CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
THE VIRUS!

❝ IT'S QUITE A SHAME HE'S NOT HERE
TO HELP YOU TEENS PERFECT YOUR AIMS. ❞

╍╍╍╍╍⬖⬘⬗╍╍╍╍╍

Taeyong cupped his mouth, feeling something hurl up his throat as he let out another cough. His lips parted, head hung low, and red painted his palm. Using his free hand, he reaches out to twist the handle as water begins to run down the faucet, he looks up for a moment, eyeing himself.

It had only been a couple of years. He wasn't that old. Yet he seemed to be decaying faster than he should. Pallid skin, dark eyes and dark bags under them, and the blood that slowly dripped from his bottom lip. He gritted his teeth, wiping the blood off using the back of his hand before washing it off.

A sudden knock on the door made him look up, surprised. He wipes his hands on a piece of cloth before heading outside, finding a distressed fellow in his office.

One arm over the other, he kept a straight face despite the emotions he had been feeling deep inside. Silence fell between the two friends and neither one of them dared to break it. Taeyong fiddled the ring that had gone loose around his finger, gnawing on his bottom lip out of habit.

"I'm no longer gonna test Sera."

Taeyong instantly shot him a look, unsure of what he meant. He shook his head, taking a seat on the nearby couch. "What— What do you mean by that, Doyoung?"

The aforementioned person took a deep breath, digging his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "I don't want to test on Sera. I don't want to risk it... She's— She could end up like you." Doyoung stammered, his fists clenched. "You don't want that, right?"

Silence.

"Right?" Doyoung stressed, his eyebrows now furrowed together. Not gaining even a single response from Taeyong, he spoke again, this time in a more demanding tone. "Her mind is empty, Taeyong. As far as I could remember the reason why is not because of the brainwashing—but because the UA is preventing us from reaching her mind."

"The UA now knows of her. If the next few days end up being a fail like last time, she's going to get sick." Doyoung pointed out with his sharp gaze pinned on his friend. He then shook his head, an unsettling feeling residing inside him. He didn't want to assume things but his friend's silence told him otherwise. "No... Don't tell me..."

He shakes his head, lips pressed together to suppress the urge to burst as he held Taeyong's strong gaze still. "You're not doing that to your sister, Taeyong. No. This isn't playtime."

A dry chuckle came from the older, leaning back as he stared soullessly at the ceiling above despite the blinding light. He felt useless. He couldn't process everything properly anymore and with his sickness slowly draining the life out of him—he didn't have much time left. There are times that he thought maybe, maybe it was the time to raise the white flag, but then, all of those years they spent for nothing? He didn't want out.

But what was there to do left?

"You're not backing out. We have nowhere else to go." Doyoung spat, pointing at the vast metal doors. "We can't run away again! This whole world is controlled by the UA, their system! We will not survive."

"Then what do you want me to do!?" Taeyong scoffed, standing up from his sitting position earlier, glaring back at the doctor. He let his hands fall loose, signifying that he had nothing else. "They want to get rid of the glitch in the system."

"That's all they want. And," he palms his forehead, "if we do that first... then we..."

"We lose. If we get rid of the glitches ourselves, that's just killing our own kind. And even if we get rid of the glitches—they'll still come after for you. The virus." Doyoung completed Taeyong's statement, letting his jaw loose and slowly the tense atmosphere dispersed. He sighed, holding onto his dear friend's shoulders, tightening his grip on them for a split second. "Look, I know that your sickness is slowly affecting your body. But that's why we need to win. We need... we have to wake up from this world."

≫≫≫

"Nice! Keep it up!" Jaemin yelled proudly as they watched Jisung shoot his last shot and ended up bursting the target into pieces. Their claps and cheers filled the air as the young boy turned around, his eyes staring wide at his weapon in awe. His mouth agape, he turned to them and waves his hand up before walking back to where the others stood watching.

"You're improving a lot, Jisung. What a natural." Ten said through the speakers, giving him a brotherly smile from the control room.

A faint smile situated on his face, he glanced at the gun one more time. "Terrifying, but awesome!"

Johnny, who was monitoring their training with Jaehyun, suddenly spoke up. "It's quite a shame that he's not here to help you teens perfect your aims."

Donghyuck scoffed at his words, finding it a bit offensive. He stood up, crossing his arms, "Please, I have a perfect aim!"

Jaehyun chuckled, "Not as perfect as his."

"Who?" Jisung raised a brow.

"Chenle." Jaehyun responded, a small, yet sad, smile on his face. He shook his head, tapping onto Johnny's arm. They both stood up to leave after pointing out today's improvements. As they exited the training center, Jisung still had the name repeating in his mind.

He heard that name before. Was it from Yuta? He couldn't really remember. He just knew he heard it before. The name itself was all too familiar.

He spun around and approached the nearest person there which happened to be the group of noisy and energetic lab rats. The boys were rambling about who did best today while Yunseo sat on one of the benches, going through what seemed to be a few files Ten handed a while ago.

"Agh! How many times do I have to tell you?" Donghyuck whined, pushing Sungchan away from him jokingly. "You can't stand beside me or else I'd look like a dwarf!"

"And here's Riku who would willingly stand next to him." Jeno teased the braided-haired girl.

Yunseo looked up, catching a glimpse of Jisung fiddling his way towards their group. He meets eyes with the blonde as she pats the empty spot beside her. Jisung sat next to him and she went back to reading the files.

Yangyang, who sat next to Yunseo, suddenly looked at Jisung with furrowed brows. "You're so loud." He said making Jisung flinch and tilt his head.

Loud? He thought to himself. I had been quiet the whole time! He then scratched his head. How did I become so loud?

Yangyang deadpanned. "Your thoughts," he pointed at his head, "they're so loud," he whispered making Jisung's eyes grow wide.

Yunseo rolled her eyes, smacking Yangyang's head earning a whine from him before turning towards the younger boy, giving him an assuring smile. "He can read minds. It's nothing."

"It's not just nothing," Yangyang dared to protest but shut his lips when Yunseo eyed him. "Anyway—" he clears his throat, "Seems like you've got a lot in your mind. Wanna share?"

"Do you happen to know who they were talking about?"

"Oh, Chenle?" Yangyang questioned and Jisung nodded in response.

Yunseo hummed profusely, trying to think of the said person. "Familiar, but we don't know much."

"Actually!" Yangyang came closer to the younger boy, having to interrupt Yunseo from her reading as he pushed the files down onto her lap. "I heard that he was a part of the Rebellion back then, too. I believe he's around our age now? And Jaehyun used to be his guardian."

"Where did you even learn tha—"

"Where is he now? What happened to him?" Jisung cuts off Yunseo's words, the eagerness evident as his voice grew louder. The blonde girl deadpanned, knowing she wouldn't be able to stop their little gossip though she was curious herself and ended up listening anyway.

"From what I've picked up... he got caught alongside Sera and they were both taken to the facilities." Yangyang answered before leaning back, "They're still searching for him though. Whoever he is, it seems like he sounds just like us—a lab rat."

"You don't even know him." Yunseo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but like did you hear what Jaehyun said earlier? A perfect aim. This Chenle folk must not be normal."

"Ugh, shut up." The three shot their heads up as Renjun marched towards them, his fists clenched and face all scrunched up in annoyance. Jeno and Donghyuck tailed him, poking fun on his back. "Can you two shut up?" He grumbled and took a seat beside Jisung, the younger boy flinching a bit. He noticed and gestured towards the seat, "You don't mind, right?"

Jisung shook his head making Renjun sit down, now glaring up at the two. Shotaro came by, "You two never stop pestering Renjun, huh?"

Jeno raised his hands up in a surrendering manner, an innocent masking his mischievous grin from earlier. He nudged Donghyuck and began scolding him jokingly to which the others laughed at him. This was a normal scenario at the training center. Although far different from them, Jisung was glad he was able to hang out with such people. He wasn't really someone who wanted to be involved in things too much and knowing that the person he came here with has been going through so much lately, he kinda felt bad for Sera having to deal with all the stress.

The doors to the training center glides open as the known recruiter from Neo-135 steps in, seeming to be in search of someone. Jaemin notices him first and points him out to the group, glancing at Jisung for a split second. "Visitor of yours?"

As Jisung stood up, he took note of how quiet the group had suddenly gotten. Earlier they were laughing around with jokes and now they've grown awfully quiet—almost like a deafening silence. When he was about to leave, Shotaro held him back for a second causing Yunseo to call his name out.

"Sho." One call and the boy lets loose of his grip.

Jisung looked at them weirdly, making eye contact with Yunseo who simply smiled at him though her eyes showed concern for him. It seemed like she wanted to say something but had been restricted to do so. She nods her head at Jisung, though he wasn't sure what it meant, he returned the gesture as she went back to reading. The rest of the group slowly began to talk again after having what seemed like a little connection going through each lab rat. When Jisung glanced at the other recruits, Sungchan and Riku seemed just as confused as he was.

Jisung, of course, didn't want to disregard what had happened a while ago. The sudden change in their mood and the drop of smiles. He couldn't help but be curious as to why. He peered up at the control booth, seeing Ten nowhere to be found, but instead finds him running down the stairs just to meet Yuta by the entrance.

A nudge on his shoulder made him look back to see Sungchan and Riku. Out of all new recruits, minus Sera, they were the only ones he ever got close to.

"Weird huh? They've been doing that since the past few days." Riku uttered, arms crossed in front of her as she gazed up. "I'm not quite sure what is going on really."

Jisung remained silent as his eyes wandered to where Ten and Yuta stood, deeply thinking of what they were having a conversation about. By the looks of Ten's face, it seemed rather intriguing. Their talk didn't go on for long as they both rushed outside the training center.

"Seems like we have a visitor," Yunseo announced, standing up and passing the thick folder to Renjun.

≫≫≫

"Where am I?"

Sera's question from earlier repeated in his mind like a broken record. Mark's brows knitted together in confusion, an exasperated sigh left his parted lips as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn't sure of what had just happened but he didn't want to make a fuss about it either. He knew what had just happened was something he should've reported to the higher-ups immediately, but he couldn't do it.

He glanced at her sleeping figure on the bed, another sigh left his lips. His mind was anxious over the thought that Sera was in danger. Just one look down and his heart would begin to increase its speed again. "You know... infant— Sera, I mean. We were never really close before. I've always admired your bravery—you and your brother. To think both of you are willing to go past your limits and break the rules... although brainwashed you is a bit different from who you once were... I still admire you."

"I'm not supposed to feel this way for you." He chuckled dryly, burying his face into the palm of his hands, his voice now muffled and unclear. "I don't know why I feel this way for you. Is this... Is this what they call affection?"

"Even though you're not awake... I just want to say now, and of course, I would dare repeat it, that I'll always be your ally."

Ting!

Mark froze momentarily, his breath hitched as he heard the device go on again. He looked up from his hands, scrutinizing his bracelet as the screen lit up signifying ongoing alert signals. He tapped it once and slid it open, the mini holographic screen popping right out.

"Mark? Are you there?" Jungwoo's voice filled the empty air.

"Uh..." he glanced at the girl for a split second before responding, "Yeah, why?"

"There was a car crash near the entrance of the base."

"What does that have to do with me...?"

"They sent Yuta and Ten to go check it out before the authorities arrived and there were two people in the car, only one survived, now unconscious."

"Okay, I get that. But why are you informing me again?" He swore he could almost feel Jungwoo's stare and eye-roll through the device.

"The survivor is Zhong Chenle."

╍╍╍╍╍⬖⬘⬗╍╍╍╍╍