Crimson | Hyunjin centric fanfic

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The driveway down to the exit of the laboratory seemed to stretch on forever. As much as they hated it, they knew more long walks lay ahead of them in the near future. Hyunjin didn't need to think too hard to figure out why there was no security on the way down. The laboratory was built to make it almost impossible to escape, and if someone did manage to, they assumed they would be able to catch them before they reached the end of the driveway.

"We're a mess," Minho stated, gesturing to their blue uniforms and sickly frames. "If we take public transportation, we might attract some negative attention."

"It's either that or we go back," Seungmin said sternly. "We're hours away from home, and there's no way we'll be able to make it back without public transportation."

"I stole some money so we'll have enough to buy some cheap outfits and bus fare," Felix chimed in, waving a wad of cash in the air. "I can't do anything about the fact that we look like we might keel over and die at any second, though."

Hyunjin smiled at Felix's feeble attempt at a joke. He assumed they had all been funny, carefree people before the lab got ahold of them. He knew he had been.

"You guys lived in Yellow Wood, right?" Hyunjin asked, remembering Hongjoong's comment about the mass transfer. "Were you part of the transfer?"

"Yep. That was us," Changbin said, Jeongin holding onto his arm for support. "As you can probably tell, we never transferred. We just all got into trouble around the same time and ended up in this situation."

Hyunjin thought about Yellow Wood, bits and pieces of what he had done slowly coming back to him. After a taste of normalcy for one day, he knew he could never go back. He would have to restart his life elsewhere. If that was even possible.

Finally, they reached the end of the driveway which opened up to a busy street. How people didn't know it existed was beyond him. Conveniently, there was a sign saying that there was a shopping mall just a few blocks up the street, where they could make themselves look at least a little bit more presentable.

The shopping break was brief, and they attracted a lot of stares, but at least they were out of the blue uniforms which now lay in a dumpster somewhere. Jeongin had suggested they eat, but everyone was too excited to go home to even think about delaying their return any longer.

As Chan bought tickets at the train station, Hyunjin's mind wandered to the condition they all shared. The condition that brought them so much suffering. Had the fire prevented them from ever getting their hands on the cure? He would rather die than continue living the way he had for much longer.

"Was there a cure?" He asked out loud, needing his question to be answered.

There was a momentary pause before Jisung answered. "No. But after I received the first prototype, I ripped out my I.V and ended up seeing my own blood, but nothing happened."

Almost immediately, everyone's eyes lit up with barely suppressed excitement. The first prototype was the only one they had all received and had also ended up being the cure. Hyunjin would no longer have to live in fear. He could dance again, and try everything he missed out on because it was too dangerous.

"The next train to Yellow Wood arrives in half an hour," Chan explained, motioning to a bench at the far end of the station where they could talk without being overheard.

"Perfect!" Felix exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "That gives us some time to look over our files."

Once they reached the bench, they huddled together, grabbing their individual files to look at. Hyunjin's contained a scary amount of information on him, ranging from infancy to present day. It contained detailed information on the car accident he was in, noting that his condition developed as a result of the accident.

Under his file were lab notes, containing everything from their blood types to reactions to certain stimuli, such as the blood of other people. The lab notes held records of every experiment they were put through. If they brought it to the police, it would be easy to bring the corporation to its knees.

He scanned over the experiments, not wanting to know what had happened to his friends when he was still living a semi-normal life. Unfortunately, one experiment caught his eye. In the study, Jeongin had been strapped down and beaten once he lost control to see if he healed faster than a normal person, which almost resulted in his death.

He flipped the paper over, the information he really wanted to see was there, written in black ink.

'The prototype drugs from years ago for some reason cause the subject's brains to release heightened levels of adrenaline at the sight of their own blood. The heightened levels of adrenaline cause them to briefly lose control of themselves until either the adrenaline runs out, or they are stopped by an outside force such as a stun gun.'

'Ironically, when they lose control, they become bloodthirsty and will attempt to kill anyone in sight, even each other. While in this state, they also gain almost superhuman strength. A cure would have to mute their adrenaline receptors so they could live a normal life.'

"Take a look at this," Hyunjin said, passing the file around, watching as everyone's expressions changed once they read it.

It wasn't a drastic change, but it had been enough to ruin most of their short lives. Knowing what they had been experiencing was enough to bring them closure after all these years.

"The train to Yellow Wood is preparing to board. Please wait at line four."

It was time to go home.