They leave the camper at the first few rays of brilliant sunlight. Luhan leans against the camper, his jacket barely keeping him warm. In a bit the sun will rise into the sky, but the temperature won’t increase by too much. They were in a semi-arid desert, a desert that was cold in the winter but suffered from hot and dry summers.  There was no snow, even though occasionally in the cold months there tended be a dusting every now or then in the area.

Luhan watches as the camera crew begins to set up the equipment, their voices loud as they shout commands. The driver of their camper is leaning in front of the vehicle, smoking on a cigarette while Luhan gets the occasional whiff of the smell from his spot. He doesn’t think the shoot will go smoothly. Desert weather is unpredictable especially during the winter, and he’s sure that a disaster’s bound to happen.

He slips back inside the camper, and watches as Jongin and Sehun huddle together at the dinette eating food that shouldn’t even be considered breakfast.

“Are you hungry,” Kyungsoo asks him. “I really think you should eat. It’s not good to go so long without food, especially since you took your pills.”

Luhan looks over to the box filled with sugary unhealthy donuts, then towards Kyungsoo standing beside the portable coffee machine. “Where’d you get this,” Luhan asks, he grabs a cup from beside the machine.

“One of the stylists lent it to me,” Kyungsoo says, grimacing slightly when Luhan takes a sip of his black coffee. “How can you drink something so bitter?”

“It wakes me up,” Luhan explains, he leaves Kyungsoo’s side to go to the box of donuts, and picks out the plainest one in view.

“The stylist will be by in half an hour to get you ready,” Kyungsoo tells them before exiting.

“Do you think the driver is Kyungsoo-hyung’s type,” Jongin asks into the air as his eyes stares at the door the older boy has left through.

“Does he even have a type,” Sehun asks. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a guy or girl.”

“I’ve known Kyungsoo a lot longer than you two and he doesn’t mix business with pleasure,” Luhan says as he swallows a bit of his donut, it’s dry and sticks to the roof of his mouth but he’d rather suffer from that than the other choices he had. “Ever,” he adds. “Besides the guy smokes and Kyungsoo hates smokers almost as much as I do.”

“So I still have a chance,” Jongin mutters to himself. Luhan bites his tongue and watches from the corner of his eyes as Sehun pats the boy on the shoulder in a reassuring manner.

****

In the middle of the desert, with two guys surrounding him, Luhan poses in summer clothes despite the low temperatures. They huddle closer together than they probably should while pretending to pose all while trying to keep warm.

Behind the camera stands three workers with thick parkas in their hands waiting for them to finish. It’s inviting, the fluffy goose feather coats that are splayed open, and Luhan does his best to concentrate on the shoot. Finish the shoot, get a huge coat to warm himself in, and finally leave the horror of the desert behind.

It takes four hours of non-stop photo taking before they finally get a break that lasts longer than a quick fix of makeup and hair, or a clothing change. They get no breaks because the photographer realizes just how quickly the weather can turn and he’s not able to turn a one-day shoot into a two day one, therefore after four hours of continuously posing in subtly different ways they’re done.

The models get to leave first, so after a few professional goodbyes they head out back to the Capital in their camper. They play childish car games as they wait to see civilization once more. Kyungsoo, who’s in the back with the other models, had asked if the driver would like to switch roles. Six hours to and from one place with no real change in scenery wasn’t an easy drive. However, the driver had declined his offer.

The camper comes to a sudden stop that has Luhan crashing into Jongin clumsily, which leads to huge domino effect with Kyungsoo suffering the end results. Luhan has a bit of trouble sitting up but when he does sit up he heads towards the front where the driver is located just as the man begins opening his door.

“Stay inside,” the guy commands, slipping out of the automobile. Luhan slips to his knees to peer through the window just as the others come up behind him. Outside the driver is talking to a tall strange man. The guy has his mouth and nose covered what a mask and a heavy jacket on his frame. His boots black but covered in brown dirt and on his hands are frayed fingerless gloves.

“Who’s that,” Jongin mumbles sinking down beside Luhan to get a better look at the guy. The guy is standing tall, towering over the driver and his eyes are narrowed as if he’s angry, Luhan can’t hear him or see his lips but between his stance and the driver’s, he seems to be threatening the driver.

The unknown man eyes flicker over to the campervan and Luhan can feel Jongin stiffen beside him. “Is that an Imperfect,” he asks. Luhan looks from Jongin to the guy and catches a flicker of silver in the guy’s left hand, the hand the driver can’t see.

He stands quickly, knocking roughly into Sehun as he does so. He pauses pass both Kyungsoo and Sehun as he heads towards the camper’s exit. He can hear Kyungsoo behind him telling him not to leave but he ignores the boy’s words, quickly stepping out of the camper and into the cold desert air. He doesn’t know why he leaves the camper, Luhan has zero self-defense skills and he’s more likely to get himself killed than anything but if he didn’t attempt to stop this fight there would be a good chance that he would end up a hostage.

The Red Devils were ruthless, after having lost hope for living a normal life they didn’t mind killing whoever they needed to get their points across women and children like.

“Didn’t I say to stay in the van,” the driver asks.

“I already sent our coordinates to the Capital,” Luhan says voice quivering just slightly, “in less than ten minutes there should be a helicopter overhead.” He turns towards the unknown man. “If you kill him or me, your whole camp will be found and destroyed.”

That’s the biggest bluff he’d ever let slip his lips and he’s praying that it works. He doesn’t know yet what type of weapon the man is in possession of. The only person that could get them out of the middle of nowhere was the driver and if he died than they would be sitting ducks until the rest of the rebels came.

The guy looks from Luhan to the driver, and the finally to the camper where everyone else is still watching them. He mumbles something in a foreign language but neither Luhan nor the driver reacts. He mumbles more foreign words fingers waving them away in a dismissing manner. Luhan doesn’t think twice, he quickly grabs the driver’s arm and leads him back to towards the camper never taking his eyes off the unknown man. When they’re safely inside they watch as the guy limps over to the side to let them pass through.

“He was hurt,” the driver explains after they’ve left the man behind. “I didn’t think at the time what he could possibly be or do.”

“You almost got yourself killed,” Luhan reminds him. “Think of that the next time you see someone hurting in the middle of no-where.” The driver doesn’t respond, his fingers grip the steering wheel loosely and Luhan finds himself forming tight fists with his hands as he moves once more to the back. He sits quickly, fingers clasped tightly together on his lap to stop the shake that’s still clinging onto him.

“Was that really an Imperfect,” Sehun asks, voice curious and not even the least bit fearful of having come so close to death. Luhan draws his lips together, in thought. It was strange how one second they went from wondering who the man was to what he was. It was sad how being branded an Imperfect strip a person of their humanity.

“He wasn’t just an Imperfect he was a Red Devil,” Luhan mutters.

“That was a rebel,” Jongin asks sitting up with wide eyes. He slings back into his seat afterwards a small grimace on his lips. “Wow, I don’t…I’m not sure how I feel.”

“What do you mean,” Kyungsoo asks. It’s the first time he’s spoken up since Luhan and the driver had come back and Luhan can hear the way his voice falters towards the end. To anyone else that would be in obvious sign of fear but Luhan knows from experience that his voice just sounds like that when there are many thoughts in head and he wants nothing more than to voice them.

“Honestly I never thought the Red Devils were real,” Jongin admits. “We read about them in History class and we’ve seen reports on them but they’ve always seemed so far-fetched. I don’t know it just never seemed real.”

****

The ride back to the Capital continues on in silence. Luhan spends the time gazing out of the window into the bleak nothingness of the country. His thoughts vary from the Imperfects living in the cold desert to the people who had died there, fighting in a war that destroyed cities, and razed towns.

Eventually they get back to actual paved road, where towering buildings could be seen in the foggy distance. They’ll have to pass through toll after toll before they can get back to the Capital. Each person in their group needed to show proof of their Perfection status. One immediate medical look over at the first city, coupled with a brief view through the database in the following city.

The Capital was stricter than the other two cities. It was the capital of Caelum, it was what kept the country functioning, any attacks against it could put the country at high risk and no one wanted that. People entering the Capital had to state their reasons for being there and verify their identity in a process that took a little under an hour.

It was always easier leaving cities than coming back.

At the first stop each person in the Camper has to have their blood drawn and examined. They present their identification, and then get a physical examination by a professional. It doesn’t take long and they’re permitted to continue on their way.

Luhan isn’t particularly fond of the process. Unlike the others when he’s done with his examination he’s trapped still in the examination room, as those working with the physician discuss his obvious flaws. He was a first generation Perfect. He would never be like the newer Perfects.

The next city they don’t linger for too long in. It’s a 20 minute process, and they get stamped approvals before they move forward. As they continue forward Jongin and Sehun both fall asleep. Sehun falls asleep on the queen-sized bed in the back, while Jongin sleeps with his head rested against the tiny table, his folded arms a makeshift pillow. Kyungsoo’s back in the front of the camper beside the driver, and light music fills the air.

The officials in the Capital treat him like the officials in the first city had done, they watch after him as if he’s going to pledge his allegiance to the Red Devils. They stare after him as if he’s not a Perfect, as if he hasn’t lived in the Capital for his entire life. It’s as if he’s an outsider.

****

Kyungsoo drives the younger two home first, it makes sense, Kyungsoo and him live in the same district just in different buildings.

“Kyungsoo I need you to make an appointment with the physician,” Luhan says, as he plays with his phone. The commercial that he’d done with the other two had been released and Luhan is looking through comment after comment basking in the praise of strangers.

“Did you run out of pills,” Kyungsoo asks, eyes flickering over to Luhan quickly. “I can pick them up for you.  Just give me the prescription.”

“No,” Luhan says. “I don’t need more pills. I just need an appointment. I haven’t been feeling well lately.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo says. “I’ll schedule you an appointment for after your shoot tomorrow. You just have to do one thing for me.”

“Which is,” Luhan asks, looking up from his phone and pocketing the device.

“Staying inside tonight, don’t go out, don’t do anything stupid. Just stay in and rest,” Kyungsoo tells him. “You could have died today.”

“If I didn’t try to stop what was happening we all could have died,” Luhan justifies. He doesn’t try to argue with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s not a person people argue with unless they want to get on his bad side. Kyungsoo was powerful, his father worked for National Security, while his mother was a history professor for the National University inside the Capital. He was appointed manager by President Kim himself, and was nearly one of the most powerful persons in Nessen despite his small statue.

He promises to rest as he leaves Kyungsoo’s car. He can’t find it in his heart to try and spend the night out anyway.

This update took a really long time, sorry about that. I had it done for a while, I just wasn't really in the mood to update it. To make up for the wait however and since this was a filler chapter, i'm updating once more later on.