Chapter Text
Yunho pulled his jacket tighter around his body as he got out of the car. Getting closer to the mountain brought colder weather despite the fact that it had been sunny just a few miles back. He had worn his hiking boots just in case; the first time he came, he wore only his flimsy Converse and regretted it instantly after the wet forest saturated the canvas.
He looked down at the gas pump and saw that the card slot had been taped over. A quick glance at the only other pump there showed that it was in the same state, so with a groan, he dragged himself inside the gas station.
It hadn’t changed much over the years. Only had grown dinger and dirtier. But it was the only gas station for miles, so he wasn’t going to complain.
“Hi, can I get thirty on pump one?” He stepped up to the counter and smiled at the guy on the other side. All he got was a grunt in return as he punched the buttons on the keyboard.
“Credit or debit?” The clerk smacked gum between his yellow teeth and Yunho had to stop himself from staring.
“Uh, credit is fine.” Yunho stared at the card reader to distract himself. He really prayed that the card still worked.
“Go ahead.”
Yunho stuck the card in and followed each prompt. The keypad was filthy, dirt stuck to the buttons that had been heavily saturated with oil from peoples’ fingers.
“You look familiar.”
The card reader asked if he was sure his amount was correct and Yunho’s finger hovered over the green button. “I just have one of those faces, I think.” He chuckled softly and continued.
“We don’t get a lotta young folks comin’ through here anymore. Where you headed?”
After the reader chimed in acceptance, Yunho yanked out his card. “Uh, Silent Hill.”
The clerk’s eyes widened. “Why would you be goin’ there?”
Yunho slipped his card back into his wallet, then tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket. “I used to camp there a lot in the summer. Just for nostalgia.”
“It must have been a long time ago. You know the road is closed, right?”
Yunho paused and looked up at him again. He hadn’t read about that anywhere in his searches. “No, why?”
“Too many people dyin’ out there. Everyone in the town moved out when they no longer could make a profit from tourism. A few boys got hurt out there a few years back, guess that was the final straw.” He shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Yunho finished signing and he quickly stepped back. “I still have business up there. Thank you.”
“Wait, do you want your receipt?”
Yunho was already making his way to the door. “I’m good! Thanks!”
He needed to pump as quickly as he could. He took the nozzle and fumbled with the gas cap before he was able to get it in. Once he got it started, he couldn’t help but stare at the numbers as they continued to rise. Everything felt like it was moving too slow.
When the trigger clicked out of place to warn him that it was done, it felt like he had been waiting for hours. He almost didn’t get the gas cap screwed back on before he was jumping into the car. His hands felt disgusting and he needed to use hand sanitizer to clean them, but that meant reaching into his bag and risking dirtying everything before it. Ugh, he was stupid.
A buzzing caught his attention. He looked down at his phone that he had left in the cup holder. It was his favorite photo of Jongho. Barefaced and golden skinned with his favorite beer in his hand. It was from when they had first met a few years ago, but he still looked just as youthful.
He stared at it until the photo disappeared, only feeling worse when it revealed several missed call notifications from not just him, but Yeosang as well. There was a small part of him that had hoped he would have been out of service by the time they figured out he was gone.
A quick twist of the key brought the car to life. He needed to keep going before someone tried to stop him again. He peeled out onto the empty road before he dared to try to call Jongho back. The call connected to the Bluetooth, but it only rang once before it was picked up.
“Yunho! Where are you?!”
“Don’t worry, Jongie. Just went for a drive.” He glanced in the rearview to help appease his paranoia.
“A drive?! Where—I got a ping you just used your card in the middle of nowhere. Are you going where I think you are?!”
“I told you they’re here and I need to find them. I’m sorry I borrowed your car without asking, but I knew you’d say no.” It was why he had been so gentle with it the whole drive. He would be more than willing to take responsibility for it, but it’s not like he was making bank off his disability checks.
“Of course I’d say no! Yunho, you need to come back right now! They’re—”
“Is that Yunho?!” Yeosang’s voice grew closer, as if he was running across the room to get to the phone.
“Hi, Sangie. Sorry I didn’t answer.”
“It’s okay.” Yeosang was more gentle as he spoke. The good-cop, bad-cop dynamic again. “But I need you to come home.”
“No can do.” He could only imagine the pout on Yeosang’s pretty lips. San had always spoiled him, and while Yunho hated it when they first started living together, he found it was hard not to fall into the same trap. “I’m gonna bring them home.”
“Yunho, please. They’re gone. Just come back. You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I know what I heard! It was their voices!” His foot pressed harder on the gas pedal and the car revved as it shifted gears.
“You haven’t been taking your meds!” Jongho stole the phone back. “We found where you’ve been hiding them. You were doing so well, so please come back so we can help you!”
His chin wobbled as tears burned his eyes. The disappointment in their voices hurt deeper than he expected. But then again, it was why he was hoping he would get to slip away unnoticed. “I’ll come back when I have them.”
“I can’t…” Yeosang’s voice shook. He was always a pretty crier, hell, he was a pretty anything. It’s why everyone was so smitten with him. Even Mingi who tended to take a while to warm up to people fell in love with him right away. “I can’t lose any more friends, please.”
Yunho swallowed thickly, like a glob of cooled grease that threatened to clog his airways. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as the need to turn around almost became impulsive. He hated letting them down, but they should have been used to it.
“I’m sorry.” He said it like he meant it, the same way he said it when he woke up to Yeosang’s tear-stained face and bright hospital lights. “I’ll be careful. I’ll see you soon.”
Before they could argue anymore, he hit the end call button on the steering wheel and pushed back the sob that threatened to leave him.
He reached down with a trembling hand while keeping his eyes on the road and grabbed his phone. It was dangerous, but he quickly pulled up the voicemail message and hit play.
“Yunho? Yunho, are you there? It’s been so long… I, no, we miss you. This is the longest we’ve ever been apart.”
Yunho thumbed the volume control up. Mingi’s deep voice rattled the car speakers and Yunho sank into the seat.
“Do you remember when we were teenagers and San went abroad for winter break and we thought we were going to die of heartbreak?” Mingi chuckled, and someone else's laughter joined.
“You both were always so dramatic.” San has nothing but adoration in his voice. “But I get it now. It doesn’t feel complete without you here.”
“This town has been our special place. It feels empty without you.”
The sign for the town came into view and Yunho muted the stereo. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to rely on a staticky recording of their voices for much longer.
Just like the gas station clerk said, the tunnel to the town had been closed off. Yunho pulled off to the side of the road where a small little rest stop was. The area was known for its great hiking trails so it was incredibly common to find spots at random points along the road where the vegetation had been worn down by hikers. He knew there was a trail just beyond the rest stop after they had to hike to town after Mingi’s car had broken down.
He got out and stretched his arms up above his head, his spine cracking. Even if the drive from the gas station hadn’t been very long, the time spent driving before sure left its mark. He had grown too sedentary in his new life.
After a quick once over of the supplies in his backpack, he shrugged it on over his jacket. He locked the car, but even if he forgot, he doubted it would be bothered while he was gone. The entrance to the trail was overgrown, but luckily he had long legs that let him step over most of the brambles.
It was hard to tell how much sunlight he had left in the day. He couldn’t remember if he had seen such a thick fog on his previous trips. Toluca Lake was huge, so he was able to see the dark surface of it from the trail, but hardly. It seemed eerie how calm it was. There were no birds chirping or foxes screeching, no laughter from canoes going across the lake. The picnic benches looked dry and on the verge of breaking if too much weight was applied to them. Some rocks fell from a nearby formation, but when he expected a squirrel or something to jump out, nothing did. He passed a well that the stench of stagnant water could be smelled from a distance. Old legends made it seem more dangerous than it was.
For the most part.
He kept along the path from the observation deck until he reached his least favorite place in the world. The graveyard. He had only been through it the one time when they had to park and walk into town, and even then, he held San’s hand as they walked through it.
Normally, he was the braver one of the three. Roller coasters, haunted houses, scary movies; none of it really bothered him. But knowing there were bodies that once belonged to living people so close to him freaked him out.
There was no hand for him to hold, but he was met with a soft humming. It should have made the place creepier, and yet Yunho felt calmed. It reminded him of when his mother would sing him to bed while playing with his hair. He unconsciously reached up and tugged on shaggy ends that curled on his neck.
“Hello?”
A startled gasp ripped through the young man that shot up from one of the graves. His hands immediately reached to clutch at the necklace he wore while he stared wide-eyed at Yunho.
“I’m sorry!” Yunho put his hands up. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
As the panic began to subside, the man released the grip on his necklace. It was a little hard to see, but it looked like some kind of infinity symbol.
“Are you okay?” Yunho asked.
He looked a little dazed and confused, and as beautiful as he was, Yunho wasn’t sure how safe it was for him to be alone in the graveyard.
“I’m fine. I was looking for someone.” The man looked back at the headstones. “But I can’t seem to remember who…”
If the circumstances had been different, Yunho would have offered to look. “I’m sorry, I would help but I’m kind of in a hurry.” He stepped around him and pointed over his shoulder. “Silent Hill is this way, right?”
The man perked up again. “Why are you trying to go there?”
“I’m looking for my friends.” Yunho pulled out his phone and unlocked it so he could pull up a picture of the three of them. “Have you seen them at all?”
Up close, the man was almost distracting with how pretty he was. Eyes as dark as freshly brewed coffee, skin free of any blemishes or scars. It was hard to not stare at him.
“Sorry, I haven’t seen them. Are you sure they came here?” The man stepped back and wrapped his cardigan tighter around himself like a security blanket.
“Well, I think so. It’s…complicated.” Yunho tried to laugh. “I should get going, I don’t have much time. Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine but…” He wrung his hands together. “You shouldn’t go to Silent Hill. There’s something…weird going on there.”
“Weird how?”
“I can’t explain it.” The man shook his head and his pretty black hair moved like silk. “But I’m not lying! Don’t look at me like that.”
Yunho took a step back. “I don’t think you’re lying.” He didn’t know what kind of face he was wearing, but it shocked him to hear that it was offensive somehow.
“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry with you.” His voice shifted into something stickier, like the bitterness of the fake sweetness in cough syrup. “Forgive me?”
“It’s okay.” Yunho cleared his throat awkwardly. “If you’re going to be okay, I’m going to head out.”
“Good luck.”
“You too.” The man had already turned away before Yunho could return the sentiment. He decided to leave before they could have any more misunderstandings.
He took a moment to admire the small chapel as he passed by. It had been ages since he had gone to a service. His parents had tried to get him to go, they said it would help him, but the one time he tried to go he was met with nothing but guilt and judgment. It had erased week's worth of progress and had done the opposite of what they had hoped.
It must have been beautiful, back in the day.
The fog grew heavier the closer he got to town. The small ranch that was on the side of the road was barely visible through the thick clouds. Yunho debated hopping the locked gates to go explore, but there wasn’t a point when he knew that neither San or Mingi would be there. His boots squelched on the muddy road as he carefully avoided any potholes.
He passed through what looked like a lumber yard. Logs were piled up along the fence, tools were left out to rust away. It was like people expected the town’s closure to be temporary, so they didn’t bother to put anything away.
“Well, fuck.”
He came to a stop when he saw his path was blocked. Barbed wire lined the top of metal walls taller than Yunho. It spanned wide in both directions and didn’t show any immediate signs of somewhere he could crawl through. He didn’t remember it being there the last time he had been there. Right in the middle was a door, which he discovered was locked when he tugged at it. And of course, Yunho didn’t have the key.
Luckily, the gate to the auto shop was right next to it. A father and son owned it and the garage that was on the west side of town. They had hired San during the whole summer they stayed to help move tires in the yard. It was the buffest that Yunho had ever seen him and it was made even better by the fact that San wore blank tank tops nearly every day.
He knocked on the door before he tried to open it, but of course, it too was locked. With a sigh, he turned away, only to catch that there was a note pinned to the wall. It was yellowed and the ink was starting to run from moisture.
“Damn winds broke the window again. Went into town to see if I can get it fixed. Spare key in the drawer.”
Well, that seemed dangerous. Why would anyone announce that their business was left unattended?
Yunho went against his conscience and walked around the building until he found the broken window. He grabbed a stick and broke the glass off the bottom of the window so he didn’t cut himself when he climbed through.
“Hello?” He called out, waiting for a response in the pitch darkness. “I just need to get through the gate!”
Nothing.
It wasn’t breaking and entering if he didn’t break in, right? He stumbled in the dark while his eyes adjusted. Light was cast through a hole in the ceiling down onto the desk in the corner of the room. He swept his foot across the ground before he took a step. It slowed him down, but it was better than stepping on a rusty nail.
Just like the note said, the spare key was in the drawer. It was almost too easy, like he was meant to find it. He had already lost too much time, he couldn’t keep dawdling. The locked door was right next to him, so he flipped the lock and ran out. His eyes strained when he returned to the light, even if it was minimal.
On the other side was more dirt road, but he was able to see the bridge that went over the river.
There were two tunnels that went underneath it, but the first was fenced off. He stepped closer to see if he could see anything inside it, but all he could hear was this odd gurgling sound. There might have been an open sewer grate or something inside, but Yunho wasn’t there to fix the town’s water system.
He moved on to the next one, which was open. The tunnel was covered in graffiti, which in a way brought more comfort than the still river he walked next to. Silent Hill had occasions where it seemed too perfect, and seeing some of its imperfections reminded Yunho that it was real and not something he made up in his head.
After a long jog, he finally seemed to be entering the town. He slowed when he reached the end of the street and glanced at the bulletin board that was posted. Most of the papers were so water-damaged that he couldn’t make any of them out, but he snagged one of the folded papers that was tucked into a holder at the base of it. He was surprised to find that it was a map. While he knew the town well, it had been several years and he stashed it in his coat pocket just in case.
The fog grew more oppressive the further he went into town. It wasn’t until he was practically running into the sides of buildings that he knew they were even there. Everything was moist with condensation and puddles of water acted like mirrors on the asphalt. He wandered through the red brick buildings, desperately looking for any sign that someone could have been there. Every corner he rounded got him more lost and confused.
He was too busy looking around to notice that he was about to step in something until it was too late. His foot sunk into the wet pile and it immediately made him jump back. A smear of red was painted across the asphalt as if something had been dragged through it.
It was hard to suppress the gag that fought its way out of his throat. He had always been more sensitive to blood, even if he wasn't a stranger to it. It had started to brown, showing that it wasn’t brand new, but that didn’t make it any less disgusting. He inhaled through his nose, then exhaled through his mouth like he had been coached to do on numerous occasions.
A clatter came from the other side of a nearby fence. Bottles shattered against asphalt and it reminded him of the sounds that came from the apartment next door when the couple that lived there would fight. His mom had taken him by the hand and pulled him along while telling him to mind his business.
Too bad he was never good at listening to instructions.
He ran in the direction of the crash. “Hello?!” The smears of blood on the ground led through a gate in the fence that opened up to a backyard. He followed the streaks out of the yard into a small pathway that meandered in between houses, losing himself in the maze of a neighborhood he didn’t recognize.
Only when he came across a decrepit garage door did he come to a stop.
It didn’t take a genius to know it was a stupid idea. Torn pieces of white fabric were caught along the torn metal edges of the hole at the bottom of the door. Yunho supposed it was a good thing that it looked like something had managed to wiggle its way through unharmed, but then again, the blood stains that trailed through the hole meant something had managed to crawl through and was waiting for him on the other side.
He groaned and slid his backpack off, tossing it through the hole in the door before he got down on his knees and shimmied through. He managed to save himself from smearing the bloody mess on his clothes besides the knees of his jeans, which was a little inevitable. He pulled himself up to his feet and started to brush himself off when the garage door suddenly groaned and collapsed.
“Well, guess I can’t go back that way,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled his backpack over his shoulders.
There was a split in the wall in front of him that he was able to slide through, which put him into what looked like the living room. The floral wallpaper had browned and was peeling off the wall. With every step, the wood floors creaked loud enough that Yunho was afraid if he stepped too hard, his foot would go through the floor.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” He listened for any sign that someone was squatting there, but was met with only the whisper of the breeze outside.
He was careful as he searched a nearby bedroom. There was nothing but empty drawers and dirty blankets. Dust and dead insects covered nearly every surface, which kept him from rummaging through too much. The amount of grime covering his hands was already driving him crazy enough. He thought of washing his hands, but when he peeked into the bathroom, it made him sicker than the trail of blood he followed to get there.
The living room looked like it was attached to another part of the house, though the entryway had been blocked off. However, it wasn’t a very good attempt. Furniture had been pushed up against the wide entrance in front of the boards, but none of it was tall enough to block the top part of the arched entryway. Whatever it was that the homeowners were trying to keep out, they didn’t seem concerned that it was tall enough to crawl over the top. In a way, it reminded him of forts he and Mingi used to make as kids.
Yunho jumped when static burst from his phone speaker. He yanked it out of his pocket and tapped furiously on the screen as he tried to figure out a way to make it stop. Something crashed on the other side of the patched-up wall and he nearly dropped his phone. It smacked against the wooden planks twice before it gave way.
The creature fell through the pile of rubble face first. Yunho would have found it pathetic looking if it wasn’t oozing black blood as it tried to push itself up. It gurgled from the slit of flesh in its abdomen as it writhed. It looked like a body covered in a sheet of skin and its tangled arms wrestled to try and get out. With a gag, it regurgitated more of the black blood from the hole in its middle and spilled onto the floor. Steam curled in the air as the acidity of it slowly ate away at the wood.
Yunho looked at the way he came, but if the creature was too close to it. He turned toward the window behind him and looked over the wooden planks that were nailed across it. One was loose enough that he was able to yank it from the wall. He gripped it so tight that the edges of it dug into his palms.
The figure screeched and thrashed in what seemed like annoyance at its limited mobility. Its abdomen swelled before it projectile vomited in Yunho’s direction. He managed to dodge it, though he tripped over himself and landed on his knee. With a wince, he pushed himself back up and rushed forward.
He swung and the board connected with the monster’s chest. It wobbled to try and keep balance, but the next hit came down on its head, which brought it to its knees. He swung and swung until it collapsed on the ground. Every crack of bone was pinned to his brain, adding to the laminated memories that would more than likely not allow him to sleep at night.
It was far too familiar, but he didn’t know why.
Yunho’s chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. He couldn’t take his eyes off the bloody heap on the ground even though he couldn’t stand looking at it for another second. It took a long moment to regain control of his legs. The first step back felt like he had concrete shoes on.
Then came his arms. His hands ached from how hard he had gripped the plank and when he peeled away, he noticed the small splinters that had pierced his palm. He set the plank down but still within reach before he gently used his thumbnail to work some of the splinters out of his skin. It was insanely itchy but scratching them would only make it worse.
The blocked area turned out to be a kitchen, so he stepped around the mess and searched through the drawers for anything that could help. There was little hope that if there was any kind of medication that would still be good, but he did find duct tape. He used it to wrap around the end of the plank to create a makeshift handle and then stored the rest of the roll in his backpack just in case he needed it later. In the final drawer, a bottle rolled and tapped the wall of the drawer. The distorted label read that they were painkillers, white round tablets that rattled as he inspected the bottle.
It was better than nothing.
He opened the cap and shook two out into his palm. Once there was enough spit gathered in his mouth, he popped them in and swallowed them. They traveled down his throat uncomfortably, but he wasn’t a stranger to dry swallowing pills. There was once a time he bragged about how many he could do at once, until San gave him an unimpressed look and it made him stop gloating. It apparently was something only certain circles appreciated.
He turned to leave but stopped when he saw that the monster had knocked some of the furniture in front of the door he was planning to leave out of. He remembered that there was a window in the bedroom and threw caution to the wind. The house was already destroyed as it was; one broken window wasn’t going to be the nail in its coffin.
He smashed the glass with his plank, and even though he was prepared for it, the sound still made him cringe. He weaved the piece of wood in between the straps of his backpack before he crawled carefully over the window pane. He only got a few steps outside when the static returned to his phone, only, it wasn’t just jumbled nonsense. It still wasn’t clear, but he recognized the disjointed voice that came through.
“Yun—! Where are—” Yunho held his phone up to the sky to see if that would help the signal. “Please! Come—”
Then, silence. Mingi was calling for him, he needed to hurry.
He traversed the town and found that it was just as empty as everything else. Most of the houses had been boarded up and left for time to deal with. He managed to find a couple of doors unlocked to places like an old diner San loved to go to. There, he found an energy drink can that was surprisingly still full. It wasn’t food, but maybe it would do him some good later. He stashed it in his backpack and went on his merry way.
It became pretty common to find the cans scattered about the buildings he explored. He had managed to find five of them so far. The other common thing he found were random notes. Some of them were simple shopping lists or notes left for coworkers. But there were some Yunho didn’t dare pick up when he realized that they were scribbled in blood and had nothing but ominous warnings on them.
Turn back.
He’s coming.
It’s all empty now.
They were all left of scraps of paper, so Yunho didn’t find any reason to heed them any mind.
The first one he took seriously was one he found next to a bloated and dismembered corpse in the street. If he hadn’t just beat the hell out of another one of the stumbling monsters, he might have been more shocked about it. But his senses were becoming more dulled by the second, so the only thing that really affected him when he reached for the note was the smell. He stepped away from it and gagged. He took a moment to catch his breath before he held the note up by the corner with the tips of his fingers.
“I was never afraid of the dark when I had music playing. I can still see you two dancing to whatever song played on the jukebox. I suppose it’s too late for us now. It’s too late, it’s too late, it’stoolateit’s toolateit’s too—”
He dropped it back on the ground with a flick of his wrist.
Jukebox… He vaguely remembered a bar that had one. He pulled his map out and searched for it. It wasn’t that far from him, just a straight shot down the main road. Easy.
Or, it should have been.
He was never great with directions. It was why San normally had to guide them when they traveled since Mingi wasn’t great with them either. If what stood between him and finding his friends was a maze of neighborhood streets, Yunho was determined to conquer them.
The fog hid more of the same wobbly monsters, however, unless they were crawling on the ground, they didn’t pay him as much attention as the one in the house. If they were on their bellies, they quickly slithered like snakes after him, but they made it easy to hit once they stopped to rear their heads.
When he reached the bar, he was out of breath and the sleeve of his coat was messy with blood. He couldn’t help but stare at it as he reached for the doorknob, which was surprisingly unlocked.
The bar was smaller than he remembered. Even with it void of any tables or chairs, it hardly seemed big enough to hold the busy Friday night gatherings they had joined. The windows were plastered with old newspapers, which gave the place a yellowish haze. Across the papers was a message scribbled in thick letters, either in ink or blood, Yunho couldn’t tell.
“We used to feel whole here, now it’s gone.”
In the silence, he remembered the shared laughter over spilled beers and kisses that fizzed like their vodka sodas. They didn’t come the last time they visited the town. Yunho had been behaving, following his treatment plan the best he could. It didn’t last much longer after that.
He shook it off and looked ahead of him. A thin beam of light came through a tear in the newspaper and shone down on a piece of furniture covered by a stained tarp. There was no hesitation when he pulled it off, he knew he’d find the jukebox underneath. The wood was a little beat up, and with how much dust had built up on the inside it was obvious it hadn’t been played in awhile. He fumbled with a blind hand around the back until he found the on switch.
It groaned as the mechanisms warmed up. Lights flickered on and an electric hum filled the air. All of the slots that should have contained the songs were empty, save for one. A2. The keypad was missing the 2 button, and unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a way to rig it so he could bypass it.
With a sigh, he turned around in hopes of hunting it down. He wandered behind the bar and inspected the empty bottles and dusty glasses. The cabinets were empty, but he did find a note pinned to the old cash register.
“I don’t know why the crazy bastard needs so much attention that he has to break the jukebox. It’s one button, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal to put back, but no. Now I gotta visit the asshole’s shithole apartment. It’s just the one next to the pharmacy, it should be quick. I’ll be back in a bit.”
He was on a mission to find his friends, not fix broken jukeboxes at abandoned bars. But the longer he stared at it, the stronger the compulsion to find out why he kept finding notes about it. He punched a few buttons on the register until it popped open, a single silver coin sliding freely into one of the slots.
Well, at least that was one thing he didn’t have to worry about. He took the coin out and placed it on the counter below instead of putting it in his pocket. If he had to go hunting down buttons, he didn’t want to risk losing it.
Before leaving, he opened his map and checked where he needed to go. He muttered the street names to himself to try to commit them to memory before he left. It was of course on the opposite side again. He took a deep breath as he tucked his map away.
He didn’t run all the way there, there didn’t seem a point in wasting his energy like that. A few of the empty buildings that he checked along the way were open, but all he found were a few more energy drinks. He drank one as he walked and attempted to enjoy the stroll. Perhaps it was delusional to try, but the monsters seemed to have returned to the shadows for the time being.
It felt tedious to continuously run around in random buildings in order to find one measly button. Life had tested him enough, why did the town feel like he needed more? He had to break a window to crawl through the pharmacy which luckily had a door into the main building. Then, he got lost in the tiniest apartment complex known to mankind and almost died when a balcony connecting two rooms almost collapsed out from underneath him. It only had ten rooms, how did he manage so poorly?!
All for a button that had been shoved in a slimy hole in the wall.
He rolled up his sleeve and tried to not gag as his fingers grazed the sludgy substance until he felt the tiny piece of plastic. When he looked down at it in his dirty hand, it hardly felt worth it.
That was until he got back to the bar.
He walked up to the jukebox and snapped the button into place. At first, it didn’t move even after he punched in the code for the song to play. Back in the day, it took a little convincing, so he gave it a swift kick at the base. It whirred to life and all the lights flickered on.
Yunho hit the play button and the speakers sputtered with static. The moment the first piano note hit his ears, tears welled up in his eyes. He tipped his head back as he thought of the last time he had heard the song.
His fingers drifted across the ivory keys as San and Mingi danced together in front of him. Mingi stumbled over their feet and apologized, but San just smiled up at him as he laughed. They were beautiful, and they were all his.
At least, they were.
He blinked away the tears just in time for the record player to shudder before sparks flew. The sound died and it rumbled before it spat something out on the ground. He kneeled and shoved his hand underneath it, feeling around on the dirty floor before he pulled out a key.
The tag on it was dusty but once he brought it into better light, he was able to read it. “Wood Side Apartments, huh?” He remembered the summer they had rented a small apartment there while they spent their school break away from everyone. They could have stayed at the motel, but a long-term stay in a cramped space like that didn’t seem the most comfortable. And since two of them were broke college students and one lived off assistance checks, staying at the resort on the island was too much. They were able to take advantage of the landlord’s desperate need to make a little more profit on an apartment building that wasn’t getting any new tenants, so two and a half months of rent was good enough. The Blue Creek apartments were right next door, but they had been too expensive for them to rent out. Except for the one time they splurged for a birthday weekend, though Yunho couldn’t recall whose it was because how they celebrated made it feel like it was all of theirs to celebrate.
When he exited the bar, he was hit with a powerful gust of wind. He put his hands up to shield his face but it did little to actually help. The fog was heavier than before, unbothered to move even with the strong wind. He had to dodge trash and leaves that flew through the air while the traffic lights threatened to swing off the thin wire that held them above his head. The familiar click and bleats from crawling figures were faint under the howling wind, so he drew his plank.
He managed to avoid a few of the figures, dodging them just in time before they spat acid on him. They were no longer uninterested in him, and almost everyone he came in contact with wanted him dead. His shoulders had begun to ache with every swing. It made him think of the time he went to the gym once with San and couldn’t move the next day.
The apartments were on the opposite side of town again, and with every trial that he had to go through to get there, his legs were trembling by the time he got to the door. The key turned the heavy lock and he stumbled in, falling onto his knees in the foyer. The door slammed shut behind him and the lock slid back into place.
He pushed himself to his feet and took a moment to listen in case his sudden appearance disturbed anything or anyone. There was a faint drip of water somewhere, echoing like an underground cave.
The administrator’s office was just beyond the front steps, sandwiched between several sets of hallways. The lights were on inside, so he took hold of the doorknob, only to stop when he heard a soft voice behind him.
“Finally. Finally, we’re here.”
There was no breath on the back of his neck or a soft caress of lips against his ear like he was used to, however, it still made him shiver with the familiarity of it.
“I’m here,” he responded, only to never receive an answer. He glanced over his shoulder and found the long dark hallway looming ominously behind him.
He wiggled the doorknob until it finally gave way and opened. It looked like what he had always expected an apartment complex office to look like; disorganized. Thankfully Mingi had always managed their living arrangements so Yunho didn’t have to stress about it. Then, Jongho took over when it came time to. He wondered if he was going to have an apartment to go back to when everything was over with. Not that he cared if it meant bringing San and Mingi home. They could lock him up forever if they wanted. As long as he knew they were safe.
Stacks of folders and papers were piled up along the desk instead of the metal file cabinets, which looked in okay condition besides some rust that had grown along the edges. He read a few papers that were on the tops of the piles, but it looked like nothing but invoices. He wasn’t there for administrative work so he moved on.
The office had a small break room attached to the back, but it had nothing but a musty couch and beer bottles stacked along the small kitchenette. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought that that’s what his would have looked like at one point if no one had stepped in. Just as he was about to exit, he noticed a piece of lined paper taped to the back of the door. “The power keeps going out but I know you need to get work done, so take a flashlight and get to it. There’s been complaints about a weird smell coming from 1024, go check it out. I don’t want to hear your excuses.”
He looked down and grabbed one of the mini flashlights left on the desk. He expected the batteries to be corroded, but it flickered on without any problems. The light caught the reflection of a glass frame on the wall. It was a facility map that was probably framed to meet safety standards, but it was perfect for Yunho to use. He snatched it out of the frame and quickly circled apartment 1024 to remind himself to explore it later.
He made his way back out into the foyer of the complex. He found what looked like a small atrium that contained all of the building’s mailboxes and a stairwell. There was a door that led outside, but it was locked and all he could see through the foggy glass was what looked like a possible courtyard. He decided against going upstairs for the time being and decided to explore the first floor first.
To no surprise, most of the doors were locked. Or, they were barricaded from the other side by furniture. He tried to not let it discourage him, which he discovered after he found a weak point in a wall and knocked it down. The entire inside of the room looked like it had been charred and the only thing Yunho was able to find that was worthwhile was an old newspaper, or what was left of it.
“Fire decimates forest. One possible casualty, which is believed to be botanist—
This is after months of unrest about recent concerns with outside researchers coming to—
While the cause of the fire is inconclusive, authorities have closed the case.”
The newspaper had been burned, leaving only half of a page, but what was left was hardly legible due to the heavy amount of ash that had time to ruin the paper.
He vaguely recalled the burnt part of the forest on the other side of the lake, but no one liked to talk about why it had happened. He always assumed it was some stupid camper who got drunk and lost control of a bonfire. It bothered him that it was inconclusive. Perhaps that one life lost was some kind of relief, but that one life still deserved some justice, right? One life could still be someone’s world.
He continued to explore the first floor, which only yielded monsters, energy drinks and painkillers. The second floor didn’t fare any better. When he found a new key, he got excited thinking that it would lead to somewhere useful. All it did was guide him through messy rooms that smelled like mildew and rot.
It was flooded with more of the armless monsters which he thankfully was able to dispatch with his trusty plank. The muscles between his shoulders were sore and the weight of his backpack wasn’t helping much. One of them had managed to catch his arm with its acidic vomit, burning holes into his sleeve. Luckily it didn’t reach his skin, but he didn’t want to test his luck anymore than he had.
He found an unlabeled key in a drawer in one of the apartments and despite there being a handful of locked doors, it opened none of them. He was about to give up and head back downstairs when he came across a hole in the wall of one of the apartments. It led out to a blocked hallway that was covered in plastic and caution tape. There was a door to his left with a note stuck to the wall beside it.
“The third floor is closed to the public during renovations…” Yunho read out loud. “Hm.”
There was a padlock that kept the latch on the door closed. It wasn’t great security, but Yunho wasn’t sure that he had the arm strength to pull the door open hard enough that it would break off. The nameless key in his pocket felt heavy, so he reached in and pulled it out. It hadn’t worked on anything else, so what was one more try?
The key slipped in like it was returning home. He let the padlock fall to the ground after slipping it free from the latch. The door creaked open and revealed the plastic covered stairwell. There was something about it that unnerved him. Like plaster and building debris weren’t the only things that the plastic would help make for an easy cleanup.
A red glow was cast over the stairwell, but he couldn’t see where the light was coming from. As he made his ascent, it faded into the pale light that leaked in through the covered window. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t making it up before he walked through the door.
It was just as messy as the previous floors, just different items had been left behind. Ladders and rusted paint buckets were left behind as if the workers had taken a break with the intention to come back, only they never did.
The first room he entered was disappointing. Washing machines and dryers lined one side of the room while the fluorescent light bulb flickered above his head. He took a moment to circle the room once, but when the threat of a headache was looming too close to comfort, he decided to leave. However, when one of the machines started to rattle, he came to a halt.
He froze in case something was going to spring out and attack him, but it never happened. An embarrassed sigh left his lips. “You’re losing it, Jeong.” He wanted to rub his face to give himself some comfort, but the thought of rubbing the mess from his hands onto his face made him reconsider.
It was easy to write off that it was nothing, but he would hate it if it were a cat or something that had been stuck inside and he left it there. He stood off to the side as he opened the door, preparing for whatever it was that could be inside.
Except nothing came out.
He adjusted his flashlight as he peered inside. It was rusty and nasty on the inside, which was expected, but it was empty. All except for a key laying perfectly in the center of the drum. He was beginning to get sick of collecting keys.
The bow of the key was shaped like an eye with a blue jewel in the center. It was heavy, which showed its age compared to some of the newer ones he had come across. A tag dangled off the edge of it.
“See you on the other side.” Yunho blinked. “Other side of what?”
He walked out of the room still staring at the key. The possibilities seemed greater with it, or so he hoped. Because why have such a fancy key if it didn’t open something great? He tucked it into his pocket and carried on.
His phone blared static just as he was about to turn the corner and his flashlight flickered like a strobe light. He pulled his plank out, expecting one of the double-legged creatures, but he was met with something worse. Not that he knew what it actually was. He could feel the sinister energy in the air and whatever it was, kicked his fight or flight system in immediately. A dull ache began to pound at the back of his head, squeezing his eyes hard enough that he saw red spots dancing in the air.
He flew around the corner, ready to escape back down the stairs where he knew it was safe. Instead, he smacked into a solid body which sent him back onto his ass. He twisted as he tried to reach for his plank but it was caught in his backpack straps.
“Don’t move.”
The heavy metallic click made him turn to look straight down the short barrel of a handgun. His whole body went stiff except for his heart, which was racing faster than a bullet train.
“You’re human, holy shit.”
The gun lowered just enough that Yunho kicked back to scramble against the wall. He pressed against it, hoping the pressure would be enough to knock him through it to escape. “I didn’t do anything.” He glanced up and down at the stranger. He was wearing an all black police uniform with a badge pinned to his chest.
“Hey, it’s okay. You just surprised me.” The cop locked the safety on his gun before returning it to the holster on his hip. “What are you doing here alone?”
Yunho wasn’t unfamiliar with those kinds of tricks. It was easy to set someone up while they were alone, easy to make him take the blame for something he didn’t do when there was no one else to defend him. When he was under the harsh white lights and being held together by plastic IVs and gauze, they were kind to him. Pity goes a long way. It wasn’t until he was in the grey, brick room with a cold metal table that they changed. He cried like a child and tried to tuck his head between his knees as they showed him photo after bloody photo.
“It wasn’t me,” he repeated.
The officer tilted his head. “What wasn’t you?”
“Any of this. All of the monsters.”
“I know.” He put his hands up, trying to show he had no intention to harm him. “I’m Officer Kim Hongjoong. What’s yours?”
“Yunho.” He eyed him up and down before he slowly peeled away from the wall. He still didn’t trust Hongjoong, but it was better that he didn’t have a gun in his face. He stood up and tried to pretend that he wasn’t just scared shitless.
Hongjoong smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. How did you end up here?”
“I’m…looking for my friends.” He was taller than Hongjoong by quite a bit. Looking down at him showed a silver chain that was poorly concealed by the collar of his shirt.
“I’m looking for someone, too. His name is Seonghwa. You haven’t happened to run into him, have you?”
“Sorry… I haven’t.” Yunho shook his head.
Hongjoong’s smile drooped, but he did his best to keep it pinned on his face. “That’s okay. If you do, can you tell him I’m looking for him?”
“Why are you looking for him?” The last thing he wanted to do was give a cop tips when he was up to no good.
The question caught Hongjoong off guard. His eyebrows raised and he stayed in a stunned silence before he coughed up an answer. “I…made a promise to him. I need to apologize to him for…not keeping it.”
It wasn’t the strongest answer, but it was more than Yunho had been anticipating. Hongjoong seemed genuine enough. “Okay.”
Hongjoong’s smile returned. “Thanks. Uh, do you want to look together? I was going to go back out to the streets to keep searching.”
Yunho shook his head. “No, it’s okay.” He had gone around vandalizing and looting buildings, he couldn’t do that with a cop looming over him. “I need to keep looking around in here.”
Hongjoong hummed and his eyes scanned over Yunho, darting in a quick zigzag until he reached his eyes again. “Do you have something to defend yourself with?”
“More or less.” Yunho glanced down at the wooden plank that hung at his side.
Hongjoong sucked on his teeth for a second before he reached for one of his holsters. “Here, take this.” He held out the small handgun, handle first. “This’ll work better than that plank.”
“I don’t know how to use it.” Yunho didn’t reach for it. Instead, he glared at it.
“I’ll teach you.” Hongjoong stepped around him as he placed the gun in his hesitant hands. He kept his arms around him as he walked him through the basics, puppeting his movements so Yunho’s muscles could commit them to memory. The buzzing in Yunho’s ears made it hard to truly pay attention, but he did try his best.
“Luckily everyone in this town was a gun fanatic, so you should be able to find ammo sort of easily.”
Yunho wished that he could have even an ounce of Hongjoong’s optimism. “What about you?”
“Oh, don’t worry. That’s my backup weapon.” Hongjoong patted the other holster on his hip.
The gun weighed as heavy as his thoughts in his hand. He had never even played laser tag or paintball. The things he was coming across weren’t human, but it wasn’t them he was afraid of. In his own apartment, the knives had to be locked up and he only got his razor to shave when Jongho watched him with supervision. Pens and pencils had even been questionable for him to have.
“Thanks, I guess.” Yunho tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants, hoping that it wouldn’t accidentally go off and blow a hole in his ass.
“Stay safe.” Hongjoong’s hand twitched and it sent Yunho into a spiral if he needed to be polite and shake his hand. But he pulled it back to his side. “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
Yunho wasn’t going to promise anything, so he parted ways with a smile and a nod. He stayed rooted to the same spot until he couldn’t hear the heavy clunk of Hongjoong’s boots. Maybe he should have told him about the hallway, he could have gone to investigate it and Yunho could spare himself from being the sacrificial lamb to whatever evil thing lingered there. His fingers itched for the feeling of the gun again, even if it was just to be used as a pacifier for his nerves.
Yunho slowly rounded the corner that he had come around before he ran into Hongjoong. His phone stayed silent as he took each step carefully. The sense of dread had disappeared, though he remained cautious. At the end of the hall were bars blocking off the other side of the hallway. They had been bent out of shape, like something had tried to crawl through. Nothing had passed them, and there was only one door in the hallway, which he assumed was locked.
Great.
When he reached the door, he looked back down the hall to see if anything was going to jump out at him as he slid the key into the lock. Above the keyhole was the same blue eye as the one on the key, the lapis lazuli sparkling as they came together.
The apartment would have been pitch black if it weren’t for the weak source of illumination coming from the flickering TV in the corner. The white light outlined a silhouette of someone sitting in a plush lounge chair.
“Hello? Sorry for barging in, but I found this key and…” Yunho swallowed thickly as he slowly approached. He was catching on quickly that nothing was as it seemed, and something even as innocent as an old man in a chair could potentially be dangerous. “I’m just looking for my friends and I…”
He stopped the second he rounded the chair. The person’s face was covered with a white cloth, which was soaked with blood. One of their hands was on their chest, long fingers stiffly curled except for one. The dirty clothes were familiar but Yunho couldn’t place where he had seen them before. However, the sleeves were also dotted with burn holes just like his, so he wondered if they had come across the same armless creatures he had.
Something behind him fell and Yunho let out a surprised shout as he jumped back from what he thought was the source of the noise. The back of his thighs hit the arm of the chair and he screeched when he felt the corpse touch him. He whirled around on his heel to see the body tip in the chair, the stiff arm falling over the edge. He scrambled away from it but only got so far when he hit the dresser behind him. His chest heaved as he watched the corpse, waiting for it to betray him and lunge.
He had covered his mouth with his hands as if that would somehow stop waking whatever it was that was going to attack him. When everything remained still, he let them drop back to his sides. His eyes followed the corpse’s stiff arm that was sticking straight out, its single outstretched finger pointing in the direction of a door on the other side of the room.
Had that always been there? He had been too preoccupied with the dead body to notice the red metal door that looked like it was breathing. Every breath shuddered and made the wall tremble. Yunho should have been afraid, but he was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
“T-thank you for showing me the way.” He bowed his head toward the corpse before he tiptoed around the chair.
He took the heavy handle with both hands and pressed down on it. He had to dig his heels into the ground as he pulled the creaky door open. A whistle of wind pierced his ears and the cold made him shiver. The familiar mist clouded his vision, but didn’t make it impossible to see the open entryway just a small jump away. He took a moment to look down, though it was pointless since it dropped straight down into a foggy nothingness.
“You can do this… You can do this.” He was a decent athlete when he was allowed in school sports, and the gap wasn’t that big. His legs were so long that he figured he could easily just step over the space instead of jump. But he didn’t trust his legs so it seemed better to go fast and get it over with.
He held onto the door frame as he stepped back. A calming exhale left his lips before he launched himself through the door.
The second he was on the other side, the door slammed shut behind him, but there was no longer a gaping hole to the outside. The building groaned and dust fell from the walls. It felt like an earthquake. Lights flickered until they went out completely. If it wasn’t for his flashlight, it was sure to be pitch black.
Once his eyes adjusted, he realized that he was in the same room, only it was backwards. Thankfully the corpse was missing but that did little to ease his apprehension to move forward.
There was a bubbling sound coming from the kitchen, almost like when a pot had been left on the stove too long and the water was boiling over. The place didn’t have any power, how the hell was someone cooking?
He rounded the corner and stopped when he saw the black puddle on the dirty floor. His light flickered and static burst from his phone but it didn’t come in enough time to warn him.
The creature bubbled up from the floor in a sticky tar-like substance. Steam raised from its bloody skin as if it was being boiled from the inside. A human arm extended out of the mass and flopped onto the floor, tar splattering from its palm. Another arm appeared, but when it fell to the ground it fell palm up. Between its shoulders, a human head appeared from its chest. Its eyes were a pale void of emptiness, whiter than the exposed rows of teeth in its mouth.
Where there should have been fear, Yunho found anger. This monster wasn’t pathetic looking like the armless monster. It didn’t struggle to keep itself upright or trip easily because its balance was poor. Even as the new monster struggled to crawl along the floor, all Yunho could think of was about how he wanted to end its life. Not to put it out of its misery, to spare himself of his own.
He let out a shout as he darted forward, wooden plank above his head. The monster clacked its teeth at him, but that was all it had time for before Yunho brought the piece of wood down on its head. Bone cracked from the force of it, but Yunho didn’t stop there. Dark blood spurted from where the flesh split apart and with every lift of his plank, it splattered against the floor, the walls, his face. Nothing was spared from the baptism of the creature’s blood. It moaned in pain and more black tar seeped out of it in defense.
Yunho tossed the plank aside and instead, used his boot to stomp against its head. Teeth fell onto the fluids draining out onto the floor. He wanted it back in the ground, back to the hell from where it came from. His grunts of exertion turned into pained whimpers.
Make it stop.
The creature’s tongue fell out of its broken jaw, its eyeball bulging out before Yunho smashed it like an overripe berry.
Stop. Stop.
His pulse pounded in his ears. There was no longer any bone grinding together, just wet slop as his boot mashed it together.
“STOP!”
He didn’t recognize his own voice as he screamed. The monster was dead, there was no need for any of what he was doing. He choked out a sob as he fell away from it, his back hitting the nearest wall. His hands trembled harder than he had ever felt them, and there was no one to hold them. He laced his fingers together and pressed his knuckles to his forehead like how he had been taught to pray.
Praying had always been useless to him. No one ever answered him like his parents had always promised him would happen. And in a place like this? Pointless.
His heart slowly returned to a steady beat and only then did he dare look up. The heap of blood and flesh was still there, but it was still. He had to keep moving, he was wasting too much time crying over useless things.
He used the wall to help him up because even though his heart had calmed, his legs were still weak. His head swam as he bent over and picked up the plank, though he hardly wanted anything to do with it anymore.
“You’re one of the strongest people I know.”
If he closed his eyes, he could feel Mingi’s hands on his cheeks as the breeze tickled their skin. The warmth of that day could seep into his bones, it could replace the toxic sludge that threatened to pin him down.
The hallways were the same; except they weren’t. Everything was rusted and peeling. Parts of the floor were nothing but exposed metal grates that showed nothing but the darkness beneath. There were large cuts that had been carved into the walls and the edges were dark and corroded. It was like being able to stare into the abyss.
He was barely able to pick up his feet. The dirty soles of his boots dragged against the floor, scuffing up the already brittle concrete. He needed to move, he needed to move, move, movemovemove. The halls were filled with more locked doors and monsters, large beetles crawled up through the floor and tried to pierce his boots with their sharp stingers. They shrieked when he crushed them, a high-pitched squeal that made Yunho’s ears ring after.
The building felt like it was moving, swaying with each of his panicked breaths. The rusted metal frame creaked and groaned under every step he took which only made him more paranoid that the floor would fall out from underneath him if he stayed in one high-pitched spot too long.
He couldn’t remember which apartment was theirs. Everything was rusted and torn apart like one of his nightmares. He tried to close his eyes to distract himself from the smell of the decay and the rot, but it was pointless. He wasn’t able to hear the wind, but the obnoxious dripping of soiled water was grounding enough.
In what seemed like a safe room, he dropped to his knees against the door and felt the bubbling of a pitiful sob building in his throat. He didn’t want what few good memories he had tainted by whatever darkness the town carried.
He wanted to be back under the forest trees, where he watched the sunshine sparkle between the leaves like fairy dust while he and Mingi lost their virginities to each other. He wanted to be with San while their feet dangled from the deck on the lake, kissing after promising to never leave each other. He wanted to bask in the shared warmth between the two people in the world that meant the most to him.
Without having any strength left to hold him up, he fell pathetically onto his side as he cried into his filthy hands. He should have listened to Jongho and Yeosang, he wasn’t strong enough to find them. It was just going to be another disappointment to add to his list of fuck ups. He might as well not even go back to them so they wouldn’t have to deal with him.
His leg hit the leg of a table and something jingled on top of it. It was just enough to distract him that he sat up sniffling. He shined his light on the music box and he frowned at how familiar it was. San’s sister had one to keep her jewelry in; she was mad when Yunho had looked into it.
He picked it up and brought it down into his lap. His thumb caressed the gold inlays that had been molded into the dark wood. It was dusty, but the exterior looked as if it had been glossy at one point.
When he opened it, he expected a song to play, but nothing came out. The figurine that was meant for the center was missing, but something still rattled on the inside of the box when he shook it. A quick scan of the room didn’t reveal the missing piece, so he slowly got up to his feet. He wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and inhaled sharply to clear his nose.
He didn’t want to lose the box, but it was too cumbersome to slip into his backpack so he set it back down on the table and hoped none of the creatures nearby were in the market for a jewelry box. He made sure to mark it on his map before he left the room.
A soft hiss from his phone was muffled by his jacket pocket, but he didn’t need it to know he was in danger. Clicks and groans came from the dark hallway, echoing off the walls and making it difficult to figure out where they were coming from. He needed to rest because his arms were barely holding on.
Instead of barreling through the monsters, he took a more strategic route by waiting for them to wander down the hall far enough that he was able to sneak by them. Just as he noticed a dull light above a door, one of the monsters turned and hissed at him. He ran quickly and was happy to find that the door was unlocked. Once, he had been surprised that one was determined enough to use its head to fling a door open. He stayed pressed against the door for a minute to make sure he wouldn’t have a repeat of the incident and only stepped away when the static died down.
He slowly wandered into the apartment. It was cleaner than the other ones, which wasn’t saying much. But compared to what the building had transformed into, it seemed relatively normal. The wallpaper was still peeling and there was a wet, funky smell that released every time Yunho’s boot sank into the carpet. It was unnerving how comforting he found it.
The apartment opened up into the living room, and when Yunho’s flashlight turned, it caught something shiny on the other side of it. Between two boarded windows were shiny gold balloons. They were starting to deflate, but he could still clearly read Happy Birthday.
Ah, so this was it. This was their apartment. He remembered Mingi’s normally deep voice squeaking after he sucked on helium and how San laughed so hard he cried. They ate birthday cake in bed the morning after, licking frosting from each other’s lips and fingers until they were sticky with it.
Underneath the banner was a small table. On it was the missing music box piece, a ballerina whose face had been cracked. And next to it, a blurred polaroid. He could make out what possibly looked like a corner of a bed and a soft haloing of hair on a pillow, but nothing concrete. In the white strip at the bottom, someone had written “never forget this day” in shaking letters. He hoped whoever the photo was for got their wish.
He pocketed the figurine and the photo before he went to inspect the rest of the apartment. The kitchen was empty and the bedroom door was boarded up, so he declared it a bust and returned to the room with the music box.
It took a little bit of finesse to fit the figurine back into its place in the box. The threads were stripped and the spring was bent, but with a calming breath, Yunho managed to piece it back together. He turned the knob on the back, feeling the tension as it wound. The song took a moment to start playing, but the ballerina slowly spun as the familiar song played. It seemed the tune that played at the bar was determined to haunt him, but he didn’t mind. He felt nothing but warmth every time he heard it.
The gears inside the box ground together, and with a pop, the bottom of the inside of the box popped open. It wasn’t what he expected, and he nearly dropped it, but he quickly fumbled to get a hold of it again. He pulled out the false bottom of the box and found a piece of paper folded into a neat square. He sat down and set the box aside as he carefully opened the delicate piece of paper.
“It’s odd writing this while you’re cuddled up next to me. But I’ve been told it’s better to let my thoughts out like this before I tell them to you. San said that you managed to find a way to his apartment the other day while I was gone. You gave Yeosang quite the scare, but San reassured him you’re fine. We’re not sure if he believes that, but at least he’s being polite.
I’m worried about you. Your sleepwalking is getting worse despite what we do. You’re avoiding alcohol finally, but now the medications that were helping you seem to be making you worse again. I think about what’ll happen if me and San aren't here to look after you. You don’t seem keen on Yeosang stepping in, but maybe one day, it’ll be better than the hospital again.
I don’t know why I let these thoughts bother me, we’re going to be together for a long time.”
Yunho looked up when he heard something shuffle in the hallway. Through the open door, a flash of a familiar body retreated into the shadows as quickly as he noticed it.
“Hey!” He pocketed the letter and ran after the figure as quickly as he could. “Wait!”
When he reached the stairwell, he could hear the heavy stomp of footsteps below him. Whoever it was was moving incredibly fast and if Yunho hadn’t seen what he had already, he would have thought he was hallucinating. He leaned over the railing and caught a gleam of silver rings as a hand kept the figure balanced as they ran.
“Stop! I just want to talk!” Yunho nearly tripped over himself as rushed down the steps. If it was Mingi, why would he run from him?
He hardly had time to notice that the lower he got, the more the apartment seemed to be returning to its natural state. Drywall covered the rusted metal frames and grates and solid concrete appeared under his feet. It didn’t even register to him that he was able to run out the back door which had been locked not that long ago.
Even if the light was still dulled by clouds and fog, the brightness of the outdoors made his eyes scream at him for the sudden change. He blinked rapidly to help adjust his vision while he looked around for where the mystery person had run off to.
He noticed a trail of red leading through the street, but when he approached it, he realized it was different from what he was used to. Dried rose petals that invited him to follow like a lover with a secret. He ran along the trail, his heart racing with anticipation of what was at the end.
The town was empty. Not a single monster got in his way as he followed the roses to a small park. It was really just a series of paths with stone benches and stone planters that had nothing but flowerless bushes. It looked like it had been kept up from what Yunho could see from the sidewalk. Right at the entrance was a patch of wild grass that looked slightly overgrown. In front of it, a figure was hunched over it.
Yunho was cautious as he approached, but didn’t hide that he was moving closer. The man was kneeling in the grass with a sharp blade in his hand that cut through the stems of a billowy plant before tossing them into the basket next to him, right on top of dried roses. He had silver rings on his rigid fingers, but they weren’t the same ones that Yunho had seen. They were dull and tarnished, like most things he had seen.
“Why did you run from me?” Yunho’s chest burned as he tried to catch his breath. It was the opposite of what he needed to do, but he couldn’t help but fold in half from exhaustion.
“I didn’t run from you.” The man kept plucking the stems from the ground. How anything worthwhile grew in the abandoned town was a mystery. “I’ve been here.”
“What’s your name?”
“Wooyoung.” He lifted his head to look up at Yunho. His long black hair fell in greasy waves around his grubby face. He was covered in grey dust, almost like he had rolled around in the ashes of a fireplace. But the thing Yunho couldn’t look away from was his eyes. Such a pale blue that they almost looked white. Wooyoung looked like he had been beautiful once. Not that he wasn’t anymore, but it was a different kind of beautiful. It was the same kind that someone looks at a corpse at a wake and goes “wow, they’re still beautiful.” It’s what Yunho thought when…
He shook the thought off. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here.” Wooyoung chuckled, like any other possibility was ridiculous. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for my friends. Their names are San and Mingi.” Yunho pulled his phone out to show him the picture. “Have you seen them?”
Wooyoung glanced at the screen. The smallest crease appeared before his brows before he looked away. “No, I haven’t seen them.”
“Are you sure?” He urged Wooyoung to look at it again, but he practically turned his nose up at it.
“I’m sure. I don’t forget faces easily.”
Yunho tucked his phone back into his pocket with disappointment. “Well, if you do see them, can you tell them I’m looking for them?”
“I can do that. But I wouldn’t get my hopes—” He cut off when his attention was suddenly stolen by something. His whole body stiffened with vigilance. It was hard to tell that he was even breathing under his dark robes.
“What is it?” Yunho’s voice dropped to a whisper. The fog hadn’t lifted and Yunho couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of them. But this was Wooyoung’s home, his eyes were accustomed to it.
“He’s coming.”
“He? Who’s he?” Yunho’s phone started to emit static louder than he had heard it before. He tried to tap against the screen to silence it, but just like before, nothing worked.
“The Metal Mountain.” Wooyoung dropped the herbs with one hand, but kept the knife in the other. “Run.”
Then, the siren came.
Yunho covered his ears to try and protect himself from the incessant wailing. “What is that!?” The ground shuddered underneath them and he jumped to his feet. The small amount of light that managed to sneak in through the fog darkened, and the building around them shed its outer layers.
Again. It was happening again.
“What about you?!” Yunho offered his hand for Wooyoung to take. “Come with me!”
“No! Leave!” Wooyoung shoved at him frantically before turning back toward the fog. “My love, I’m here!”
Yunho stumbled over his feet. He wasn’t going to argue anymore. He took off running as the world around him continued to melt away into nothing but rust and metal. He didn’t see any monsters, but he wasn’t going to count himself lucky just yet.
He didn’t know how far to run, so he weaved in between houses, losing himself in the maze of the neighborhood. It was the opposite direction that he wanted to go, but at least he was going to avoid whatever it was that Wooyoung was calling out to.
His lungs burned as he threw himself against the wall of a rotted house. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck and his legs shook from the sudden use. He closed his eyes so the pain in his side could hopefully recede. If it was anything like last time, he knew he wouldn’t have long before those hell-spawns showed up. But it was quiet in the tiny backyard, it gave him a false sense of safety.
Something like the rustle of leaves blowing in a breeze caught his attention. There wasn’t any wind or any leaves. He readied his gun as he stepped away from the wall and toward the dilapidated fence. Some of the panels were broken off and allowed him to see into the street.
The light from his flashlight was only able to show so much, but once his eyes adjusted, he realized it was a swarm of insects all crawling over each other in waves along the asphalt. Yunho shivered, swearing that he could feel the millions of tiny legs crawling over his body even if they weren’t.
Metal scraping against the ground made him refocus. Through the insects walked a creature, no…a person…no…
Yunho blinked as he tried to make out what he was seeing.
A muscular upper body, and a long leather apron that looked similar to the stitched together flesh on some of the creatures he had seen. He looked human, from the shoulders down. But atop his head, a giant metal helmet in the shape of a pyramid, muddled with rust and dirt.
His eyes dropped to the giant metal sword the creature dragged behind him. The blade was rusted, and chipped from use. However, it looked sharp enough to cut a horse in half. From far away it was hard to tell just how long it was, but Yunho felt that if it stood up next to him, it would exceed his height. And this thing was dragging it like it was a doll.
Yunho’s hand shot up to cover the flashlight, ducking back behind the fence in hopes that he wasn’t seen. The scraping stopped and so did the rustle of insects, the loudest thing was his heartbeat. He glanced at the side-run of the house in front of him. He figured if he moved fast enough, he could outrun it again, and hopefully find a safer place to hide. Another moment passed and nothing but silence remained, so he took it as his opportunity to step forward. The ground crunched underneath him and he paused to listen again. When there was still nothing, he stepped again.
Just when he thought it was safe, the fence burst apart as the sword flew through it and lodged itself in the side of the house. The force of it knocked Yunho to his knees but one of his hands shot up to cover the shout that left his mouth. It had missed him by only a foot and he quickly pressed himself against the part of the fence that still stood.
The shuddering of the ground returned and insects flooded the backyard. He scrambled back to avoid them, but froze when he realized that the creature had stepped through as he moved to retrieve his sword. Then, he faced Yunho head-on.
He was bigger up close, but it was hard to tell if it was just physically or if the sheer presence of him was making Yunho shrink down. He yanked the sword out like it was nothing more than a knife in soft butter. It clanged heavily when it dropped back against the ground, making everything around it shake, including Yunho.
The passing hope that the creature hadn't detected him faded when his head turned toward Yunho. There were no eyes, nothing to tell Yunho whether this thing was friend or foe.
His gaze fell down the creature’s body, trying to find some hint of what his intentions could be. Instead, he found a scar. A jagged scar that curved up from his hip and over his rib, resembling a crack in a piece of pottery.
It’s a scar that Yunho used to know. One that he kissed after it healed, one that belonged to his best friend.
San.
He almost realized too late that the creature rolled his shoulder, upheaving the sword from the ground. Yunho watched it slice through the air like a windmill blade. He threw himself out of the way, and the blade crashed into the ground hard enough that it sliced into the earth. His weak legs dropped him to his knees in a messy scramble to get away.
Once he was able to stabilize himself, he retrieved the gun that was tucked into his waistband. His hands trembled as he took aim. The Mountain moved slowly, almost like he was daring Yunho to take a shot while knowing he couldn’t. Yunho’s eyes were glued to the scar that rippled as he yanked his sword free from the asphalt.
Yunho closed his eyes and fired the trigger. The kickback jerked his hands and all he heard was the metal twang of the bullet bouncing off the metal helmet. It was impossible.
He gave up and spun on his heel. The fog made it impossible to tell which direction he was running in and every street light died the second he darted underneath it. His lungs burned and his calf muscles felt like they were going to split apart, but the adrenaline kept him going. He hoped that weaving between houses and crossing random streets would lose the Mountain, but he was too afraid to turn around to look.
Through the fog, a steeple pierced through. If that wasn’t a sign, he didn’t know what was. The perimeter of the red-brick building was surrounded by a matching wall, making it seem like it was some kind of important institution. He didn’t have time to check the metal plaque that was posted on the front; he needed to find a way in.
He ran up the steps and slammed into the locked front door. In his panic, he fumbled with the door knob over and over again, hoping it would give him a different outcome. The scraping of the metal sword grew louder and he couldn’t stay any longer. He took off running along the outside of the building as he searched for any kind of entrance.
The wind made it hard for him to keep his eyes open but he kept moving until he found another door. The hinges were rusted and refused to budge more than a sliver, so he had to take off his backpack and throw it inside before he was able to slip through. Once in, he searched for anything that could help brace the door. A large bookcase was good enough for him. It was empty, but it was still heavier than shit as he pressed his back against it. It scraped along the floor, creating more noise than he was comfortable with. Who knew what was inside the building, but it was probably better than the creature that awaited him outside.
The strength in his legs gave out and he landed on his ass on the hard concrete floor.
San.
That was his San.
His face fell into his filthy hands and he sobbed.