♫  click the music note for music !

"In everybody's life there's a point of no return.
And in a very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore.
And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact.
That's how we survive."
―Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Nari had stayed in her huddled position on the couch for the past hour. She had gotten up sometime ago to pull out some of the wooden boards from the windows to let some sunlight in but otherwise, she remained unmoving.

She tightened her fingers around the note and she felt her heart ache even more.

The fact that he left her alone without telling her made her angry but then she thought back to the pain he was going through because of her and she felt the guilt rise up.

The thought of him being out there alone and suffering made her want to vomit. She couldn’t even imagine the amount of pain and agony he was going through at the moment, walking through the heat wave and having to bear the pains he was going through with the drug working its way further into his body.

She brought her knees up closer to her chest and wiped at her runny nose with her sweater. She closed her eyes, the tears spilling out of her eyes and she let out a broken sob at the thought of him again.

Nari finally moved from her position when she heard the rumbling from outside the walls of the house. She wiped her tears away and walked towards the window where she had taken off the wooden boards. She peeked outside and her eyes rounded when she saw the looming gray clouds.

“Great,” she mumbled, knowing another rainstorm was coming this way. If they wanted to avoid the flooding, they would have to get to an elevated terrain.

She glanced back at Taehyung, who was still unconscious on the sofa and she let out a soft sigh. She walked back over to her bag, threw it over her shoulder and began to pack up.

Nari coughed, pulling the neck of her sweater higher. She could feel the fever forming and she knew it was because she pushed herself that day trying to get Baekhyun out of the Cover.

She looked up towards the sky where the clouds had stowed the sun away. She bit her lip, repositioning Taehyung on her back before continuing her way down the roads of the suburban neighbourhood.

She looked up and her eyes landed on a tall building in the distance. She squinted her eyes, realizing it was a hospital. It was the only high building in sight but the fact that it was a hospital meant that there would be a number of Erratics also.

After much difficulty, she had finally made her way to the front entrance of the hospital. She looked back to see Taehyung’s closed eyes and she turned back to the front door. She furrowed her brows in thought. She set Taehyung down against the wall and she took out her gun in one hand and a dagger in the other.

She used her shoulder to push open the door and she was not surprised to see that the building was covered in darkness. She let her eyes adjust for a few seconds and decided against turning on her flashlight. If she were to fight them, she would have a better chance fighting them in the dark.

She held her breath when she heard the sound of feet dragging against the floor behind her and she whipped her head around to come face to face with an Erratic. She scrunched up her face in disgust, seeing the blood spilling out from its mouth. Its face was so disfigured she had trouble determining its gender.

She aimed the dagger at the head and pulled it out, watching the creature fall to the floor. She was thankful the Erratic made no noise, but she knew there were more to come.

After scouring the entire main area and encountering a few more Erratics in the building, she found the stairwell to the side of the two no longer working elevators.

She went back out to the front, picked up Taehyung onto her back and slowly made her way towards the stairwell. Her eyes wandered up the flights of stairs and she felt her head spin.

She wasn’t so sure she would make it up in her current state, but she had to try if she wanted to keep the two of them alive.

Taehyung startled awake, his eyes meeting nothing but darkness. He scrambled to his feet, looking around. He frowned, seeing that he was in a hallway of some stairwell. He reached up to turn on his headlight only to realize he didn’t have his helmet on. He gasped, reaching up to touch his throat.

He fumbled around his bag, not able to find his helmet. He let out uneven breaths, finding that they started to slow down to a normal pace. He looked up and blinked.

Without his helmet, he should have felt the discomfort from the air entering his lungs but to his surprise, he felt nothing out of the ordinary.

The last thing he remembered was climbing down that ladder to chase after their targets for a mission but from there on, his head was blank.

He frowned, pressing a few buttons on his wrist device but it did not power on. He cursed under his breath and took a step forward, only to hit something. He looked down in alarm and he jumped back when he saw someone sitting against the wall.

He quickly reached for his knife, ready to fight if it was an Erratic. He stilled, wondering why it wasn’t moving. He reached into his bag for his flashlight and took the risk of turning it on and shining it down.

His eyes widened and he bent down immediately, shaking her shoulder. When there came no response, he placed two fingers under her nose, waiting to see if she was breathing. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt the even breaths.

He looked around, now that there was light, and he realized they were in a staircase. His ears picked up the sounds of rumbling from outside and he recognized it as an incoming storm. He looked back down to the girl beside him and he tilted his head in thought.

She must have carried him by herself up to avoid the flood.

He placed the knife blade between his teeth and bent down to lift her up in his arms. He picked up the bag beside her and hooked the straps over his arm. When he took a step, he felt pain shoot up his leg and he looked down to see that his pants had torn and there was a bloody bandage over it.

Ignoring the pain of his sprained ankle and the wound on his leg, he continued up the stairs. He mentally wished there were no Erratics as he went up. He noted the signs and markings on the walls and he figured they were in a hospital.

He had finally made it up the stairs and when he saw no second door, he knew he had reached the roof. He balanced her in one arm and reached down to open the door. He sighed when he realized it was jammed shut.

He set her down and he looked down to see that the key was broken inside of the lock, meaning he would have to find another way to open it. He looked through, seeing the small slit between the door and the wall. He figured he could cut the lock out with the tools in his bag.

When the door was successfully open, he picked her back up and he stepped out onto the rooftop. He closed the door behind him and he looked around.

It was still daytime and he set her down to run a quick check of the roof, making sure they were the only ones up here. He walked back towards the door and using the chain he found lying beside it, he tied the doorknob to one of the pipes.

Now that there was sufficient light, he realized Nari’s face was tinted pink and there was a light sheen of sweat coating her face. He frowned, bending down to remove his glove and to place the back of his palm against her forehead. He drew his hand back in alarm at the burning hot temperature.

He took the bag off his back and set it down, looking around for his flask. He found no extra cloth, so he resorted to ripping some fabric off his jacket and he dumped some water out, proceeding to wipe away her sweat.

He figured the scorching sun would probably not help in keeping her body temperature down and he took off his jacket to keep her body in the shade. He walked over to one of the tables and the ripped umbrella to make a makeshift shelter to shield them from the incoming rain.

He sat down beside her and looked at her face. There was dirt and residue of blood stains and he reached up to wipe some of it off with his fingers.

“You didn’t change at all, Nari,” he said quietly, brushing away the hair that was sticking to her face.

Nari, feeling someone shake her awake, opened her eyes. She blinked, her eyes not yet adjusted to the dark.

“How are you feeling?” came a voice in front of her. She tilted her head, reaching up to see who was in front of her.

“It’s me, Nari, it’s okay,” they said. She frowned, not understanding why she couldn’t see anything in front of her.

“I can’t see anything,” she whispered, feeling the panic rise. She was about to get up when the person held her shoulders down, as if telling her to stay where she was.

She heard the person in front of her sigh. “That’s normal. You weren’t feeling well. I told you not to strain yourself but look what you did to your body.”

After hearing more of the voice, fell open.

“Baek?”

She felt a hand brush up against her cheek, and she let out a soft cry at the familiar feeling. She held onto his hand and she straightened up to wrap her arms around his neck.

“You came back?” she asked quietly. She felt him nod and let out a sigh of relief.

She nudged her cheek into his sweater and inhaled his scent. “I thought you left me.”

She heard him chuckle and she felt the rumbling from his chest. “I told you, I would never leave your side. I’m always here with you.”

She pulled back and she reached around to feel his face. His hands guided her and she brushed her thumb across his cheek.

“But you did leave. You left me after-”

Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp. She looked around, seeing that her surrounding were barely lit with the dim moonlight and the ground underneath her was wet.

She scrambled to her feet, almost knocking her head into the umbrella and looked around. The person she was looking for was nowhere to be found and she finally realized that she had just woken up from a dream.

Her eyes welled up with tears and she staggered back when she felt a wave of dizziness hit her. Someone steadied her from behind and she looked back in alarm.

“Nari, are you okay?” Taehyung asked, concern written all over his face. She stared at him and her eyes rounded.

“You remember me?”

a u t h o r 's    n o t e 

I'm sorry for the long wait but I've been busy with final exams and now I'm in Vietnam on a 6 week vacation. I'll still update regularly as I'll be home a lot anyway (since I decided to take two online courses while on vacation hahaha someone kill me).

  Welcome to all the new readers who decided to give the story a chance after the bid. I'm so happy so many of you showed interest and subscribed, and even commented/upvoted, There'll probably be a double update soon, depending on the time I finish editing the next chapter.

  Hope you liked it!