(13) SPARK

Back in town the very next morning, Kyungsoo breathes a long, sleepy yawn that makes tears bead in the corners of his eyes. Baekhyun and Chanyeol don’t seem nearly as tired, but Kyungsoo guesses that it’s because of the nap they had the opportunity to take. Now out to do as Sunny asked them to do, Baekhyun unfolds the piece of paper in his hands and reads it over one more time.

“Faction B is basically a high-paying faction with lots of stuff that revolve around science,” he says. “To put it in an easier way, it’s also considered the ‘Medical Faction’.”

Kyungsoo nods slowly, staring at the map that hovers above the cellphone in his hands. When he first heard about holograms, he was really surprised. But then he noticed that whenever Sunny would get messages on her phone, they would be lit up as a 3D message that sometimes would be a face. Sometimes, it would just be regular text.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were probably one of the only ones who didn’t bother using the new technology, but Sunny insisted that they needed a GPS to get to their destination. Kyungsoo ended up fumbling with it a bit before he finally brought up a map that showed the entire dome with all the factions, main routes and all.

It was big, he gave it that. Faction B ran at least nine miles away from Faction D. Plus, there was the fact that they would have to cut through Faction C to get there. Kyungsoo frowns.

“We’re going to have to go through Faction C…” he says. “What’s Faction C do?”

Chanyeol looks around for a rail station that would get them to C in the meantime. All of them walk towards an escalator, rising into a tower with a few cars similar to train cars. Just, maybe a bit more high-tech than Kyungsoo would have thought.

“That’s where they make technology stuff,” Baekhyun nods. "Those ones aren’t that bad, but they still can get a little irritating.”

Nodding a little as Baekhyun continued his rant, the three boys all wandered around the station before barely missing their ride to faction C. Kyungsoo secretly sighs, thankful that they wouldn’t have to walk.

Even with Baekhyun grumbling away about how messed up the entire system of the government was, Kyungsoo only heard small bits and pieces as his mind  was distracted by the scenery passing out the window. Each minute that passed marked the appearance of a new faction, the nature and open plains diminishing as they were replaced by more buildings and industrial working places. The wide fields of grass turned from its natural shade of green to a sort of withered yellow before spiking up to an unnatural hue of emerald. In Kyungsoo’s eyes, everything was just painted over with something that would come out from a toddler's crayon box, and those never reached over eight colors max.

“... And honestly, the people in faction A are total s. They’ve been swarming all over the place lately looking for something, but all I see are clad white cockroaches wasting my space. Hey, Kyungsoo? Hey!” Kyungsoo’s head snapped up as Baekhyun waved his hand furiously back and forth in front of his face, the latter more worried than angry. “You should have just stayed asleep yesterday before we got picked up. I can see your wrinkles showing.”

Kyungsoo’s hand automatically reached up towards his face before realizing that he didn’t really care what he looked like, but he did care about the amount of attention on him, or rather, them at the moment. All passengers that weren’t under the age of five were shamelessly gawking at their little group as if it wasn’t rude to constantly stare at someone, and it makes Kyungsoo shiver a little.

Taking another quick glance at the old woman who had a permanent scowl perched on her face, Kyungsoo leaned over to Baekhyun’s side while keeping his movements minimal. “Why are they all staring at us like that?”

“I think it’s because we talk so freely about everything. Or that’s what the manager at work says, at least...” Chanyeol hummed, looking right back at every single person on board the sky taxi with a zealous grin.

Baekhyun scoffed at his explanation and rubbed the tip of his nose before continuing. “Everyone here is too afraid to talk about the government because they’re ‘such a big deal’, when really they’re just a bunch of kiss ups under money hungry bastards.”

Watching reactions go from surprised to scared confirmed the two boys’ suspicions, many of the older passengers whispering about them while taking scrutinizing glares every two seconds. This didn’t really make any sense to Kyungsoo, but then again, most people would probably be mad if some kids were dissing the way that they were running their country, probably.

Keeping his eyes low and out of sight from the other people, Kyungsoo just let his thoughts run through his head while trying to piece together how this type of system worked. It was a hierarchy of power, meaning that the people at the top dictated what everyone else did, but it wasn’t like they had complete control judging by how open Baekhyun and Chanyeol were about everything. He was also curious to see who else they’d stumble across in the other sections. Would they find others like them? Ones without any recollection of their pasts and old memories, that is. It would be a stretch, but then again, it wasn’t impossible- there were already three of them like that.

They all hopped off the tram once it had stopped at the station, where people flooded out from between the metal doors of the rail while Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were jostled about by the numerous amount of bodies clustering around them.

“Ugh. Next time, I’m just getting us a private cab.” Baekhyun mumbled under his breath, voice spiking at the end as someone stepped on his shoe. They followed the line of people down the escalators until it scattered in different directions, and then they stood there just before the mass crossing.“Well, we don’t need to pick up what Sunny needed for another thirty minutes. You guys want to go and get something to eat?”

Kyungsoo looks up and squints at the bright edifice and the reflection of the low autumn sun. The buildings, bleached white, loomed over their forms and casts shadows against the light that peered from above.

“Yeah! Let’s go and eat honey bread again, Baek! Like last time. Or maybe Kyungsoo would really like the chicken!”

“Shut up Chanyeol. I don’t even know what kind of food Kyungsoo likes.” Chanyeol’s head hung low as Baekhyun scolded him, his body shrinking despite towering over the other boy’s own height.

“I don’t mind chicken, but as long as we get whatever needs to be done after. Sunny said she wanted us back before dinner.”

Baekhyun nodded his head in unison as Chanyeol led the way to his favorite restaurant, still remembering the smell of grease and oil from his last visit. He tugged at the two boys’ hands excitedly as they rounded the next corner, coming onto a busy street with bustling people in lab coats everywhere. They had the stereotypical doctor look, with their hair slightly messy as all of them rushed to where they had to be.

“It smells like medicine and disinfectant.” Kyungsoo murmured, talking to no one in particular.

As they arrived upon their destination, Baekhyun gave Chanyeol some money before spinning around to face Kyungsoo with his hands on his hips. “Well, uh... News flash, Kyungsoo- this is faction B and it’s not known as the ‘Medical Faction’ for nothing. Jeez, we’re you even paying attention to what I was saying on the way here?”

Kyungsoo avoided his eyes as Chanyeol came bouncing back with three small, see through packages, each of them containing about two or three pieces of chicken each. It looked pretty weird, but Kyungsoo’s stomach didn’t care as he wolfed down the first one with ease. “Why is the chicken in packages? Don’t they come in like, buckets or something?”

“I thought so too, but everything about this place is weird. They probably just want to keep their hands sterile before going back to work.” Baekhyun shrugged, taking another bite of his second piece. “We have about twenty more minutes to kill, so why don’t you stop observing the place like the little kid you are and tell us about yourself. Anything new you remembered?”

Nothing in particular ran through Kyungsoo’s mind except for the encounter he had with the mysterious two back at the shop. He figured he should leave that out in case Baekhyun made a scene, but it wasn’t like he had to keep it a complete secret. “I remember seeing this guy’s face before he dropped me off at the house. Nothing much.”

“His face? That’s great Kyungsoo! What did he look like? We can probably find him and ask him about your past or- I mean, ask him why he brought you to Sunny’s house.” Baekhyun cleared his throat a little at the end to prevent himself from becoming too excited, the earnest glimmer still sparkling in his eyes.

“Well, he was tan. Thick lips, uh… Familiar? I don’t remember anything else about him though.”

“But that’s the given though,” Chanyeol drawled out, “Everyone here remembers how they were found. I wandered into faction D after the place I first woke up was on fire, or something.”

“Or something? See? Not even you remember properly.” Kyungsoo’s voice went high at the end of his sentence, going up into a little whine before Chanyeol backed himself up.

“Well everything was on fire so how was I supposed to remember what started it? Plus, at least I was conscious when I went into town unlike you.”

“And I was found in that meadow during Sunny’s morning run, not conscious, but I’m the exception.” Baekhyun added in, not missing the stubborn frown playing on Kyungsoo’s lips. “Maybe you were there when that giant hole was made in the field I checked out. I mean, nobody was there when I checked, but you were there when I got back so, go figure.”

“Your memory is just bad Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol blurted aloud as he devoured another bag of chicken.

Hearing this, Kyungsoo was a bit irked, especially when those words came from a hyperactive, oversized nut case; In this case, it also had large ears and a maniacal smile. “I don’t have a bad memory. I just can’t seem to remember certain things at the moment.” Judging by the roll of Chanyeol’s eyes and the way that Baekhyun avoided jumping into the conversation, Kyungsoo’s anger