A coarse yell startled Wooyoung from his slumber. Instantly, he shot up and threw San's arm off his body. Disoriented fingers grabbed for his rifle as his eyes strained to focus.

"No! Go away, no!" Someone cried. Behind Wooyoung, San also fumbled for consciousness. After wearing each other out last night, they caught some unexpected sleep. It had been too brief for nightmares to plague Wooyoung, but he wished he had more time to rest. His eyes felt swollen and his brain took longer than usual to catch up. By the time he made it to his feet, he realized Mingi and Jongho perched by their sides, awake and nonchalant towards the hollering.

When Wooyoung remembered Hongjoong, his eyes found the spot where he had last seen him. During the night, he must have crawled closer to their camp, but held a cautious distance. Yunho was trying to feed him again, but it was as if Hongjoong had forgotten their tentative acquaintance from last night. He kicked and yelled, tried to bite at Yunho's arms that held him at a distance without manhandling him down. 

Yeosang was frantically digging through his bag when Wooyoung passed him to check on Yunho. He slung his rifle over his shoulder. The scrawny body of the patient was no match for Yunho's enormous frame.

"He must be in pain again," Wooyoung frowned. No blood reddened the bandages yet, but it would soon if Hongjoong didn't stop worming around. The frenzy on his features was uncaring about any additional damage. He just needed to get away.

"Yeosang is preparing his medicine. At this point, I believe he is afraid of any human." Upset that he had to fight the terrified patient and worsen his condition, Yunho sat back on his haunches. 

"Will we be able to take him along like this? If we have to carry him, he will weigh us down," Wooyoung contemplated. Yeosang scooted over on his knees and humbly offered the drink to Hongjoong. They sweetened it with some soda, attracting Hongjoong's ever so starved senses. 

Yunho retreated once he calmed down. They left him to ogle the drink suspiciously, but he seemed clear-headed enough to know that it would ease his pain. Soon, he drank in big gulps.

"We shortened his dosage again, so he should stay awake this time. Maybe once he realizes we have no interest in harming him, he calms down," Seonghwa chirped from Jongho's side. Eased, Wooyoung returned to his corner while Yunho and Yeosang exchanged a proud smile. As usual, Yunho was the best person to trust in taking care of someone. While Yeosang looked scary with his towering hulk of muscles, his smile was shy and hopeful. Being a surgeon definitely suited him better than the fighting ring. 

San had remained seated and ran his fingers through his hair. His gaze was directed into a far distance, but it snapped back when Wooyoung huddled by his side. A subtle smile grazed his lips. After last night, he hadn't bothered with the bandages again. Everyone here knew what he was and no one would shoot on sight anymore. Yeosang looked ever so worried about San's condition since he wasn't allowed to study it, and Yunho threw him the occasional once-over, but no one made him uncomfortable.

Immensely proud of himself for getting San to come out of his shell and be himself, Wooyoung reached for his bag. Now that they sat so close, memories of last night resurfaced and a cozy warmth mollified Wooyoung's insides. They were more intimate than ever and their bodies sought each other by instinct as they shared their brief privacy. After stumbling into their nest late at night and getting held to keep the nightmares at bay, Wooyoung's heart gravitated to this handsome, peculiar man.

"You okay?" San whispered to him, mindful not to involve the rest of the group in their business. When Wooyoung nodded, the harsh line in San's brow smoothed out. Relieved, he showed Wooyoung another grin and his charming dimples before he packed his bag.

"Let's wash Hongjoong before we depart. He direly needs to get out of that blood film," Yunho announced once everything was ready. Wooyoung snacked on a candy bar and, for whatever reason, Jongho sat in Mingi's lap with his back leaned to his chest. Completely nonchalant, the trader shrouded his smaller body, protecting it against the harsh reality of life. He listened to Jongho's babbling about his newest mad invention, but his gaze was that of a rabid animal whenever someone ventured too close.

"Good idea," Wooyoung sat as he got to his feet. "We will skip checking on that floor again, right?"

They glanced at Seonghwa, who had been working on something he called a 'blueprint' all morning. The structure of the facility spun and twisted on his screen, but it stopped assembling itself when he dedicated his attention to them.

"It can wait until later. While we found no more survivors, there might be medicines that may aid Hongjoong's condition, or at least help him calm."

Everyone nodded grimly. Hongjoong hugged his knees, swaying his body around as if he had to remind himself he had a physical, moving form. He looked pitiful, utterly unable to survive by himself. They couldn't leave him now.

"There might also be a cure for Jongho. Anything they worked on," Mingi rumbled. The reminder had Jongho glancing at his leg fearfully. He barely dared checking on it, too scared to see the fungus spread. In the darkness of his clothes, it festered. 

"Hopefully," Seonghwa replied. This facility was better than others. Through whatever unethical means, there were researchers dedicated to the cause. Since Jongho's end was inevitable, they might as well try anything. If not a cure, then at least a trail leading them there.

Everyone filtered outside into the backyard to check on their surroundings. The morning was chilly, but nothing moved inside the complex. Only the dead haunted the blood-specked second floor with their empty eyes. As much as they deserved a proper funeral, Wooyoung didn't know if he had the guts to go in there again. Especially knowing what expected him.

Expectedly, Hongjoong was foreign to water and this amount of it, but his curiosity drew him in. Yunho made a point of stripping off his shirt to show him how to wash himself. After Yeosang helped the trembling patient step out of his clothes, Hongjoong copied Yunho. His bones protruded from his skin that was thin like paper and he was marred all over with bruises and wounds. The back of his hip carried a cluster of angry purple veins where they must have injected him with one of their many projects and his body refused it.

Wooyoung watched over the poor bastard, but he seemed eager to relish his few moments of fun. As he splashed around the water and doused Yunho, he was blissfully distracted from his pain.

Jongho cradled Seonghwa, and they whispered to each other. Day by day, Jongho fretted when the end would come, and Seonghwa tried to assure him. Especially for today, they had to be strong. Everything might change if Seonghwa's cure worked.

And if it didn't...

Wooyoung didn't know what he would do at this point. Once, he didn't care. He was fine living as he was. But by now, he met so many people who could heal if only the sky was fixed. Saw so much hope in Seonghwa's teaching. 

Could he stomach the disappointment if all this was for nothing? Could he go back to looting old ruins and shooting fouls to survive?

Pulling himself from his frown, Wooyoung lifted his head. He shouldn't imagine the worst before Seonghwa tried. Perhaps it would work, but not today. Maybe in a week, or a year. Wooyoung could wait, but he wanted to see the light. Wanted to see everyone's faces bloom with hope.

When he glanced at San to check how he was feeling about all this, he found him already staring back at him. Wooyoung threw him a cheeky smile, but San looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"Am I too attractive to concentrate?" Wooyoung asked him. They huddled with each other while Yunho and Yeosang tried to get Hongjoong back into his clothes. He was wet all over, shivering pitifully, but it would be fine once they were inside.

San's scarred hand twitched, and he glanced down at it, as if he forgot for a moment that it was there. His gaze seemed foreign to his own skin. To those perpetual marks that he carried everywhere.

Being bandaged for such a major portion of his life, he must be unused to the sight.

Wooyoung took that hand in his and held it with gentle pressure. When San's eyes brightened, he beamed.

"I'm also scared, but we will figure things out. You have my broad shoulder to lean on if anything goes awry," Wooyoung praised himself. He patted his shoulder and San retreated from his grasp. Somehow, his smile looked pained. As if he couldn't promise he would be as comfortable as Wooyoung hoped anytime soon.

And that was fine. Wooyoung liked how he was trying. Even if it took him a while, Wooyoung gladly supplied his help. When he met San, he had been standoffish and hid away, not unlike Wooyoung. But hope winged both of their hearts and Wooyoung was glad they stuck around to do this together. 

"Let's see what happens," San offered quietly and Wooyoung agreed. Whatever the outcome would be, they still had the group and many ideas on how to proceed. Seonghwa wouldn't disappear, and everyone else was here to help.

Once Hongjoong looked somewhat like a person instead of an injured animal, they made their way inside. Walking by himself, he trailed after them as if fleeing never crossed his mind. While he insisted on staying furthest back behind everyone else even when they should protect the group from the back with a fighter, he seemed happy shuffling along without being dragged.

Wooyoung thought that was something positive, but Seonghwa's voice was still agitated where they put him back into Jongho's bag.

"He expects pain when he doesn't comply. It feels awful to be regarded as the same category of people as his tormenters."

Wooyoung glanced over his shoulder. To him, Hongjoong did fine. Of course, he was hurt and confused, but he went through a lot. He would liven up like Yeosang did. But somehow, Seonghwa seemed to read into his head despite Hongjoong not speaking with them.

Sometimes, their AI was eerie, but that was part of his personality.

"Perhaps he adapts to the thought that this is no test when we don't scare him. Let's just bring him along without hurting him," Yunho suggested. He surveilled their newest addition as he stumbled on legs not used to walking by themselves. 

"He will understand when he sees the sun!" Jongho cheered, hopeful that such a grand phenomenon would touch far into Hongjoong's damaged spirit. 

Wooyoung chuckled, fond of their fanatic leader. He still sounded as if praying to some deity. 

They made their way back to the stairs, but this time, they didn't halt on the second floor. They ventured further up, leaving the plastic curtains and the horrors they held. The upper story was light-flooded since several fallen trees created holes in the walls. Nothing hinted at more horrors, so they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stay vigilant," Mingi demanded as he reached for his gun to have it at the ready. Jongho hid halfway behind his shoulder and cradled Seonghwa in his arms. They were so close now. Somewhere up here, the mother system waited, and it had all the answers whether Seonghwa could fix the world as he was intended to.

Wooyoung made sure not to leave Hongjoong out of his sight. He wandered with curiosity and rang his crooked, mangled hands over some framed artwork and the occasional piece of furniture. He was invested in this place that looked so different from what he knew.

As Wooyoung loaded his gun, he prayed they would reach the part of Hongjoong's brain that functioned before all this. He might be irreplaceable in understanding this facility and how it worked.

But until he could communicate and felt safe in their company, they had to prove their best interest.

San's eyes were directed down the corridor, staring in contemplation as they all wondered what was to come. Hopefully, no more dangers would cross their path through the abandoned building.