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A/N: it's a double update so if you haven't read 'transportation' click back to read it first! [3/1/2017]

“Why did we become blind, I don't know, perhaps one day we'll find out,
Do you want me to tell you what I think, Yes, do, I don't think we did go blind,
I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.”
― José Saramago

With alert eyes, the seven of them walked down the empty roads. There were no signs of life and with every step they took, dust and sand flew into the air around their knees.

“He was last spotted inside the old church to our right,” Yoongi said, following the radar on his device.

The church came into view and they looked up at the towering structure. They walked up the stairs leading towards the front door that was closed shut.

“There’s no signs of Erratics within the church. We’re clear,” Jin said, giving Jimin and Taehyung the signal to pry open the door. The others kept watch while they worked on it, and once it opened up, they went in.

“It’s so dark,” Jungkook whispered, turning on the light attached to his helmet. He looked around the rows of empty seats. He tilted his head, staring at the mosaic tiles on the wall.

“We’ll split up and scour the area. Jin you come with me, Yoongi and Hoseok, you guys check the top floor. The other three, check the bottom floor. That way, we’ll cover the three floors of this place,” Namjoon instructed. Nodding, they left to do as told.

“I like how we’re always stuck doing the most ty places,” Taehyung commented once they found the door to the basement.

“What, you scared?” Jimin grinned, pushing the door open. Taehyung peered over his shoulder to the darkness in front and nodded. “Hell yeah, I am. You go first, then.”

“You’re such a baby,” Jimin said, heading down first. Taehyung followed him while Jungkook shook his head from behind, not knowing why their leader always put those two together when all they did was bicker.

Jin and Namjoon checked the main area before moving around to the hallways and the rooms within them. The two of them headed towards the washrooms.

“Wow, did we really have that much water to spare in the past that there’s at least 10 of these faucets in the washroom?” Jin asked, shining his light on the sink. He tried turning one of them on, and to no surprise, no water came out. He looked up at the mirror and he squinted his eyes when he thought he saw the stall door behind him move the slightest.

He heard noise behind him and at once, he turned around and aimed his gun. He let out a yelp when he saw a rat run out from the stall when he shined the light on it. Namjoon turned around at the commotion and raised an eyebrow.

Yoongi and Hoseok found the staircase leading them up to the top floor. Yoongi frowned, seeing that the staircase was made of wooden floorboards.

“Be careful going up. I don’t know if it’ll support our weight,” Yoongi advised. Hoseok nodded, following behind him. His eyes widened when one of his feet broke through the wood and before he could fall, an arm shot down to stabilize him.

“You alright?” Yoongi asked, pulling him up. Hoseok nodded, letting out a gasp of relief. “We’ll have to be extra careful going back down later.”

“All I see down here are storage crates and stuff they must have used for performances back then,” Jimin whispered, looking over everything. “Even if our guy lived here, where did he get food and water?”

“Is there even fresh water here on the Surface? I heard it’s all contaminated,” Taehyung replied.

Jungkook strayed away from the two as he ducked under some cobwebs to walk into another room. He looked around at the seemingly normal room.

That was when he saw the makeshift bed in the corner behind some cardboard boxes. He furrowed his eyebrows, and walked closer after hearing noises.

He walked over, fully seeing the sleeping bag now and he blinked when he saw two. He reached down to pick up the radio. The static coming from the receiver seemed to be the cause of the noise and he had just turned around when he felt something wrap around his neck.

His eyes widened in horror and he let out a strangled scream when he realized someone, or something, had wrapped a rope around his neck.

Hearing Jungkook’s cry of help, Taehyung and Jimin rushed into the room to see Jungkook struggling in the darkness. They shot a bullet to the thing keeping a hold on Jungkook and the boy fell onto his knees, gasping for air inside of his mask. He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw the pained face of a boy, no older than they were, staring back at him.

He scrambled back, realizing it may be an Erratic.

“How?” he whispered, not moving his eyes away from the boy who was clutching onto his arm in pain.

“Is he an Erratic?” Taehyung asked, pulling Jungkook up and behind him.

“Hey!” Jimin called out. “What are you?” The boy glared up at him and without saying anything, he started laughing. The three of them stood there in silence and surprise.

“Wait, his face looks familiar,” Taehyung said, turning the brightness on his light higher. The boy stopped laughing to cover his eyes from the light.

Jimin raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t he the guy we’re looking for? He doesn’t look anything like a soldier.”

“That’s because I’m not,” the guy said. He tilted his head with a smirk. “Look at you pathetic fools. You’re all geared up for nothing.”

“What?” Jimin scoffed in disbelief. They had gone out of their way to rescue him, and here he was, acting like a jerk.

“I assume you’re here to find me, aren’t you? I’m not surprised he sent so many people to find me,” he said, ripping the sleeve off his sweater to wrap around the wound on his arm.

“We found him,” Jungkook said into his earpiece, “We’re in the basement, first room on your right.” He turned back to the guy who had now pushed himself back into a standing position and was leaning against the wall.

“How many did he send this time?” he asked. Jimin frowned. “We’re a team of seven and we were sent here to retrieve you and bring you back to the Cover for safety.”

The guy laughed again. “Safety, my . You really think the Cover is safe?”

Taehyung stepped up. “It’s a lot safer than staying up here. You don’t even have a helmet for the radioactive air. Where is your clean water? How would you fight off the Erratics?”

The guy pushed himself off the wall to walk up to Taehyung, who held up his gun in defense.

“I don’t have the patience to explain something you wouldn’t understand. Leave, I’m not going back with you.”

Jimin stepped forward to stand beside Taehyung. “We have orders to bring you back.” Jungkook stepped up beside him also.

“I’m not going back to that hell hole. Tell him I’m dead.”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t do that,” came a voice from behind. The four of them looked back to see the rest of the guys standing by the doorway.

“Wow, he really did send a whole team for me. What a joke,” the guy chuckled, staring at all the faces.

“We have to bring you back now that we found you. Your cooperation will affect the hospitality you’re given,” Namjoon said.

“Hospitality? Does hospitality count when this bastard shot me in the arm?”

“You attacked first,” Jungkook pointed out. The guy turned to him and narrowed his eyes. “Wouldn’t you fight back if someone ventured into your sleeping area unannounced?”

“Enough talking. Come back with us before we make you,” Yoongi warned. The guy stepped back when the seven of them advanced forward.

The guy smirked, reaching his hand on the wall behind him. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t do that.”

Before the seven of them could do or say anything, smoke filled the room and they lost their vision in the fog.

The smoke disappeared after a while.

The guy did too.

“What the ? Who was he? And how is he still alive?” Yoongi asked.

The seven of them had searched the entire church once again, but the guy they were looking for was nowhere to be found.

Namjoon shrugged. “He must be an enemy of the Cover to be acting like that.”

“What do we do now?” Taehyung asked. Namjoon stood up and looked down at the device on his wrist.

“I’ll report to the Forerunner our situation and have him advise us on the next steps.”

“He was able to survive up here with no water and no food. Not to mention, the radioactivity should have caused internal organ failure long before we could’ve found him,” Jin frowned, remembering all the details.

“I don’t understand either,” Hoseok frowned, resting his head against the stone walls of the church.

“Doesn’t it remind you of someone, though?” Jungkook whispered, twirling the dagger around in his palm. The others turned to him at the statement.

“Do you think she’d still be alive?” he asked, looking up at the older members. Taehyung scooted over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“It’s been years, Jungkook. I doubt it.”

Namjoon returned after a few minutes and the others looked up at him.

“The Forerunner said that to retreat for now and that he will not survive long with that bullet wound.”

Yoongi shook his head and pushed himself up. “We wasted our time finding this guy.”

Namjoon opened the door to the church again. “The Forerunner said seeing him alive was enough information. He wants us to observe the guy’s living area once more and bring back anything that he may have used.”

Yoongi signed, following after him. “Alright, let’s go then.”

“All he has here are some empty cans and a radio. Along with two sleeping bags. Was there someone else with him?” Taehyung asked, bending down to flip open the cover. He tilted his head when he saw a photograph and he reached down to pick it up.

He frowned, seeing the blurred faces due to the tear-and-wear the photograph must have gone through.

“Maybe he had a girlfriend? He has a picture of a girl here but I can barely see her face,” Taehyung said, straightening up and handing the picture off to Jin who inspected it.

“Why does the Forerunner want him back so badly if he refuses to?” Jimin asked. He kicked over some cans and sighed.

“I can’t believe we went all this way to find someone who didn’t want to be found.”

“What happened?”

The guy dropped down into the chair and let out a sigh as he leaned his head against the wall.

“I went back to get our old belongings until those ers showed up,” he groaned. He unwrapped the bloodied cloth and winced when he felt the stinging pain return in magnitudes.

“Was it the soldiers?”

He nodded as she walked towards him and crouched down to inspect his wound. She softened and reached out to touch his hand.

“I’ll get the bullet out for you but it’s going to hurt,” she said. She got up and left to another room only to return a few moments later with a kit in her hand. She took out the metal tools and brought the candle closer to her so she could see his arm better.

He let out a strangled cry of pain when he felt the metal digging into his swollen arm. He gripped onto the sides of the chair and did his best not to faint from the excruciating pain.

“I’m sorry, hold it in for a bit longer, okay?” she whispered. Once she got a hold of the bullet, she pulled it out and threw it onto the ground.

She reached for the disinfectant spray and looked up at him before spraying it on his wound to clean it out. Her heart twisted when she saw his face scrunch up in pain. She finished cleaning out the wound and carefully wrapped new bandages around it to ensure that no infection would follow.

“Hey,” she put her palm on his cheek. He opened his eyes and reached his hand to place his on top of hers. “How are you doing?” she asked, searching his eyes. He pulled her onto his lap and she was careful not to touch his arm. He placed his arms around her waist and leaned his forehead against her shoulder.

“I brought back your old gun and an old bullet-proof vest. I couldn’t get the photograph back because before I could, they arrived,” he whispered. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“That’s fine. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“Soohyuk hasn’t changed one bit. He still has his soldiers all geared up and oblivious. They seemed so surprised to see that I could breathe without air support from the helmet.”

She sighed and tightened her arms around him. “I feel bad for them for not knowing the truth but it’s not like they’d believe us even if we told them. We need more time.”

“I don’t think they’ll stop searching for me. I don’t know where he inserted the chip so they’ll always have a tracker on me. How did you remember where yours was?” he asked. She pulled back and looked at him to give him a small smile.

“Because I remember them putting it in, Baek.”

a u t h o r ' s     n o t e

          Yay, a double update! Enter Byun Baekhyun, hehe. I was going to make Kai the second lead but this guy has been ruining my bias list since the Monster MV where he had all those piercings (and frankly, having Baekhyun star in an action/romance makes him so much hotter cooler). I'll officially add 'baekhyun' to the story tags but I'm gonna leave his introduction to the chapters and not the foreword.

           As for the main lead from BTS, we'll see! I haven't decided yet.