Together With You | pjm

1. The Beginning of Everything

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"No!"

Nari groaned in exasperation when another attempt to make the cure failed again, white puffy smoke attacking the face shield she was wearing from the tiny explosion before her. Next to her, was her trustworthy lab partner, another fellow scientist labelled as a genius snickering at her failure.

"And that marks the hundredth attempt by Doctor Oh and Doctor Kim." Taehyung grinned mischievously, laughing silently when Nari glared daggers at him.

"I don't need you to remind me, Doctor Kim." Nari pouted sullenly while documenting her failure again. "To be honest, I'm not really sure whether I want this cure to work. It will only make Train to Busan come true."

Taehyung immediately nudged her side. "Shh! Don't say that out loud! Do you want the government people to kill you?"

Nari scowled. "They damn well know that they need me, and you, not any lesser, to make this damn cure work."

"Still, you should watch what you say out loud sometimes, Nari. It will save you lots of trouble." Taehyung advised genuinely, and Nari nodded in defeat.

Nari and Taehyung were good friends, both forced to join this secret lab project after graduating from biomolecular science with distinctions. The government controlled them by ensuring their families with food to eat and shelters to live underneath, and if they were to rebel, the government wouldn't be merciful in killing off all of them as well.

Still in their twenties, both young and bounded by the government's grasps, they could only obey and make a cure to bring the dead back, even though they weren't really sure whether it would work or not. They were still in the first phase, trying out various formulas by experimenting on innocent lab mice to find the one true formula to make the cure.

As they began to restart the entire process again, Taehyung spoke. "Did you know that the military forces have a secret camp above this lab?"

"Who told you that?" Nari frowned. "There are only... you and me here."

"Oh Nari," Taehyung teased her by using her surname again, "did you really think that we are the only humans living down here? There are plenty of tunnels leading to other bases, and there are also a hell lot of guards hiding in the places we can't see."

"Oh." Nari was dumbfounded at the information.

Taehyung tutted. "No surprise for a lab geek like you though, you practically live inside this damn lab."