10.40am Middle of Seoul

Namjoo swiped at her bangs and frowned. Just minutes ago, they were running for their lives from the infected. Now, they were taking a rest in a pet clinic that had no infected. She glanced around to see that everybody was resting, some gulping down water and some sitting down, out of energy. Then, she caught sight of Hawk, reloading his gun, shuddered. He had a very sly look to him, something that told her that he was not to be trusted.

"Are you okay?" Naeun asked from beside her, eyes full of concern.

"I’m fine," Namjoo replied. "Just…I feel so bad for those guys we left behind." She could still remember their screams and how they rushed at the infected so bravely. Namjoo promised herself that she would not be a burden to the team. She wanted to be brave too.

Naeun squeezed Namjoo’s shoulder encouragingly. "They’ll be okay eventually. We will get the cure out there to the whole world."

"I hope so."

Then, Xiao announced that they would be moving again in 10 minutes. "Buck up, all of you. We have to reach the broadcast station before we lose the daylight." Namjoo withdrew her machete again, preparing. They were about to go into the heart of seoul, and surely there would be lots of the infected. Thousands, millions.

"We’re gonna go see if there’s anything we can take from here," Eunji announced.

"I’ll go with you," Namjoo offered, and Naeun wanted to go too. Standing around doing nothing made Namjoo a little antsy.

Yuri asked them to find some water as she gathered her hair up in a high ponytail. Our water supply is low.

So the five of them-Eunji, Namjoo, Naeun, Jae and Kyla went through the door that separated the waiting room and reception area to a room that Namjoo assumed was used for operations on the sick puppies that visit the clinic. There were tables and lights and screens, medical stuff that Namjoo did not quite understand, but looking at the place made her a little sad as she imagined how it was like before Project Alice. Maybe it was busy here, maybe little lives were lost here, while some were given more years. And how many more years did I have? Namjoo groaned inwardly. She never did have such thoughts. How did she go from thinking about what to wear to when she would die?

"I don’t think that there’s anything we can get from here," Jae said while opening a fridge and checking the contents inside.

He was interrupted by a low growl that sounded from another room. Kyla visibly panicked and ran to hide behind Eunji, who picked her up and tried to comfort her.

"One of those buggers?" Jae asked, and approached the steel door carefully. Namjoo followed him, keeping her hand steady on her machete, ready to strike.

Jae opened the door with a click, and they saw rows of built in cages for dogs, except that the dogs in them weren't normal. They were bloodied and patches of fur missing. Their eyes were bloodshot and worse of all their teeth were sharp and ready to attack. Most were scratching the sides of the cage they were trapped in, irritable and hungry.

Namjoo's jaw dropped at the sight. "Since when did animals get infected too?" Naeun asked the same question she had in her mind.

"I don't know, but we should get out of here!" Eunji exclaimed as one of the dogs started scratching at the mesh wire of its cage wildly, triggered by the sight of humans.

Jae swallowed ."We've woken up the monsters."

10.45am ELITE HEADQUARTERS

Yuto followed Dawn’s long strides into the surveillance room. Her heels made a click clack noise as she walked, full of authority and purpose. "Oh, what brings you here?" Noah asked, swivelling around in his chair.

"I’m here to check on something," Dawn said with a smile. "Can you give me some privacy?"

"Of course! I’ll be in the break room!" Noah said eagerly. Yuto couldn’t help but roll his eyes inwardly.

Dawn settled herself into a seat and began pushing some buttons. Yuto hurriedly sat down as well. "We can track her down using the coordinates of where her plane crashed, right?"

"That’s right," Dawn replies crisply. "If anybody asks, I’m just tracking down the progress of the infected, okay?"

"Right." Yuto looked around the surveillance room. Most of the workers were preoccupied with their own jobs, and no one seemed to have noticed them.

The screen was filled with surveillance tapes and Yuto strained to look for Yookyung. This was the favour he asked from Dawn. To make sure that Yookyung was alive and well. Five minutes went by and there was no sign of Yookyung. Even worse, there weren’t much humans left. Dawn was getting impatient. "Look, maybe she didn’t survive-"

"Wait!" Yuto pointed at a group of people in some kind of building, hiding.

The live footage wasn’t super clear but they could see that it was a large group. Yuto scanned the group of people for Yookyung, frantic. There was no sign of her long brown hair and white frock.

"Is that her?" Dawn asked, pointing at a girl with short brown hair.

"Can you zoom in?" Yuto frowned. Dawn zoomed in on the girl, who was wearing a hooded cardigan. Although the hairstyle was different, there was no doubt that it was Yookyung.

"It’s her." Yuto announced.

"I’m impressed. I didn’t think that she would survive that crash."Dawn commented.

Yuto ignored her snide remark. "Now we have to think of how to help her and her team." He looked at the screen intently. The wave of relief that swept over him when he realised that Yookyung was still alive, and not alone out there was tremendous.They still had a chance. And with Dawn helping them, Dr Abrams and ELITE was surely going down.

A/N: School has been killing me, but I told myself to write more in 2017. Tell me which character is your favourite. 💖