October 7th, 2016

They’ve been walking for what seems like ages. The Capital is no longer in sight, nor their Cluster, which should make them feel safe. It would, if they weren’t so exhausted, the bags on their backs feeling heavier by the hour.

“Listen, Heechul, I know we didn’t really have a destination in mind, but...we’re going to end up somewhere soon, aren’t we?”

“We’ll have to at some point. Besides, I’m sure we’ll hit an irradiated patch soon and not be able to━Agh!”

Heechul breaks off with a frankly embarrassing yelp as his foot finds nothing but empty air underneath its next step. The fall would have been even worse had he not scrambled to hold onto the edge of the hole in the ground, sparing himself from sliding down━ where those stairs?

“Heechul! Are you okay?”

“I managed not to kill myself, so that’s a start.” He regains his footing once again, brushing off the dirt that clung to his pants. “What the hell is this place?”

The staircase looms in front of him, leading even deeper underground. There’s a door visible at the bottom, but it’s impossible to say whether it would be very smart or very idiotic to check inside.

And Heechul doesn’t do ‘very idiotic’.

Jungsoo peers over the other’s shoulder at the entrance, seeming much more optimistic.

“We might have found it,” he says with a hint of excitement. “This could be our place to stay.”

“It could also be a deathtrap. Did you bring along any weapons?”

“I have a couple pounds of reduced-sugar protein bars?”

Heechul doesn’t offer that a response, but he can’t help but consider Jungsoo’s words: a place to stay. How long did they have to look for somewhere safe? The policemen must have seen him and Jungsoo run out the back; just because there isn’t anyone pursuing them now doesn’t mean they aren’t on a watchlist somewhere. A different Cluster might not be safe from the Capital’s prying eyes.

Jungsoo must read into the other’s resigned sigh, because his “so we’re going in?” hardly sounds like a question.

“Only if you’re careful. It would be pretty pathetic of us to die before we even start paying Mayor Park back for the blood he’s spilled.”

Jungsoo backs away as if he’s been slapped. “Don’t talk about it. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Sorry.” Heechul immediately regrets the words that had tumbled out of his mouth. “You don’t have to beg me for anything. I didn’t mean to say it. I just…”

, don’t cry again. Compartmentalize, Heechul. You can lose it later when you’re alone.

“You don’t have to explain,” Jungsoo says softly. He’s using that one tone of his, the compassionate one that never fails to bring Heechul even the smallest level of comfort. “We’re doing this for them, aren’t we? Let’s do it right.”

“By walking blindly into the possible deathtrap?” The words come out weaker than he’s intended.

“By walking blindly into the possible deathtrap.”

It’s good, at least, to see that one of them is still half-decent at faking confidence.

~*~

The space behind the mystery door isn’t what Heechul expected in the slightest.

For one thing, they aren’t incinerated and/or jumped the second they step inside. It also lacks the stink of decaying human flesh he’d pictured in his mind. The most surprising thing, though, has to be the fact that they aren’t in pitch darkness ━ there’s actual electricity lighting up the large room they’re standing in.

“A little different from having nothing but candles to rely on after the sun goes down,” Heechul muses aloud. This is...fairly impressive. What is it doing in the middle of nowhere?

Jungsoo stares at their surroundings in fascination. “Much. It’s incredible; there must be generators on the lower level that were safe from the blasts.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to check it out.”

It’s an off-hand comment, one that Heechul doesn’t think much about, which is why the wide smile on Jungsoo’s face confuses him until the latter asks his next question.

“So we’re staying?”

Oh. The answer to that is much more significant than the question implies. Are they going to make a home here? Are they really going to follow through with this crazy plan to take on the Capital by themselves? Not long ago, in the heat of the moment, Heechul would have answered with a resounding “yes.” Is it still the same answer now?

Hell yes, it is.

“Let’s do a full walkthrough first. We’re not about to get robbed while we’re sleeping just because we didn’t spot-check the other rooms.”

“Of course. Basement first?”

“After you.”

They’re really going to do this. It’s going to start right here. As Heechul follows Jungsoo down the stairs, he tries to imagine himself walking there in a few months and having it feel like home. The thought is almost surreal.

“I was right. There are generators,” Jungsoo says proudly, and Heechul looks up to see a basement that can only be described as elaborate: a giant computer with a multi-monitor display that takes up an entire wall, the generators Jungsoo mentioned filling the room with a steady hum, and...hold on.

“Jungsoo, wait!” he calls, and that’s the only warning before a figure fully materializes from the shadows.

It’s a young man, a bit doughy around the edges but no less threatening than he seems to be going for ━ the loaded handgun aimed in their direction certainly helps.

“Who are you two? Police?” the stranger asks, a hard edge to his voice. “I won’t hesitate to shoot.”

Heechul opens his mouth to say something he’ll probably regret, so it’s a good thing Jungsoo beats him to the punch.

“We’re not police. They’re actually who we’re running from.”

“So you just decided to waltz in here?”

“The door was unlocked. And we weren’t looking for it; my friend fell through the opening to the stairs.”

The stranger looks skeptical, but at least he lowers his gun. “Then tell me why you’re on the run. Said something you shouldn’t have? Stole from the wrong people?”

“They murdered our parents.” Heechul is surprised how Jungsoo can say it so bluntly, even considering the circumstances. “We’d be dead, too, if we hadn’t left when we did, and now we’re trying to make their sacrifices mean something.”

A short bark of laughter burst out of the stranger. “What, by hiding out in some abandoned military bunker? That doesn’t seem very heroic.”

How dare━

“We’re going to fight,” Jungsoo says, deadly serious. “The two of us wanted this to be our base, so we could have a place to return to where the Capital’s people couldn't follow. We’re calling ourselves the Resistance.”

“The…?” The stranger pauses a moment, giving a half-hearted shrug. “There’s worse names, I guess.” He regards the two of them carefully. “You serious about this?”

“More than I’ve ever been. I’m Park Jungsoo, this is Kim Heechul, and if you want to help, you’re welcome to join us.”

There’s no way.

“Shin Donghee. The police dragged my parents off to god-knows where, and I’d be all for teaching them a lesson. Provided I get the basement to myself.”

“Deal.”

The Resistance had found its home.

~*~

“We still, in all honesty, had no idea what we were doing. But at least we had the Bunker and our blind idealism; it was enough to keep us going.

“Jungsoo was voted leader immediately, and he was feeling generous that day, so he made me Strategist instead of The Face. Donghee volunteered to be our techie ━ he figured out how to reactivate the fingerprint lock on the entrance panel, and then added all of our prints to the system. We...felt much cooler than we actually were.

“The Bunker had been stocked with a few things that hadn’t gone bad, and combined with our and Donghee’s supplies, it was enough to last us at least a little while. Jungsoo took the upstairs office for himself, I picked the best room ━ no, Hyukjae, they are not all the same ━ and we settled in.

“I think it was...three days until our first ‘mission’? Four? Donghee was monitoring one of the police frequencies, and he overheard an order for another extortion scheme, just like what had happened to us. The targets were a family of three, just outside of a nearby Cluster. So we got there about an hour before the policemen were supposed to show up…”