L.Joe POV

“Uggh” I groaned as I lifted my throbbing head from the corner of the tinted train window.

I opened my eyes and saw the inside of the train in ruins; Shattered glass scattered across the titled floor, clumps of stone and dust sat atop the ruined leather seats making the air thick and hard to breathe in.

As I stood up I saw the pitiful appearance I had camouflaging my original; the slightly treated curls had somewhat drained in colour and flattened in volume leaving me with limp, lifeless hair.

My face was covered in thin cuts and scrapes and my shirt was ripped along the side.

Damn, what happened to me?

As I attempted to fix up my curls I heard a soft call of my name.

B-Byu-ngg h-hun……

B-byungg h-hun…….

I was reluctant to respond until I recognised the voice.

CAP.

Whaa? Why wasn’t he calling me L.Joe? I thought as I jogged towards his location.

He was sitting against the outside of the train grasping his shoulder; He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

“Yo CAP, what’s wrong?” I asked my voice full of curiosity as this was by far the first time I had ever seen him this traumatised. Instead of answering me he simply handed me this faded grey, scrunched-up piece of paper that had his name written in elegant running writing across the front.

~~~o00o~~~

Bang Min Soo,

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have now survived round 1.

See that handsome man that delivered this letter to you?

He, Mr Bang is a simulation of what you would look like after and during death.

Now, as for the next round.

If your partner survived the crash, then bring him along too.

Under the rail is a baseball bat.

Take it; smash a window as a vessel for you escape.

If you wish to dis-obey my rules and quit; you have every right to do so.

But I warn you, you may want to make your decision now as once you continue with the competition I’m afraid quitting would be everything but an option.

Once you get out make your way to the green sign entitled ‘CONTESTANTS HERE’

Oh and you may want to hurry because I have currently let out some lose hounds.

Good luck!

                                            Hee-Soon~ Madame` grotesque.

“Yah! What is this ?” I screamed as CAP stood up and looked behind us.

“Im not sure, but we better hurry up; I think I just heard dogs”

“You have to be kidding me. You’re not going to go through with this! - are you hyung?”

I yelled at him; anger filling up my veins.

“I am” he whispered as he stood up and started walking towards the thick forests that surrounded the train. I ran up to him and tried my best to get him to quit, but likewise he ignored me and kept his whole Im so-great-at-everything-I-do look. I mean I know that’s his personality but he really needs to shut the up and listen to me sometimes.

“No, you’re not” I said in the most reasonable tone my body could emit. Its seems as if my words took some effect as he stopped walking,  turned his broad figure towards mine and looked me deep in the eyes.

“Listen, I am not going to argue with you. You came here to help me, now do your job and be a good little boy”

I felt more and more frustration and anger filling my veins. He knew I hated it when people called me ‘little’ – and I was more than ready to tear his head off, friend or not.

“We have to leave now Minsoo”

“NO! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I JUST SAW? I SAW MYSELF – COVERED IN BLOOD WITH ING ANIMAL MARKS ALL OVER MY BODY! DO YOU REALLY THINK I AM GOING TO LET SOME HAG HUMILIATE ME LIKE THAT? NO. SO I AM GOING TO HUNT THAT STUPID WITCH DOWN AND BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF HER – COMPETITION OR NO COMPETITION.” I stuttered for a second at CAP’s sudden outburst of anger, his deep voice echoed through the forest and shimmered off the lakes. If this was all just a case of good props and fake noises then this ‘Hee-Soon’ was pretty good at making a person scared less.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Minzy POV

We made our way through the deep forest and past the clumps of dried leaves, watching our every step. We didn’t have the slightest idea of where we were heading or what to expect – if it was anything near what we just saw we had better be ready.

“HEY! OVER THERE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” I turned around to see two men walking towards us, one of them yelling at the top of their lungs and the other half limping.

Yoona turned around still grasping her blood-soaked hand to face the blonde boy, who still had his hands clamped around his mouth yelling.

“Whaaaatt?” She said both annoyance and curiosity filling her words.

“Are you okay? Did you get attacked by the dogs as well – or was it something else” The blonde boy asked. He stuck his hand out to examine hers but she quickly smacked it away with her un-injured one.

“Y-yes” I interrupted desperately trying to prevent an argument between the two. Yoona was obviously agitated– she could never really handle pain well and she wasn’t the biggest fan of killer dogs.

“Yeah hyung got attacked too – I didn’t see it but he looks pretty beat” he continued as he walked over to me. I noticed he was actually really tall – around six feet, taller than his ‘hyung’ even.

“Well- um Annyong, Im Zelo” He said before sticking out his hand to shake mine.

We shook hands before his hyung broke the silence. “It would be nice if we could get moving. I don’t exactly want to run into another one of those demon dogs again” He said. He was limping a bit – he must’ve had an injured ankle or something because he looked like he was in a lot of pain.

The four of us continued walking through the dark woods; I couldn’t remember how long we had been walking for but it seemed like more than a half hour. My legs were starting to give way and I was desperately craving for a nice piece of meat – or bread even, I didn’t care I just wanted food.

“Hey, Yongguk was it? When you were being attacked did you manage to see the face of the dogs?” Yoona asked as she came to a halt.

“Yes, why?”

“Was it just me or did they seem different?” She said, a flash of uneasiness crossing her eyes.

“Well yeah, I thought it was just me- Im not sure, but they did look pretty demonic”

What are they talking about? Of course they looked demonic! They had freaking fangs and not to mention their fur-less skin was covered in blood veins and had a sticky red substance over it! You can’t tell me that wasn’t your average description of demon hounds.

I was about to speak my mind when Zelo’s high pitched voice echoed throughout the woods.

“Hey! What’s that?” He yelled happily as he pointed towards a slit in the trees revealing a small light.

“Im not sure – but whatever it is we better check it out” Zelo’s hyung said, picking up the pace.

Once we got there we saw all of the contestants standing around a green table that was infront of a pair of massive doors leading to the hunted asylum. The two cocky high schoolers were there looking completely fine – except for a few cuts, but apart from that they were in pretty good shape. The other girls that entered were both there; they looked fine although the stupid aegyo-one was grasping her waist. All in all, we were the only ones somewhat hurt.

Once we got closer we noticed people were arguing and complaining. But not one of them said they wanted to quit.

‘All contestants please take a seat on the provided chairs’ the speaker sounded; I followed its commands and sat on one of the chairs that were in front of a long table with a green cloth over it.

‘Now, I see you have all chosen to participate’ the speaker said before following it up with an eerie laugh.

‘Good choice - for me I guess but not so much yourselves. Now, as some of you have probably realised, this survival ‘game’ is all but a joke; the aim of the game is to literally survive. In order to play the game you have to surpass each round. Each round being more difficult than the last. There will be 5 rounds; the person who prevails will not only get the 100 million but also a very special gift from me. Once you start playing you cannot give up – its victory or death. After you complete the rounds don’t forget to have a look around, you could find clues hinting to where the final round is; or even my location. See the table in front of you? Underneath that cloth is a variety of weapons to help you throughout the competition. Underneath the table are 6 duffle bags; the duffle bags each contain:  A Pair of gardening gloves

2x 1-metre long bandages

50cm masking tape.

1 50x adhesive bandages.

3x Cotton swabs.

2x Skiing goggles

1x half- filled lighter

1x pair of tweezers

100ml numbing liquid

1x syringe

1x fire blanket

1x flashlight

1x head flashlight

1x medical scissors.

 1x Gas mask.

2x 1-letre bottles of water.

2x Bento boxes and half a packet of pain-killers (7 painkillers). Every group is required to take a care pack each. Now, are you ready to play?’ Everyone looked at each other once the speaker ended. No one dared to see what was under the cloth until they knew it was perfectly safe.

I looked next to me to see Yoona wincing in pain; I had to help her – her blood was rushing out of her arm, spilling all over her jeans and emitting a disgusting smell.

So I walked over the table and pulled the large sheet of it. I almost screamed when I saw all the different weapons sitting on it. I looked on the table and saw a piece of paper, similar to the one Yoona received earlier. I picked it up cautiously and examined it then started reading it aloud. Everybody came over to me and started leaning over my shoulders, desperately trying to get a glimpse of the third message the hag had sent us

“2x Katana sword.

2x Butcher knife

2x Axes

1x Metal baseball bat

3x Pack Kunai

2x Short swords

3x Machetes

2x A Straight razors

2x Razor wire chain wrapped around a metal baseball bat

2x A long hook with a wooden handle”

It was a list of all the weapons on the table.

“YAH! Does that hag think we are actually going to use these? I mean look at them- some of them already have blood stains” The muscular high- schoolar said.

“What! do you expect us to die here? We have to take them!” Yoona yelled, as she when over to the table and was examining a rusty hook.

“B-but why would we n-need weapons? She never said anything about killing” I turned to see the aegyo contestant timidly speaking up; she looked like she was scared less, but why would she still continue? She had a chance to leave, why not take it now?

“The hag never freaking said anything about ANY of this!” The other cocky high-schoolar said, L.Joe I think his name was.

“Just stop arguing and pick a weapon” a deep, annoyed voice muttered.  I turned to see Baekho, the mysterious man that was on the train at the table. He picked up a katana after examining it with the rest, chooses a care pack and made his way to the asylum.

I was about to run up to and beg him not to go inside, but the muscular high-schoolar beat me to it.

“YO! Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder and swinging him around to face him.

“I am going to finish this competition” Baekho said slowly through gritted teeth, his eyes felt like they were piercing me- such determination and confidence was un -evident in the rest of us, but highly in this guy. What was he?

“No you’re not, we are all doing this thing together” The high-schoolar continued.

Baekho ignored him and started walking towards the doors.

“HEY!” The high-schoolar continued as he put another hand on his shoulder again, flinging him around harder; but as Baekho swung around he lifted up a hard fist and punched the high-schoolar  in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Worry about yourself” Baekho said before walking away.

I saw the other female participant (YounJoo or Younhee I think) run over to help the high-schoolar, along with his friend.

“Hey! Baekho, why did you hit him? Do you think we should be fighting in a time like this?” Younhee yelled as the high-schoolar sat up, revealing a stream of blood falling from his nostrils.

‘Yo CAP are you okay man?” His friend asked.

“Yeah, yeah don’t worry about me” He said as he shot a smile in L.Joe’s direction.

“Somebody get a care-pack” Younhee yelled.

I listened to her advice and ran to grab a care-pack. There were 6 bags- so one for each group and one for now. I threw it towards her and she cleaned CAP up along with Yoona and Yongguk.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” CAP asked while everyone was sitting down watching Younhee use her amazing medical skills.

“We have to split up into our groups” Zelo said with a firm look on his face.

“No! we have to stay together” Sunny countered him.

“Blondie’s right. Don’t you remember the rules? We have to participate with our partners only, not alternate pairings” CAP said as he stood up.

“So everyone grab a weapon and get ready. We will all meet back here in an hour okay”

“Okay” We all said in union as we were examining the weapons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

A few minutes pasted, and we all had our weapons. I chose a baseball bat and Yoona chose a short sword.

“Ready?” CAP asked as he had his hand clamped around the door handles eagerly waiting for our say.

“Yes”

The doors swung open revealing a dark, cluttered mess of old furniture and the air was all muggy and smelt of heavy rat droppings.

“Okay lets go..”