05: Nominee

     "Wake up,"

Suzy opened her eyes to the sound of Taehyung's half asleep voice. Suzy could see the crack of dawn appearing afar and sat upright. She looked to the side and saw Zico curled up into a ball, his face buried into his knees. Zico had not spoken a single word since the game last night, and it didn't seem like he would utter another word anytime soon. In the light darkness, Zico seemed like a little boy who lost his favorite toy to the older kids. 

"We have to go," Taehyung supported Zico up. 

His eyes were swollen; presumably from crying. Taehyung pat him twice and the three of them walked over to the bike rental shop just up the side. They were at the outskirts of the Retail sections, and it would take them at least two hours to return back to the Medical center before the sun completely rose. Suzy looked around the barren place and saw that compared to the Medicalogy section; this place was much more empty and hostile. 

She could see strange people walking by, giving her the dirtiest look she'd ever seen in her life.

"Get on," Taehyung dragged out three bikes got on. 

"What are you doing?" Zico asked as Suzy just stood there, staring at the bike hesitantly.

"I.. can't ride a bike."

"Are you ing serious?" Zico blurted. "You are the most useless piece of-"

"Zico." Taehyung gave him a firm look. 

"Give me your backpack," Taehyung said as he forced the backpack off Zico. 

"She's not going on my bike," Zico blurted. "No way."

"Zico." 

"No way."

"Why not? Because only Se-young is allowed to be behind you?"

The two exchanged a hostile look before Zico pushed his bike to the ground and jumped on Taehyung, punching his face. 

"Zico!" Suzy screamed and tried to pull him off, but Zico pushed her away and she landed on her arms with a large thud. Her right arm was burning with pain as she watched the two roll all around the ground, punching and attacking each other. 

     Taehyung climbed on top and punched Zico right in the middle of the face. The two screamed and punched each other on the face in unison, collapsing right beside each other. Suzy supported herself up and stared down at the two boys with bloody bruises covering their entire face. She could see the despair that filled their faces as they looked up at the sky that got brighter each minute. 

"Suzy," Taehyung gasped. "Is your arm okay?" he watched as she clutched her arm, trying to ease the pain. He zipped his backpack open and slipped out a small first aid kit, crouching infront of Suzy. 

"I'm really okay Taehyung," she stuttered.

"You sprained your wrist," he said firmly. "That's not okay."

Zico sat up and watched as Taehyung wrapped her wrist with a bandage and wrapped it around her neck a single time, elevating it above her heart. 

"There we go," he smiled at Suzy. 

Taehyung had such beautiful eyes that Suzy couldn't help but stare at. Seeing him made her feel a sting in the heart, because of the way he resembled Joo-hyuk so much. She missed him so much and she just wanted to see his face again. 

'Suzy," he snapped. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't i be?"

"You just blanked out."

"Oh i did? sorry.."

Taehyung helped her up and took her backpack. The three of them were worn out, and nobody bothered to say a word. Even Zico stopped with his defiance, sighing as he slipped out an extra seat behind his bike for Suzy. Suzy coughed awkwardly and took a seat behind Zico, clinging onto the edge of his jacket. The two watched as Taehyung cycled off first with a bunch of backpacks clipped to the backseat. 

"You're going to fall off," Zico seethed as he turned around and glared at her.

"No i won't," 

"Suit yourself," Zico scoffed and put his feet on the pedal, taking off. Suzy wrapped her other arm around Zico's waist, her face stuck to his back as he sped off in full throttle. She looked down at his feet and saw him pedaling so fast that she could barely see the movement of his feet. 

His back was warm, and she could feel his pulse as her arm wrapped around his thin stomach. 

"Aren't you going a little too fast?" she screamed. 

"Shut up," he hissed. "we have to get there before sunrise."

----

     The three arrived back at the medical department, trashing their bike in the haystack near the parking lot. 

"We're going to sneak through the back door," Taehyung whispered. "put on your doctor coats and go pretend you're doing something at your desks ok-"

"I didn't know the parking lot was your office,"

a daunting voice boomed from behind. The three gulped and turned around, staring at Myungsoo who stared down at them with his arms crossed. Irene followed right after, staring at the three people who were tired from the trip. Myungsoo knelt down and glanced at Suzy's cast, helping her stand up. It seemed as he knew where the three had been, especially with the look on Suzy's face.

"Look at your faces," Irene knelt down and grabbed the boys' jaws with both her hands and angled it to see their bruises better. "go get yourselves treated in the clinic. We'll talk about your punishment later." 

Irene pulled the two boys up and dragged them into the clinic by their ears.

     Suzy looked down as she walked alongside Myungsoo into the hospital. She wanted to completely erase everything she'd seen, but she knew she couldn't. How was she going to continue living on, knowing that one day she would end up as sliced meat? 

"You alright?" Myungsoo asked as he held the door open for her. 

"Yeah," she murmured. "Just a small headache." 

"I was going to show you eventually," he sighed. "Just.. not on the end of the last game." 

Suzy only nodded, not bothering to say another word. It took all her energy just to stay standing, if she spoke another word she would break into tears. She wasn't really afraid about witnessing such a scene; she was afraid that she would die the same way eventually. She never wanted to live so much, when back at earth the only thing she really wanted was for her life to end. 

     Suzy got her cast fixed and sat at the bench at the hospital balcony roof. Her face was emotionless as she stared out into the empty space, watching nurses walk through the large hospital complex with clipboards in their arms. There were people pushing patients in wheelchairs, walking through the flower gardens that had been built for the patients suffering mental issues. 

"Sorry,"

Taehyung sat beside her and passed her a can of Orange juice. 

"Probably shouldn't have brought you with us. I never knew.. things would end up this way." 

Suzy glanced at Taehyung who had a small stitch under his ear, the rest of his face covered with small pieces of bandage. 

"No," she sighed. "It's my fault for not listening to you when you tried to stop me." 

"Hm," he murmured.

"Was Se-young.. special to Zico..?" 

"Oh boy," Taehyung chuckled. "To Zico, Se-young was his everything. She was his mother, his best friend, his first love, his treasure." 

"Oh.."

"When Se-young was chosen to go to the games, he was crying for days and nights begging the head ministry to send him instead. He probably knew at that point she wasn't going to survive.."

"How come?"

"Se-young.. always suffered from asthma. It was a big downside for her, and she was always the last one during game trainings."

"I didn't realize all of this.. I thought he was just a big snob.."

"He is most of the time," Taehyung snorted. "But he really isn't like that in the inside. Out of all of us, he's the most weakest person of all."

"No way," Suzy doubted. "The way he punched you was intense."

"I remember when he first arrived here, he was.. 15. He was crying for an entire month, because he was scared and intimidated. He lost all of his memory because he hit his head pretty hard when he fell down here. Nobody really liked a cry-baby, but the only person who stuck his hand out to him was Se-young. At that time he was only 15, and she was only 16. He pushed her away with his cockiness but she fought right through it and ever since then, he's probably the only thing that he's ever loved so dearly in his life." 

"Well he is cocky bone deep," Suzy raised an eyebrow. "That's for sure."

"He may be," he shrugged. "But to the girl he loves, he's probably the biggest gentleman than any other guy around here."

"I won't believe that until i see it with my own eyes."

The two sniggered. Taehyung rose from his seat and stretched his limbs.

"Well i've got to get going, i have a bunch of patients to check up on. And just a tip," he looked back at Suzy. "Try not to bring up Se-young infront of Zico. He's doing a really tough job holding back his emotions right now." 

Suzy nodded and sipped on her orange juice. How could someone so rude and vicious possibly be nice to his woman? How could anyone even fal for such a delinquent such as himself? Her head was already starting to hurt just at the mention of the letter Z from his name. 

---

     Myungsoo and Irene crossed their arms, looking down at the three people who knelt before them with their hands up in the air. Suzy glanced at Zico who did not seem to be a bit disturbed by what had happened to Se-young. She bit her lips and looked back at Myungsoo who stared at the three of them in shame. 

They were all gathered at the male dormitory, giving a public punishment. 

"How many times has it been, Zico?" Myungsoo seethed. "I told you to stay put. Going alone isn't enough now? Is that why you took Suzy with you?" Myungsoo hit Zico's head with a paper scrolled in thickly and sighed. He walked back and forth, frustrated. 

"We got a call from the North just then," Irene muttered. "The cops said they saw humans roaming about the stadiums today." 

The two of them sighed. 

"You could have died out there," Myungsoo hit Taehyung's head. "How many times do i have to tell you?"

"Look at our district guys," Irene said desperately. "We.. we're the smallest district. We can't afford to lose anyone else. You know better than anyone else that the smaller our numbers get, the faster our district will perish. We have to get out of here you guys." 

The entire room went silent. 

"You three," Myungsoo said sternly. "I'm setting your curfew to 9 o'clock, Sharp. Until the end of next month. You three are in charge of the kitchen until the end of next month as well. I'm going easy on your punishment because of her," Myungsoo glanced at Suzy and excused himself into the meeting room, Irene following him. 

"What are we going to do?" Irene sighed. 

"One of them is at a higher risk of getting chosen next," Myungsoo said anxiously. "The North isn't going to let this slide easily. If getting caught wasn't enough, they ran away. That just gave away every clue available."

"But our district isn't in nomination for next month, they can't possibly be chosen next."

"We're the smallest district," he said. "This is the perfect opportunity for them to get rid of us." 

"Oh god," Irene sighed. 

"We've got to focus on getting those three safe first. The rest seems safe for now.."

     "Well this is the kitchen," Taehyung shrugged as the three entered the large kitchen.

"How do you get a kitchen like this from a shabby dormitory..?" Suzy raised an eyebrow. The kitchen seemed like a kitchen for five star restaurant chefs, and she was sure nobody here ate such quality food down here, nor have the ingridients for them. 

Nothing made sense.

Their dormitory looked like it was a sleeping base for wolves, yet their kitchen looked like something that Bill Gates would own.

'Dunno," Taehyung whistled. "But it's nice. Just look at that view!"

     Taehyung pointed at the window wall. Outside the window was the calm ocean with small waves crashing against each other under the sky. She watched as Taehyung took out an orange from the fridge and peeled it, stuffing into his mouth as he plunged into the egg chair infront of the large window wall.

"Well it's not so bad for a punishment," she shrugged. 

"Can you cook?" Suzy asked as she looked around the kitchen, opening every cupboard and drawer for ingredients and tools. The kitchen seemed to be filled with organic products, and hardly any manufactured foods. The only thing she found was a bunch of canned food that was two years over its expiration date. 

"No," he snorted. "We just make do with what's in here. That's why nobody's fat." 

     She looked to the side and saw Zico sitting by the corner, looking at a bunch of picture frames on the fireplace ledge. He had been awfully quiet recently, but it wasn't hard to explain why. He was living in a society where you were expected to get over the loss of a loved one within days. He was only a 19 years old, a little too young to take it all in by himself. 

She sighed and took a seat next to Taehyung, staring at the nice background.

"I didn't know there was a waterview around here," 

"There isn't," Taehyung grabbed the remote with his foot. "It's a hologram." he pressed the red button on the remote and watched as the background switched to a winter wonderland. He pressed it once more and set the background to a beach in Bora Bora, throwing the remote onto the couch.

"Have you been there?"

"I don't know."

"I have."

"You're lucky," 

"I mean.. Bora Bora isn't that expensive you know-"

"You still remember your identity."

"But you do too! You're Kim tae-hyung and you're 20.."

"And?"

"Uh.."

"I've completely lost it."

Taehyung stood up and threw a cushion at Zico's head.

     "You know you could actually start helping us?" he seethed as he poured out a bunch of ingridients from the fridge and began preparing the food. Suzy watched as his expression stiffened a little, the life slowly escaping from his face. She didn't know why he had suddenly become so dull and anxious, but she had a slight clue as to what the reason may be. She stared at the two boys, refusing to believe the possibility.

"What is that sound?" 

     Suzy frowned as she listened carefully. From afar, she could hear the distant clanging of drums and gongs mashed together producing a sound almost equivilant to a war drum. Jieun dropped her knife onto the floor as the large sound boomed through the kitchen, nearly blowing out their eardrums. Jieun hissed as the knife fell on her feet and slit her skin, blood oozing out. 

Zico and Taehyung exchanged looks of fear and confusion.

Taehyung slipped out a plaster band and wrapped it around Suzy's feet, clutching her wrist as the three of them rushed out of the kitchen into the main dormitory. Suzy watched as everyone rushed out of the building toward the Head Department ministry. Her feet burned as she tried to keep at the same pace as everyone rushing over. 

"What happened to her?"

Baekhyun yelled admist the loud sound and people's panicking murmur as they made their way toward the district. 

"Stuff," Taehyung sighed as he stopped Jieun and thought for a while, pushing Suzy on Baekhyun's back. 

"Can you carry her to the district please?" Taehyung panted as he sprinted to the district with Zico by his side. Baekhyun stared at Suzy unwillingly and sighed, crouching down for Suzy to climb on. 

"What are we, his servants?" Jung-yeon complained from behind as the two began sprinting toward the district.

"Baekhyun, what is happening?" Suzy yelled through the noise. 

"That's what I'd like to know,"

     They arrived at the the large amphitheater, booming with people from the other districts. Suzy watched as Baekhyun pushed through the crowd violently, making sure Jung-yeon was right behind them.

Everyone sat in groups, by their district, and the leaders of each district were frantically checking for numbers. As Suzy looked around, she noticed that the other districts seemed to have alot of people, at least twice the size of her district. 

     Baekhyun panted as they reached their district by the side corner and rested Suzy on the seat. Baekhyun wiped the small sweat beads off his forehead and disappeared once again, to gather other members. Jung-yeon sighed and sat beside her, watching as the other people frantically yelled and screamed at each other admist the loud siren bells. Suzy looked to the large screen floating at the front of the amphitheater marked with a large timer on the screen.

"What's that for?" 

"Countdown before the lock-down."

"Lock down?" Suzy froze at the word.

Jung-yeon glared at Suzy and shifted her eyes to the large gate that they came through. 

"When the timer goes off, those gates lock down. And once those gates lock down, the raid begins."

"Raid..?"

"When there are nominee announcements, they come down from the North and they like to.. exterminate once in a while."

Suzy sat there, horrified.

"If we don't make it past those doors before the timer goes off, it's pretty much hard for you to come in alive the next day. "

"What are you talking about? e..exterminate? You mean they exterminate people?!"

"Get used to it," Jungyeon sighed and faced the timer. "It's going to happen alot around here."

Suzy looked around, shifting over as Baekhyun wiped the sweat off and sat beside Jieun. She looked around, concerned. Taehyung and Zico were still nowhere to be seen, and the timer only left a minute to spare. Most of the districts were seated in their areas, with only a few people frantically running around trying to find others.

"Taehyung and Zico aren't here," she clutched onto Jungyeon. 

"What?" Baekhyun blurted and rose from his seat, trying to find them. 

"Don't," Jungyeon grabbed his wrist and tried to force him to sit down. Suzy knew whatever they did would still be dangerous, but there was nothing more dangerous than Taehyung and Zico not coming back. 

"Are you nuts? They could DIE OUT THERE!"

Jungyeon pushed him by the chest and forced him down onto the seat.

"So what, you think you can save them? Look at the timer Baekhyun, there's only thirty seconds left. Look at our district Byun Baekhyun. We can't afford to lose anyone else. If you decide that you want to play superhero by yourself, go ahead. But just know that you're putting all of us at risk."

Baekhyun gave Jungyeon a bitter glare and sat on the edge of his seat, waiting for his friends to return. 

Suzy watched as the timer counted down to 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.

     Everyone watched as the gates shut, followed by a huge thud and the murmuring of people. Suzy watched as Taehyung walked toward their district, dragging Zico on his shoulder. Both of their faces were torn with blood and bruises and their bodies limping. Zico seemed half conscious as he was supported by Taehyung and dropped right beside Myungsoo. He was dribbling blood from his mouth and was too damaged to utter another word.

Taehyung dragged his sore leg and took a seat beside Jung-yeon who hugged him in assurance. 

"What the hell happened?" she hissed. 

"They were already on raid."

"What?" Jungyeon gasped, but hushed at the sound of the hologram screen lighting up. 

Suzy cringed at the hideous appeareance of the fish man dressed in a fine tuxedo sitting in a large office chair. It was something she had only seen in the television, and even then it wasn't visually attracting. 

"It seems, humans are the best at being disobedient." the fish man traced quietly, his hands dipped inside a glass bowl filled with small papers. He swirled his scaley hands inside it and chuckled, staring at the people, especially Suzy's district. 

"Without further ado, let me commence the announcement for the nominees for the 21st midnight circus."

The district roared with screams and murmurs. Suzy could see the fear on everyone's faces, some even tearing up. She glanced at Jungyeon who stared at the screen silently. 

"What's happening Jungyeon?"

"Something's wrong," she whispered. "Very wrong."

"What's wrong?" Suzy blurted, panicking.

"There's no way another game can be held right after a game.." she said in disbelief. "It's against the rules."

"A bunch of fine earthlings have decided to break the rules of the Northern world and trespass into our peaceful society. So it is only fair that we break a rule, an eye for an eye." The fish man chuckled and continued to swirl his hands inside the glass bowl. 

Suzy glanced at Zico who stared at the screen meaninglessly.

"We will change the rules of the games," the fish man said excitedly. "A new taste for our viewers. As many of you know, the past games involved one nominee each from the two districts chosen to participate. However, all districts will be participating this game."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves. 

"We must add salt and pepper to the fries for flavor." The fish man continued.

"Two contestants from each district, one male and one female. The rules are simple. Both, both contestants must make it out alive in order to claim victory." 

Suzy watched the screen, shaking in fear. She stared at her hands quivering in fear. Jung-yeon grabbed her hand, her eyes still focused on the screen. 

"It's going to be ok," she whispered. "It's always scary the first time."

They watched as the fishman swirled his hands inside the glass bowl and stopped, grabbing a small piece of paper in his hand. He stuck it out and chuckled, slowly unfolding the paper and staring at the name in pleasure. 

"Interesting," the man smirked. "From district 6, Zico."

The amphitheater went silent as all eyes were on Zico who could barely keep his eyes open because of his bruise. 

"Zico," Suzy gasped in fear. 

"It's fine," Baekhyun whispered under his breath. "He came out alive in the past few games, he should be ok."

Suzy nodded, staring at Zico who sighed with so much sadness in his eyes. 

"From district 6, I present to you the first couple..."

Everyone watched in tension as the fish man unfolded the paper and held it up.

"Bae Suzy."

     Suzy froze in her spot, unable to think.

She was chosen.

She was going to die.