This was strange, very strange. Out of a heap of ‘rabbits’ how could there be a ‘hare’ all of a sudden? In the Headquarters we used the same term and called them a different animal; a mole.

Something was wrong.

Unlike our dingy cells we were dragged to a different place. In the space there were cells like in high secure prisons. The walls covered, the doors looking to only have one small slot at the top to peer through. This time getting out would prove to be harder.

They quickly pushed me in the back, the door clanging shut and then securely locked. Glancing around it wasn’t much. There was a bed for once, a decent bed from the looks of it. A sink, a toilet, one set of drawers that was it.

Heaving a sigh I sat down on the bed. I wanted to yank my hair out. We’d come so close to escaping and yet our cover had been blown. How? How had we gotten caught?

I had to think over what could have caused it. Could it be the video cameras which we hadn’t destroyed? It could be that we weren’t disguised nor had our faces covered. It could be that radio which was left on…

That was it.

Standing up I walked around the room. There was not really anything to do. The drawers got my interest. I went to them and opened the top. It had nothing. The second one was the same so I checked the last one.

It had some grubby paper and a pencil. I guess they figured we couldn’t do much with them to escape so they hadn’t removed them. I took the things out only to notice something strange about the drawer’s base. Pushing it with the heel of my palm I heard it creak.

Ah interesting

Taking the drawer out I noticed the actual level of where the bottom sat was much too high for the actual drawer itself. Finding the end I carefully pushed and the wood slipped out the end.

It had two compartments, one large and another divided into four. The smaller one had batteries, a pocket knife from the looks of it, a nail file and something in a small medicine jar. The container was orange tinted with a white lid.

This made me curious. It looked like some powdery substance but I couldn’t be sure. Unscrewing the lid my nose was greeted with a bitter, almond smell. I knew this substance from our basic chemistry classes at Head Quarters. In large dosages it could be fatal.

And it could come in use in the near future.

There was a small notebook with most of the lines faded from age. I could look through it later in further detail. Sitting on the floor with the pencil and paper I wrote down all our names in age order.

First there was me.

I knew I didn’t have a radio on at the time. I remembered taking the guards’ one and removing the batteries. Next to my name I wrote ‘not the hare.’

Kim Himchan

I didn’t think he would betray. He was one of the members who wanted to badly escape. I could see that the imprisonment was starting to get to his mental health. It was only a matter of time before he started going insane.

But he could be cunning. That was why when we needed vital information from someone he was the one to pry it out. He could twist women and men around his finger.

Yet, I had not seen him act suspicious in any particular way. So it couldn’t be him, there was insufficient evidence to prove it.

Jung Daehyun

He’d been missing for days being sick. When he returned there was nothing different to cause alarm. In fact he’d been a big help with us nearly escaping the second time.

A big help…

Now something didn’t add up. Daehyun was normally quiet unless he was with Youngjae. He was able to pick pocket the keys off the doctors if we dare call them that and suggested where we could escape to. He’d even denied having taken a radio or leaving it on.

I wrote a question mark next to his name. For now it was only a maybe until I knew for certain whom it was. There were still the names of the other members.

Yoo Youngjae

Youngjae had been shot. If he was the mole or ‘hare’ then being critically injured would not prove to be of much use to them. Also he was not there at the time when the guard mentioned the ‘hare’. So it couldn’t be him.

‘Not the hare’ went next to his name. I rubbed my eyes; lethargy was beginning to take its toll on me. I still had two other members left to contemplate.

Moon Jongup

Jongup was very trustworthy, loyal to us from what I could see. Except for his conflict with Daehyun and Youngjae had caused the bonds in our team to weaken.  

It could be a ruse. Maybe that was the idea.

He could have made up the claim about the twos’ deep feelings to cover up his deceit. He managed to fool all of us and now I was feeling stupid for being blind to the possibility.

Sorry Jongup-ah.

A question mark went down. Now it was time for the last member of the team.

Choi Junhong

The poor kid had believed that we had been kidnapped by aliens and on board their ship. Right now we were sure if his state of mind was even normal. So he couldn’t be taken seriously at the moment. No way was it him.

Staring at the paper I realised that two members were under my suspicion. I couldn’t look at the paper for long. It hurt my heart to think about it. To think that these kids I’d trusted for a few years would try to keep me and the other five trapped here.

I yawned, my head becoming floppy. Maybe a bit of sleep wouldn’t hurt. Taking the top of the false bottom I put the things back in the drawer and got onto the bed. Lying down on top of the blankets I stared at the ceiling. Something had been written on it with something grey. I could read it later. Closing my eyes I let myself fall into slumber.

The sound of someone’s doors opening made me wake up. Sitting up I went to the door, peering through the slot which had been slightly open. They were taking one of the members somewhere. They had gone out of sight so I couldn’t see who it was.

I stayed at the door waiting for them to return. Time ticked away; there were no clocks in the room so I didn’t know how long I would be waiting. A trolley came down with plates of food.

Hurrying back to the bed I sat there, pretending to be doing nothing as my door opened. A guard wheeled in the trolley putting a plate with some chopsticks beside me. There wasn’t any meat, barely any vegetables. They should have just given me bland noodles.

Eating slowly I mused over the little but precious information I had gained. Once I knew who the traitor was out of them I just had to find a way to warn the others. Then all of us could plan what I hoped would be our final escape attempt.

However there was one problem. If I made an error in my judgement; if I had suspected the wrong member it would do more damage than actual good.

I would be opening a large can of worms.

***************************************************************

Not a very long chapter. You probably know who it is and it will be revealed very soon but for now there will be speculation.