Be the Light

3. The Researchers

TW: more blood and gore in the beginning

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One room was more jarring than the next. They secreted identical visions of sickening murder, but the nuances differed from each other. The next door over offered a jarring scene with a human corpse strapped to a table and its insides removed. All lost parts were kept in various jars and containers, making it look like honest work, but Wooyoung couldn't fend off the feeling in his gut that everything here was wrong. This corpse had a somewhat intact face at least, and his expression was frozen in a grimace of terror and pain.

"I don't like any of this," Mingi gritted out as well. Even he was weak on his knees, bumping into the corner of the wall when they left to check on the other two rooms in this corridor. Wooyoung prayed they were the only ones with such horrendous interiors. He couldn't stomach more of this and also be ready to fight.

Jongho looked close to passing out. He had no issues digging into the insides of a machine, but their human bodies screamed in phantom pain looking at the mutilated corpses. If they had been taken apart once dead, this was creepy, though no grand concern. But something about the clawed fingerprints of red at every door told Wooyoung they hadn't been dead on time. And that they knew immeasurable pain was coming. 

Yunho supported Jongho's wobbly step. The disturbing scenes pulled them from their focus. Several group members were ready to leave this cursed place behind and never look back, but the significance of Seonghwa's presence upheld a brittle reminder of why they were here. Whatever did this to these poor raiders hid within the facility. While Wooyoung would like to avoid it, he was also keen on ridding it with bullets, so nothing like that ever happened again.

Mingi kicked the door to the next room open and Wooyoung's exhausted stomach cramped once more. The bile on his tongue was bitter as he gulped it back.

Wooyoung never had to think about what bones smelled like, but the scent in this room was so sharp among the stench of blood and death that it had to do with the bones strewn around. Some of them were sewn in two, limbs still attached as they formed morbid piles. The tools used to crack and splinter them open were blood-specked and looked more terrifying than any weapon Wooyoung encountered.

"Fuck this shit," San gagged. He accelerated his step to open the last door and still, nothing more but a grisly scene of slaughter. Like their jeep had once been, humans and fouls were sorted into their individual parts in this place. Perhaps Yeosang could have made sense of it, but he looked so shell-shocked that Wooyoung could assume this wasn't normal, even for a hospital.

They returned to the corridor and looked down its other end. Some blood trails originated from there as well, and the adjoining hall wasn't cleaned up.

Macabre fascination mixed with Wooyoung's interest to find the source of this nightmare. But they could also dismiss the medical sector and go straight up to where the radio station had to be. 

"I feel like we won't relax if we ignore this," Yunho read his mind and Mingi nodded grimly. As blissful as an escape would be, they knew they would hover in constant dread of what was lurking here.

"So we go further in?" Wooyoung asked. Jongho didn't look coherent anymore. He hung from Yunho's arm on brittle legs and his eyes were unfocused. So many things had to go through his mind right now. San never told them how his treatment went, but a place like this might not be worth the attempt at salvation. 

"We can listen for sounds. No need to check every room," Mingi offered, even when it was risky. It was easy to ambush them from behind through a closed door, but Wooyoung might take that gamble. If he stood shocked by yet another horror, he was just as easy prey.