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

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”
― Spencer Johnson

Baekhyun let out a groan when he startled awake, feeling the ache all over his body. He pushed himself so that he was sitting against the wall and looked out what was left of the window. He reached down for the flask where he had stored his fresh water supply and took a sip.

His routine for the past week had been extremely lonely. For the first few days, he struggled to keep warm and dry with the changing weather patterns. Finding food was even more difficult and all he was able to scavenge was non-perishables from old buildings of the old world. He had been exiled from the Cover and left with barely any supplies to keep himself alive.

He closed the lid and leaned his head against the wall for some peace and quiet until he heard the scattering of pebbles and rocks on the ground outside. He jolted awake and put a hand on his sheath where his dagger was stored. He ducked down and peered out the window.

His eyes widened when he saw a girl in the distance with two Erratics following after her. He was shocked to see someone else that may still be human. It also surprised him to see that even though she was wearing full combat gear, she was without a helmet. He knew she must be a soldier from the Cover but he had never heard of there ever being a female Selected.

He bit his lip, thinking about what he should do. After a few moments of hesitation, he waited for the girl to run by before grabbing her arm and pulling her behind him. She screamed at the sudden jerk but he held a hand over .

He pointed a finger to where she was standing, as if telling her to stay there while he stepped out to fight the two Erratics off.

After a few minutes of close combat, the two Erratics fell with their necks slit open and skull bashed in with a brick he found lying on the side of the road. He walked back inside the building through the window to see the girl staring at him with horrified eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered, reaching out. The girl retracted from his reach and shook her head.

“Are you from the Cover?” he asked. She looked up at him and said nothing. He gestured towards the armour she was wearing.

“I used to be a soldier too. Here,” he said, bringing out his badge to show her. Seemingly comforted by that little detail, she relaxed her body.

“Why are you up here?” she asked, throat dry. Baekhyun handed her his flask and she drank it without a second thought.

“I was exiled a week ago because of some circumstances. You don’t seem to have been exiled if you’re still in gear. Were you on a mission?” he asked, noticing she had a backpack on and a gun in her holster. She nodded, suddenly clutching at her head, as if she was in a lot of pain.

“I was,” she whispered, “but I don’t remember why. I was with people but I don’t remember who.” He watched as she reached up to her neck and scratched at an open wound. He furrowed his eyebrows when he realized she had dug her fingers into her own skin to pull something out.

Just as she pulled the microchip out, however, she collapsed and he reached out to catch her before her head collided with the ground.

“I don’t want to remember,” she gasped out before fainting in his arms.

BTS had returned to the Cover and reported everything they saw or heard to the Forerunner. After their reports, they were sent back to their sleeping chambers where they were told to rest before their next mission.

They sat together in their team’s common area in silence.

“I still can’t understand why he is able to breathe the air on the Surface.” Jin ruffled his hair in frustration. Namjoon nodded in agreement. “He must be an Erratic.”

“But Erratics don’t have any speech capabilities. How was he able to talk and understand us? Not to mention, he knew how to use a smoke bomb and escape from all seven of us,” Yoongi pointed out.

“Maybe the radioactive air dissipated?” Jungkook said. Hoseok shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why else would we have to wear helmets all the time? The air on the Surface is toxic.”

“If he was able to survive for so long, I don’t know why, but I want to believe that Nari is still somewhere up there,” Jimin whispered. Jungkook nodded.

Taehyung sighed. “Even if she was, she would hate us for leaving her behind. It wasn’t like we had any choice when the storm hit and all of us got split up.”

Namjoon shook his head and stood up.

“I think we should all rest for now. Don’t forget to take your Bliss because I don’t think the Forerunner wants us to dwell on the past for so long.

They nodded, getting up to follow him into their own respective chambers.

Soohyuk looked through the stuff that BTS had brought home. He sat in the chair, looking at the monitors displaying the surveillance footage. He frowned when he heard what BTS was discussing.

He tilted his head when he ran his fingers over the photograph. He dusted off the dirt and brought it closer to his face so he could get a clearer look.

“Send them out there to find him,” he whispered, crumpling the photograph in his hand. He looked up at his assistant.

“And if she’s with him, I want you to bring her back alive.”

“By them, do you mean-”

“Yes, I want the three of them. I want him torn to pieces.”

He stood up to leave but then stopped on his heels and cast another glance over his shoulder.

“And make sure they forget what they still remember of her. Increase their dosage.”

“Nari?”

The girl looked up at the sound of her name and softened when she saw him duck under the hanging tarp. His face looked pale and he was leaning against the wall for support.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, standing up to support him. Baekhyun leaned against her and sighed.

“I was already worn out from the Erratics I met on the way and having a bullet wound isn’t going to help. I don’t know if I’ll be much help for the next few days.”

Nari shook her head and helped him sit down against the wall. She wiped the sweat off his forehead and tilted her head.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you don’t have a fever. We’re out of pain killers so you’re going to have to bear with the pain for a bit.” He smiled, looking at her face.

“Yeah, but I feel bad for making you do the work all alone.”

She shook her head once again. “It’s fine. Let me finish making breakfast.” She got up and headed over to the pot that was hanging over a burning fire. She stirred the soup around.

“We’re running out of meat, though. I think I have to set up more snares in the forests, or we have to head East towards the rivers and lakes for fish.”

“Isn’t it funny that people in the Cover think there’s no animals or wildlife left?” Baekhyun chuckled. Nari shrugged. “They have only lived in the Cover and have heard what they think is the truth their whole lives. They don’t even know that there’s still countries out there untouched by radiation.”

“Radioactive decay takes thousands of years. I don’t think this city has enough radiation for us to be harmed by it after what they did to us down there.”

“It’s surprising we barely see any wildlife inside the city, though.”

“Not many living organisms would survive the slight radiation in the air up here. They probably moved somewhere else to avoid total extinction of their species. We should too.”

Baekhyun let out a small whine. “That’s so far. And how would you be able to carry all our research supplies by yourself?”

Nari turned to him and chuckled, bringing over a small metal bowl full of soup. “Sometimes I feel like you forget that I used to be a soldier too and the first person in the Cover to become a Selected.”

Baekhyun swallowed down the spoonful of soup. “I sometimes forget we’re still human.”

Namjoon woke up the next day with a pounding headache and he groaned at the dizziness he felt. He reached over for his pill box and popped a few into his mouth before hopping out of the sleeping chamber.

“Is anyone else feeling lightheaded today?”

Yoongi nodded, letting out a yawn. “I have a headache.” He stretched his arms over his head and let out a sigh. “Maybe we’re just tired today.”

“The Forerunner gave us a day off again. We have another scavenging mission tomorrow, though.”

“Another day off?” Hoseok asked, coming to sit with the two of them at the table. Jin joined them shortly after.

“Are the other three not waking up?” Jin blinked. Namjoon shrugged. “Let them be. We’ll head to the cafeteria first. They’ll wake up when the alarm sounds.”

“I don’t know what to do with the day off, though,” Hoseok pointed out. Jin looked over his shoulder. “Me either.”

“We could head to the armoury and clean out our weapons. Maybe get some upgrades?” Namjoon suggested. Yoongi nodded. “I like that idea.”

Nari looked down at the notes she had written down and frowned when she saw the inconsistencies between her test results. Baekhyun came over, wrapping his uninjured arm around her waist and rested his chin onto her shoulder.

“The three Erratics we tested on all showed different eating habits. One favours the meat cooked, and one favours it raw. The other refuses to eat unless it’s fish.”

Baekhyun reached over to read the papers.

“And they do sleep, however, very sparingly. They wake up at the slightest of sounds and they don’t close their eyes when they do.”

Baekhyun nodded, placing down the papers. “And have they responded to any voice commands?” She shook her head. “I don’t think they understand yet. They’re still highly aggressive.”

“We have to fix you first, don’t we? Why are you worrying about the Erratics?” Baekhyun asked gently, brushing her hair away from her face to kiss her cheek.

“I don’t need to be fixed, Baek. I just want to help those people. They’re still in there somewhere, I know it.”

He sighed and dropped his arms, knowing he couldn’t win the argument with her. “I’ll go make sure the bars hold up for them.”

“We’ve been here for three days, do you think it’s time to relocate?” Nari asked. She put the book down when she heard no reply. Her lips pulled upwards into a fond smile as she brought the cloth draped over her chair to place around his shoulders.

She pulled the chair over to sit down beside him and leaned her cheek against the desk to stare at his sleeping face.

Nari ran her fingers through his hair and let out a soft sigh.

“I’m sorry he did this to you and I’m sorry you’re giving up your life to stay up here with me.”

He shuffled in his sleep at her touch.

She got up to kiss his forehead. “And I’m sorry you still don’t know the full story.”

a u t h o r ' s     n o t e

     It's a triple update! Okay, bye bye.