He’s been sitting against the wall for hours. When was the last time he slept on an actual bed? He can’t even remember.

 

He hasn’t been this tired since that time he and his team were in South Sudan and had to walk for three days before reaching a village that needed assistance. Luhan nearly lost it when he’d made him home two months later with a touch of Malaria. Luhan had been so angry at Yunho after that. Yunho had had to reassign Minseok stateside for the rest of the year while he recovered, but Minseok knows it was mostly because Luhan had so thoroughly scolded him.

 

He wishes he could talk to Luhan right now, tell him what’s going on. Luhan has that ability to reassure Minseok like no one else. If Luhan says everything will be ok, then it will be.

 

The undead still banging his head against the clear door of the lab interrupts his thoughts. The guy is clearly adamant about getting in to take a bite out of Minseok. Well, you, zombie.

 

Sighing, he decides enough is enough. Hopefully he’s waited enough time but he can’t sit around for any longer. He’s dehydrated and tired, and he’s pretty sure he’s been nursing a low grade fever for the past couple of hours.

 

He groans as he stands up, clutching his side and waiting for the pain to abate. The pain meds had faded after the first hour so he has to take a couple of deep breaths before facing the music. 

 

The zombie’s face is ugly as all hell, Minseok thinks as he looks at it through the glass of the door. The grey skin seems paper thin and the dead pupils are fully blown. This thing is properly dead yet walking around.

 

Not waiting another second, he opens the door and takes a step back. He stands unmoving, breathing heavily, as the zombie enters the lab and approaches Minseok.

 

His heart is about to beat out of his chest while the thing inspects his surroundings. The undead doesn’t seem too keen on attacking him, so that’s a relief. It does take the creature a few seconds to finally lose interest and delve deeper into the lab, as if Minseok didn’t exist anymore.

 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Minseok begins moving. He more or less remembers how to get out of B wing and into the skybridge, but still ends up taking a wrong turn or two. When he finally arrives at the cafeteria, he makes a bee line for the vending machine and busts it open to get a can of soda.

 

Never has Pepsi tasted so delicious as it does at this moment. His thirst had been accumulating while sitting in that lab but he had no source of water there. He quickly finishes the can and decides not to drink another one. His body will probably not welcome more carbonated drinks. Before continuing, he pulls a lever and dumps the rest of the cans loudly on the floor to attract the infected that are probably crowding the skybridge.

 

Not waiting for them to come to him, he starts walking down the hall and into the passageway that’ll take him to safety.

 

He meets the undead in the middle, all of them walking around him as if he’s no more than a lamppost. He smiles proudly as he reaches the final door, happy to have found at least a clue for how to help people through this thing.

 

“You’re crazy, you know that?” A masked Sehun says as he welcomes him, quickly pulling him to the other side of the door and locking it back. 

 

“I had to,” Minseok replies.

 

The doctors and researchers all arrive also wearing masks and gloves, but Minseok informs them he had given himself a non contagious disease.

 

Sehun then immediately grabs his waist just as Minseok’s legs start to give out, and nearly carries him into the room where he had woken up.

 

Lying on that bed as he’s prepped for the antitoxin against Botulism, he starts fading. The exhaustion that’s been piling up during these past couple of days – plus the injury to his abdomen that still aggrieves him – finally taking its toll.

 

“Minseok,” he hears Ellie say. “I’m going to give you the antitoxin now. We’ll monitor you for the next couple of days but you should be safe from the effects of the bacteria.”

 

Minseok nods slowly before everything goes black.

 

--

 

There’s someone talking too loudly. God, can’t they go to another room? He’s so tired. 

 

“... to be stable now.”

 

Are they talking about him? Maybe they are. He feels like he’s been hit by a truck. His abdomen feels tender and there are definitely IVs on his arms. 

 

There’s a strange noise surrounding him, a sort of reverberating, rattling noise. It feels like he’s on a ing plane.

 

“Minseok? Are you awake?”

 

He opens his eyes and sees that he is in fact on a plane. A goddamn air ambulance. Slowly, things begin returning to him. The zombies, South Korea, Jerusalem, the research facility, that’s where it all starts to look foggy. Jesus, it seems like so much in such little time.

 

He looks next to him and sees Sehun sitting in front of where he’s strapped to a bed.

 

“Where the hell are we?” He asks.

 

Sehun smiles before he interrupts the person across from him talking on the phone. The person looks up, clearly annoyed, but hangs up when he sees Minseok is awake.

 

“Mr. Kim,” he starts. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

 

“We are over the Atlantic, heading to Canada,” Sehun informs him.

 

“You’ll be able to recover there and Mr. Oh can get his arm seen to,” the man says.

 

Minseok takes a peek at Sehun’s arm and sees it is in a newer, clean bandage, strapped safely to his torso.

 

“I’ll be fine,” Sehun says, looking down at his arm. “I’d rather have this than be dead.”

 

Minseok closes his eyes and lies back down. “What are you giving me?”

 

“Mild painkillers and sedatives for the flight,” the man answers. “Plus the antibiotics you’ve been on these past couple of days. Thankfully, you seem to have avoided any Botulism complications.”

 

Well, that’s something at least. “So, this whole charade is because of my injury?” He asks, signaling the medical equipment around him.

 

“If by injury you mean penetrating abdominal trauma, then yes.”

 

Semantics, Minseok thinks. He’s still feeling pretty bad but he can tell he’s on the mend. Well, he doesn't have a fever. That’s something.

 

“Did you say we were on our way to Canada?”

 

“Yes,” Sehun answers. “Nova Scotia. There’s a military hospital there.”

 

“Is there any way I can get in touch with my family with that phone of yours?” He asks the man – well, he’s probably a doctor – with them.

 

The doctor replies that his family have been informed and they will be waiting for him when they arrive. “It’ll take us a bit to get to the refugee camp, though. You’ll first arrive at the military hospital and then move on once they give you the all-clear.”

 

Minseok sighs and nods. He knew it wouldn’t be so easy. Maybe it’s a good thing. He doesn't want the kids to see him like this, and he really wants Sehun to get his arm looked at.

 

“You’re coming with me, right?” He asks Sehun.

 

Sehun looks carefully at Minseok as if questioning whether Minseok truly means it. He seems to have found his answer because he eventually agrees with a soft smile.

 

“Sure,” he tells him. “Someone needs to look out for you.”

 

Well, he’ll certainly get along with Luhan.

 

“How old are you, anyway?” He asks, suddenly realising he knows nothing about Sehun other than he’s tough as hell and has deadly aim.

 

“I’m nineteen.”

 

Holy . He’s just a kid.

 

Sehun chuckles, probably after seeing Minseok’s shocked expression.

 

“And, who’s this guy?” He whispers while the man goes into the lavatory.

 

“He’s from the U.N. That Yunho guy you know sent him to get you. I kinda tagged along.”

 

“I’m glad you did,” Minseok replies with a smile.

 

Sehun smiles back and settles back into his seat.

 

It’s a few hours before they arrive, Minseok being able to walk out of the plane with a little help from Sehun. He goes down the airstair slowly, not wanting to overexert himself. However, they still force him into a wheelchair once he’s down. Minseok only accepts begrudgingly because he’s nearly forty and not a six-year-old.

 

They wheel him into the airport with Sehun following closely behind. He closes his eyes as they go through the hallways, wanting nothing more than to go lie down.

 

“I guess almost getting killed didn’t make you into less of a stubborn .”

 

Minseok looks up at the voice and nearly shoots right out of the chair.

 

Junmyeon stops him with a hand but still helps him stand up, and gives him a warm hug.

 

“I thought you’d died,” Junmyeon whispers.

 

“I’m ok. I’m here.”

 

They separate after a few moments, both pretending not to see each other’s glassy eyes, and are driven to the military hospital.

 

He learns that Junmyeon has been working at the hospital since he was rescued from New York. Yunho, having been unable to secure him passage on the ship Minseok himself had been in, had made a few calls to get him relocated somewhere safe where he could still be of use.

 

“It’s been tough,” Junmyeon tells him as they arrive at Minseok’s room. “A military hospital is not like a private or public one, but I’m good here.”

 

“I’m glad you’re ok. I knew you’d be.”

 

“I still go down to the camps every month,” Junmyeon says. “I’ve seen Luhan and the kids a couple of times.” Junmyeon talks about how they settled in, with Luhan taking over the makeshift school for lack of a better thing to do. “He didn’t want the kids to fall behind.”

 

Minseok smiles at the thought. “How are the kids?”

 

“They miss you, but they’re settling in ok. Kyungsoo likes to hear stories about you.”

 

“I’m glad they’re ok.”

 

“They’ll be better once you’re there.”

 

He then spends the next week getting assessed. Test after test confirm that the Botulism was reined in by the antitoxin and that the initial infection from the abdominal trauma was under control.

 

“You still need to take oral antibiotics for a while, just to be on the safe side,” Junmyeon says.

 

Sehun also gets looked at by orthopedic and vascular surgeons. They fix his stump to be fitted with a prosthetic in the future. He seems awfully ok with the whole situation, Minseok thinks.

 

“I could be walking around out of my mind and biting other people. This is nothing,” he tells Minseok when he asks.

 

After they are both set, they get ready to travel once again.

 

Junmyeon will go with them and take over the camp clinic for the following month.

 

“I volunteered,” he says. “They needed someone to replace a doctor on maternity leave. Plus, I get to keep an eye on you and your new kid.”

 

“Kyungsoo?”

 

“No. Sehun.”

 

Minseok laughs but doesn't argue. 

 

It takes them a few hours to get to the camp. They take a car first, which drives them to a port where they need to take a boat.

 

The boat ride is difficult, the sea being choppy, but they remain indoors and try to avoid thinking about their scrambled stomachs.

 

Eventually, they make it to the camp.

 

It’s not a big one; it’s mostly military families and relatives of those most essential. 

 

He can see Luhan and the three kids standing by the dock as they approach. Jongin is jumping up and down in excitement and Luhan has to hold him back from sprinting toward the water.

 

Once Minseok is able to step on the dock, he gets slammed by Jongin and Soojung. He has to take a step back to not fall, but Minseok would even take that fall if it means he has his babies in his arms.

 

“I missed you guys so much,” he tells them.

 

Soojung smiles between her tears and Jongin has attached himself to his middle.

 

Luhan then steps into Minseok’s arms and hugs him tight. Minseok kisses Luhan’s neck, and breathes his husband in. He’s not able to hold on to his tears anymore, but it doesn't matter. 

 

When he opens his eyes, he sees Kyungsoo standing just a few feet from them looking unsure.

 

Minseok stretches his arm to call him into the big hug and Kyungsoo responds immediately. 

 

They stay that way until Sehun softly clears his throat from behind him. Minseok laughs as they disentangle from each other. 

 

“Guys, this is Sehun. He’s going to be staying with us.”

 

After Sehun greets everyone, Jongin begins to interrogate him about his arm, where he's from, among other things Jongin finds interesting, like his favorite pokemon or his childhood pets.

 

“You just keep adopting kids, don’t you?” Luhan whispers in his ear as they hold on to each other.

 

“One more won’t hurt, will it?” Minseok asks, knowing Luhan would have done the exact same thing.

 

“No, no. I love that about you.”

 

That night, as he lays on his bed with Luhan plastered at his side, he thinks about the many ways in which things went to . They’ve still got a long way to go before things look even remotely like they used to. There will be more deaths, more chaos, more heartbreak. But there will also be hope. Hope that they can create something to help people reach safety. 

 

He thanks his lucky stars that he was fortunate enough to have been able to see the dots connecting all the pieces. There is no way he could have done it alone; it hardly ever is the work of a single person.

 

He hugs Luhan tighter against his chest before he closes his eyes, knowing that whatever may come, he will have his family with him.