The group moved through the passages and back to the main one that Jisun had been lead down when they took her into the mine. They didn't move as slow as before though, knowing that someone had to have realized they were gone by now. Or if they found any of the dead bodies the aliens were leaving behind.
Jisun stayed close to Yongguk and let him lead her behind the group. Her hand clutched her knife, ready to strike out at a moments notice. Her eyes wide as she forced herself to breathe evenly.
They slowed down as the approached the main shaft with Himchan and Youngjae hurrying further up. They signaled that it was clear and then they picked up the pace once more.
As they moved along, Jisun worriedly looked in to each cut out and passageway they passed. She didn't need to, being in the back of the group, but it somehow helped her. Then as she looked in to one room, she abruptly came to a halt. She stood frozen and stared in to the room.
"Jisun." Yongguk quietly said as he urged her to continue.
She ignored him as she pulled away and stepped in to the room. It was a large cut out with rock walls supporting the ceiling. In it were rows and rows of shelving that were filled with food. Jars, bins, and cans of all sizes. The ones that didn't expire for years.
"Jisun." hissed Yongguk as he grabbed her arm.
She jumped and yanked her arm free as her heart skipped a beat. She took a shaky breath as her feet started moving again. She made her way to the back of the room. There was a table there with boxes of gun ammunition. Stacks and stacks of it. But what caught her eye was a small box with a black strip hanging out of it. She set her knife down on the table and grabbed the black belt before lifting it out of the box. On it where several sheaths full of knives except for a small one that was missing from a set. The one that she was carrying. It was one of Jongup's belts.
She turned her head and saw Yongguk standing next to her. He peered in to the box with surprised expression. Then he lifted his head and looked away. She followed his movement and glanced around to see everyone surrounding her.
Jongup carefully set Daehyun down so the wounded man could lean against the table leg. He winced before taking a shallow breath. His pale face glistened with sweat. Then Jongup moved closer to her and took the belt from her hand. He lifted it out of the box and examined it.
"Stop!"
She jumped and whirled around. Standing in the entrance to the room were two masked people. They faced the group with their arms up, pointing guns at the aliens.
"Put the knives down." growled one of them in a man's voice. He indicated with his gun towards Jongup and then at the ground.
Jisun watched as he slowly crouched down and laid the belt on the dirt. As he stood up, he briefly glanced at Yongguk. She turned her head slightly to look at Yongguk and noticed how he had moved a little closer to her. Not in front of her though but with his arm hiding behind her.
"Okay, now get on.."
Suddenly Yongguk moved, too fast for her to see what he did. Then before she knew it, she was yanked down to the ground. When she heard gunshots, she let out a terrified scream and covered her head with her right arm.
"Is anyone hurt?"
The weight that was pressing down on her lifted but she couldn't move. She stayed curled up in a ball with her eyes squeezed shut. Her body shook violently and her right hand gripped her hair tightly.
"Jisun, are you hurt?" Yongguk frantically asked.
She shook her head side to side rapidly. Then she felt her right hand get grabbed. She let go of her hair and then she was pulled up to her feet. She felt like she could barely stand so it was a good thing that Yongguk quickly put his arms around her. He held tightly as she gulped for air to calm herself down.
He pulled back enough to look at her face before examining her. "Did you get hit?"
She swallowed and shook her head slightly. She lowered her head to examine herself as well but her gaze quickly went to Yongguk's arm. There was a small amount of blood on it. She inhaled sharply and then a small whine escaped her.
He put a hand under her chin and gently lifted, forcing her to look him in the eye. "I'm fine. It just grazed me. That's all. I'm fine."
Another shaky breath before she gave one little nod. He let her go and she turned to look at the rest of the group. Jongup had his shirt lifted up so Youngjae could examine a bullet wound.
"Went all the way through. And it's so close to your side that I don't think it hit an organ." Youngjae commented.
"Should have been quicker." lamented Jongup. He gave a brief look at Jisun before looking at Yongguk. "Sorry."
"You were plenty quick." the eldest insisted.
Himchan hurried to the two bodies laying on the ground. Both had knives sticking out of them. He grabbed them one at a time and cleaned them of blood on the dead people's shirts. While he did that, the others grabbed the rest of the belts out of the box and distributed each one to its proper owner. Then Himchan returned and gave all the knives to Jongup except for one. That one he held out to her.
Jisun didn't realize until then but her hand was opening and closing on its own. When she took her knife back though, her hand firmly clasped the grip tightly. And no more shaking.
Himchan slipped his belts on and looked in the box but it was empty now. Once Youngjae helped Daehyun with his belts, Jongup picked Daehyun up. Then they all set off again.

Jisun kept her focus on moving one step at a time while watching her feet. She wasn't sure how much further it was till the surface. She still wasn't even sure they'd make it to the surface but they kept moving. One foot in front of the other. Then as if her fears came to life.
"Stop!"
The group came to a sudden stop and Jisun quickly looked up. She peered past the group to see  a few people standing in the mine shaft and they each had a gun. Then her view was blocked as Yongguk moved in front of her.
"Where do you even plan on going?" one of the masked guys amusingly asked.
Her hand tightened around her knife as she recognized his voice. It was the same man that had pointed the gun at her in the woods. When her and Yongguk had gotten captured.
None of the boys said anything but they must have did something that caught the attention of the bad guys.
"Stop! Don't even think about it. Put your hands up and away from the knives. All of you."
One by one she saw each boy raise their hands up. She lowered her gaze to Yongguk's hips and stared at the various knives. Including the long ones on the sides. She wasn't sure if they could be counted as knives with how long their were, even though they didn't seem long enough to be a sword. But they did look strong.
She put her knife in her left hand and quickly reached for the sheath hiding in her sling. She pulled it out and slipped the knife back in it. Then she put it back inside her sling. She looked at the long knife hanging on Yongguk's side and took a deep breath. And her mind went blank.
She stepped aside Yongguk and at the same time, her hand grabbed the handle. She pulled it out of its sheath before he could react and ran forward.
"Jisun!" he called out as he reached for her and missed.
She roughly shoved her way through the group to the front. That's where Himchan grabbed her and stopped her. "Jisun!" he hissed and looked unsurely at the armed group.
The man standing in the front lowered his gun. He tilted his head as he eyed her curiously. She yanked her arm free from Himchan and took a step forward. Then she turned and looked at the wood board on the wall that held up a supporting beam. Age had worn it down and she could see where bugs had eaten at part of it.
Taking another deep breath, she swung the knife forward so it stabbed in to the side of the rotten wood. She pulled as hard as she could towards her body and was rewarded with a cracking sound.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" the masked man yelled, his voice betraying his slight panic.
Suddenly the wood gave way and she stumbled backwards as the blade came free. Himchan caught her before she fell and held on to her. She stared at the wood board as she heard another loud snap and a line formed in it. Then a deep echo filled the mine shaft as the mountain groaned.
"Jisun, what did you do?" Himchan whispered in her ear.
She straightened and turned to look at him. He gaze wandered over the shaft's walls and ceiling. His mouth hung open in shock. Another cracking noise made her whirl around and she saw another board further up snap a little. Then another. The mountain loudly groaned once more before a small amount of dirt sprinkled down on them.
"Run!" Instantly the masked group turn and sprinted up the mine shaft.
Jisun's arm was grabbed before she was tugged backwards. She spun around and quickly followed her group. Yongguk had put Daehyun's other arm over his shoulders. Together with Jongup, they carried their hurt comrade down the tunnel at a quick pace. Jisun could hear a rumbling noise behind them but she didn't dare turn to look.
Finally it grew quiet as a cloud of dust engulfed them. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her. They went a little ways further in to the mine before slowing and then stopping. That's when she turned to see the damage for herself. The mine shaft was completely blocked.
"We need to.."
"Put me down." whined Daehyun desperately, interrupting Himchan.
Jongup and Yongguk carefully lowered him to the ground. As soon as he was sitting, Daehyun laid down and curled in to a ball. He whimpered before going in to a coughing fit and spitting more blood.
Youngjae knelt by him and comfortingly rubbed a hand on his back. "Shallow breaths. Don't use your diaphragm muscles."
Jisun watched the scene until she felt someone lightly touch her. She jumped and turned to see Yongguk. She hadn't even realized he had moved closer to her. Slowly, he reached down and put his hand on her hand. That's when she also noticed how tightly she was clutching the long knife. She loosened her grip and he took it from her.
He quickly slipped it back in to its sheath before taking a step closer. "Why did you do that?" he quietly asked.
She opened but no sound came out. Her voice wouldn't work. Instead, her jaw simply shook until she closed .
Yongguk furrowed his eyebrows in worry. He gently cupped her cheeks and bit down on his bottom lip. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. She leaned against him and closed her eyes as she exhaled.
"We should go before it caves in more." Himchan declared. "There's another entrance past the large cage."
Yongguk let her go and she instantly felt herself stiffen. She relaxed a little though when he moved to hold her hand. "Do you think any of them made it out?" he questioned.
"Can't say for sure either way." Jongup responded as he glanced at the wall of dirt. Then he looked down at Daehyun. "Ready?"
Daehyun was no longer coughing but it was easy enough to see he was in bad shape. He closed his eyes and took a few shallow breaths. "." he breathlessly cursed before nodding.
Himchan went to him and helped pick him up off the ground. They each put an arm across their shoulders.
"I got him hyung." Jongup stated.
"You're bleeding even more." Himchan pointed out.
Jisun looked down at Jongup's shirt and saw for herself that there was lots more blood staining it. She quickly looked away and pressed her lips together.
With Youngjae in the lead, they started moving back down the mine shaft.

Once they came to the correct passage, Youngjae turned down it and the group followed him. As they came up to the room with the large cage though, he stopped and stepped aside. He blocked the entrance with his body and nodded for the others to go past. When it was her and Yongguk's turn, she squeezed his hand and turned her head the other way. She knew Youngjae was doing his part to make sure she didn't see what was in the room and so she did her part too. Made sure she didn't see Yoonjung's body.
After they passed by the room, Youngjae came up to Yongguk and stopped him. He quickly whispered something in the older man's ear that Jisun couldn't hear. She could guess what it was though because his hand tightened around hers. Then Youngjae hurried forward and slipped past the others to take the lead again.
She glanced at Yongguk and he met her gaze. There was a heavy sadness in his eyes and she had to quickly look away as she lost her breath. She pushed everything out of her mind, not wanting to focus on her dead friend for too long. Not wanting to focus on anything really. She wasn't sure what would happen if she let herself think about everything.
They walked for a bit before they went into a different tunnel. It was wide like the other main shaft but with more rock mixed in with the dirt. There were wood beams as well pressed against the wall, giving it extra support still. As far up as she could see, it didn't appear to have caved in so they silently trekked onwards.
Youngjae hurried ahead of the group as he checked each cut out. When he reached a particular one though, he stopped and his shoulders slumped.
"Youngjae?" quietly called out Himchan.
The younger ignored him and disappeared in to the room. When the three caught up and looked in as well, Daehyun uttered, "Holy ."
Yongguk picked up the pace and she followed him. Then Himchan turned to look at them. "Don't!" he said. It was too late to heed his warning though and Jisun glanced in to the room.
It was small with only two tables and a tall stool with a book balanced on it. Something was on one of the tables and when Youngjae moved aside so she could properly see it, she gasped. Her eyes widened as dropped open. Laying on the table was Zelo's body. His shirt was removed but what really caught Jisun's attention was his neck. And all the blood on it.
Suddenly she was spun around and she found herself facing Yongguk. She reached up and clutched his shirt with her hand as she took several deep breaths.
"They were going to dissect him." Youngjae informed them, his voice dripping with disgust. Then she heard a few thuds as if something had been thrown.
"Let's get going." Himchan instructed.
Jisun took one last deep breath and pulled away. She kept her head down and stared at her feet, waiting for Yongguk to lead her. They didn't move though.
"We need to take him with us."
"What??" Himchan exclaimed.
Jisun held her breath and slowly turned around. She swallowed thickly as she kept her gaze on Youngjae.
"His battery would have gone on reserve so there's a chance his computer parts still function." the black haired boy reasoned. "We can hook him up to the ship and get the formula for hyung's medicine."
"We don't even have the tags." argued Himchan. "And we need at least one to turn the computer on."
Those words echoed inside Jisun's mind as a realization came to her. That even if they get out of here, they had no where to go. The ship was useless without the tags. Which meant they couldn't cure Yongguk. Tears clouded her vision and she closed her eyes.
"If the tags weren't with the rest of their supplies, then there's a good chance they took them to the ship." Youngjae countered.
"Especially now that they know what the tags do." Jongup piped in. "They experimented on us so it would make sense they check out the ship."
"And we... We can't just... leave... him." Youngjae said, so quietly that she almost didn't hear.
There was a few moments of silence as no one said anything. Then she felt Yongguk brush past her. "I'll carry him." he offered.
More silence and she stood rooted in place. Her hand began opening and closing again so she wrapped it across her stomach before grabbing her shirt. After what seemed like forever, she felt fingers lightly touch her arm. She jumped a little and opened her eyes.
"Come on noona." Youngjae softly said.
Her gaze flickered behind him though and she looked at Yongguk. Zelo's limp body was draped over his shoulders. There was gauze wrapped around the youngest's neck now, hiding his self-inflicted wound. Then she turned away.
She let Youngjae lead her towards the front of the group as they continued walking. It was obvious that they were saving her from having to be near Zelo's body. And thinking about that caused her chest to tightened. She quickly reached for Youngjae's hand and felt a small amount of relief when he held her hand. Just enough for her to take small, even breaths.