{17}

The four boys crouched behind the tall bushes of grass that surrounded the prison grounds, they were perfect for concealing them from the guards who were stationed at the lighthouse. 

The guards had their guns held closely to their abdomen, though their grip on their gun appeared lose, Youngjae knew that it would only take them a few seconds to aim and fire at sight of an intruder. 

Only the best of the best in the entire police force were given the task of guarding this prison. 

But Youngjae knew the quietest way in and out, the hallways and paths that were the least patrolled. So that if they had to fight their way through, he would not lead them right smack into a large army of guards. 

"Let's go." 

Youngjae made his way silently around the bushes, leading the three others towards the unmanned area of the prison campus. 

The prison campus was designed in such a way that only the buildings that held the prisoners and the lighthouse for the guards, were cordoned off with high stone walls and barbed wires (which had electricity running through them) on top of the walls to prevent anyone from climbing in or out. 

The preparation of food and the washing of laundry was designated to be in a separate building that laid outside the cordoned off area. 

There were no guards, no high walls, no barbed wires that had electricity flowing through them. Funny how a prison that was said to be the most secure had such a fatal flaw. 

Youngjae wrapped his hand around the doorknob of the unmanned building, his other hand just inches below his chin, his fingers wrapped tightly around a dagger. 

Youngjae twisted the doorknob, pushing the door open slowly. Rows of fluorescent tube light bulbs hung on the ceiling, illuminating the room. 

Several aluminum tables were arranged haphazardly in the room, trays with pre-prepared bowls, plates and utensils sat on top of them. Needless to say, it was for breakfast, which was going to be served in a few hours time. 

"We need to hurry." Youngjae whispered, his eyes on the trays lying on the tables. Yongguk followed his line of vision and nodded his head. 

Youngjae suddenly crouched down, causing Yongguk to bump into him. 

"Dude, what are you doing?" Yongguk hissed, his voice quiet and urgent. 

Yongguk was about to speak again when he saw that Youngjae was unscrewing hinges from the ground. He took a double take, realizing that it was a secret underground passageway. 

The door was perfectly blended into the ground, one couldn't see that it was the door to a secret passageway if they didn't stop to take a closer look. And no one working here would bother to examine the floor closer. 

Youngjae tossed aside the last hinge and used the dagger that he held in his hand to tip the door upwards. It opened with a groan, the bright lights in the kitchen shone down on the opening, revealing a set of staircase that led underground. 

Behind him, Youngjae could hear Himchan exhale as Youngjae started down the steps. 

"Great." He muttered. Himchan hated being underground the most. The air felt thin and clammy to him and he felt like he couldn't breathe. 

He followed behind Yongguk and Jongup was trailing behind him. Over his dead body was he going to be the last. Hell, imagine what evil things would creep up on him and drag him away. He shuddered at the thought of that. 

"You alright there?" Yongguk asked as he shone a handheld torchlight towards his direction, Himchan winced as the bright light attacked his eyes. 

The passageway was dark, the ground was wet and the air reeked of a foul smell. He was definitely far from alright, he wanted to get out of there right now. 

He grunted in response and Yongguk swiveled back to the front when he realized that they have reached the end of the passageway. 

"We're here." Youngjae said as he shone his torchlight up the staircase, climbing up silently. 

Jongup was the last to make his way up the stairs and under the light that lit up the room, they all could tell how pale Himchan was. 

It was a narrow and small room, with nothing but walls and a plain brown door. All of them knew what awaits them behind the door. 

Before setting off from Daehyun's residence, Youngjae had brought them through the plan. He managed to acquire a blueprint of the entire prison campus, it mapped out every single square inch of the prison campus, including secret passageways and the exact areas where the surveillance was tighter. 

Youngjae wrapped his hand and opened the door wide enough for his head to slip through. He peeked into the hallway, it was empty. He opened the door wider, stepping out of the room. 

They were near the end of the hallway and they were just a turn away from Daehyun's cell block. 

Youngjae had his back against the wall and the rest of them followed his lead, their footsteps quiet and their eyes focused should any guard stumble upon them by chance. 

Youngjae stopped as he neared the edge of the wall, they had to take a left turn from here. He held his hand up, signaling for them to wait for his cue. 

He edged his head beyond the edge of the wall slowly, peeking at the hallway behind him. 

Along that hallway, the white walls were gradually replaced by rows of bars, signaling that they were the jail cells that held the prisoners. Youngjae caught sight of four guards, they were all unarmed. 

Prison guards that were stationed near prison cells were forbidden to carry any sort of weapon, as these weapons could be used against them should the prisoners escape. 

Youngjae turned back towards the rest of them, holding up two fingers, then gesturing towards his eyes and to the hallway after the turn, and held up four fingers. 

The three of them nodded. There were four of them in total, so they just had to take down one man each. It shouldn't take a long time or cause any commotion since they weren't outnumbered. 

Youngjae counted down with his fingers; three, two, one. He took the left turn and charged down the hallways, the heads of the four guards swiveled towards him almost instantly. 

Black armor against white walls, they obviously stood out. 

From the expression on the guards' faces, they certainly weren't expecting any intruders. 

Youngjae rounded a guard, wrapping his arm around his neck tightly, shutting off his oxygen intake. 

It only took a few seconds for the guard to lose his consciousness, his body slumping against Youngjae's. Youngjae pushed his body off his, just in time to see Himchan delivering his last blow to the back of the head of the guard he took on. 

Clearly he was venting his frustrations on the poor guard. Youngjae arched one of his brows as he took in the guard's bruised eye and cracked lips. 

"Was that really necessary?" Youngjae gestured towards the unconscious guard. 

Himchan merely shrugged his shoulders. "I told you to bring Zelo along, I hate being underground." 

Youngjae rolled his eyes at him and their bickering was cut short when Yongguk strode over to the metal gates with a set of keys in his hands. 

Upon his third attempt, he unlocked the metal gates. They rushed into the rows of jail cells and stopped at the fourth one on the left. 

Daehyun sat calmly on the stone bench, his dark brown orbs taking the sight of them in. 

"Took you guys long enough." 

There wasn't a single ounce of hostility in his voice, or displeasure. He sounded relieved actually. 

"Let's go, pal." Youngjae stuck at thumb down the hallway they came from. 

"What?" Himchan stared at Youngjae incredulously as they made their way down the same hallway they came from. "We are taking the same route back?" His voice dropped down to a hushed whisper. 

Youngjae ignored him, keeping his eyes fixated on the path in front of him, dagger gripped tightly in his hand in case a guard showed up. 

"Okay, guys, don't you think that was a bit too easy?" Jongup voiced out the moment they were all back in Youngjae's vehicle, which was stashed safely a distance away from the prison. 

"Yeah. It's supposed to be the most secured prison, shouldn't there be countless of guards guarding the place?" 

"It's supposed to be the scheduled bed time for all the inmates. Didn't you all realize that all the inmates held in the same cell block as me were a little too quiet?" Daehyun paused and didn't wait for anyone to speak up before he continued. "They were given a kind of drug that puts them to sleep. That's why there were only 4 guards guarding the gates. They assumed that nothing would happened since all the inmates would be put to sleep." 

"Then why aren't you affected?" Himchan glanced back at him. 

"Our ability to heal rendered the drug useless." Daehyun explained. "Where's Soah?" Daehyun added on a moment later. 

"She's back at your place, with Leah and Zelo." 

Daehyun bummed in response and let his eyelids flutter shut. "I'm just going to get some shuteye." He mumbled. 

Youngjae glanced at him through the rear view mirror. Daehyun seemed fine and unscathed. But with his ability to heal, horrible things might have been done to him during the past 5 days. 

Caleb occupied the last row of seats, he was staring out of the window, strangely silent. They brought Caleb along so that he could disarm the security system momentarily and replace the CCTV footage in the guards' room with the footage from yesterday so that the guards wouldn't be aware of their presence. 

"Youngjae?" 

Youngjae's eyes fleeted to meet Caleb's through the rear view mirror, "Yes?" 

"How long more till we get back?" 

Youngjae's brows were slightly furrowed while he answered Caleb's question. "2 more hours. Why?" 

Caleb opened his mouth, wanting to speak but he was interrupted by Jongup. 

"Guys?" Jongup turned up the volume of his phone's speakers. 

"Demons were spotted storming the King's residence at approximately 1am in the morning, his house has been reduced to nothing but rubbles and as you can see, behind me, thick and grey waves of smoke are emerging from the building. We are not certain who are responsible for this attack but the police has already cordoned off the area." 

"I don't think we can head back anymore." Jongup said, his voice merely a low whisper. 

Daehyun stared at Jongup's phone, looking as though he was barely holding himself back from ripping his phone apart. Every single trace of sleepiness disappeared the moment he had opened his eyes and saw the news footage on Jongup's phone. 

Yongguk shifted himself in his seat so that he could get a view of Daehyun sitting behind him. "Soah and Leah should be alright, Zelo is there with them." 

"I hate to disappoint you, Yongguk, but from the looks of Daehyun's house in the background, a thousand or even more demons probably invaded his place. He wouldn't even be able to protect himself from that many of them." Himchan's voice was strained, it was clear he was trying to keep his emotions out of his voice. 

Daehyun leaned his head against the window, he had three fingers pressed against his temple, massaging it. 

"Go to the villa in the east, Jae, you know where it is. I think we will be safe there." Daehyun was surprised at how calm he sounded but deep inside, he was in a mess. 

He would do anything to get Soah back into his arms safely.