Chapter Text
Woojin’s entrance certainly came as a surprise.
When Jeongin pulled the duffel bag full of clothes from the pile, the entire pile came falling down.
Luckily Hyunjin had pulled the youngest out of harm's way, but no one had expected another human to fall down into their clearing with it.
In a moment of panic, Chan ordered the others to help him find some rope, and a chair to tie Woojin to while he was still unconscious.
“What now?” Jisung asks, crossing his arms across his chest.
Seungmin, and Changbin have just finished securing the last few knots.
“Did he hit his head or something?” Felix asks, peering around the older’s head, “It looks like he did, there’s a bit of blood on his forehead.”
Chan rubs his temples.
Why did Woojin fall into the hideout? Did he follow me here? Why would he?
What do I do? He’s unconscious, do we leave him here and continue with our plan?
“What about our escape plan?” Hyunjin gasps, “Do you think he heard?”
“Probably.”
“That’s not helpful, Changbin.” Seungmin snaps.
“That’s Hyung to you.” Changbin growls.
“Guys.” Chan starts, but the others continue to bicker.
“Why don’t we just leave him here?” Jeongin suggests.
“And risk him running free? No thanks.” Minho shakes his head.
“Guys…”
Nope, they're still not listening.
“Why not just kill him or something? We can’t let him lose, and leaving him here is risking him doing just that.” Jisung shrugs.
“What. You? Kill? Don’t make me laugh!” Changbin scoffs.
“I totally could!”
“I’ll believe it when I see it!”
“STOP!” Chan bellows.
Finally.
“No one is killing anyone, Jisung.” Chan sends a warning glance to the younger.
Jisung sheepishly looks away, “I wasn’t…”
Changbin gives Jisung an “I told you so” look.
“Changbin.” Chan warns.
Changbin looks down, and glares at the floor.
“What will we do with him, Hyung?” Felix asks.
“Well, Minho is correct. We can’t leave him here and risk him escaping and telling Them about our plans. It is likely he heard us discussing them.” Chan lets out a conflicted grunt, “We will not be killing him, like seriously, Jisung. We aren’t like Them.”
Jisung squeaks out an apology, “Sorry.”
“And we obviously can’t just let him go.” Seungmin adds, nodding.
“The only other option is that we take him with us. We can either use him as a decoy or something during our escape, or let him free if we manage to escape.” Minho concludes.
“When we manage. Let’s stay hopeful, Minho.” Chan corrects, “And, that does seem like the most viable option.”
The rest of the group let out a few groans, some of them give each other wary looks. Each of them reluctant, or wary about Chan’s final decision.
“Let’s get packing you guys, we don’t have all night.” Chan began to give directions to the group, “Do as I asked you to before the pile fell, except you Minho. I want you to pack the food. I will try and find the wagon, and something to transport our unconscious… tag along. Oh, and Changbin, keep an eye on him.”
“Yes, sir.” Changbin mock salutes him.
Chan watches as the boys all go off to find what they were instructed to.
Jisung and Felix were to find clothes.
Hyunjin and Seungmin were to find the portable shelters.
Jeongin was to find blankets or anything that could keep them warm during the night.
Chan sets off to find a wagon, or two.
Let’s start with the edge of the warehouse.
Chan heads towards the far end, furthest from the entrance. He had never really investigated this part of the warehouse before, he supposes now would be a good time to check it out.
Chan reaches the far end and starts to look, he checks under, over, beside, and all throughout the piles there.
As he makes his way along the wall, he comes across a section of the wall that is different from the rest. It is metal, and has all these horizontal lines across it. Chan feels the strange wall, the horizontal lines are like ridges. It reminds Chan of the shutters they would pull across their windows back in the living facilities. Perhaps this is like that, only larger, like a very large door.
Something catches Chan’s eye, a large object covered in an equally as large, fabric cover. The fabric cover must’ve been white at one point, but it is now covered in a thick layer of dust. To remove the cover would probably send a bunch of dust into the air, but Chan’s curiosity, and the fact that he should look everywhere for those wagons, are telling him he should remove it.
He grabs at the corner of the cover, and pulls it down to his left. The cover easily slides off, but not before sending a cloud of dust into the air.
The dust sends Chan into a coughing and sneezing fit. His eyes tear up as some dust gets in his eyes.
Maybe that wasn’t a good idea…
One the dust settles again, and Chan stops coughing, and sneezing as much, he opens his eyes.
In front of him is a huge, hollow, rectangular structure. The structure itself appears to have once been a bright yellow, but has faded significantly over time. Now it is a gray-ish colour, with only a hint of yellow to indicate what it once was.
Chan inspects the structure, walking around it. The structure has multiple windows, with its largest two being at what is possibly the front, and the back. Closer to the front is a tall thin door. The back has a much larger set of doors.
The structure sits high off the ground, Chan figures this is due to the four, large wheels that the object is resting upon. The only thing keeping the wheels from spinning is wedges of wood jammed between the wheel, and the ground.
“What is this thing?” Chan wonders aloud.
It reminds him of those carts that the security personnel would drive around the District.
“Is this like a giant cart?” Chan reaches a hand up to touch the surface of the structure, “There’s something written here…”
“S-T-O-P… Stop? Why does it have stop written on it?”
Chan looks around the structure again, perhaps there were more words written on the structure. Maybe he’d be lucky, and the name of the structure would be written on it.
There, above the back window!
“S-c-h-o-o-l b-u-s… School Bus…?” Chan recognizes the words, “OH! Isn’t that one of those old vehicles that would take people to and from the learning facilities?”
I wonder if I can go inside it… maybe it still works? Probably operates like the carts.
Chan grabs the handles of the back door, and pulls. The door makes a loud creaking sound as Chan uses his entire body to pull it open.
Inside, the bus is filled with clothes.
Oh, I better let Jisung and Felix know.
“Jisung, Felix, I found some clothes!” Chan shouts.
“Hyung? Where are you?” Chan easily hears Jisung’s loud reply.
“By the wall furthest from the entrance!” Chan instructs, “There’s also something really cool over here.”
“Okay, We’ll be there in a second!”
“Okay.”
I should see how the others are doing.
“How is it going for everyone else?” Chan bellows.
“We found some portable shelters!” Seungmin shouts.
“I found some blankets!” Jeongin yells.
“Our Prisoner is still unconscious.” Changbin informs.
“I’ve got most of the food packed.” Minho is the last to reply.
“Looks like I’m the only one left, still haven’t found a wagon. How about all of you come here to check this out, it’s pretty cool. Then we can all try and find some wagons.” Chan suggests.
He receives a loud response of yes from everyone.
Chan takes a moment to inspect the front of the bus, perhaps he can figure out if it still works. Chan eventually determines that the vehicle is too complex for him, and leaves it at that.
The others soon join him, including Changbin, who somehow managed to drag Woojin along, despite the other being tied to a chair.
“What is this?” They all gasp in awe.
“Is that a Bus?!” Minho raises his eyebrows, “That is pretty cool.”
“And,” Chan adds, “It’s full of clothes.”
“Perfect.” Seungmin smiles, “Why don’t we get these stupid white uniforms off, and put on something that’ll help us hide more easily from Them.”
“Good idea, Seungmin.” Chan praises the younger.
Chan helps lift the others into the bus so they can each change out of their uniforms, and into the clothes on the bus. They each take turns keeping an eye on Woojin while they get dressed.
They grab whatever catches their eye. Chan recommends they all wear fairly dark clothes, to help blend in during the nights, and the dark undergrowth of the forest.
Once they’ve all changed they head off to go find a wagon, or two. Changbin, and Felix drag Woojin back to the clearing. Chan makes sure to grab an extra set of clothes, for Woojin. If they’re to bring him with them, then he also needs to be less visible. They can’t let him be the reason they don’t escape.
“Yes!!” Chan hears Jisung shout from a few piles over, “I found a few wagons!”
“Good job Sungie.” Chan praises the younger as he maneuvers his way over to Jisung, “Jisung and I will grab these wagons, we’ll meet the rest of you back in the clearing.”
After confirmation that the others heard him, and they all head back to the clearing, Chan heads over to Jisung. Chan passes Woojin’s clothes over to Minho as he passes him.
“These are for Woojin.” Chan explains.
“Okay, I’ll get Changbin to put these on him.” Minho nods, “Do you want me to want me to bundle up the rest of the supplies? Make it easier to load the wagon?”
“Good Idea.” Chan smiles, “Thanks Minho!”
Chan continues towards Jisung, while Minho goes to the clearing.
“Jisung?” Chan calls out.
“Over here!” Jisung replies, his voice coming from behind the pile to Chan’s right.
He skirts around the pile to find Jisung seated on one of the wagons, the rest all in a pile of their own.
“Found more than one.” Jisung beams.
“I can see that.” Chan frowns slightly in thought, “Now we just need to get one out from the pile…”
Chan and Jisung take a moment to inspect the pile, looking for one that they could easily remove, without the rest of the pile falling down.
“I think that one would be the easiest to remove.” Chan looks to where Jisung is pointing. There, about two meters above his head is a wagon that, as Jisung said, could be easily removed.
“I’d agree if it wasn’t so high up…” Chan furrows his brows, “I think we should- Jisung!”
Jisung has started to climb the pile towards the easily removable wagon.
“Don’t worry, Chan Hyung.” Jisung confidently tries to reassure the older, “See, I’ve got it already.”
Jisung balances precariously on the pile as he pulls the wagon out. He bends down with the wagon in his hands and passes it to Chan. Chan takes it, and places it next to the other wagon they grabbed. He then rushes back to help Jisung down.
Jisung shifts his body to get a better look at where he can place his feet to start climbing down, but his sudden movement causes him to lose his footing. Jisung comes plummeting down.
“No!” Chan shouts, throwing his body underneath Jisung’s in an attempt to catch him.
The momentum of two bodies crashing to the ground causes a cloud of dust to billow into the air.
“Ugh!” Jisung groans from above Chan.
Chan lets out a sigh, thankfully he caught the boy. They ended up on the ground. The two lie there for a minute, Jisung on top of Chan, letting their rapidly beating hearts calm to a more reasonable pace. Here and there they let out a cough, and a few sneezes due to the dust.
The dust soon settles, Jisung, and Chan are able to breath more steadily, well, as steady as Chan can with a human on top of him.
“You okay Sungie? Any injuries?” Chan worriedly asks the younger, giving him a once-over as he pushes the younger to his feet. Jisung then helps Chan stand up.
“Nope, you broke my fall. You okay, Hyung?” Jisung returns the question.
“Yeah, I think so.” Chan quickly looks down at himself. He doesn’t feel any pain, and there doesn’t appear to be any blood on either of them, just a bit of dust.
Chan dusts off his clothes, “Let’s get back to the others.”