[CONTENTID1] CHAPTER FORTY SIX - IN NEED OF A SAVIOUR[/CONTENTID1] 

[CONTENTID2]

Alright, think, Hyerim. How is this good for us and where do we go from here?

I go through as many ideas in my head as I can in the time frame I have. My head and body hurt, it hurts to think so much on the spot. It doesn’t help that I’m also terrified, a feeling that I’ve come to learn isn’t as common as one would think amidst a zombie apocalypse. 

I take a deep breath and wait. I remain deadly still, praying an idea will come to mind any second now. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I draw a blank. I curse under my breath and shake my head, smacking it a few times.

Think, Hyerim!

“I can’t deal with this right now. I’m going to pee.”

.

“Himchan hyung, don’t. If you’re caught off duty…”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Hyung—”

“Zelo. I’ll. Be. Fine.”

“Let him go, Zelo.”

I start to panic as footsteps get nearer to the spot I’m hiding at. I press myself as far into the wall as I physically, possibly can. The male called Himchan walks by me and I hold my breath. He continues to walk until he’s a good dozen feet away from me. Then, he stops.

My heart stops.

He looks to his right and down at the ground. I swear I see him glance at me but just ike that, he starts walking again. In the opposite direction, away from me. I let out a breath of relief and peak over the wall. They’re still there. I look down at my aching body and roll my eyes.

ing idiot!

If Himchan did indeed see me, the only reason he didn’t react the way I expected him to is because I’m dressed in scrubs. I shake my head and walk out from behind the wall. I seriously hope this works. I walk up to the three remaining men — I think Yongguk, Junhong and…Jonguk? Jongup? — and stop before them. They straighten up and Yongguk looks me up and down.

“Can we help you?” he asks. I decide to change the tone of my voice a little, just in case he recognises me from the hotel in Andong. 

“I need to see the patients,” I reply monotonously. He raises a brow and looks at the two males behind him. They snort and shake their heads. I know in a second that this is not going down my way…not unless… “I don’t think you’re in a position to question me.”

“Excuse me?” Yongguk snorts.

“You think a little nurse like you has any authority here?” The Jonguk/Jongup guy asks, smirking a little.

“I’d say so…especially when this little nurse just caught one of you disregarding their duties,” I say with a big grin. Their own smirks fall from their faces and Junhong gulps, glancing from side to side. “Get out of the way.”

“What a ,” Jongup — I think it might be the one — grumbles. Yongguk begrudgingly moves aside and I open the door previously blocked by them. I walk through and close it behind me, immediately sighing in relief. , that was close.

I look around and realise I’m in another hallway with more doors opposite one another. They all have porthole windows so as I walk by the first, I peer into the room. It looks like those in mental asylums with padded walls and floors. There is no furniture, just total whiteness save for the red staining the clothes of the person in the centre. They also have their heads bandaged, their eyes hidden. Their hair is an aqua colour though it’s evident the dye is coming out and has been doing so for a while now. 

“P-p-please…somebody help me!” the person screams, revealing themselves to be a girl. “SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!” She continues to wail as she crawls to one of the walls and starts banging it with the side of her fist. “Please…please…”

“,” I mutter, my throat becoming dry. I start searching my pockets for a key to open the door but find nothing except the weapons I packed. No, because that would be too ing easy. I brush my anger aside and walk away from the poor girl, walking to the next door. “No ing way. No ing way!” 

I slap my hand over my mouth, shutting myself up. I look behind me to see if I alerted any of the guards. None of them enter or say anything so I remove my hand and look into the porthole of the room. Leaning against the back wall with their legs hugged close to their chest is Kyuhyun. 

I curse the gods for not giving me a key to open the door. I knock on the window and Kyuhyun jerks up, fear flashing in his eyes. He has his head bandaged but, unlike the others, his eyes are uncovered. Still, he looks bruised and battered with deep cuts all over his body, some with stitches over them. Some look old whilst others are newer and rawer. 

“What, you come back for more!?” he snarls, making me jump back a little. Despite the fear in his eyes, he has the courage (and stupidity) to challenge someone he can’t see but thinks can hurt him. That’s my Kyu-oppa. “Bring it on then, you ing s! YOU CAN’T BREAK ME!”

I walk up to the window and knock again, softer this time. He’s breathing harshly but slowly inching towards the door. His eyes meet mine and he gasps, falling backwards. He lands on his and stars shaking his head. “No way. You’re not…you can’t be.”

“Is that any way to greet one of your bffs, Kyu-oppa?” I ask and his eyes fill with tears. He scrambles to his feet and rushes over, slamming into the door. His face is pressed up against the window, his only hand next to it. 

“H-Hyerim,” he whimpers and my heart sinks, along with my smile. “You have to get out of here…if they find you—”

“I’m going to get you out of here, oppa,” I vow, holding my hand up against the glass to be in line with his. My skin itches to feel his, my heart yearns to be closer to him without this door in between us. “I promise I’ll get you out. Where are the others?”

“I-I don’t know. I think they’re in here, too,” he replies, gulping. “Some are kept for slave labour. They said my ‘disability’ made me unfit for labour so, instead, I became food.” My stomach lurches.

“Oh my god,” I shudder, my fear and anger spiking. “What kind of ing monsters are these people…”

“Hyerim, you have to get out of here. If they find you, they’ll punish you,” he says but I shake my head, refusing to leave him. “Just try not to do anything that will get you sedated. I’ll start behaving as well. We’ll see each other again, Hyerim.”

“O-oppa,” I whimper, clawing the window.

“We’ll see each other again, I promise. Go back and rest. Think of a plan. Arasso?”

I shake my head and he growls. “Kyuhyun…I can’t go back…I…I killed the nurse.” His eyes widen as I step back to show him my clothes. His face blanches and I step closer again. “I need to get you out now and we have to find the others. We need to get out of here.”

“Jesus Christ, Hyerim…” he mutters, his voice strained. “I don’t know what to say…I don’t know what to do. What do we do?” I can tell that he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown. I have no idea what these people have done to him but whatever it is, despite his claims, it’s definitely affected him.

“Youngjae and Daehyung oppas…where are they, do you know?” I ask him and he shakes his head. I sigh and chew my lip in thought. “Kyuhyun, do you know where they keep their…slaves?” It pains me to say that word. I thought I escaped that title back in Beijing or at the very least, in Algeria. 

“They have…they keep them in barns,” he spits out. A rage unlike any other fills me. “Like ing animals. I don’t even know who has it worse, us or them.”

“Neither,” I growl, sinking my nails into my palms until I feel sharp pains. “I’m going to get us out of here. Do you know anything else, anything worth mentioning?”

“Karim and Daeho, they’re with what I’ve heard people call ‘the Boss’. Whoever the person is, apparently they have a soft spot for kids,” he divulges and I nod, engraining the information into my mind. “Hyerim…please…please hurry.”

“I will,” I assure him. It pains me to have to leave him but I must in order to save him, as well as the rest of our friends. I was lucky t