Chapter 3 : Recovery

Jinki could tell when night had fallen because the small beams of light that managed to sneak onto the floor of the cave through the entrance had dimmed. The pterodactyl, despite being territorial, had flown away (most likely for a form of food other than the hiding man in the cave). That was it. Jinki’s chance, and it was only going to come once. He looked to the wall of the cave, where he had written Kibum’s name. He traced his fingers over it one last time before heading out, maneuvering past the foliage at the entrance and looking around.

The sky was near-black. From the lack of light pollution that was to develop in several million years, everything was so dark at night. At that moment, Jinki so desperately wished that the human race had evolved enough to see vividly in the dark. He stumbled over a few branches, and had to cover his mouth from screaming at the size of some of the immense bugs one the ground. He crept around, hoping and hoping that the machine wasn’t as far as he thought it was. More importantly, he didn’t want it to be damaged. Then again, the chances of a huge metal machine not being damaged in some way seemed unlikely, seeing as it was so unfamiliar to the creatures of that era. Wiping dreadful thoughts from his mind about the damage that might be done, Jinki continued to maneuver through the plants and other things that littered the unfamiliar past world he’d landed in.

After walking for what felt like hours (most likely because of the intense fear that continued whispering obscene scenarios in his head), Jinki bumped into something that made a loud clank! His heart skipped a beat as he realized what it was. Wiping away the apparent dirt he felt on the surface. He stayed silent and still for a moment, making sure that no creatures lurked around him, or rather, none that could kill him so easily. Hearing only the scampering of things much smaller and, most likely less deadly, Jinki (with struggle) moved his machine upright before getting inside.

As he thought, only a few broken leavers, but nothing he couldn’t manage to get through. He sighed in relief, basking in the small light that emanated off of the screen that showed the time period he was in. According to it, it was about nine at night, which seemed strange to Jinki. Considering the light pollution of his time period, keeping the sky a visible purplish-blue, he never expected nine at night to be such a dark abyss. Digressing, he began to wipe things off, his heart rate normal despite his physical condition. He cursed himself again and again for not searching for more water. However, it was not the time to complain.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard an all too familiar shreek. The damn pterodactyl was back, and it didn’t sound happy. Frantically pushing buttons and getting the gears to turn once more, Jinki pushed in the date and started up the machine. It wasn’t until the portal opened that he realized his horrid typing error. How he did something so foolish was beyond him. But instead of putting in the year 1989, Lee Jinki had set himself up to go to the year 4765. He braced himself against one of the control panels as the machine broke the speed of light, and with a loud sound to be associated with a sonic boom, landed on the firm ground of the new time period.

The fast travel had taken the life out of Jinki, and before he could even take five steps out of his machine, he fell to the ground. All he could make out before blacking out was the sight of a green, overcast sky and a pair of muscled legs walking toward him...

****

Taemin rushed into the room when he heard the groan of the mysterious man his lover had brought home. He crouched down next to him, feeling his forehead before handing him a bottle of water. He clasped the man’s weak fingers around the bottle, making him hold it.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly. “You’re safe now. No one can hurt you hear, okay?”

Jinki nodded softly, unable to form words quite yet. His head was pounding and he felt sick. His mouth was dry, and he struggled in opening the bottle of water of which he was given. Luckily, the young man helped him open it, and guided the bottle to his lips while having him sit upright. Jinki drank quickly and desperately; he thought he would never be able to drink water again. Once the bottle was finished, he sighed in content, though his mind was anything but. He recalled what had happened in his machine, and remembered all too vividly the rendezvous he had with the Jurassic creatures. However, he couldn’t help but doubt himself. He couldn’t help but feel like it was all just a vivid dream. The kind of dream where you firmly believe it is real until someone tells you otherwise. Perhaps this beautiful young man next to him was just one of Kibum’s friends, and Jinki had a bit too much at the bar with Changmin. Maybe Kibum would walk through the door, listen to Jinki’s story, and then call him crazy with that gorgeous smile of his. So with this false hope in mind, Jinki just had to ask...

“Um...w-what year is it?”

“Huh? It’s 4765. Why do you ask?” Taemin responds, grabbing a wet rag to put on Jinki’s forehead.

Definitely not dreaming.

Jinki sat up, making Taemin gasp and go to grab him. “You shouldn’t be walking or moving yet, sir! You’re severely dehydrated and ridiculously weak. Please lay back down..”

Jinki sighs and does as he’s told. “So what’s you name?” he asks the young man, expecting something outrageous.

“Lee Taemin, sir,” he says softly, putting the rag back on Jinki’s head. He then laughs. “Why are you looking at me like an alien?”

“Nothing...I just expected your name to be something...different.”

“Different? How do you mean?”
‘I mean, you’re over a thousand years ahead of my time and your name still sounds like a normal 20th century Korean’s. What the hell is wrong with you?’ he thinks, though he doesn’t dare say it.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the ramblings of someone who doesn’t know his own time,” he answers.

“You sound like Mister Siwon,” Taemin states, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Who is he?” Jinki asks curiously. He had a friend named Siwon back in his time. But they couldn’t be the same person...could they?

“Some people call him the Time Lord. He says he came here to wait for a friend and to tell him to stop whatever his mission was. Apparently his friend wanted to stop someone from dying, but you can’t do that. He says it’s dangerous, and that time could become skewed and hurt. I don’t know much on the subject, but he just appeared like you did about twelve years ago,” Taemin explained.

Jinki’s mind was racing. Siwon couldn’t have gotten ahold of his blueprints, could he? And even if he did, how did he know that such mishaps would happen with the machine. Or did he pull a similar mistake and get stuck in that time? Jinki groaned, running a hand through his hair. “This is too damn complicated...”

Deciding not to question him, Taemin simply asked, “So what’s your name?”

“Lee Jinki,” he replies, giving a small smile. “Oh...I guess I should thank you for bringing me here...”

“Oh, don’t thank me. Thank my boyfriend. He found you on the outskirts of the barricade, and he brought you here. He had to leave again to finish his watch shift, but he should be back soon. His name is Minho,” Taemin says, his face lighting up when mentioning his boyfriend.

“I’ll be sure to thank him when I see him then,” Jinki says, then asks. “So what’s...going on? Why is the sky green? And everything is so foggy...and it smells like rotting flesh out there.”

Taemin sighs, shaking his head. “The worst has happened. The Dragon came and killed the King, along with loads of other people. In addition to that, a virus spread amongst the dead, bringing them back to life. Zombies, I believe they were called in old myths? That’s what we thought they were: myths. But we were wrong. We managed to fight them off, pushing them back long enough to build a barricade around this district of the city and get everyone into city hall. The room you’re in used to be the mayor’s, and now it belongs to me and my boyfriend. Minho and Jonghyun have a level of rule over the soldiers that guard the district and fight the undead. I’m mainly in charge of taking care of women and children, and directing them accordingly. I guess you could say I take care of home base.”

Jinki nodded in understanding, then looked up at the ceiling. The room was rather extravagant for a world going through an apocalypse. ‘I suppose it makes sense,’ Jinki thought. ‘Considering that this is probably one of few places that’s so secure, they must fight with their lives to protect it...’ He turned his head back to Taemin, who seemed to be in his own little world of thoughts. How must he feel, having to sit back and constantly worry about the well being of his beloved, all while handing the lives of those capable of change and procreation? It had to be hard on his head as well as his heart. Jinki couldn’t say that he ever felt the same way. When Kibum had died in the crash, the news was so sudden and so unbelieveable. So much so that he had refused to believe it until he nearly went mad. He couldn’t hide it. He felt bad for Taemin. He couldn’t begin to fathom what it would be like having that much responsibility and stress; he held peoples’ lives in the palm of his hand.

Some time passed and two men entered the room. One tall and muscular, the other shorter, though both were equally as handsome. Their harsh labors, however, were evident in their faces as they looked winded and scarred. Taemin smiled at the taller one and pulled him into a hug, which lead to Jinki’s assumption that that man was Minho, his savior. The shorter male looked at Minho and Taemin with an expression of envy, but also disappointment. To whom that view was directed toward, Jinki could not tell, though he would overhear soon.

“How is he?” Minho asked Taemin, his voice deep and soothing in a way.

“He’s doing well. I got him to talk and drink some water, but he’s gone back to sleep. Whatever happened to him took a lot out of him,” Taemin responded, and Jinki got the hint. He kept his eyes closed and listened in on the conversation.

“He’s a burden. There’s no point in saving someone who’s going to die anyway,” the shorter one scoffs. Jinki feels a bit insulted.

“Oh? So then we should have abandoned you when you injured your leg, Jonghyun? Or we should have abandoned the King when he was ill?” Minho retorts.

“Do not compare the death of the King to the likes of one of those damn time travellers!” Jonghyun snaps.

“So you think he’s really a time traveller?” Taemin interjects, hoping to leaven the mood.

“Of course he is. We looked over his machine, and Siwon confirmed that it’s the same design. I’ve never seen the guy so excited. He’s downstairs. The only reason I came up here was to see how this traveller is doing so that I can relay his current state of being to the Time Lord,” Jonghyun replies more calmly.

“Well, his name is Lee Jinki, and you can tell the Time Lord that he can come up here whenever he likes. Jinki should be okay to wake up if their conversation is as crucial as I think it is,” Taemin says.

Jonghyun’s eyes narrowed as he looked to Jinki on the bed, and then back to Taemin. “I don’t take back what I said before.”

“What?” Minho asked, clearly unaware of whatever Taemin and Jonghyun might’ve talked about in private.

“With all due respect Jonghyun, shut up. My job is just as important as yours,” Taemin’s eyes narrow.

“Okay, what the hell happened?” Minho interjected again.

“Nothing, Min. Tae and I were just talking the other day about how useless he is. How a man should be on the battlefield with all the other men. And if that man is not out there, he should be considered less than a man for cowering behind women and children, pretending that he’s actually import-”

Jonghyun was interrupted by a loud, hard hit to the face. Jinki had to use nearly every ounce of self control not to wince at the sound of such a loud smack. He peaked open one eye, seeing Jonghyun standing there, staring at Taemin with anger and disbelief as Minho just looked downright shocked at his lover. Quite obviously, it was Taemin who delivered the blow. However, what was more shocking was how loud he yelled at the man who mocked him.

“Shut the hell up, Jonghyun! Do you understand the torment I go through every day? Do you not understand that I stand by here, taking care of women, children and the sick whilst worrying about you two?! Do you honestly believe it is easy to be the one who has to tell a weeping mother that I couldn’t save her child, and that he’s now one of those damn undead creatures that has to be shot in the head?!! I am more of a man than you will ever be, and you better ing remember that! The next time you have those teeth going for your limbs on the battlefield, you ing remember who held your girlfriend’s hand while she died in my bed. After I did everything I could do to save her life! I buried her! I shot her when she came back!! I did everything while you walked around the perimeter of that barricade and fought of things that may die with one good blow to the head! The dead are not those that should be feared and determine the strength of a man. It should be agreed upon that it is more terrifying to see someone in the process of dying, and have the heavy responsibility of making sure they do not! So I’ll say it one more time. Shut the hell up, Kim Jonghyun. When you can save us all and make sure we no longer have to shoot our loved ones in the head, then I’ll consider you a real ing man.”

Jonghyun doesn’t say a word. He simply shook his head and walked out of the room. For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard was Jonghyun’s footsteps fading off into the distance, followed by Taemin’s small sobs. Minho pulled him close and his hair, which was long and messy. He whispered kind, sweet, loving words into Taemin’s ear, hoping to calm him down. Minho hated seeing Taemin cry. Having met his lover as a joyful, beautiful person that never stopped smiling, the sight of his tears brought a serious pain to Minho’s heart. Jinki closed his eyes again and allowed himself to drift off, feeling bad about being unable to do anything to help the poor young man, who was clearly reaching his limit.

a/n: I actually wrote a decently sized chapter! Sorry for the lack of updating. This is my final week of school before the break, so after Friday, updates in all my stories are to be predicted.

Love,

Minnie