~ Chapter I ~

It wasn’t until we had stepped outside of that hell that we realised how naive we had been. The outside world past the walls that we had been so desperately trying to pass through, was so much more worse than we had expected. It was then that we realised, the world outside was a hell worse than within the walls.

Jinyoung’s eyes flew open. He was lying down, his pale skin cold against the metal table. He was alone. Body light, Jinyoung sat upright; the room he was in was white, the metal table he was sitting on was the only thing occupying it. On him, he wore a simple pastel blue gown that you would find in a hospital.

Where am I? Jinyoung’s eyes were drawn to the white door that had no window, just a single metal doorknob. For moments, Jinyoung wondered whether he should get up and try and leave the room, but still in shock, Jinyoung simply thought.

He didn’t remember much, besides his name, Jinyoung could only remember one thing, his parents being murdered. The image of his parents being stabbed and their crimson blood splattering everywhere. A memory that was so dark that it was much like a nightmare. A memory so prominent that red flashed in Jinyoung’s brown eyes and he almost felt the warmth of their blood on his hands. Yet his hands were dry, and he was clean.

He was alone.

Jinyoung’s ears twitched ever so slightly as he heard a click and the white door swung open. A tall man with brown hair and white strands from stress, greeted him. “Jinyoung, how are you feeling?”

“...Fine,” Jinyoung answered, finding his throat strangely rough and irritating.

The man had a clipboard in one hand and he began to write several things down with a blue ballpoint pen. “Do you remember anything?”

Jinyoung wondered if he should mention the scene of his parents but quickly decided against it, “Just my name…”

The man continued to write, “That’s good. Since you’ve passed all the tests, we’ll be moving you in with the other boys.” After he lifted his pen off of the paper, he made his way back to the open door, his white lab coat flying away from him. He turned,

“Follow me please.”

~

“Where are you taking me?” Jinyoung questioned as he struggled to catch up with the large stride of the man. The hallway the man led Jinyoung down was lit eerily by singular light bulbs, the walls were white and there weren’t any windows. There were almost no sounds besides the clopping of the man’s dress shoes and the shifting of Jinyoung’s barefeet on the floor.

“You’ll figure that out soon enough,” The man answered without so much as a glance.

This bothered Jinyoung, “Where are we then? Who are you?” He caught up purposely so that he could glare at the man.

“I’ll answer your first question for you,” The man said bluntly, “where you’re going, there won’t be any need for questions nor answers. Your reason for being here is not so we can take care of you. You have absolutely no reason for being alive besides to provide for us.”

The man stopped short, nearly causing Jinyoung to bump into him. Jinyoung glanced forward to see why the man had stopped; they were in front of a door.

Unlike the door that Jinyoung had exited from earlier, this door had no knob, instead there was a pad on the wall illuminated in blue. The man placed his hand onto the pad and before long, the door in front of them began to slowly slide open.

Was this modern technology? Jinyoung thought hard, but he couldn’t remember a thing.

The man glanced at Jinyoung for the first time since they had left the room, “Go in,” Was all he said before actually pushing Jinyoung into the room and immediately letting the door close, trapping Jinyoung inside.

“What-” Jinyoung said in surprise but immediately cut himself off as he felt eyes on him.

In what seemed like a giant rotunda, there were at least twenty kids suspended in animation as their eyes were glued on Jinyoung. Most of them seemed to be around Jinyoung’s age, some younger, but they were all wearing the same pastel blue robe.

No one said anything, a complete eerie silence filled the rotunda.

Jinyoung was frozen, unsure of what to do, his eyes simply moving within his sockets. Should I say something? What should I say?

“Hey,” A strong and clear voice broke the silence, “bring him over here.”

Jinyoung’s eyes searched the crowd, but it was not difficult to find the source of the voice. With half of the boys’ eyes glued onto him, a tall lanky boy with brown hair leaned against the wall opposite of him, his arms crossed.

Jinyoung swallowed down hard, feeling his fingers curl into a fist unconsciously. Even from this distance, Jinyoung could feel the aura that the other boy exhibited. If there was anytime to be afraid, it was now.

“I said, bring him over,” The boy said again with a lower tone this time. A group of young boys, probably no older than ten, approached Jinyoung, eyes wild, and gestured him towards the other end of the room.

With everyone’s eyes on him, Jinyoung concluded that playing along would probably be the safest option. Walking slowly, Jinyoung made his way across the large rotunda. The boys’ eyes followed him like paintings on a wall. To his left and right, two hallways split off from the rotunda, several other kids gathering to see what the commotion was about.

As Jinyoung got closer to the other boy, other details seemed to form. Besides his hair being brown, it was messy and strands of it lay over his forehead creating side bangs. He was skinnier and taller than Jinyoung had noticed from far away. On top of that, the boy’s eyes were a strange mix of brown and green, staring straight at Jinyoung.

Jinyoung stopped just a few feet short of the other boy, trying his hardest to maintain his posture.

“Name.”

“H-huh?” Jinyoung answered immediately, taken aback.

The other boy made an annoyed sound with his tongue, “Your name. Are you deaf?”

Sparks of anger rose inside of Jinyoung, “Jinyoung,” He answered back with distaste, “what’s it to you?”

There were sudden murmurs spreading as the boys around them were shocked by Jinyoung’s words. “What’s your age then?” The boy disregarded Jinyoung’s words and continued, his calmness unfazed.

My age? Jinyoung blanked. He couldn’t remember his age. He certainly had to be older than the younger ones, but that wasn’t helpful. “I…” Jinyoung started, “I don’t remember my age.”

The murmuring got louder yet again. Jinyoung, too afraid to look around at the other’s, could only keep his eyes glued onto the boy across from him. At first, it seemed as though the boy hadn’t heard Jinyoung, but slowly, his lips curled into a smile.

“Are you retarded?” The boy stepped away from the wall and came closer to Jinyoung, “No one else remembers anything either, but at least most of them can notice the code on their wrist.” His words cut off as he reached swiftly, grabbing ahold of Jinyoung’s left arm and twisting it so that he could see the underside.

“Ah!” Jinyoung yelled out in distress and tried to free himself from the boy’s grasp but his hands were gripped tightly.

“So you’re fifteen, huh?” The boy’s grin spread even further, letting go of Jinyoung’s wrist the moment he had stolen a glance.

Jinyoung scowled as he rubbed his wrist, red marks forming where the boy had held onto so tightly. It was then that Jinyoung took note of the strange markings on the underside of his wrist. Still slightly inflamed, black numbers were printed on Jinyoung’s wrist. 77 - 15.

What the… have these marks always been here?

“You better watch yourself, Jinyoung,” Jinyoung looked up and glared at the boy; he simply smiled, “in this place, you’ll be lucky if you don’t end up dead.” The boy turned away from Jinyoung and began to walk towards one of the halls, the boys who had been watching moved out of the way. Behind the boy, three others that had been watching the whole time followed.

Around him, everyone seemed to continue what they had halted and Jinyoung was left alone, stuck like stone. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Confusion, hatred, and fear coursed through Jinyoung’s veins, so much so, that he could no longer feel the throbbing of his wrist.

“Hey… are you okay?” Jinyoung felt himself jolt as a hand touched his balled up fist. He turned around quickly. Standing in front of him, short with messy black hair, was a young boy.

“I…” Jinyoung started.

“Jun, what do you think you’re doing?” Another boy, a little taller, approached them.

“I’m just trying to help him out, Jimin,” The boy retorted before facing back to Jinyoung, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine…” Jinyoung’s voice trailed off as two more people approached him.  “Who are you?”

The boy smiled, “My name’s Jungkook, this is Jimin,” He gestured to the boy who had yelled at him just seconds ago. His eyes were a mysterious grey and purple, his hair a simple brown. “Those two are Taehyung and Jin,” Jungkook added as he pointed to the two taller boys in the back, one wearing a blue and white bandana around his forehead.

Jinyoung nodded, despite not really remembering all of their names, “Jungkook, who was that guy earlier? The nasty one.”

The boy with the bandana stepped forward, “I’d be careful with your wording,” He warned, glancing around, “if you’re not careful, Mark’s underdogs will hunt you down.”

“Mark?” Jinyoung said.

“The guy from earlier,” Jimin explained, “he’s the eldest in this place, not to mention the leader. If you get on his bad side, your days here will become a living hell.”

So his name is Mark. Images of Mark flashed in Jinyoung’s mind, his words, “You’ll be lucky if you don’t end up dead.” Jinyoung shivered. “Who are his underdogs?”

The four boys glanced around the rotunda, searching for familiar faces, “They’re not here right now, probably left with Mark back to their room,” Jungkook explained, “There’s five of them. Jackson, Bambam, Yugyeom, you saw them earlier, they left with Mark. Then there’s Youngjae and Jaebum. Those two tend to lay low, but they’ll still listen to Mark no matter what. The six of them have been here since the beginning.”

“Mark said I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up dead, is that true?” Jinyoung asked hesitantly.

“No,” Jin shook his head, “the adults won’t let you die, they need our blood, but…” Jin paused for a moment before continuing,

“in this place, there’s things much worse than death.”

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry, I seem to be having a problem with the bold of the chapter, I can't seem to get rid of it for some reason? I'll try to fix it for the next chapter! It feels great to finally be writing MarkJin again, let me know your opinions about this first chapter! Thanks, - Joey