Already almost 5 hours Zhan drove continuously and in these five hours, Yibo did not talk to him. Zhan kept telling himself that Yibo needed time and that he should not push him. But still, he would have liked to tell Yibo to finally stop being silent. Zhan would rather have listened to him reproach him or yell at him than have to continue to endure this silence.

Since the drive had been going on for so long now, and Zhan's body was beginning to vehemently resist the nightly travel and wanted to claim his regular sleep at night, so he had become very tired. And the only way to keep himself awake was to talk. But since Yibo didn't talk to him, Zhan just talked on his own.

"You know, my parents had once told me about their very first date back then. My dad had picked my mom up from home and then they both went out for ice cream together. Afterwards they walked along the lake and a small river. They got on well and even joked around. Again and again my mother pushed my father for fun and he pretended that it was a strong push. When he tried that on her, she of course tried his trick. She pretended that he had given her a strong push. However, she tripped and rolled down the small slope to the narrow, shallow river. My dad immediately rushed after her and she was angry at him for not saving her from falling as she saw so often in movies. Out of anger she kicked him on the shin, the pain forced him to squat, she gave him a push and he fell over and into the stinking water of the river. Both were wet, dirty and stank of slurry. And so they had to walk all the way back to my mother's house." Narrated Zhan.

Zhan noticed that Yibo was listening to him, but Yibo did not respond and instead closed his eyes. However, Zhan did not give up and told another story about his parents, hoping Yibo would slowly start talking to him again.

"My parents always loved each other very much. But whenever my mother wanted another proof of love from my father, she would tell him she wanted to go to the theater with him. She knew he hated going to the theater. And when he strictly refused, she said every time, if you don't come, I'll look for a soldier on the base who would like to come. My father knew she would never do that, but still pretended to be jealous. He would put on his jacket and shoes and then always tell her, before you get any more stupid ideas, I'd rather go there with you myself." Again, no reaction from Yibo.

"Oh man, can you tell me how to stay awake if you don't talk to me?" Zhan asked in frustration.

Yibo looked over at Zhan and replied annoyed, "Stop the car and let's switch places. I'll drive and you can sleep."

"Really? That would be really great."

"Stop the car." Yibo loudly demanded of him.

"Yeah Okay." Replied Zhan, startled. He stopped the car, and got out. Out of spite, he cleared some things from the back seat to the passenger seat, and then sat down in the back of the car. He really didn't feel like sitting next to Yibo right now.

Angrily, Yibo asked him as he watched Zhan sit in the back of the car, "What are you doing now?"

But Zhan was not in the mood to argue with Yibo right now. Instead, he did as Yibo did before and just closed his eyes. And when Yibo put one of the woolen blankets on his lap for Zhan to cover himself, Zhan was already so frustrated and angry himself that he took the woolen blanket and kicked it to the passenger seat. He simply unwrapped one of the two sleeping bags and pulled it up over his head.

Yibo, watching Zhan through the rearview mirror, was annoyed with himself for being so angry with Zhan. Even now, after he too realized that there was nothing Zhan could have done. Without an operating room, equipment that displayed vital signs during surgery, assistants to help him, what could he do about such a gunshot wound?

And even though he knew this, he couldn't jump over his own shadow and act normal again towards Zhan. Had he mistaken Zhan for a superhero in a white coat? Someone who could save everything and everyone? And was that why he was so angry and disappointed when he had to realize that Zhan just can't save every life? That he was not a superhero in white?

Yibo decided to talk to Zhan later and apologize for his reaction and his dismissive attitude, started the engine and drove off. After a few minutes, he heard soft snoring from the back seat. "You were really very tired huh?" He asked quietly as he looked to the mountain consisting of a sleeping bag through the rearview mirror.

Without paying attention to the time and lost in his thoughts, Yibo drove on and on, hour after hour. He was so lost in his thoughts that at first he didn't even notice the rising sun. Only when he thought he saw something like a shadow in the sky out of the corner of his eye did he realize that it had long since been daylight and that he had long since left behind the rest area that they had actually wanted to head for.

He hurriedly looked for an alternative route. But there was nothing on the map. And because it looked like the shadow was getting closer and closer, he had no choice but to drive into the forest. Fortunately for him, he quickly found a driveway and luckily the forest was also dense.

Bumping along the rough road, Zhan woke up as well. He pulled down his sleeping bag and looked around. Startled, he realized that the day had already dawned and Yibo was driving through a forest at a fast pace. He looked around to all sides and spotted something among the trees. "To the right." He shouted to Yibo and he steered the car to the right, onto another path.

Yibo continued on the rough road for another 100 meters or so when he brought the car to a stop and stared in disbelief at the huge building in front of him. Before he could ask what it was, Zhan jumped out of the car and ran toward the building. Yibo hurriedly followed him.

When Yibo caught up with Zhan, they were both standing in a large hall that must have once been a factory. A factory that had been closed many years before the apocalypse. Everywhere, nature seemed to be reclaiming its place. Here and there the roof had collapsed and in some places it looked as if someone only needed to tap the roof for it to collapse. "We can't stay here." Yibo whispered.

Zhan, however, didn't seem to hear him at all and kept walking. It looked like Zhan was looking for something. But even when Yibo asked him, Zhan did not respond. Instead, he kept walking and even left the factory again through another exit. He searched the ground and then stopped. "Ah this is where you're hiding." Said Zhan, reaching for something on the ground.

Yibo stood behind Zhan confused wondering what he was doing until Zhan opened a floor flap and cheered. "What's that?" Asked Yibo.

"Maybe our salvation." Replied Zhan.

"In what way? If it goes down there Okay, but, how is that our salvation? No one's been there in years, the air could be toxic. How did you even know about this hidden hatch?"

"Yes, it could. But, the factory hall is too unsafe. The tree canopy isn't dense enough and our car is too conspicuous. And I knew about it because I've been here before as a kid."

"You've been here before?"

"Yes, back when I was a kid. It was winter. But I'll tell you about that when we get downstairs." Said Zhan and ran back to the car. He packed some things into the backpack, ran back to the hatch and climbed down the ladder made of solid iron. Yibo followed him speechlessly.

Once at the bottom, Yibo realized that there were tunnels here. The air had not been toxic, but rather the opposite, really good. It even looked as if it had been cleaned regularly. "Fascinating isn't it?" Zhan asked as he took a bottle of water from his backpack and drank it.

"What is this place? How is this possible?"

"Well, no one really knows. The legend says that these tunnels were here even before the factory was built. According to people back then, it was as if the tunnels just appeared overnight. The modern construction of the tunnels, for that time, made people speechless and perplexed. People are even said to have gone down here several times, never to have reappeared. At that time, several groups were supposedly sent down and only two men ever came out again. And they reported being attacked by invisible attackers, bodies disappearing, and scratching noises on the walls of the tunnels."

"So, how do you know all this? Why were you here then?"

"I know because my father himself once sent a group of soldiers down here. I was allowed to accompany my father. As I said I was just a kid and it was winter. But when they opened the tunnel, warm air came up from below. Three days we were here. The factory had just stopped operating, so we slept there in the hall."

"And what did the investigation of the tunnels turn up?"

"I don't know. The soldiers didn't come out again. They disappeared."

"That means people actually disappeared here and you know that because you witnessed it and even though you know that, you drag us down here?"

"Yibo, if we stay here with the ladder and under the opening, we'll be fine. It's not like we're planning on going through the tunnels."

"Still. I don't think it's a good idea for us to be here. What if any of the legends are true and there really is something down here that eats people?"

"What should we do instead? Go upstairs and hope the creatures don't see us?"

"Zhan, this is crazy. People have actually disappeared here. There's been talk here of invisible enemies, scratching noises, and no one knows who built the tunnels. And you want to stay here? I'd rather have enemies I can see than sit here, in the glow of flashlights, not knowing what's down here."

When a sudden scrabbling and sniffing could be heard from above, Zhan asked, "Are you sure you'd rather be up there?"

Yibo swallowed hard. He always hated dark places and now that there was no electricity even more. But maybe this tunnel down here, at the moment, was really safer than being up there. So Yibo shook his head and whispered, "But as soon as we hear something here, we're out of here. I don't want to be one of those lost souls wandering through the tunnels here."

Zhan nodded. "As soon as it's safe, we'll climb back up. We won't enter the tunnels and will stay here by the exit."

Yibo was not happy, but at the moment the two seemed to have no choice but to hold out here until the sun set again. And although Yibo was terribly tired, he doubted he could get a wink of sleep down here.