Jung Taekwoon jumped over the wall and went to N's side. Having heard him vomit, he looked him over and noticed one of the liquid stitches had failed to hold during his jump. A puddle of blood and vomit sat half hidden by the shadow of the wall.

"Oh god, N..." Taekwoon made him lay down so he could reseal his wound. His skin was bruising and seemed to be swelling. There was no doubt that Hongbin wasn't the only one fighting against the clock. Still, he wouldn't lose N, he refused to.

"I'm fine, Taekwoon." N didn't look at him, a sure sign that he knew he wasn't. Finishing resealing the bite, Taekwoon sighed.

"Don't lie." He helped the injured man up and looked into his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too." N kissed him. Taekwoon worked hard to hide the fact that his hands were shaking as he returned the kiss. He needed N. The other couldn't die and leave him alone. He just couldn't.

~~~

N hated watching Taekwoon in pain because of him. Maybe, once his lover learned the truth about him, he would hate N. The injured man loved the other and didn't want him to ever hate him, it would rip apart his soul... But if it meant Taekwoon wouldn't cry if he died... Maybe, just maybe, it was best for Taekwoon to hate N.

"You are not going to die." Taekwoon whisperee as he pressed his lips against N's forehead. "I won't allow it." N shook his head, stepping away.

"We need to continue. We don't want to waste time." He smiled softly at his lover and started walking. He could hear Taekwoon walking close behind him, ready to step in and protect him at all costs. How was N so lucky as to be loved by someone so devoted and amazing? It almost didn't seem fair, not, at least, for pure, sweet Taekwoon. He didn't deserve to be with a monster as soiled as N was. If Taekwoon was fresh snow... N was mud made by the blood of the innocent and the dirt of the earth.

~~~

Lee Hongbin could walk just fine. His wound wasn't serious, if you didn't count the virus festering in his blood. Still, every few steps, he felt Hyuk's hands on his hips, steadying his perfectly steady steps. He loved Hyuk but his obsessive attentiveness was making it impossible to keep on track.

"Hyuk, baby, stop." He finally ended up grabbing his boyfriend's hands and turning to face him. "I know you want to help but you're slowing us down doing that stuff. We need to get to the cure as fast as possible, okay? So stop trying to baby me."

"Sorry." Hyuk looked mildly distraught by Hongbin's outburst. Pushing back any regret he felt about his words, Hongbin reminded himself that his life was on the line and he didn't have time to spare. He'd make it up to Hyuk later.

They walked in silence out of the back doors of the school. Making the treck across the playground, Hongbin could feel the tension between them. He couldnt handle it anymore and had to put a stop to it.

~~~

"Honey. If you keep worrying I will shoot you." Hongbin blurted out as they approached a gate. Han Sanghyuk stopped and stared at his love. Stop worrying? Stop worrying?! Didn't Hongbin get that his whole world was built around the other man. If Hongbin died, Hyuk wouldn't have a reason to live anymore. The notion that Hongbin could think that Hyuk could make himself care so little made him angry.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll just sit back and not care that my boyfriend might be dying." Hyuk glared at him, recieving a sharp slap across the face. Tears sparkled in his boyfriend's eyes.

"Damn it, Sanghyuk! I'm scared enough, okay?" Hongbin hugged him and he could feel the older man shaking. "If the virus does take over... I just... I don't want the last hours of my life to be awkward between us... Please? I can't handle that."

"I'm sorry..." Hyuk hadn't realized what he had been doing to Hongbin. He was so mad at himself for it that he could have happily fed himself to zombies to make up for it.

"Just stop, okay?" Hongbin kissed him and Hyuk nodded, relieved that his love didn't seem to hate him. Vowing to stop making Hongbin uncomfortable, he got the gate code from N and held Hongbin's hand as they walked toward the courtyard.

~~~

Kim Wonshik's mind was preoccupied. He knew it was dangerous to stop paying attention in this place but he had seen the kiss between Jaehwan and Daehwan. Was he too late to confess to Jaehwan? Would the object of his affection be happier with the other? Cursed himself, he regretted wanting to wait to confess until they had safely returned with the cure.

They walked toward the biggest house on the row in absolute silence. It had a huge yard and a fancy metal fence that was at least 50 feet high, much taller than even the house. It was impressive. Without a doubt, the house belonged to the head of the Ragnarök project.

Wonshik heard a crow caw and shivered, snapping out of his internal conflict over Daehwan and Jaehwan as he opened the gate with a password provided by N, gettiny his team into the house as quickly as possible. He was nervous after the loss of their two other team mates and wanted to make sure they were in a secure location at all times.

Going together to do a preliminary sweep of the house, they found nothing. Not even old bones. The security system was top notch though, so Wonshik was able to help the other two search the house. Jaehwan got bedrooms as usual, Daehwan got the kitchen and livingroom. Wonshik took the study and library.

The library had a lot of books pertaining to ways to extend life and theories on immortality. Looking through some books, he found a lot of bookmarks and notes on the pages. He was pretty sure this was where the whole research had started. Theories in a god damned book led to the apocalypse.

Going to the study, he found several files on the desk. Wonshik sat in the chair and opened the first one. The file on the progress of the Ragnarök project disgusted him. They had been experimenting on all sorts of animals but dogs and humans were the scientist's favorite subjects. He kept mentioning a special experiment. One that had been ongoing throughout 19 years by the time of the last entry.

The file on the cure mentioned the same experiment as the one on the virus. Experiment number 5301990. The fact that so many experiments existed before this one was mildly disorienting. But the file said that this experiment helped to creat a successful cure. Wonshik was relieved by the fact they weren't all risking their lives for no reason. A cure did exist.

The next file was small, just saying they were beginning a new experiment. They felt they were getting closer to their goal of immortality. The experiments had been decaying at slower and slower rates. They were hoping this would make the final leap to success.

The last file was thick and had the code from the frequently mentioned experiment on the cover. Experiment 5301990, also known as Experiment N. Experiment N, subject name Cha Hakyeon. The tan man had been an experiment all along. The experiment number was nothing more than his date of birth.

The things that happened to their friend made Wonshik vomit into a trash bin. The day Hakyeon's mother gave birth to him, his father had injected her with the virus. He had wanted to see how it would effect an infant before birth. He strapped his wife to a table and as she turned he induced her labor. She gave birth to Hakyeon as a zombie. They killed her immediately after.

They tested the baby's blood and found no sign of Ragnarök. As Hakyeon grew up his father would strap him down and do different tests on him. He was only three years old when it started. Testing him by having different types of animals and humans infected with the various stages of the virus bite him. Injecting him with the virus itself even. Hakyeon was immune to all of it.

So they started taking his blood and testing it against other blood, trying to find whatever it was in his DNA that kept him from contracting the virus. All the while, torturing Hakyeon with every stage in the development of the virus. Eventually, from Hakyeon's blood, they created a successful antidote.

Hakyeon, their sweet, smiling friend, had been turned into a life long experiment by his own father. It made Wonshik angry. It was sick enough to experiment on strangers, but your own child? That was a special kind of evil.

~~~

Lee Jaehwan noted that the master bedroom had only essentials in it. It barely seemed like a person had slept there a day in their life. At least it made searching it a breeze. The second bedroom was a different story though.

Hakyeon's name was slowly fading on the door as Jaehwan opened it. The room was colorful and cute, full of art supplies and stuffed animals. It was adorable and fit Hakyeon's personality pretty well. He wondered if he should take any of these things for his friend.

As he rummaged through his friend's old life, he felt almost like an intruder or a weird ert. Though that last part could have just been the fact he was going through Hakyeon's underwear drawer. At the bottom of the drawer he found a diary. Therefore, he wasn't a ert but was instead just good at gathering intel.

Sitting on the edge of Hakyeon's bed, he opened the journal and began to read. Taking the horror of being an experiment, the beauty of Hakyeon's relationship with Byoungjun, who was the only reason he hadn't killed himself... He read Hakyeon's whole life story in his own words.

Byoungjun had made Hakyeon so happy. They used to sneak out of the compound and go on dates in the nearest town. Hakyeon taught him how to ride his motorcycle. Byoungjun held him every time he had a breakdown over what his dad was doing to him. They were two kids pushed together by circumstances that had found love.

Jaehwan read the last entry, dated the day before N came to the training facility covered in blood. Byoungjun was scheduled to be the next experiment. The page had been stained in tears and it broke Jaehwan's heart.

Hakyeon had suffered so much for a cause he hated, by the hands of someone who was supposed to protect him. It wasn't fair. Taking some specific things from Hakyeon's room that had been mentioned as gifts from Byoungjun, he went down to meet with his team to fill them in on what he found out.