The sun was just visible among the horizon line, a sliver of golden resting on a cradle of black. The brightest of stars were just beginning to become visible; small, muted specks swimming in a sickly purple sea. 

 

The escape from Seoul had actually been pretty easy, from Zhou Mi's point of view. Because of lack of numbers, soldiers didn't line the entire border, they had bases which they walked between. Of course, there was an electromagnetic line running through the ground, used to identify the soldiers by chips they had on their necks. Anyone or thing that didn't have a chip set off an alarm to the nearest station. This sensor had about a strip of five metres across, and ran around the border (he assumed), stopping at each base. Kyuhyun had worked out that a soldier had to walk for approximately twenty minutes at a reasonable pace to arrive at the next station. If the soldiers took about ten minutes to cross, that gave them ten minutes to get across the electromagnetic sensor. It had taken them one lap of the soldiers crossing to figure out what to do, but Eunhyuk managed to absorb the field, run it through Donghae, who conducted it back into the stream (they would both be able to walk through it fine). This created a two-metre-wide path for them to cross. They just got over in time.

 

Getting in sync with the leaving and arriving times of the transporter were harder, to a marginal degree. They missed the first few, leaving them stranded in Ganghwa for half a month. But after figuring out the cycle, the group were able to make their way to the porting site at the right time, and know what they were doing.

 

Now, however, they were hiding in a cluster of bushes looking down on the transportation port. 

 

Zhou Mi noticed Henry's fingers were clutching his shirt again. 

 

"How do we get in?" Donghae whispered hurriedly. "Those spotlights are huge! And there's heaps of soldiers as well!"

 

"There's a few shipping containers," Siwon pointed out. "Don't know what's in them, or who's near them, but they're there."

 

"Don't you feel that's more than a little risky?" Heechul bit his lip nervously. "Their spotlights go around the entire port..."

 

"They've gotta have a blind spot," Kyuhyun muttered, mainly to himself. "They always miss something..."

 

Zhou Mi looked back at Henry as the others discussed a way to sneak in. His brow was knitted in concentration, and his eyes had narrowed over behind one of the search towers, where the cliff surrounding the port dipped down. Upon noticing he was being looked at, the Water element blinked up at Zhou Mi with a surprised look, but pointed towards the sloping ledge.

 

"Look over there," he murmured quietly, as if he were unsure if the idea was good or not. "The cliff curves around slightly. If we could sneak around there, we could hide until the thing comes back for it's next round. Which is in about twenty minutes, according to Kyuhyun."

 

Zhou Mi remarked his observational skills and asked him to continue. 

 

"Anyway, as the thing comes back, the lights go over there," Henry pointed at the arc of the port that they were closest to. "This is to act as a guide to allow the soldiers to get stuff over to the thing, and to know where it is. I think. Any time between that, they act as a security beam. I think."

 

"Your point?" Those had been his first words to him for the entire day, night, whatever.

 

"As the last box is put in the shipping thing, the lights go away again," Henry explained on. "Getting to the point, please don't hurt me. The soldiers place the last box in and them get out, as soon as the last soldiers out reach the spotlight, which pauses until they get there. This gives us time to get in before it closes and leaves."

 

The expression on Zhou Mi's face must've been something close to disbelief, because Henry cowered and squeaked out.

 

"Um... Is that not a good plan...?"

 

"How did you figure that out?!" Zhou Mi blinked at him with astonishment.

 

"I dunno. I saw the cliff and I could hear Kyuhyun rambling on about timing and stuff, so I just added it together."

 

"Tell everyone else."

 

Henry told everyone else while Zhou Mi looked over at the curved cliff. 

 

"That's your blind spot," Henry told Kyuhyun. "I had to escape somewhere with a similar setup."

 

"I'm impressed," Kyuhyun nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan."

 

"It is the plan now," Han Geng looked at the container. "It's the only one that someone's come up with that sounds like it actually might work."

 

"It's gotta be easier than getting out," Sungmin sighed exasperatedly. "All the focus would be on the soldiers. But I'm not saying that this is gonna need any less strategy."

 

"Right, okay, let's go," Leeteuk instructed, ushering them down towards the cliff. "Eunhyuk, Han Geng, keep a lookout up front."

 

One at a time, they sidled down the cliff, hiding behind the watch tower when the opposite spotlight ran over it. The grass was dewy and wet, so when someone tripped, Zhou Mi couldn't say he was really surprised. It was Kyuhyun who slipped, the clang of his scythe against the zips of his backpack were enough to alarm the spotlight for something. 

 

"..." Sungmin hissed violently. 

 

He raced over to the faltered Death element and placed a hand over his mouth, a pink wave rushed over their bodies and they were gone as the light shone over them. It hesitated for a moment, but it left and the duo. Zhou Mi could just see them reappearing as Sungmin yanked Kyuhyun behind the watch tower. 

 

"Bloody hell, that was close..." Han Geng breathed from behind him. 

 

The rest of them steadily made their way across to the 'blind spot' and watched with anticipation as the spotlights trailed away to the far rand of the port. A shuddering moan rumbled through the air as the tanker hit the edge of the cliff. 

 

"When light stops at the end point," Henry murmured. "We go."

 

"We have about twelve seconds to get in," Kyuhyun added softly. "Best use it wisely."

 

Soldier after soldier, vehicle after vehicle, and box after box, all three of the compartments were filled. The light finally paused at the end, and the front few of them had just begun to run towards the box, Jongwoon halted them.

 

"The soldiers are still exiting," he warned firmly.

 

"How do you know?" Heechul frowned at him.

 

"I can see in the dark sir. They're out of the container..." Jongwoon whispered airily. "... Wait... Now!"

 

Kyuhyun was the first to sprint and enter the vessel, followed quickly after by Jongwoon, who gave Sungmin and Eunhyuk both a gentle tug to follow. Sungmin dragged Heechul along, Heebum scampering alongside. Ryeowook grasped Donghae's and Siwon's hands and hurried them along. Han Geng flew in and Leeteuk ushered Henry and Zhou Mi along. Leeteuk jumped in and held his hand out to Zhou Mi.

 

"Grab on, I'll help you up!" He urged gently. 

 

But he couldn't. He was frozen, the entrance of the container was looked so small, and his feet felt like they were rooted in the ground. Leeteuk looked panickedly at the approaching spotlight and let out a warning hiss.

 

"Come on!" 

 

Zhou Mi stared at the black with wide-eyes, he couldn't do this. He couldn't handle it. The images of squeezing into that box was daunting for him, being pushed into a ball, tight, too tight.

 

"Zhou Mi!" Leeteuk whisper-yelled.

 

The doors were closing now. Henry, seeing his situation, he entwined his fingers into Zhou Mi's shirt sleeve and looked at him reassuringly. He pulled them into the container, both clambering over each other on top of the hard metal crates. Leeteuk sighed in relief and rubbed a hand over Zhou Mi's shoulder before manoeuvring himself to the back where the others were. 

 

Henry was locked under him, caved in while his hands balanced himself upright, towering over him. The younger smiled at him in the dark and cautiously wrapped his arms around his chest. Zhou Mi could hear his heartbeat in his head and he swore Henry could too, frantic eyes looked down at the Water element. 

 

"Don't worry," he sighed sleepily. "You're safe..."

 

---

 

I'm so sorry guys, but I have just been dead to the world...

 

I don't have a character analysis ready, but next time (HOPEFULLY THIS WEEK) I will. I'll make sure of it.

 

Sorry for the lack of updates...

 

I love you all for staying with me.

 

See you soon