you did. You shook with fury, mind clouding, every other thought escaping, except for the fact that you wanted to destroy every single guard in the room.

You heard Sicheng groan from your right, his face twisted in absolute agony. They were slowly crushing him. One by one, you saw your friends, your family, crumble in front of you, all hope dying. Yuta looked completely stuck, trying to fight back, but wincing at every single movement he made. They had trapped you, rendering you useless.

You trembled, frustration coursing through your veins, making you want to scream. Chenle screamed once more, and that was the last straw.

You felt like you were going to burn, a sudden shock running through you, making you gasp. You felt an aura, some sort of power run through you, causing you to gasp. You felt a sort of pressure build-up, like a well filling with water. You let out a scream, your throat burning, your lungs feeling like they're on fire. Sicheng’s pained face, Chenle’s helpless voice, Taeyongs whimpers, they set you off.

It was like an explosion of some sort, louder than anything you’ve ever heard. It came from you, and outwards at everything else. The guards went limp, falling down and staying in that position. You froze, wondering what the fuck you had done. You noticed the small burn marks on their uniforms, confirming your suspicions. The boys looked at you in astonishment, except for Chenle, who was shaking on the floor. You ran over to him, ignoring their looks, cupping the younger boy’s face and making him look at you.

“Lele”, you said, the nickname slipping out of your mouth, “Can you walk?”

He nodded dazedly, using your arm as support to stand. All of the guards were out cold, lying there useless. It gave you some sort of satisfaction, to see them utterly defeated, a sense of triumph. Yuta was the first to regain his sense, pushing the chair you had previously bought back into place, and climbing onto it, pulling himself up into the open vent. You helped Chenle on the chair, motioned for Yuta to help him up. One by one, you piled into the overhead vent, Mark climbing in right after you, being last again.

The crawling began again, but this time it was a rush, not caring about the noise you made, the eight of you scrambled, the desperation of getting away from this hellhole sinking in for real. You didn’t have the luxury of stopping and thinking about what just happened, you had to get out, and get out fast.

Ironically, even though you guys were moving faster, it seemed to take longer. Your anger died down a little bit, but the image of your friends being hurt like that, that stayed fresh and at the forefront of your mind.

Yuta pulled open the metal opening, practically throwing himself out of the vent, and helping pull Chenle through. Getting out of the vent, you felt as if you could finally breathe, almost out of the place.

All of you jogged to the end of the tunnel, where Donghyuck pulled the knob, but it didn’t budge. He tried again, pushing and pulling the little lever, but nothing happened. You pushed through the rest of them, trying your own hand at it, with no luck.

The door at the other end swung open, three guards filing in. You cried out in frustration as you aggressively hit the knob, trying to get it to do something. Mark walked back, pulling out his gun from one of the uniform pockets. While you knew he was protecting your group, it unnerved you, the fact that he had been possessing a gun all this time.

He pointed it at the guards, pulling the trigger as a warning. Taeyong eventually pushed you to a side, kicking the door. Yuta helped him, and the two slowly made indents in the thin metal door, but it was too slow. Mark wouldn’t be able to hold them back, and you weren't sure if you could pull off whatever you had done back in the Intelligence center.

They finally managed to kick the door open from underneath, leaving it in an awkward fold. They pushed the metal, which was relatively easier to tear to open it into a bigger exit. Donghyuck went underneath first, pulling Chenle along.

One by one, all of you went underneath and out, you going last. You looked back into the tunnel room, seeing Mark slowly back towards the exit.

“MARK, RUN”, Chenle shouted weakly. The man looked behind, dropping the gun in his attempt at escaping, and heeded Chenle’s request, running towards the little opening.

But that’s when one of the guards shot him in the leg, making him fall over. He was so close, just a few steps away from the exit. He looked defeated, like he knew he wasn’t going to make it.

“Go”, he whispered.

You would be lying if you didn’t consider leaving Mark there to die, you didn’t trust him, and he had been one of the people who had helped slowly destroy all of you.

But then again, Chenle seemed to really want him to be with them, and the others seemed to have some sort of friendship with him. Yuta looked like he was going to murder the guard that shot Mark, and while he had hurt you at some point in time, he also was part of the reason why you were alive.

And he was the only one who knew of the place you were going to after you escaped, since he refused to tell anyone, so you kind of had to save him.

You slipped back under and into the tunnel room, grabbing his hand, and sort of pulling him along. He used his other foot to try and follow you.

‘You got us into this mess”, you said, “You’re getting us out of it”

He sort of crawled through the opening after you, and with the help of Taeyong and Yuta, all of you began running, running with the last bits of energy you had.

Running away from the facility.

Your adrenaline had long faded off, as the eight of you trudged through the evening, passing the destroyed buildings and rubble that had supposedly been the beautiful city, at some point. Mark was limping uncomfortably with Yuta’s help, and Chenle looked as if he was going to faint any moment now, which concerned you. Donghyuck was helping him, and Doyoung was walking alongside Taeyong.

Sicheng was beside you, walking at your pace.

“So”, you said softly, voice hoarse from all the screaming, “Why winwin all of a sudden?”

“It’s not all of a sudden”, he said, “It’s been two years”

“But I know you Sicheng. Why?” “You don’t know me that well”, he said, “A lot can change in two years Y/n”

You didn’t know how to respond to that, so you looked ahead. It was darker now, your group had covered a large distance, or at least that’s what it felt like. You heard Sicheng sigh.

“When a week had passed since you had disappeared, it was like”, he paused, thinking of the way he should explain it to you, “I had no one”

Somehow, he said this calmly, as if it didn’t matter to him any more. “You weren’t there for me, you were just gone”

A pang of sympathy and guilt hit you as you looked away. It hurt enough as it was, but the way he said it, the tone, it was like he was used to you not being there, and he didn’t care anymore. That hurt more.

“And they just doubled our lab times and tasks and it felt like I wasn’t the person I was anymore, you know? So I just, couldn’t be Sicheng anymore”

“Do you think you can be Sicheng again?”, you asked.

He shrugged, “Depends, are you going to be there?”

“Of course!”, you said, a little too loudly, causing Taeyong and Yuta to look back at you.

“Alright then”, he said, “What was that you pulled back there?”, he asked you, completely serious. You raised an eyebrow in question.

“That trick, the way you disabled every guard?”

Your eyes widened, as you looked away from him, “I don’t know”

He didn’t reply, walking ahead of you and helping Yuta with Mark instead.

“Wait”, Mark said, wincing at the pain in his leg, “We should stop, it’s getting late and we need rest.” “Aren't they going to try and find us though?”, you questioned, “We should keep going, staying in one place can-” “Yes, they are, but we’ve been going for ages, and Chenle needs time too”

You agreed this time, feeling slightly stupid for not thinking sbout Chenle. The poor boy looked as if he would pass out if he didn’t sit down”

So the eight of you decided on staying in one of the run down buildings. It wasn’t like there was any food, so instead, your group opted to just sleep. Mark promised he would lead you to the place he had talked about, which he still refused to tell anyone about, tomorrow.

As soon as he was sat down, he pulled up his uniform pants up to his knee, to inspect the shot wound, hissing in pain as the fabric dragged across the injury. It looked pretty bad, the blood oozing out of it. There wasn’t much anyone could do about the injury, so instead, he pulled the pants down, covering it to the best of his abilities so he could avoid getting an infection.

It wasn’t as if you had beds either, so the floor was the best you could do. All of you fell into a silence, Donghyuck and Chenle drifting off almost immediately. Sleep seemed to elude you as Sicheng’s -Winwin’s -words played in your mind. Why had they doubled their tests? Why had they made it worse.

What the fuck were they doing.

You turned around in an attempt to get comfortable, to get some sort of sleep, but instead, you saw Yuta sitting up, cross legged, and arms behind him to support his body as he leaned back. He was staring at the walls, blank faced. Some of his hair fell in front of his face, covering a little of his eyes. He looked intimidating, but at the same time lost, as if he was trying not to sleep.

“Hey”, you whispered, getting up yourself, “Not getting sleep either?”

He scoffed, “I don’t want to sleep”

You walked towards him, taking a seat besides him. “I know we don’t know each other, but”, you looked where his eyes were trained, “What’s so interesting ‘bout the wall”

He chuckled, “I get nightmares, so sleeping is something I try not to do”

You stayed silent, immediately understanding how he felt. One of the backlashes of the lab sessions were the nightmares. Some had it worse than others, with terrifying imagery, and almost every night. You didn’t have it that bad, but you heard about the experimentees from the B compound of the facility, who dealt with night terrors and sleepwalking. You barely saw them, but the few instances you had, they looked absolutely broken.

“At least we’re out of that place”, you said, trying to channel some of Taeyong’s optimism, “Now we have a chance to move past that”

“It’s going to be with us forever”, he said, “I can’t imagine what it would be like for you, since you’ve been there since you were a kid”

“Yeah well”, you fidgeted with your fingers, “I did this thing to help me sleep. I would imagine what it would be like outside the facility, if the world was, you know, okay. It gave me a sense of longing, like a sort of wistfulness. Sicheng taught it to me.”

He scoffed, “I know how the world looks, unlike you guys I’ve only been inside there for two years, and the world isn’t great.”

“Maybe one day it will be.”

He looked at you this time, studying your features, smiling slightly.

“Maybe.”

Two guards stood in front of the man, head’s down, waiting for his reprimanding. He sat behind his desk on his chair, legs up on the table, looking at them disappointedly, almost sympathetically.

“How”, he started out slowly, “How did this happen?”

None of them dared respond. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “How do eight people, who are barey adults, escape from a facility like this?”

They knew they were in trouble. It wasn’t as if the man was very merciful, or forgiving. He would kill any amount of people to achieve what he wanted. “They are in the A compound for a reason you dimwits”, he hissed, “They are our priority experimentees, and the most developed. We are not supposed to lose them”

One looked up, “Sir-”

“How did they overpower the guards? There were so many”, he spoke in a light tone, heavily contracting the seriousness of the situation. That made it all the more terrifying.

“A girl”, the braver of the two piped, “There was a girl who threw us all”

“A girl?”, the man asked, raising an eyebrow, “That’s impossible, play the clip”

The more timid one rushed to the back, picking up a remote and fumbling around with it, clicking a few buttons on the laptop and pressing play. The projector played the scene captured on cameras, down to the explosion. The girl's face made an appearance once, her determined expression mocking the man.

His own expression darkened, standing up in a mixture of awe and anger. “She should be dead”

He turned to the guards, “Why is she alive?”

He stood up, walking around the room in his confusion, “How could she be alive if we tossed her? No one can survive the water”

They glanced at each other, “Sir, we don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t”, he drawled, annoyed, “Of course you assholes are useless. She should have died when we discarded her”, he rubbed his temples, “You say MK 02 was with them?”

The brave one, JW 19, nodded vigorously.

The man cursed under his breath, “I should have known”, he said, “Taking that boy into our forces for an experiment was never a good idea”

Clicking away at his own laptop, he pulled up facts about MK 02, Mark Lee. He slammed the screen down, furious. Realizing the two guards were still awkwardly standing there, waiting for his word.

“Get out of my sight”, he said finally, “Double the security in the B compound, we don’t want them getting any grand escape ideas. Find the Experimentees and bring them back”

“And, sir MK 02? And the girl?”

He looked back at his screen, a hungry, almost animalistic stare trained at Mark’s face.

“Kill them both”, he said, “Especially her”

You awoke in a start, almost screeching at the sight of Sicheng standing in front of you, eyes staring directly into yours like he was in some trance.

“What the fuck?”

“Oh good, you’re finally awake”, he said, no sympathy for your alarmed state, “Get up, we have to go.”

This was typical Sicheng, so you didn’t pay much attention to it. You looked to your side, realizing you were resting your head on someone's shoulder-

You almost jumped away from Yuta, who was smirking slightly at your embarrassed state.

“Have you been up this whole time?”

“Yep”, he said, popping the p, “You’ve really been weighing me down here”

You groaned slightly, getting to your feet and walking away, over to the rest of the group, who were already up and about, except for Mark, who was sitting down.

“I’m hungry”, Donghyuck complained. Mark nodded, ‘She’ll have food, don’t worry”

“She?”, you asked, joining the conversation. Mark looked over at you, offering a complacent smile, which you did not give back. “The place we’re going”, he explained, “There will be food there”

“There better be”, Chenle grumbled, leaning on one of the walls. He pulled away, making a face at the dust that had stuck to his clothes. Yuta joined the group, standing next to Taeyong, who greeted him with a nod.

Doyoung helped Mark up, offering his arm as support. Mark steadied himself, even though he would definitely need help walking. “We should head out”

Taeyong took Mark's other arm, and the three walked out slowly, the five of the rest of you following close behind. The sun was up, scorching hot, as your group trudged through the ruins of the city once again. This time, Taeyong walked beside you, conversing amiably, filling you in about the things you missed and such. He told you about Sicheng’s nightmares, the way Chenle refused to speak to anyone for a solid week after a lab session, how Doyoung fainted after an injection and how Donghyuck went along as Haechan for a month, copying Sicheng, but he kept forgetting to reply to it and so he stuck to Donghyuck.

It was like you had missed them completely, they were new people, almost. You wished you could tell him what you had done, but you couldn’t remember anything.

“Where are we?”, Doyoung asked Mark, who looked around, “The old marketplace, which is good news, it’s not far from here”

You would ask what ‘it’ was, but you reckoned you would get a generic “you’ll see”, which you had already gotten about three times so far. Whatever you were about to see better be fucking gold.

Mark led the group into a small alleyway, where he stopped in front of a door, gesturing to Yuta to do something. Yuta looked confused, but knocked on the run down, rusty looking door nevertheless.

The door creaked open, which didn’t do much for your nerves. A girl stood there, dark eyes, longish hair that had a braid in the front. She was a little shorter than you, from what you made out, but what intrigued you was the expression on her face.

She looked absolutely done.

“Yes, we have a permit, you came yesterday to ask me the same question, get ou-”

“Ahem”, Mark cleared his throat. Her eyes fell onto him lazily, but then they widened.

“Mark? Oh so you motherfucker actually pulled it off, I suspect these are the kids?”

“Kids?”, Sicheng asked, “Excuse you, all of us are adults-”

“Who have lived the majority of their lives in a shitshow, haven’t even experienced basic adult things! Kids”, she deadpanned, “Come on in, close the door behind you”, she walked back into a dark corridor, leaving the eight of you standing out there gaping.

“Well”, Taeyong mused, “She’s uh- something”

Mark grinned, “Yep, that’s Xing Yi for you! Let’s go, she has food”

That sentence alone was enough to lure Donghyuck and Chenle inside, with the rest of you following suit.

The corridor led to some sort of room, with a kitchen on one end, a lean table lining it. The walls on the kitchen were aligned with drinks of some sort, and the chairs were tall stools.

“What is this place?”

“This place is my home”, Xing Yi supposedly said, leaning against the table. She was pretty, a smirk on her lips. “Take a seat”

“More like a bar”

“Lee Minhyungi this is not a-”

“Minhyungi?”, a new voice joined the mix, an attractive man stepping out of the shadows. His hair was messy, a smirk on his face. “Jaehyun”, Mark greeted with a smile, “Hey.”

Xing Yi rolled her eyes, “We”, she started, “Are terrible hosts, I mean I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Li Xing Yi your saviour, and this, regrettably is my cousin Jung Jaehyun, but the only good thing about being related to him is that due to this thing called genes, I get to be pretty, now who wants a drink?”

You couldn’t help but smile at Xing Yi, something about her bluntness and matter of fact tone made you instantly like her.

“Actually food would be nice”, Doyoung said. Xing Yi’s eyes focused on the boy, nodding, “Okay, Jaehyun, get food”

“Are you-”

“Shoo”

Grumbling to himself, Jaehyun left to go do as his cousin instructed. She licked her lips, taking a seat at one of the stools. “Introduce yourself now, honestly, does this generation have no manners?”

“You’re our age”, Mark said dryly.

“I’m mature, now, introduce yourselves”, she looked at you, “Who are you?”

You were a little taken aback by her direct confrontation, but complied, “Y/n”

“Surnames people”, she said, “What if I knew another Y/n?”

“L/n”, you completed. She grinned, nodding, “And who is this attractive man”, she pointed to Doyoung, who was now visibly flustered. “Speak”

“Kim Doyoung”, he said. Xing Yi winked, looking at Sicheng, “And you?”

“Winwin”, the name slipped out almost immediately, “I’m Winwin”

Xing Yi looked exasperated, “Do you not have a surname dude?”

“Winwin isn’t his real name”, you blurted out, which caused your best friend to glare at you. He sighed, “Dong Sicheng”

“Thank you”, she said, “You’re cute too, so I’ll forgive you”

He blinked in surprise, probably wondering if he should thank her or not. Yuta took initiative, “I’m Nakamoto Yuta”

“Mark why are all your friends so attractive and what happened to you?”, she snickered, which caused Mark to whine out. “This one even gave me the surname without needing to be asked.”

Donghyuck introduced himself next, Chenle following suit. Xing Yi seemed to find the latter absolutely adorable, but eventually moved on to Taeyong who she described as ,’pretty boy’. You couldn’t even disagree with her.

Jaehyun eventually walked back into the room with food. It was some sort of meat, and it tasted better than anything the facility had ever given you. That was when the conversation took a slightly more serious path, with Xing Yi’s occasional sarcastic comments.

“So you’re telling me”, she said, but Jaehun interrupted.

“Us”

“-Me”, she stressed, “That they’re going to follow you and lead you to my home?”

You fell into silence, wondering how exactly to answer this. Yuta came to your rescue with a very well worded, “Basically.”

Xing Yi shrugged, “Okay, let's just get out before that happens”

“We’re leaving?”, Chenle asked, and Mark nodded, “Yeah, while we’ve escaped, this place isn’t as far from the facility as it seems. They can easily cover more ground than we can, so we need to move”

You finished the food pretty quickly, all of you were ravenous from not eating at all the previous day. Jaehyun seemed to take this as a compliment, praising himself and his ‘delectable cooking’, or so he called it.

After dinner, she led all of you to a room with mattresses aligning the floor. “Make yourselves comfortable”, Xing Yi said, “Choose whatever, I’ll be sleeping with y’all”, she sat down on one of the mattresses, claiming it.

“Uh, Xing Yi, I have an injury”, Mark informed her, pulling his pant leg up to reveal the gunshot wound.

“You tell me this now?”, she asked exasperatedly, “Come with me, the rest of you, sweet dreams I guess”, she wished as she dragged Mark out of the room.

But your dreams were anything but sweet.

Stranded alone in the corridor, your heartbeat quickened as you realized you were in the facility. You felt panicky, as if something terrible was going to happen. Your hands were clammy, your throat constricted.

And that was when the screams began.

Horrible, agonizing screams that resounded through, guttural cries for help, hoarse shrieks in pain. They bounced off the walls, falling back onto you. You could almost feel the person's pain, the screams echoing across the hallway creating a symphony of pain.

You staggered back, leaning against the wall for support. The voices seemed to increase, going louder and louder until you couldn’t hear yourself think. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to block it out.

And then it all stopped. The voices had drowned out, instead there was a single voice screaming out in pain. It was coming from a few feet away from you, so you used all your strength and walked towards it, wincing at every new cry. You landed up in front of a lab door, fingers curling around the knob as you pushed it open, wanting to know who was being tortured so.

In front of you lay Yuta in a chair, wires attached to various parts of his body as shocks were sent through him. The doctor above injected him with some sort of liquid, holding up a scalpel, much like your dream. To the right stood Mark looking at Yuta with sorrowful eyes, inspecting the entire thing.

Once more, a scream was to be heard, but this time, it was yours.

You jerked up in a cold sweat, fisting the sheets underneath you.

“You good?”, Yuta asked from behind, and you startled, turning around to face him so fast you almost got whiplash.

“Did I wake you?”, you asked. He nodded, “Yeah,surprisingly i got sleep with no nightmares, but from the way you were tossing and turning, I’ll say you weren’t as lucky”

You chuckled bitterly, “No, uh, sorry about waking you up”

“It’s okay”, he hummed, rubbing your back comfortingly to calm you down. Leaning slightly into his touch, you took deep breaths, forcing your breathing to return to its original state. It was ironic really, how in your dream he was the one in pain, and now you were, though this was a different sense of pain.

“Thank you”, you whispered, “But go back to sleep, I’ll be fine”

He gave you a look, but you assured him you’d be fine. It was as if he almost knew what you had seen, like he understood. Still, he turned around and laid down again. Sighing, your eyes narrowed on Mark’s sleeping figure.

Impulsively, you walked over, shaking the boy out of his sleep.

“What-Y/n?”

You clamped your hand over his mouth, “follow me, and don’t make a sound”

He nodded frantically, and you released your hand, helping him up, aware of his injury, which was now all fixed up, courtesy of Xing Yi. You led him out, shutting the door as quietly as you could.

“You will answer me”, you said firmly, “And you will tell me the truth”

He agreed, leaning against the wall, shifting his weight to the uninjured leg. “What do you want to know?”

“What did they do to us”, you asked, “what was done to us in the lab, in that place?”

He sighed, pulling off a glove from his right hand, to reveal a fully metal fhand. He fisted the fingers, then loosened them, letting you inspect it.

“This”, he said, “They did this”

You stared at it in a mixture of horror and fascination, “But none of us have that-”

“Humanic Artificial Intelligence, remember? They’re trying to merge the two, humanity and Artificial intelligence to create something new”, he put his glove back on, “I don’t know what they’re trying to do, but each of you has been altered, not as crudely as I have been either. More effort, more”, he paused to think.

“More dangerous.”

“So what I did-”

“No”, he said, “I’ve never seen that. Their goal is to make you weapons, but weapons they can control. From the way you reacted to it, it looks like you can’t control it either, and why would they make you go against the guards?”

You didn’t have an answer to this, instead you slumped against the wall, head in your hands. “Why”, you asked shakily, his words setting up a whole new level of complexity.

“That, I don’t know, but it’s not good”.

You recollected the blueprints you had seen, the number 3000 printed at the side. The structure for the metalloid creations. They were creating them, and trying to incorporate all of you into it too.

“We have to-”, you sucked in a deep breath, “We have to stop them, we have to-”

“Y/n”, he said, louder, “We don’t have to do anything. Right now, we have to focus on surviving and getting away from the H.A.I.F”

“But-”

“No”, Mark said firmly, we are not going to go back there, we are not going to do anything. You don’t have to be the hero”

You nodded, getting up and walking back into the room, with Mark behind you. You believed him for once, his hand was all the proof you needed. The new information sunk into you, striking up fear deep within. If they could control you, how long did you have until they found you?

How long until they found you all?

In the morning, Xing Yi supplied you all with new clothes, Jaehyuns for the boys and her clothes for you, along with packing bags of tinned food, and such. “We’re leaving in about an hour”, she said, so we will need supplies”

“I’m sorry, we?”, Sicheng asked.

“Just me, Jaehyuns staying here so they don’t take out home, I’m coming with you guys to help find a safe space, so that if we do, I can get Jaehyun along later. While we’ve been surviving, they still come and drag people into their experiments”, she explained. Taeyong looked skeptical, but agreed anyway.

Your group, with the addition of Xing Yi, set out to get further away from the facility. You quickly fell into line with her, having about a million questions.

“So you’ve lived out here all this time?”

She nodded, “Yup! Well, my parents died in the explosion when i was fifteen, so I’ve been with Jaehyun ever since, but if you’re asking if I’ve ever been cooped up in a madhouse like you have been, the answer is no”

“Explosion?”

“You mean you don’t know?”, she asked incredulously, “goodness, this is why you were in that place in the first place”, she scoffed, “But I’ll be the gracious person I am and tell you.”

You straightened, ready to hear whatever she was about to say. She didn’t even give you a chance to be sorry about her parents, she just said it so flippantly, as if it didn’t affect her.

“The explosion happened three times in total. The world was at war with itself, a repeat of the world wars, except it was worse this time. There were no alliances, no one standing together, it was each for their own”, she kicked a rock that ended up in her path, “There was so much violence, so many people were dying, it was horrible”

Mark looked behind, “We going to the station?”, he asked, to which Xing Yi nodded, “Yeah, if we’re lucky, Eric should come along. We can catch a ride with him”

Mark nodded, continuing to limp along, leading the way since he supposedly knew where it was. You realized that the two of them had had many conversations without you, planning out everything. It made you feel a little safer.

“Where was I? Oh right, everyone at eachothers throats, so, the first bombing was eleven years ago, the first release of nuclear material. While the explosion killed several, the after effects killed more. Everything was-is- toxic, the radiation is fatal, half of us died from radiation sickness. That was when H.A.I,F was formed, figuring that since humans were dying and they wouldn’t be able to do tasks we used to anymore, they set out to create machines to fulfill those tasks instead”

She paused, letting you drink this in. You gestured for her to continue.

“They got immersed in their goal, obsessed even, and started toying with the Idea of altering humans, not only to help humanity in general, but also to see if they could somehow let us live forever you know? From helping, their agenda turned selfish, for their own good. So they began taking children, separating families, gathering lab rats for their little experiments. So I suppose this was when they took you guys in.”

“The next two bombings only heightened their crazed obsession, and we are where we are now. There are some who are against the H.A.I.F and their mission, obviously, and so in order to take care of those people, they send out their armies and guards. Everything has been repurposed into a weapon, and all of you are weapons too”

You shivered at her words, rubbing your arms. It seemed to be colder today, a stark contrast to yesterday's blistering heat. You had so many more questions, but you knew one thing- They had to be stopped.

“Wait-then ho-”

“We’re here”, Mark called out. You had reached a gate, which you assumed led into the station. It wasn’t in particularly good shape either, rusted and run down, the spikes on the top practically crumbling down. Xing Yi walked ahead, pushing it open and walking through. Inside was a pathway, tiled, with a sort of roof made of thin metal. The middle was sunk down, with old tracks in it.

“Now what?”, Donghyuck asked, taking a seat on one of the brittle old benches that sat at the side. Chenle joined him.

“Now, we wait”, Xing Yi informed him, “We really can’t go anywhere until Eric comes”

“Who’s Eric?”, Taeyong asked, taking a seat as well. He ran a hand through his dark hair, letting out a tired sigh. They were all tired, you could see it on their faces. Tired of running, tired of being scared.

“Eric is a friend, he comes along occasionally and takes us to the next city”, Mark explained, “I used to come here during breaks”

Sicheng wrapped an arm around you as you sunk into his embrace, shutting your eyes for a moment. It seemed as if he instinctively knew that you needed some sort of warmth. Mark stood at Xing Yi’s side as they talked about something. It was dull inside the station, the metal roof preventing any light from entering, except from the cracks.

But it felt too quiet, and while sometimes it was a peaceful thing, this felt like an onset, the calm before the storm. You looked around, scanning the area.

There were three benches on the other side, the other platform, as well. At the end were an array of shops all abandoned and rotting. There was a train shed, the inside was completely dark, but there was a red blinking light, very small, but it was definitely there.

There was one near the shops too, lurking in the dark, and one beneath one of the benches on the other side.

You pulled away from Sicheng, narrowing your eyes at them. You realized that it was all around you, perfectly gathering your little group and cornering them. “Guys”, you called out shakily, “I think-”

A gunshot whizzed passed you, nicking your ear and hitting the wall. You stumbled back, in a mix of fear and shock. Xing Yi spun on her feet, eyeing the bullet that had fallen down. The rest of them jumped to their feet as they realized what was happening.

The H.A.I.F had found you.

The guards started getting out of the shadows with their guns and weapons. They wore helmets and more protective gear than they usually did. Donghyuck grabbed Chenle roughly by the arm and pulled him towards you, since their bench had been slightly away from the rest.

“Um, Mark?”, Xing Yi, “Where is your-”

“I dropped it back at the facility”, he said.

“Fucking fantastic”, she muttered, “So what now?”

Chenle screamed, his hand shooting to his neck and grasping it, falling into Donghyuck, who barely caught the boy. Your eyes snapped to him, before looking at the guard in the back, who was holding a tab of sort, clicking something and inspecting Chenle. Much to your horror, you pierced it together, realizing that they were controlling him, just like how everyone had warned you.

He writhed in pain as Donghyuck helplessly tried to calm him, holding the boy as gently as possible so as to not cause him any more pain. Hyuck looked at Taeyong in alarm, who tried helping, asking where it hurt, trying to be of some assistance, but Chenle couldn’t even speak.

“Eric fucking arrive”, Xing Yi muttered, looking around for something, before crouching down and picking up a rod that sat next to her feet, holding it up as a makeshift weapon.

Donghyuck was the next experimenter who collapsed, clasping his left leg’s thigh. Taeyong looked alarmed, not knowing how he was to help both of them at the same time, when he couldn't even help one. Yuta backed away to the Sicheng and you.

You ignored the sting in your ear, and the thin trail of blood trickling down your neck, and instead, tried to get to Mark, who was cornered by two of the guards, when something caught your leg and you fell over. Looking behind, you saw one of the guards using a thin wire-ish metal to trap you, and pulled, causing you to drag along the ground towards him.

Doyoung seemed to be in some sort of trance, his iris dilated and face blank. He stood there like a statue, not reacting to the chaos around him.

Sicheng seemed to be stuck too, except this was different, he looked scared, like he was seeing something in his subconscious, and it terrified him to the point where he couldn't move.

You hated it, the way they had control over everyone in some way, forcing you to obey and follow their commands.

“Sir, it's not working on her”, the guard who was pulling you by the foot said into his mic. A crackling sound was heard, before a new voice joined the mix, “Obviously not you idiot, that’s why you need to kill her!”

Desperating seemed to make its way to your gut, as you tried to pry it off your foot, to no avail.

And that was when the horn sounded.

The brash sound of the horn cut through everything else, making even the guards still in shock. Xing Yi smiled a pained smile, as she spotted the train making its way to the platform where the chaos was unfolding. The guards seemed to pick this up, and doubled everything they were doing. Donghyuck and Chenle were rendered useless, crying in their agony.

Somehow getting the wire off, you clambered to your feet, pulling Sicheng, who had snapped out of this trance as soon as you pulled him, and Yuta along to help Taeyong with Chenle and Donghyuck. Chenle seemed to have passed out, which made it easier to get him up and drag him to the side of the platform, but the guards were slowly closing in.

Xing Yi shouted from afar to alert the train, and Eric you supposed, of your presence. The train skid to a stop, causing a less than pleasant sound that reminded you of the high pitched alarm back at the facility.

“GET ON”, the man from inside screamed at you, and you looked back, helping the man grab Chenle’s unconscious body, and get him inside. Mark seemed to be holding the guards off somehow, trying to plead with one, labelled, JW 19”

“Jungwoo, please”

“You betrayed the facility”, Jungwoo apparently said calmly, “You lost out trust”

“No”, he said, they hurt them, I’m-”

“I’ll give you three seconds, Mark Lee, run to your little group, after that”, he smiled sweetly, but it was terrifying, “After that we will take extreme measures”

Your mind raced, what was this if not extreme? You helped Donghyuck up next, Xing Yi following.

“One”, Jungwoo drawled, pulling the trigger. Mark turned around and ran, but not to the train, instead to Doyoung. He tried to tell the boy to move, but it was like Doyoung couldn’t listen, instead he walked in the other direction towards the guards.

“Two”

Taeyong screamed for Doyoung to come over, panicking at his friends actions, but Doyoung paid no heed. One of the guards tied his hands and restrained the boy. Taeyong looked absolutely livid at this, but he couldn’t do anything from the train. Mark decided to make a run for it to the train, realizing that he couldn’t help Doyoung.

“Three”, Jungwoo said almost gleefully, releasing the trigger.

The thing was, Mark was so close, almost at arm's reach from the train. He would’ve made it, he could’ve but Jungwoo’s shot was perfect. Mark stumbled and staggered, falling to his feet, giving up.

You screamed, watching as Mark crumbled, as he died in front of your eyes just because he tried saving all of you. The boy who you had just started to trust again, the boy who saved your life not once but twice.

You saw the boy you had grown up with, who had been taken away, and now he was taken again.

Jungwoo smiled, mockingly blowing off the top of the gun and walking back to the rest of the guards, chaining up Doyoung and forcing the boy into one of the cars. You wanted to run down there, and hold Mark, ask him to be okay, to be alive.

But Yuta held you back, circling his arm around you so that you wouldn’t go back down there. Sicheng stood in disbelief burying his face in his hands, unable to look at Mark’s limp body anymore.

Donghyuck let out a silent scream for his friend, tears running down his face. He shook violently, the aspect of losing Mark hitting him in the gut.

“Drive”, Xing Yi ordered the man, “Drive far and fast, and do it now”, her voice was low and dark, trying not to show her emotions at Mark’s loss.

“You can run!”, Jungwoo said in a sing- song voice, “But we will find you”, he warned, chuckling. That was the thing that unsettled you the most, that they would always find you. The train sprung to life again, which was a bitterly ironic twist of fate, as you drove off, leaving two of your friends behind.

Somewhere along the line of his grieving, Donghyuck had fallen asleep, exhausted. All of you were shaken by the recent events, even Xing Yi had nothing to say.

The driver had stopped once, to introduce himself and tell you where he was taking your now reduced group. His name was Eric Nam, and he was Xing Yi’s friend.

He was also one of Mark’s friends, so when you told him about the lost boy, he looked so shaken, he left the train compartment to be alone.

Taeyong however, it was like seeing an entirely new person. Usually calm and composed, he snapped at every little thing, absolutely losing it when the train left the station, and left Doyoung behind in the hands of the H.A.I.F. He was absolutely livid, and it scared you to see your friend change so much in the span of a few minutes. But you understood where it was coming from. Doyoung had been Taeyong’s constant companion his entire life, and the prospect of losing him, while he wasn’t dead, was terrifying.

Sicheng tried his best to comfort, somewhat knowing the grief he was going through. On top of Doyoung gone, he had to deal with Mark’s death as well. It seemed to loom over everyone, and this whole idea of getting away was becoming more and more real, but at what cost?

You knew the facility would hurt Doyoung, and you knew that Taeyong wasn’t going to let them take his best friend away from him. You had to somehow stop the H.A.I.F, from doing their ‘alterations’ as they called it, from hurting anyone more.

“You don’t have to be the hero”, Mark had told you. But you didn’t want to be even that. You had no choice, but to stop them, before they stopped you. You had to do this for Donghyuck, for Taeyong, for Sicheng and for yourself above anyone else.

You would go back to the facility and get Doyoung back.

Yuta rubbed your back as if he could sense the emotional turmoil within. You offered him a weak smile, looking at Chenle’s still unconscious figure.

Just as you predicted, War was coming, and they had all the supplies to fight back, and defeat you, with the machines they were creating, and their little controlling devices, their lab coats and research, but you were something they hadn’t expected, something they had tried to get rid of two years ago and had failed.

Something that would bring about the revolution.

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