Chapter 7: Leave Daegu

“Let’s head out. I just hope the refrigerator is still intact. We can probably find some provisions” Alex led everyone out of the room and hopefully to a better looking world outside.

They found their way down the broken halls until they found the kitchen. It didn’t look as bad as most of the place did, and everything wasn’t expired yet, so they quickly took everything and placed it in another capsule.

“We have shelter right?” Lin Jie smirked holding up the key to everything, a big set of bobby-pins. She got down and started to pick the lock to the door between them and the ground floors while Dylan tracked down any trackpads that would require fingerprints, eye prints, etc.

“Yep.”

“And, a plan with a map right?” Dylan held up the map he downloaded not even looking up from the laptop as he was hard at work.

“Chips all of you.” Everyone looked at Dylan a little confused. “The SIM cards in your phones. We need to trade them out for someone else’s. They can find us with these.” Everyone placed their phones into Dylan’s hands before he destroyed the SIM card and the tracking on each device. He changed the SIM cards to ones he found for someone’s trip to 2015 and gave their phones back.

“They can’t find us now.” Wynter sighed looking at the chip with longing. It had precious memories on it, but now was not the time to think about it. Lin Jie picked the lock and the door opened to show bare halls. The place looked like a mental hospital with how clean and white it was.

“Have I ever told you guys that I hate hospitals?” Wynter asked, looking at the bare walls.

“We’ll be fine so long as we don’t run into anyone.” The building started to shake just as Dylan finished that comment. “Okay, maybe not. Um, can one of you go check what happened outside?” Alex and Lin Jie walked to the windows and pried them open. Looking down, they saw the ground beneath them was crumbling. Right in front of them, there was a helicopter taking off with the remaining people on it. They were all wearing black and looked like they were on some kind of secret mission.

Well, technically they are too, but that’s not the important part. The important part was getting out of this building.

“You don’t want to know.” Lin Jie mumbled motioning for everyone to get to the main entrance. Dylan unlocked the door after Lin Jie gave the signal and they all walked out into the desolate world before them.

The world almost looked like a wasteland. All of the shrubbery was almost gone and dry ground greeted them with a foul smell that hung low in the air.

“Can anyone understand Korean?” Alex called from a few feet ahead.

“I can.” Dylan and Lin Jie said together.

“I need you two to read this.” Lin Jie and Dylan came over to see a warning label.

“Do not enter. Chemical leak. Chemical leak?” Dylan and Lin Jie looked at each other as the ground started to shake again. As Wynter finally crossed the line past the gate towards the others, the earth started to rumble. The four of them quickly ran into the wooded area surrounding the building just as the entire facility collapsed behind them. Everyone clutched each other’s hands and their capsule containers in their hands as they watched the building fall.

The ground surrounding the area started to fall with the building as the four ade their way to higher ground. They could finally stop after a massive sinkhole laid where the facility used to be. “Hey, are you guys okay?!” Dylan was shaking Wynter’s shoulders as Wynter kept his eyes on the sink hole. They were big as saucers.

“I-I-I’ll be fin-ne-e s-soon. I just want this to be over.” Lin Jie placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before leading him and everyone away from the sink hole. If the world still looked like this, then no one lived around here anymore.

Lin Jie turned to everyone. “Do you think the trains still work?”

“Why?” Alex asked, stopping in his tracks. He threw his bag onto his shoulders after he pulled out his capsule container.

Lin Jie’s held all the usual necessities, her Pod, and the security camera’s footage, Dylan’s had his Pod and every file that Udea had on every child in the system, plus some encrypted files he couldn’t get through in their time inside the compound, Wynter had his Pod, a huge tool box with anything in it, and food, Alex had his Pod, and the holographic maps for the world that were updated only a couple months ago.

Lin Jie checked her watch and the maps that Alex was looking at. “If we can get to Seoul, we can potentially see if the damage is only internally in Daegu or not. If it’s the entirety of Korea, then we can go to Incheon and take the planes out of here.”

“Point taken. We can go check. We have to start somewhere.” Alex shrugged his shoulders and started to walk ahead. Lin Jie and the others went after one last look at the compound.

It took a good few hours, but Alex finally stumbled upon the Daegu Train Station only to find a broken and abandoned building in its wake. The tracks seemed to be all torn up and there were no trains in sight. The entire station seemed to be dead too. The only things that were left were luggages or bags that people might have had on them. “What the hell happened here?” Lin Jie pulled some paper from a sample store down the hall and came to search through a bag. The others moved to do the same.

“Nothing seems to have been taken. Nothing of importance at least.” Wynter tilted his head in confusion.

Dylan held up the different items he found examining every part and crevice. “I can’t seem to find anything wrong with this one either. Lin Jie, did you get anything?”

“No.” Lin Jie dusted off her green cargo pants. “Nothing seems to have been taken, but it seems that these people left in a rush to the point that they didn’t even take their bags with them.”

Alex sighed and looked out to the city streets that were deserted. “Okay, new plan. Dylan, is there any way to get us to Seoul?” Alex turned his head over his left shoulder looking at the shorter male.

Dylan held a hand out. Alex threw him the capsule and everyone looked at the layout of Daegu. Dylan zoomed in on a section. “We’re right here. The best mode of transport right now would be a car, but all of them seem to be broken.” The others looked outside to see all of the cars looking wrecked beyond easy repair.

“What about this?” Wynter pointed to a point that said airfield. Zooming into it, it read Daegu International Airport. Dylan had a quizzical look in his eyes as he skimmed the map. “If you want to try it we can. Are any of us qualified?”

Everyone shook their heads no.

“First time for everything.” Wynter commented, giving everyone a huge eye smile. That kid had a brain for learning, so they took the trek up to Daegu’s old international airport. Apparently being away for six months makes it old.

When they arrived, no one was there, not even the military. “Did they just get up and leave? There’s no way that that many people could just leave.” Alex mumbled trying to make sense of what he could see of the abandoned airport from a distance.

“Something doesn’t feel right. Let’s hurry into the building or onto the plane.” Lin Jie mumbled, pushing Wynter’s head down a little further so his bright blue eyes couldn’t be seen from their angle if there were any others around the area.

Alex gave off military hand signals that made everyone look at him like he was on drugs.

“What?” Dylan and Wynter looked completely lost and Dylan had this deadpan face and looked ready to throw his laptop at Alex if he did another signal.

“Alex, you were the only one here that was trained in military combat and operations. We have no idea what the hell you just did.” Dylan paned. Alex sighed, hanging his head and pulled each of them behind the hill they were laying on.

“Wynter, come with me to the hangar and let’s hope we can find something small that can easily carry four people out of here. Lin Jie, Dylan, I want you to find anything that we could use that would fix up the plane that we find here. Go look for any surveillance cameras and or people here. Also, if you find any food, get it. We need to find out what happened.” Everyone nodded and separated quickly taking on their assignments.

Wynter gave Lin Jie his capsule for a spare tool box he had and hoped for the best. Dylan ran straight towards the first warehouse that was closest to the main airport hoping to find something. Lin Jie came in behind him and popped open the capsule finding the basic tools. Drills, hammers, and, and a wrench were placed haphazardly in the box.

“Does this do anything?” Dylan held up some kind of box that had a fire symbol on it.

“Uh, put that down please. Can you go find something that can tell which plane is where or get into the security cameras?” Lin Jie pulled out a couple of things searching through the cabinets.

“That’s strange. Um, let’s hurry this up.” Lin Jie mumbled under her breath taking out a couple of newer looking documents. They looked too new. Lin Jie turned to find Dylan because something didn’t feel right at all.

Alex jumped over the hill and skidded down to the airstrip. Wynter had pulled a file from Dylan before he left with the information of a kid named Kim Soo Won. He apparently had to go into aviation to find his person in Germany. Wynter skimmed over the entire thing, and within a couple of minutes, he got the gist of how to lift and land a helicopter. Alex came over and gripped Wynter’s shoulder. “Will this one do?” Wynter looked up and saw a generic one. He nodded and pulled himself into the cockpit trying to make sense of what was wrong and what was okay. That’s when he found the seatbelts seemed to have singed off.

“Find anything usable?” Lin Jie asked, coming over with a few materials in hand. She looked a little bit anxious, but nothing too serious. Dylan followed behind her trying to hack into a camera he took from the ceiling.

“Well, if you want to fly with no seatbelt then most definitely.” Lin Jie and Wynter chuckled at his comment, but the laughter died just as fast as it came. Wynter left to go find some kind of plane that could spare them.

“Thankfully this plane is only circa 2018 so it’s not in as bad shape as it could be.” Dylan commented looking at the interior and the rotor speeds.

“Yeah, can we start it up now or should we wait?”

“NOW WOULD BE A VERY GOOD TIMING!!!” Dylan and Lin Jie turned around quickly to see Alex and Wynter running like mad men over to the helicopter. Alex was waving his hands screaming “GET IN THE GOOD HELICOPTER!” Dylan threw the door open and got their bags into the floor space as Lin Jie opened the cords and hot wired the machine to start before quickly grabbing the fuel outside for when you guys landed. She fueled it up as everyone came rushing into the cockpit.

Wynter climbed in, gave them the seatbelts, and put on the headset that was somehow still functioning and got the rotor to start. “Get in!” Lin Jie put all of the tanks into a capsule and grabbed Alex and Dylan’s arms hosting herself into the helicopter.

Everyone climbed in hearing gunshots around you and quickly pulled on the helmets that Dylan offered before taking off. The impact of the engine’s first burst of energy pushed back whoever was just outside of the body of the helicopter.

Everyone peered out seeing men in all black still trying to shoot the helicopter down. Wynter was sweating buckets getting everyone guys out. His hands were shaking and he flinched after every gunshot that reverberated in the area.

“Okay, so where’s Seoul?”

“North west, but we have to land in Incheon. That’s one of the main hubs of

tourist attraction. If there’s anyone still around it’s either there or in Itaewon.”

“How do you know so much, (Y/N)?”

“I was a kpop fan before hell broke loose.” Alex and Dylan laughed at that statement until they heard someone humming a song through the head pieces that caused Lin Jie and Wynter to burst into song.

“Okay, who started playing that song?” Alex mumbled as Dylan started laughing at Wynter and Lin Jie jamming out to I Need U by BTS with no background music. The tension had drained for a couple of hours of silence, so it was nice to feel less stress for the first time in a couple of years.

“Yes, you are so my favorite now.” Lin Jie said. Wynter laughed loudly over the coms. His voice sounded like a cute little haha that resembled a similar tone to a boy of the name Hueningkai.

“But I thought I was your favorite.” Dylan said dramatically, throwing a hand over his forehead in a dramatic pose. Alex crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes trying not to show any emotion of enjoyment because of their current situation.

“Oh babe, you are so my favorite.” Lin Jie gave them a smirk through the rearview mirror before paying attention to the world below.

Wynter bopped his head a little as another song came through his head. “Come on guys, you just don’t have taste.”

“I thought you liked goth music.” Dylan said with furrowed brows.

“It’s called emo/scene/or rock music, and I do. That doesn’t mean I can’t like Kpop.”

“Do you like Twice?”

“Yes or Yes?” Wynter just loved that and just did the hand gesture before going back to paying attention to the sky. Alex groaned in the back trying not to listen to this craziness. Dylan just rolled his eyes as he tried to ignore the raging problem that would hit them like a brick wall the moment they land.

“So, how much further until we’re in Seoul?” Dylan asked, trying to read the map as they had been flying for a good hour.

“We have maybe 30 more minutes.” Wynter calculated the coordinates and sighed. “Okay maybe 40.” Everyone nodded and looked out to the country view.

Everything was becoming a bit more green as they flew out of Daegu, but nothing changed after that.

“We should be seeing it soon.” You said looking out the window. Wynter started looking very panicked. “What’s wrong?”

“How do I land without killing us?”

“Just find a place and slowly lower us before releasing your foot on the engine pedal.” Alex read from the book. Wynter nodded trying not to look too panicked. Everything was happening so fast.

The landscape started to change again as the area became more modern and suburban. Then, the skyscrapers started to come into place. Their eyes widened at the huge landscape. Below them, everything seemed completely fine. It didn’t look anything close to what Daegu looked like.

“Maybe if we’re here we can find more types of planes and maybe a transmission tower that isn’t broken.” Alex commented. Wynter nodded and landed the helicopter with a couple of bangs banging and there, but they all got out fine.

“Okay, so we saw how Seoul looked from above. It will take us a while to get the plane running, but maybe there are people around here who can help.” Dylan suggested trying to sound calm. “Besides, it didn’t look that bad. There were just a lot of cars abandoned, a lot of black stuff everywhere, and the skyscrapers looked a little run down. Nothing too bad right?” Dylan started to nervously laugh making everyone look at him with a raised eyebrow.

Finally, Lin Jie came over and placed a hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze. “We won’t be able to work well with you acting like this. Get a little more focused. I know, we’re all freaking out right now, but the more we understand about this situation the better.”

“Do any of you know the expanse of Seoul like Lin Jie does? It says here in your file that you lived here for a few years.” Alex held the files in his hand going through the holographic book. Everyone shook their heads no. Alex looked forlorn at that. Most of the kids were not from Korea at all. Lin Jie was from China, Alex was from France, Dylan was from England, and Wynter was from Canada.

“Well, if the airport is open, we can sneak in and find some stuff. If this place is just as abandoned as Daegu, we can go through Incheon airport’s shopping district, grab some food and find any security cameras or articles about what happened.” Lin Jie tugged her backpack onto her shoulder and nodded towards the building.

“This airport has a shopping district?” Wynter asked, looking close to ecstatic. Shopping now felt more like a luxuary than anything.

“Yeah, let’s hope there’s something in there that we can grab or understand.”

“We can always pick the lock.” Dylan said with a smirk directed towards Lin Jie.

“Yeah, but let’s hope we don’t have to do that. We have no idea what alarms are still in place.” Lin Jie put a hand on her waist and gazed at the building ahead.

Everyone got out of the helicopter checking their capsules. Wynter opened the capsule with the tool box as Lin Jie placed the fuel tanks next to it before packaging it back up into the same capsule.

“Let’s go. We need to find something from this area anyway. We look nothing like this era at all.” Everyone looked down and knew what she meant. Lin Jie was currently wearing a tank top and skinny jeans since, a jacket around her waist and combat boots. Mind you everything was covered in dirt.

Alex was wearing his military outfit that he should probably get rid of if anyone is still in the airport alive. He also had his duffle bag with him that he needed to change.

Dylan looked like he just came back from tea with the man who started the apocalypse had just made his guard dogs chase him for a couple miles. Dylan’s slacks were torn everywhere and covered in dirt, his petticoat was filled with dirt and a few holes from some time in the wooded area, and the button up had way too much of someone else’s blood on it. Dylan is one of the few people who can blend in here. They needed to stay low if they wanted to find out what happened, and there are only so many foreigners in the area who speak Korean.

Wynter looked the best out of everyone in the group, but it still looked a little outdated. His black hair was brushed everywhere and his piercings were long gone in Daegu’s facilities. He wore skinny jeans too, but he had a sweater that was way too big for him and gave him sweater paws.

Lin Jie led the way to the huge airport looking at its beauty. She started to shake the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Lin Jie sighed seeing there was no lock on it before breaking the glass door of the entrance to Incheon’s airport with a rock in the nearby garden area. Everyone followed suit into the building stepping over the shattered glass around the entrance. The place was pretty much deserted excluding some random animals here and there that had gotten in through some unknown means that no one wanted to question.

“So, what’s the fashion here?” Alex asked, walking next to Lin Jie as she scoped the stores.

“Um...it’s hard to expl-“

“OH MY GOD LOOK HOW CUTE THAT IS!!!” Wynter screamed rushing over to the Line Friends store that was still standing but didn’t have many things in it.

“It can be like that or-“

“HOLY SHIT THEY HAVE THE NEW COLLECTION FOR 8SECONDS AND LOUIS!!!”

“That too, and it can also be more your alley. Basically go with what you want and then take three outfits, bring it out here, and then I’ll see if it works.”

“Thanks Lin Jie you’re the best!” Wynter yelled, tackled Lin Jie in a hug, and then ran as fast as possible back to the Line Store.

“Just make sure there’s no boobytraps or something.” Lin Jie looked exasperated at the antics that were happening in the stores around here.

“Right!” Alex took his leave to go search all of the stores around the area. Lin Jie walked over towards the Gucci store just to laugh at all of the stuff still intact after whatever happened and pulled out a Gucci bag and walked out of the store.

Lin Jie quickly scurried into Stylenanda and found everything to help the boys blend in before grabbing a few things from the conjoined store for skin care. Then she ran into every store to find something that could work for combat if need be. Many of the stores still had almost all of their inventory. It was crazy to see that nothing was taken.

Lin Jie heard a small thunk just as she got out of the last store on this end of the terminal and looked to see Wynter holding all of the Line Friends plushies trying to find space for them in a capsule as he held the container for it in the other hand.

Lin Jie’s eyes widened in shock but also in amusement. “Come on Wynter. We’re looking for clothing!” She took a couple from him to lessen the load.

“But, they’re so cute!”

“One or two not all 7!”

“Fine but I don’t know what to wear. I mean, I don’t think this looks good.”

“We’ll see when we get down there.”

“Yeah get down here already! We’ve been waiting for a while!” Dylan shouted, smirking as he stood on the dried out fountain on the first floor. Alex sat on the rim looking up at the glass ceiling.

“We’ll be right down, you can wait for a few more minutes!”

“Well we want to check out if the food is here!”

“Yeah yeah.” Lin Jie waved off before the two made their way to the fountain. She took a glance at all of the clothing that was laid about and went through it.

“This is going to be interesting.”