Rattling of the chains echoes through the dark alleyway they are walking. Worn out lamps interval five minutes walk from each one light up the tunnel, sending eeriness down their spine as they follow Hongjoong's track. Each step feels heavier as their shoes start to soak in the puddle of mud that is never ending. Wooyoung moves by Hongjoong's right side while Jongho takes his other left side. He doesn't complain, instead fastens his pace when their ears catch little sounds of a slight movement around them. Arin follows them closely from the back, minding her own business as she walks.
Mingi is still holding San's shoulder up as he walks slowly, matching his height with him by lowering down his head. San's arm wraps around his shoulder, which from time to time he tries to lift it off to release some pressure off Mingi. He has his head down all through the journey, feeling a bit embarrassed with the state he is in even though Mingi had told him repeatedly he was fine with helping him.
San doesn't like to appear weak, and he loathes needing help from any human kind but Mingi is just as stubborn as him. He couldn't refuse anymore and surrendered to Mingi's helping hands.
Elenna on the other hand is walking further behind all of them, her eyes lingering around the tunnel as she catches the sight of water dripping down to floor. It is so dark that she could hardly see what's more to the tunnel, but she makes use of the limited light shining above them. A small fear creeps up on her as she suddenly sees a black creature, a small one, crawling up to the nearest lamp that they are currently passing by. Elenna rubs her eyes repeatedly, wanting to make sure what she sees isn't some mere illusion. She doesn't realise her legs have already stopped moving, and the rest of the group is heading far off.
"Hongjoong.." her voice greets everyone's ears, as the rest of them turn around. Mingi squints his eyes as he realises that she is quite far back from the rest of them.
"El! What are you looking at? Come here, fast!" he calls out, still trying to figure out what Elenna is doing. His grip on San is still steady, preventing him from tripping over the mud. "Elenna!"
"I'm fine!" Elenna replies, shouting from her side. Her eyes trace the creature as it crawls upward. It has black scales on its body, with burning red tendrils lingering on top of it, looking similar to the vein in our body. Elenna's heart stops for a while when the creature suddenly stops, before it slowly turns to face her. She doesn't move from her spot, staying rooted as she tries to take a good look at it. The more she looked at it, the more confused she became.
The shape looks like a tarantula, but it has a big shell covering its body. A sudden fear ignites in her as she takes a step back, her eyes slowly realising there's something else on top of the weird creature's body aside from the shell.
A pair of black wings.
"ELENNA DON'T TOUCH IT!"
Hongjoong screams on top of his lungs as he pushes the other from his way, running towards Elenna who is already screaming on the ground as the black creature attacks her face, flapping its black wings to reach her. Her hands move rapidly on top of her face, pushing against the wind as she tries to block the creature away from coming closer. Her screams mix with Hongjoong's own scream as he scrambles towards Elenna, a small handkerchief from his pocket when he arrives at her.
Frantically, he pulls her from the ground before putting the handkerchief on top of her head as he forcefully ducks it down to prevent the creature from getting to them. They run forward as Hongjoong flaps his own hands, still shouting as much as he can.
"Run! Go! RUN! Run until you see a silver door with a warning sign painted on it! GO!"
Without wasting any second, Wooyoung and Jongho quickly run away from their spot, trying to navigate through the dark tunnel as they tumble a few times. Mingi and San try their best to catch up with the other as San slowly loses his grip on Mingi. He looks at San with horror, thinking San is losing his balance but immediately sighs in relief when he sees him running on his own. All of them run forward, praying whatever it is that happens, all of them will survive.
Hongjoong holds the handkerchief down on Elenna's forehead as they run through the tunnel, each second getting closer to the rest of them. Wooyoung is already way far ahead that the rest couldn't even see him, but his voice echoes just right after they thought they lost him.
"Guys! The door!" he shouts eagerly, panting as he slows down, now walking towards the door Hongjoong had told them. He twists the handle but it stucks, locked from the inside. Anger and fear subsides as he tries again, confirming that it's indeed locked from the other side. Wooyoung then goes to walk backward from the door, calculating his move as his eyes are fixed on the door. Letting out a scream, he breaks into a run towards the door and just right before his body crashes the metal, Wooyoung strikes the surface of the door with his right foot, smashing it open by one go.
Wooyoung doesn't get to balance himself as he falls inside the door, and as much to his unluckier fate, the door leads to an open staircase going downward. His body rolls on the stairs as he lets out a splitting ear scream each time it hits each of the stairs, before it finally stops at the end of it.
Mingi and San arrive together with Arin suit just after Wooyoung smashed the door open. Mingi then turns back outside, his eyes catching the sight of Hongjoong and Elenna running towards them. He shouts towards them, desperately wanting them to reach the door faster. The creatures are already all around them, ready to savour both of them up. More of the black creatures appear out of nowhere as small shrieks coming from them giving goosebumps to Mingi as he only watches Hongjoong and Elenna helplessly.
"Please! Faster!"
As if on cue, Hongjoong pushes Elenna right into the door before slamming it close, accidentally hitting all of them as they roll down the stairs, each letting a scream out when they hit the basement. Hongjoong's hand stays on the door handle as he breathes, feeling a pulse nearly lost inside him. He takes a deep breath, registering what happened to him just now.
Mingi grumbles as he feels his head thumping, as a result of head butting Jongho when he falls down the stairs. San frowns, realising his body now acquires new blisters and wounds. Wooyoung is now sitting against the wall, rethinking his life decision as his eyes turn towards Arin who is still laying flat on the floor, face on top of the ground.
Arin lets out a sigh, taking in the pain that surges through from her nose. She feels liquid trickling down from it, which she let it be. She stays on the ground without moving, mumbling something to herself.
"Oh my god, what the fuck was that?" Jongho was the first one to break the silence between them, frowning as he dusted the rubbles off his clothes.
Hongjoong makes his way down the stairs towards the others, but San's voice fills in the void, which he decides to keep quiet instead.
"That stupid morph creature," San breathes, inspecting his own wounds, "it's the bloodchax isn't it?"
Hongjoong nods, before urging them to stand up, "yeah, now let's go. We can't afford another attack of those creatures. Who knows what harm they could bring towards us."
Wooyoung lets out a frown, straightening his legs as he tries to stand. The pain inflicted on his body, making his whole body sore due to the stair fall. Slowly, Jongho also follows him, each time letting a small sigh as he feels pain on his lower limbs.
Arin runs her hand through her hair as she ties it up in a bun, frowning as her bangs still cover her face. Jongho looks at her, before moving to walk by her side. He can see that she's still struggling to push her bangs away from her face, pulling out something from his pocket, handing it to her.
"Where did you get that?" Arin gives him a look, as her eyes gradually fall to the thing in Jongho's hand. A hair pin.
"First morning at VESTRA. Before I went into the tube, I saw it on the necessity table. Thought it would be useful as some kind of weapon though it's quite dumb now that I think about it."
Arin lets out a laugh, accepting the hair pin and proceeds to pin her hair backward. "Now that's much better. Thanks."
"No problem. By the way, may I ask something?" he utters, as both of them follow the others walking forward. Arin raises an eyebrow, she can see curiosity all over his face.
"What is the bloodchax? I mean, I know it's a pretty stupid question but.."
"What's so stupid of wanting to know what you're dealing with?" Arin butts in, rolling her eyes, "bloodchax is that damn black creature that possesses a very strong venom. I don't know much about it because I didn't really encounter one before during my training, but I think San was assigned to it during his training. All I know is one bite from them can instantly kill you off."
Jongho nods as she continues, "though I'm not really sure on this one but some people said that the venom also has similarities to the virus. Meaning that if one got bitten, they'll experience the same shit as the one who is infected by the virus too."
"They turn into crawlers?"
"That's what I heard," she nods, "scary shit."
All of them continue their journey through the dark room, passing a few more vacant rooms that look like they have been abandoned. Mingi now focuses on helping Elenna as they walk, checking on her condition when she repeatedly pushes him away, saying there's nothing wrong with her. He can sense worry etching all over her face as she walks away, hugging arms close to her body.
"Why do we have to use this basement path anyway?" Jongho's voice suddenly emerges from the narrow corridor that they are currently walking through, "everything about this is sketchy. Are you sure you're taking us to Yeosang and not somewhere else?"
His mocking tone reverberates through Hongjoong's ears as he let out a desperate sigh, a hint of frustration colours his face.
"You can't be seen by other newbies," he replies, clicking his tongue after, "you were brought here under special request and my job is only to take you to where they want you to be so please, just listen to me for once if you want to make things easier between us."
Jongho falls silent upon hearing him, and decides to keep the curiosity that's slowly killing him away. After a few minutes that feels like an eternity to all of them, they finally reach another door that has a warning sign pasted on it. No one questions a thing when Hongjoong scans his identification card that grants them an access in, as they finally realise that he is not one of them.
Hongjoong is just one of VESTRA. He is not on their side. He never is and never will.
As each of them take a step inside, their eyes hurt upon the bright light that shines upon them. Elenna rubs her eyes, trying to adjust to the change as she walks forward not knowing what to expect next. Her body is still sore from the bloodchax attack, the weird black creatures still haunt her mind as she tries to shrug it off, hugging her arms tighter to herself.
Jongho takes notice of Elenna's demeanour but decides to just let it be, not wanting to make things even more worse than it already is.
A sudden breeze greets their cheek when Hongjoong reaches out to open another door, this time it is a huge sliding glass door that can fit on everyone even if they walk all side by side. Arin walks up first, eager to find out what's on the other side of the room. Her eyes lay upon two beds, equipped with screens and wires attached to it, and a huge monitor on each side of the bed, monitoring vitals of the occupants.
"This is where I will leave you guys to," Hongjoong utters, slowly moving towards a door near him, "please. please survive. Whatever you do, just survive."
Before any of them get to catch up to him, he quickly runs towards the door and slam it close behind them. Three beeps catch their ears as the door locks them away from the other side. Wooyoung let out a scream out of frustration because he was close to hold Hongjoong back, but he slips away in a matter of seconds.
"Stupid!" Wooyoung screams, kicking the door multiple times before he eventually stops.
"Yeosang! It's Yeosang!"