A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

2 | Jongho

Gimpo International Airport, South Korea

We had to hurry.

Both hyung and I were exhausted from the long journey from our park - the place we called home - to the airport, but there was no time to rest.

Everyone around us were running forwards, all heading in the same direction as if they were iron nails attracted to a magnet.

Hurry, or else we'd be left behind. Left to die on a dying Earth. Or, more likely, we'd be fed to the robots before we even had a chance to hide.

I blinked to get the stinging sweat away from my eyes. Just a few days ago, we had a massive acid rainstorm. I didn't know my sweat could feel so acidic either.

The people in front were shrinking. I turned around abruptly. The red shiny eyes of the Invincs were getting bigger. I looked up. The sun was setting - once it gets dark, the robots would have an advantage over us if we didn't find a secure hideout soon.

"Hyung, can you run," I asked, slightly panting, even though I already knew the answer. He was wheezing way too much, especially with all the smoke and smog around.

I scrambled for his inhaler, but he pushed it away. "Save it... Save it for next time. I can make it."

I shook my head, but there was time. I did the only thing I could: with my back to him, I bent my knees and extended my arms backwards.

"Come on, I'll carry you."

I could sense his hesitation, but this wasn't the first time for either of us. He knew there was no choice.

I passed him my backpack so he could hold on to it while I hooked my hands around his thighs. He was well taller than me, but way too light.

Once I made sure he had a tight hold on me, I set off.

Up until a year ago, I would never have imagined that running away from the police who were eager on arresting us for sleeping on a park bench would become be good practice for surviving in an apocalypse.

But that didn't rule out the fact that I was carrying another person's weight on my back. Still, crowds of people were surpassing me by the second.

"Jongho, they're gaining on us." I heard hyung's raspy voice right next to my ear, and I knew exactly what he saw.

I let go of hyung's left leg, knowing that he would cling on tight. Then I reached my hand into my hoodie pocket and took out a rock from the stash that I had been saving up just for this purpose.

"Jongho, please—"

"You know I have to," I hissed, saying it more to myself than to him.

Before there was even a chance to hesitate, I threw the rock at the head of a man diagonally in front of us, and watched as he stumbled and fall.

I had barely passed him before I heard the shriek of an Invinc - their version of a victory cry - signaling the man's death.

After that, I focused on breathing and running as fast as I could towards the hangar.

The hangar came into view. It wasn't what I expected.

It couldn't have been more than ten hours after they had announced the location of the spaceship. Yet the scene in front of us wasn't an open door welcoming us to safety, but a crowd of people screaming at a locked gate.

We hurried, but we were still late.

I cursed and dropped hyung on the ground, who was also gasping for air. If we didn't find somewhere indoors soon, he'd be forced to use his only inhaler, which didn't have a lot of medicine left it in it.