“Special military unit BTOB to board their designated shuttle in 15 minutes.”

 

“Yes sir!”

 

“Unit BTOB to prepare for boarding.”

 

Officer Eunkwang announced his order thorough the headset, “BTOB to gather at the launch pad immediately.”

 

Seconds later, six figures lined up in front of him, all dressed in identical uniforms and labeled BTOB.

 

The special unit from Mars, Born to Beat.

 

Eunkwang looked directly at each face from left to right. Although he wasn’t able to see the features of each person because of the head gear, he knew who each spot belonged to.

 

Order was essential to this team. They were trained right from childhood to follow orders without question, without hesitations, without delay. When they learned to dress themselves, they learned to do it in a certain order. Even things like eating, washing, leaving the room – everything had a precise order.

 

They were born to beat, trained to beat.

 

This group was specialized in battles with very limited time. They weren’t the strongest, but definitely the quickest unit in the Milky Way galaxy.  A couple months ago, Infinite, the galaxy’s main spy unit, spotted an alien army heading for a farm planet. They had wanted to capture the oxygen-producing factories and use them to develop their own technology, or build jails for keeping human prisoners. The job was assigned to BTOB, because a direct battle with an army of that size would cause massive casualties to both sides. The enemy attack would have landed two days after the discovery – the approximate length of the trip from Mars to the planet. BTOB only had two days to plan their defense and a few minutes were left for the execution of the plan. The strategy that they came up with was risky, but it was the only way to avoid direct conflict.

 

The team programmed a device to send a series of waves in the direction of the invaders twenty hours into the trip. Four hours later, the enemy found themselves in a magnetic field. Ten minutes later, they detected extreme amounts of heat radiation coming from their target. Five minutes later, the planet was detected to be shrinking, followed by an explosion. Thirty minutes before landing on the farm planet, BTOB watched the enemy cross the boundary of the galaxy. What happened?

 

BTOB sent false information to mislead the instruments of the enemy into detecting the collapse of a massive star. The possibility of being in to the resulting black hole was convincing enough for the enemy commander to stop the attack and return home.

 

Such was the nature of work done by BTOB.

 

This time, planet Earth was calling for immediate aid from several special units from around and outside the galaxy.

 

“We are departing in ten minutes. Everyone, go to your seats.”

 

Eunkwang entered the shuttle last, following the youngest team member, Sungjae.

 

Technically, Sungjae was not supposed to be on this team yet. Anyone younger than eighteen was not allowed to take part in battles and military operations. Sungjae was accepted with fake documents.

 

Twenty-four years old, no family, no specialization. Such was his official profile.

 

Eunkwang knew Sungjae for his whole life. The real Sungjae who was born in 1995, whose family and friends were sacrificed by war, who had no place in the peaceful world.

 

Sungjae’s family adopted Eunkwang before Sungjae was born, and they both trained for a special military unit. At one point in their childhood, Mars was attacked by surprise and city after city suffered total destruction while the army composed itself and proper defense measures were taken.

 

Sungjae begged Eunkwang to be included in the special military unit, but Eunkwang had his hands tied and could not take an underage fighter to missions. At the same time, though, he felt a sense of guilt for abandoning his brother while leaving for missions. He shared the feeling of helplessness, uselessness, the inability to do anything to protect other victims from invaders.

 

On a condition, Eunkwang helped Sungjae change his age on official documents so that he could take part in military activities with the team. The condition was a promise to stay alive, no matter what. Sungjae was not allowed to sacrifice himself for the team. He was not to die in battle.

 

“Ten seconds.” The countdown echoed through the silent cabin as each fighter was settled into their seats, buckled down and fully focused.

 

“We have twelve hours before landing on Earth. We will use this time for strategic planning and take action immediately upon landing. Is that understood?”

 

“Yes sir!” 6 voices said in unison.

 

“Earth is under a zombie attack. Where they originated from, no one knows. They can be easily identified – if you get approached by a Beethoven, or Napoleon, or Julius Caesar, use your brains and kill him. Our job there is to identify their origin and find a way to get them off the planet. Of course this has to be done as soon as possible because people are dying as we speak.”

 

Eunkwang shifted uncomfortably in his seat and continued, “We still don’t know how they kill. It doesn’t seem like brute force can win against them. B.A.P are already on Earth, but they don’t even know who to fight yet. Exo are on their way, their skills should be useful in any combat. Infinite are trying to track down their origin and they will contact us as soon as they find out anything.” Eunkwang paused to let the information sink in. His team members were deep in thought and they would not speak out unless permission was given. “What do you guys think?”

 

No one spoke up for some time. There wasn’t much to be said anyways. They didn’t have a significant amount of information, and it was hard to plan anything without facts.

 

“May I connect to the web?” Sungjae asked.

 

 He followed Eunkwang out of the cabin and to the control room. “I want to see what bloggers are saying. Even if the zombies control the media, they probably can’t get their hands on personal blogs that easily.”

 

They realized very quickly that Earth was immersed in chaos and panic and no one knew what was going on. Some wrote about their dead relatives returning and causing people around them to disappear. Others said that they saw historical figures roaming the streets and laughed it off as early Halloween parties. But the fact that people dissolved into thin air caught Sungjae’s attention. “Read this while I let the others know.”

 

Sungjae left the control room and headed back to share the information.

 

“People see others fade away. We don’t know what happens after that, we don't know what causes it, and we don’t know how to tell zombies apart from the living people. Nevertheless, it is up to us to find their origin and find a way to get rid of them.”

 

“I suggest that we land outside of a city where…” Minhyuk spoke up but was interrupted by Eunkwang entering the room. “…there are not too many people around.” He continued. “Then we can settle in a hotel and observe what’s going on around us. If we see anyone suspicious, we can trap them and use them to find information. If it’s a zombie, then we can hold it hostage. If it’s a human, then we can find out more information about what’s going on.”

 

Peniel stood up and started pacing around the room in circles. “Don’t you think it’s dangerous to capture a zombie? If it kills all of us, then our mission is failed.”

 

“I agree with Peniel.” Sungjae turned to Eunkwang. “We should separate. Firstly, we should split up into pairs and find a living person and find out as much as we can from them. At a hotel, we need to meet up and discuss our findings. Capturing zombies should also be done in pairs, preferably one at a time and with another pair nearby watching out for danger. If the first pair gets into trouble, the others will be able to avoid making that mistake.”

 

Eunkwang shook his head in disagreement. “No, we cannot make those sacrifices. We will leave the capturing for when have enough information about what to expect from them.”

 

Silence settled in again as each fighter thought about the situation.

 

“Okay, okay, we don’t have much time left till landing so let me outline the plan. I will write it down on this screen, so memorize everything well.” Eunkwang picked up a marker and began writing.

 

1. Pretend to not know the other team members.
2. Do not lose the headset.
3. Remember that zombies are dead: they cannot hear, speak, or feel.
4. Do not lose sight of the other team members.
5. Gather at the nearest hotel after 30 minutes
6. Communicate through the head piece if you get lost
7. Be safe

 

“Is our officer nervous?” Ilhoon whispered.

 

“Okay, fine.” Eunkwang erased everything. “You get my point, right?”

 

“Yeah. It’s going to be dangerous.” Changsub said. “Let’s keep an eye on each other, this is serious business. Avoid delays at all costs.”

BTOB landed in a mountain range, a couple kilometers away from a small city. They separated and walked in different directions. Some followed the trails to the city, others plowed right through wild growth. Sungjae headed in the opposite direction to get around the mountain from the far side, hoping to meet people on the way.

 

True to his predictions, there was a boy, slightly older, approaching him. Sungjae wasn’t sure if it was safe to face him, but decided to take the chance when the boy called his name. Afterall, zombies can’t talk!

 

“Yook Sungjae! It’s you, right? BTOB finally made it here.”

 

“And you are…?”

 

“I am Lee Sungjong, a member of Infinite. I was monitoring your trip from Mars. I need to tell you a few things for your own safety. You need to meet BTOB back at the city, right?”

 

“Yes. Let me tell the officer that I met you.” Eunkwang was pleased to know that Sungjae was safe and that they were already a step ahead in their plan – surely Sungjong knew a good amount of information.

 

“Shall we jog?” Sungjae nodded and they started to run. “As I was saying, being here is dangerous. Stay out of everyone’s way, don’t interact with anyone but me and our fighters. These zombies do not attack for everyone to see. You won’t see dead bodies lying around on the streets. People just disappear, without warning.” Sungjong paused to breathe.

 

The city came into view as they ran uphill. It was noisy, too noisy for a regular day. When they came closer, Sungjae noticed people screaming, running, breaking things. Panic was everywhere.

 

“Look closely at that group. See them talking? Now watch.”

 

Sungjae stared at a woman and noticed a male tap her shoulder. She turned around and, as horror filled her eyes and mouth emitted a gasp, she faded and disappeared completely. He remained speechless for some time, still watching the other people and noticing them fading away one by one.

 

“I’ve got to find the others. Time’s almost up.” Sungjae got up. “Will you come?”

 

“No, you go. I will meet Exo when they arrive and get some information to them. It was nice meeting you, I hope we see each other again in the near future.”

 

“Goodbye, Sungjong.”

 

Sungjae headed towards the city and spoke to Eunkwang through the headpiece, “I’m inside. Where are we meeting?”

 

“Find the huge square in the middle of the town. There is only one hotel on the north side, let me know when you find it, go to the top floor and come into the room on the far right.”

 

“Sungjae, tell us what you found out.”

 

It turned out that everyone knew as much as Sungjae was told.  In the end, they were still acting blindly on dark enemy territory.

 

“Now what do we do?” Hyunsik asked, although it was evident that the same question was on everyone’s mind.

 

“Now we separate.” Eunkwang said in a hesitant tone. “Stay out of trouble. Find those zombies. Stay in touch. Sungjae, stay with me. Let’s not wander off too far and be alert and ready to help each other if anything happens.”

 

Sungjae and Eunkwang left first and walked into a quiet corner of a busy street to watch the people around them. Similarly to what Sungjae saw with Sungjong, here and there people would disappear without leaving a trace, causing witnesses to panic even more and scatter in different directions away from the invisible danger.

 

“Hey, you got a light?” Sungjae was approached by a stranger.

 

“Huh?” Sungjae turned around, not quite catching what the man had to say.

 

“You keep watching.” Eunkwang said and turned around to face the man. “Sorry but I don’t…” The cold eyes of the stranger bore through his head and Eunkwang felt an ice-cold shiver run through his blood. “I don’t smoke…” He mumbled.

 

“Eunkwang, I think you should see this…” Sungjae turned around to see no one behind him. “Eunkwang? Eunkwang, where did you go?” Sungjae started calling him through the headpiece, but there was no reply.

 

He quickly ran back to the hotel and searched around for any familiar faces. “Minhyuk, I lost Eunkwang. Can’t find him anywhere and he’s not replying to me either.”

 

“Get back into the hotel and don’t go out by yourself. I’ll send someone over.”

 

Very soon, Peniel and Minhyuk burst into the room, startling Sungjae. “Where is everyone else?”

 

“I can’t get a hold of them. They may have lost reception or taken off their headpieces. I have no idea what is going on but from now on, we stick together.”

 

They stayed like that, in silence, for about an hour and a half. No one showed up to the hotel room, causing the three guys to keep guessing and hoping that the reason for their disappearance was merely mistiming.

 

“I can’t take this anymore. I need to go get some water.” Peniel stood up and briskly walked to the door.

 

“Hold up, Peniel. Sungjae, you go too, let me know if anything happens. I’ll keep trying to contact the others and wait for them here.”

 

“This is too stressful. We were not trained to wait for our missing teammates. We came here to fight, to save people, so why aren’t we doing anything?” Peniel punched a wall in frustration.

 

“Hey.” They heard a soft voice behind them.  “Were you looking for water?” A stunning, elegant young woman was walking up to them with her eyes on the tray that she held.

 

“Uh…yes, water. We came here for water.” Peniel stuttered, his eyes glued to the beautiful features of the lady.

 

She smiled and approached him even closer. “These are extra, I won’t charge you.” She said, as she lifted her eyes and looked straight at him.

 

Sungjae narrowed his eyes and stepped aside.

 

“Aah….th-thanks…” Peniel shuddered without looking away.

 

Sungjae frowned harder when he saw her smirk. *Oh no, no way!* He thought as he realized what was happening. He wanted to reach out and push Peniel away from her, but it was too late.

 

Peniel already reached out to take the water bottle, but grabbed her hand instead. Right at that moment, in front of Sungjae’s eyes, he faded away.

 

*No, no no no!* Sungjae screamed in his mind. He broke into a run to hurry and warn Minhyuk about the danger. He knew what happened, he knew what was going on, but it was too late. He realized why no one else showed up, why Eunkwang left him after being approached by the stranger. *They are zombies, they talk and look like normal people. But they out the life out of living people through eye contact.*

 

Sungjae crashed into the hotel room, only to see a transparent shadow that used to be Minhyuk, which vanished a fraction of a second later.

 

“Minhyuk!!!” He screamed.

 

“You were looking for me?”

 

Sungjae felt a cold wave pass through his body as a hand landed on his shoulder.

 

“It’s me, Minhyuk. You yelled my name just now…”

 

Sungjae closed his eyes, shut them tight and turned around. He stepped forward and shut the door, blocking it with his own body. Then he opened his eyes and stared at the floor, seeing a familiar pair of shoes in front of him. But he was cold, so cold, to the point that he wanted to crouch down into a ball and escape the life-less presence.

 

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

 

*No, I know your secret. I will not fall for your trick.* Sungjae’s mind was going crazy with thoughts, but he paid no attention to the zombie in front of him. Soon enough, though, the shoes belonging to the zombie faded and disappeared al together. Sungjae dared to look up and around him, and was surprised to find the room empty.

 

“So they feed off of our energy, and die if there are no open energy channels…”

 

*Sungjong. Infinite. Exo.* He could still save them. Not daring to look up, Sungjae looked down at his feet and ran outside, to the place where he met Sungjong, frantically calling him through the headpiece. *You said we will meet later, so please, please let that happen. Please. Now that I know the secret to survival, don’t let me be too late again.*

 

“Hello?” Sungjong's voice resonated through the headphones.

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