“What do we do? She’s been out of it for a while.”

“Shush, stop panicking Ha Young. She’ll be fine.”

****

Ra Hyo’s eyelids fluttered open. She looked up to see a strange shelter made from leaves and sticks from the forest.

“What the…” She tried to get up, but the pain in her leg made it hurt too much to move.

“She’s awake!” Ra Hyo heard Ha Young’s voice. Ra Hyo forced herself to get up, before being pushed down by Kibum.

“No, sit down. Your leg is hurt really badly, you shouldn’t move it.”

Ra Hyo wished she could, but she knew how much Kibum wanted to keep going, and she didn’t want to be the one to get in his way. Besides, she didn’t want to stay in this creepy forest any longer. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, ignoring Ha Young’s protests.

“It’s fine, really. In fact, I think it’s gotten slightly better.” It was the most threadbare lie Ra Hyo had said, but Kibum saw that she wanted to keep going.

“Fine,” he said, turning to gather his belongings to leave.

“Unnie, are you SURE you’re okay? It’s alright if you aren’t, we understand. You can rest if you want.” Ha Young kept saying.

But Ra Hyo wasn’t having any of it.

She smiled at Ha Young. “I’m fine tokki, really.” she said, using the old nickname she had for Ha Young. Ha Young’s facial expression softened at the name, and she began to pack her belongings.

Ra Hyo winced as she moved around. She had a limp, and could not move as fast as usual, but at least she wasn’t paralyzed, or something much worse. She quickly gathered her items and the trio left in search of some civilization, where hopefully, they could get their next meal. As Ra Hyo kept walking, she was unaware of the little tracker that was silently beeping at the bottom of her bag.

****

Minho winced as he looked at the damage done by the branch that was whacked in his face. His nose was somewhat crooked, and he had a black eye. But other than that, he felt fine. He gingerly touched his nose, and moaned. His beautiful face! This would take a while to recover. But Minho had a while.

He had all the time he wanted. He silently congratulated himself on sneaking the tracker into one of the open bags he saw when he dropped the cloud bomb. Right now, one of them was carrying that very tracker, and Minho would have no trouble finding them. He laughed in delight, and stood up.

Ouch. The one who had kicked him in the stomach, Kibum he assumed, had quite the strength. But Minho brushed it off. He was not beaten. He retreated as part of the plan, he convinced himself. Choi Minho did NOT get beaten, especially not by two girls. Two very pretty girls…

Aish, he was getting distracted again. Minho started to walk. He had plenty of time to spare, now that he knew where the trio was going at every waking moment. He laughed again, before leaving in search of food. Attacking sure worked up an appetite…

****

Kibum kept walking, glad to be out of the forest. It was dark and unfamiliar. He trudged forward, flanked by Ha Young and a limping Ra Hyo. Even in pain, she refused to show any weakness. Kibum shook his head. That girl needed to loosen up. He looked ahead, and suddenly noticed something small running towards them. Kibum stared at it.

A chicken ran past them, clucking loudly. “Aish!” Ha Young yelled, startled by the bird. But Kibum knew what seeing that chicken meant. It was a bird, kept by farmers. And where there were farmers, there was bound to be a…

 Kibum could not contain his excitement. He ran forward, in a sudden burst of energy.

“Hey!” he ignored Ra Hyo’s yell.

A village! Kibum ran back, panting in excitement. “There’s a village. We can stock up on supplies, and maybe get some help for Ra Hyo’s leg.” he spoke fast. The girls’ eyes filled with hope. The trio went on ahead, with a newfound energy. Things were looking up!

They entered the village, and went around the busy streets, blending in with the other villagers going about their daily lives. With Ra Hyo’s money, they bought food and munched on it hungrily while trying to find out where exactly they were.

Just then, Ha Young noticed the sky. “Kibum-ah, it’s getting dark. We shouldn’t be roaming about in a place we’re unfamiliar with,” she reasoned.

Kibum agreed. They went around, looking for a lodging of some sort. Suddenly, the sky rumbled overhead. Large drops of water came pouring from the sky. Kibum ran for cover, followed by Ha Young and Ra Hyo – the younger girl grumbling a little about how Kibum was supposed to take care of them. They came across an abandoned looking building of some sort, and ran in for shelter.

Sopping wet, they looked around at their new environment. Large bales of hay were stacked in a corner and some in the rafters, and 2 brown horses stared back at the wet trio. “Oh man, this is a stable. Someone probably lives near here.” Ha Young whispered, not taking her eyes off the horses.

But Kibum had already gone to one of the bales and unceremoniously dumped his bag. “This place will have to do,” he announced.

“Shush! What if someone hears us? We can’t let them find three strangers in their stable!” Ra Hyo whispered angrily.

“Well then, they WON’T find us, now will they? One person against three student ninjas. They’d have no chance.” Kibum said, and proceeded to shift the bales around to create a makeshift living space.

Ra Hyo suddenly noticed the pain in her leg and limped to where Kibum was, sitting down and eyeing the wet bandage with apprehension.

Just then, Kibum heard footsteps coming from outside the stable. He leapt onto the hay bales and jumped from there onto the rafters, hiding from view. Ha Young followed suit, while Ra Hyo rolled behind the hay. They held their breath, waiting to see who had come in.