Electric Love {Minsung}

Chapter 33: Escapists

They cautiously crept up to the GP level: he and Chan in front, followed by Seungmin, Jeongin, and Minho, with Hyunjin and Felix bringing up the rear. The cameras inside the stairwell were panning back and forth like animals, heads up, watching for danger.

"Chan, take those things out," Jisung whispered.

"On it."

One by one Chan shot out the cameras. Their blinking red lights went dark and they drooped, as if hanging their heads in defeat. Then the stairwell itself went dark.

"It's like they're trying to make this difficult or something," He said sarcastically.

"Why? What happened?" Jeongin asked, oblivious. Sometimes Jisung forgot that he was still technically blind.

"Light's went out."

"No problem," Hyunjin said. He began to glow again.

"Hyunjin," he said, "stay close to the wall. You make an easy target."

He pressed back against the wall.

"Jeongin, where are they?" he whispered.

"Three guards on GP, two guards on level one and six on two—three guarding the doors and three with Park and the children. They've abandoned the third floor. There are seven guards on four and three scientists. It looks like they're preparing for a battle on the fourth floor."

"They must have guessed that's where we're going," he said.

As they came up to the first level, he whispered to Jeongin, "How close to the door are they?"

"One's touching it, the other's standing by the elevator."

He put his hand on the door and pulsed. They could hear the guard's gun hit the floor.

"Seventeen," Seungmin said.

Suddenly Jeongin shouted, "Move, move!" They didn't question the blind boy.

They scattered. Bullets started ripping through the door.

When the gunfire paused, Chan asked Jeongin, "Where is he?"

He pointed. Chan shoved his finger through one of the holes and fired back with a bolt of electricity.

"Got him," Jeongin said. "You are good."

"Thanks," Chan said.

"Sixteen," Seungmin said. "We're forty percent there."

They approached the door to the second floor cautiously. Park was on level two and there were the electric children and six guards. Fortunately, with the stairwell cameras dead, they were blind to their movement.

On their way up to the third floor they had to step over the bodies of two of the guards from our first battle. They were still unconscious. Hyunjin and Felix put on the guards' bulletproof vests. Then he and Seungmin handcuffed the guards and stripped them of their weapons. Seungmin added one of their knives to his utility belt. Jisung took one of the rifles and jammed it between the door and the railing to keep the door from being opened behind them.

With each step, Jeongin looked from side to side as he kept track of everything going on in the building. His biggest fear was that Park would attack with Ryujin and the electric children, but with the exception of Minchul, they kept their distance.

"He can't risk them," Chan said to him. "The kids are too valuable. The guards are dispensable."

They stopped on the stairwell between levels three and four. There was another guard's body on the stairs. They stripped the guard of his weapons. They now had more than they could carry, so they dropped them down the stairwell. Seungmin put on the guard's bulletproof vest.