His hands grazed the files beside him trying to decide which one too look at first.

There were so many. He didn’t know where to start. The whole second floor was abandoned. Thanks to an emergency on the upper floor. So he had decided to come and try to find out what they were planning to do with them. He shouldn’t be doing this, he was under a contract. If he broke it they could go after his family.

Lay stopped searching and sat down on a metal chair. He buried his face in his hands and groaned. He never thought the government was going to come looking for him again. ‘You are my sunshine.. I need you.. You are the one’ the sudden memory flooded his mind. He could almost feel the warmth of that summer evening, the way she had looked at him before she..

Lay stood up knocking over a pile of folders off one of the desks and kicked the metal chair. This was all hopeless. He couldn’t save them even if he wanted to. He was about to leave before something caught his eye, it was one of the folder he knocked down. Unlike the rest of the files which were black this one was gold colored, the edges of the file silver.

He knelt down and picked it up “Project Exodus..” He muttered reading the files title. He quickly opened it, small photos falling out. The photos were worn out and in black and white with the edges torn. In one of the pictures was a photo of a marble.

The others were the same. Just photography of useless things. Lay took the papers out next. Different Stacks of paper had been stapled together. “Labrinyth test.. Failed” he looked at another stack “Wolf mutation.. Failed” another stack “Pathcode Object last seen 1952  Seoul, South Korea…. Pathcode?” Lay looked at the photos on the ground and picked them up.

He looked at the marble photo first, turning it around in red ink the word Pathcode was written. Pathcode to what? He sighed and looked at another photo it was a photo of an old news article. 1952 again. He couldn’t read it. It was in a language he didn’t understand. Lay looked at the last photo and almost dropped everything a cold sweat running down his neck.

It was a photo of all of them. At least it looked like them, Laying side by side, bruises marked their skin and needles had been inserted inside their wrists and arms. They looked dead. It couldn’t be them. This never happened. Lay heard footstep coming closer to the room and froze. He can’t be caught with these. Taking out his phone he took photos of everything before putting it back in the folder.

He gathered the rest of the files he had dropped and put them on the desk right when the door opened. “what are you doing here? You’re not allowed to go in here.” Lay looked at the man and cleared his throat. “I just… I got lost”

His beaded black eyes stared him down before he nodded towards the door “you’re needed on the first floor. One of the patients just got out of treatment” Lay nodded and walked out of the room before he was questioned any further.

****
(Baekhyun POV)

“This doesn’t make sense..”

It didn’t. At least not to him, he leaned closer trying to keep up with the conversation. Chen sighed and gave Lay his phone back. “1952 was the year of massive Ufo sightings. I don’t see why that can relate to us though.”

“Project Exodus.” Baekhyun mumbled the words through his lips. “There’s also these…” Lay spoke quietly handing the phone to them. Baekhyun shrugged “a marble? So what?”

“Look at the next photo.”

“I can’t read it”

“The next one!” Chen swiped to the next photo and froze. Baekhyun felt his stomach churn. “I’m going to be sick” he looked away trying not to pass out. That wasn’t them? Was it? He didn’t remember going through that. He was glad he didn’t.

The metal door suddenly opened and Chanyeol, Sehun, and Tao were shoved inside. “They know how to treat guests don’t they?” Sehun muttered bitterly. “Yah! Why are you guys here?”

“You’re not happy to see us?” Chanyeol grumbled. Baekhyun grinned. Of course he was. Just not in this situation. “They said something about keeping us all in one room for safe keeping…” Chanyeol sat by Baekhyun.

“Where’s Suho and Xiumin?” The room fell silent at Chens question. “Testing..” Baekhyun cringed remembering his eight months in the research facility. So much blood had been drawn out. So much darkness. “At least we have Lay to fix us” he smiled half heartedly.

Lay smiled back and nodded “that’s right” Baekhyun grabbed lays phone and flinched again. “What? What is it?” Sehun asked crawling towards him. Baekhyun quickly swiped the screen to the photo of the marble. He didn’t want to worry him. “Why a marble it doesn’t make sense”

Chen nodded and sighed. “Looks like Lay is going to have to do more research”

“It’s too risky. Someone should go with him” Chanyeol muttered. “How?! We’re trapped in here” Baekhyun stood up and walked to the door slamming his hands on it. “JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY POWERS BACK THEN YOU’LL BE SORRY”

“What do you plan on doing? Brighten their lights?” Baekhyun glared at Tao and went back to slamming the door. He had to get out. All of them had to. “Baekhyun shut up” he heard a new voice.

“Kai!” Baekhyun turned to see Kai standing up from his terrible landing. “I can help with whatever plan you have” Kai looked at Lay. “Aren’t they looking for you though?” Tao interjected. Kai grimaced and nodded “I’ll just have to be careful”

“Where’s kyungsoo?”

“He’s on his way. But for now what’s the plan?”

The room fell silent and Baekhyun had the sudden urge to laugh. There was no plan. Chen laughed instead “we have nothing, but we need to find information on this project Pathcode they’re running. It’s revolved around us” Kai nodded slowly and looked at Lay.

“Let’s go” Lay walked towards the metal door. “Yah! What are we supposed to do until then?!”

“Wait”

Baekhyun frowned sitting by Chanyeol. Wait. That’s all he had been doing.

******
(Kai POV)

“Anything?”

“Nope”

Kai sighed ready to give up. The file Lay had found was missing and they had spent almost an hour looking for it. He walked to a metal chair and sat down. “This is hopeless” he whined. Lay ignored him as he went through another pile of folders.

Kai turned to the computers and frowned. “I can’t believe I was being followed for months and I didn’t notice” Lay looked at the computers for a second then went back to searching. “It’s not months it’s been years. Probably since you were a kid”

“What?”

Lay turned to him and walked towards the screens. “They’ve known about us for years now. Tracked our every move. We just didn’t know it. I feel like this project Exodus is one huge experiment. That they’ve been planning for years now. Maybe even before we were born”

“What makes you think that?”

Lay handed him a beige colored folder. Kai opened it and read out loud “Zhang Yixing, birth date October 7th 1991. Patient 2AAY. ”

“Are you Zhang yixing?”

Lay nodded. “Look at the date on top” August 12th 1984. “Wait… But how would they know..you were…” Lay took back the folder “how would they know eight years in advance that I was going to be born? I don’t know.” Kai went towards the files. He needed to find his. “I already checked there” Lay sighed. Kai walked to the other side of the circular room and searched at a fresh pile.

He could practically feel Lays uneasiness. “So… How did you end up working for these s?” He asked trying to make things less serious. Lay laughed behind him “by being an idiot.”

“Care to explain”

Lay was silent for a minute “I was 15..” He muttered taking out his phone. “There was this girl I loved.. Yuan Ting. Even at such a young age I knew I loved her. It might seem silly, but I did-” Kai stopped looking and turned to him suddenly interested in the story.

“-it was summer and I remember it being the best months of my life. We went swimming, cooked, read together. They were simple things but they meant a lot.” Lay turned over his phone his face suddenly darkening “then one night we were walking down this sketchy neighborhood. The street lamps were off and no one was around. I kept thinking this is perfect! Alone time with her. I still remember her voice-”

“-she handed me a small white piece of paper and told me Yixing… The way I truly feel about you is in this letter, but please don’t read it in front of me Im too embarrassed” Kai sat down not knowing if he should speak, Lay looked at the computers “I told her I couldn’t wait. I HAD to know. So I told her I’ll go away and come right back after I’ve read it. So to wait for me.”

“What did the note say?”

“It said 'you are my sunshine .. I need you.. You are the one’ it was written in this pink pen she always used to carry around. I was so happy that I ran back to her but…”

“But what?”

Kai could hear the choke in Lays voice as tears formed around the edges of his eyes. “I told you it was a sketchy neighborhood…you see Kai I can heal the most fatal and dangerous of illnesses. I can repair a broken bone or bones I can even make plants grow. The one thing I can’t do though.. is bring someone back to life-”

“-if only I had just waited.” Lay wiped his eyes. “After trying so hard to bring her back to me I eventually gave up. A man had been there watching me, he had walked up behind me and told me that there was a way to protect my loved ones from ever getting hurt like that again. I was desperate at the time and I told him I’d do anything and that’s when they took me in.”

“They told me they knew what I was and they needed me to help them in the future. All I had to do was be available when they called. When I asked when they said they didn’t know but they’ll find me. Which they did” he sighed putting his phone away and walking to the files “I had to sign a contract and everything. Stupid 15 year old me not knowing what I had gotten myself into”

Kai sighed not knowing what to tell him. His whole story was sad and he wanted to comfort him but he didn’t know how. “you should run away. Just leave us”

“What?”

“I’m serious Lay. You’re the only who can escape go and hide never come back move countries. What if they decide to keep you too?”

Lay smiled softly looking at the computer monitors “what country?” He laughed. “Besides.. They will eventually keep me as a patient too. I know that, but I’m not leaving you guys” Kai smiled suddenly feeling a bond form between the two. Lay felt like an older brother, someone Kai could count on.

“We just need a plan”

As if on cue the ground started shaking, moving the building with it. The roaring filled their ears as the chairs started moving and monitors  fell to the floor Lay quickly grabbed onto the desk “it’s an earthquake!”

Kai smiled “No. It’s kyungsoo”