“I’m letting you go… but I promise that we will meet again.”

          “Don’t run anymore.” Chanyeol begged with the most loving eyes in the world. Tonight, his heart was being broken in two and it was unfair. “Please, Kyungsoo.”

          Kyungsoo could not bear it any longer. He turned away from Chanyeol and took a deep breath before proceeding to run away. The further he ran from the man who had been with him through it all, the heavier his heart felt in his chest. After 129 years, Kyungsoo had finally pulled the last straw… and now he was running away for the last time.

          “My name is Park Chanyeol. I’m Subject Twenty-Eight.”

          “I’m—”

          “I know who you are. You’re the legendary Thirteen.”

          Kyungsoo turned his gaze away, no longer observing the man who must have been three feet taller than he was. “Is that what they’ve come to call me downstairs?” He asked with arched brows, laughing at the ridiculous title and those who believed it.

          “Everyone knows you as the one and only Subject Thirteen who has to be kept on a separate floor from the rest of us; the only one with the privilege of having a nice window in your cell—”

          “A window that sits far too high for anyone to reach,” he cut the flattery short with a heavy sigh.

          There was a moment of silence before Chanyeol sat himself down in front of Kyungsoo, practically knocking on the front door of the latter’s personal space. “Rumor has it that you don’t believe in escaping from this hole,” he said very cautiously because the rumors also said that Subject Thirteen’s temper was extremely short. “Is that true? How many times have you tried escaping to proclaim it impossible?”

          “That kind of information doesn’t concern you.” Kyungsoo replied firmly. There was no need to drown in the memory of the escape plans that clearly failed.

          Chanyeol leaned forward, scanning the cafeteria as quickly as he could. “Well, what if I were to tell you that there is hope? There’s—”

          Kyungsoo couldn’t resist bursting into laughter the moment that he heard that pathetic word. Hope. Were the other Subjects that naïve to the point where they developed faith in something impossible? And of all Subjects, who would have thought that the giant would be the one to deliver the pitiful news?

          There was no hope whatsoever, but Kyungsoo couldn’t blame Chanyeol for not understanding that. After all, he was fairly new to the facility and he couldn’t be blamed for befriending the denser Subjects. In fact, it was quite merciless to laugh at Chanyeol’s anticipation to be freed, but it was also practically inevitable. Kyungsoo had given up a long time ago.

          “Just listen…” Chanyeol tried to ignore Thirteen’s barbaric laughter. “Another Subject has been planning this escape for years. You of all people know how much of a risk it is to walk beyond those doors, and—could you just listen for a second?” Chanyeol paused. He closed his eyes and exhaled before continuing, “It’s the Chinese Subject. He’s going to execute the escape plan tonight—”

          “Why are you even telling me this?” Kyungsoo asked after he finally came down from his sadistic high. “Oh! Are you trying to save me, the over-privileged Subject Thirteen?”

          Deep down inside, Kyungsoo knew that he was being cold and heartless. But he also knew that he was under no obligation to feel bad about it, so he didn’t. There was nothing else to do so he mocked Chanyeol just because he could. He mocked Chanyeol and every mother-ing Subject who considered it a privilege to be stabbed a hundred times more than everyone else. And yes, that was the perfect moment to laugh at the idiocy of those who thought he took pride in being the first successful experiment of this ing facility.

          At that moment, the alarm sounded. Every night at exactly twenty minutes after the deep cleanse, the alarm echoed through the facility to remind the Subjects that it was time for further experimentation.

          “Obviously,” Kyungsoo rose from his chair and stretched his legs, “I don’t have time for this nonsense.” And he walked away just like that, laughing at the irony of it all.

          If anything, time was the only thing that he had.

          “I’m not trying to save Subject Thirteen. I’m trying to save Do Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol’s voice behind him was low but his last words rang loud in Kyungsoo’s ears.

          Something was amiss that night. The White Coats were late and there were no muffled cries from the other Subjects. Kyungsoo dared not to overthink it because he knew that pondering would stir a mixture of emotions that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. But there was no stopping it when he suddenly heard the shattering of glass right outside his door. Kyungsoo sat up in his bed, staring at the solution that was now making its way into his cell. The next thing he saw was a torch flying his way, and an explosion followed before he even had time to protect himself.

          There was suddenly so much pain ringing in Kyungsoo’s ears. It was a new feeling; something new that was equally as painful as the foreign objects that were usually prodded into his skin at this time of the night.

          “Come on, Thirteen!” Chanyeol laughed as he grabbed Kyungsoo off the ground, immediately dragging the latter along with him. “We’re going to make it!”

          Kyungsoo could barely keep up and his vision was so out of focus that he didn’t even know what was going on. He hadn’t realized the sudden increase in temperature until they ran past the wildfire that had broken out in the facility. He had so many questions in his head but nothing mattered in that very moment. Kyungsoo could only concentrate on his feet because, ing hell, he was actually running.

          The two Subjects rushed down the stairs as quickly as their bruised feet would allow. There was fire everywhere and breathing through the smoke was extremely difficult but it was not new to them. The bodies of dead White Coats littered nearly every hallway of the facility, and the sight of them was like fuel to the tiny spark of hope that Kyungsoo had buried so long ago. It was like a brand new emotion, like something he had never felt before, and he ing loved it.

          But there was nothing he loved more than the first breath of real, fresh air that he took when he ran through the facility’s front doors. Kyungsoo turned around to glance at the building that had torn him apart for countless years. When he laid his eyes on the burning facility, his mind flashed back to that moment in 1886 when he saw the building for the first time. He had no clue what his father had planned for him that day, and the reminder of the betrayal brought tears to Kyungsoo’s swollen eyes.

          The sound of sirens burned the vision from his mind, dragging him back to the sad reality of it all.

          Unknown to Kyungsoo, many of the other Subjects had already scurried by that time. He stared at the flashing lights that were headed toward him and the roaring fire. Kyungsoo knew he had to run, but he was unsure if he should run to or from the police.

          “Don’t you dare, Thirteen!” Chanyeol grabbed his wrist with an uneasy look on his face. They hastened into the field and hid under the tall grass. “They won’t save us. Do you know what they’ll do to us if they find out what we have become?”

          “They’re the only ones who can help us…” Kyungsoo tried to reason with Chanyeol but he couldn’t convince himself to believe his own words either.

          “We can’t risk it! They will look at us as a threat.”

          “But… if they can’t help us, then who can?”

          “I don’t know, Thirteen. But we need to go now.”

          Kyungsoo stood up to run with Chanyeol but he couldn’t move his feet when he saw the policemen gathered around the building. They were so curious and so unaware of the dark things that had happened in the building that they were desperately trying to save.

          “Someone get Chief Kim Jongin over here right now!” A policeman shouted.

          And Kyungsoo finally turned around to catch up with Chanyeol.

          Together, they ran with no knowledge of what day, month, or year they were in.

.