Be the Light

8. The 3rd Floor

The upper floors were grimy. The perpetual smog darkening the skies carried dust to settle in a sheen across the furniture. It was a place that looked most cozy for fouls, but the stairs would ward most of them off. Their fouling limbs often broke apart when they tried to maneuver those.

Contrary to the entrance floor, this one repurposed its office spaces after the war started. At least for a while, people used this as their shelter to transmit their messages across the world. Documents were strewn about and weapon closets secured the survivors against the incoming barrage. All doors had been reinforced, but the walls couldn't withstand the falling trees. 

The place didn't get demolished, so something else must have reaped the people working here. Perhaps a lack of food. Perhaps the fouls. Perhaps the silence when the world around them fell into despair and the skies darkened permanently.

Their struggle hadn't been unlike what Wooyoung knew about survival. Empty cans of food were piled into corners and spots on the ground gave away where they curled up on bare mattresses. Even as they did their best to ensure survival for as many people as possible and constructed the hospital downstairs, it had been for naught. Only current raiders picked at their leftovers.

Wooyoung ducked under a fallen tree while Mingi stemmed open a door ahead that was stuck in its mechanism. Jongho slipped past him with Seonghwa tucked against his body. The silence was eerie, but Wooyoung preferred it over the leftovers of life downstairs. He would never complain about the haunted feeling of a dead planet again because at least time carried those traces away.

Hongjoong was still with them. He was nosy about this place he hadn't seen before, even when the researchers raided everything of value. Occasionally, he halted to peer outside through the broken windows and walls. The yearning in his eyes wanted to flee this building and run into the forest, but he was too scared of what might happen if he tried. Instead, he trailed behind the group. Wooyoung regarded it as a win that his eyes had cleared up a lot more compared to when they first saw him. He giggled in his corners occasionally and chased shivers down their spines, but he was doing fine. Even Seonghwa assured them he was making progress.

Now, only their AI needed to find his place. With some luck, it meant Jongho could also heal. Mingi had been tense ever since coming upstairs and he stuck with Jongho tightly, making sure he wouldn't collapse before he got to see the product of their labor.

Both giddy and anxious if it would work, Wooyoung checked every room for hidden enemies. A childish part inside of him wanted to grab San's hand and jump in joy with him because they made it to their goal in one piece. But San seemed deep in thought, perhaps exhausted from last night. He barely reacted to the group conversations and Wooyoung felt sorry for wearing him out the night before such a big day.

It wasn't his fault their sex felt much better than he anticipated. He should thank Seonghwa once today was resolved. His help had made a significant difference. 

"Looks empty up here. That means we should have cleared out the facility and have free roam," Mingi said after they checked yet another room. Seonghwa led them around via his blueprint and he worked on figuring out the safest route that wouldn't cave in below their feet. It had to do with possibilities and the state of demolition of the building, lots of complicated stuff they lived fine without. By now, Wooyoung was so used to not understanding anything he said, he shrugged it off as normal. 

"That's the best news we heard in a while," Yunho sighed. He let down his guard but didn't put his gun away in case something jumped at them. Funnily, the murder weapons didn't deter Hongjoong. Only spoons kept him at bay.

"Where to?" Mingi asked and glanced around the desolate corridors. Some vegetation had made its way inside before everything died and crawled along the walls and ground to try cracking the concrete.