MICHAEL
It had been a few days but Michael knew he found the final base when he spotted the trail blaze. It was a huge mark but it was a clever one. He had to travel rocky, bumpy hills where the trees started to become shorter and shorter the higher he climbed. Soon, he was trampling through sharp thorns and branches that would bend and slap his face. A few of them tugged and ripped his skin in long scratches but he kept moving.
A little pain wasn't going to stop him now.
Soon, the grounds became more stable. Less muddy, wet.
The path became devoid of various hues of green. What welcomed him was concrete, dust and rubbles on it as it transitioned from brown soil. Buildings in ruin stood up from the ground, stones and rusted metal lying on every step of his way. There were weeds protruding from the dusty floors and veins climbing the walls and through the cracks of the cement buildings.
There was nothing here to signal life besides Michael's own breathing, harsh and heavy from the exertion.
And the mark he was looking for stood in front of him, just another ten more minutes of walk once he reached into the zone of an abandoned town. Keeping his ears out for anything suspicious, he kept his shoulders tight and eyes zoned right at what was ahead. Standing tall, tilted a little to the right with top half of the building gone, was the landmark he was trying to find. It was just like any other rotted, crumbling architecture here to the untrained eye.
But Michael knew better.
He knew this was the place.
If he walked into the gaping hole which was once a door, he would come into a large space, devoid of anything to remind him of the building's past. Just a ground with grass and small flowers growing through the gaps and light narrowing into a spotlight in the middle of it, dark shadows surrounding areas the sun couldn't get to.
Etched on one of the pillars right at the entrance was a small symbol. Carved into the cement. It looked just like any other dents and nothing interesting, merely a sign that whatever happened to this place had an impact to its interior as much as it had to the exterior — followed by the course of nature from years it was left to decay affecting it. But Michael knew this was the trail blaze he was supposed to find besides the big landmark.
That symbol that looked like a smile, exactly at this pillar, second from the entrance, was the one he was to find.
His heart raced.
He was near.
A few more steps and he would be welcomed to what he hoped to be where the rest of his people were. Desperately, with every fibre he could muster in him, he hoped that the remainder of the Uprising had arrived. He was overdue by two days because of the path he had to take, but if his calculations were correct, everyone else, or at least the majority of them should have arrived by now.
Stepping closer to the brightest spot in the middle of the area, he took in a deep breath. He glanced around the place. There was nothing that stood out to him to indicate the entrance of the new base. A frown spread on his lips and his eyebrows furrowed. He turned his body into a circle, cataloguing each nook and cranny that caught his attention.
Still, there wasn't anything that made him think it was the entrance.
That was when he heard it.
A very quiet hiss sliced through the air.
From his peripheral vision, what was once a patch of the ground disappeared, revealing a metal square. A square with a familiar looking latch. He took cautious steps toward it. Rationally, this door could only belong to the last base but it was better to be safe than sorry.
In this field of work, anything was possible.
He was about to lean down after one more look around him when the door moved. Pushed vertically, the metallic door swung upwards before stopping in a ninety-degree angle. Michael took a step back, his fingers itched to grab the gun that was holstered around his hip. His shoulders relaxed when Elly popped out of the hole from the ground, a smile on her face.
"We were wondering what took you so long," she said.
Michael heard the worry in her voice. He huffed a breath, cracking a grin, relief washing into him. Elly made it. She was here. Looking tired and messy with her hair all over the place, but she was here.
"Want to invite me home anytime soon?" Michael joked when Elly didn't make a move to let him into the narrow path downwards.
She smiled. "Come on in. Everyone's been waiting for you."
She only moved after tossing one more look at him. That mere action sent alarms off in his head. Replacing the smile with a frown, he followed Elly down into the hole, the door closing just as he was four steps down the ladder. Blue lights glowed around him, dim but enough illumination for him to know he had at least a minute or so before he reached the bottom.
When his feet touched a metallic ground, he let go of the ladder. The blue lights died, changing into yellow. Elly stood close to him, her eyes searching his face. Michael almost didn't hug her back, taken aback when she tossed her arms around him, burying her face against his chest. He let himself be comforted by the familiar warmth, happy at the fact that his friend hadn't died. Or captured.
He let her go, loosening his hold on her when she pulled away. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He touched her face, smiling in assurance. She nodded at the unspoken words and took a step back, sighing.
"You didn't happen to have seen Min Seo on the way, did you?" Elly asked, her voice shook.
Michael's eyes widened.
His heart almost stopped beating.
He stared at her, his throat drying. That was it. That was what made his stomach churn and the panic that had been thrumming in the back of his head rush to the front of his thoughts. This was what made Elly look like that — as if something had gone wrong.
"Min Seo?" Michael echoed her. "What— Did she not arrive?"
"She's late," Elly said, rubbing her right arm. "Min Jae's going crazy in worry."
"Fuck." He pushed his hands through his hair. "Fuck."
Elly glanced over her shoulders at the door that was dividing them from the entrance to the inner bunker. "I hope she's alright."
Michael couldn't assure her that. Out of everything, they both knew that that was the last thing they could hope for. "Elly."
Her shoulders hunched, making her look smaller than her already-small-stature. "I know."
"Let's," Michael said, "let's go in."
Elly nodded, straightening her posture. Her eyes were at least two shades darker from worry and anxiousness, a look no doubt mirroring Michael's own face. But there was nothing they both could do for now. While there was the dangerous habit of hoping, he— they knew enough by now that it was best to assume the worst.
Because the worst was usually what happened.
An image of Min Seo dead, blood pooling underneath her with bullet holes littering her body flashed into his mind. The soulless look in those once warm dark eyes sent a shiver running down his spine. His stomach churned again and nausea threatened to make itself known.
Swallowing through the dryness in his throat, he followed Elly as she made her way to the heavy duty doors. There was a bright red light glowing in and out of existence. She stood there before she looked up to the right corner of the door. With a nod, the doors slid open, red light turning green.
It was a little old-fashioned, the ways the doors opened. He deduced that this place wasn't caught up to speed in technology with what they were used to in previous bases. A setback but a minor one. He had a handful of people who knew how to makeshift something from anything. They would be fine as long as they make do wisely with what they were given and found.
The hallway that greeted them past the door was narrow, covered from ceiling to floor was the familiar metal he was accustomed to. With every clang his boots made on the ground, his shoulders relaxed marginally. He would be lying if his paranoia hadn't been trying to get a hold of his mind for the past few days. Now that he was here, he could rearrange his thoughts and refocus his attention to what was happening.
Starting with the actual issue of contacting the leader of the rebellion from Area E1.
The green eyes that were burned into his brain flashed in his head for a second. He frowned. Cyrille was that boy's name. A boy who didn't look like he was out of his twenties yet. A boy who apparently led the rebellion in Area E1. It would be a hard tale to believe if he hadn't met Dae Hee and that man had been in the game since he was born, similar to what Min Jae and Min Seo had been doing.
He shut down that train of thought, redirecting it to the lack of resources to stabilise and cloak the signal when contacting Cyrille.
"What's the progress on the connection to contact Area E1's rebellion team?" Michael asked.
Elly rubbed the back of her neck. "We're working on it. We're working with limited technology."
"We don't know how long we can stay here," Michael said, catching her attention.
He didn't continue his sentence, letting the warning hang in the air. Her eyes hardened before she gave a curt nod, lips pursed.
"I know," she said. "I hope we'll figure something out before the end of this week too."
He needed to head to where his team was to contribute more manpower so they could quicken this process. Walking down what seemed to be an endless, narrow hallway for a minute more, they finally got to the stairs. He climbed down them with Elly in tow, sometimes skipping two steps at once.
"Where's my team?" he asked.
"In the lab on the third floor."
Michael abruptly stopped his descend. His eyebrows raised. "Third floor?"
Elly shrugged. "This place is huge. Felt like this was probably the original base with how big it is."
"How big are we talking here?"
"About five floors down from the entrance."
He let that information sink in his mind, eyes wide. "That's big."
"I know." Elly smiled, amusement playing on her features. "Let's keep going. One more flight of stairs and we'll be at level one."
Michael followed her before they were greeted with another heavy duty door with the same pattern of red light at the top of it. This time, Elly pressed a button one the right side of the frame before it slid opened. Going through a small, thankfully, shorter hallway, he walked into a big open space. The area was decorated with monitors up against walls, holographs of the base and the World Map on the left and in the middle of it all were workstations. Row by row, accompanied by other machines and wires creating small balls on the grounds and near desks.
It was chaos in here.
People were bustling about, tablets in hands as they walked past him, eyes brightening every time they caught his appearance. Some were hunched against their terminals, typing and coding. It was a sight to see. A real headquarters, if he was to be precise.
It made his heart clench in his chest.
If Dae Hee could see this.
"Michael!"
He turned to the voice and relaxed further when he saw Ricky heading his way. The current leader of the Uprising hadn't gone missing. That was something positive, he supposed. Ricky was pushed aside as Min Jae stomped toward him, his eyes looking around Michael. He knew who this kid was looking for. He shook his head when Min Jae looked at him.
"I haven't seen her," he said.
Min Jae's jaw clenched. "That's it. I can't just sit here and do nothing anymore. I have to go and find her."
"Jae," Ricky said, placing a hand on his shoulder which was shaken off immediately.
"She's important to me," Min Jae exclaimed, turning to look at the young leader. "I can't do this without her."
Michael understood him. He did. But it wasn't a good idea to leave the base to find her. They couldn't afford to lose anyone else. He took a step toward the anxious man, meeting the dark eyes.
"Min Jae, I don't think that's a good idea. You can't leave," he said.
Min Jae pulled his lips upwards into a sneer. His eyes lit up in anger as he straightened his posture. Michael was aware that Dae Hee's son had a temper problem but he wasn't expecting to be subjected with the aggression that came along with it. Fingers pressed against his chest, he was pushed. He stumbled a few steps back, eyes wide as the absurdity of what had happened crawled into his mind. Ricky took control of the situation the very next second, wrapping a hand around Min Jae's arm.
"Don't tell me what to do," Min Jae said. "You're not the boss of me."
"Min Jae, calm down," Ricky said.
"No, fuck you, Ricky." Min Jae turned to face him and push the hand that was on him. "I lost my sister. My only family. I'll be damned if I'm stuck here while she's out there alone."
"She's strong," Ricky said, his voice soft. "Maybe the path she took was longer."
"Maybe isn't going to save her if she's in trouble," Min Jae spat. "I'm going."
That was a horrible idea. And it was an opinion that everyone shared from the disapproval look Elly was giving Min Jae to the worried one Ricky was harbouring. A sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head, narrowing his eyes at the kid.
"Look," Michael said, "you going out there isn't going to do anyone favours. What are you going to do if she's really in trouble, huh? Save her yourself?"
"It's a hell lot better than just sitting here listening to you all accepting that she's dead!"
"Min Jae." Ricky placed a hand once more on Min Jae's shoulder. This time, it wasn't shaken off. "We're just saying to give it a bit more time. She's a smart girl. You know your sister is strong. There's probably a reason why she's late."
Michael's heart clenched when Min Jae's face fell. His eyes that held anger vanished, replaced by a crushed look. The kid bowed his head and looked to the ground, his fingers clenched into fists. He understood how it felt, the thought of losing someone who he came to love and cared for. The guilt at not being able to do anything to save them would forever haunt him until the day he died.
And Min Jae shouldn't experience that.
He understood it all.
While he sympathised, he stood by his decision.
Losing Min Jae too wasn't going to help with anything.
"She can't be gone," Min Jae said, his voice barely above a whisper. "She just can't."
"I know," Ricky said. "I know."
Michael ran his fingers through his hair, glancing at Elly who looked back at him. There was the familiar pain in those eyes, the same kind of hurt he still experienced to this day. Mourning for the ones who had died even though they didn't have the luxury to properly get over them. Constantly reminded that everything they did would ultimately lead them to losing more people they would come to love.
It was a vicious cycle.
An alarm rang through the base, twice before it was silenced. It was a loud, screeching noise that startled him. Shoulders tensed, he turned to look at the people at the stations, noting that one of the bigger screens against the wall showcased a surveillance footage.
"Someone's outside the base," Elly said as she moved past Michael to head to the workstation where that monitor was.
Michael followed her, his eyes widened when he saw the footage showed the area where the entrance of the base was. Standing in the middle of the place, just as Michael had been a few minutes ago, was a woman with a man.
When that woman tilted her head up to scan the opening in the building, Michael's heart almost leaped out of his chest.
"Seo!" Min Jae said. "It's Seo! Let her in!"
"No, wait," one of the people at the terminal said, pointing at the man standing next to her. "That— Who's that?"
Michael's whole body locked in place when he recognised the uniform the person was wearing. "An Official?"
Silence washed into the scene before dread and — sparks of betrayal accompanied it.
"No," Min Jae said. "No, it... That isn't— That can't be an Official. It's Seo. Come on!"
"Someone needs to talk to her before letting her in," the same person managing the workstation said.
"What? But it's Seo!" Min Jae yelled. "It's her! Why—"
"Let's talk to her first," Ricky said, his words were quiet.
Min Jae stopped talking, snapping his head to look at him.
This was less than ideal situation they got going on here. Why would Min Seo bring an Official with her?
There had to be something wrong here.
"Maybe she needs help," Michael said, hoping to diffuse the tension that was rising between Min Jae and the rest of them. "We'll talk to her and then let her in."
"You're treating her like a criminal," Min Jae hissed, looking at him.
"We're not," he assured. "We're just making sure that the Official isn't holding her at gunpoint or something."
The excuse seemed to work when Min Jae looked back at the surveillance footage in front of them. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Fine."
"I'll go," Ricky said.
"No, you stay here," Michael said, unwilling to let their current leader walk into any kind of danger for now. "I'll go."
"I'm going too." Min Jae frowned, his shoulders squared.
The kid wasn't going down without a fight if Michael argued. And they didn't have time to lose either, so he nodded once.
"Alright. Let's go find out why there's an Official at our doorstep."