Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The projection buzzes in front of his face, the light mocking him as he stares at the two pictures beside each other, with a 'vs' in the middle. One was the picture of a boy with silver hair and green eyes while the other had black hair and black eyes. He grips his hands tight in a fist, feeling waves of anger, sorrow and frustration hit him like a truck. He smashes his fists against the projector and watches it flick in and out of the focus. 

“Tsk,” Ivan retracts his hands. The battle is tomorrow, shown by a timer sitting outside his window on top of the stage. With every passing second, the numbers go down. Even through the silence of his room, Ivan could hear the haunting tik, tik, tik as the the timer is lowered.There must be something he could do, to prevent the soon to happen performance between him and Till-

God, he doesn’t even know how the boy is doing . The last time he saw him was when he was passed out by the sofa, eyebrows furrowed with dried tears staining his skin.

He looked tired, so tired. 

Ivan had felt his heart throb at the sight, he couldn’t help himself from shielding the silver haired man away from prying eyes (if there even were any). He’d gently caressed his face and leaned in close, so close he could feel silver strands tickling his nose. In the spur of the moment, he planted his lips on the side of his cheeks. It was a small, quick thing, but it made him feel everything. He wanted to whisk the man away, to sooth the pain that clouded Till’s everyday. But he held himself back, as much as he despised and hated the aliens, he wasn’t strong enough to fight back, not against their guns and weapons. So he turned the thought away and placed his hands underneath Till’s head and legs, picking him up and walking back to Till’s room. 

He had put off the battle for quite some time, trying his best not to think about the possibility of Till bleeding out on stage beneath his feet. But the timer counting down showed him the gravity of the situation, that if he didn’t do anything about it soon one of them would be bleeding out on the floor. He didn’t want that to happen, not in a million years. 

He stabled his staggering breath and made his way out his room. It was about time that he did something about it. There weren’t any guards patrolling outside the halls, mostly because they knew there were no chance of ‘pets’ ever escaping, since the building was highly secured from top to bottom. Mizi’s escape proved them otherwise, Ivan mused, arriving in front of a familiar room with the letters ‘Till’ imprinted on the front. He punches the code from memory and enters the dim lit room. 

The room was empty, nothing but music papers scattered on the floor. Ivan can see scribbled notes and crumbled paper thrown together in a small pile, evident of Till’s work over the years. He moves closer to the man sitting in front of the window, head hung low, unresponsive. He kneels down in front of Till, bringing a hand to his cheek as he tilted his head up to meet his eyes. Till looked back at him, his green eyes devoid of the light they once held. Till doesn’t react to his touch, and Ivan feels himself frown. Bad day or not, Till would usually shout at him to take his hand away or roll his eyes in annoyance… he isn’t used to seeing Till like this. Ever since Mizi’s disappearance, Till has been heart broken, nothing Ivan did could bring him out of his stupor. Worst, the aliens had questioned him time and time again, drugging him when he would lash out or talk against them. 

And all because of Mizi Ivan thought bitterly.

“Till,” Ivan called out. He sees Till’s eyes focus on him, aware of his presence but not entirely. Shit, he’s drugged.

“I need you to listen to me, when I bring you out of your room I want you to follow me. I’ll be grabbing your hand so you won’t get lost, don’t worry.” 

Ivan can see Till’s pupil expand as he makes a noise of confusion, “don’t worry about anything and just stick close to me. I’m getting us out of here for good.” 

“What?”

“We’re escaping, I’m not battling you tomorrow.” 

Till vaguely registers his words, and tries to fight the grip Ivan has on his hand. Ivan doesn’t let go, only helping the struggling man to his feet. 

“No no! Let go.” 

Ivan ignored his attempts at removing himself and tugs Till along. 

“Let go! We… We need to stay-”

“For what?” Ivan assesses Till with cold eyes, irritation clear in his voice. 

“What is it that’s making you stay? Mizi is no longer here, she’s gone. The aliens are sure as hell not going to stop injecting drugs into you like a lab rat for as long as you stay. So what is holding you back?” His voice cuts through the silence, sharp as a knife. Ivan doesn’t want to hurt Till’s feelings, but he needs to get that through his thick head. 

“Tell me Till, what is making you stay? Do you seriously want me to believe you want to join the battle tomorrow, that- you want to pitch us against each other?” He mumbles the last part, mostly to himself. 

Till pauses, “No.. no I don’t want that, I don’t want to fight you!” 

“Then what?” 

Till looks at him, his eyes pleading him to not put him in this situation but Ivan does anyway, because he wants to understand. For the longest time he has known Till, he was only able to see the surface of those deep green eyes. No matter how hard he tried, how much he had stayed by his side, he still couldn’t read the man. 

“I…” Till starts, “I just… what if Mizi comes back? What if she needs our help and we're not there?”

Ivan’s face darkens, “Seriously, Mizi again?” he lets out a hollow laugh. 

“It’s always been her isn’t it, even for the first time we escaped It’s always been her.” Ivan puts a hand through his hair and lets out a choked laugh. “You know what? Let’s put it this way. Mizi is out there, and you sure as hell know she’s not coming back, not on her own account at least. She’s out there, waiting, hoping that you and I will make it out too. She knows about our next battle, do you want her to think about her friends battling against one another?” 

“That…” Till stills, his lips forming a thin line. 

“She’s out there, waiting for us, possibly waiting for you .” he forces a smile at Till.

Till searches his face, “You… think so?” 

“Absolutely.” 

The hand resisting his hold stops moving, and Ivan realizes that Till has agreed to the plan. He shoots him a smile.

“What?” Till questions him, his lips curl down in annoyance. A familiar expression that Ivan is glad to see. 

“Nothing, just follow me and stay close.” He lets go of Till and moves towards the front of the door. 

If the both of them wanted to escape, Ivan had to be extremely careful. He had escaped before when they were little, but that didn’t mean the security of ‘pets’ didn’t change. They’re also no longer inside Anakt garden, which means that he is no longer familiar with the building’s layout. But that wasn’t going to stop him. Mizi’s escape had caught both him and Till totally off guard, he wasn’t made aware that there would be rebels entering the building, especially that they were going to rescue the participants of Alien stage. 

He keyed in the code to the door and led them both outside, there was currently no one patrolling around the hallways, good.  

With Mizi’s recent escape, the aliens have been more on guard and increased their security. Strangely the security near the contestant’s living area was never increased, Ivan thinks it’s because they didn’t want to stress out the contestant’s practice sessions, which is ironic for a life and death game. 

He’s grateful for it either way since it just made snooping around easier.  

“Down the hall to the left there, we should be able to see the exit to the participants room.” 

Till regarded him with a look, “how do you even know that?” 

“I have my ways,” Ivan smirked, Till rolled his eyes.

“You snooped around.”

Ivan didn’t answer and only led them further down the hall, he made sure to peek his head out left and right to check for guards. Luckily, there was none. Though that would quickly change, because as they made their way out they heard the shouting of frustrated soldiers and gun shots ring in the air. 

“Fuck, what is going on?” Till questioned behind him, unable to fully see the scene behind Ivan. 

“I’m not sure…” 

Ivan assessed the situation in front of him, there seemed to be multiple guards rushing along the long hallway connecting to the one they just exited. There were alarms blaring everywhere, red blinking lights covering the white pristine walls. Guards ran down the hallway in swarms, most of them running past their hiding spot. 

“What do you see?” 

“Not much that I can make out.” Ivan answers truthfully. He could only hear the guards rushing forward, but now what they were rushing to. 

There was no way they could continue down this path, it was obvious that they would only get caught if they did. Ivan bit the inside of his lip and thought of another way they could go around the hallway. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees a small opening on the opposite side of the wall, hidden behind a pile of boxes, so small that he would have missed it if he didn’t look closely. 

“There.” Ivan made sure that the guards had all run past them before making way to the pile of boxes. He pushed a few aside to reveal a small vent. Its screws were loose and the piece of metal was already falling open. Ivan got in the vent with Till following behind. As Till secured the vent’s opening, they heard another swarm of guards run past them, this time with them only being able to see their feet. 

The space was cramped in a way they had to be on their knees to move, but not tight enough that they had to lay on their stomachs to crawl. The vent only had the width for one person at a time so Ivan was leading the front. 

“What now?” 

"We keep moving." Ivan answered, crawling forward as quietly as possible. He wasn't sure why there would be guards screaming and shouting back at the hallway, but if he had to guess he could only narrow it down to one reason, rebels . 

If the rebels were still here fighting or hiding. Then maybe he could find them and request them to take both him and Till too. Surely they'd help them? Were they not the same competitors they wanted to save? 

The tunnel was coming to a stop, opening two pathways in front of them. One left, the other right. Ivan stopped and felt Till bump into his back.

"What is it now?" He asked quietly, trying to look over Ivan. 

"There's two pathways in front of us. I'm not sure which to choose."

"Pick the one on the right.” 

“What-” Ivan turned his head back to look at Till, “Are you sure? How do you know, you’re not hallucinating again are you?” He added with a soft voice.

“... I’m offended you think that, but no. I still may be under the influence but my owner once brought me to a hallway leading to two rooms. If I line it up in my head, it’s probably somewhere below where we’re crawling now.” 

“Oh, that’s really smart.” 

Till chuckled, “Thanks.” 

“So we just choose the right path?” Ivan asked, already crawling his way towards the right turn. “Where does the path lead to anyways?” 

“Dunno,” Till shrugged, “But it’s still better than the left. The left just leads to the rooms of lower participants, the participants that are still in round one or two. He brought me there to…” Till trails off, before quieting himself. 

Ivan narrows his gaze in front, now that Till mentioned it, wasn’t that the same path he took when he found Till passed out beside the couch? He silently clenched his fist, he won’t let another Alien touch or even come near Till ever again, he swore on it. 

“We're here.” Ivan anouncess, giving Till a quick heads up as he observed the surrounding through the small gaps of the vent. It appears to be a supply room, tubes filled with strange liquid line up the walls and wires scatter the floor. Ivan couldn’t make out what was in the liquid but he made a note that there were no Aliens or guards in the room. Carefully, he pried the vent door off it’s hinges. Surprised that the screws, were once again loosened. 

He gave a hand to Till and helped the man up once they crawled out. Without the limited vision of the vent Ivan can better make out the room they were in. It was the experimental room, where they kept all the drugs and syringes they inject to humans when the ‘pets’ were not behaving. Till remains quiet, and he wraps two hands around his elbows, turning his gaze away from the tools on the table. Ivan pulls lightly on his arm to lead him away to the further end of the room. He wanted to cover Till’s eyes and bring the silver haired man to an embrace, but held himself back. Till seemed more out of it than usual, he flinched when Ivan grabbed his arm, it was immediately forced down as soon as his shoulder went up but Ivan saw it anyways. 

“Don’t look there, it serves no good for the both of us anyways.” 

“Mn.” 

They searched the room for another while, trying to find a pathway or an exit, anything that can help them leave. The experimental room was surprisingly big, it was even bigger than both his and Till’s room combined. There was no indication of any exits other than the door at the front, they had considered taking that door. But it seemed too great of a risk since it was most likely connected to the main hallways where the guards patrolled. 

“There’s no other exit other than the vent we came in from.” Till notes, walking closer to Ivan so that he’s practically sticking to the other man. 

Ivan lets Till lean on him.  “We don’t have another choice.” 

Till nods, but makes a curious sound when he sees something moving at the far end of the corner they hadn’t searched before. He freezes. 

“What?” Ivan asks, noticing that something wrong. 

“The corner back there, I- I saw something moving.” Till’s voice came in a tremble, Ivan clasped his hand over Till’s.

“I’ll go take a look.” 

“Wait, dont-”

Ivan was already moving towards the corner, slow and careful footsteps approaching the big pillar of liquid filled tube. If it was an alien or guard, that meant that they were alone. They wouldn’t have hidden from the both of them otherwise. Ivan wasn’t confident in his ability to take down potential alien guards, but he did know how to throw a punch or two. If they were to leave and let the alien guard escape, their location would be exposed and worst, they could be captured again. Ivan was not going to let that happen. 

He reaches the front of the pillar, and faintly hears some ruffles behind it, he puts his hands on the tube and looks behind. But before he could take a closer look, a kick is sent flying at him. One that he quickly evades and grabs with his hand, one that was… a human leg? Ivan looks up. 

“Ivan?” a feminine voice asks, just as surprised as he was. 

Ivan felt his breath catch in his throat

“Mizi.” 

He lets go of the leg and the girl with short pink hair stares back at him. Behind her was another girl, she had darker brown hair and was lying on the wall with a hand on her side. A rebel , Ivan thought. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry I thought you were and alien or a guard I-”

“It’s ok Mizi,” Ivan holds two hands up in front of his chest “I thought you were one too.”

“Oh.” Mizi breathes a sigh of relief, a tired smile on her lips. But as if her thoughts had caught up to the present, she widened her eyes. “You escaped.”

Ivan nods at her, “Yeah, we did.”

“We?”

Just at that moment, a smaller figure jogs up behind them. “Ivan? Are you hurt, is it a guard-”

TIll stops when his gaze lands on Mizi. 

“...Mizi?” 

Mizi gasps "Till?"

Ivan watches as the two stare at each other, Mizi switching her gaze from Ivan then at Till. Suddenly a wide grin spread on her lips and she pulls the two together for a hug. 

"I'm so glad you're safe!" She cried, squeezing her arms tight around their necks. "I was so worried about you." 

"W- we're glad you're safe too…" Till adds shyly. Ivan could see the light return to his eyes once again and looks away, feeling something twist in his heart. 

Mizi pulls back, "if you guys are out here and the Aliens haven't set off another alarm and announcement. That means they haven't noticed you missing yet."

"But there were red alarms everywhere when we went out just now." Ivan questions.

Mizi laughs and puts a hand on her neck, "Well that was for… us, more or less." 

Ivan trails his gaze back down to the woman on the floor. She was gazing at them with calculating eyes, but not unfriendly. 

"This is Hyuna" Mizi Introduces, "One of the rebels that got me out, I was fighting Luka on stage before I was dragged away by a guard. Turns out the guard was Hyuna in disguise, and she brought me out.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hyuna smiled at the both of them, Till cocked his head at the girl and nodded. 

“Nice to meet you too, thank you for getting Mizi out.”

“No problem, I was going to come back for you two after getting her out. But… as you can see.” Hyuna removed her hand from her side, and Ivan could see the dark red staining her clothes. 

Ivan hissed, “You’re injured..”

“Yeah, we’re resting here for a bit. But it won’t be long before the aliens find out. We should get a move on.” Hyuna tried to stand up and Mizi went to support her side.

“Are you sure you can walk?”

“Don’t underestimate me pinky, I’m much tougher than I look.” She cocked a smile, “Oh, and you two. Since you’re already out and we were going to come back for you anyways, wanna join us?” 

Ivan nods, this was the best case scenario for the both of them anyways. Till agrees behind him, swaying a bit on his feet. Ivan supported gim by wrapping an arm around the man, bringing him closer so that he could lean all his weight onto Ivan. Mizi does the same to Hyuna, though she helps the black haired girl wrap an arm around her instead. 

“We’re not far from the exit, me and my team have memorized the layout of the building. This is the storage room, where they keep the out of date drugs and shit. The tubes over there are energy sources, helps em with running the building.”

Hyuna winces as they made their way through a secret passage behind the tube. One both him and Till missed despite their search. 

“This was here the entire time?” Till gaped, as Ivan ushered him to enter first. 

“Of course, you didn’t think we’d dig an escape passage way out in the open did you?”

“Well no, but I didn’t expect this.”

The passage came to a halt as light poured in from the exit. As soon as Ivan made it out behind everyone, he could see they were back at the public hallways, though this time at the entrance of the main building rather than the back. Aliens with their human ‘pets’ sat in the lounge areas, enjoying glasses of champagne and alcohol. Some were even playing black jack, laughing as they bid their best ‘pets’ while holding onto cards. The sight made Ivan recoil in disgust as he pulled Till a little closer to himself.

“Do we sneak out to the exit?” Mizi asks, peeking her head out from where they hid behind a wall. 

“No, actually we're going there.” 

The three of them looked down to where Hyuna was pointing, seeing a flight of stairs leading to the bottom floor. 

“Issac and Dewey are waiting for us in a getaway car. I lost connection with them when we were attacked. But they’re prepared to drive us off as soon as we get on.” 

Mizi nodded at her explanation and held her tighter around her shoulders. Ivan looked down at Till, who was sweating slightly in his arms. 

“Alright, now we just have to sneak off-”

“Everybody please remain in your seats, we’ve got reports that rebels have infiltrated our building, they have taken three of our top participants and are now hiding somewhere inside the building. We are shutting down any cars that enter or exits and we ask for everybodies understanding. Please stay alert and report to the guards for any suspicious behavior, thank you.” 

Hyuna curses underneath her breath as an uproar of the aliens swarm the guards. Some were stomping their tentacled legs while others were spilling their champagne on the floor. The whole room turned into a mess of angry aliens, all asking to leave the building and not wanting to stay longer than they intended for the night. 

Ivan watched the guards calm them down and escort them all down the hall, away from the exit while more guards prepared their troops at the entrance. When all of the aliens were gone, a group of guards remained, Ivan frowned. 

“Fuck..” Hyuna grits, scanning the area. "Why did the pesky guards have to show up now."

"Is there a way to get past them?" Mizi asks.

"Not without getting caught."

Just as Hyuna finishes, a guard walks right by their hiding spot. The four of them quickly hid behind the wall once again and lowered their voice down to a whisper. 

"This is the only way down, the others are all packed with surveillance more strict than this one. We'll have to make do."

Mizi ran a hand through her hair, "how? They're armed, we'll just get shot if we go out there."

Hyuna puts a hand on her chin, then closes her eyes to think. 

"We'll need a distraction, something to draw the guards attention away from the stairs long enough so we can escape. But we don't have-"

"How about I go up there to distract them?" 

All eyes turn to Ivan as he raises his hand. 

"What- no. Are you insane?!" Till whisper yells, finally speaking since they came out of the passage. 

Ivan regards him with a smile. 

"We need a distraction and we don’t have anything other than ourselves. Me, Till and Mizi are part of the escaped participants. It would be no surprise that the aliens would want to keep us alive so we can continue to perform, though there is still a chance that we might get shot. The competitors for the next round are me and Till, and the aliens will do everything in their power not to disappoint the crowd. The chances of them capturing us alive is higher than both you and Mizi. Till is still under the influence, there would be no telling how long he can fend them off if he were to go out. Therefore, I am the only option left.” 

“Still that’s too dangerous-”

“Alright.” 

Mizi looks over at Hyuna shocked, “But thats-”

“Risky? I know. But it’s the only option we have.” 

Hyuna points a finger at Ivan, sticking it at his chest. 

“Listen here big guy, I might not know you but if what you said is true, then the worst case scenario would be them dragging you back to your room and giving you one hell of a beating for escaping. We don’t have much time left, if that is the risk we have to take, I’ll take it.” 

She gives him a wink “You sure you're up for that big guy?”

Ivan smiles, the top of his pointy teeth peeking out. 

“Yes.” 

“Then it’s settled. You go out and distract the guards while me and Mizi here," She drags the girl by the arm and ruffles her hair. "Will handle the rest." 

"I still don’t like this.” Till grumbles, but agrees anyway. He keeps looking back at Mizi, as if trying to ground himself. Ivan places both his hands on his shoulders. 

“Why? Worried about me?” 

Till glares at him, though it lacked any heat, and shrugs them off. “No, I’m not. Now get going.” 

Ivan merely chuckles before grabbing one of Till’s hands and gently gliding his lips over it. He watched as the man yelp in surprise and dragging his hands back. Ivan was glad that he got to see the annoyed and flustered expression of Till once again. He was doing much better now than when Ivan first found him lifeless in his room. There was no thought on his mind when he volunteered to be the distraction, other than the fact that If they delayed any longer they wouldn't be able to escape. Till wouldn't be able to escape.  

The whole explanation on why he was the best choice was bullshit at best, he didn't even know if the aliens would take him alive after trying to escape. In the eyes of the Aliens, they were nothing but misbehaving animals. Pets that were rebelling against their owners, pets that can be put down for it. Ivan wouldn't put it past them to shoot him on the spot if necessary. But he wasn't lying when he said the aliens wouldn't want to disappoint the crowd. The audience is the heart of the program after all. 

Ivan walks out of the hiding spot, walking towards the guards all armed with guns. They raise the weapons when they see him.

"Stop, Ivan, competitor of round 6. Put your hands up and do not resist."

"Oh my, it seems there's been a misunderstanding. I was merely out for a stroll and lost my way." He walks towards the guards with his hands raised, using his body to cover up the hiding spot behind him. 

He hasn't heard them move yet, there was no shuffling of feet. Instead it was silent, too silent. 

"I promise I wasn't trying to escape, I was distracted by the pretty lights coming from the lounge and followed the aliens who were making their way here. When I wanted to go back, I found out I was lost." He adds a remorseful tone to his voice, keeping his head low. He can’t help but want to look back at what they were planning, when was Hyuna going to make her move?

"Cameras have shown you and participant Till sneaking out of your rooms into the hallway. We have every right to suspect your attempt to escape. You are to come with us to the questioning room."

Ivan bit his lip, he couldn't keep the act any longer. If Hyuna didn't act now, then he would actually be taken.

"I'm sure there's been some misunderstanding, if you could lower your guns down and-"

"You are not to speak and not to resist. We will bring you back to the questioning room and that's final."

Ivan frowned, one of the guards was closing in on him, white collar in his hand. The guard reached his hand up close to his neck, and was about to click on the collar when all of a sudden, gunshots rang through the hallway.

"Ivan duck!"

Ivan falls to his knees and hears the guards behind him scream in pain. He lifts his head up to see Hyuna and Mizi aiming their pistols at the guards, firing like crazy. 

"Activate your shields, activate your shields! the enemies have weapons-"

The guard falls to their knees when Hyuna fires a few extra rounds at his back. Ivan watches the alien's blue blood spray on the carpet and takes the gun which had fallen with the alien into his hands. He puts it under his arms like how he always observed the guards do it, and pulled his finger on the trigger. A sea of bullets rained on the alien guards. 

A bullet scraped Ivan's cheeks as he ran backwards to where the others are. Hyuna has already made it down the stairs and was signaling him to come along. Ivan fired one last round of bullets before closing the door shut behind him. Mizi taking a stick she found on the ground to jam it through the door handle. 

"Come one, let's go. That won't hold them forever."

Ivan nods and Mizi leads him further down the flight of stairs until they reach an empty floor filled with nothing but crates. 

"This way! I got a signal from them. I already told them we're coming."

They ran behind Hyuna and Ivan spots a black pick up truck with two men inside, beckoning them in. 

"Isaac, Dewey, start the engines!"

"You got it Boss- wait is that Ivan and Till?"

"Yes, now hurry up. We've got aliens on our tails."

The guy with light blue messy hair and muscular build nods at her. The vehicle screeches against the floor and drives through the crates at the front. It was only then that Ivan realized, the crates were there to cover up the car.

Large metal doors leading to the outside opened up, Ivan could see the desert night sky. He was snapped out of it by the sound of a door breaking down. The car let out a loud virr as it drove straight at the still opening doors. 

"Oh my god!" Mizi screamed, her hair blowing in the wind. 

"Just a little more." The muscular man muttered. Ivan could hear the shouts of guards behind them.

"Just a little more, and... now!"

The guy beside him with a scar on his face pressed down on a device on his hand. Explosions rang out through the entrance of the building, setting off alarms in the distance as Ivan covered his ears. 

"Oh my god." Till breathed, and Ivan couldn't blame him. He too was shocked by the unexpected explosions. 

"Haha success!" Hyuna shouts, one of her hands in the air as they drove off into the desert. Her dark brown hair fluttering wildly in the wind. 

"You did it again Isaac, nice going with bombs. That’ll take them weeks to repair."

The man Isaac blushed a little at the compliment. 

"Thanks boss, you did good too- Boss? Boss!"

Hyuna fell onto the truck's floor and sucked in multiple harsh breaths. The man with a scar- Isaac is by her side within seconds. It was only now that Ivan remembered about the gun wounds Hyuna sustained. She must have endured the pain all the way while they were escaping, and only gave in when they were in the car.

"Fuck, she's injured. Dewey! We need to give her medical attention pronto." 

"Roger that." The man named Dewey replied. 

Mizi was close to tears but she held them back, Ivan noticed that her forehead was creased with how much she was frowning. Till had wanted to go comfort her, but Mizi told him to stay. Telling him that he needed to rest since the drug was still running in his system. Till looked reluctant, but complied nonetheless. 

A frown struck Ivan's lips when he watched their interaction. Though it was quickly gone when Till sat down beside him, their shoulders touching. 

"You okay? You're awfully quiet."

"Shut up asshole." Till sighed, "I just… can't believe we escaped."

The wind is blowing at both of their hairs, and Ivan kept his eyes straight as he watched Isaac dig out the bullet lodge in Hyuna's side, apologizing for the pain as Hyuna bit tightly on her lower lips and squeezed Mizi's hand.

"Me too."

Till had his gaze downcasted, his vision going blurry as he feels fatigue tug on his mind. 

"Sleep, the drug hasn't been fully digested yet. you'll feel better when you wake up."

Till nods, "okay."

Ivan puts his hands on his shoulder, bringing the smaller man closer to him.

"I'll wake you up when we get there, when we’re far away from this place . "

Chapter Text

The car rocks along the road, occasionally bumping up and down. Ivan looks up at the night sky, the same skies that he observed from his room, locked away. He had once placed his palm on the window, wishing to see the stars up close. Now he reaches the same hand up high, no longer separated from it through a window. 

Till is beside him, a thin blanket covering up to his shoulders as his chest rises and falls evenly. A few strands of silver hair fall down to his face, and Ivan reaches up to push it back behind his ears. 

Mizi has fallen asleep beside Hyuna,  the brown haired girl lying peacefully on her lap. Isaac had helped patch up the wound with whatever they had on the truck, it was much more serious than any of them had thought. Though it didn’t hit any of her vitals, the bullet was lodged deep inside her side. Ivan was surprised with how long Hyuna held on, taking in the fact that she had to constantly move around while firing her pistol. 

He was grateful that most of them were able to get out unscathed. It felt like a dream to finally be away and out of the alien’s control. 

Ivan placed his nose on top of Till’s head, feeling the silver strands tickle his cheeks. This was real, he tells himself, they were out. What they would do after this, they’ll figure it out when the time comes. He doesn’t know if Till would want to stay with him, considering the girl he cared so much about was right in front of him. But he thinks that’s ok. As long as Till was safe, Ivan would be glad. He would follow Till even if the man choses Mizi time and time again.

The truck rocks once more, and the blanket slips off Till’s shoulder. Ivan reaches it and covers it back up. 

“We’re almost there” Isaac exclaims, getting up from where he sat on the trunk. He was the one who gave out the blankets. 

“We’re dropping by a nearby bunker, not the main. We have to get her patched up before we get moving again, can’t risk an infection.” He nods at Hyuna. “Is he alright over there?”

Ivan notices he’s looking at Till, his eyes questioning. He must have heard Mizi telling him to rest from the drug.

“He’s fine” Ivan replies “He just needs to get the drug out of his system. It’s one of the lower dosages since our round was coming up and the aliens wanted him to sing.”

“They drugged him?” Isaac’s face drops.

“Yeah, and every other who ‘misbehaves’.” 

Ivan watched the man's face switch to pity and remained quiet. 

“You two look close, is he your friend?”

Ivan softens his eyes, “.Yeah…he means a lot to me.”

“They were gonna put you against each other,” Isaac lowered his voice, “I’m glad we could get you out before that happened.” 

“We would have escaped either way, I wasn’t going to fight him.” Ivan looks down at Till. “I care too much for that.” 

Isaac smiles, “I can tell.”  

“Get your asses ready, we’re almost there.” Dewey, the muscular man driving, called back. Ivan felt the car slow down as they turned towards the right. He looked up to see miles upon miles of endless sand, nothing to show the entrance of a bunker. They had just stopped in the middle of the desert. 

“Where’s the bunker?” He asked, watching Hyuna stir on Mizi’s lap while pushing herself up. 

“Underground,” She yawned, wincing when she felt her side pull. “Hidden away from plain sight.”

“Careful Hyuna, we still need to get you stitched up before you go blasting aliens again.” 

“Listen to Dewey boss, it’s best that you rest up and heal first.” 

Hyuna dismisses both men with a wave, pushing herself up to her feet. Mizi groans beside her, waking up when she felt the weight on her lap shift. 

“Hyuna?” 

“Rise and shine pinky, we’ve arrived.” 

Ivan watched Isaac sigh and pull out a remote from his pockets. The man pressed a few buttons and the ground underneath them shook. He instinctively clutched onto Till, who was stirring awake as well.

“Welcome to the bunker new recruits, we have food, snacks, water and even a functioning shower if you want to wash off the dirt and alien goo.” Dewey laughed. The ground beneath them started to lower, the sand falling down the hole which had opened up below. The whole truck shook as the platform lowered. Ivan watched the opening slowly close above his head, clouding his surroundings in darkness, though not for long. A sets of bright lights flickered on right after the platform closed tight, Isaac was already getting ready and jumping down. 

“We’ll be staying here for the night, it’s not too far from Alien stage but far enough to remain undetected.” He said, helping the injured Hyuna get down from the truck. Hyuna took his hand gratefully and landed on her feet with Mizi following behind. 

“We’re setting off the next morning, bright and early. The machine’s readings show that there would be a sand storm tomorrow that’s likely going to last for a whole day. It would be best that we reach the main bunker before that happens.” 

Ivan gives her a nod and watch Isaac bring her to where he assumed was the infirmary. He looks back at Till, who was staring at Mizi following the others. He offered the silver haired man a hand and got down from the truck. 

"I'm gonna follow Mizi" Till says, already moving towards the group in front. But Ivan doesn't let go of his hand and pulls him back. 

"What?" Till glances back.

Ivan is silent for a while, then lets go of his hand. "Nothing."

Till raises an eyebrow at his strange behavior but shrugs it off, they make their way further into the area. Ivan noticed that the bunker wasn't much different than the interior of Alien stage. In fact, they had the same bright lights on the ceiling and winding hallways that led to different rooms. What stood out the most though, was the metal wall hung with different weapons on top. Guns, knives, grenades, and all weapons that Ivan could ever think of hangs perfectly on the wall. He let his gaze fall on all of them, thinking back to the gun he picked from the fallen guard. Will he be able to spill more alien blood if he used one of them again? That would make protecting both himself and Till much easier. 

They continued to follow the others. Till was much more awake than yesterday, but Ivan noticed he’d still tremble every now and then, a side effect of the drugs. Ivan puts his arms around Till, playing it off as being mischievous when a particular shiver has the silver haired man clattering his teeth. Till acknowledged him with a grumble, but otherwise didn’t shake him off. 

Mizi and the others eventually arrived to of a room with a green plus sign. Isaac helped Hyuna onto a bed and took out a first aid kit along with some bandages, taking out out a clean white cloth and handing it to her. 

"Here, you can bite it while I clean up the wound boss." He looks at the others, "The rest of you can leave. The boss is in safe hands, you don't need to stay."

 "Are you sure?" Mizi asks.

"Don't worry, Isaac has treated my wounds more times than I can count." Hyuna answers, her eyes traveling to Ivan and Till at the back. 

"And you two, the bunker’s big, you can check out the facilities we've got then rest up for the night. I’m sure you can use some of the showers we have to get all the grime off.” 

Till flushes, and Ivan chuckles. They did need a good shower after all. Hyuna puts the cloth in her mouth and waves the three of them off. 

“We’ve got some food at the back too. Dewey’s probably cooking something up in the kitchen right now, if you ask he might give some to you.” Isaac said, taking out a needle and pulling a string through it. 

Ivan nods, “Thanks for the tip,” 

With that Isaac waved them goodbye.

When they got to the kitchen they indeed saw Dewey cooking on the stove. The man offered them a plate when he saw the three of them walk in, telling them that he was cooking up some stew. Mizi gleefully accepted one as she made her way to sit behind the kitchen counter. Dewey asked if Till wanted any, but the boy just said he’ll take a shower first, and to leave him the leftovers if there’s any. 

Ivan watched Till leave curiously, sure that the man would want to spend time with Mizi, therefore would have asked for a plate. He told Dewey the same thing, saying that he too would go take a shower and eat the leftovers. Dewey made an okay sign with his hands and told them where they could find extra clothes in the closet room, along with the way to the shower. 

Ivan thanked him with a smile while Till made his way to the closet room looking for new clothes. 

The shower room wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. It was just big enough to fit around three to four people, and to Ivan's surprise, there was shower gel and shampoo bottles on the floor. 

Till turned the tap on, “why did you decline Dewey’s offer for food, aren’t you hungry?”

Ivan looked over at Till, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “I didn’t decline Dewey’s offer, I simply asked for the leftovers, like you did.” 

Till rolls his eyes, crossing his hands above his head to take off his shirt. Ivan had to look away before he saw something he shouldn’t.

“Well there’s a chance that there won’t be any left. What would you eat then?”

“Why are you asking me this when the same question applies to you?”

Till shrugs, “Cuz it doesn’t really matter to me. My master would sometimes miss my meals so I’m used to not eating.” 

He takes off his pants and walks underneath the shower head, sighing when the water splashes his head. Ivan turns on his tap and does the same, squirting some shampoo on his hands and rubbing the gel on his hands, he watched the bubbles form on his palm before applying them onto his scalp. 

“That’s not healthy, and you’re not under your master’s control now. You can eat whenever you like.” Ivan sighs. When he was still back in Anakt garden, he would sneak candies or small snacks for the boy. He knew that Till was being kept in a different room than the rest of them, because the aliens had him locked up for ‘disobeying’. But that was in the past, they had escaped and found a place where they could live the lives they’d always dream of. 

“You really should eat more, it would help build your muscles.” 

Till scoffs, “Not everyone has a natural lean built like you Ivan, shut your trap and just focus on washing up.” 

Ivan laughs at Till’s annoyance, it was much more refreshing to hear than the monotone and lifeless tone he had before. 

“I’ll shut up if you promise to eat after we’re done.” 

Till glares at him while Ivan just holds his stare, a mischievous smile on his face like he knows he’s won the argument. Till turns away and pouts. 

“Fine, but only if there's any left over.”

“Good.” 

They continued to shower in comfortable silence, the sound of water splattering on the floor echoing the entire room. Ivan rubs the shower gel across his skin, watching it catch on some blue blood and washing down the drain. He flexes his arms to put the bottle of shower gel down, but winces when he feels stinging on his skin. He turns his arm over to find a cut on it, thin and shallow. A bullet must have grazed it when he was running. He runs it under the water. 

“Tsk.” 

“What’s wrong?” 

Till turns over from where he’d finished rinsing his body. He saw the cut on Ivan's arm and inched closer. 

“Did you get hurt?”

“A bullet must have scraped it when I was running, I must have missed it when we were running.”

Till nods then reaches his hand up to cup Ivan’s face, Ivan stiffened at the sudden movement and stared wide eyed at Till.

“You have a cut on your cheek too, I wanted to mention it before but couldn’t find the right time.” 

Ivan felt Till ghost a thumb over the cut, and suddenly he can feel it throb beneath his skin. He’s glad that he had his bangs down, it wasn’t enough to cover his face but it was enough to cover his ears, which he’s sure to be a dark red. 

“You didn’t think to tell me when we were at the infirmary?” He tried to joke, keeping his cool. 

Till stopped his movements, and looked to the side guiltily. “I uh- might have forgotten about it when I woke up.” 

Finally Till retracted his hands back and turned off the shower tap. 

“You should probably get those cuts patched up, I don’t think it’s deep enough to need stitches. But it’s better to avoid an infection while you can.” With that, he swings a towel around his lower half and exits through the door, leaving Ivan to stand alone, with water raining down his skin in the shower. 

Ivan stares off to where Till had last been at the door, and closes the shower tap. He made sure the door was fully closed, before running a hand down his face. He took a nearby towel to dry himself up and catches a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror.

He hides his face in his hands.

The next morning came quick, Ivan only had a few hours of shut eye before Dewey was barging into their rooms and waking them up. They had a quick breakfast, some pancakes that Dewey made with pancake flour. It tasted surprisingly good, much greater than the left over stew he had the day before. 

They saw Hyuna at the front of the truck, stretching her biceps as she yawned. From the looks of it, Isaac did a good job patching her up. She wore a tank top that showed her bandaged and patched side with Isaac was beside her, handing her a bulletproof chest piece. She gratefully accepted the chest piece and wore it over her tank top, covering her upper body entirely. 

“Remember, your stitches are still fresh. If you do more than you’re supposed to you’ll get them ripped.” 

“Yup.” 

Ivan can see Isaac sighing to himself as he watched Hyuna bend down to stretch her legs, obviously doing more than she’s supposed to and definitely not listening to the man beside her. 

He thinks he hears Isaac groan.

“Yo! Is everything ready?” A chirpy voice asks. Dewey walks towards the both of them with a lollipop in his mouth, followed by Ivan, Till and Mizi.

“Yup, sand storms coming in soon. So we’re trying to get a move on as fast as possible.” Hyuna replies, standing up on her feet. She waved to the three of them before going to the metal wall filled with guns and weaponry. Ivan watched with curiosity as Hyuna took off four long guns and handed two to Dewey and Isaac while keeping one for herself. She turned to Ivan and stretched out her hand.

“Here, I saw how you picked up the gun yesterday and fired it at the guards. Pretty neat job.” 

Ivan took the long gun in his hands and stared mindlessly at her, “I- thank you?” 

“Don’t mention it.” 

“Do I get one?” 

Both sets of eyes settle on the silver haired man, whose eyes were sparkling at the weapon in Ivan's possession.

Hyuna chuckled, “Depends, how good are you at splattering alien guts?”

Till grinned, “exceptional.” 

Ivan watched Hyuna mirror Till’s smile, she took another gun off the wall. but this time smaller than the one she gave the others. 

“I like you kid, take the pistol. From what I’ve heard, your body’s still weak from whatever those aliens injected in you. The pistol has a smaller recoil than the long guns and should take lesser toll on your body. You’ll have the chance to use the big guns once you fully recover.” 

Till looks a little disappointed at the choice of weaponry, but his lips quirk up nonetheless. 

“Thanks.” 

“No problem.” 

Hyuna beckons the two to quickly get on the truck while she grabbed another similar pistol and handed it to Mizi. Till settled in his spot beside Ivan, fumbling with the weapon in his hands. The pistol glinted underneath the artificial lights and Till traced his fingers over it. 

“Do you know how to shoot?” 

“I just gotta aim it and fire right? That’s what the guards usually do, what you did yesterday too.” Till explained, pretending to hold up the gun and fire at empty air. He closed his mouth in an ‘o’ making a ‘pew'.

Ivan chuckled, placing his own gun down at his side. “Well that’s one way to put it, it was my first time shooting yesterday. You have to actually aim to get the shots right.”

“It can’t be that hard, you did it perfectly fine.” 

“I did fine because there were swarms of guards, anywhere I shot was bound to hit something.” Ivan rolled his eyes. Dewey was the last one to get on the truck, taking his time adjusting the rear view mirror before pressing a button and opening up the platform above. Everyone was sitting inside the truck, when the early morning sky greeted them. 

Till sucked in a breath when he noticed the beautiful gradient of purple and orange, distant planets and stars were visible despite the rising sun, paired with translucent clouds that drift across the sky. It was breathtaking. Ivan can’t help the smile that tugs at his lips when Till subconsciously leaned on him to get a better view. 

“Did the stars always look like this?” Till gasped, watching the sunrise at the horizon. 

“Yeah,” Ivan found himself saying. His eyes lingering on how the sunlight catches on Till’s face, enhancing his features that made the crowds call for his name. 

The moment was cut short when Hyuna ordered Dewey to start driving, she gave a device with a screen and numbers to the man. It seemed like some sort of tracking device, the kind where light green lines connect in the middle to form a target.

“These are the coordinates, Isaac tracked them down earlier.” Hyuna explained, Dewey looked at the numbers written on the device and placed it on a holder beside the steering wheel. 

“Thanks, from the looks of it they’re not too far from where we are. We should be able to reach the bunker before midday.” 

Till quirks up and eyes the device in the holder, “why do we need to have a tracking device if we’re just heading back to the bunker? Don’t you guys know where it is?” 

Mizi also looked up at Hyuna, the same question in her eyes. 

“Oh… er, I guess we never really told you about the main bunker did we?” Hyuna scratched at her neck, “Well, our bunker is not exactly a place you see. It’s more of a… location.” 

Ivan raises his eyebrows, “A location?” 

“In order to avoid the aliens locating the hideout of the main bunker we had to keep the it moving.” she explained, while more confused stares direct themselves at Hyuna. 

“What I'm trying to say is, our bunker constantly moves around. All thanks to the technology left behind by the aliens in their spaceships.” 

“Wait, move around? Can a building even move?” Mizi questions. 

“The whole building is held up by a platform, the platform has mechanical moving legs exactly like the spaceships the aliens used when they landed on earth. And because those  technologies were taken from the aliens, it’s able to turn the entire bunker invisible. You’ll get it when you see it.” Hyuna grins and clasps her hands together. 

“Now with that’s out of the way, we’ve wasted enough time hanging around. It’s time to get the show on the road.”

Dewey steps hard on the gas when Hyuna finishes, digging the wheels into the sand as they sped away. Ivan feels the wind blow on his face and leans back to enjoy the ride. In all honesty, he was exhausted, despite their rest in the bunker the night before. Turns out sneaking through tunnels and shooting aliens was more draining then he originally thought, both mentally and physically. He looks at Till and feels some of the exhaustion lift, at least Till was out and safe. 

The skies were still a lovely color of purple orange, though it was more pinkish now than purple. Hyuna's description of the main bunker was…  different. It was certainly smart to have an invisible moving hideout, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited to see what it looks like. A part of him wonders if Till would like the bunker, if they could live in it together and travel the world. 

But when he starts to dream about the life they could have, Isaac starts messing with the machine in the holder.

"Strange, it keeps cutting in and out." He mumbles, the device that was showing a green target and coordinates was glitching. The numbers inside going up and down at an alarming rate. "I think something's wrong with the signal, It’s getting blocked." 

Dewey looks over at the device, as perplexed as Isaac was. Based on the expressions on their faces Ivan thinks that the machine glitching wasn't a normal occurrence. 

“Something might be wrong with the weather? We are going to experience a sand storm soon.” Dewey tried, but Isaac just shook his head. 

“We didn’t have this problem in the past, sand storm or not. I think something is deliberately trying to cut us off, or mess with our coordinates. It’s better to keep an eye out-”

Before Isaac could finish his sentence, a large explosion to their right cut him off. Dewey put his hands tightly on the wheels to keep the truck from falling over and even then he had a hard time getting it back under control. Ivan grabbed Till’s shoulders when the truck drifted across the sand and held onto his gun. 

“What was that!” Mizi screamed, taking out her own pistol and looking back towards the horizon. 

“I knew it,” Isaac interjected, his eyes scanning the device still in the holder. Its numbers were not just simply moving up and down, now it was rolling like a slot machine. Hyuna looked hurriedly at it before addressing Dewey. 

“They’ve tracked us down, the aliens must have set up a field that messes with the signals in a nearby vicinity.” She turns back around and grabs her gun, pointing it at something moving behind them. “Gear up guys, we have company.” 

In a second Ivan was on his feet, mirroring Hyuna’s stance as he pointed his gun at the cars behind them. There were three black cars, one in the middle and two on the side. The guards from Alien stage were in the vehicles, aiming their firearms straight at them. Dewey cursed underneath his breath and stepped harder on the gas, trying to create more distance between the two of them. 

“We need to get them off our tail. Dewey, try to shake them off. The rest of you,” Hyuna puts the gun up to her face.  “shoot at anything that moves.” 

A gunshot is fired from where Hyuna stood, it hits right onto one of the front view windows of the black car, injuring the guard that was inside and shattering the glass. The minute Hyuna ducked back down, rain of bullets fired towards them. Ivan tsked while sticking close to the wall of the truck.

Truth be told he wasn't confident in his gunmanship, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to back down. He didn’t want to let Hyuna have all the fun. 

"They're gaining in on us!" Isaac yells from beside Dewey, pulling out his own revolver. 

Ivan aimed with his long gun, trying to recall how the guards did it whenever they shot the competitors on stage. He looks through the target on top and aims it at the head of one of the guards, quickly he dips his hands down on the trigger and pulls. 

The bullet goes flying, hitting the guard on their arms rather than their chest. Ivan narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but was satisfied when the guard dropped his weapon to cling to his arm in pain. A small smirk painted his lips and he aimed to fire again. 

Till was right beside him, watching Ivan as he stared at the man ducking behind the truck then out to fire again. He held the pistol in his hand, feeling its heavy weight. Mizi was right beside Hyuna, firing her own pistol. But her moves weren't as fast as Ivan's, instead she focused on shooting the car's tires. 

Till was about to get up and try to shoot himself when something banged onto the car. Till watched with widened eyes as a hook attached to their truck. 

"They've got guards up above, get the hooks off now!" Hyuna commanded, and true to her word, guards started descending onto their truck via helicopter, sliding down the line connected to the hooks. 

Till avoided a hand that was trying to grab his shirt and moved further toward one of the corners of the truck. Ivan jammed the back of his gun onto the guard who tried to grab Till, and punched the guard in the face, watching them lose balance and fall off the side of the truck. 

"Hold up the pistol with both of your hands and aim with one of your eyes." Ivan ducks beside Till, using his hands to show him how to grab the firearm. "Some of the guards back at Anakt garden used pistols, picture how they shoot in your head."

Till stared up at Ivan, then nodded. Ivan lets go of his arm and smiles. The silver haired closed one of his eyes and shot it straight at the wire attached to their truck, severing the tie. 

Three more guards descend onto their truck as the others stay in the helicopter, their one way trip down broken by Till. Hyuna headlocks one of them while Isaac shoots two rounds in their chest. Blue blood splattered on the floor while the other guard tried to grab at Hyuna's hair. Mizi kicks them at their legs and shoots their hands. They pull back to try to attack Mizi, but Hyuna gets to them and throws them off the truck before they get the chance. 

"Nice shooting pinky," Hyuna winks. 

Mizi blushes, "thanks." 

The rest of the cars behind were closer than ever. Isaac had successfully shot one of the cars down, killing both drivers in front and sending the car crashing behind them. Leaving two still fast on their tail. 

"There's too many of them." Isaac points out, narrowly dodging the guard coming at him with a knife. He plants his revolver on the side of the guard and shoots, watching the alien drop their weapon and fall off the truck. 

"We need to loose em," Hyuna says.

"How? We're in the middle of a desert!"

Out of the corner of their eyes they can see the sky darkening in front of them, grains of sand rose from the ground and clutter together in the wind. The sand storm , it’s starting much earlier than what they anticipated. What’s worse was that Dewey seemed to be driving them towards the storm, rather than out of it. 

“Buckle up everybody, we’re bout to lose some aliens.” A wicked smile spreads on Hyuna’s face as they sped off right into the sand storm. 

Sand cloud’s Ivan’s vision as he puts an arm around his eyes, he starts coughing when it enters his mouth. He couldn’t see whether the cars and helicopter were still following behind them, but he heard something pop that sounded suspiciously like their tire, and felt their car dip as they continued their way onwards into the storm. 

The car swerves and Ivan holds himself near Till to pull the man against his chest. He makes sure he tucks his chin on top of Till’s head so that the man was fully protected. 

He thinks he hears Dewey swear when the car flips. A distant pain shoots up his leg as he tightens his grip around Till. Feeling the man in his arms gasp while clutching his shirt. They stayed together as the car tumbled down to a slope in the desert. 

When the car finally stops and flips on its side, Ivan opens his eyes to see the damage. Hyuna was clutching onto Mizi and Isaac, the brown haired girl shielding Mizi on her right and Isaac on her left. Dewey was stuck in the driver's seat, coughing up sand but overall fine. Finally Ivan shifts his gaze onto Till who was still on his chest. The man had his eyes closed but didn’t seem to be injured, Ivan lets out a relieved sigh. It seemed like everyone was ok. 

Except. 

“Ivan!” Mizi gasps, pointing towards his leg. Confused, Ivan looked down to where she pointed, widening his eyes when he saw a knife lodged into the side of his calf. So that was the pain he felt earlier. He winced when he tried moving his leg, the pain more noticeable now he has acknowledged it. 

Ivan saw a guard drop their knife when Isaac finished him off. The knife must have dropped on their car and stabbed into him during their journey tumbling down the sand. 

“Fuck, that looks deep.” Till lifts himself from Ivan’s chest to take a closer look. 

Ivan loosens his hold to allow Till to move, “It’s alright, it could have been worse.”

Till scoffs, “By worse you mean it could have stabbed into your chest, you could’ve died!”

The silver haired man started hitting Ivan’s arm, spitting out curses while he did so. Isaac ripped a part of his shirt open and tied it securely around Ivan’s injured calf, not removing the knife. 

“We have to find shelter from the storm before we can treat you properly. It’s not best for the knife to stay in, but we can’t risk you losing blood and fainting.” 

Ivan hissed when Isaac tied the cloth around the knife, stabling it as much as possible so it doesn’t move and cut further into him. 

“Lucky for us, there’s a cave nearby. It was one of the potential hideouts Dewey found when he was driving around the area a few weeks ago.” 

“Yeah, I made sure to get the car as close to it as I could, obviously it was not perfect, but the walk shouldn’t be too far. You think you can make it?” 

Isaac finished tying with a knot, while Ivan nodded and tried to stand. 

“I- fuck, yes it should be fine. But I do think I need someone to support me though-”

“I’ll do it.” Till volunteers, He slips Ivan’s hand around his shoulder and forces the man to lean his weight on him. Ivan looks at him surprised but Till just glared disapprovingly at him. 

“You didn’t have to shield me when we were in the car, but you did anyways.I could’ve been the one stabbed if it weren’t for you. So save your words and stop looking like an idiot. Let me support you.” 

Ivan holds one of his hands up, “Wasn’t going to say anything.”

“The cave should be about a 15 minute walk from here, it’s big enough for the six of us and can block us from the storm. I don’t remember the exact location and the tracker is still out of commission, but I know the general area, just follow me.”

Ivan nods from where he is leaning on Till while the others walk in front. He could tell Till was struggling a little but was keeping quiet about it. Even though Dewey said it was about a fifteen minute walk, from the way Ivan was limping, trying not to put pressure on his injured leg, and Till who was wobbling a little from Ivan’s weight, that it was going to be a long fifteen minutes.