Chanyeol

The forest grows darker even as the sun is low in the sky, casting long, thick shadows that envelop the forest in a blanket of dappled greens and blackish browns. The sky is a soft pastel orange colour, growing redder as it reaches the sun, creating a flame-like pallet smeared above us. If it weren’t for the circumstances, I’d think it to be a bit romantic.

Baekhyun hasn’t said much recently, although it is probably because I told him to shut up in case anyone heard him nearby. He trudges along behind me, occasionally stepping on my heel accidentally. I’m constantly reminded of his presence due to the little characters which he conjures up to entertain him, tiny versions of animals that splash in puddles and climb over trees. Baekhyun’s most favorite character to summon is a little round elephant, short stubby legs and a thick trunk. I don’t object to these animals; Baekhyun is unable to create sounds so they are just a method to stop Baekhyun from losing his motivation to keep walking.

My leg hurts from the fall. While Luhan did slow our descent to the ground, we still fell hard. We smashed through the canopy of the forest and landed in a pile of brambles, my foot tangled in a loose vine above me. By the time I had untangled myself, I had realized that my ankle was severely twisted. I had limped over to where Baekhyun was, he landed in a much softer part of the forest, yet he hadn’t gotten up.

I’d rolled him over and the first thing I had noticed was the wet lines down his cheeks. Baekhyun sobs as he squeezes his eyelids shut, shutting off his tears. Baekhyun had been cut by someone’s knife, pretty harshly down his shoulder to his elbow. He was losing a lot of blood, unable to heal it up.

Without Yixing, I had to do some pretty barbaric methods of healing. I ripped a length of cloth from the bottom of my shirt and wrapped it around a thick stick.

“Here, bite on this.” I said, handing Baekhyun the stick. Forcing him to sit up I cleared his arm from any dirt or clothes. I had to act quickly, before Baekhyun figured out what I was planning.

“Hey Baekhyun did you see which direction was the city?” I asked him, trying to distract him.

Baekhyun was in the middle of looking around, disorientated from our fall. He lifted his arm to point in a certain direction, but while he was distracted I made my move.

I cauterized him.

I’d unflicked the lid on my lighter and heated up my hand, making it searing red hot without catching light. Quickly I placed my hand on his shoulder and slowly dragged my palm downwards, covering the length of his wound.

Baekhyun screamed, but he bit down on the stick. His face went red and he jolted away from my hand, but I held on to him to stop him from escaping. It only took about fifteen seconds, but the pain on his face looked like it lasted a lifetime.

When it was done I retracted my hand quickly, feeling my palm start to cool down. Baekhyun kept biting down on the stick, his cheeks wet with tears. It took another minute before Baekhyun was ready to stand up again.

He walked over to me, spitting out the stick from his mouth. His fist came out of nowhere. He punched me straight in the jaw, sending me flying backwards onto my . He stood for a second while watching me, his eyes shining from crying so much. He held out his good arm and helped me to stand up, pulling me into a hug.

“Thank you.” He whispered to me, his head nestled under my chin.

I decided that my twisted ankle wasn’t a problem compared to the cauterized limb, so I hid my limp from Baekhyun.

We used our shirts to cover his arm. My singlet wasn’t enough; it had too many holes sliced into it that it wouldn’t cover his entire wound. In the end, his arm looked like the arm of a fat mummy, bandages wrapped over each other in a messy tangle.

But that happened hours ago.

Now we keep walking. Our conversation has long since died; the only constant thought running through my mind is that we have to keep moving to keep ahead of B.A.P and all those who want us dead. The canteen at my belt is almost empty, although I’ve given most of my water up to clean Baekhyun’s wounds and to keep him hydrated. He lost a lot of fluid; he needs the water more than I do.

“Chanyeol, stop.” Baekhyun calls out to me.

I’ve learned to listen to my boyfriend whenever he calls for me. At the start, I thought he was making me stop to take a break, but after an incident that almost had me wandering into a hive of wasps, and another that involved his bandages unwrapping, I understand that Baekhyun only makes me stop when it’s important.

I turn around to find that Baekhyun is a lot closer than I expect. He holds his finger up to his lips, motioning for me to be silent. Putting his good hand on my shoulder, I watch as a shimmer coats my body. I try looking down at my body but I find that it is no longer there. Baekhyun has turned us invisible.

Baekhyun keeps a tight grip on my shoulder, pointing me towards a patch of bushes. It takes me a second to notice what he is trying to show me, but if I look at the right angle a glint of sunlight shines through the leaves. Focusing on the glint, a thin metal pole seems to slide out of the bushes.

There’s a sudden bang, an explosion that gets swallowed up by the acoustics of the jungle. I hear the sound of feathers flapping against the wind as a flock of birds take off. A large brown object falls from the trees, splashing down in a muddy puddle.

The bush comes alive, growing upwards as a large wide-brimmed hat pokes out of the top. A man stretches his legs, leaning on the barrel of his rifle. He wears no protective fluorescent gear. He is almost invisible in the jungle, his dark face blending in with the shadows. Around his belt there hang two already dead animals. I screw up my nose as I realize what is hanging at his waist; one bird has the hooked beak of a raptor with its wings tied up to stop it from flopping around. The other animal is a sad, soggy furry creature with a long tail and tiny pink ears. I stifle a gasp as I recognize the dead monkey.

This type of hunting can’t be legal.

Baekhyun tenses when the hunter starts walking near, but he shows no signs of knowing that we are standing nearby under Baekhyun’s invisible shroud. The man drops down and picks up the dead bird, the same species as the one hanging from his hip. He pulls out some zip ties and starts to bind the bird’s wings.

Baekhyun shifts slightly, the mud squelching under his boots. The hunter looks around suspiciously, his gaze sliding sideways across the jungle floor. We hold our breaths, trying our hardest to make the smallest amount of noise possible.

Our efforts are not enough. The man stands up, looping the feet of the dead raptor to his belt. Slowly he walks forward, his footsteps silent despite the loose leaves and thick mud. He stands only about a meter away from us, looking through our bodies for anyone nearby.

The man stands up straighter, his body posture more comfortable and relaxed. I breathe out the stale air in my lungs as he starts to turn away, but something catches his eye. In my mind I let out a string of curse words as I notice the trail of footprints in the mud, leading up to where we are standing. The man crouches down, looking at the footprints like a skilled tracker; he runs his fingers through the depression in the mud, noting that the mud hasn’t lost formation yet, still indented with the patterns of our boots.

Still crouched down, he follows the trail of footprints. Eventually they lead him to our current position. The prints here are the deepest because we’re still standing in them. He pauses when he notes that they are the last footprints in a track leading to nowhere, and he looks around him to see if there is any possible way for someone to keep walking without making the tracks. His fingers trail dangerously close to my feet, hesitating before he tries to stick his finger in the mud at the bottom of my boot.

He retracts his hand quickly, as if he had touched a lit stovetop. He tries to touch the mud again, his finger stopping as he pokes my boot. I panic. With my other foot, I kick out hard, smashing into the man’s jaw. The hunter goes flying backward, his bottom sinking hard into the mud.

Baekhyun drops our invisible illusion looking at me with a stunned expression.

“Chanyeol! I cannot believe you just did that!”

The hunter props himself up on an elbow, rubbing his jaw and smearing mud over his face accidently. His eyes widen as he sees us, unbelieving and astonished.

“I didn’t know what to do, Baek!” I say, “Just… quick, run!”

In two steps I’m beside the man, and I snatch his rifle out of his hands. Baekhyun runs up behind me and rips a dead bird off of his belt. The man is too stunned to react, still sitting down in the mud but watching us from afar.

Baekhyun turns us invisible and we run away as fast as we can, zig zagging through trees and trying to hide our tracks as much as possible. Eventually we stop, leaning against a tree to catch our breaths. Baekhyun lets out an uncontrollable laugh, wheezing through his lungs.

“What?” I question “What is so funny?”

Baekhyun holds up his hand as a signal to wait until he finishes laughing. His face turns red, eyes watering. Eventually he manages to stifle his laughing so he can reply.

“That guy’s face when he saw us appear out of nowhere! Like a stunned fish! And he was just sitting in the mud, poking your boot like a toddler!”

He loses control again and slides down the tree trunk, his chest heaving from the laughter.

“Baekhyun! This is serious! He could’ve killed us! Or he could’ve called someone for help! We need to stay alive here, not get ourselves killed! He had a gun!”

My boyfriend doesn’t stop laughing. He’s too far gone.

“Shut up Channie, that man was harmless, just a lowly illegal hunter. Plus, you got his gun; he can’t do much without that!”

I stop to think about the man’s stunned face as he watched us blink into existence and run away. It was pretty funny, actually. The more I think about it the funnier it gets, until I’m laughing too alongside Baekhyun. With the fear and adrenaline leaving my body, I start to  chuckle, the laughter growing in me until I’m out of breath once again.

“And why did you get that?” I wheeze out, pointing to the dead bird in Baekhyun’s grasp.

He lifts it up to have a look at it.

“I don’t even know, Channie! I panicked I guess.” The sight of the random dead bird spurs on another wave of laughter. He tosses the bird off to the bushes lazily. We both start laughing again, even harder. I keep picturing Baekhyun running from the man with a terrified expression, his face splattered with mud and a dead bird hanging upside down from his hands.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

We keep walking for hours, more carefully this time. By the time the sun has started to set, it’s becoming difficult to walk without tripping over the numerous logs and roots. Baekhyun is lagging behind, exhausted from the constant walking as well as the effort to stay awake for so long. We’d agreed to not make any lights, in case anyone saw us. Without light or fire to guide us, we have to strain our eyes to avoid the bumps and dips in our path.  

“Come on, can’t we just stop for a bit?” He whines from behind me. “I’m tired.”

I let out a sigh, tired of hearing the same sentence over and over again.

“We shouldn’t stop, Baekhyun. I want to rest too, but I want to stay alive more than I want a sleep.”

We continue on for a couple of hundred meters before something shines under the moonlight at the bottom of one of the trees.

“Is that a gate?” Baekhyun questions, pointing in the same direction as me.

It’s true; fastened to the bottom of a thick tree is a silver gate, made from chicken wire. We walk over to inspect our findings.

The gate is locked, but behind the metal doorway we can see wooden steps, fenced in and attached to the tree’s thick trunk. They spiral around and around, climbing upwards. I take a step backwards and look higher into the treetops, trying to find where the stairs lead. Eventually, the stairs are no longer enclosed and they lead to a small wooden platform near the top of the tree.

“That’s a really strange place for a treehouse.” Baekhyun remarks, looking upwards with me.

“I don’t think that’s a treehouse Baek,” I say, pointing towards a thick wire that stretches out from the platform. It continues on in the direction we were walking, disappearing into the canopy. “I think that’s a zipline.”

“Like one of those tourist things?” Baekhyun asks. “Aren’t they expensive?”

I walk over to the gate and grab my lighter from the pocket. In a few seconds, the lock is melted off the gate. Under the light of my flame I look back at Baekhyun and grin, the cheekiness sneaking onto my face.

“You said you were sick of walking, right?”

It gets colder as we climb higher, the wind picking up with the altitude. I feel the vertigo start to sink in as the steps become uncovered, without any railing to stop us from falling. Baekhyun doesn’t bat an eyelid, trudging ahead of me excitedly. I begin to wish I was still wearing my shirt instead of wrapping it around Baekhyun’s injured arm as goose pimples prick out of my arms.

“I think you’re supposed to clip your harness into these ropes.” I say, holding up a rope that winds up the tree with the steps. “So people don’t fall off accidentally.”

“Do you see any harnesses around here?” Baekhyun replies lightheartedly without looking back. He keeps walking, nearing the top of the staircase.

I wrap my hands around the rope and continue on, my knuckles pale as my grip tightens. It doesn’t take long to reach the platform at the top, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the rope fence around the platform’s perimeter.

“What now, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks, stepping aside to let me lead.

I look around the platform. There’s a large suitcase-sized box near the trunk of the tree, locked again. With a quick flash of fire from my lighter, the lock is melted and I open the box.

There are no harnesses inside, but instead there are small metal contraptions with little round wheels and clips. I hand one to Baekhyun to inspect.

“What are these?” He asks, holding it up to the moonlight.

“I’m not sure…” I reply, “I went ziplining with my family when I was little, but I can’t remember how these work. I think they’re a part of the harness.”

Baekhyun links his fingers through two of the larger metal clips, testing their strength with a pull of his arm.

“I bet these parts clip onto a harness.” He spins the object upside down so the half with the metal wheels is on the top. “Which means the round bits wheel along the zip line.”

I pick up a second of the object and fit it onto a nearby length of rope. The wheels spin smoothly without much friction, a quiet whirring sound being created as I slide the wheels quickly. As I pull on the machine to simulate the weight of a person, the metal casing slides downwards over the wheel, locking the rope in place. With the weight pulled downwards I try to jiggle the object around, but it doesn’t fall off the rope. It only unlatches itself when I release the pull on it, smoothly unclipping from the rope.

Using one of Baekhyun’s knives, we cut out a couple of lengths of ropes and make large round circles, looping them through the clips on the zipline contraptions. Clicking the metal wheels into place, I allowed Baekhyun to step through the loop and sit down in the makeshift harness.

“When you land, you have one minute to get out of the way before I come through. Don’t forget to use this as your brakes.” I tap the thinner ropes wrapped protectively around his hand, serving as a thick glove to protect from the speeding wire. “Are you going to be fine?”

Baekhyun looks up at me with beaming eyes, the reflection of the moon lighting up his pupils with excitement.

“I’ve always wanted to do this. I’m super excited."

“Focus, Baekhyun. Be safe, and be smart.” I pat down his shoulders and make sure the rope harness is securely linked onto the wire. “But yeah, I guess you can have fun too.”

I lean in and give him a kiss, pressing my lips hard against his own in a wordless way to say ‘I love you’ before giving him a gentle push off the edge of the platform. Baekhyun dips down as all his weight is transferred to the wire. The wheels on the zip line whir quietly as he zooms off into the distance, leaving me in a peaceful, solitary silence.

I suddenly remember what it’s like to be alone. The sound of the jungle is peaceful, almost eerie how the usual sounds of life are no longer present. It’s too late to hear the chirping of birds, all the animals that are currently awake rely on silence to survive. I’m too high up in the canopy to hear the crickets, or the night frogs or any of the other smaller animals that usually litter the jungle floor. The only sound, save for my own breathing, is the melodic rustling of the leaves as waves of wind blow through the canopy.

Yet I miss the sound of Baekhyun, whether it’s his breathing on my chest, or his laughter, or his incessant babbling about the latest anime, or what someone did at the recording studio, or about some weird conspiracy theory he read on the internet.

I quickly clip my own makeshift harness to the zip line and sit down on the loop, leaning back while holding onto the ropes. Lifting my feet, I let gravity take over and I start to speed down the wire.

At first the ride is dark; the light of the moon blocked by the leaves overhead. It’s a little bit frightening. The clumps of leaves to my sides and underneath me form dark, moving shadows that could hide anything. Occasionally I would be able to look down to the ground, shown only by an even darker shadow. I lift my legs to stop them brushing against leaves, feeling the comfort of holding my knees closer to my body.

Then, all of a sudden the zip line changed. The taller trees that blocked out the night sky above me disappeared as I reached a long expanse of wire that was in line with the very tallest trees. Under the light of the stars and the moon, the forest started to glow.

I could see each leaf, the shadows rippling across the trees with the wind. Vines crisscrossed underneath me, weaving in amongst each other in a wide net. On the mossy tree trunks around me, pale petals unfurl, the light of the moon distorting their usual bright purple hue to a pale shade.

Above me, the stars shone through the cloudless night. I take a sharp intake of breath as I lean back to study the sky. I’ve never seen the skies like this before, free of pollution and the brightness of the city or the suburbs. It seems that the longer I stare, more stars appear, and I can see the brighter strip of stars across the sky that signifies the Milky Way. They twinkle back to me, some a bright white, a shiny blue or a sparkling yellow. The moon still shines brightly, the full moon only passing a few days ago. 

As sudden as they appear, the stars disappear as the canopy envelops the wire again, plunging me into darkness once more. I sit forward and lean on the rope, savoring the sight of the stars. Looking forward I see a slight glimmer, just like another star. It flashes on and off, like a Morse code signal. It’s almost too late when I realize that the light is Baekhyun, trying to indicate me to brake.

Quickly I grab onto the wire with my hand wrapped in rope. The rope heats up with the friction, slowly shaving through the protective glove. I land on the platform with my feet in front of me, stopping me from slamming face first into the trunk of the new tree.

I fall off the harness, landing on my back on the new platform. A silhouette looks over me.

“What took you so long?” Baekhyun asks, giggling at my fall.

I reach up and pull his head downwards, stealing another kiss from him. Baekhyun props himself on my chest to continue the kiss, smiling onto my lips.

“I was distracted by the pretty lights.”

We continue on through the zip line. After each ride, there’s another staircase, and we gain more and more altitude. We fall into a rhythm of climb, clip in, then zip line; moving efficiently through the jungle canopy. Eventually we reach the tallest platform. This one is a little more developed. It has a proper fence build in, as well as a canvas roof. It sits above most of the canopy; a tower sticking above the jungle.

There’s more gear here too, as well as a few seats and a cooler box. I open the box to find the thing I wanted the most; water bottles. I open a bottle and drink half, handing the rest of it to Baekhyun. He drinks the remainder of the bottle, crumpling the plastic as he empties the water.

We find other things too, like some simple cookies and a map of the surrounding jungle. The map isn’t very helpful, it just points out the trail of the zip lines over a cartoon depiction of the jungle, complete with comical parrots and bug-eyed smiling tigers. I’m happy to see that all the zip lines travel in the direction we were already walking. The map shows that we’d completed seven of the zip lines, and we had reached the highest point on the trail. There were only four more to go before we had to get back down to the ground and keep walking.

Baekhyun reaches into the cooler box and pulls out another water bottle. He unscrews the cap and takes slower sips, enjoying the water.

“Let’s take a little break here, we’ve saved enough time by doing the zip lines anyway.” He sits down and leans against the tree trunk, stretching his legs in front of him. He crossed his arms in front of his bare chest, trying to shield himself from the coolness of the wind.

I pick up a couple of bottles and sit next to him, lifting his bandaged arm off his body. Wordlessly, he allows me to unravel our shirts from his arm, uncovering the cauterized wound. It’s red from the burns, sticky and gross.

“How do you think the others are going?” I ask Baekhyun, distracting him as I unscrew a water bottle to wash his wound.

He gasps as the water washes over his arm, stinging slightly.

“Ah, it’s cold.” He exclaims. He pauses for a bit, the sound of water trickling off his fingers the only sound above the wind. “I think the others all got out. When Kyungsoo launched us out of the battle I had already seen that they had done the same to Suho and Xiumin. I guess they also did the same to the others. I’m worried about Sehun though, he’s so young and he’s all alone. ”

“I bet they’re all on their way to the meet up place right now,” I say “Kai would be the first there, of course, with his teleportation. Knowing us, we’re going to be the last ones to arrive.”

The conversation dies down a little as we look over the tops of the trees. From here, the trees look like a dark green ocean, one with lumpy waves and a mysterious land lurking beneath the surface.

“Hey Baekhyun,” I continue on the conversation, changing topic. “How did you discover your power? I don’t think I know the full story you always just say ‘it happened at camp’… I probably have told you my story hundreds of times, but you never tell me about yours.”

Baekhyun shifts position as he helps me re-wrap the torn shirts around his arm.

“It’s not a very good story.” He mumbles.

“Sure it is,” I reply “It’s a superhero origin story! One day they’ll make comic books about us!”

Baekhyun fiddles with the corner of a cookie packet, nibbling on a protruding chocolate chip.

“I got my power pretty early compared to the others. Maybe I was one of the first to receive my power. I was young, and pretty ing stupid.”

Baekhyun points to his mark. It’s a little star on the side of his left torso, just underneath the ribcage. The mark is spiky with circles in the middle and on the biggest points, symmetrical like a sparkling sun.

“This appeared on a camp. I was thirteen. My parents didn’t want to look after me during the holidays so they sent me on this camp while they went to a resort in Fiji. It was one of those educational youth camps where you learn how to tie knots and wear knee-high socks and listen to old men blow whistles at you all the time. The kids’ skulls were as thick as their muscles, and the camp counselors were clueless old wrinkly people who shouldn’t be wearing shorts. It was horrible. To make it worse, I was the only kid from my school that went to the camp; everyone else seemed to know each other.

 “I was left out a lot, and I was the biggest target for bullies. I looked too wimpy, too groomed, and I acted too gay. I had no muscles, but some of the bigger kids who were really sporty took advantage of their physical superiority. They’d steal my food or my clothes or even my money. Sometimes they’d make sure I’d miss out on getting a mountain bike, or they’d tip over my canoe. They purposely hurt me during taekwondo, getting cheap shots when the instructor was distracted. I was always covered in bruises, my balls always hurt and I’m pretty sure they loosened some of my teeth. It was a difficult time for me.”

Baekhyun looks down into his lap and starts fiddling with the label on his water bottle, curling the edges until they begin to rip. He wriggles his on the wood, trying to get comfortable.

“I don’t know exactly when the mark appeared. I noticed it when everyone was supposed to be learning how to use a fishing rod at the little wooden platform sticking into the lake. Naturally, a lot of the kids were really bored at waiting around for the fish so it wasn’t very long until I was pushed in the water. Nobody got in trouble except me, because the councilor was too busy shoving a ing fishing rod up his own or something to pay attention. I was sent back onto dry land to get changed and I had to hand in my fishing equipment.

“Something was different though. When I took off my wet shirt before I walked back to the cabins, there was the mark on me, under my ribcage. I thought it was permanent marker, to be honest. I just walked back to the showers and tried to wash it off. But it wasn’t coming off, and I started to freak out a bit. I spent almost half an hour in the shower cubicle, trying to wash it off with soap.

“I was really scared and I started to cry. I wasn’t sure what had happened to me. I had a crazy imagination, I thought maybe one of the bigger bullies tattooed me in my sleep, or I was growing a weird disease. The fact that my superhero life had just begun never crossed my mind. The fishing lesson finished while I was in the shower, and that was when things started to get really bad.

“Some kids snuck in to the showers, and while I was occupied, they pushed some lockers over the door to the cubicle. I was trapped. There was no gap over or under the cubicle, and I couldn’t open the door to get out. To make things worse, as they left they turned off the lights to the boy’s change rooms. I was stuck in the dark, with no way out.”

Baekhyun goes very silent, staring down at the torn up water bottle label in his lap as if he was seeing his destruction for the first time. I remember when we went for a walk out in Korea, when I confessed to him my dependency on lighters to feel safe. He’d confessed to me his own secret too that night. He is afraid of the dark.

“How long did they leave you there?” I ask, almost too afraid of the answer.

Baekhyun’s voice cracks as he responds.

“I was stuck in the shower for eight hours. I think they forgot about me. It was cold, and I was sitting in a puddle of shower water. I gave up trying to push open the door after one hour. I gave up screaming for help after two. After three hours I slipped on a puddle and I fractured my elbow, this same one that’s bandaged up now. I wasn’t always afraid of the dark, you know. Not until I was stuck in there.

“My power first appeared when I fell over. As I screamed when my elbow broke, the cubicle lit up for a brief second. At first I thought the power was turning back on, but then it stopped. It took me at least fifteen minutes to figure out that it was me that was creating the lights. It took me even longer to figure out I didn’t need to scream to create the lights either. By the time the councilors found me, I’d already started to control my powers.

“I was found after dinner time, when one of the councilors was looking in the change rooms for a kid’s lost mobile phone. When he noticed the blocked showers he called over a couple of the staff and they moved the lockers from in front of the door. They found me lying in a puddle of my own piss. The next few moments are a blur of memories and false rumors. I’ve heard that I was growling like a wolf when they found me. I heard that I had bloodshot eyes, or that there was blood dripping down the sides of my mouth. These are all fake, just campfire stories. I did act like a Wildman though. I was so angry I attacked the first person I saw.”

“One of the councilors?” I but in, both horrified and intrigued at Baekhyun’s story.

“The newest, kindest councilor on the camp. Even with a fractured arm, I punched him right in the face, then again in the stomach. Apparently I bit his arm too, and I don’t think that was a fake campfire tale. I gave the man a broken nose, a winded stomach and I drew blood in his upper arm. They eventually had me calm down enough to wrap a towel around me and let me go to the toilet. They wanted to wash the piss off me but I refused to go back into the shower, screaming and kicking instead.

“The councilor I attacked was rushed to hospital to get his nose fixed, but they only gave me a sling for my elbow. A taxi was called to take me out of the camp. I would’ve left after that, but they expelled me for the assault before I could run away. They let me have dinner before my ride arrived.

“I’d decided to use my powers against one of the bullies. I was pretty sure I knew the guy who locked me in the shower. When I arrived to the dining hall, everyone was having pre-lights out dessert. They heated up some leftover spaghetti for me and gave it to me on a dirty tray. I was starving, so I ate it all up in less than five minutes then they gave me chocolate ice-cream, which went even quicker.

“I saw my target eating ice-cream in front of the ping pong table. I had tunnel vision, I went straight for him. First, I threw someone’s ice-cream right at him, then I kicked him in the balls. I knocked him down onto the floor, straddling his chest and I shoved my palms over his eyes. I wanted to fry his corneas. I never wanted him to be able to see again. I wanted him to have to hobble to the kayak station with a little cane guiding him.”

Baekhyun becomes silent again. He looks up over the ocean of trees, letting the dances of the leaves calm him down. He wipes a trail of sweat from his forehead. I’m afraid he is going to stop his story right there, but he takes the time to continue.

“I realized that I might have this power for a reason. I realized that maybe I should keep the power a secret, or else someone would dissect me to see how I tick, or I’d be stuck in a zoo or a circus. I thought of all this while I was sitting on his chest, my hands stuck into his eyes. I couldn’t blind the boy. I wasn’t being nice to him, I was being safe for me.”

“So that’s it?” I ask, “You just got on the taxi and left, without blinding the kid?”

“Not exactly.” Baekhyun says, then he starts to do something that surprises me. He starts chuckling. His laughter seems too light-hearted after such a heavy story, I can’t help but be confused.

“What? What happened next?” I question, leaning forward in interest.

“I threw up,” Baekhyun states, composing himself into a straight face. “It was a mix of fear, and sickness and adrenaline that made me do it. Spaghetti and chocolate ice-cream. Like yellow worms in red and brown liquid, all over his face.”

He laughs again, tears running down his face, and this time he’s not alone. I sit down and rock backwards on my laughing with him, picturing a tiny Baekhyun sitting on a muscled teenager while throwing up in his face.

“The worst bit was,” Baekhyun continues “He was screaming with his mouth open, so parts of it went in!”

I laugh with my boyfriend for a few minutes. I’m happy that such a traumatizing story has become a funny event for him. I see now why he learned to find the brighter things of life, how he always finds a reason to smile or to laugh. Baekhyun grew up alone. Sure, I didn’t have the protectors either, but Baekhyun didn’t have friends. He didn’t have caring parents, and he was picked on a lot. It’s quite possible that the protectors are the only family Baekhyun has ever had.

“I survived pretty well after that camp. I didn’t finish high school, I left a few years early to chase after an employment opportunity in the city. My parents were off vacationing in Alaska, or Egypt or somewhere. When they returned I was gone. I guess they put in just as much effort to find me as the effort they put in to look after me when I was present. A few years later I had my first connection with the Tree. The Tree told me to go to an apartment, and I found Suho. He was already expecting me when I arrived; he had the couch set up as a bed and everything.”

Baekhyun sighed and wiped the tears off his cheek.  

“We should keep moving. We’ve stayed here long enough.” He says, looking out over the jungle roof.

We take a few bottles of water and cookies, shoving them into empty pockets and straps on our belts. By now we’d grown so used to clipping ourselves in that Baekhyun was already ready to fly over to the next platform.

“You ready?” He asks, craning his neck back to look at me.

I step over to him and give him a quick kiss on the lips.

“I drank so much, I’ll pee first.” I whisper to him before pushing him off the ledge.

I watch him zoom away into the distance as I my fly, watching him disappear into the shadows. Sighing, I pee over the edge of the platform, hearing the splash way down below me, spraying on the leaves until it hits the ground with a muffled patter.

I sway side to side, listening to the rhythmic pattern of my pee hitting different levels of the trees. I pee forcefully, seeing how far I can get the stream of pee to shoot over the edge of the platform. Finishing up, I shake quickly and stuff myself back behind my fly.

Down below me on the forest floor, right where my pee landed, a flash of light cracks through the branches.

“.” I mutter to myself, quickly dropping down so my jaw is resting on the edge of the platform, ignoring the stray drops of piss under my chin. Peering over the edge I try to focus on the jungle floor level.

I curse under my breath more as I notice the figures lurking about below us. Most of them don’t use a torch, but they move slowly, as if stalking prey. A few give away their positions from the little green lights on their radios, or a red LED glowing somewhere on their equipment.

A torch light swings upwards to look at my platform, and quickly duck my head back to cover like a turtle into its shell. I’m too late; I’m spotted. The guy with the torch calls out to his friends, and more torches start to shine towards my position. The forest comes alive with torches, each swinging around to try to find the target.

I give up trying to hide. I run to my makeshift harness and click the clip onto the rope hurriedly, throwing myself through the rope loop. Seconds after I shoot across the canopy on a zip line, bullets start to pepper the platform.

The spray of bullets follows me across the jungle narrowly missing my body, rocketing past me and into the stars, but one severs the rope looped around the harness. Instinctively I grab onto the two ends of severed rope, using my upper body strength to keep the harness intact. With my spare hand I fish out a lighter from my pocket and flick the button on.

Once I get a spark, I catch onto the flame and send jets of fire shooting behind me. With the added propulsion, my speed doubles. I become a very visible red flag, streaking across the zip line, singing the jungle.

A rope hits me in the face and I’m startled enough to lose the grip on my fire. I reach out with my lighter hand and grip onto the ropes that had slapped me. It’s a second harness. It’s Baekhyun’s harness, slowly sliding down the zip line without Baekhyun’s weight to propel it. Baekhyun had fallen off.

Without much time to think, I let go of my own rope, falling to the jungle floor. Branches tear at my face and limbs as I fall, slapping and scratching at my exposed skin. I reach out and grab onto a passing vine, pulling it into my body. My muscles bulge with the effort, but I manage to slow my fall. The vine snaps, and I start swinging in a wide arc towards the jungle floor. I let go of the vine when I near the ground, landing on my back. I keep rolling, churning up the dirt over my body as I come to a halt in a patch of ferns.

Crouching down, I pull the ferns over my body to hide in the undergrowth. I slide my hand over a pocket on my belt, unclipping a cheap lighter from the strap. I do a quick spin of the lighter in my long fingers, memorizing the weight, the shape and the feel.

I hear the sound of footsteps first; they’re heavy, snapping branches and splashing in puddles. The men come into the clearing from different directions. There are at least seven of them, maybe more. Some wear khaki vests with many pockets. Some have shiny new rifles, others have dull rusty weapons. One man even has a crossbow, his finger slowly the trigger. These people aren’t military. They’re bounty hunters.

In all the hype of the military, I’d forgotten that there was a hefty price on our heads. My mind flashes to the hunter from earlier today, the one who I kicked in the jaw and allowed him to run away. He must’ve told his friends that there was big cash in the jungle in the form of Baekhyun and me.

They speak amongst themselves in hushed tones, pointing in different directions. They point towards the sky, trying to find where I crashed through the canopy. Some men bend down to look at broken twigs, using their tracking skills to find their prey. I cross my fingers, hoping they wouldn’t notice the very big trail I left that leads towards my current position.

I’m lucky. As they look around the clearing, a white light shines from further into the forest. Through the ferns and the trees, I catch glimpses of a boy running through the jungle, leaping over logs and bushes. His hands shine like spotlights, the beams of light like beacons in the dark.

The bounty hunters see Baekhyun too; they quickly all start running towards him. I let out a breath as I’m saved by my boyfriend, but now he is in trouble himself. I take off in a similar direction to the hunters, parallel to Baekhyun’s path. I don’t light a path like Baekhyun does; I stumble less gracefully, using the light of the moon to guide me.

I burst through a bush and run straight into a bounty hunter, my limbs tangling in the older man’s. I act quickly and rushed, swinging back my leg in a messy attack. I catch the man in the jaw with the heel of my boot. I step closer to the hunter, grabbing the muzzle of his rifle with both hands. He fires instinctively, trying to hold onto his weapon. The bullet flies harmlessly into the dirt and I swing the weapon into his temple, knocking the man out.

More gunfire echoes in the distance.

“Baekhyun!” I yell out, adjusting my direction to go towards the gunfire.

The gunshots are spaced out, irregular and infrequent. I flinch at each bang, but with every bullet being fired, I remind myself that they mustn’t have hit Baekhyun yet if they still have to fire their guns. I see Baekhyun first; running through the forest without his lights, holding his knife out before him.

I sprint towards him, my lighter ready to protect him with a fireball. As I get closer I see Baekhyun’s face is deadpan, running almost seamlessly over the uneven terrain. He keeps sprinting towards me, quickly closing the distance between us. The gap between us closes, and Baekhyun doesn’t slow down. Instead, he runs right through me, disappearing into a tree trunk further behind me.

It wasn’t Baekhyun, it was just an illusion. I duck into another pile of bushes as some bounty hunters chase after the illusion. One hunter stops in the clearing near me and looks to the side, spotting another Baekhyun between two trees. There’s a gunshot as the hunter fires a bullet through the second Baekhyun’s head. The second Baekhyun starts running as the bullet passes through him harmlessly.

Crouching, I make my way through the forest, using the cover of the small bushes to hide myself. The jungle is a maze, not knowing what is real and what isn’t. I see Baekhyuns everywhere, some running through the bounty hunters and into trees, some firing blasts of light around the vines, some turning the jungle into a disco strobe light. Bounty hunters run in all directions, firing desperately at every Baekhyun that crosses their paths.

There are other illusions too, there are trees that are not quite there; hiding pathways and confusing the hunters. There are tigers, terrifying in their silent prowls as they stalk the attackers.

I’m drawn towards a figure blasting red-orange light from his hands, and I realize that there are also illusions of me in the jungle.

A hunter nearby stops to fire a crossbow bolt straight through an illusion of me as he is engulfed in harmless fire. I stand up from my hiding place and add my own flames to the mix, scorching the hunter’s .

The hunter screams, desperately trying to reload his crossbow to fire at the illusion again. He yells out something in Cambodian, probably calling over the other hunters do kill who he believes to be the real me.

I scamper across the jungle, weaving in between the trees and illusions, adding my fire when necessary.

In the end, Baekhyun finds me before I find him. I’m crouched in front of a large mossy boulder when a pair of hands drags me backwards, making me fall into the rock.

Inside the illusion of the rock, Baekhyun kneels, his eyes screwed up in concentration of holding the fake jungle illusion together. At his side, an unconscious bounty hunter lies face-down in the mud.

I crouch down beside him, checking him for any injuries.

“Grenades.” He growls out, focusing all his energy into the jungle.

I quickly take all the weapons from the hunter’s belt. There are only a few grenades, but I’d seen first-hand the damage that these can do if used properly. I pull a pin from the first grenade and lob the weapon as far as I can into the forest.

The explosion is deafening, larger than I expected. The fiery blast paints the jungle in an orange light, and the jungle is loud with the sounds of hunters screaming and barking orders to one another.

I run out from the cover of the boulder, pulling the pin on another grenade. I throw this one in a different direction, letting a different area of the jungle light up in the fire. The hunters shout again, some running away from the grenades, others running towards the explosion.

I pull the pin on the last grenade and roll it into a nearby clearing, allowing the explosion to envelop me in the fire. With my power I lock onto the explosion and do my best to form fingers, reaching out between the trees. I smile to myself as the hunter’s screams become higher pitched, fearing the giant fire monster in the jungle. With my help, the fire grows a neck, a long snout and wicked red eyes, the head of a dragon with teeth as big as stalagmites.

Like ants running away from bug spray, the hunters become frantic. They run in every direction, trying to get away from the fire beast. I laugh as I feel the power course through me. It feels good to let the fire get so big, so powerful.

Then there’s another figure running through the jungle. He’s different; he runs through trees and rocks like Baekhyun’s illusions, but he is more precise, more realistic. The man arrives to the first illusion, an image of Baekhyun and he pulls out two curved knives, slashing through Baekhyun’s throat and stomach.

He grunts as he realizes his blades pass straight through the illusion, then he keeps running. A light beam from one of Baekhyun’s illusions passes over his face, and I recognize the man as Jongup, the guy who could walk through walls. He frowns, squinting at the lights before running towards the next illusion, passing through vines and trees to get to his target.

Someone pushes me over, knocking me to the ground. I squirm in the dirt, trying to throw off my attacker before a dainty hand covers my mouth and I feel someone’s lips against the shell of my ear.

“The military are here” Baekhyun whispers to me.

I nod silently and allow Baekhyun to get off me. He dusts himself off, raising his hands to channel his powers even further.

A fog rolls in, courtesy of Baekhyun’s illusions. I drag him along behind me as he focuses on keeping the jungle alive with visions of us, of trees and of the fog. Under the cover of the fog we pass through the jungle without being noticed by the military, slowly creeping through the trees, holding their guns up to their eyes.

Baekhyun stops walking, holding his hands out in front of him as he works on another illusion. Under the thick fog, I see glimpses of large green scales, writhing at Baekhyun’s feet. Baekhyun drops his hands as his illusion is finished, allowing his newly made monster to distract another soldier.

Every now and then, Baekhyun stops, taking shelter behind a tree trunk or a large rock to create another monster. His beasts are fearsome, through the fog I see giant, long legged spiders, an elephant with a battle-scarred trunk and dark, deathly eyes. I even recognize the grizzly bear Baekhyun once conjured up in my bedroom as a prank.

The jungle is terrifyingly silent. Occasionally there is the sound of footsteps snapping a trig, or a muffled gunshot as a solder is spooked into firing their weapon, but besides the few sounds, the forest is noiseless.

As we pass another soldier, the urge to see what is happening wins me over and I peer through the fog to get a closer look.

The solder is paralyzed with fear, his gun shaking ahead of him. A long, green scaly monster curls around his body like a snake, poised up above the soldier as if it were ready to strike. The coils of the snake are thicker than my leg, and longer than I can see into the fog.

The snake opens its jaws, revealing a bright pink jaw with wicked curved fangs. The flaps on the side of its head open up too, showing brightly colored spines that twitch and click like fingers. The soldier’s knees buckle, and he releases a few muffled bullets into the snake’s head.

The snake doesn’t respond. Instead, Baekhyun runs up behind the distracted soldier and knocks him out with a heavy rock. The soldier crumples under the attack, falling down the ground with a soft thud. The snake monster vanishes, the illusion dissipating into the fog. Baekhyun waves his hand to me, motioning for me to keep walking.

The fog goes on forever, but so do the soldiers. With my hand in Baekhyun’s we walk silently through the fog, holding out breaths around the soldier so we don’t make a sound. Baekhyun taps me on the soldier, wanting to stop and create another monster as a distraction.

He holds open his hands and another monster starts to form. It has thick arms and legs like a gorilla, and ferocious tusks that curve out of its ape mouth. The monster is only half formed when we are attacked.

The attacker comes from above, jumping down from a tree. He is dressed differently to the soldiers and to the hunters; he has tight flexible pants that are burdened with knives and guns. He has a black singlet, also tight so it won’t fly around as he fights. Over his head, he wears some interesting, mechanical goggles. I recognize them as heat-vision goggles, one of the ways of seeing through Baekhyun’s illusions without being distracted.

The man lands between us and kicks out harshly, knocking Baekhyun away from me. I click my lighter and punch out with my arm, throwing a blast of fire outwards, but a deft knife slices across my arm, making me drop the lighter and losing my grip on the fire. The man spins towards me, reaching out with a bare hand and grabbing me by the neck. In close quarters I can see that this man is another member of B.A.P, Youngjae.

There’s a green light that is harsher than Yixing’s powers that explodes from the connection between hand and neck. As soon as the light subsides, he releases his hold on me and starts to focus on Baekhyun. I click open my lighter and create a fireball to knock Youngjae onto his , but the only fire that comes out is the tiny flicker of the lighter. I try again, putting all of my energy into the fire, but the little flame only wavers in the wind.

I give up on my lighter, losing hope of controlling the fire, and I see an even more distressing sight. Baekhyun lies on his back, Yongjae sitting on his chest and using his knees to pin down Baekhyun’s arms. The half-formed ape-monster sits dumbly nearby, unmoving and uncontrolled. Youngjae reaches out again and grabs Baekhyun by the neck, and the same green light flashes out from the connection.

Parts of the jungle disappear, dissipating into darkness. The ape-monster is the first to go, losing the defined edges first and becoming a blurry mass of light, then it darkens, disappearing into the shadows. The fog is next, the grey clouds receding into the darkness until they no longer exist. The trees that Baekhyun conjured up to confuse our attackers start to blink out of existence, until only the real, tangible trees are left. The last thing to go are the illusions of ourselves, the numerous Baekhyuns and Chanyeols that run around the jungle start to fade, until the only real protectors in the forest are Baekhyun and me.

The jungle becomes very plain. There are no more tricks of fake people, no more fire monsters, giant snakes or murderous elephants.

Youngjae reaches down to his leg to pull out a pistol, resorting to more lethal techniques now that we are defenseless.

But we’re not defenseless, not completely.

With his injured arm still pinned down above the elbow into the dirt, Baekhyun reaches into one of the straps of Youngjae’s gear. He pulls out a long, jagged knife, and drives it hard into Youngjae’s flesh, just above the hip.

Youngjae screams out in pain, leaning over instinctively to get away from the knife. I step over to him and push him harshly off Baekhyun, stepping over my boyfriend to stomp down on Youngjae’s wrist. I trap the pistol underneath my boot, hearing a crunch that I am sure was bone snapping.

Youngjae wasn’t expecting such a ferocious attack from two powerless protectors. He spins around on the ground, using the point where I’m crushing his wrist as an axis point. His legs kick the backs of my knees and I go toppling over, landing on Baekhyun’s lap. The pistol goes skidding through the mud, landing near Baekhyun.

Youngjae hurriedly stands up and take multiple steps backwards. He reaches down to his pants and pulls up a radio, clicking the button on the side and speaking quickly into the receiver.

“Found them. They’re near the road. I took their powers.”

He takes a few more steps backwards cautiously as we stand up, calling out to any nearby soldiers.

“Over here! They’re here!”

I duck as guns fire nearby, exploding the tree trunk behind me. Feeling Baekhyun’s hand fall into mine, we start to run again. We’re more frantic this time, stumbling over logs and mounds of dirt, yet I always seem to be picked up by Baekhyun, or in turn I’m helping him to his feet.

Vines and dirt explode around us as bullets rip through the forest, trying desperately to get into our skin. Vines fall on us, and Baekhyun tried to no avail to tear through them with his stolen knife. I still hold onto a lighter, the object useless without my power.

We reach a rise in the terrain, and start running up the hill. As soon as we reach over it, Baekhyun pulls me to the side and hides me behind a rock.

“Weapons, what have we got?” He pants, checking his own belt

I pass my hands over the bumps and pockets in my belt.

“Lighters. A lot of useless ing lighters. About a few meters of thin rope. A water bottle and a cookie.”

Baekhyun looks distraught.

“I have only Youngjae’s pistol, a torch and rope. And a cookie too. Your fire not working?”

I shake my head.

“Youngjae said we’re near the road. Let’s find their car and get out of here. There will be provisions there.”

Baekhyun pulls out his torch and turns it on high beam. He passes it to me, the light shining off brightly into the jungle.

“You’ve got the better arm. Throw it.”

I pull back my arm and throw the torch as hard as I can. The torch spins as it flies through the jungle, creating a whirlwind of light. It’s a weak distraction, but it’s the only thing we’ve got.

We run in a different direction, towards what we hope is the road. Eventually, we break out of the jungle and find something reassuring beneath our feet. The asphalt is warm with the hot summer night, and I stake a few shaky steps as I expect the terrain to be rough and unpredictable.

Baekhyun starts pulling me down the road, a few military trucks can be seen parked on the side.

I gasp as a sharp stinging pain hits me in the back of my shoulder. I reach up to my shoulder blade and feel the hot sticky blood starting to flow. I’ve been shot.

I turn around and see Jongup, standing at the edge of the jungle, holding up his pistol. He grins.

“Chanyeol! There are no keys!” Baekhyun cries, searching around the driver’s seat of the closest truck.

Jongup starts to walk closer with a lazy arrogance, every now and then lifting his pistol to fire a bullet towards us. His swagger reeks of confidence, knowing that we have nowhere to run, no way to defend ourselves.

“Baekhyun, shoot back at Jongup.” I say, needing a distraction. I run around to the other side of the vehicle and start to fiddle with the petrol tank. If there’s anything that I can do well, its play with fire.

Baekhyun stands up from his position at the driver’s seat, leaning out the door and firing back at Jongup. His aim is good, but the bullets are useless against someone who can walk through walls, or bullets.

“Chanyeol, he’s getting closer. Please tell me you have a plan.” Baekhyun empties the rest of his magazine into Jongup’s head, hearing the click of the empty cartridge as he pulls the trigger.

I run backwards, my hands gripping onto petrol-soaked rope.

“Baekhyun, come take cover over here!”

Baekhyun runs over to another nearby truck and crouches against the passenger door, sticking his fingers in his ears. I start to run back towards him but the rope doesn’t reach. I drop the end of the rope in the grass between the two trucks and run the last twenty meters to where Baekhyun is taking cover.

Jongup reaches the first truck, walking around it and firing his pistol at our cover. I wait for a break in the firing, clicking my lighter so the flame stays lit.

I throw the lighter, aiming for the petrol soaked rope between the trucks. The lighter seems to fly in slow motion, a bright orange arc across the night. It lands perfectly on top of the rope, catching alight and allowing blue and orange flames to up the trail of petrol.

I duck behind the car as the petrol tank explodes, chunks of metal shooting out of the destroyed truck and fire billowing out. It’s incredibly hot. I wrap myself over Baekhyun, protecting him from the fire. I yell out as fire reaches past our cover and strikes my back like whips, burning my exposed skin. I’ve never felt fire like this before. I’ve never been burnt, never felt the heat and pain that I usually cause.

The explosion stops but the pain continues. I hold up my hands and realize I’m still on fire, the petrol on my hands still burning strongly. Baekhyun grabs my wrists and shoves my hands into the dirt, using his bandaged arm to suffocate the flames. When I lift my hands from the dirt, they are bright red, blistering from the burns.

We walk out from our cover, looking for Jongup. We find him lying in the grass near the exploded truck. He isn’t a pretty sight. He may have been able to phase through the shards of metal, but he can’t phase through the heat of the fire. His skin is a deep red and blistering, matching my hands. He groans and tries to move. He is still alive.

Baekhyun reaches down and snatches the car keys at Jongup’s belt. He spits on his face, his face drawn up in a scowl.

“Tell the Dark he can go himself.” Baekhyun snaps, turning away and searching for the truck that matches the keys. “Come on Chanyeol, I’ll drive.”

Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but I hope this long chapter makes up for it :) 

Q: What do you think of Youngjae's power now that he's properly shown it?

Next chapter is.... Luhan!