[✔] Lockout of Sanity (boyxboy)

17. Looking for the Exit Sign

In the state of an alarm, he instantly remembers the needle that had pierced his skin. He looks to the side to the sight of the dead woman of whom he had presumed to be a doctor and notices that she has a similar syringe of all aspects to the one that had poked his skin in her hand. He reaches out to grab the syringe out of the stiff palm of the dead woman. He swears slightly underneath his breath and drags his heavy body to where CJ's capsule is located. It was not an easy task. It felt like he had dragged several sacks of flour with his feet just to move.

When he got to him, the first thing he did instinctively was to check CJ's pulse. A surge of relief rushes into him as he felt the faint beating of a pulse but then immediately felt stupid since he realizes that CJ is breathing steadily under the oxygen mask covering his nasal and oral area. He is obviously alive. Still, he lets himself indulge in the relief of this simple fact.

Wasting no time, Yuri lifts up the sleeve of CJ's jumpsuit and inserted the needle inexpertly. He squeezes the liquid out of the syringe into his bloodstream. CJ is immediately awakened once it did. He pulls his oxygen mask off and frantically looks around. Whiteness and dead bodies all over. Only after seconds that he realizes that his body and head felt quite heavy and painful. He shifts to look towards where he felt his skin had been poked and he saw Yuri. In that few seconds that their eyes met, no words can describe their intense emotions and connection. Before Yuri even manages to casually pull out the needle, CJ aggressively pulls Yuri close to him in an embrace. The action had spoken for itself what it means. No words are needed. CJ refuses to acknowledge his soreness, pain, or the restraint of his movements. His throats felt a bit sore as well but still, he muttered lowly; "Yuri, you're fucking here. I found you." It sounded like he was relieved to have seen him.

"CJ, are you okay? Is everything fine? How's your body? Can you move?" Yuri asked question by question like bullets from a machine-gun. He quickly then felt stupid again upon realizing that CJ had moved his body better than he had when he first woke up anyway.

"Just a little dizzy and sore," CJ answered, slightly letting go of the hug and takes in his surroundings. He pulls the needle out of his skin effortlessly once he notices it. "What happened? Where are we? Are we still in a lockdown? Where is this place?" As it turns out, it was CJ's turn to use the machine-gun of a mouth this time. Yuri is aware that he has no answer to these questions so he turns to look at his surroundings too in order to take in more details. His mind is a little more oriented now compared to when he first awoke. He softly and slowly breaks the embrace that they had. "I have no idea," he admitted. "I've never seen this place before."

"Is this another illusion?" CJ wondered aloud.

Yuri is rather surprise at the words that came out of CJ's mouth. "Wait. You had illusions too?"

CJ nodded. "Yeah. Vividly." His face distorted at the memory of his illusion before he woke up and found Yuri. In a world without Yuri, he rather die.

"Me too!" Yuri exclaimed. "What the hell is this? How to tell illusion and reality apart?" He then pondered out loud.

CJ is silent for a moment in thoughts. He then speaks his mind casually; "Death. If we die, we will wake up to reality." And then he looks slightly troubled and muttered; "but then again..." His thoughts trailed off.

"Are you crazy?! If we die and never wake up, then what?!" Yuri yelled. "I tell you what, you crazy bastard. I. Don't. Want. To. Die! Ok?" He spat. He wanted to continue 'unless you kill me' but decided to take that out. His voice croaked a bit. A clear sign he needed a glass of water.

CJ smiles lightly and playfully coaxes him, "okay, honey, don' be mad," he said. "Fine. We'll figure it out," he assured him. He gathers his strength and gets himself out of the capsule. It takes a little bit of an effort, but he manages to come out of it without staggering. Meanwhile, Yuri's legs feel like liquid. He tries to walk normally but is sore from waist down. He curses a little in his mind. He doesn't remember him being so weak before. It was like it wasn't his own body. "Are you alright?" CJ asked as he scurries over to support Yuri by pulling one of his arms around his shoulders and holds his waist with his other hand.

CJ is curious to the sight of the computers in front of the capsules. He drags himself and Yuri over to the monitors. His eyes started to scan them but could not make any sense of what was projected on them. Then, his eyes wander to the documents and pieces of papers lying on the table in front of the monitors. He immediately feels a sense of dread upon realizing what they were. He rushes over and picks up the documents. Yuri is still dragged along by his side. His eyes widened in horror upon seeing them too. The documents in CJ's hands contain information in a manner of profiles. Their profiles! Their pictures are pasted on the two documents as well. They look slightly off in the photos. Yuri had an innocent and gentle smile while CJ looks a little nerdy with an intelligent and arrogant face. And what shook them to the bone the most is that ... the names on the profiles are totally different!

"What's the meaning of this?!" Yuri yelled. Before they can even start to rationalize of an answer or anything of the sort, they both heard a gunshot coming from outside of the room. They quickly duck down under the desks in response as a curse slips out of Yuri's tongue; "what the fuck!"

CJ does not want to panic. One person panicking is enough. Instead, he thought of escaping. His mind is steady but his heart does race a bit. He is also aware that his significant other is restless and afraid. Out of character, of course. But anyone may go out of character if they are in their shoes. One moment, they are criminals, the next, becoming something else and then something else again. It does not make any fucking sense! He pushes the documents inside his jumpsuit, intending to deal with it later and his eyes started to search for an exit sign.