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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VHFvqL5IAw&list=PLjjr7Wz3d2aiJ12yvxZUQTDOwg5fCVlth

She pushed herself forward; forced her body on. Yes she was tired. Yes she was sleepy. Yes she sure as hell was annoyed. But Il Jaehwa was a fighter, and she wasn’t going to let sleep deprivation, scary monsters, or high maintenance girls defeat her. She would keep going, find her best friend, and get the hell out of this place.

She followed behind Suho, Kris at her back with the ever clingy Yoona. She rolled her eyes and tried to push the latter two out of her mind. She had more important things to worry about. “Are we going to stay here for the night?” she asked no one in particular. Suho decided to be the one to answer. “No. I think we should keep moving. We’ve been running for a while now so I’m guessing we only have two to three hours before day breaks. Let’s just find an exit out of here. Hopefully we’ll end up somewhere in the south side of the city. Or at the very least near it.”

“Where are we though?” Kris questioned looking around himself. Like most places during the sirens screeching, the floors had turned to grates and the walls looked like peeled skin. Hardly anything was recognizable, but if the rows of shelving filled with random crap were of any indication, they were in a storage facility.

A soft voice cleared their throat causing the others to look over at them. Yoona bowed her head slightly at the sudden attention, and then raised it in an attempt to look confident. Jae couldn’t help but scoff.

“I’ve seen something like this before. Once at least. See, my uncle owns this large shopping mall in Singapore. I had a chance to visit it last summer, and he let me into the storage unit underneath it so I could pick out anything I wanted without having to wait in line at the actual stores.”

“If you’re trying to show off,” Jae rudely interrupted, “Don’t. No one here cares what your uncle does, how much money you have, or what you do on your off time.” She then paused thoughtfully and gave a side glance at the tall blonde at the girl’s side. “Well, except maybe him.”

Yoona gave her a soft glare, but shook it off and continued. “What I’m trying to say, is by all the different clothing brands, toys, and sporting equipment I see around us; I think this may be the storage area of a mall. I think we are in a mall. Or some kind of large department store.”

Both Suho and Kris blinked at the female’s surprisingly smart deduction. Jae on the other hand only glared and turned her back. “Either way,” the detective bit, “We need to keep going. We still have to find a way out. Right Suho?”

The male in question frowned uneasily, but nodded. “Yes, but…I kind of hope she’s right. I mean, I can’t even remember the last thing I ate, and I was really tempted to drink that dirty water from earlier. If this is a mall there’s a good chance we’ll find food of some kind.”

Jae snarled to herself, knowing the male was right. “Whatever. We won’t know unless we keep going so come on!” Angry, she took the head giving the others no other option but to follow.

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Suho gripped a flashlight he found, shining it before the group while Kris’ knuckles turned white from the hockey stick he snagged in the storage room. Yonna also had a semi useful whiffle bat that Kris had grabbed for her, and Jae, the only person with a seriously harmful weapon, patted the gun in her jacket pocket to make sure it was still there.

It belonged to Kris, but she recalled him giving it to her in the hardware shop. That and a box of ammo she kept in her other pocket. She was still unsure why he didn’t keep it for himself, or given it to Yoona for that matter. Why worry about her when he had a girlfriend to protect? Maybe that was just it though. Maybe because he couldn’t protect her due to having to do so for his girlfriend, he wanted her to protect herself. Then again, maybe she was reading too much into it.

The walked down a corridor that contained doors every now and again. Jae made sure to read them all and save them to memory. You never know when you need a sudden escape route. Especially in this place.

They had passed a boiler room, a janitor’s closet, and some kind of bunk room. Maybe that was for stockers that had to stay overnight. Or maybe it was the place they put bad kids they caught stealing in the mall, if they were really in a mall. Not that it mattered though. The room provided nothing that would help them. What they really needed was a security booth of some kind. Something that provided working video feed of wherever they were. It would most definitely save them loads of time in finding a safe exit.

Right as the thought crossed her mind a small hanging sign came into view. In bold, black letters it read ‘SECURITY’.

“Bingo,” Jae smirked to herself before running off. The others shouted her name, panicked at the sudden change in demeanor. She ignored them though and ran to the door; coming to a sliding halt in front of it.

Suddenly though, she wasn’t so sure about running ahead of the others. They were still in view, but more than a quick run away. If something were to be behind this door she couldn’t handle, they might not make it in time to save her.

“Well, no time for second guessing,” she mumbled, taking the loaded gun out of her pocket and cocking it. She held it over her left wrist, as her left hand moved to open the door. This was the correct way to aim your gun when going into an unknown area. Cops usually did this with a flashlight in their free hand. She recalled learning this five years ago in her guns and ammo class upon entering the academy. Maybe when all this was over she would give up being a P.I. and go back to the force. After all, she would have found what she became a detective for in the first place.

With a rapid heart, and ears ignoring her friends, she gently turned the knob of the room and pushed it open. Swiftly she raised the gun just in case. After a second of nothing popping out at her, Jae released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Yet, just because she was safe now, didn’t mean she would in the next few minutes. The room was dark; there was no telling what could be inside.

Not letting her fear control her, she entered, pistol still raised. She took a moment to let her eyes adjust then swept over the shadows of the room. She could make out a few swivel chairs, a wall of monitors, and a board of what must be buttons and knobs to control the CCTVs. What she really needed to find though, was a light switch.

Using the eerie red light of the hallway, she let her free hand slide along the wall in search of a switch. Right when she felt the nub of something, most of the light spilling in from the hallway disappeared and a large shadow came into view. Jae screamed slightly and turned her gun on it. She accidently flipped the switch with her back and immediately lowered the weapon.

Cursing loudly she glared at Kris. “What the hell? I almost shot you! Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

The male seemingly ignored her words, instead choosing to glower at her. Jae became unsure and rubbed her arm unconsciously. “W-what are you looking at me like that for?” she stuttered. This caused him to glare harder and slowly stalk his way toward her. She in return pressed herself closer to the wall and tilted her head up as his full height towered over her.

“W-what,” she glared in attempt to seem unintimidated. Kris stared down at her, his glare slowly fading and an almost desperate look replacing it. Without notice he enveloped her in a tight embrace, causing the surprised female to gasp and automatically hug him back.

A moment later though, when Suho appeared in the door frame, she pushed the blonde back harshly and looked away embarrassed. Kris also said nothing, instead going to Yoona’s side as she too entered the room.

Confused, but knowing better than to bring any awkwardness up, Suho stepped toward Jae and asked, “What did you run off for? You…worried us. We thought you were running after a creature or something.”

The female scoffed uncomfortably, “I’m not that stupid, jeez.” “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kris remarked softly. Ignoring him, the detective continued, “I saw the sign above the door. This is the security room. It will have CCTV of wherever we are. If they are still working, we can getter a better idea of where it’s safe to move to and where the exit is. I just…” she gave an uneasy glance at Kris before looking back at her friend. “I just got excited when I saw it and couldn’t help but run here. Sorry.”

Suho smiled at her and shook his head. “We were just worried. It’s dangerous running off on your own. You know that. But still, the security room is a good idea. Even if the monitors don’t work we may be able to find a map with the layout of this building.”

Turning to the other two, the unofficial leader directed, “Yoona, you’re good with computers right? Why don’t you and Kris see if you can get these monitors on? Jae and I will look through the filing cabinets and see if we can’t find us a map.” With that agreed to, the four of them got to work.

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“A ha!” Yoona exclaimed happily, “I think I got it.” Jae and Suho seized their searching and turned her way. “Why aren’t the monitors on then?” Jae asked walking over. She leaned on the backs of Yoona’s and Kris’ chairs to watch them work.

Yoona smiled, “That’s because I haven’t turned them on yet. I used this computer attached to it to hack through the main system and override the password protection to turn the breaker on from here. I’m actually a little surprised there’s so much high tech stuff here. I mean it’s not our high tech, but for a place like this it is. I mean, I wouldn’t have thought they would even have computers or TVs in this place.”

“Huh,” Jae frowned, “I hadn’t even thought of that.” “Either way!” Suho piped up interrupting her thoughts, “We will momentarily have the CCTVs on and a map to orient ourselves.” “You found it?” The male nodded happily and also came over, laying the unfolded paper to the side of the keyboard