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A/N: it's a double update so if you haven't read 'shore' click back to read it first! [8/29/2017]

“Silence is never an admission. We learn that in law school.” 
― Kenneth Eade, The Spy Files

They had all taken off their helmets, letting it hang off their bags which they had luckily been able to retrieve from the boat and aside from the exhaustion and heat, they were were all relatively okay.

They did come across some Erratics when they passed through the shops and residential area near the beach but they took them out before they could alert any others.

“We don’t exactly have a map of this island but from what I remember, this island was popular for tourism,” Nari said, looking around at the tall buildings.

Jimin turned around. “Tourism? What do you mean?”

parted for a second before she let out a laugh. “Ah, it’s a word from the old world. It means that this island was a place of interest for many people to come and visit. Whether they were from another country or not, this place gathered people all over the place for its attractions.”

They listened to her explain everything and with each piece of new information they learned, they grew even more curious.

“You didn’t remember any of this before, did you?” Hoseok asked. She shook her head. “No, but I am starting to remember things that I didn’t before and most of them were things that happened before the drug.”

Jungkook frowned. “The Forerunner purposely kept all this information from us, didn’t he? Of what the world was like before everything got wiped, I mean.”

She nodded. “All the information that gets passed around in the Cover goes through him first. All the books and stories are snippets of things that used to be. He only wants you to know what he’s allowed.”

“Then, those people living down there still, they’ll still only believe that’s all there is to the world?” Yoongi asked. When she nodded, his expression turned sympathetic and he shook his head, turning away.

“Everyone who existed before the drug is either dead, or kept in his lab for experimentation. I don’t really know who else is alive that remembers what has happened before but I don’t think the number’s very high.”

She tilted her head. “Now that I think about it, I do remember he was looking into the cryogenic chambers. If that was possible before the drug, then I'm sure he managed to use it to his aid. Maybe that’s why I don’t have any recollection of him building the Cover itself.

Hoseok raised an eyebrow. “Cryo-what?”

“It’s something that scientists came up with that allowed dropping the body temperature of a human being so that they would freeze for a set time, allowing them to thaw them out in the future.”

“Wouldn’t they die if they were frozen? How does that work?” Jimin asked.

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, Jimin. Science has gotten to a more scarier point than that.”

“What else is there about the world? We’ve never seen pictures of what buildings like this really looked like. I also can’t imagine them without cracked walls and signs hanging off the front,” Taehyung said, looking up at what used to be an old store of some sort.

“People used to come in and out of these buildings, purchasing items for themselves. Some of these buildings sold food, some sold clothes.”

“Are all these people Ordinarians, too? Did they get assigned what job they’d do when they grew up?” Hoseok asked.

She shook her head. “No. Everyone got to decide for themselves what they wanted to do.” She paused when she heard a few of them gasp and turn to her with wide eyes.

“What do you mean?” Jimin asked.

“There was no ruler. Sure, there was someone who governed the country but he or she didn’t get to appoint everyone their roles in life. If someone wanted to be a doctor, they could study hard in school and pursue that. If a woman wanted to join the military and be a soldier, she was more than welcome.”

By now, their eyes were wide and their pace had slowed down so that they could listen to her.

Their attention was stolen, however, when they heard a noise from one of the buildings down the street and they turned their heads, holding out their guns.

Even Jimin, who had switched in for Taehyung when he was beginning to feel sore, held out a gun in one hand and his other supporting her weight.

“I saw something up on the roof,” Yoongi whispered, bringing the scope on his rifle up to his eye so he could get a closer look.

They heard a siren go off, sounding through the streets and resonating off the walls of the tall buildings. Immediately, they armed themselves, forming a circle with their backs facing each other.

From the roofs of the buildings, they saw figures step onto the edge, pointing weapons at them.

“Are those people?” Jimin asked, trying to see the silhouettes that were blocked off by the sun’s rays.

“Well, they’re certainly not Erratics,” Hoseok replied.

Nari squinted, trying to use her hand and block the sun so she could see who these people were but they were too high up for them to see any of them clearly.

She frowned, wondering why they weren’t moving and she looked around. Her eyes fell down onto the leaves beneath their feet that seemed to be moving and she tilted her head. Her eyes finally saw the clear string that glistened under the light when she moved her eyes.

Before she could warn everyone else, the ground beneath them shifted and a net made out of rope hoisted all of them up into the air.

Their vision began to blur when smoke rose from the underneath them. Nari’s eyes rounded and she turned to them.

“Put your helmets on, quick!” she shouted, recognizing the smell of the smoke.

However, because of the tight space and lack of time, the smoke enveloped them and their bodies fell slack inside of the net.

Nari’s eyes fluttered open and she winced after opening her eyes. Looking around, she had no idea where she was and she began to panic when she saw nobody else in sight. She looked behind her to see that she was tied to one of the metal poles that ran from the ground to the ceiling. She tried tugging at it but she didn’t realized the rope was tied around her waist also until the pain came searing in through her wound.

She bit her lip to keep herself from crying out and looked around. It was dark but since the light was still shining through the open windows, she was able to see wooden crates and other supply items lined against the wall.

She held her breath when the door opened and in walked the man earlier. He saw that she was awake and he grinned, pulling over one of the wooden chairs to sit down.

She glared at him. “Where are my friends? Are they safe?”

He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “Of course. I only needed them asleep so I could run a few tests.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? What tests? What have you done to them?” She almost tugged at the rope again but the pain she felt was a reminder that she should just stay still.

“I wanted to see if they were drug-free, you know? Wouldn’t want any of you carrying the same blood as those crazed monsters out there.”

She watched as he stood up and walked towards her. He crouched down in front of her and grabbed onto her chin, making her look at him.

“But you, you’re not clean. You tested positive. What are you?” he asked, tightening his grip. She bit her lip when she felt him dig his fingers in.

“I’m human. I’m no Erratic.”

He threw her head back. “Then explain to me why you have their blood in you. Not to mention, it’s rare to see a woman around here.”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” she said, watching him stand up. He let out an exaggerated sigh, cracking his neck back and forth.

“I’d start talking if I were you.”

Her eyes followed his every movement and when he walked behind her and set his hands onto the ropes binding her, she turned her head to see what he was doing.

“I don’t think any random soldiers from the Cover would come across the waters to reach us,” he said. She studied his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

“We are no soldiers of the Cover.”

“But you don their uniform, do you not?”

She turned back around. “We are not their soldiers.”

She heard him let out a low whistle. “Didn’t think Soohyuk would actually let some of his dogs run so far past the fence.”

Her eyes widened and she whipped her head around.

“How do you know that name?”

She let out a cry when he tugged on the ropes, making them dig into her wound. She tried struggling against it but the more she moved, the more the pain intensified.

“I’ll be the ones asking the questions here.”

She felt the tugging stop and he walked back around to face her.

“Now, who are you? If I remember correctly, there was only ever one female soldier. Were you that soldier?”

She ignored his question, her mind buzzing with the fact that he knew so much about the Cover.

When she didn’t reply, he slammed his foot down onto her thigh, making her scream out again because he had aimed purposely for her bullet wound.

“I asked you a question,” he whispered, digging his foot down harder.

“Why,” she huffed, “do you know so much?”

He took out something from his pocket and dangled it in front of her. fell open and she looked down at her neck where her chain was supposed to be.

“Lee Nari. You certainly are the soldier everyone was talking about in the Cover. The one that went missing for years, am I right?”

She looked up at him and said nothing.

He seemed amused by her lack of response. He put the chain back into his pocket and when he pulled out another necklace, her eyes widened and she let out a scream, tugging hard on the ropes.

“You bastard, give that back!”

He ran his fingers over the second nametag and he turned to see her angered expression.

“This one doesn’t match the other boys out there but I do recognize the name. He was part of the twelve-man team, wasn’t he? The one that got exiled?”

She grit her teeth and glared up at him. “Who are you? Why do you know so much about the soldiers?” She tried to piece together how he knew about the events that happened in the Cover before she went missing and how he knew she was a missing soldier but nothing came to mind.

He let out a laugh, throwing his head back. He turned to stare down at her and tilted his head with a smirk lighting up his face.

“Take a guess. How do you think I know so much, Nari?”

a u t h o r ' s     n o t e

       As much as I hate cliffhangers, it's sometimes fun to end on them. Maybe I'm just an evil author, I guess. Sorry! Who do you think this person is? Especially someone that knows so much about Nari and the people of the Cover? Let me know! 

       Once again, thank you so much for reading! See you in the next.