Last Girl Alive | Bangtan

58: The Endless Loop

"Hey guys!" Jungkook exclaims suddenly. He walks over to your table with a new find. So far he's dumped all parts of what could be found in a vicar's workshop you assumed and a few puzzling drafts filled in tiny font. You look up to welcome his new discovery to your room of thought, but this time it seems to be different form the others.

"What's that?"

"It's a picture."

Jungkook hands it to me as Yoongi joins us. We all lean over it. It appears to be a little faded but a stout man is clearly seen. A small smile trespasses his face but not big enough to reveal his teeth. He looks at the camera a little awkwardly but with pride. He seems to be standing in front of a large white building.

"He looks pretty important."

"Why is his photo here though?"

"Maybe he's an alien from this planet."

You look closer, squinting your eyes as you join the brainstorming circle. "He's wearing a suit though."

"Then maybe he's the president."

Namjoon looks up at Jungkook confused. "The president of what?"

"Of this place," Jungkook replies at once as though his guess was obvious enough. When he is met with a silence he gives Namjoon a sheepish look to make up for what may have come across a silly guess.

But Jungkook has contributed more to Namjoon's theories than he'd expected. Namjoon grasps the photo as picks up the magnifying glass from beside him, peeping at this tiny man with a keen eye. Then he looks back at his notes, puzzlement clear on his face.

"What?" Yoongi asks, trying to prompt a reaction out of him.

"Well...it kinda makes sense," Namjoon says slowly. "What...he said."

"You mean the president thing?" Jungkook repeats own words a little unsure. He looks into space for a second trying to catch onto Namjoon's train of thought then looks at you. But you're staring intensely at Namjoon, looking directly into his eyes as if it was the window into his brain. He was on gist of something, he just needed clearance.

And you would try as much as you could to give him that. You look back at the photo and at the books. "The president of this place?" You say again, slowly. "But this a planet right? Planets don't belong to people."

"What if this guy came here first," Yoongi suggests. "Before any of us. Maybe he died so he didn't make it back to our real Earth."

"Then who took the picture?" you point out. "And why would he be wearing a suit?"

Yoongi shrugs. "I don't know. But he could be a scientist, judging from this place and the fact that this photo was found here. He could have been working here."

"What kind of work," you wonder out loud. "I mean, maybe he'd be studying this place judging from all these complicated books. Some of them are on environment. But..." you pick up the photo, furrowing your brows as you look at it. "He couldn't have come here alone. All the way from Earth? He'd have to have a team of some sort for sure. Like us."

"How do you know this picture was taken here," Namjoon says suddenly. "It could have been taken on Earth."

"But then why would it be here?"

"Someone brought it here. Like how you bring photos of people you love when you go faraway places," Jungkook guesses. He folds his arms across his chest as inspects it more clearly. "But it's too formal of a photo be that sort of photo, don't you think?"

"I think he's got something to do with this place," Namjoon states his thoughts clearly. He lays his hands on the table, shoving all the findings closer to the photo. Piles of books, drawings, the blueprint, Jimin's few steel parts and motors that he swore would come useful somehow, and piece together the puzzle.

"With B.I.G.H.I.T?"

"Probably," Namjoon looks down with a slight irritation at the table. "Everything here reeks of it."

"Arghhh!!" You grasp your head, the conversation dragging your patience. "This is so frustrating. It's an endless loop! Questions then we find something then more questions and find and questions and find... This is impossible!"

"It's a lot of information," Hoseok agrees looking at all the scattered findings. "Some of it may not even be of use."

He look questioningly a few of the things Taehyung and Jungkook had scavenged like wires and tubes with inexplicable liquids. "All of this is beyond our knowledge on top of it."

"He's right, " Namjoon agrees. "It's like a game of pretend. In reality none of us know anything about... Whatever it is that's written in these books. It's readable but-"

"The concepts are out of our leagues." You finish with a sigh.

"Namjoon-ah!"

All of you turn in the direction of the voices. Jin and Jimin come running in, eyes wide with shock. Their footsteps echo louder and louder in this underground space, sound bouncing off the rock. Jimin pushes past Jin, more agile as he pants, putting out his hands to catch himself from knocking into the table.

"What happened?" Namjoon demands, sensing the urgency of Jin's tone when his name had been called.

"Where did they go?" Hoseok furrows his eyebrows.

But Jimin doesn't stop to catch his breath. Instead he grabs onto Namjoon's arms with both hands and pulls him off the stool, dragging him back the way he'd come from. Namjoon practically stumbles of his stool as he's pulled along by an impatient Jimin.

"What the-"

Before you can sense what's going on, Jin has already latched arms around you and Yoongi. "Let's go idiots!"

"Where?!" you demand, panic rising to the top of the head. "J-j-in what's going on?!" But Jin can't even reply as he's hauling the both of you behind a Namjoon and Jimin. You can feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, and notice how his pupils don't stop shaking. He doesn't blink once and his running is so stiff, he's obviously scared.

"Jesus, what did you guys do in the bathroom," Yoongi groans as he's forced into a slight jog beside Jin.

"What did you guys find?!" Jungkook demands, catching up as he runs beside Seokjin. His eyes catch you, feet skating across the floor as you can't seem to get a hold of them. Jin's fear is flowing into you and fear freezes you. And the sudden importance, the way you were abruptly whisked off your seat and down these empty rooms. It was enough to turn your blood cold. He grips onto you so tightly you feel yourself go as pale as Yoongi.

You wrench yourself from his arm move away quickly, sliding across the polished tile as you grab you balance and start running. "I can run by myself," you declare, somehow glad to be free.

But running across this wide laboratory was no beach. You had to constantly dodge tables, leap over wires, narrowly avoid shelves or protruding pieces from build models. It was a whole Mission Impossible running scenario where at every glance there seemed some sort of object looking to stand in your way.

Why were you running? You no longer knew why, but you sure didn't want to be left behind. Yo kept your eyes on the back in front of you as you followed them down what seemed to be an endless corridor. How Jin and Jimin found their way back to the initial place you have no idea. Where had they wandered off in the first place?

You suddenly slide, skidding to a stop as you see they've all clambered through large big swinging doors. You grab the handle and push yourself through, huffing and panting, prepared to complain.

But then you see it.

And you forget it all. You forget every emotion in your body. You forget your body exists in the first place. All you can see is that and all it does is shake you like cocktail from within. You bones jitter and you immediately take a step forward. You'd always supposed that if you were ever to find this, or find something like this you would feel relief. You feel joy. You feel like crying.

But now, when you finally see it....all you can feel is a sort of horror.

It's here.

[😬]