Out Of The Bunker

Chapter 9:The 13th Floor Xander POV

I glance over at Soo-Min as Doryan and Laurens walk into the office. "Blossom! Porce and I will search the first ten stories you guys take the next ten." a voce shouts, making me jump and turn towards the voice which is Seo-Young poking her head out of the stairwell. "Also Porce tried the elevator, it works use that." she says point toward two slightly rusted doors in the middle of the lobby. She then slides back into the stairwell. Soo-Min nods and heads towards the elevator. I smirk at her following behind."Blossom huh?" I say as she slams her finger into the button. She fakes a sweet laugh as the doors open rolling her eyes. I smile down at her a little and the elevator opens with a ding. The inside isn't as worse for wear as the rest of the place. It moves surprisingly smoothly; it's not shaking like I'd expect. Once it comes to the first floor I know a little "Ladies first." I state waving my hand out. She rolls her eyes but I can also see her hiding a smile a little bit. She shakes her head before moving forward. Look around it's exactly what you'd expect of a rundown old hotel that has been laid to waste for ten years. Every room is a basic one bedroom and a bathroom.We search each one finding not much. Some of the rooms were locked strangely enough. We get through the first two floors quickly enough and Parks walks alongside Soo-Min. As we find up that last room on the 12th floor and head back toward the elevator. I finally decided to strike up a conversation with the small quiet girl "The 13th floor spooky huh?" She looks at me confused "Friday the 13th?" I ask. She raises her eyes at me "Come almost every horror story ever has something related to 13." I pause thinking back to all the horror games I used to play " Ok most. Most horror things relate to 13." She stares at me as she presses the button before shaking her head a little."You are such a dork." She says plainly. "You know for a Koren you speak good English and your accent is pretty on point." I state changing the subject from how dorky I am.She shifts uncomfortably as she enters the elevator. "My father required that I learn and perfected the English language as he worked with America often in business and wanted me to understand the ends and outs of what he did." she explained quickly. As we came to the 13th floor and exited off the elevator something felt off. The other two floors were dusty and looked untouched. This floor however was a mess. The floor was covered in Trash and broken pieces of glass and the floorboards were ripped upward and every door looked like it had been forced open. Each room had been destroyed all except the windows which looked like they had just been scrubbed clean. All the rooms we're open but one at the end of the hall."Ok so this is weird to you too right?" I ask Soo-Min to look down at her. She looks pretty unphased. Parks moves to the last door in the hallway scratching up at it before hissing at it . We start moving toward the door slowly; we're about half way there when Soo-Min speaks up, breaking the eerie silence."Something isn't right." she says softly a worried tonce lacing her voice as she starts moving backwards but before I can even turn towards her. The door slams open and in a flash is tackled to the ground and a pain shoots through my head and my vision goes blurry. As my vision clears I hear discoherent yelling I force myself up as my vision clears my vision settles on Soo-Min being choked by the man I'm assuming just tackled me. He's big, really big and he is wrapped in blankets bleeding heavily but he's also wearing an army uniform from Korea. I see Soo-Min struggle trying to kick and fight him. I finally snap out of my daze. His leg is bleeding most so I grab it and pull it so he drops her. I hear Soo-Min fall and start coughing. I see a gun drop from the soldier's pocket. He dives for it and I kick it somewhere. He jumps up but his balance is clearly off. He swings at me. I duck quickly jumping backwards but before I can retaliate he shoves me to the ground and picks up one of the sharper planks of wood. A cold realization hits me 'I'm about to die.' As he begins to raise the wood over his head and starts to move toward my chest, my eyes. Meet his cold ones and then the light in them disappears with a bang.and he drops to his knees and then falls on his side his chest oozing out blood it's dark red color is spreading seeping into the carpet. My eyes look up to see Soo-Min standing up above us, the gun pointing up her body, frozen tears falling from her eyes which hold a sense of terror. I get up slowly moving towards her, my hands in the air her eyes shift to me and she slowly lowers the gun. I move toward her to thank her."What the hell happened?!" I hear a woman's voice shrieks. Seo-Young runs past me to her sister. She checks her wiping her tears "Are you ok? I hear her whisper before pulling her into a hug but Soo-Min is still very frozen."Hey Xander?" Porce says grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the sisters. "What happened?" she asks me. I don't answer if my eyes fall on the dead man on the ground. "Xander!" Porce hisses."Um that guy attacked us while we were searching this floor and he tried to kill me and Soo-Min saved me." I explained to her slowly, my eyes not leaving the sisters. "Is she gonna be ok?" I ask Porce moving a little so I face her trying to hide my actual worry for her. Porce nods at me for a moment."Here sister will take care of her." Porce says looking back at her expression is hard which is strange after finding out that.That small girl just killed someone. "There are only 15 floors Seo and I must count, let's check the other two. Give them some time." she says motion towards the stairwell she came from. I nod and reluctantly follow. The last two floors are exactly like the previous floors. I can tell by how she is searching so quickly but observing every detail. Porce is uneasy , not that I blame her. We search silently until I hear Porce mumble under her breath "Why the 13th floor?""Could be the guy was a horror fan just wanted to wait around for someone to kill so he could become a horror story." I suggest nochanlenty. She gives me an unamused look practically glaring at me."You know for a guy who almost just died you are quite nochanlent." she responds finally her eyebrows raised. I shrug at her."Look around we survived WWIII and I don't plan on dying to anything less.'' She looks at me shocked by my response but before she can speak a voice interrupts us."HEY GUYS!" Doryans high pitched voice shouts from down the hallway where the elevator is "Laruens and I finished searching the lobby so we brought in everything from the car and got everything set up for dinner." He pauses looking at me confused "Wait I thought Seo-Young was with you Porce? Also what was that bang?" Porce smiles at Doryan and pats his shoulder. Before turning to me."I'll fill him in on what happened you go down and help Laurens." she says. She must have noticed my hesitation because she quickly adds "Don't worry we'll grab the sisters on our way down." With that I know and head towards the elevator I silently make my way to the lobby. I don't know what is wrong with me 'I hardly know her. Why do I care so much?' the ding of the elevator interrupts my thoughts the doors open and I see Lauerns walking through the front door he smirks at me "Hello there my love sick friend." he says cheekily as he offers me one of the bags. I roll my eyes."Ha ha Laurens, very funny." I say plainly following him to the left side of the hotel where there is a set of a couple bedrooms and the main office."Who said I was kidding? I'm serious man, you are head of heels." he pauses for a moment, giving me agueine smile. "I think it's a good thing you need someone else but me to care about ya know." he says shoving me a little. I roll my eyes 'love is a strong word.' So me being; well me I change the subject."Laurens why are we with these people?" I ask him simply "I mean think about it we don't even know them. How can we know to trust the especially trust the enough to sleep side by side.--" he cuts in with a smirk."You let Soo-Min sleep on top of you--" he says, cutting me off a slight amuss lacing his voice. My defensive mode takes over and I scream out." THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!" I snap at his feeling my checks get warmer. I clear my throat quieting my voice "We can survive on our own. Is my point.""Actually, we can't." He states plainly. When he sees the confused look on my face he explains. "Doryan and I were talking apparently even with half the population gone. The war is still going we're just in a stalemate as all the nuclears have been either used or destroyed." he lets out a breath before shaking his head turning towards me "This isn't just about us anymore Xander if we want to survive we can't hide we have to go straight to the source." Laurens says a new look and sound enveloped him. One I've never seen before. Determination."What are you two boys arguing about now?" a quiet yet fiery voice asks. I turn to see Soo-Min her usual neutral expression while the others follow in behind her. I smile down at her ."Nothing. Nothing at all." I say walking up to her looking down into her eyes. Her hazel green eyes. 'She is beautiful.'"Everything inside?" Seo-Young simply asks Laurens. Breaking Soo-Min's gaze from me as she turns towards her sister. Laurens responds with a slight nod he doesn't like talking to anyone but me usually. Everyone is still very quiet and stiff, probably still a little on edge from what just happened, not that I blame them. "Great thank you." she says before walking over to her younger sister placing her hands on her arms. "Okay I start the fire so you can start dinner." She says to her before turning back to Laurens and I "Can you guys find something to cover the windows as best you can."Laurens nods and before I can respond he drags me into the elevator "You do know you don't need to add a sarcastic comment to everything. Right?" Laurens asks me. I shrug simply."Life isn't fun without a little sarcasm my dear old friend." I say slapping his shoulder and grabbing it. Doors open to the first floor we go through the rooms grabbing sheets and blankets and towels before heading back down to everyone else. "You do know you are now gonna have to talk to someone other than now right?" I say playfully'You know you are gonna have to not piss off the team right" he mocks my tone. 'Team' I stiffen at the thought and Laurens does too. It's been just the two of us for years now. Could these people really be our team Laurens reads my mind practically. "We always did want a group of friends." he says with a small smile. I nod in agreement thinking back, 'that was a different time a different world' ding. The elevator sings, breaking my thoughts. We exit the elevator and join the others in the room. They had all shifted now Porce and Seo-Young are in the corner looking through bags that laurens had brought in from the car. Doryan pacing in front of the windows watching silently. Soo-Min is on the ground curled into a small ball, a blank look on her face as she stares at the ground. Laurens goes over to Doryan with the supplies we had gotten from upstairs. They talk quietly before they begin to work on the windows side by side covering them mostly but leaving a spot so that we can keep watch outside since we cant lock the front door luckily we can lock the door to this room which I guess Porce thought this one would work. It's also big enough to fit all of us if we separated in this big a space we'd be very valuable to attack. I finally break out of my thoughts and move to sit down next to Soo-Min as she holds Parks in her lap petting him gently when no one is looking Parks purring gently at her. 'Wait when did she get Parks. I swear he's like cheshire cat. He just pops up when he feels like it.'"Better be careful or else Doryan might scoop up your best friend" she smirks at me. I can't help but grin at her joke."Nah he loves me too much." I smile at her and she actually laughs a little which makes me smile wider and laugh a bit too. We are sadly interrupted by Seo-Young."We sorted through all the food we had and could find." Seo-Young says handing her a bag which Soo-Min looks through quickly. Before joining the other two girls standing with a nod she moves towards the fire that was burning brightly in the center of everything. 'How'd I miss that?' As she starts working with the pot over the fire I watch her. She has this concentrated look on her face as she cooks. She moves gracefully switching between packages and cans of food and tries to see what's usable for whatever she's making."Windows are done!" Doryan says happily as he tries to balance a tool that they used to cover the windows on his face. Porce rolls her eyes, grabbing the tool from him, giving him an unamused look that makes him put up at her like a child. Parks walks up to his owner meowing up at him making Doryan smile down at him before scooping him up and kissing his fur.Porce rolls her eyes at him again except this time with a small smile motioning for him to sit down beside Seo-Young . Which he does putting Parks between them."Great job guys now we're just waiting on dinner." she says sitting back down on the other side of Seo and Laurens joins me in the corner. "The bright side is that now it's getting late, we're less likely to be attacked, most people don't move at night anymore, there aren't many light sources anymore." Soo-Min finally speaks up.That's not necessarily true. I mean the guy that attacked us upstairs was korean soldier he could have been here for recone and was on his way back when he got injured. Who's to say he didn't send out a message to his side saying where he was." She pauses for a moment "What I'm saying is that we all should be on alert ready for a fight." Porce nods along thinking for a moment before she responds. She finally does."I agree I'll keep watch tonight. We'll move toward the capital in the morning. Speaking of, we need to decide what we're going to do when we get there." Porce says looking to the group as a whole."I don't see what there is to rescue the leaders of the three nations who have murdered over half of the population and those that are still alive will die next if they aren't stopped." Soo-Min states fiercely."Yes but the wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing Soo-Min. We're talking about taking people's lives. There's a lot of consideration still left to be done. There has to be another way--." Porce counters as the rest of us watch as the scene unfolds."If three way another solution, do you think we'd be here right now even discussing this Porce? This isn't a fairytale at the end of the day we need to be able to do what needs to be done. That being said I'm open to ideas." She practically hisses the last part."I might have one." Shocking everyone Laurens beside me speaks up.Porces eyes shift to him and then Soo-Min whose face is a mix of shock and curiosity Laurens hasn't really spoken much to anyone besides me in years. So I'm just as shocked as everyone else. "We're listening," Porce says, the interest clear in her voice."Well I used to know a girl whose mom was in the political field when she was growing up. While Doryan and I were in the office I researched America's current leader and it turned out it's that girl's mom . The little girl died during one of the bombings outside the captial her mom was trying to get her underground. So what if we showed her what it was like underground. If we can expose a weakness and exploit it we might be able to talk her out of it." Laurens explains shockingly in detail."Wow." Porce says genuinely shocked she nods a little bit. "That could work.""Or bringing up her dead daughter could piss her off and order us all to be killed." Soo-Min states plainly."Well if she does 'we need to be ready to do what needs to be done.'" Porce says looking up at Soo-Min. She nods at her and Soo-Min nods back giving in I suppose "We go with Laurens plan but Soo-Min and I will also work on a plan B. Just in case." We all agree silently."And with that." The older sister begins standing, grabbing some bowls and spoons that make me look at laurens confused, he mouths over to me 'kitchen' I nod my head. Seo-Young moves over to her sister giving her a look .Soo-Min rolls her eyes "Dinner is done." Soo-Min finishes her sister's sentence making Seo-young burst out in giggles along with Doryan which makes the rest of us kind of laugh as well. We all sit down around the fire and start eating Doryan talking about whatever comes to mind. After dinner everyone heads to bed except Soo-Min who says to us all "I'm gonna go for a walk." She leaves quickly. Seo-Young has a worried expression on her face so I decide I have nothing better to do.I walk over to the older sister."Don't worry I'll follow her." I say to her. She looks at me surprised but before she can object I walk off. I have a feeling I know where she went. I enter the elevator and hit the 13th floor when I get thereI still got that initial chill and my eyes fall on the body in the hallway which had now been covered with a sheet 'probably Seo-Young's work' after a moment I finally manage to tear my gaze away from the body and up towards the end of the hall where that damn door is. Now opened I see straight onto the balcony where Soo-Min stands looking out into the night. I make my way down the hall into the room before speaking "Damn you really are trying to be part of a horror story aren't you?" I ask her. Her head drops and she shakes it before turning around to look at me with a small smile on her face."I repeat. You are such a dork." she says lowering herself into a sitting position shifting so her legs through the balcony fence and are hanging off. Her features glowing beautifully in the darkness of night. I joined her sitting in a similar position. "Are you ok?" I ask her. She gives me a look of disbelief "I'm serious." I say to her."Yeah I guess i'm just worried." she says softly."Well for what it's worth." I start bumping shoulders with her, making her smile a little. "I agree with you.I think that if in the end they don't listen to reason we need to do whatever it takes to save what's left of humanity." I say looking down at her."Thank you" she responds, tucking a peice of hair behind her ear. "It's nice to know not everyone thinks i'm crazy." she says with a slight smile. I chuckle at her before responding."Well, you're not THAT crazy." I say exaggerating the 'that' a bit more than the rest of the sentence. She smiles, rolling her eyes and shaking her head a little bit. She looks up at me and our eyes meet and it's like the first time it makes my heart skip a beat. The longer we look at one another the more confident I grab her hand softly moving my thumb over her fingers. Her eyes shift down to our hands before she looks back up at me, a light pink hue growing on her face. "Am I interrupting something?" a voice interrupts us again. We turn to see Seo-Young standing there looking at us curiously. But before we can respond she speaks first "Min it's time for bed." Surprisingly Soo-Min doesn't argue. Actually, it seems like the two of them never argue. Soo-Min nods standing and walking past her sister and me and heads toward the elevator. Seo-Young and I follow behind her once we get back downstairs Seo-Young goes over to Porce who is sitting up I look at Soo-Min whose eyes follow her sister's movement."You two are pretty close aren't you?" I ask her genuinely, she smiles a little nodding before turning towards me.'Yeah you could say that." she says. She pauses before saying "Good night Xander.'' She says heading back over to the girls. I turn to see Laurens talking with Doryan as Parks cuddles up into Doryan's side. I join them and I hear them talk and see the girls by the window. All I can think is what I said to Porce earlier and what Laurens said. "A team huh? Guess we'll see."