Info:
 

Title: The Scarecrow's Chosen
Characters: NCT
Pairings: Mark x Haechan, Johnny x Ten, Jaehyun x Taeyong (and others depending on the choices)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Description: This time it's up to you to help Jisung and his friends out as they are caught up in an insane and mysterious ritual of a small village out in the country. You will decide which ones of them will become the Scarecrow's chosen. 
Author's Note: I got this planned for quite a while, but never got to sit down and write because I wanted to finish Stranded first. It's with NCT Dream as the lead group, you are gonna be able to affect their story, but the older member's fates have already been decided. 

Sneak Peek:

Chapter 1.
 

They could hear Yuta's screams fill the air as they ran into one of the buildings facing the square. Jaehyun slammed the door shut, his bangs in his eyes and teeth gritted as he leaned against it. Taeyong stumbled to the floor while Ten fell against the wall, still sobbing. "Look at what you've done!" He cried at them and Jaehyun and Taeyong looked over at Ten.  

  "How the could we know?" Asked Jaehyun and left the door. Taeyong got up and opened it, letting the last daylight into the dark corridor as he scanned the square. Ten bent in his knees when Jaehyun towered over him. "We all went through the ing same! Any of us could have done this!"  

  "We should've helped him!" Ten insisted and attempted to push Jaehyun away but Jaehyun was heavier and stronger.  

  "Too late." He growled and Ten cowered. Jaehyun went over to Taeyong.  

  "We have to hide."  

  "Sssh," Taeyong shushed the taller. "I can't hear him." He said and Ten sniffled while wiping his nose as he cried. He straightened up and turned to face one of the hallways. Taeyong kept looking at the deserted square.  

Ten let out a low cry before he screamed and Taeyong and Jaehyun spun around to look at Ten who covered his own mouth. Jaehyun ran over, wrapping an arm around Ten's head to muffle the other's cries when he followed Ten's wide eyes to the window at the end of the hall. The scarecrow stood right in front of the window, staring straight at them with the bloody sack covering its head, hat on top of it, buttons for eyes and traces of string sown into the shape of a mouth. Ten tried to get out of Jaehyun's grasp. "No..." He cried and dropped to the ground. Taeyong heard the steps on the gravel and he shut the door and locked it.  

  "Hide!" He hissed and pushed Jaehyun towards one end of the building. "Ten hide!" He pleaded and crouched down in front of the smaller. "He'll come for you."  

Ten looked at him, eyes red and with a drop of blood running from his cracked bottom lip down his chin. His skin was red and peeling because of the sun's merciless rays and Taeyong ran his hand through the smaller's hair, holding his head in his hands. "I'm sorry." He said but Ten just the blood off of his lip before shakily getting to his feet. The door handle rattled and Ten looked down at Taeyong.  

  "He deserves to find all of us." He said before he ran up the stairs and Taeyong got up and let Jaehyun take his hand and lead him down the hall.  

When Taeyong and Jaehyun reached the door they went down a few steps they realized they were in the workshop. The sun was going down, light barely streamed through the narrow lines between the wood. It smelled of oil and metal, of ashes and dust. Taeyong locked the door and waited and then he heard the door in the building give in. He leaned against the door and listened, but the steps didn't come their way. Taeyong curled his hands into fists. The steps went upstairs.  

Ten fled up the stairs and ended up being where the guest rooms were. He walked down the hall and found a room before going inside he closed the door behind him, trying to stop himself from sobbing and giving the scarecrow an advantage. He looked around deciding to crawl under one of the beds that stood in each side of the room. He got down and pushed himself under, and then he waited.  

The scarecrow walked with long steps, so awfully similar to the way the other had walked. Since it was wearing boots the steps were loud and seemed to shake the ground. He carried the long-armed sickle with him, dragging the blade across the wall all the way up the stairs and down the hall. Ten's chest shook as he cried again, he couldn't stop himself.  

The door opened. Ten squeezed his eyes shut and then he shifted his gaze to the entrance. The pants were too short, ending above the ankles and Ten bit his bottom lip, forcing blood to run into his mouth when he saw the sickle being put against the closet. The feet moved further into the room and then stopped in the middle of it. Ten tried to slow his breathing but he couldn't. The scarecrow went down on his knees and Ten saw the hat come into sight first before the buttoned eyes and the crooked smile that was sewn onto the sack, creating such a horrifying mask. He lied down beside Ten and Ten wasn't holding back his cries anymore. The scarecrow took off the hat, but his movements were somewhat unnatural. His hands were gloved and Ten felt the fingers curl around his arm and pull him out of his hiding place. The scarecrow shifted to hover above him and Ten didn't fight back.  

  "Let's do it one last time?" His voice came out so familiar Ten could've been fooled that it was just a costume, but he had seen the knives go in and out of his body. "I missed you, Ten." The voice said and Ten sobbed as he was pulled into a hug. He curled his arms around the other's waist. He smelled like blood and hay.  

Ten bit his lip one last time, trying to choke down his cries. "I missed you too, Johnny." 

The landscape passed by him like a screen that kept rolling. Hills in the background covered the sky where the sun was rising. It was casting its light up upon the sky, coloring it such a sweet pink and morning red. The sky above was brightening, the dark navy giving away to a pale blue. Mist covered the fields, the sun’s rays were yet to chase away the dew and leave the land dry and begging for water. There were no clouds in sight, summer was upon the land and even if the morning were cool, they still had the air-conditioning blaring inside the vehicle.  

Jisung was glad he had worn his dark cowboy jacket that least gave him some warmth. He tried to reach up and close the vent but the lady in front of him had it pointed in his direction. He pushed away his blond fringe in annoyance, before settling his eyes upon the passing view. Beside him was his backpack, because in the other side of the bus sat his two friends. They were sharing their headphones because Jaemin had forgotten his and Jeno was way too kind. Jisung looked forward to seeing his friend, yet he couldn’t ignore the twisting of his stomach, as if his guts told him not to go. Haechan was with his grandmother every summer, and told Jisung and his friends at lunch about all the things you could do at the village. Instead of having tutoring every day like Jisung always had. 

  “You need to relax!” Haechan had insisted, a hand coming out to give Jisung’s shoulder a soft grip to emphasize his words. Jisung turned his eyes towards the sky and huffed, but he didn’t find any remark to Haechan’s words. He was too focused on homework, on his future. He had his parents who were successful and he needed to be that too. Surprisingly his mom backed up Haechan’s request when Jeno was a snitch and pleaded his mother to let Jisung go. 

Jisung brought out his book and started reading as the bus rocked him from side to side and his marker slid across the page. He closed his eyes in annoyance, before pressing his lips together and steadying his hand. He would relax when he got there, but right now he needed to do just a little bit of studying. Jisung squinted and eyed the sun that had made its entrance, coming up above the hills and bathing the whole bus in its flickering yellow light. Jisung eyed Jaemin and Jeno who laughed. He felt breathless as he saw Jaemin hit Jeno’s thigh, the other’s eyes perfectly copying the shape of a new moon. No wonder Jeno did all those commercials as a child, he looked like innocence itself. Not that it was wrong. He volunteered, he did very well and pleased the teachers by being kind and never complaining, always helping. He dragged Jisung the quiet smart kid along and Jisung’s grades got better as he started helping his teacher with carrying books and bringing in supplies. It became a ritual to the group of friends and all did well in school except Jaemin who would rather play soccer than read a book. He even forced Jisung to try out something physical and lately… 

Jisung’s hand was flicking along to the rhythm of the song in his headphones, shoulder bopping up before sending a wave through his arms to his fingertips. The new dancing class… He had tried out for it and his mom and dad said he could do it.  

Jisung put down his marker and packed away the book. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he looked at the beautiful moment of sunrise. Maybe it was time for him to enjoy life a little, put down the books and find laughter like Jaemin so easily did.  

It was time to live.  

Look alive, Jisung thought as he remembered his granddad telling him when he found Jisung in his room doing homework instead of running outside with the neighbors.  

Look alive, kid.  

While you can. 

Dust rose behind the bus as they were let out into the embrace of 26 degrees Celsius at 9 in the morning. All the boys wore the same grimace, squinted eyes, low brows and the tight smile of discomfort in the hot weather. All of them removed the jackets that had kept them warm inside the bus, for a moment missing that cool air.  

A long road would lead them to a small village surrounded by fields of corn. In the middle of the field a figure was placed and Jeno leaned closer to his friends. “Looks like a scarecrow.” He mused and Jaemin shuddered. 

  “I freaking hate scarecrows!”  

Jisung walked around the worn bench beside the sign that needed a caring hand to readjust it. It was leaning towards the corn and the village as if pointing them towards their destination. He started walking down the hill as he heaved in his white duffel bag and threw it over his shoulder. “It’s only gonna get hotter.” He said when he noticed the two boys hesitating.  

Jaemin and Jeno ran to catch up with him. “We kind of miss your pool right now.” Jaemin spoke for the two of them and Jisung laughed.  

  “Me too.”  

  “But this is gonna be fun!” Jeno exclaimed as they reached the scarecrow and Jisung eyed the bag that had been dragged over its face and the buttons that should resemble eyes. It was a haunting moment, and Jisung couldn’t help but stop before he crossed some invisible line that Jeno and Jaemin waltzed over. He thought he saw the gloved hand twitch as it was tied to the wooden cross. He shook his head and took a step and in that moment a crow screeched and flew up from its hiding spot amongst the corn and all of sudden a whole flock of them rose. Jisung eyed the scarecrow again.  

  “Creepy.” He grimaced and Jeno and Jaemin voiced the same opinion. He walked with them towards the houses that gathered around them. The twisting in his stomach only seemed to tighten. Maybe it was just guilt of not studying and actually deciding to have fun for a while.  

Yet somehow, his instincts told him that something was off.  
 

The three of them slowed to a halt at the sight of a figure coming towards them. They saw the dust rise up behind the figure of a boy.  The boy wasn't tall, not yet. His hair was dark brown and it was rather long, face still plump as puberty hadn't come around to melt away the roundness of his face. He was darker tanned than the rest of them, but that was because he loved being outside. Jisung chuckled when Haechan slid to a stop. "MY FRIENDS AND SAVIORS!" He screeched before grabbing their shoulders. "Thank you for coming!" He beamed and they all muttered different ways of telling Haechan that it was their pleasure.  

  "You're not the only visitors." Haechan told them in a hushed voice as they walked across the square towards the house that belonged to Haechan's grandma. "There are for the first time a group of boys around the same age. Like apart from the gloomy guy Taeyong who is supposedly a college student but nobody has an idea of why he is here..." Haechan straigtened with squinted eyes. "Or maybe they just won't tell me." He wondered before leaning in again. "Well, we have this really cute- I mean that's what my grandma told me!" Jeno laughed and Haechan shook his bangs out of his head. "He's older than us, two others around the same ages as us. They're visiting their cousin, Sicheng from China. Sicheng is a real nerd, I gotta tell you. He practices dance and wears merchandise all the time."  

  "Are you describing Jeno right now?" Jisung asked and Jeno placed a punch on Jisung's shoulder, earning a laugh from Haechan and Jaemin.  
They passed a house and Jisung let his gaze run over it, taking in its structure of the low roof, it was a new town, because it had a western design. Jisung remembered Haechan mentioning that it housed American soldiers during the war. The window sills were painted white, flowers blooming all around in the grass as someone was nursing them, showering them with much needed water. Jisung realized he was looking at the back of a man or a boy. The other was wearing a black t-shirt and he turned around at the sound of their voices. Jisung's eyes widened even before he met the gaze of the man. It was like the moment stretched out and his steps slowed down, the man had stunning features, almost too perfect except that the light and the shadows that shaped his face enhanced a scar on his right cheekbone. When their eyes connected the boy's dark eyes grew wide, his brows straightening in a grimace of worry and terror. His eyes counted the boys that were walking past his house and then he looked at Jisung again. He said something, lips shaping words that Jisung could only guess to what they could be. The other dropped the can full of water and this caught the attention of the other boys. Haechan raised a hand to wave but the dark-haired male fled into his house and slammed the door. Jisung and the other boys jumped in surprise.  

A hand curled around Jisung's arm and he screamed and pushed it off of him. Jeno looked at him with worried eyes. Jisung covered his heart before reaching out his own hand to put it on Jeno's shoulder. This calmed the other. "Sorry I-" Jisung started. "He scared the out of me." 

Haechan glanced at them before he eyed the door. "That was Taeyong." He informed them with a grim expression. "Told you he's odd."  
 
 

  "So we're like... 7 boys and then well, I guess Sicheng and Taeyong counts. Oh, I heard Sicheng's friend is coming tomorrow. We're a total of 10!" Haechan grinned and then opened the gate leading into his grandmother's house. Jisung knew the scent of herbs and spices and the slight warmth from the kitchen should make him feel safe and welcome, but the light streaming in from the outside and the worn carpet on the floor made him feel on edge. He looked back and to felt his heart clench.  

Taeyong stood in the middle of the path. Staring straight at him.  

The door closed and it was dark.  

  "So, should we try and get everyone together and play some soccer?" Haechan asked as they were eating lunch after getting their sleeping arrangements done.  

Jisung thought for a moment. He didn't finish all of his homework, he could get a little bit done and let the others go out and get the people and then Jisung could participate in soccer later? Jisung noticed Jeno and Jaemin look at him as if they knew he was debating the question.  

Jaemin chuckled. "Come on, Jisung." He pleaded.  

Jisung looked at Jeno who shrugged. "Up to you."  

Should he get some homework done or should he go out and help his friends gather the other boys? 

CHOOSE

If you want to know more, vote below.