[CONTENTID1] CHAPTER TWENTY TWO - PHOENIX [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

I walk over to Taekwoon. "I'm sorry. I want you to know that I didn't mean to...I didn't want leave Hongbin behind."

"He did what he was supposed to do: followed orders," he replies, his face and voice devoid of emotion. 

"Aren't you the least bit sad that you lost your friend?" I ask, shocked at his lack of emotional response. 

"Do you want me to be?" He questions, not with attitude, just genuinely. I know he's asking me if I want him to send some weird electrical impulses to whatever he has in place of a brain to simulate an emotional response but it wouldn't be the same. I decide to move on from this topic. I shake my head and walk away from him.

Jackson draws me into his arms again and I fight the urge to recoil from his touch. He's also one of the people that forcefully took me away from BamBam. I love him but I know that now, more than ever, I need to have a clear mind. Survival comes first. I know that now. I should have known that before but it took BamBam's death to awaken me. I won't make the same mistake twice. 

"You scared the out of me," Jackson whispers in my ear, pulling back to cup my face and scan me for any injuries. "Thank god you're okay."

"I'm fine," I murmur, staring at his lips. I lean forth and kiss him; softly at first, then more passionately when his arms tighten around my waist. I allow myself one more moment of bliss in his embrace. He kisses me fervently and I meet the of his tongue, my fingers lacing through his dark hair. After a minute or two, I take a deep breath through my nose then slowly pull away, my lips still tingling from the buss. I look at my ring hanging from his necklace and smile, tapping the jewellery before stepping away from him. "I'm going to see how Kyuhyun is doing."

I make my way over to the corner of the aircraft, around a large cargo package. Youngjae is sitting down next to Kyuhyun, who is unconscious and looking dreadfully unwell. I crouch down next to them and fix my eyes on Kyuhyun, my eyes drifting to his arm. Where there used to be his left hand is now only a stump wrapped in gauze. I furrow my brows, seeing that there's little blood. 

"What did you do? How did you..." My words fade into a mumble and Youngjae looks up from the thick journal on his lap. 

"I poured alcohol over the wounded area and stitched up his blood vessels, then sealed his wound with skin grafting," he answers, nodding at Kyuhyun's upper right thigh. "I had to take skin from his leg. I did it on the right since he'll have enough pain to endure from the left side of his body." I gulp and the unconscious male's face. "He's a tough guy. He'll live."

"If the amputation works," I add and he nods. "Will it?" He lifts the journal and flicks a couple of pages, then hands it over to me. "What's this?"

"I started writing down everything that's been happening ever since September 21st. News reports, tabloids, blogs...everything. We know the virus kills most people in less than five days. According to multiple sources, in the cases that it doesn't kill them - for good - the virus spreads through them in as little as thirty minutes to as long as an hour," he explains as I read through some of the journal. I glance up at Youngjae and he tilts his head. "You should think about writing."

"What, a diary?" He nods. "I don't know what I'd write."

He snorts. "Are you kidding? You have more than enough to write. I might not know everything about you, Choi Hyerim, but I know you've been through a lot of to get to where you are today - which is here, with your friends, alive. Write that." I smile, both sadly and gratefully, because I know there should be a certain person here with us but I still appreciate the fact that the rest of my team have survived. Barely. 

"You gotta pull through, oppa," I sigh, rubbing Kyuhyun's cheek with my thumb as I hand the journal back to Youngjae. "You're a pain in the but we love you and we need you." 

"Sometimes," Youngjae shrugs and I laugh, playfully scowling at him. "Yah, come here." I frown and scoot towards him. "Closer, closer." I scoot even closer until we're face to face with each other. He inclines his head and I follow the direction. "Who are the newbies?" I gasp and jump to my feet, Youngjae jolting up with me. 

"My head's not right...I forgot," I sigh, rubbing my temples. He squeezes my shoulder and smiles reassuringly. We walk around the cargo and stop in the centre of the plane. I put my fingers in my mouth and whistle loudly, catching everyone's attention. "Everyone please prepare for a check for injuries by Youngjae, our medic." I nod at said male to proceed. "Meanwhile, let's get formalities out of the way. I know you're probably scared and confused and god knows what else. I sure am." 

My eyes are drawn to the not-really-a-secretary and the hooded male. I then cast a gaze over the two girls I rescued and Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. I look at Jackson, Jongin, Jessica, Hyoyeon, Daehyun, Youngjae and finally, Henry. 

"But, at least for now, we're all safe--"

"Are we? How can we be, we have one of those things in here wit