Control room hallway, Facility 1F, Ibis Island.

11:40pm

Jieqiong was still there waiting for her by the time Nayoung had finished going down the stairs at a rather slow pace. Her moves could easily be considered sluggish to an observer yet they were far from that.

Nayoung was scanning the area with all available senses. The underground floor was, so to say, uncharted territory for her and the innate huntress in her wasn’t taking any risks. She had cleaned the first two floors of dinosaurs with her usual measured and methodic ways, this one wouldn’t be any different.

But of course, to Jieqiong, whatever was going through Nayoung’s mind was unknown. The Chinese girl, already exasperated with the amount of time Nayoung was taking just to go down a flight of stairs, started impatiently tapping her foot against the ground, hoping to get the soldier’s attention.

“Talk about taking your sweet time.”

“Shhh…”- Nayoung hushed Jieqiong as she took her final step and finished descending. - “In an environment like this, if you don’t take your time to do things, you die…”

“Well, I’m still alive, so your theory has no actual grounds”- Jieqiong, whom Nayoung knew never hesitated to talk back, countered, pointing at herself with great pride visible in her eyes.

They were now in a small, simple cubic space – its only decoration being a small and clearly fake indoor plant – that only had one door. Nayoung immediately got close to it, grabbing hold of the handle and focusing her hearing.

Nothing came from behind the door, so it was likely safe. She could never be sure about that nonetheless, given the stealthy nature of the most common enemy, the raptors.

She had understood their way of sneaking around thanks to one of her earlier encounters, back when she still couldn’t believe her eyes. They hunted in packs, if there was one then there were probably one or two more with it, they preferred the silent approach and went about it with extreme precision, a precision she had come to expect only from humans.

They were silent killer machines, their innate abilities even surpassing that of men, their heightened senses putting Nayoung at a disadvantage.

It thrilled her, finding this new foe, testing herself against it. It made her blood boil with anticipation every time she opened a door, a feeling that sometimes became akin to pleasure.

“You are alive, certainly, but the inept makeshift bandage on your shoulder shows that you’ve faced death at least once thanks to your rash attitude”- Nayoung opened the door with her left hand, taking a peek inside as she held her assault rifle with her right one. No dinosaur in sight. - “You probably won’t be so lucky next time.”

Nayoung and Jieqiong: Enter Medical room hallway, Facility 1B, Ibis Island.

11:43pm

“Just FYI, miss “cool and composed”, I can take care of myself just fine”- Jieqiong apparently had no plans of shutting up, but Nayoung was already getting accustomed to blocking her as she focused on the front. - “But you know that already”

Yes, she regrettably did.

“Silence, civilian”- Nayoung progressed along the Z-shaped corridor, taking the sharp turn with wary meticulousness, keeping her rifle pointing forwards at all times all the while Jieqiong followed suit behind her.

“Ugh, back to soldier mode”- The girl behind her complained before her attention quickly switched to something else. - “Oh look, the infirmary, maybe there is something we can use inside there after we check the hall.”

Around that corner was, indeed, the facility’s infirmary. It’d usually be the first place people would run towards after the ways out of the compound are sealed, but there was no sign of people going through that hallway recently, so Nayoung doubted any worker made it past the metal shutter and into the infirmary to begin with.

“We should come back here later to check on your wound”- Nayoung spoke up, her eyes still trained towards whatever her rifle’s iron sights were aiming at the moment.

“Aw, there is a little bit of empathy behind that frown! I knew it!”- Jieqiong chirped, briefly breaking Nayoung’s concentration as she thoughtlessly latched onto her right arm.

Nayoung glare was enough for her to let go.

“Don’t get too hopeful, I’m just doing my job”- Nayoung kept walking, leaving Jieqiong behind to sulk as she went around the second corner, coming face to face with a door. She turned around, watching as Jieqiong jogged towards her. - “Now, if you are really not going to help, please stay back and be quiet, there are bound to be a few threats in the area.”

It wasn’t her intention to actually be harsh to the girl, since she was probably still scared for her life despite how much goodwill she had shown, but right now, when they were in the middle of an unexplored area, Nayoung needed to be at her best if she wanted to protect both of them.

Jieqiong tagging along had already been bad enough and, admittedly, Nayoung didn’t do much to stop her from coming. She liked her company, it made her remember good times. She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if Jieqiong, or anyone else, died under her watch.

And the Chinese scientist seemed to understand this as she gave Nayoung an acknowledging nod.

With that burden finally relieved from her mind, Nayoung turned around and opened the door.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Or not.

The incoming message stopped Nayoung in her tracks.

“Nayoung speaking, over…”

“Hey, Julia here, just letting you know I found blondie”- Julia's voice came through the radio, making Nayoung deduce that Kyungwon, for some reason, had lended it to her - “And we are in deep since the path back to the facility, well… it broke down… over.”

“Any ideas on how to get back?”

“We can use the cargo elevator to go down, but I’m sure blondie won’t want to do that unless we find whoever is sending that SOS, I’ll keep you informed if we do, over and out”

“Well… wonderful…”- Nayoung sighed, she didn’t exactly trust Julia to take care of Kyungwon, but it wasn’t like she had a choice in the matter. At least Julia knew how to handle guns properly.

Nayoung and Jieqiong: Enter Hall B1, Facility 1B, Ibis Island.

11:47

Nayoung dashed into the room, crouching as she examined her surroundings. Unlike like the previous room, this one was considerably smaller, or seemed to be, since a large part of it was behind a transparent rolling shutter. There was also a door that headed towards the underground materials deposit.

She hadn’t finished assessing the situation completely when she heard Jieqiong shout from behind her.

“Nayoung! Look!”- Jieqiong finger pointed towards the metal shutter, which was much like the one Kyungwon had recently opened for them to access the underground.

No, Nayoung was mistaken, she wasn’t pointing at that with such urgency. She was pointing at something that was behind the see-through shutter.

A figure laid against some sort of receptionist desk, hunched over and bloody.

“M-Minkyung?!”- Nayoung almost choked as the name forced its way out of . Something in her clicked and she lunged towards the metallic barrier that separated them. - “Another shutter, damnit! How do we open this thing?!”

She searched for some kind of button or lever, no luck, it seemed that the shutter would only open if it was controlled remotely.

“If I’m not wrong, it need to be done from that computer…”- Jieqiong pointed at the receptionist desk on the other side, the one Minkyung was leaning against. There was an old-looking computer sitting on top of it.

“!”- Nayoung cussed, kicking the shutter and making it shake. - “Minkyung, can you hear me? Hang in there”

Minkyung didn’t move, something that furthered Nayoung extreme anxiety as she started slamming her shoulder against the shutter. Her attempts managing to make nothing but more noise.

Noise that could attract those dinosaurs.

The though flashed through her mind and she immediately composed herself, resisting the urge to give the shutter one last kick.

“Wait! I’ve got an idea”- She felt Jieqiong’s palm on her shoulder - “My clearance level is high enough to enter the labs, we just…”

“The elevators!”- Nayoung remembered the room where Kyungwon got trapped in. There was a functioning elevator that went underground if you had the necessary keycard. She squinted, trying to get a clear view of the other side of the shutter.

The elevators were there.

“Exactly”

“Do you have your keycard with you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”- Jieqiong answered, quickly whipping out an ID with both her name and photo on it.

Dr. Zhou, access level: 3.

Nayoung ignored what the three actually meant, she didn’t care as long as the elevators were included in the set of doors it opened.

“Then follow me, we’ve got now time to lose!”- Snatching Jieqiong’s ID right from her hands, she turned around, promptly dashing out of the room.

-----------------------------------------------------

Hall 1B, Facility 1B, Ibis Island.

11:55pm

*DING*

The elevator signaled its arrival to the underground floor and the doors started opening.

Nayoung did not bother to wait for them to fully open, forcing her way out of the small lift.

They were now on the other side of the hall after going down the elevator from the elevator’s hall. In a sense, both rooms were alike when it came to color scheme. This one had white porcelain tiles that contrasted with the brown walls and the dull grey receptionist desk. Not a bright color in sight, but that’s something everyone would expect out of a business facility.

The combination “B1” was engraved in a metallic plate at the front of the desk.

But Nayoung did not care about the desk, the walls or the tiles. She cared about Minkyung, who was currently unconscious against the desk.

“Hey, hey! Minkyung, can you hear me?”- Nayoung crouched against Minkyung, grabbing her by the chin and giving her a few light slaps. Minkyung did not answer so she decided to move her.

“Here, help me carry her so we can put her on the desk or something”- Turning towards Jieqiong, Nayoung asked for a hand so she could move Minkyung and put her on the desk, mostly to oversee the damage she had suffered.

They were in the middle of moving the unconscious soldier when said person started showing signals of being awake. Minkyung coughed, arching her back and almost slipping out of Nayoung’s grasp before the leader could deposit her on the desk.

“Took you… long enough…”- Her voice was hoarse, tired, like she had been through hell and back. Her breath was nothing short of labored and there was dry blood all over her black suit, even some parts had been completely shredded.

“You are alive… thank goodness…”- Nayoung allowed herself to sigh and relax for a second. - “Where were you all this time?! Why did you run off like that?!”

“The doc… I was following… the doc…”- Minkyung croaked. - “… took my… radio…”

“Yebin… where is she now?”- Interested, Jieqiong joined the conversation after Minkyung mentioned her friend.

“Not now Jieqiong”- Nayoung tried to cut her off, more concerned with the current state of her friend rather than the lead researcher’s location.

“In the labs… she used her master key to unlock the door and lock it before I came down…”- Minkyung answered nonetheless, pointing towards the double doors behind the desk she was now on.

There was a panel to their right and that was enough for Nayoung to know what they were. It was one of those weird DDK locked doors, this time with the letter “L” above the panel.

Another problem she’d probably have to take care of.

“I don’t get it, why would she run away?”- Jieqiong asked again and Minkyung took a few seconds to answer as she tried to swallow saliva laboriously. Silence reigned during those briefs moments.

“And who is this girl you have with you…?”- Apparently forgetting about the question, Minkyung locked eyes with Jieqiong before direction the question to Nayoung.

“Oh, apologies, I’m Jieqiong, Nayoung’s…”- Jieqiong started introducing herself