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"We need someone to thank and someone to blame; thus the concept of God and the Devil. We can't accept that everything that happens to us, is our own doing."
― Hofsa Shah

It was like he slipped into a deep dream where everything around him was dark. He felt as though he could hear someone call out is name but he had no way of answering.
His memories of all the times he had woken up in a state of sleep paralysis rushed into his mind and he gasped, feeling his throat tighten in panic. Even through the roaring that surrounded his ears, he could feel his heartbeat and the fast rate at which it was beating terrified him even more.

His arms flailed around, desperately trying to grab onto something. However, his legs were pulled up also and he fell forward, clutching his chest in shock.

The noise around him was deafening. He felt his ears pop and the pressure inside increase and he winced, feeling the tight pain hit him in waves. He felt as though he was slowly losing his hearing.

He felt something hit his stomach and the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He wrapped his arm around his ribcage, feeling the pain from the fall earlier return and he let out a cry. He tightened his fists, trying to stop himself from crying from the numbing pain.

His light had long been broken and at this point, he was surprised his helmet was still attached to his suit. He knew there were cracks and dents on the visor but it wasn’t like he had visibility at the moment anyway.

He was beginning to grow dizzy from the sudden jerking and he felt as though he wanted to throw up. He was beginning to hyperventilate, and with the helmet losing oxygen support, he was having trouble breathing.

He looked up when the noise died down for a second and he thought that it was finally over. The swirling black and grey in front of him told him otherwise and his eyes widened, realizing something had gone wrong with his hearing.

Then, he felt the blunt force of something hitting his helmet and he lost consciousness.

“Where’s Jungkook?”

Jin stumbled forward into the auditorium, having finally caught up with the others and Jimin reached out to steady him. Their eyes widened when they saw the tears welling up in his eyes. He looked up at Namjoon who had asked the question.

“I lost him. He got pulled back. I don’t know where he is,” he cried out. Jimin stared at him. “You lost him? Wasn’t he behind you?”

“My rope broke and he gave me his hook instead. We have to go back and get him,” Jin said, turning around. Hoseok and Jimin stepped forward to pull him back just as a part of the ceiling fell down, blocking off the doorway.

Yoongi stepped forward, shaking his head. “We can’t go out there right now, it’s too dangerous.” He looked towards the door and he shook his head again, seeing the particles of dirt and dust come through the small gap.

Jin whipped around, pointing a finger behind him. “You want me to sit here and idly wait while he’s out there?”

“But you can’t go out right now or else none of us will make it out,” Hoseok pointed out, pulling him closer to the middle of the auditorium so they were as far away from the door as possible.

“Jungkook? Hello? Do you hear me?” Namjoon spoke, pressing a finger into his earpiece. They waited for a reply but nothing came in.

“Jungkook!” Jimin shouted into his mic. He checked Jungkook’s location but he frowned when the transmission signal was interrupted and he cursed.

“Our trackers are blocked by the storm,” he said.

Jin looked around before sinking down onto the ground crying, “I’m so sorry, Jungkook.”

Jimin crouched down beside him, giving him a pat on the back to calm him down. “We’ll go out and search for him as soon as the tornado dies down.”

“He’ll be fine, Jin, don’t worry,” Namjoon said.

Taehyung sat there, his eyes rounded and his mouth open. He set his skewered meat back onto their small metal rack and he stared at her.

“You’re telling me we can turn those Erratics into humans again?”

She hummed. “That’s what we’re trying to find out. They are only rampant and raging because of the unexplainable pain they’re feeling inside their bodies because of the drug.”

“By the way, was the drug airborne?”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t. It was an ingestible pill but as the side effects showed up, people grew scared. It made them go crazy and it wasn’t long before they resorted to cannibalism because anything else that moved seemed to anger them.”

Taehyung shivered. “That’s a horrifying thought.”

She nodded. “It is.”

“But a lot of them are deformed, Nari. You may be able to save their minds but how would you help them physically?” Taehyung asked, tilting his head. She shook her head. “I don’t know, really, I don’t.”

He sighed, sitting back. “There has to be other people out there who know more than us.”

“That’s what I want to figure out. It would’ve been easier if we had an air vehicle but there’s no way we could’ve gotten one out of the garages alive.”

Taehyung clucked his tongue. “You’re right. The security there is insane. What’s on the other side of this water, anyway? How far is the journey?”

“We aren’t crossing the waterway from this side. We’re using the water to circle around and from there, the travel is even further to the other island,” she explained.

He stopped. “We’re on an island?” She nodded, furrowing her eyebrows at his expression. “Did you not know that?”

He shook his head. “The Forerunner told us we were on the mainland.”

She frowned. “Right now, we’re on an island. If I remember, Soohyuk chose to come here because this was the area with the least deaths in the general population so he was able to take them with him into the Cover with the promise that they would be safe.”

He let out a laugh. “Actually, I’m not even surprised he lied to us about that too. I can’t see why he would, though.” He looked up. “I’m impressed, really. He was able to create a whole new civilization underground.”

She pursed her lips. “She brainwashed the people with the drug to him clear out the underground subway and what you now know as the Innermost is an old underground army base. He used them as physical labour servants and after he was able to have them breed, he killed them off.”

He sat there, processing all the information. “This is messed up. So how long has he really lived? How old are you really?”

She gave him a sad smile and he wanted to take back what he had just asked after seeing the heartbreak in her eyes.

“I don’t even remember, Taehyung.” She stared at the burning fire. “At this point, my only goal is to figure out an anti-virus for the people in Soohyuk’s experimentation labs.”

“You mean the man made Erratics?” he asked. She nodded, reaching for her water. She looked up at him and her eyes searched his in concern.

“Did you know anyone sent into Tomorrow?”

He pressed his lips into a firm line, staring at the rocks on the ground.

“Sadly, yes, I do.”

Nari came back into the truck after washing herself off with a cloth in the water. She tossed the towel into the back seat and that’s when she finally saw Taehyung sitting there, frozen. She frowned, stepping up into the truck to sit down.

“You were able to rewire the device- wait, what’s the matter?”

She blinked when he showed her what was on the screen of the device. Her eyes widened and she stared back at him.

“They lost him in the storm?”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t just a storm. It was a tornado and from their current locations, they were probably sent orders to return back to the Cover immediately.”

She gripped onto the device in her hand. “So Jungkook’s out there alone?” Taehyung nodded. “His tracker has been in the same location for a while now.”

“Do you think he did that on purpose?” she asked. Taehyung thought about it for a second.

“It’s possible, yes, but I don’t know if he’d be that willing to pull something so extreme just to be separated from them.”

“We would’ve heard from him by now if it went well,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “The building must have collapsed and if he was pulled into the tornado, there’s no way he didn’t sustain any injuries.. I doubt they took any big vehicles with them to be able to dig him out if he fell under. They’re probably going to return with vehicles to get him.”

She let out the breath she was holding before slamming shut the passenger door.

“Then we’ll beat them to it.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“We’ll go rescue him before they can.”

Namjoon sat there at the table with his hands clasped together. His eyes ran over the monitor in front of them and he narrowed his eyes at the information on the screen.

Their team had gone years with a perfect record. There had never been any instance when they did not complete their objective and there had never been anything other than injuries sustained.

He tensed his jaw and unlocked his fingers.

The rest of the members were resting in their chambers after the Forerunner told them their vehicle would be ready by tomorrow morning to set out and find Jungkook. They had taken two full days to wait out the storm and was able to return to the Cover.

He shook his head, flipping over to the next mission log.

It left him absolutely baffled as to how they were able to lose two members in such a short time span. First one member goes missing, and now they were able to lose a second one. Both of whom were within a close radius of everyone else.

He leaned his head back, letting out a breath to clear his thoughts. Nothing had ever gone wrong on their scavenge missions, or repair missions before.

His eyes rounded and he sat up.

Everything had begun to go awry when they were sent on that one rescue mission. Images of Baekhyun flashed through his mind and began to grow agitated.

Then, he remembered the girl they saw at the farmhouse and he tilted his head.

He looked down, vaguely remembering the profile shot of the woman they were hunting that day along with Baekhyun, who was the soldier-turned-traitor.

He clenched his fists, feeling his knuckles crack.

Everything went wrong because of them.

a u t h o r ' s    n o t e 

        Hi friends! I've added the music playlist at the start of every chapter so if you're interested (or have gone back and done some re-reading), all you need to do is just click the music note and it'll direct you to the Spotify playlist.

  Somewhere along the way, it went from fiction to some supernatural-esque story because of Nari's abilities and their "anti-aging". Man, how do writers do this so easily?

Also, one of you asked me if the name 'Nari' meant anything and to answer that, yes, it does. I took the name from Nari, who's the main dancer in a girl group known as Wa$$up. Not many people know them (or have a good impression of them), but I honestly love the girl. She's beautiful and her dancing is amazing. But I used a picture of Heize in the foreword because the strong image matched more with the character I had in mind.

this is how I imagined the main character to be with her pink hair