Apocalypse | Jenlisa/Chaesoo

Guilt

"I have some food there and you can get some rest, then tomorrow you could go on your way." Unsure why she said that Jisoo ran her hand along her hair adding a slight tug near her temple to make sure she's still sane and not dreaming.

The way the girl's face lit up when she nodded made Jisoo think she won't regret her choice.

She's taking this girl who calls herself Rosé to her place. Her little shack that she has kept secret for years now. The only other person who knows about her secret shack is Lisa, and it took months before she let her in. Even if she saw how Rosé annihilated those creatures there's still something fragile about her. She looks barely over eighteen, Jisoo is not even sure if this person is human judging from what she saw earlier. Maybe it's because the girl in front of her reminds her of herself when she stowed away from home. She looked helpless and dirty, and nobody was there to help her. She kept looking at Rosé who is at the moment struggling with the zipper locks of the long black jacket she lent her. She looks like a lost puppy.

"Let me help you with that"

At the meantime she will be the kind hand for a misplaced soul.

She fixes the jacket clasps that was causing the problem, took off the thick scarf from her neck and wrapped it around Rosé's. Now she looks like a dirty fluffball, the girl scratched her left cheek and averted her eyes.

"Let's go, you must be itchy, with all those dried blood pulling on your epidermis."

Jisoo took the lead as they walked under the moonlit trees. She chose the trail that could take them quicker to the place. The uphill walk leaves her a bit breathless, she looked back to the girl who's barely made a noise ever since they started walking. The barefoot girl stopped when she stopped.

"Are you okay?" Jisoo asked.

The girl looked at her intently, opened her mouth but didn't speak and nods her head once.

She doesn't even look tired Jisoo observed "We're almost there." She said out loud to reassure herself. She definitely needs to exercise some more.

They arrived at a little clearing, her secret paradise surrounded by luscious trees,there in the middle stood a little innocent shack.

"Welcome to my place."

Inside the room is bare, except for the scanner and hidden cameras that are connected to the system underneath the shack. Jisoo took off her gun holsters and everything metallic on her person and stepped forward on to a little platform. The invisible spectrum of light fanned out and scanned her. The machine glowed green showing that she's clean.

"Come" she invited.

Rosé motioned to undo the clasps of her jacket to take it off again.

"No you can keep that on, my jacket does not contain any electronics nor does it have any trace of metal content." Jisoo said faster than she intended which left her a little short of breath, she noticed that her own face has gone hotter with the thought of this girl getting naked in front of her again.

Rosé let her hand hang loose on both sides of her body and walked to the platform. The same wavelength of light scanned her but the display glows red this time.

"Curious, your DNA does not belong to the archives I got from the company." Jisoo said as she circled around Rosé.

"I-I don't know, wh-what I feel."

Rosé's eyes rolled back and she started collapsing down the floor. Jisoo tried to catch her but the girl is too heavy they both fell down the platform. Jisoo struggled to get up and checked the other girl's respiration and pulse. She's still breathing faintly and the pulse on her neck is alarmingly fast and forceful. She felt the girl's forehead, her temperature is going up by degrees. She turned her head to the screen display that shows the scan, and noticed that there is a foreign object underneath Rose's skin. From the side of her neck a stream of smoke rises. Jisoo reached for her backpack and pulled out a knife. She sliced the side of the girl's neck and fished out the offending object. It feels like a piece of burning coal she threw it down the floor the moment it touched her skin. The cut she made on Rosé's neck began healing. Her eyes started to gain focus again.

"What happened?"

Jisoo, still in awe of the girl's regenerative ability just pointed at the thing she threw on the floor. Rosé followed her finger and touched the side of her fully healed neck.

"So this is how they die." She said wistfully. She got up and embraced the stunned Jisoo.

"Thank you, for not letting me die." Rosé said tightening the hug enveloping her in her arms. Jisoo breathed out in relief.

"Th-the fing mydme a dacker." Jisoo's words sounded muffled with her face buried in Rosé's neck and shoulder who did not let her go but just held her with a hair's breadth between them to look at her with questioning eyes.

"The thing might be a tracker. I uh, I have to disable it, if uh if not, the ones who wants to kill you would find you here."

Rosé nodded and let her get up, Jisoo quickly got to work. With the tip of her knife she took out the wires from the wall and yanked on it. The scanner bleeped once and turned off. She peeled the wires and took out the copper underneath.

She got a specimen container from her bag and put the thing which turned out to be a microchip inside. She quickly wrapped it with thick coils of copper wire until it turned into a big bronze ball.

"There, you're safe for now. Let's go inside."

When she said inside, Jisoo meant underground. She pressed a combination of keys on a panel and a door opened to a small elevator. They got in and made the descent. Underneath a wide hallway welcomed them with a ding and the lights turning on in a sequence.

"I found this old place and did some fixing. It has decently warm water, the shower is to that corner on the right. I'll bring you something else to wear."

She turned to Rosé and found that she's looking down at the floor.

"You are so kind." She quietly said.

"Hey, feel at home. What I'm doing, it's nothing much, it's been some time since I've been this way to anyone" Jisoo felt the corners of her mouth lift up. Rosé lifted her head and smiled back, which bunched up her cheeks. Her smile looks manic and innocent at the same time with the blood on her face. Jisoo's heart felt like it has grown twice it's size. She's sure it's gonna burst anytime. Why does this this girl awake these kinds of physiological reactions in her?

While Rosé was in the bathroom, Jisoo tussled with the copper wires she made. With the sound of running water in the background. She loaded the microchip on connectors to her computer. Once it goes online she'd make sure the location it would feed back to it's main network would be the fake coordinates she set. These people would find themselves looking for Rosé in a meat grinding shop. Jisoo smirked, the certain meatshop they'd find themselves in is not like any other shops. It's called the Slaughterhouse for another reason. The owner has a penchant for caging crawlers and sometimes releasing them when he feels like he's threatened by strangers. This is just a petty little revenge to them, they'd still have to pay for trying to kill a girl. Who would want to do that?

She scanned the chip and her stomach dropped when the codes were read. A logo of a bird is displayed on a side bar. With clammy hands she clicked on it, No matter how much she'd deny it, it's all clear to her now that is her family's emblem. Her insides didn't just take a downward plunge but twisted and turned with bitter than bile reproach. The whole world fell down her shoulder when Rosé stepped out of the bathroom, she has dried her hair and she's now wearing Jisoo's striped pyjamas. It is inches shorter than her, now that she's all clean she exudes a childlike faultlessness. Jisoo took all of her image in and felt guilty tears stinging her eyes.