Debris lingered in the air, heavy chunks of what once was the facility that imprisoned them, stamped irremovable numbers on their bodies, and called them disgusting failures; monsters. The facility once stood tall on the outskirts of the city where no one would be able to see the monsters. The city destroyed the facility, after clearing out the staff, once they declared their project a failure. They took children from orphanages and began to their experiments, changing them and giving them abilities that only could be described as superhuman, but there was a flaw. The children, as they got older, began to develop and behave like beasts. On many occasions, lab scientists got injured and would be out of the facility two weeks to a month recovering.

The large chunk of rubble jerked and moved revealing a figure crawling out. Coughing out the dust from his lungs, Jiyoung carefully rose to his feet. Any normal human would have been dead or at least suffering many broken bones. He released a sigh taking in the fresh air. Then a cough rocked his body as he began to move foreword, he had to find, his friends that were separated from him when the building collapsed. He looked around, his vision slightly blurred from the impact of the crumbling building. “S-Seunghyun! Where are you?” It was silent, his call wasn’t returned, Jiyoung tried again, “Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung! Answer me!” That time he got a response, a larger piece of rubble shifted upwards revealing three figures; Seunghyun lifting the rubble off of his back, under him Taeyang was crouching over Seungri protecting the younger from the rubble. Jiyoung relief in his features, he jogged up to them, “Are you all right?” he asked helping them up to their feet. Seunghyun rolled his aching shoulder, “A bruise is all I will have to deal with.” The others chuckled, if the older was fine enough to make to make jokes then there should be no problems. Taeyang and Seungri didn’t appear to be injured, but something, no someone was missing. Jiyoungs smile fell as did the smiles on Seungyun, Seungri, and Taeyang’s faces, “Where is Daesung?” The question sparked in a panic in the four boys. They began to look around in hopes to find their friend. They traveled into a corner of the facility that still stood, miraculously. They looked around in that area, not seeing anything at first, until Seunghyun pointed to a clump of fallen building chunks, out of one of the crevasses reached out an arm, an arm all too familiar. “Over there!” The four boys ran down to the clump of fallen bits of the building. They quickly began to uncover the body. It was Daesung; he had been injured from fighting and struggling against the scientists that decided to further the torture, the experimentation.  From the looks of his body, Daesung had put up enough of a fight, but in the end was unable to protect himself once the building started to collapse.

        When they finally uncovered the boy, Jiyoung turned him gently onto his back, “Daesung, can you hear me? Wake up.” Daesung gave no response to Jiyoung’s call. The older turned the younger’s face toward him, “Daesung wake up, please.” His voice hitched with the sudden thought that he had lost Daesung, the one person who lit up a grungy cell with his smile and laughter. Thanks to Daesung, the others were able to smile and laugh together. He hated when the younger was silent or not smiling. A cough followed by a whimper brought Jiyoung out of his thoughts. “Daesung-ah?”  He brought a hand to the blonde boy’s cheek, caressing it softly and comfortingly. Daesung’s eyes opened, they shined gold with alertness and his body tensed the dark markings appearing on his body. He was alert, ready to protect himself. Upon seeing Jiyoung’s face he visibly relaxed and whimpered, he grasped the older boy’s shoulder, his hand covered in dirt and blood, “H-Hyung, I-I’m not…a monster, right?” Jiyoung smiled and gently embraced Daesung. They were always called monsters by the faculty. It got to the point where they started to think that they were really monsters. Jiyoung was the one that said otherwise, they weren’t monsters; they are people with feelings and emotions just like the people that lived in the city that they dreamed of escaping to.

Jiyoung helped Daesung stand and lean against Seunghyun. Taeyang and Seungri managed to salvage some blankets and large rags and made a small place where the group could rest. They sat him down onto the blankets and leaned him against a broken wall. Daesung coughed and whimpered, he looked tired, but his body was already healing at a rapid rate. The group knew that they would only need to wait a few minutes, maybe hours at most, for him to fully heal. Seunghyun spoke up, “We head for the city, at midnight.” The others nodded. “What do we do then?” Seungri asked. The group went silent; they had no clue what to do. If they went to the city then they would surely be separated and taken to different facilities to continue the torture.

It was then that the group heard the roar of a car. They turned toward the sound, nervous and alert. Daesung was still healing and in no condition to fight. They formed a protective semi-circle around their friend, whoever it was, they were ready. The car stopped, the doors opened, and two figures appeared. They were tall with brown hair and long coats. They dressed nicely, their expressions were that of curiosity, but there was something else. One came closer; he had large deer like eyes and a kind smile. “Please don’t be alarmed, we are not here to hurt you. We want to help you.” The four boys were not going to be swayed easily after enduring years and years of torture and humiliation, the words ‘we want to help you’ meant nothing. The man seemed to understand and stepped closer, showing that he meant no harm he took out everything he had in his pockets, which wasn’t much, and took off his coat, complete proof that he had nothing that would hurt them. “My name is Changmin; I am from district nine, lab sixteen.” The four boys visibly gulped, they have heard stories of children that were taken there, that place was worse than hell. It made their torture seem like a paper cut. If this man survived lab sixteen, and made it out surely he wouldn’t want to cause others like him harm.  The man then pointed behind him to the other man that stood by the car he was relaxed with a kind, sympathetic, smile on his face. “That is Yunho; he is also from district nine, lab sixteen. We have a home for talented people like you. We offer you protection, a home, clothes, food, and work. We heard from our allies that this place was demolished and not every person made it out. We thought searching for survivors would be the best option. If you would like, you are more than welcome to come with us.” The man named Changmin explained. Jiyoung looked at Daesung whose eyes were opening and closing, he was still healing, “what about our friend?” He asked and stepped aside revealing Daesung. Changmin stepped closer, but Taeyang blocked his way, out of the instinct to protect. Changmin knew that he had to look at the injuries of the boy, but with the other four being on high alert and displaying protective behavior he wouldn’t be able to do that. “All five of you are welcome to come with us, but I need to take a look at your friend, I have some medical supplies in the car, too. I can tend to some of his wounds here before we go.” Jiyoung nodded to Taeyang and the other stepped aside, allowing Changmin to come closer. He carefully sat down next to Daesung and inspected the injures. Daesung looked at the stranger and growled, in a warning. Changmin smiled and said, “You’re alright, don’t worry.”

At this time Yunho, came closer to Daesung. He had some bread with him and gave it to the younger. Daesung pushed it away and said, “G-Give it to the others…first.” Yunho smiled and nodded, he handed the bread to Jiyoung and the other began to divide the bread quickly. “How does he look Changmin?” Yunho asked. The younger looked up and said, “Traveling with him by car will be no problem, getting him home might be a challenge, but I think he’ll be alright. I can take a better look at him once we are home with better lighting.” Yunho nodded and turned to Jiyoung, “What are your names?” Jiyoung introduced everyone and Yunho shook hands with all of them, even Daesung who managed a squeeze back. “Let’s get going, shall we.” Yunho said. Jiyoung nodded and went to Daesung’s left, while Taeyang went to Daesung’s right and they helped the boy stand. Changmin took off his coat and draped it over Daesung’s shoulders. Daesung looked up at Changmin and smiled tiredly. Changmin returned the smile and said, “Let’s go home.”