Technological Terror | kim sunwoo

Chapter 9

Unconsciously, my feet began dashing towards a room. Sunwoo trailed, rapidly shifting his gaze for potential exits. He pushed me inside a room, causing me to stumble, a quick rush of adrenaline was shot into my veins at the action. He slammed the door shut, locking it whilst pushing his weight against it. "I'll hold, look for an exit!" He yelled, gritting his teeth as he pushed harder, attempting to seal the door. I nodded, obeying his orders. Followed by that, I looked above me only to have a vent in my view. I averted my gaze back to Sunwoo, whom understood almost immediately. The thunderous clanging against the door by the melees hit the walls of the room, during that period I was wobbly standing on Sunwoo's shoulders, attempting to break the vent. He groaned lowly under the friction of my weight against his shoulders.

With the last strike, the vent cover flew over to the concrete wall, creating a huge thud. "Hurry, get inside." Sunwoo somewhat raised his voice, I climbed in, fitting my body inside the vent. Beads of sweat began damping my forehead. Sunwoo leaped, hanging from the edge for a few seconds before swinging his weight and going behind me. We started groveling throughout the rifled metal of the vent, every move taken created thudding as we wormed through. "Where does this vent even lead to?" I asked, frustration laced in my voice. "We'll land on the subway roofs." He said rather quietly at the heels of mine.

I was the first to drop, regaining my balance as a huge thud was created, Sunwoo dropped behind me, creating the same thud. We began dashing on the subway, hopping with every cart space that came up.

At last, we began to recognize lights at the end of the tunnel, causing my steps to be rapid. "You'll trip and fall, slow down. I'm here." He began reassuring, attempting to catch up with me. I responded with silence.

"I can see the buildings of the core, but we won't be able to reach it when it's this far now." I said with a hint of sorrow, Sunwoo licked his lips. "We should find a rest stop." He said in a whisper, grasping my hand and leaping on the platform.

The city was deserted, empty of life. Wide, long, with cracked concrete. My legs were stinging from the various reflexes and stunts that have been pulled in the past few hours, not to mention, the weather began blooming into briskness. Sunwoo enveloped me in his arm throughout the trip, we chattered infrequently, yet it was exhausting to even mutter a few words.

Sunwoo indicated his finger at an hotel that had a letter of its name hanging, indicating it is abandoned. He pulled the pipe from the sheath of his bag, I followed the action. "Stay behind me." He commanded, I nodded in response, warily approaching the entrance.

Sunwoo strolled in utter silence, his back was inclined forwards as he walked. I covered his back, scanning our surroundings from the back. The lobby had furniture tossed in incorrect placements, the light cracked occasionally, the walls were painted with grey dust. I tightened my grip on the metallic bar I clutched, my knuckles bloomed into a paler color. "First floor, first room. No further." Sunwoo whispered, taking the creaky oak stairway. "No point in exploring the rest?" I whispered back, raising my eyebrows. "Yes, especially not in this lightning." Sunwoo stated, pointing out the dim light which illuminated on his somewhat dirt printed face. "Run to the first room, I'll be right behind you." He whispered, laggardly composing his posture. "I won't leave you alone! You don't know if it's safe." I whisper yelled, my eyebrows were knitted into a frown. "If it wasn't we would've been attacked by now, run along."

The room I entered was fairly lit, the light is neither too faint nor flaring. I shut the door behind me with a click, gazing at the neatly decorated room. Just as I was about to check the small fridge, Sunwoo stepped a foot in the room, a beam implaced on his full lips. "Hungry?" He asked, approaching me. I nodded my head in agreement, opening the fridge. Which was stacked with mostly dessert and juices. "Diabetes time." He snickered, impending to the additional dark oak wooden door, he cracked the door entrance, taking a note of the polished bathroom. "Cover the windows first, get comfortable second." Sunwoo raised his index finger as he spoke. I parted my lips in confusion, before proceeding to enclose his words in my mind, a grin began lifting up the corners of my lips. I sprinted towards the door frame he leaned on, a bathroom was revealed to my view. I averted my gaze to Sunwoo, whom was wiggling his eyebrows, arms folded.

"Woman, you ate half of the fridge." Sunwoo scolded, criticizing the way I devoured our supposedly only source of food. "Okay." I hummed, patting my stomach as I laid on the bed, my eyelids sheathing my vision, except the sepia light that illuminated against the white room walls. "You're sleeping now?" Sunwoo asked, frowning whilst looking at the clock hung on the wall. "Yes." I responded shortly, Sunwoo seated himself beside me, folding one knee only. "I'll take the night shift."

My eyes abruptly opened at his words, I sat up, composing my posture. I peered at him with a grimace. "You're sleeping, Sunwoo. What are you so wary of?" I asked in slight fury. Sunwoo licked his lips, his lips were parted, revealing his lower set only. "You really wanna risk it after what happened back at the station?" He asked, clasping his fingers together. "I'm not saying that, I'm saying the room is secure enough. It's locked, the curtains cover the window, the hotel seems abandoned, who would think about coming here? Even if they decide to search for us, they won't find us." I explained my point of view, Sunwoo's head fell downwards, his eyes fixated on his knees. "If you're still hesitant, we can switch every three hours?" I suggested, he shook his head, illustrating denial. "No, I'll just sleep. I just feel uneasy after what happened. I bashed his head open solely because he dared to lay a finger on you." He rambled, his eyes still fixated on his knees. I engulfed Sunwoo in a hug, to which he immediately responded, enrobing my body with his arms.