What's Broken Can't Be Fixed

27

     The woman stares at him, a noticeable look of contempt in her eyes. There was something... captivating about him. The way he was glaring at her. There were four other men standing behind her.

     The woman looked like she could be in her mid-forties. Her brown hair was tied up into a neat bun, she had on what looked like a lab coat and glasses. She looked like any stereotypical scientist. Hyunjin relaxes, his breathing no longer heavy. "You mind giving me some clothes?"

     "There's still blood on you."

     "Then let me wash off. If you send any of those assholes in here with me, I'll kill them too. I don't fucking care if you watch me."

     Over with Chris, it was bad if not worse. Chris was on the ground, naked. There was a man standing in front of him with a metal rod, heating it up with fire. "You seem a bit stronger than your friend."

     "I don't know why you give a shit."

     "Let's see if you can withstand this." The man takes the rod and presses it against Chris' chest, you could hear his flesh sizzling, blood beginning to drip down. However, he doesn't make a sound.

     "Let me ask you a question." He says, directing the statement towards the woman. "You can burn me as much as you want but why?"

     "Standard procedure. We only take fit infectees ones that can withstand the torture brought upon them." As soon as the man removes the rod from Chris' chest his skin heals itself, like it was never burnt.

     "This is why we're special isn't it? Because we can't get hurt."

     "Precisely. You can't get hurt. But everything leaves a scar." Chris smiles at her last sentence.

     "We're fast... strong... and aren't afraid to rip a motherfuckers head off."

     "What-" Suddenly, Chris stands up, grabs the metal rod from the man and jams it down his throat. The man screams, but it sounds distorted. Blood begins to gush out of the man's mouth and soon he was on the ground.

     "Your men on the other hand... aren't so invincible." It was quiet. The woman wasn't speaking let alone making a single sound. Water starts to come out of a small hole like a shower, and Chris steps under it. It was cold, harsh, but it was getting him clean.

     "Put on your clothes and meet me at the door." He doesn't respond. In the corner was a small metal box and a towel on top. He takes the towel off and opens it to reveal a simple white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and underwear. Chris sighs, somewhat relieved that the clothes were normal.

     He dries off and slips on the clothes, keeping the towel around his neck. When he walks over and opens the door, a woman is standing there. Short black hair, lab coat, a smile on her face. She looked at least 20. Young and innocent. "Christopher."

     "Yeah, yeah whatever. Where's the boy that came here with me."

     "You'll see him at your bed." Chris sighs, and the woman starts walking. She leads him through a room and opens another door. And through that door was a giant room. The long walkway could've gone on for ages. There were many beds just lined up against the wall, nothing more. She stops, so Chris stops. Over one of the beds was a title Christopher B.

     To the right of it was Hyunjin H. and to the left of it was Keeho Y.

     Chris thinks to himself. Who's Keeho? But he doesn't question it out loud. The woman walks away, leaving him to just sit on the small bed. He looks around at all the other people here. There were women, men, even small children. It was sick what they were doing to these people. "Chris!" He hears a familiar voice call out to him. Chris looks over and sees Hyunjin running his way.

     "Did they hurt you?" He asks, seeing the dried blood by the boy's ears.

     "They tried to."

     "So, you're Christopher?" The two boys turn around to see another boy standing behind them. He was by the bed that had the name Keeho Y. above it.

     "And you're Keeho?" Chris asks, Keeho nods.

     "We rarely have any people our age in here. What number are you?"

     "Four."

     "Four?!" He raises his voice a bit, Keeho was just surprised at how close he was. "Damn, I wouldn't be surprised if you knew number one."

     "My boyfriend's number one..." Keeho smiles.

     "Woah... And what are you?" He looks over at Hyunjin next.

     "Two."

     "Do you guys want to be friends? I'm number 10." Keeho and Hyunjin bump fists. They had only been there for at least an hour and now they had a new friend. "Soul! Come over here!" About 6 beds down was another boy. He had short brown hair and headphones around his neck.

     "How do you have headphones?" Chris questions him, and Soul shrugs.

     "I snuck them in here, they don't know that I have them."

     "Soul's a bit of a skin ship lover so I apologize ahead of time if he just clings onto you or something."

     "It's fine." Chris smiles. There wasn't much to do in that place, just sit around and talk to each other for a while. After about 3 hours, an announcement is made.

     "Lunch is being served. Wait for it to reach your area." The four boys listen silently.

     "What's the food like in here?" Hyunjin asks, and Keeho scratches his nape.

     "Surprisingly not bad. They like to keep us healthy and well fed." He says. Soul looks up at Keeho and starts talking, his voice barely above a whisper. But he wasn't speaking Korean. He was speaking Japanese. Keeho looks at him the whole time while he's speaking, he nods and then turns back to Hyunjin and Chris.

     "Soul isn't Korean?"

     "Well... he's half Korean and half Japanese. But he speaks Japanese when he's comfortable." Keeho answers Hyunjin first and Soul goes back to fiddling with the sleeves of Keeho's shirt.

     "So, what's his Japanese name?"

     "Haku Shota." Soul answers this time. Hyunjin nods, the boy had a rather nice voice. Keeho begins to speak again.

     "But if I ever call him that, it probably means that I'm dying or something."

     "Why?"

     "Cause I'd never have the guts to say it again." Keeho smiles, ruffling Soul's hair. This seemed like an odd thing to Chris and Hyunjin, but Soul knew what he was talking about. Because a year ago, Keeho used Soul's Japanese name for the first time. And it was to say:

Shota, I love you.