#dystopian reader

“They’re my little scouts.” He sat down on the floor a few feet from you and two more cats emerged from the other rooms and moved to nuzzle close to him.

“Adorable.” You mentioned as you continued petting Doongie, “do they get hurt?” you couldn’t help but worry for the three cats at the thought of them roaming around District 9 to get information.

The light tone in Lee Know’s voice darkened as he explained, “sometimes.” It sounded like there was more to the story, but you decided to not press any farther. Lee Know wasn’t really one for allowing others to see his emotions, let alone you.

“What are the names of the other two?” you asked as you turned to the two cats that Lee Know was petting.

He gestured to the white and orange one who had curled up in his lap and was sleeping, “this is Soongie.” The other gray one was playing around Lee Know as he waved a stick with a feather on it, “this one’s Dori.”

“How long can you activate them?” you curiously looked at Lee Know, he didn’t seem to be fatigued, but from what you could tell about the abilities of the world, they could have a wide range of side effects.

“If I’m not awake, they can’t exist, so they make bad guard dogs.” He let out a short laugh paired with a smirk and you couldn’t help but let out your own soft giggle. “But I’ve never had an issue with them disappearing before I want them to.” He let out a thoughtful hum, “in theory, as long as I’m awake, haven’t tested that though.”

Doongie suddenly slinked away from you and you let out a disappointed whine at the loss of the furry animal. Lee Know laughed. “How can they be scouts if they’re cats?” you couldn’t help but ask as Doongie didn’t go to Lee Know but instead went to a different room. “Isn’t it impossible to herd cats?”

Lee Know shrugged, “they are my summons, so I have control over them.”

“Then can you tell Soongie to come here so I can pet them?” you asked with a hopeful lilt in your voice as you looked at the fluffy cat in Lee Know’s lap. The mostly orange cat looked so soft you just had to know if Soongie was as soft as they looked.

“For you?” Lee Know asked with a playful tilt to his head and a smile, “no.” You couldn’t help but feel a little deflated by his comment, but you couldn’t say you were surprised. He turned to see Doongie hadn’t returned and called for the cat. Almost immediately, the striped cat came bounding into the room with something clenched it his jaws. “What do you have there?” he asked with a soft voice as he gestured for the cat to drop whatever it was in its mouth. There was a bit of resistance from Doongie before the cat spat the object onto the ground.

Lee Know cringed as he picked up the object to figure out what it was. It was mangled and wet with blood. You couldn’t tell what it was, but you didn’t see any feathers, and it seemed almost hairy. But not like animal hair, this was significantly longer than a rat or even a dog. It was long dark brown hair, that seemed almost human like. “Where did you find this?” Lee Know asked worriedly as he looked at Doongie’s paws, which were still white and pristine. Doongie clearly hadn’t gotten into any tussle with an animal. “On the floor a couple levels above us?” he was clearly communicating with the cat and his eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

The cat seemed to give a nod and Lee Know looked at you with the closest thing to fear that you’ve seen in his eyes. No words had to be exchanged between the two of you as you felt the vice grip of fear clutch around your heart. “Check for anybody who shouldn’t be here.” He commanded his cats and Dori and Doongie took off out of the room, with Soongie just a couple of seconds behind them.

Suddenly the large building felt too large. It was nice to have the extra space and have quiet time for yourselves, but mostly the nine of you remained clustered in the common room, bathrooms, kitchen, and your own rooms. That left a lot of the building empty and dark. And judging by what Doongie brought back, someone might be camping unwelcomed.

◈◈◈

“You said Doongie gave it to you?” Chan asked. The nine of you were clustered around the coffee table in the common room with the bloodied hair on a plastic bag on the table so everyone could see it.

“Two floors above us?” Hyunjin’s hands were up to his mouth and his knees were pulled up to his chest in fear as he looked around wildly, as if someone were to jump out of nowhere. Which, in his defense, it seemed like everybody else was on edge and waiting for something bad to happen.

“Soongie, Doongie, and Dori didn’t find anything suspicious after I sent them out.”

“And I’ve been doing the checks,” Seungmin protested as his eyes were glowing red, “if someone were two floors above us, I would see them.”

“We need to do a walk-through of the entire building.” Chan declared, his brows furrowing in thought.

“But Seungmin-” Hyunjin’s protest was cut off by a hard look from Chan.

“I’m not saying I don’t trust Seungmin’s ability,” Chan continued, “but it’s not infallible.” Around him, people were nodding, it makes sense.

“We’re ruling out that this is a long-haired dog, right?” Felix asked as he looked at it with wide eyes.

“Well, some dogs have hair this long.” Han protested.

“Yeah, but not most dogs.”

“It’s a dog.” Han decided with finality, but there was a bit of a nervous glint in his eyes. You weren’t sure if he was saying that to reassure the rest of the group or himself.

“Dog or not,” Changbin warned as he had his arms crossed and was looking strict and scary, “arm yourselves and be on the lookout for anything strange.”

“IN’s looking rather pale.” Han pointed to the male who was indeed looking a little pale and worried.

“That’s not strange!” the youngest immediately jumped to his defense.

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” Changbin also cried out in exasperation.

“Can you please quit joking around, I’m scared out of my mind!” Hyunjin grasped onto Han in fright and clutched onto him like a koala.

“I’m not joking!” Han shouted in offense, “is he going to pass out?”

“Okay!” Chan’s voice rang over the cacophony of voices and everyone stopped talking to look at him. “Changbin’s right.”

“Seungmin, Han, and I are together. Changbin, Felix, and IN will go together. Hyunjin, Lee Know, and (y/n).” You all nodded in understanding as Chan began to explain how you would all split up and scour the building.

“The radios are all in my room.” Felix mentioned and you looked around somewhat bewildered, you weren’t aware that the group had stolen some radios, but considering how it was in Felix’s room, and you didn’t dare step into anyone’s rooms, it made sense. You were curious as to what other useful gadgets were hidden and stowed in people’s rooms.

Lee Know’s eyes were glowing again as Soongie, Doongie, and Dori were roaming in front of you, mostly checking for other living creatures. Hyunjin suggested you hold the radio before his eyes took on a pink glow and a dark pink bow appeared in his hand. Once the three of you started walking around, he loosely notched a completely white arrow that seemed to have fiery whisps of pink coming from it.

You felt bad that you still hadn’t shown them your ability, but this wasn’t the time nor the place for it. What were you going to do in the middle of a building? Fly through a wall?

The air was tense and silent as you walked around. Soongie, Doongie, and Dori became little personal flashlights into the dark corners, but overall, things seemed normal. There were a couple destroyed desks and the place was coated in dust. Trash was littered around the place, but overall, completely run down and mostly unusable. Any useful furniture was evidently moved to the main living area.