I promised that I would be back with a new story soon, and here it is! This post is meant to be a small first look at what's to come; the story is still in the works, but I hope to have it finished soon. I hope you enjoy it, and, as always, thank you so much for your support :)

I will be active (and possibly posting some excerpts) on my twitter @ pandawriter18!

Everyone was dead.

Well, everyone except Bomi and Yookyung. Everyone else had been slaughtered right before their eyes. Moonbyul, Seulgi, and Yongsun...Bomi had watched them get tortured in unspeakable ways before their throats were slit. Her team, her closest friends...All murdered by the enemy that they were sworn to defeat.

The thought left a sour taste on Bomi’s tongue.

“Come on!” Yookyung urged through her labored breaths. “We need to move faster or else Byul’s sacrifice will be all for nothing.”

Bomi nodded and picked up her pace, despite the excruciating pain in her left calf, where she had been shot a few minutes ago. Whenever Bomi blinked, she could still see Moonbyul, always the badass of the team, vaulting her entire body at their captors. She had caused a massive distraction, and during those few seconds, she had discreetly thrown her hidden knife to Bomi, who had been able to get the knife to her bound hands. Then she had proceeded to cut away the ropes around her wrists as she watched with a sick feeling as they beat Byul in front of her, then Seulgi, then Yongsun. 

When they reached Yookyung, Bomi had finally freed herself and killed their captors before they could lay a hand on Yookyung. 

She had been too late, though. Moonbyul, Seulgi, and Yongsun were on the floor, beaten to death, their faces bloodied beyond recognition.

Now Yookyung and Bomi were running for their lives, trying to navigate out of the building that they had been taken to. Bomi wanted so badly to run back into that room to collect her teammates’ bodies, but she knew she couldn’t.

Some leader she was.

“I’m going to need you to leave your brooding a*s behind for now,” Yookyung said. “We don’t have time for that.”

“I’m not brooding!” Bomi protested.

“I’ve known you for practically my whole life, Unnie. I know when you’re brooding.”

Bomi said nothing in response. As selfish as it sounded, Bomi was glad that she still had Yookyung left. They had grown up and trained together and were more like sisters than teammates. Yookyung had always been her crutch to lean on during difficult times, and now was not an exception. Her friend was nearly the only reason Bomi’s legs kept sprinting for her life.

Bomi grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled her into a corridor. “This way!”

“How do you know?”

“I noted the turns that they took when they dragged us into this building.”

Yookyung grinned. “As expected of my leader.”

Bomi pushed Yookyung in front of her. “Keep going. Take the second right. You should see an exit if you keep running that way.”

A door behind them slammed, followed by frantic shouts and footsteps. Yookyung whipped around worriedly. “Unnie?”

“Go! I’ll be right behind you. I’ve got your back.” Bomi pushed Yookyung lightly, and Yookyung nodded and broke into a sprint down the corridor. Bomi looked over her shoulder, cursed, and followed her companion.

Bomi’s wound screamed as they surged through the corridor and scrambled through the second opening. The far end of the corridor opened into an open area, and in that area, Bomi could see a door, shining proudly with daylight. 

“Oh, thank God,” Yookyung murmured under her breath. 

Their hair whipped behind them as they sprinted down the corridor with rejuvenated energy. 

“They’re coming this way!” a gruff voice shouted. From behind the narrow walls of the corridor, armed men closed in on them, but Bomi had been prepared. She’d been holding the knife that Moonbyul had thrown to her, and the moment a man came into view, she flung it at him. The blade wedged itself right into his heart with flawless aim, and he fell right after. Next to her, Bomi saw Yookyung kill a man in a similar manner.

Bullets began ringing in Bomi’s ears, but they didn’t scare Bomi. She scooped down low and grabbed the gun from the fallen man, then dove behind a table. She kicked it over, using the tabletop as temporary cover. Yookyung joined her shortly after with the gun of the man that she had killed. Together, they began shooting back at the men. 

Bomi’s heart beat rapidly in her chest and sweat dripped down her face, but she kept her hands steady and her aim even steadier. She didn’t let her nerves or the thought of possible death perturb her. She had trained for situations like this, and she was sure as hell not going to let some lackeys of the Shadow Clan have the honor of killing her.

Eventually, the ringing of bullets died down, and only Bomi and Yookyung were left. Bomi jumped up from behind the table, pulling Yookyung up with her. Without pausing for a breath, they ran straight for the door, jumping over the fallen bodies.

The sunlight attacked Bomi the second they burst through the door. For a few seconds, she was blinded by the sudden transition in lighting. When her eyes finally adjusted, she saw that they had been taken to an abandoned building in the middle of a field. As expected, they were nowhere near civilization. 

Bomi’s mind raced to find a way to escape safely. Her eyes fell on a car parked to their right, and her legs began moving before her mind could come up with a concrete plan.

“I hope you still know how to hotwire a car,” Yookyung said when they reached the car. 

“Of course I do,” Bomi replied as she shattered the window of the car and reached inside to unlock the doors. “It’s in my blood by now.”

Bomi climbed into the driver’s seat and immediately began deconstructing the steering panel while Yookyung ran to the other side of the car. Gunshots began ringing again, and Bomi jolted up in her seat. More men had followed them out and were shouting and running toward the car. 

“Work on the car!” Yookyung shouted. “I’ll cover you!”

Using the door of the car as cover, Yookyung began shooting back at the men. One by one, they fell. Bomi grinned ruefully. Yookyung had always been a better shot than anyone in the team.

As quickly as she could, Bomi got to work with the wires of the ignition system. She had excelled in everything back at her training academy, but for some reason, hotwiring a car had been her favorite skill, aside from knife-throwing. Perhaps she watched too many action movies growing up. Only a few moments later, the engine roared to life. 

Bomi sat up and yelled, “Yookyung-ah, get in!”

Yookyung shot one more man down, then pulled her gun back.

And at that exact moment, a gunshot, louder than any other gunshot that Bomi had ever heard, echoed in Bomi’s ears. A second later, Yookyung fell to the ground.

It was also at this exact moment that Bomi lost all control over her emotions. She began screaming and scrambling over the seats to get to her friend. She would have gotten out to reach Yookyung, but she heard a weak, “Stop.”

Bomi stared down at Yookyung. Blood had begun blossoming at her chest, where her heart was. Bomi hated to admit it, but the person who had shot Yookyung had impeccable aim; the bullet had struck her right where her heart was. It was a fatal shot.

Bomi should have known that, and perhaps the logical side of her did, but her emotions had taken over and she refused to believe what was before her eyes. “Yookyung-ah, no,” she sobbed.

“Get out of here, Unnie.” Yookyung coughed. Blood spurted from her lips.

Another gunshot popped right in front of Bomi, and the windshield of the car shattered. She looked up and found only one man walking toward them. The rest of them had been killed by Yookyung.

The man locked eyes with Bomi and snarled. Something churned in Bomi’s gut. 

She recognized that man. His dark hair was matted with blood, and he walked with a heavy limp. But most noticeable of all was the jagged gash running from the top of his left brow down to the corner of his lips. Bomi recognized him because this was the man that beat Moonbyul right in front of her. He was the man that Bomi had killed first.

Or at least she thought she did. She had driven the knife down his eye and had stabbed him in the belly, and he had fallen. She thought that he had fallen for good, but apparently not.

And now her mistake had cost Yookyung her life.

“Go,” Yookyung said, her voice barely a whisper now.

“Yookyung…,” Bomi said desperately.

“Unnie, please,” Yookyung pressed. “Live.” Her fingers wrapped around her gun. “I’ve got your back.” Then she began shooting at the man from the ground. For the first time in her life, Yookyung could not land her shots. Her aim was horribly off, but Bomi knew that wasn’t her intent.

Just like Yookyung wanted, the man stopped shooting at Bomi and diverted his attention to Yookyung.

It only took one bullet. The man pulled the trigger just once, and then there was silence. Bomi choked back a scream. Yookyung lay on the ground with lifeless eyes, blood now streaming from the top of her forehead.

Bomi looked up at the man in the distance, who was looking at Yookyung’s body with a satisfied smirk. He looked back up at Bomi, and for a second, they just looked into each others eyes with burning hatred. He began to raise his gun again. Bomi took one last look at her friend, then put the car in reverse and slammed on the gas.

With tears streaming down her face, Bomi left her closest friend behind, and even with the growing distance between her and the man, she could still see the flames in his eye, burning with both hate and newfound determination.