Yerin's heart was pounding hard in her chest, rattling her sternum with each beat. Still in bed, she lied there and stared up at the ceiling.  The sun wasn't up out yet, but she was already in panic mode; anxiety ridden. A duffel bag of clothes and basic toiletries was sitting right outside the bedroom. Folded in between the shirts and pants were a few novels she couldn’t bear to leave behind along with the picture of the curly-haired girl.

The consequences of what was to happen soon were still bouncing around in her mind. Thankfully, she didn’t have any pets, so she wouldn’t have to worry about someone taking care of them. Her family would probably put her things in storage after she's gone missing for a while. They wouldn’t sell everything unless they got desperate or knew for an absolute fact that she wasn’t ever coming home. It had been a few months since she spoke to her parents in length, so she couldn’t be confident in what they would do. It wasn't worth agonizing over. It wasn't important. Hardly anything was anymore. 

Deciding that she had delayed the inevitable long enough, Yerin slipped out from under her worn in covers for the last time. She took extra care in making up the sheets, as if they'd never laid in at all. After taking a shower, she threw on simple jeans and a shirt, trying to be as normal as possible, if only for her own mental sake. She had just finished eating breakfast when her phone buzzed on the table. A text from Marcus lit up the screen. He asked if she’d seen some random TV show episode yet.

Sighing, Yerin put the phone in her pocket and stood up. The text was simply code, saying that Marcus was currently downstairs, waiting for her. He had insisted on all the extra precautions, o matter how pointless it seemed to Yerin. He was the expert in this particular instence, so she didn't push back. Much. She left her dishes on the table, not feeling the need waste the water to wash them. Throwing the duffel bag over her shoulder, she locked up her place with a final goodbye and went down the stairs to the street below.

Marcus was waiting across the street in an old beat up truck. There was some rust around the edges and the tan paint was fading badly. Very nondescript. Easy to miss.

Yerin hopped into the passenger’s seat and Marcus immediately put the car into drive, not even waiting for her to buckle up.

“Say your goodbyes?” Marcus asked after a few minutes of silence.

Yerin shook her head. “No point. This is my decision. I don’t want to get anyone else involved in any degree.”

“Understandable.”

After a short stop at the white van that would be waiting as the next getaway vehicle and throwing the duffel bag in the back, they arrived at the building that held all of EXO’s secrets. Marcus parked the truck along the small little group of cars that were stuck there for the holiday weekend. He left the keys in the ignition and the two of them made their way through the front doors.

The lights were mostly out, save one or two dotted around in a random pattern in order for the cameras to be able to see. Yerin swiped her badge in the elevator, followed by Marcus swiping his own, and waited. Her heart was pumping dangerously fast now. It was too late to back out and this wasn’t the kind of rush anyone wanted to experience.

Marcus had been right when he explained his plan. The basement was deserted when the elevatro doors slid open. Their footsteps echoed off the floor and walls like a ticking clock counting down. No one was in the security office, not even a single guard to monitor the cameras. Marcus slowly closed the door behind you, not bothering to lock it. He sat down at the monitors and brought up some sort of login screen. His fingers typed away, entering different passwords and codes while Yerin's eyes kept flickering to the door, worrying that someone might walk in at any minute.

“Okay,” Marcus said, letting out a deep breath. “Still got your badge?”

Yerin nodded. “That was a lot of passwords for an emergency protocol.”

“Yeah, well, they weren’t going to make this easy.” Marcus slid the chair over just a foot or so to let Yerin have access to the control board. “Besides, with the holiday, there were a few more safety measures in place. The actual protocol took only one key code. Okay,” he hit one more key and then motioned for her. “Swipe it. An alarm is going to go off so we’re going to have to book it out of here.”

Taking in one last deep breath, Yerin swiped the thin piece of plastic through the card reader on the board. Just like Marcus said, the alarms blared everywhere. The two of them ran out of the office and she grinned like a maniac at the sight of all the doors wide open. Cautiously, the nine boys were inching out of their cells, looking to the left and right in case it was a trap. Baekhyun burst out with joy when he saw Chanyeol, running to him and practically tackling the giant. As beautiful as the moment was, there was no time.

Grabbing Minseok’s arm, Yerin started running towards to lobby, their exit located at the end of the other hallway. “Come on, we have to get out of here!”

The group took off together in a surprising organized fashion. When they reached the lobby, the fun really began.

Marcus had said that only two guards would be on duty. Oh, how wrong he was. No less than eight came rushing out of the elevator, armed with guns and ready for a fight.

“Go, go, go!” Marcus shoved Yerin down the other hall just as the fire fight broke out. The ammunition was a mix of metal bullets and Free Floating Tasers the size of her palm. Three giant bodies surrounded Yerin, blocking any possible harm from coming her way.

Yerin could hardly comprehend what was going on. She tried to keep her focus on getting to the exit. If they made it ot the xit, they would be okay. Gunshots, shouting, and explosions bombarded her ears. Turning to check on the boys, she nearly stopped in her tracks as a bullet tore through Junmyeon’s arm.

“Junmyeon!”

He waved panic away, his feet not stumbling for a second. “I’m fine! It’ll heal! Keep running!”

One of the guards aimed for her and fired off an FFT. Chanyeol blocked the tongs from ever hitting her, taking the Taser to his lower abdomen. He fell to his knees, shaking from the electricity running through his body. Blue sparks danced over his body as he convulsed on the ground, unable to stand back up.

“Chanyeol!” Yerin turned back to help him, only to be stopped by Jongin, who wrapped a strong arm around her waist. “No, we have to help him!”

Jongdae pushed past the struggling Yerin to get to Chanyeol. He ripped the Taser out of Chanyeol’s side, uninhibited by the current it gave off. Free from the torture, Chanyeol stood back up, taking back his place by Yerin's side. Finally, they all made it to the end of the other hallway. Only the door wouldn’t open and Marcus was nowhere near the group. He’d fallen behind, distracting the guards and using his own hand gun to keep them back. Yerin pulled at the door, but it didn’t budge.

“Come on!”

Two hands shoved her own away from the handle. Kyungsoo ripped the door open with an ease that made her gape.

“Yerin, you go first,” Junmyeon ordered.

“No,” Yerin argued, coming out of her stunned state. “You guys are more important. Go!”

He didn’t want to move, but the others were able to push him into the stairwell. Marcus finally arrived, clinging to his stomach.

“Marcus!”

Ignoring her concern, he pulled her past the door and then slammed it shut behind them. Kyungsoo immediately crushed the metal around the latch of the door, effectively cutting off anyone who might want to come through after.

With a loud groan, Marcus slid down to the floor, red liquid seeping out between his fingers.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Yerin knelt down to his level as she struggled to keep her body from trembling. She pressed her hands on top of his in a pathetic attempt to try and stop the bleeding. “No, no, no, we’ve got to go. You can’t stop now.”

“I’m not gonna make it,” Marcus groaned, each word a struggle between breaths. His gray T-shirt became darker and heavier against his stomach. He pushed Yerin away, making her stagger on the heels of her feet. She barely managed to stable herself before she could fall backwards. “Go. Get them to the van. The coordinates to the next vehicle are already in the GPS. Then the directions to the safe house are in the glovebox.” A shaky breath escaped his lips. “Our contact will be there within the week. You just have to keep them safe until then. Go, Yerin.”

Yerin shook her head, defiant. “No… Marcus, I-I can’t do this on my own.”

“Listen!” he snapped, pulling down on her arm so they were face to face. “I’m. Not. Going. To. Make it. So you have to choose: stay behind with me, watch me bleed out and most likely get caught, or get them out of here. Which is it going to be?”

Tears pooled in her eyes, but she knew he was right. Almost all color was gone from his face and the pool of blood on the concrete floor was getting larger around him, seeping against her shoes and pushing past them. The only way to save him was through an operation that was impossible to do now. He wasn’t going to make it.

“This isn’t fair,” Yerin sniffed. He was the one who put this all together and yet he wouldn’t be able see it through. With his last bit of energy, Marcus shoved the blood covered keys into her hand, effectively transferring the reigns.

A pair of hands wrapped around Yerin's upper arms, gently pulling her up to her feet.

“Come on, Yerin. We have to get the others out of here.” Junmyeon guided her hurriedly up the staircase and to the door to freedom. With one last look, Yerin watched as Marcus’ body went limp and he was gone.

“Get in the van!” Yerin ordered as her voice cracked. She needed to pull herself together now that they would be looking to her for the next step. Everyone piled in the back of the van. Yerin jumped into the driver’s seat before starting the engine and tearing down the street.

No one spoke, only the sound of heavy breathing and the GPS robotically calling out where to turn broke the silence.

This wasn’t how she pictured it all going. In the scenarios she had agaonized over, none of them had made it out, but that was because they’d been caught. All eleven of them were in handcuffs, being dragged away to be locked up forever. The scenario of anyone – especially Marcus – dying had never occurred to her. She’d had too much faith in his information that only two guards would be on duty. Had they been suspicious and quadrupled it just for safety measures? If so, why didn’t they have anyone manning the office?

Too many questions pounded at her. It was driving her crazy.

The GPS led them to a junkyard where a much nicer suburban with actual seats for the boys was waiting in the parking lot.

Yerin sighed. “Let’s go." The keys for the new vehicle were in the middle console. She grabbed her duffle bag and herded the group into the SUV. Junmyeon sat up front with her while the others filled in the three rows in the back. In the glovebox, the directions to the safe house scribbled down in a notebook in Marcus’ chicken scratch handwriting. Yerin swallowed back a sob, handing Junmyeon the directions. “Can you navigate?”

He nodded, laying the notebook down in his lap. Suddenly, a loud yell came from the back seat.

Yerin spun around to find Chanyeol pressing a hand to Baekhyun’s shoulder. The cloth of his shirt was stained red.

“What the hell!” Yerin scrambled over the center console to get to the injured boy. Removing Chanyeol’s fingers, she found a bullet hole gaping near his collar bone. “When did this happen?”

“I’m fine,” Baekhyun grunted. “It’s just not healing as fast as it should.” The blood pouring from the wound was concerning, but as long as she could stop the bleeding, he’d be fine.

“There should be a first aid kit in the trunk." Yerin vaguely remembered Marcus mentioning how he packed the suburban on the way to the lab. It was mostly a garbled mess in her ear, but the words "first aid" stuck out. “Jongdae, can you find it for me?”

Jongdae nodded from the back row, reaching behind him and shuffling things around until he pulled out a red, square-shaped bag and handed it over.  She looked around for a needle, thread, gauze and antiseptic, the little voice in the back of her head yelling that there was no time for this. There was not telling how far behind the guards could be. But she couldn’t lose someone else.

“Yerin, is there a syringe in there?”

Her hands paused. Looking at the gentle face of Yixing staring at her, she nodded. There were at least a dozen of individually wrapped needles ready for use.

“Take my blood,” he volunteered, holding his arm out.

She blinked. “What?”

“My blood will speed his healing process.”

“It’s happened before,” Kyungsoo added. Nine pairs of eyes stared at her, waiting for her to make a decision.

All she could do was go on faith. “Okay.”

Yerin scooted over, quickly sterilizing Yixing’s arm and filling the syringe with his miracle blood. Then she turned back to Baekhyun. With just a second of hesitation, she plunged the syringe into the skin above Baekhyun’s wound. For a moment, nothing happened. Then his skin began to grow. The bullet was pushed out of the wound and the skin closed around the hole until only a light pink dot the size of a nickel remained.

It was unbelievable. Flickering her gaze over to Yixing, he gave Yerin a small smile, one that she couldn’t return.

Without a word, she crawled back into the front seat, starting the engine and asking Junmyeon for the first set of directions.