Precautions of a Snakepit - Chapter 85

She reached for her gun, which could only be used as a blunt instrument, but a familiar sensation stopped her in her tracks. It was Top Dog. He wrapped his arms around her waist and threw her toward the open gate.

She couldn’t see a thing, but she didn’t have the time to doubt that she couldn’t recognize him from touch alone. There was an intense sense of urgency to deal with what was really at stake.

In the cold light of day, this is a failed gamble.

It was too late.

Won realized that even if she ran full speed, she would be caught within one foot in front of the gate. It’s impossible to slip through the gate without crashing now that she lost time by stopping to push Target. There’s no way a wild animal with a wild animal’s instincts wouldn’t know that.

‘So this assh*le thinks he’s some human shield?’

She was relaxed and thinking about other things amid a crisis so Won wondered if this was a dying man’s wake-up call.

When your life is in danger, your brain goes through all your stored memories to find a way to survive. The speed at which it processes information is frighteningly fast, creating the illusion that time is passing relatively slowly.

Had her brain decided that this was a crisis worthy of the time? For a while now, time had seemed to deliberately stretch out.

There wasn’t much she could do about it. No one in the world would die if the solution were to come from a faster-than-normal mind. At best, throwing the broken gun she had in her hand was the only way she was allowed to fight back for now.

She threw the gun at the dark, shapeless opponent, inwardly knowing that it wouldn’t accomplish anything significant. Unfortunately, she was right.

It clattered to the ground with a thud. No, it was more like it bounced off something solid. Hearing that alone told her she hadn’t hit her opponent. It wasn’t the kind of noise one would expect to hear from a collision with a scale-clad creature. Shields, walls, metal, or scales…. Before she could think further, “it” rushed in.

Won saw something bright yellow flash across her vision. At the same time, her mind went white.

A sense of crisis.

A sense of helplessness.

An overwhelming sense of fear.

Her brain, which had been running like a well-oiled machine, was lying to her. Everything she had built up in her life was dismantled. Knowledge, experience, personality, ego, and even the last shreds of self-respect she has to stay human.

Unknowingly, she started to beg. Desperately, not knowing who she was clinging to.

Please, please.

Please.

Please. Please.

‘Help me!’

Something slick touched her face and induced goosebumps all over her. Sensing her fate, Won squeezed her eyes shut, the center of her forehead suddenly burning, and the “thing” paused, pulling away from her.

A very short pause. A fraction of a second, maybe not even that, but a second that could change her fate.

Her upper body stepped out of the steel door.

The anger from “it” was felt on her skin. The air pierced her flesh like needles.

There was a tingling sensation, a sense that something had happened, but there was no tangible change in Won. So she stepped through the gate with Top Dog. As if on cue, she heard the door close behind her.

When Won looked up, the nurses’ station was nowhere to be seen. Only a thick, steel door stood firm, blocking her view. She was dumbfounded as she stared at it.

‘What was that?’

She couldn’t comprehend what happened there.

‘What happened to me?’

What was that thing following her? How did she get away from it when she thought it pinned her down?

Everything was beyond what she was capable of understanding.

“One time. One time, in a time of crisis, beg desperately, and you will be helped.”

Hearing the voice in her mind, Won froze, swiping at the center of her forehead where it once burned. It was just her forehead, like any other day. An unremarkable forehead with no peculiarities.

She gave up trying to understand. She felt like she was possessed for a moment, but it wasn’t the time to dwell on it. She hadn’t escaped yet. She had barely made it through one of the double gates.

Steeling herself, she pushed off Top Dog, still draped over her.

“Get off of me. What are you doing…”

At that moment, something dripped onto the ground. Before she could see what it was, her smell was invaded by the fishy scent of iron. It was similar to the fishy odor of blood…

Won knew the identity of the l*quid that gave off this odor. She touched Top Dog’s back and it was damp. She looked at her own hands, slightly trembling and covered with blood.

“What the hell! You!”

‘When did you get hurt like this…’

“You feel warm and soft.”

“You crazy bastard!”

“We’ll have to start with hemostasis.”

At this point, she was about to angrily ask if he wanted to crack another joke, but Target intervened. Won realized she was more emotional than necessary.

This shouldn’t be happening. She must act rationally now. The time for emotions is after the job is done.

With that, she climbed on top of Top Dog.

“Shame on you, even if you’re my oppa!”

Ignoring any bullshit he would say, Won peeled off his bloody top. Target stood by the top of Top Dog’s head.

“I’ll help you, too.”

“I’m going to strip off your clothes and use them to bind the wound.”

Working with Target to remove the blood-soaked top, Won examined it: a line across his back, as if cut by a blade. Just before she stepped through the gate, she realized that “it” was filled with anger.

‘It’s not deep enough to expose the bone.’

It’s not a fatal wound. With a good tourniquet, he wouldn’t bleed to death.

Won rolled up his shirt and placed it over the wound, then turned Top Dog on his side and knotted the two long sleeves together at his chest.

“Ouch, don’t tie it too tight! Don’t tie it like that!”

“Jin, make it tighter.”

Won tugged on the long sleeves without acknowledgment. Target nonchalantly followed suit.

“Ow!”

Top Dog screamed, feeling dizzy. With minimal first aid done, Won looked over at Black Cat.

He was still out of it.

He was the only one to look toward the nurses’ station. Won glanced back at the last second, but all the lights were out, so she saw nothing but darkness. But Black Cat would have been able to see when the nurses’ station lights flickered. He must have seen the shape of “it.”

She doesn’t know what he saw and frankly, she doesn’t want to know. One thing is for sure, if you end up in a tiger’s den, you’ll need to stay awake to live.

She grabbed Black Cat by the shoulders and shook him.

“We need to get out of here, okay?”

“… Yes.”

To her relief, the words brought light back to his out-of-focus eyes. The man’s brain was spinning. Won looked back at Top Dog.

“Can you walk?”

“It’s not like I hurt my leg, so what’s the problem?”

Top Dog weakly smiled. She knew it was a bluff, but it was a million times better than sounding like he was in pain.

They started moving again.

The key card passed through the second steel gate, finally revealing an entrance to the outside of the building. The wind outside was unfamiliar as it whistled through their lungs.

Won took the watch from Black Cat and turned off the flashlight. It was still quiet all around. They had no choice but to move forward.

They were passing through a section of motion detectors that were disconnected from the computer when she heard a faint noise in the distance. It was so quiet in the middle of nowhere that she could hear unusually well.

“There’s a helicopter flying by. Maybe they’ll give us a ride,” Top Dog grumbled in a serious tone.

“Shut up and run.”

There was a commotion back at the facility. People were trying to get out of the hospital. Top Dog, who alternated between looking at the fiber-optic sensor and the fence in front and behind him, spoke up.

“Pretty girl, I think we’re f*cked.”

“Shut up and climb over it!”

“There are cables or something spaced at regular intervals, so I guess we could climb over them, but that isn’t a good idea. There could be a high voltage current running through them…”

“It’s a fiber optic sensor. It’s meant to be hung on the fence so you can’t sneak out, or if you cut the cable, it’ll set off an alarm. You’ll be in the yard anyway, but you don’t need to worry about it. Hurry up!”

Answering Black Cat, Won was the first to step on the cable and climb over the fence. It was about three meters high, but with the fiber optic sensors turned off, it wasn’t hard to get over. She landed on the other side first, and the three men quickly followed her over the fence. At least the three men seemed somewhat athletic.

They ran toward the next gate, but the gap between them and the pursuing hospital staff was getting smaller. The odds were stacked against them: the hospital didn’t have to climb the fence. They simply opened the front gate and chased them the shortest distance.

Looking at the trench-like terrain and walls ahead, Won untied the special fiber binder around her waist to hold her pistol. She’s trained, so she can climb over on her own. If she climbs up to the wall first, drops the special fibers as a rope, and tells them to make a human fulcrum among themselves and climb up one by one…

Then there was a deafening noise and a gust of wind. Won looked up. She heard Target’s surprised voice.

“That’s…”

The sound of wind created by a giant properly rapidly spinning.

A helicopter floated in the night sky.

Won pressed a button to activate the watch’s light feature. She shined it at the helicopter.

Once they were located, the aircraft descended. In a cloud of dust, it settled and a pure white helicopter with the words “Hospital Helicopter” landed.

The door opened and a man inside called out.

“Get in!”

i still have no idea what they saw in the hospital and i dont think we’ll ever find out <3

 Kofi